Sunday, September 4, 2016

Wife Fights For Justice As Air Force Veteran Sits in Jail

'I can't be silent any longer' - Wife of veteran fights for husband's release
North West Florida News
Kelly Humphrey
September 3, 2016

A medical board issued him an honor-able discharge after four years and 10 months of service. The loss of his military career devastated him, Angela said, and he would later be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“He attempted suicide shortly after that,” she said. “It broke his heart to be out of the Air Force.”
At 9:18 a.m. on April 9, 2015, Aaron Wanless sent an email to his psychiatrist’s office at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs clinic at Eglin Air Force Base.

“This medication is killing me,” he wrote. “My brain is malfunctioning.”

At the moment he sent the message, the 35-year-old Air Force veteran was a fugitive, having spent the previous night eluding sheriff’s deputies following an armed altercation at his father’s house.

Shortly after sending the email, Aaron surrendered and was taken to jail, where he has remained for 17 months without bond as his case winds it way through the judicial system.

Aaron had confided in Angela when they first met that he’d experienced depression. She and Melendez attribute it to a serious motorcycle accident he had while stationed at Patrick Air Force Base near Cocoa Beach in 2001.

“Several bones in his lower leg were shattered,” Melendez wrote. “For a while, doctors thought they may have to amputate his leg. Aaron was in rehab for months.”

Although he would go on to serve with his Air Force unit at ground zero in New York following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, by 2002 the military decided he was no longer fit for service.
read more here

10th Anniversary of Operation Medusa Remembered by PTSD Veteran

Canadian soldier writes song for 10th anniversary of Operation Medusa
CTV News Canada
Taline McPhedran
September 3, 2016

The song, and journal entry, goes on to describe the attack happening in the same place that saw four other Canadian soldiers killed a month before. It then describes a British plane that went down while flying reconnaissance, killing all 12 British soldiers on board.

To acknowledge the 10th anniversary of Operation Medusa that saw 15 Canadian troops killed in Afghanistan, a soldier who fought in the battle has released a song called Panjwai.

Capt. Ryan Carey decided to write the song as a way to deal with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and to deal with what he witnessed in the conflict. The song goes through a retelling of his experiences during the operation to take back the Panjwai district from the Taliban.

The song starts with the crossing of the Arghandab River and the following bombardment that left four Canadian soldiers dead. The Taliban were ready for them, and dug in for a fight.

“We drove into a heavily fortified defensive position… we drove into the kill zone,” Carey told CTV News.
read more here

Saturday, September 3, 2016

Fort Benning Pvt. Felix Hall's Murder Remains Unsolved

The story of the only known lynching on a U.S. military base
Washington Post
By Alexa Mills
September 2 2016

The government never solved his murder.

Pvt. Felix Hall’s body hung in this position for about six weeks. His feet rest on the dirt that he dug out of a ravine wall in an effort to release the pressure of the noose around his neck. Photo by Sgt. Robert Templeton, Fort Benning Military Police Detachment, U.S. Army, March 28, 1941. (Department of Veterans Affairs records) (US Army/US Army)
FORT BENNING, Ga. —Pvt. Felix Hall was strung up in a jack-knife position in a shallow ravine. A quarter-inch noose, tethered to a sapling on the earthen bank above him, dug into the flesh of his neck. His feet, bound with baling wire, were attached by a second rope to three other saplings, and his hands were tied behind him.

Hall succeeded in kicking loose his legs and freeing his left hand. Then, while he still had breath, he desperately scraped dirt loose from the ravine wall, trying to scoop out enough of the sienna-colored earth to build up a mound beneath his feet that he could stand on “to take the strain from his neck,” the FBI would later report. He got the dirt up to the arches of his dangling feet. But the earth was soft and loose and ultimately not enough to support his weight.

When investigators eventually arrived on the scene and examined his body, he’d been suspended in this position, in the woods of Fort Benning, for more than six weeks. Maggots were eating his flesh.
read more here

Navy Cross Recipient Staff Sgt. Cliff Wooldridge Leaving Corps

Hero Marine who killed Taliban fighter with his hands leaves the Corps
KCEN
Jeff Schogol
Marine Corps Times
September 01, 2016

After shooting four enemy fighters, then-Cpl. Wooldridge ran out of ammunition and ended up in a life-and-death struggle with a man who tried to pull the pin on a grenade attached to Wooldridge’s vest.
Navy Cross recipient Staff Sgt. Cliff Wooldridge, who killed a Taliban fighter in hand-to-hand combat, has left the Marine Corps after spending nine years in the service.
Sgt. Clifford Wooldridge, receives the Navy Cross on May 18, 2012 for combat actions in Helmand province, Afghanistan, while attached to 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, in 2010. Photo Credit: Photo by Cpl. Sarah Anderson.
“I enjoyed my time in the Marine Corps,” Wooldridge told Marine Corps Times. “It’s had a huge impact on my life. I’m going to miss the men I’ve served with and miss being in the fight with them.”

Wooldridge, 28, said his last day in the Marines was Tuesday. He said his time in the Corps made him appreciate life and not take it for granted.

“It made me a man and I am forever grateful for the men who mentored me and led by example,” he said.
read more here

Pennsylvania National Guardsman Helped Heart Attack Victim Live

Pa. Army Guard Soldier aids heart attack victim
Pennsylvania National Guard
By By Sgt. Shane Smith
Joint Force Headquarters
September 01, 2016

His quick and decisive actions garnered praise from witnesses and fellow Soldiers.

GREENSBURG, Pa. — Pfc. Fred Vandenheuvel was enjoying dinner with fellow Guard members at a Greensburg restaurant when he witnessed a man collapse. With a background in law enforcement and as a first responder, he leapt into action.


Pfc. Fred Vandenheuvel, a member of the Pennsylvania Army

National Guard’s 252nd Engineer Company rendered aid to a
man who suffered a heart attack while dining in a local
restaurant.
(Courtesy Photo) (Photo by Courtesy Photo)
“At first I wasn’t sure what had happened,” recalled Vandenheuvel, a member of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard’s 252nd Engineer Company. “The man wasn’t moving. I thought he may have had a heart attack.”

The man was still conscious and complaining of intense chest pain when Vandenheuvel first reached him. Vandenheuvel was asked to call the man’s wife.

“I told his wife where we were, what had happened, and asked if her husband had any prior medical history or heart issues,” he said. “She told me her husband has a history of heart problems.”

Vandenheuvel called 911 and remained on the line with paramedics until they arrived.
read more here

National Vietnam Veterans Foundation Shuts Down

Reminder" This is not Vietnam Veterans of America 



Veterans charity that gave less than 2% of revenue to veterans closes its doors for good
CNN
By Drew Griffin and David Fitzpatrick
September 1, 2016

"Tom Burch has resigned from the Foundation and NVVF is shutting down completely, " Kaufman wrote in an email to CNN. "All fundraising has ceased and the only thing being done is the distribution of blankets, personal care kits and related items in the warehouse."
New York (CNN)The National Vietnam Veterans Foundation, a zero-rated charity that was the object of a CNN report in mid-May, has closed its doors for good, according to one of the charity's executives.

In an email to CNN, David Kaufman, the charity's vice president, says the Veterans Foundation "has severed all ties" to the organization's president, Thomas Burch, who along with serving as president of the charity also has a full time job as a government lawyer with the Veterans Affairs agency in Washington.
read more here

Friday, September 2, 2016

Charities Sensationalizing PTSD For More Donations?

Gee do you think the same thing is going on here? Exactly how does talking about an issue like PTSD help anyone unless they actually start talking about what will make lives better?

There has been so much BS in the US, UK, Australia and Canada about PTSD Awareness for so long now that if someone is not aware of what it is, then they never will be. What I really want to know is, why do they need so much money to talk about a problem or deserve the money when they are not doing anything to actually address the problem? Any clue? Considering work on PTSD and our veterans started over 40 years ago, none of this is new but they act like they just discovered it. They sure as hell haven't cured it.
Military charities accused of sensationalizing post-combat stress to get more donations
Civil Society UK
Fundraising
Hugh Radojev
2 Sep 2016

A spokeswoman for Walking with the Wounded said that Parker’s comments were supported by the rest of the organisation. She also said that he made the comments because he wanted the whole military charity sector to be more “transparent and open” with the public.
The chief executive of Walking with the Wounded has told The Times that some military charities “sensationalize” the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder on returned veterans in order to raise more money from the public.

Ed Parker, chief executive of Walking with the Wounded, is quoted in an article in The Times today saying that military charities are exaggerating the problem of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in returned veterans in order to continue raising money from the public.

In The Times' piece, Parker said that the way PTSD is being used by military charities to raise funds has gotten “out of hand” and could be disguising the fact that many veterans are suffering from other issues, such as alcoholism and anxiety. The chief executive of the charity, which runs expeditions with Prince Harry and supported over 600 veterans last year, said that military organisations know that the “PTSD label has become one that is very engaging… You are always going to slightly sensationalise how you fundraise.
read more here

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Senator Marco Rubio Too Busy With Fundraisers To Take Care of Disabled Sergeant?

ELECTION: Murphy accuses Rubio of neglecting to help wounded warrior
News 13 Orlando

By Greg Pallone, Reporter
August 31, 2016

Riley said he thought that because Rubio was running for president and ran TV ads backing the military, his son's situation would get noticed. But instead, Rubio held at least 18 fundraisers when Sgt. Riney was being brought back to Florida in need of financial help, Murphy's campaign said.
Army veteran Tim Riney Jr. was injured in a Stryker vehicle accident in Colorado in February 2015. (Courtesy of Tim Riney)
Just hours after winning their party nominations for U.S. Senate, Rep. Patrick Murphy and Sen. Marco Rubio are both on the attack.
Murphy introduced father of wounded warrior in Rubio attack
Murphy, vet's dad accused Rubio of not helping son
Son was severely injured and paralyzed in 2015 Stryker vehicle accident
Murphy on Wednesday accused Rubio of putting his presidential bid in front of helping a wounded soldier, and introduced a wounded warrior as the face of his campaign.

Tim Riney of Safety Harbor, near Clearwater, is the father of Army veteran Timothy Riney, who was paralyzed after a military training exercise in February 2015. Riney was hurt and a fellow soldier killed after their 18-ton Stryker vehicle plunged over an embankment at Fort Carson, Colo.

“They are saying it's the worst accident with a Stryker in the history of the country, and you don't have time to help us?” the elder Riney said of Rubio.

Riney said his son needed help with medical costs, and it took five months for Rubio's office to get back to him. Meanwhile, his son was transferred to a Tampa VA hospital, and they struggled to get financial assistance for home wheelchair accessibility.

“Marco Rubio is so set on putting himself first that even when a Florida veteran is lying paralyzed in a hospital bed, he can't find the time to help out," Murphy said Wednesday.
read more here

Suicide Prevention Month Is Back Again

I have a very cynical attitude to all this raising "awareness" because making anyone aware of a problem has managed to produce more suicides. In other words, when it comes to reducing suicides, no one thought about making the veterans aware of why they should live instead of taking their own lives.

A good example of raising awareness is the mega charity Wounded Warrior Project.  Yep, those guys.  Their stated mission was to "raise awareness" but they forgot to mention that they were interested in making folks aware they wanted them to be aware of WWP.  Not much else. It worked.


What followed their success was a growing emergence of groups raising awareness of suffering and collecting money to do it. Would have been terrific had they actually provided awareness of what works, which they had nothing to do with considering it all started decades ago.  Would have been great if anyone was aware of that.

For years they have been putting on commercials, asking for money, holding some type of fundraising event and then taking a large portion of that money and donating it to colleges along with other charities.  If anyone is angry about that, suggest you think about the commercials because they never once said what they were going to do with your money. 


One more suggestion is that you also check their website from time to time considering it is all on it topped off with press releases that no one manages to read.

They are reorganizing and they are cutting staff according to a report from News4Jax.

Sources said Jeremy Chwat, the chief strategy officer, was let go this week. His biography says he was a founding member of the charity; the non-profit claims there were 27 original founders, although John Melia says he and his family founded the organization in 2004.
According to the organization's most recent tax filings, Chwat's compensation was higher than $300,000 annually in salary and benefits. His departure means four out of five chief officers are now gone in the wake of the charity's spending scandal.
But while the report says it is the largest, it isn't. It isn't new either. None of this is new but apparently there has been a resurrection of the snake oil salesman. All they have to do is talk about the problem without ever offering anything that would change the outcome.

So as the number of veterans committing suicide remains higher than the civilian population, one more thing that everyone should be made aware of is that civilians are not prepared to die for the sake of someone else as a career. (Ok, I lied.  Actually two things to be aware of.) They were also trained in "prevention" that only managed to feed the stigma while civilians were told it was to save their lives.  So how is it that their numbers are higher than the civilian rate of suicides?

Too few were made aware of SNAKE OIL salesmen not saying a damn thing that made a difference for veterans.

Suicide Prevention Month: #BeThere

Suicide Prevention Month: #BeThere
VA Highlights Initiatives to Prevent Veteran and Servicemember Suicide


WASHINGTON – Today marks the start of Suicide Prevention Month and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is asking for the entire nation’s help in reducing Veteran suicide. VA is calling on community leaders, supervisors, colleagues, friends, and family members to BeThere for Veterans and Service members starting with a simple act, which can play a pivotal role in preventing suicide.

“You don’t have to be a trained professional to support someone who may be going through a difficult time,” said Dr. Caitlin Thompson, Director of the VA Office of Suicide Prevention. “We want to let people know that things they do every day, like calling an old friend or checking in with a neighbor, are strong preventive factors for suicide because they help people feel less alone. That’s what this campaign is about - encouraging people to be there for each other.”

The campaign also highlights VA resources that are available to support Veterans and Servicemembers who are coping with mental health challenges or are at risk for suicide, and it encourages everyone to share these resources with someone in their life.

“We hope our Suicide Prevention Month efforts help educate people about the VA and community resources available nationwide,” said VA Under Secretary for Health David J. Shulkin, M.D. “We’re committed to working with experts and organizations across the country to identify ways we can help Veterans and Servicemembers get the care they deserve and to expand the network of mental health support.”

Veteran suicide data released by the VA Office of Suicide Prevention in early August 2016 serves as a foundation for informing and evaluating suicide prevention efforts inside the VA health care system and for developing lifesaving collaborations with community-based health care partners.

VA plans to host a series of roundtable discussions with key stakeholder groups in the coming months as part of its plan to develop a public health strategy for preventing Veteran suicide. In August, VA hosted its first roundtable discussion, “Suicide Prevention is Everyone’s Business,” with corporate sector partners. In September, VA will host the Veterans Affairs Suicide Prevention Innovations event, which will bring together a community of experts from business, industry, academia, and government agencies to collaboratively identify solutions for reducing suicide rates among Veterans and Servicemembers. In addition, new programs such as REACH VET are being launched nationwide in September to identify Veterans in VHA care who may be vulnerable, in order to provide the care they need before a crisis occurs.

For more information about VA’s suicide prevention efforts:

Suicide Prevention Month website: VeteransCrisisLine.net/BeThere
Suicide Prevention Month toolkit: VeteransCrisisLine.net/SpreadTheWord
Suicide Prevention Fact Sheet
VA’s Veterans Crisis Line: Call 1-800-273-8255 and Press 1; chat online at VeteransCrisisLine.net/Chat or text to 838255 — even if a Veteran is not registered with VA or enrolled in VA health care.
Make the Connection website: http://maketheconnection.net
VA Mental Health website: http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov