Wednesday, November 28, 2018

North Carolina Veteran Population Dropping, VA Enrollment Growing

Veteran Population In NC Steadily Declining


WUNC 91.5 NPR
Jay Price
November 26, 2018

Despite the downturn in the number of veterans, the VA here has been seeing its enrollment grow, as a higher percentage of veterans sign up for VA care.

North Carolina is home to two of the world’s largest military bases — the Army’s Fort Bragg and the Marine Corps’ Camp Lejeune — but the state’s population of veterans is steadily declining.

Last year the number of veterans in North Carolina dropped to about 656,000. That’s down nearly 90,000 from a decade earlier, according to US census bureau estimates.

The number has steadily fallen from a plateau a decade ago. That’s despite the substantial rise in the state’s overall population, according to a new report from UNC.

A big reason that the population is falling off so much is that the veterans of the draft-fueled buildup during the Vietnam War era now dominate the veteran population, but are “aging out ” said Rebecca Tippett is the director of Carolina Demography at the Carolina Population Center.

The veteran population is older than the average, she said.

“The result of that is that you’re going to see much higher mortality rates, and overall population decline because young veterans are not replacing older veterans at a fast enough rate and are not likely to,” Tippett said.
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Missing veteran's body found at Fort Hood

Body found on Fort Hood identified


KWTX News

FORT HOOD, Texas - ​Fort Hood Directorate of Emergency Services personnel discovered a body in the vicinity of Belton Lake and Outdoor Recreation Area last Tuesday.

The man has been identified as Retired Navy Seaman Craig Nobel.

Nobel was registered at the BLORA Deer Park RV Lot and was reported missing by a family member. Law enforcement officials later found Nobel’s remains in a wooded area near the park.
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Tuesday, November 27, 2018

PTSD Netherlands Veterans Survived Combat, But Country Can Kill Them?

Netherlands Euthanasia for PTSD?

Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 27, 2018

One of my co-workers walked over to my desk with a very stunned expression. She showed me a printout of an article she saw on FOX. "Belgian officials are investigating whether doctors improperly euthanized a woman with autism, the first criminal investigation in a euthanasia case since the practice was legalized in 2002 in the European nation." 


Three doctors from East Flanders are being investigated on suspicion of having "poisoned" Tine Nys in 2010. The 38-year-old had been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism, two months before she died in an apparently legal killing by a doctor that she had asked for.


The article went on with this piece of news. "In the 15 years since doctors were granted the right to legally kill patients, more than 10,000 people have been euthanized. Only one case has previously been referred to prosecutors; that case was later dropped."

I looked up what I could find from journals and official reports.

Actually it seems the Netherlands has a problem with citizens with in any of these health issues.

This is from JAMA research

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide of Patients with Psychiatric Disorders in the Netherlands 2011–2014


If you have PTSD, they can help you die? Seriously? If you are grieving and depressed they can help you die? If you have Autism?

If their citizens are given up on that easily, then safe bet their veterans are as well.

Smoky Mountain News has this about PTSD and "The Last Post bugle."
“The Last Post bugle call originated in the late 1600s when Britain was campaigning in the Netherlands,” said Ulrich. “Every night they would go to each of the camps, and make sure the outposts were set up so they wouldn’t be attacked. They would have drummers play to signal their movements from camp to camp. At the very last one, ‘The Last Post’ was played, and that meant that it was time to return. It signaled the end of a soldier’s day, but now it commemorates the end of a soldier’s life.”

Ulrich’s collection of relics will also be on display, along with those of others; rounding out the event will be members of the school’s English department, who’ll read poetry and other works, as well as history professor David Dorondo, who’ll be on hand to answer questions about the war.One of them might be on the historical perspective of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD; Ulrich said that although PTSD has been recognized since antiquity, it’s evolved from being called “shell shock” during WWI and “battle fatigue” during WWII.
But it seems the Netherlands has a problem with veterans and PTSD.

Srebrenica massacre army veterans drop damages claim against Dutch state
Dutch News NL
June 22, 2018

A group of army veterans who were suing the Dutch state for compensation for the trauma they suffered after being sent on ‘an impossible mission’ in Srebrenica have dropped their claim, the Telegraaf said on Friday. Some 230 men in 2017 launched their campaign for a ‘symbolic’ €22,000 each – or €1,000 for every year since the Srebrenica massacre took place. The soldiers were serving in the Dutch battalion Dutchbat III protecting the Muslim enclave in 1995 when it was over-run by Bosnian Serbs. They rounded up and massacred some 8,000 men and boys while under the control of Dutch soldiers.
Part of the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial. Photo: Dinos Michail via Depositphotos.com
Trust
Their lawyer Michael Ruperti has now told the Telegraaf that they now had sufficient trust that the defence ministry would give them sufficient support to drop the claim. ‘This has never been about money. This was a lever to make the defence ministry realise that something needs to be done to do justice to this group,’ he said. The veterans claimed the Dutch government could have known the mission was impossible to execute and say the outside world has blamed them for not being able to prevent the massacre. This, they says, has caused them social, emotional and financial damage. The defence ministry currently only compensates soldiers who can prove that they are suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

It has bothered me for a long time that I do not seem to find reports out of the Netherlands on veterans with PTSD. Now I know why. Really odd considering that I heard from University of Rotterdam back in 2006.


Which shows they were way ahead of many other countries around the world. So how did they arrive at this heartbreaking decision that mental health patients are so hopeless and helpless that death is fine with them?

Connecticut taking care of veterans the DOD failed

Connecticut VA Opens Its Doors To 'Bad Paper' Veterans

NPR All Things Considered
November 26, 2018

For an estimated 500,000 veterans, being put out of the military with an other than honorable discharge is a source of shame and an obstacle to employment. "Bad paper," in most cases, means no benefits or health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs — even when the problems that got them kicked out were linked to PTSD, traumatic brain injury or military sexual assault.
Thomas Burke, a pastor at the Norfield Congregational Church in Weston, Conn., recently became Norfield's associate minister of children, youth and families. Monica Jorge for NPR
But last month, Connecticut opened state VA resources to vets who can show that one of those conditions is linked to their discharge. For veterans like Thomas Burke, now a youth minister at Norfield Congregational Church, it's part of a long path to recovery.
"When I first started looking for jobs, I did not want to be a youth minister to kids, because my PTSD stems from a traumatic event where I failed children," says Burke.
*******
Glad they used "estimated 500,000" because we know it is a lot more...and happened to every generation of veterans. It is at least 2 million 300,000 with a majority of them dealing with PTSD.

Deployed Apache helicopter pilot's home robbed, by "friend"

This is a soldier deployed in Afghanistan
Deputies in Halifax County received a report of the break-in on Elwyn Drive on Oct. 18. Jeff Foley says his son, CWO2 Brad Foley, flies Apache helicopters and is deployed with the North Carolina National Guard.

And this is the "friend" who took advantage of deployment.

Deployed soldier's home ransacked by childhood friend

Monday, November 26, 2018

Week after attempted suicide, UK veteran succeeded

My son was left to die alone


The Express UK
By SIAN HEWITT
Nov 25, 2018

A GRIEVING mother has told of a string of failures that led to her war hero son killing himself. Danny Johnston of the Special Reconnaissance, sister unit of the SAS, took his own life in May while suffering post-traumatic stress disorder.
PROUD... Danny loved his career in the Army but the force he served went on to ignore his plight (Image: Mark Kehoe)
"It is only since his death that I have been made aware of the incredible work he did," Mrs Johnston said. "He was a genuine hero." But Danny's career was cut short when, on leave, he was found with non-prescription Valium. Mrs Johnston said: "He never slept well. He had seen a lot - I still don't know the depths of what he witnessed but he used the Valium to sleep, only while he was off duty at home. But he was immediately discharged.

Now his mother Viv has revealed the blunders that led to the 35-year-old elite soldier's body being found in woodland near his home in Bognor Regis, West Sussex, three days after he went missing. Mrs Johnston reveals how: ? Danny had made an attempt on his life a week before his death but doctors failed to help him. She was forced to call for help from ex-Army colleagues to form a search party after an "inadequate" police response.

A police officer falsely announced on social media that Danny had been found, a mistake which resulted in search efforts dwindling while Danny was still missing.

Family friend and Coronation Street actor Daniel Brocklebank, who plays Billy Mayhew, joined in the search and also made a missing person's appeal on Twitter.

"Danny was too special to die alone the way he did," Mrs Johnston said. "He gave his all for this country, only to be completely let down in his hour of need.
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Did Burn Pits Kill General?

Vt. Guard general’s death draws attention to burn pit dangers


Providence Journal
Donita Naylor
November 25, 2018

Flags in Vermont are flying at half-staff in honor of a former Rhode Islander, Vermont National Guard Brig. Gen. Michael T. Heston, 58, who died Nov. 14 from an aggressive cancer linked to his three tours of duty in Afghanistan, one with the Rhode Island National Guard.
Flags in Vermont are flying at half-staff in honor of a former Rhode Islander, Vermont National Guard Brig. Gen. Michael T. Heston, 58, who died Nov. 14 from an aggressive cancer linked to his three tours of duty in Afghanistan, one with the Rhode Island National Guard.

Heston was buried with full military honors at the Veterans Cemetery in Randolph, Vermont, on Saturday. An order from Vermont Gov. Philip B. Scott said flags would be flown at half-staff until sunset Monday.

Heston, the oldest son of Thomas and Dorothea Heston, grew up in Cumberland, graduating from Cumberland High School in 1978 and from Roger Williams College in 1982.

During his 34-year military career, he rose to the second-highest rank in the Vermont National Guard. He was also a trooper in the Vermont State Police for 26 years, retiring as a sergeant in 2010.
June Heston, his wife of 30 years, told Fox News that in 2016, four years after returning from his last deployment in Afghanistan, he began having back pain. He was diagnosed 10 months later with stage IV pancreatic cancer. No one had thought of testing for cancer.

She said Sunday night that Mike’s oncologist “did all the genetic and genomic testing” and found that his cancer “was not hereditary in any way.” The doctor wrote to the Veterans Administration with his conclusion that the cancer had an environmental cause.
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Sunday, November 25, 2018

Suicidal veteran lost lawsuit against Tampa Police

Man loses suit against Tampa police after being shot in face during attempted suicide call


Tampa Bay Times
Anastasia Dawson
Times Staff
November 24, 2018

A Tampa real estate agent’s four-year legal battle against the city of Tampa and its police department came to an end last week, when a jury sided with the officer who shot him twice in the face during a call meant to prevent his suicide.
Jason and Amanda Turk pose with their three daughters (from left) Emily, 12, with daughters Emily, 12, Anabel, 3, and Adeline, 5. [Courtesy of Jason Turk]
The federal lawsuit Jason Turk filed in August 2014 claimed that the city and then-Chief Jane Castor failed to provide the necessary de-escalation and crisis intervention training required for officers to successfully answer calls for help involving the mentally ill.

“I want the Tampa Police Department to take crisis intervention training more seriously and implement it into their training the way the (Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office) and countless police departments across the country do," Turk, 42, told the Tampa Bay Times. "It is an important component of policing because most calls into police involve some sort of mental health crisis. Not every call is about chasing down a bad guy."

One call for help came from Turk's wife, Amanda, in the early morning of Jan. 9, 2014. Turk, an 11-year Navy veteran, had become estranged from his wife and was suffering from severe depression. He was drinking heavily that night when he recorded himself reading aloud from a suicide note and sent the video to his wife, who then called 911.

She told the operator her husband was threatening to kill himself, and added a crucial detail: “He knows if cops come and he won’t put down the gun that they’ll shoot him,” she can be heard telling the operator in a recording of the 911 call. The police classified the call a “suicide by cop.”

It still haunts her, she said.

Turk admits he had a pistol in his lap when K-9 Officer Timothy Bergman spotted him sitting in his car as it idled in the driveway of the Tampa Heights home where Turk moved during a trial separation from his wife. But Turk insists the only person ever threatened by the weapon was himself.
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Air Force Staff Sgt. Anthony James Dean and family killed in accident

Update: Air Force family in fatal highway accident identified


Valley News
Joshua Peguero
November 23, 2018

GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D (Valley News Live) – Update: Staff Sgt. Anthony James Dean, 25, assigned to the 69th Maintenance Squadron, was killed in a vehicle accident near Billings, Montana, over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Dean’s remains were recovered alongside those of his wife, Chelsi Kay Dean, 25. Also deceased in the accident are their two daughters Kaytlin Merie Dean, 5, and Avri James Dean, 1.

“Words are not enough during a time like this,” said Maj. Eric Inkenbrandt, 69th Maintenance Squadron commander. “AJ’s family brought a light to our maintenance community, and this loss strikes each of us deeply. May their friends and family be granted the strength and serenity to get through this sorrowful time.”

Montana Highway Patrol discovered the accident scene early Saturday morning after searching for the missing family since Thanksgiving Day. Initial reports indicate they were traveling on Interstate 94 when the vehicle went off the road, eventually coming to rest in a creek. The crash remains under investigation by the Montana Highway Patrol.
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Navy veteran Taveta Hobbs still missing

North Carolina Navy veteran Taveta Hobbs remains missing a decade after her Thanksgiving week disappearance

NBC News
Juliet Muir
November 23, 2018

Growing up, Taveta Hobbs and her younger brother Clinton Crier were very close, Clinton told Dateline.

“She was a sweetheart,” Clinton told Dateline. “We had a huge love for each other because I was her younger brother, and she really looked after me.”

As she grew older, Taveta showed an interest in serving in the United States Armed Forces and joined the Navy in 1982.

“She was moving around a lot then, so we became less close,” Clinton said about their relationship. He told Dateline the two would still speak on the phone whenever possible.

In 1992, Taveta married Phil Hobbs. The couple lived in Virginia before moving to California, and then ending up in Raleigh, North Carolina in 2004, Clinton told Dateline.

No longer in the Navy, Taveta took a job with Salesforce about 20 minutes away in Carey, while she studied to be a certified stenographer.

Clinton, who lives in California, told Dateline that at a 2007 family gathering, he and Taveta had an argument. “It was a stupid argument that blew up. And some other frustrations boiled over,” he told Dateline.
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