Camp Shelby Soldiers Shot At Again

Gunfire reported near Camp Shelby for second straight day
CNN
By Jason Hanna and Shawn Nottingham
August 5, 2015

(CNN)For the second straight day, an unidentified man has fired gunshots near the Camp Shelby military post in southern Mississippi, the National Guard said Wednesday.

The latest gunfire happened about 8 a.m. (9 a.m. ET) Wednesday in the same area where gunshots were reported on Tuesday, near a military checkpoint east of the base, Mississippi National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Christian Patterson said.

Shots fired near Camp Shelby in Mississippi

County authorities and the military are looking for whoever fired the shots, described in both cases as a white male in a red pickup truck, Patterson said.

Information on whether anyone was targeted in either case wasn't immediately available, though authorities noted that soldiers were at the checkpoint on the county road during Tuesday's incident.
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Shots Fired At Camp Shelby Soldiers

Shots fired at Camp Shelby soldiers 
Clarion Ledger
Therese Apel
August 4, 2015

WDAM reported that Lt. Col. Christian Patterson at Camp Shelby said shots were fired as the truck drove past the base and soldiers were in the area.

2:24 p.m. update

WDAM reporter Ryan Moore is reporting that Perry County sheriff deputies are questioning a pair of white male suspects who "pulled up from driving another truck" while authorities were at a residence investigating a vehicle matching the description of the truck used in the Camp Shelby shooting.

2:22 p.m. update

While Camp Shelby soldiers participated in an exercise drill, an unidentified pickup truck passed by and fired shots. Lt. Col. Christian Patterson, director of public affairs at the Mississippi Military Department, said that no one was injured and that the soldiers on site reported the incident to civilian authorities. Patterson said that the incident was not being viewed as an active shooter situation and that increased security measures have been taken recently to protect soldiers. The Perry County Sheriff’s office is handling the case.

Perry County Sheriff Jimmy Dale Smith said investigators are following up on a few leads at this point. There are officials at a residence in Perry County that has a vehicle that matches the description of the one used in the shooting, Smith said.

Sheriff Smith said he needs to speak to the soldiers who were shot at to find out more about the incident, but that at this point the shooters could be charged with anything from simple to aggravated assault.
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Soldiers Respond to Dangerous Truck Accident

Soldiers Respond to Dangerous Truck Accident
Blackanthem Military News
By Capt. Jimmy Kow, 3rd Battalion, 348th Regiment, 158th Infantry Brigade
Mar 27, 2014

CAMP SHELBY, Miss. – Three Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 348th Regiment were among the first to respond to an overturned 18-wheeled tractor-trailer carrying flammable material on Interstate-59 in Hattiesburg, Miss. March 11.

The truck, carrying liquid acrylonitrile, an explosive compound, skidded off the road and crashed into the embankment.

“I was just doing my job as a Soldier,” said Sgt. 1st Class Jeremiah Christy, a combat medic was the first Soldier to arrive at the scene.

Christy explained he parked his vehicle in the distance and ran up to the truck within a minute after the crash. When he arrived, a civilian was trying to kick in the windshield to free the driver. Christy said he immediately took control of the situation and directed the driver to free himself and climb out from the door.

As the driver was climbing out of the vehicle Capt. Amanda McDonald, a chemical officer and a nurse by trade, arrived to provide assistance.

The truck was leaking diesel and hazardous fumes from its cargo. McDonald and Christy escorted the driver away from the fumes before McDonald further evaluated the driver.
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Florida businesses get National Guardsmen home for Christmas

180 National Guardsmen going home in time for Christmas
Florida companies donate money to help soldiers get home
WESH News
Rikki Klaus
December 19, 2013

ORLANDO, Fla. —Several Florida companies are rising to a challenge this holiday season and helping to bring 180 National Guardsmen and women home in time for Christmas.

"It's going to be a wonderful day when they get home. Especially when they've been gone since February," said Gov. Rick Scott.

Three hundred members of the Florida National Guard's 3rd Artillery Battalion are scheduled to arrive at Camp Shelby in Mississippi on Christmas Eve. They just completed a security-force mission in Qatar.

Many were going to miss out on Christmas at home until 10 Florida companies stepped up and donated money to get them home for the holidays.

It's a Christmas gift military officials say will be invaluable to the soldiers and their families. read more here

More than 300 members of the Florida Army National Guard’s 3rd Battalion, 116th Field Artillery Regiment, are scheduled to return to the U.S. after a nearly year-long deployment in Southwest Asia, and thanks to support from Florida retailers and The American Legion they will be able to come home to central Florida while on pass for the Christmas holiday.
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Therapeutic garden unearths soldier’s will

Therapeutic garden unearths soldier’s will
Beauregard Daily News
By Kathy Ports
Posted Dec. 13, 2013

Working in a therapeutic garden she helped develop has given Staff Sgt. Carolyn Darnell, a demobilized National Guard soldier in the Warrior Transition Unit, the strength to emerge from her room and the motivation to begin working her way out of her depression.

“Working in the garden allows you to let your mind go,” she said. “I gently planted those plants, nurtured them, watched them grow and it gave me the strength to come out of the dark cave I was in."

Darnell deployed to Iraq twice –– 2004 to 2006 and 2007 to 2009. From 2009 to July 2012, she was mobilized at Camp Shelby, Miss. Each deployment took its toll.

“My first deployment was tough," she said. We sustained a lot of mortar attacks. One time, I was on the phone with my mother and the shelling started. I really thought that I was going to die that night and I didn’t want my mother to be on the other end of the telephone if the end came."

The first deployment had more tough lessons in store for Darnell.
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Vietnam Veteran's medals replaced after originals lost to hurricane Katrina

Vet receives new Purple Heart, other medals lost during Katrina
Posted: Aug 09, 2012
By Charles Herrington
WDAM News

Courtesy: Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center Public Affairs Office
CAMP SHELBY, MS (WDAM)

A Hattiesburg Vietnam veteran who lost his Purple Heart and other service medals in Hurricane Katrina has had them replaced, thanks to Congressman Steven Palazzo.

Navy veteran Michael Risley was presented with the Military Order of the Purple Heart at Camp Shelby Thursday morning.
He originally received the medal for wounds he suffered in Vietnam in 1968.
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Two tour Mom of two killed in car accident going to work

Iraq War vet killed in car wreck
Hinds Sheriff's employee served 2 tours, had 2 children
Jun. 26, 2012
Written by
Therese Apel

Col. Samuel T. Nichols, Jr, shakes Shametra Stamps' hand at Camp Shelby recently. The mother of two who served two tours in Iraq died in a car wreck Friday in Hinds County. / File photo/Hattiesburg American

Shametra "Meme" Stamps survived two tours in Iraq, including one as a driver.

On Friday morning, the veteran driver with the 365th Combat Support Sustainment Battalion out of Jackson, also a recent Hinds County Sheriff's Department employee, was killed in a car crash on her way to work.

"She put down many a mile up and down those roads in Iraq," said Sgt. Maj. Dwayne Howard, for whom Stamps was a driver both overseas and at home.

Stamps was a pro, he said. Even under fire, she kept her head.

Stamps, 30, who her friends say was a "girly girl," always maintained a positive attitude in spite of the rigors of the job.
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Mississippi Air National Guardsman died Friday at Camp Shelby

Air guardsman dead at Camp Shelby
Apr. 7, 2012

JACKSON — A Mississippi Air National Guardsman died Friday while performing duties at the Air-Ground Range at Camp Shelby.
Master Sgt. Kevin L. Johnson, 51, of McHenry was pronounced dead Friday afternoon at Forrest General Hospital after collapsing at the range.
An autopsy was scheduled for Monday to determine the cause of death. read more here

Wife arrested in Camp Shelby MP’s shooting

Wife arrested in Shelby MP’s shooting
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jan 24, 2012 9:55:05 EST
HATTIESBURG, Miss. — The wife of a Camp Shelby soldier has been charged with shooting him.

Forrest County Sheriff Billy McGee says 30-year-old Tiffany Wright was arrested Monday and charged with aggravated assault.

McGee says the shooting appeared to stem from a domestic issue.
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Camp Shelby MP shot while making rounds

Camp Shelby MP shot while making rounds
The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Jan 21, 2012 15:13:00 EST
CAMP SHELBY, Miss. — A military policeman at Camp Shelby was shot Friday by someone at the base’s north gate but was saved by the protective vest he was wearing.

Camp Shelby officials said the shooting happened about midnight Friday.
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Camp Shelby using video to prevent military suicides

Preventing Soldier Suicides


Posted: Jan 10, 2012

Camp Shelby, MS (WDAM) - Suicide rates in the military have been rising for the past six years, but folks at Mississippi's Camp Shelby are trying an inventive new method to combat that trend.

They've made a video.

With the base as their stage, and the soldiers as actors, they're considering it a success.

"Everyone was a little bit nervous. We're soldiers by trade, so we're not starring in our first Hollywood debut," said Major Deidre Musgrave, Camp Shelby public affairs officer.

Soldiers from the base star in the 23 minute video they have produced; an attempt to make suicide a subject to talk about, rather than one that is taboo.

"You can see training videos all day long - it's getting the information out. But when you put a home base, or a hometown touch to it," said Staff Sergeant Jeannie Whaley. "They start paying more attention,"

The movie is geared toward soldiers specifically, and the problems they can sometimes have to deal with all at once.

Problems at home, being a parent, a new marriage, the stress of leaving home suddenly, and the pressures of being a soldier away from home.

At some moment in the video staff say soldiers laugh at a little bit because they may recognize an officer playing a character, but the staff say that's a good sign - it means they're paying attention.

Suicide among soldiers has been rising for the last six years.
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Dad headed to Iraq delivers baby girl

Dad headed to Iraq delivers baby girl
Associated Press
Dec. 30, 2009, 1:16PM

PADUCAH, Ky. — Spc. Mark May sat on the Motel 6 bathroom floor, crying and kissing his newborn daughter as he rubbed her frantically with a towel.

"Breathe, baby, breathe!" he told her.

When Amby Lynn May cried Tuesday morning, it was one of the most beautiful sounds he ever heard, he said.

Ambys mother, Amber May, 22, of Morehead, wasn't due to have Amby until Jan. 18. She'd even taken precautions to make sure an early arrival wasn't imminent. Before agreeing to drive her husband to Paducah to leave with the Kentucky Army National Guard's 2113th Transportation Company, Amber visited her doctor Monday.

"Everything is fine," he told her.

The Mays decided to drive to Paducah on Monday because Mark May, a construction and combat engineer, was supposed to be at the Paducah armory at 9 a.m. The unit was home on Christmas leave, but left Tuesday morning for training at Camp Shelby, Miss., in preparation for deploying to Iraq later this year.
read more here
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6792264.html

Ala. guardsmen honored for aiding crash victims

Ala. guardsmen honored for aiding crash victims


The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Aug 28, 2009 10:20:03 EDT

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama National Guard soldiers who rescued passengers when a Louisiana church bus wrecked on Interstate 20 are being honored with commendation medals.

The 47 soldiers were returning to Aliceville from drill at Camp Shelby, Miss., on July 12 when the tire blew out on a 30-passenger bus in front of them carrying members of the First Baptist Church of Shreveport, La.

The bus rolled over three times. The soldiers had to lift the bus so trapped victims could be freed. They also directed traffic and helped the injured until emergency personnel arrived.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/08/ap_guard_alabama_bus_rescue_082809/

A family's sacrifice: Three brothers sent to war

A family's sacrifice: Three brothers sent to war
By Thom Patterson
CNN
Story Highlights
It's unusual: Three brothers serve in same Georgia National Guard company

Another three brothers from Washington state also serve in Afghan war

Two mothers open up about the stress of having three sons in harm's way

Nevada Army National Guard unit has nine sets of brothers serving in Afghanistan


Huddling in a parking lot outside a motel near Camp Shelby, Mississippi, the Callaway family members hold on to what they value most: their faith and each other. Mark and Karmen Callaway clutched their three soldier sons before sending them off to Afghanistan. "I know that people lose their children every day," said Karmen Callaway. "A fear that I have is that something will happen to all three of them." full story

Few answers year after body of guardsman found

What will it take to get the military to finally figure out what happened? A movie of the week deal? How could they leave the family suffering without answers? Will reporters beat down their doors for answers? Someone must know something!

Few answers year after body of guardsman found

By Holbrook Mohr - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jun 2, 2009 12:47:16 EDT

JACKSON, Miss. — One year after the skeletal remains of a Kentucky soldier were found in the woods on a South Mississippi military base just days before his unit left for Iraq, his death is still a mystery.

Spc. Ryan Longnecker, a Kentucky National Guard soldier, was training at Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg, Miss., when he disappeared Aug. 6, 2007. His body was found June 3, 2008.

Several theories about the death and apparent inconsistencies in the case have left Longnecker’s family with questions they fear may never be answered, said Shirley Ann Longnecker of Cambridge City, Ind., the soldier’s paternal grandmother.

“They were supposed to give lie detector tests to a couple of the guys that he had a run-in with earlier, and somebody’s keeping them from talking about it,” the grandmother said. “We still feel like there could be foul play, but we don’t know.”

Longnecker’s nose and jaw were broken when the remains were found in a secluded area on the massive, 136,000-acre base just two days before his unit shipped out, Shirley Ann Longnecker said. The military would not confirm that to The Associated Press.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/06/ap_longnecker_one_year_060209/

Death of Spc. Ryan Longnecker still unsolved

Guardsman’s death still a mystery

By Holbrook Mohr - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Sep 29, 2008 13:49:30 EDT

JACKSON, Miss. — Military investigators are still tying to determine what happened to a Kentucky National Guardsman nearly four months after his skeletal remains were found on a Mississippi base and urged anyone with information to contact them, authorities said Monday.

Spc. Ryan Longnecker, 19, was training at Camp Shelby in south Mississippi when he disappeared Aug. 6, 2007, just two days before his unit left for Iraq. Soon after he vanished, the military announced that Longnecker had run off with two guns and turned the case over to the U.S. Marshals Service.

His remains, however, were found by another soldier June 3 in the woods on the sprawling 136,000-acre training base between two roads and a few hundred yards from a building, authorities have said. Longnecker’s two military issue weapons, an assault rifle and pistol, were found nearby.

“It is an undetermined death investigation at this point,” Chris Grey, an Army spokesman, said.

The soldier’s father, Bryan Longnecker, a retired Marine from Milton, Ind., said there’s been much speculation about what happened, but nothing concrete has surfaced.

“It don’t make no sense,” Bryan Longnecker said. “I don’t want to call it a possible drug overdose, but that’s the only thing that’s made sense to me so far.”
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/ap_longnecker_092909/

Group reaches out to families, soldiers battling PTSD

Group reaches out to families, soldiers battling PTSD
Ed Kemp • Hattiesburg American • July 9, 2008

As many as one in eight soldiers returning from Iraq suffer from post-traumatic stress, the Department of Veterans Affairs has concluded.

The wife of one such soldier is forming a community group to combat the problem.

Last month, Heather Smith, 33, established PTSD Military Support Group in Mississippi, designed to allow veterans and their families to meet and discuss the issues they face as a result of the disorder.

So far, 15-20 people have expressed interest in the group, Smith said. An opening meeting date remains to be set.

"People don't know it's hard for the veterans to come out and admit anger issues and guilt issues," she said. "It took my husband five years."

Her husband, former Marine Sgt. Marty Smith, 27, was diagnosed with the disorder after being deployed to Iraq in 2003.

Among those aiding Smith in her endeavors are Master Sgt. James Benefield, who works with the Family Assistance Center at Camp Shelby; Col. Peter Bauer, chief of behavioral health for Medical Task Force Shelby; and Chaplain Tommy Fuller, the camp's instillation chaplain.

Fuller, who has ministered to PTSD sufferers, expressed enthusiasm for the idea, stating that he was unaware of any precedent for a community PTSD group. He said it's a necessary addition to the resources available for returning soldiers
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http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080709/NEWS/807090359/1001/news

Would have been really great if someone had told some of these people it is what we did in the 90's but the programs were dropped.

Remains ID’d as missing guardsman Spc. Ryan K. Longnecker

Remains ID’d as missing guardsman

By Holbrook Mohr - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Jun 14, 2008 6:52:37 EDT

JACKSON, Miss. — The human remains found on a Mississippi National Guard base are a Kentucky guardsman who disappeared in 2007, two days before his unit left for Iraq, the military confirmed Friday.

Spc. Ryan K. Longnecker, 19, was training with his Kentucky National Guard unit at Camp Shelby in south Mississippi when he was reported missing on Aug. 6, 2007.

Lt. Col. Doril Sanders, a base spokesman, said Longnecker’s remains were found June 3 in a secluded area of the 136,000-acre base south of Hattiesburg.

Sanders said Longecker’s two military issued weapons, an assault rifle and a pistol, were also found. The military did not release a cause of death and would not say whether Longnecker had ammunition at the time of his disappearance.

Shirley Ann Longnecker, the soldier’s paternal grandmother, said Friday the military is still trying to determine how her grandson died and that his body has been sent for an autopsy.

The remains were found between two roads and “probably a few hundred yards from a building in a secluded area,” Forrest County Coroner Butch Benedict has said.

Longnecker, of Glasgow, Ky., was originally classified as absent without leave and his case was turned over to the U.S. Marshals Service when he was not located.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/06/ap_longnecker_061308/

Sgt. Toby Nunn and Bad Voodoo's War

Bad Voodoo's War

Rules of Engagement

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/badvoodoo/view/main.html

Bad Voodoo Platoon sets off to Iraq.
National Guard soldiers getting ready to go to Iraq.


Camp Shelby Mississippi

Sgt. Toby Nunn Platoon Sgt. May 2007 trains 30 men in his platoon for the surge. He wanted to get a break on college costs. He was in the Balkins in the Army and is now on his 9th deployment with this deployment to Iraq. Most of the men with him have been on multiple tours.

Jason Shaw volunteered to go back to Iraq to be with his friends. He went in 2003. He went back in 2005. This was his third tour. He's been diagnosed with PTSD and says there are a lot of others. He wanted to be able to help the new guys with his experience. He already has a Silver Star.

Balkins: Nunn was trying to calm down an argument between a Muslim and a Christian. They didn't think he could be neutral. He told them he didn't care because he was
Bad Voodoo's War

Rules of Engagement

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/badvoodoo/view/main.html

Bad Voodoo Platoon sets off to Iraq.
National Guard soldiers getting ready to go to Iraq.


Camp Shelby Mississippi

Sgt. Toby Nunn Platoon Sgt. May 2007 trains 30 men in his platoon for the surge. He wanted to get a break on college costs. He was in the Balkins in the Army and is now on his 9th deployment with this deployment to Iraq. Most of the men with him have been on multiple tours.

Jason Shaw volunteered to go back to Iraq to be with his friends. He went in 2003. He went back in 2005. This was his third tour. He's been diagnosed with PTSD and says there are a lot of others. He wanted to be able to help the new guys with his experience.

Balkins: Nunn was trying to calm down an argument between a Muslim and a Christian. They didn't think he could be neutral. He told them he didn't care because he was Voodoo. When his men were trying to pick a name, they decided to take Bad Voodoo.