Army Reserve Medic Missing in Japan

Colorado man missing in Japan
NBC 9 News Colorado
February 22, 2017

KUSA - Rescuers and volunteers are searching for a Colorado man who disappeared while skiing Happo-one in Nagano, Japan.

Cpt. Mathew Healy, Army Reserves, is an OEF Veteran with combat medic experience according to family members. He along with his wife and 2 children have been living in Japan for 2 years as a part of his wife’s Air Force assignment in Okinawa.
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UPDATE

Search continues for lost US skier in Japan

Will Staff Sgt. Cory Griffin Get Justice and Help?

Judge considers shortening ex-soldier's sentence due to PTSD
By: Associated Press
Posted: Feb 13, 2017

Staff Sgt. Cory Griffin

COLORADO SPRINGS - A judge in central Colorado is considering reducing a former soldier's sentence for drunkenly shooting his friend based on whether he is receiving adequate mental health care in prison.

The Gazette of Colorado Springs reports that 4th Judicial District Judge Lin Billings-Vela said on Thursday that reports that former Staff Sgt. Cory Griffin's mental health is deteriorating while he serves his eight-year sentence may rise to the level of an extraordinary circumstance that merits a sentence reduction.
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Marine Mom Helped Stranded Marine

Stranded marine on a trip across the US gets help from local military mom
Thanks to a Facebook group, he got the help he needed
Your Central Valley.com
Posted: Feb 12, 2017

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. - While most were preparing to watch the Super Bowl last Sunday, a marine driving a truck through Colorado was stuck when his it broke down on his journey home.

His truck broke down, and he was stranded for four hours until a stranger whose son is also a marine learned of his troubles and offered a hand.

"You talk about it, and you just get goosebumps. It's just a wonderful feeling that I was able to help him and get him off the road," Shauna Zelenka said.

Zelenka was browsing through a Facebook page for marine families -- missing her deployed son -- when she came across a post from a mother in Iowa.

It mentioned New Castle, Colorado -- a town only 10 minutes east of Zelenka's home in Silt.

"I saw that this marine who had just been discharged from the military was stuck on I-70," Zelenka said.

The Marine was Chris Sims.

"I was like, 'I'll take all the help I can get,'" Sims said.
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Fort Campbell Hurricane Force Winds

Hurricane-force winds down trees, topple trucks and prompt outages around Colorado Springs
The Gazette
By: Jakob Rodgers
January 10, 2017

In El Paso County, 21 semis were blown over in a six-and-a-half hour span, Colorado State Patrol reported. Most were along Interstate 25, though at least four were toppled along Colo. 115 outside of Fort Carson. No serious injuries were reported.

Near-hurricane force winds continued to pound the Pikes Peak region Monday afternoon, uprooting trees into houses, ripping roofs from buildings, overturning nearly two-dozen semis and leaving thousands of children without after-school bus rides home.

An uprooted tree upended Dean Byrne's WWII-era German jeep in his front yard on Monday. (Kaitlin Durbin, The Gazette)

The winds – which gusted to 101 mph at one point – wreaked havoc across Colorado Springs while turning the Pikes Peak region into a dart board for dislodged tree limbs and other detritus from wind-ravaged buildings.
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Veteran Finds Out He's Not The Father, VA Wants Money Back?

Very poorly written report. First there is a difference between "Retirement Pay" that is from the Department of Defense. Then there is Disability Compensation that is from the VA and is rated by degree of a Service Connected Disability. There is a VA Pension with these requirements

In addition to meeting minimum service requirements, the Veteran must be:

• Age 65 or older, OR

• Totally and permanently disabled, OR

• A patient in a nursing home receiving skilled nursing care, OR

• Receiving Social Security Disability Insurance, OR

• Receiving Supplemental Security Income

There are different rates of compensation for a single veteran as well as a veteran with a spouse and/or child.  So is this about the VA paid for the child that turned out to not be his and they want the money back?

Either way, this veteran is stuck with a huge headache topped off with a reporter that did not do basic research on the subject that was important enough to write about.

Army veteran says VA taking his money to pay child support for a boy who is not his BY TRIBUNE MEDIA WIRE POSTED 2:38 PM, JANUARY 4, 2017

AURORA, Colo. -- An Army veteran in Colorado says the Department of Veterans Affairs is wrongly garnishing his retirement pay.Elmo Jones, a retired Green Beret, served our country for more than two decades. But he's going up against a behemoth bureaucracy to stop child support payments for a boy who is not his.The VA is taking a big chunk of his retirement pay each month to pay support for the now-5-year-old boy.It's something a Colorado court already ruled the ex-wife is not entitled to receive."This is America? Really?" Jones said.The 57-year-old served in the U.S. Army for 21 years, including combat in the Persian Gulf War. But he's finding the toughest mission of his life is on home soil.read more here

Pot in Colorado Added Homeless Veterans on the Streets?

Colorado shows nation’s largest spike in the number of homeless veterans
AMERIFORCE
By Kirk Mitchell
November 18, 2016

Colorado’s overall homeless population increased by 721, or 13 percent, from 2015 to 2016, the report says. HUD volunteers conducted a statewide survey one night in January and counted 10,555 homeless people. Of those, 7,611 were living in emergency shelters or transitional housing and 2,939 were on the streets.

Alfred Zabawa joined hundreds of military veterans streaming into Colorado last year for legal pot or to find a job in a state with a thriving economy, only to find themselves living on the streets and contributing to the highest rise in the number of homeless veterans in the nation.

Zabawa, 61, arrived in Colorado an able-bodied man. On Friday, he pulled up his pajama bottoms to reveal an aluminum prosthetic leg as he sat in a wheelchair waiting in line for free groceries in a parking lot outside Denver’s VA Hospital.

While most states saw their homeless veteran populations drop an average of 17 percent in the past year to a total of 39,471, Colorado was one of only eight states going in the opposite direction with increasing numbers, according to the the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s annual report on homelessness, which was released Thursday.

Colorado had the biggest gain of any state with an increase of 231 homeless veterans, a 24 percent rise. Colorado’s homeless veteran population of 1,181 is now nearly as high as the state of New York, which has 1,248 homeless veterans, the HUD report says.
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Veterans Hooked on Heroin After VA Pain Pills

Veterans hooked on heroin struggle to find help
KRDO ABC 13 News
By: Bart Bedsole
Posted: Nov 03, 2016

A top VA pain management expert, Dr. Julie Franklin, recently testified to the House Committee On Veterans Affairs that almost 60% of veterans returning from the Middle East have some form of chronic pain requiring treatment.

A KRDO Newschannel 13 investigation found that 63,880 veterans were treated in 2015 for an opioid use disorder.

A KRDO Newschannel 13 investigation revealed that a large number of heroin addicts in America are veterans.

Not only has the VA health care system struggled to help them, but it may also be responsible for inadvertently creating the addictions in the first place.

Ross Armentor is recovering heroin addict who has been sober for three years this month.

Shortly after serving in Iraq in 2003, he was prescribed the powerful painkiller Percocet, which contains the opioid oxycontin.

He was suffering from a torm hamstring at the time.

Within a few months, he was addicted.
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Sgt. James Morrison, Soldier-Firefighter Laid to Rest

Soldier, firefighter who died of apparent suicide given hero’s escort
Westchester 12 News
October 27, 2016

Morrison’s parents say that their son’s death is proof that post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is very real among the military.

GARNERVILLE - A Rockland soldier and longtime Hillcrest firefighter who recently died of an apparent suicide in Colorado got a hero's escort to Garnerville on Thursday.

Sgt. James Morrison, of Wesley Hills, was on active duty at Fort Carson when he died Wednesday. The 28-year-old also used to be a firefighter in Hillcrest, joining the department when he was a teenager.

Morrison had been deployed to Afghanistan three times and later re-enlisted back in the United States.
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Decorated Fort Carson Soldier's Death Suspected Suicide

Wesley Hills soldier's death investigated as suicide
Westchester 12 News
October 22, 2016

WESLEY HILLS - The death of a decorated soldier from Rockland County is being investigated as a suicide.

Army Sergeant James Morrison, 28, died Wednesday while on active duty at Fort Carson in Colorado.

The Wesley Hills native had been deployed to Afghanistan three times.
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Peterson Air Force Base Released Contaminated Water

U.S. Air Force: Toxic chemicals released into Colorado city's sewer system
CBS News
October 19, 2016

The Air Force said the tainted water was released from a storage tank sometime in the past week, but the cause of the leak was still under investigation. It was discovered during a routine inspection of the tank on Oct. 12.

DENVER -- An Air Force base in Colorado said Tuesday it accidentally released about 150,000 gallons of water containing toxic chemicals into the sewer system of the adjacent city of Colorado Springs, but the potential health hazards weren’t immediately known.

Peterson Air Force Base said the water contained perfluorinated compounds or PFCs, which have been linked to prostate, kidney and testicular cancer, along with other illnesses. The Air Force hasn’t said how high the levels were.

The chemicals didn’t get into the city’s drinking water, said Steve Berry, a spokesman for Colorado Springs Utilities.

CBS Colorado Springs affiliate KKTV reports that releasing the water isn’t an easy task.
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Details of Police Shooting Brandon Simmons Coming In

Man shot dead by police at CU-Boulder was former Marine discharged under questionable circumstances
The Denver Channel
Blair Miller, Sally Mamdooh
Oct 7, 2016

BOULDER, Colo. – The University of Colorado Police Department named the two officers involved in the fatal shooting of a man wielding a machete on campus Wednesday as it came to light the man was a former Marine.

Brandon Simmons, 28, of Thornton, allegedly threatened a sports medicine patient with a machete at CU-Boulder Wednesday before police confronted him and eventually shot him dead.

Friends of Simmons’ on Friday told Denver7 he was a former Marine who was discharged earlier this year after around a decade of service. Simmons had two children and an ex-wife, who all live in California, where Simmons used to be stationed.

Friends say he recently moved in with his father in Thornton after the divorce.

Simmons had been a drill instructor during his time in the Marines. A friend of his said he was the "epitome" of what a good drill instructor should be and called the incident and Simmons' death "shocking."

A photo of Simmons posted to Facebook publicly by a friend shows Simmons in his Marines dress uniform, with sergeant bars on his sleeve.
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Veteran Army Ranger's Suicide Gets Senator's Attention?

How many times does this have to happen before things really change and veterans get proper care? 

When do politicians actually face the families and apologize for all the years veterans have been left waiting while they make speeches? 

When does our Congress actually fix the VA instead of trying to sell our veterans to private for profit corporations?

How many more years of pain and suffering do they intend to let us go through watching our veterans suffer while they pass bill after bill that only repeat what has been proven to have already failed them?

Colorado veteran’s suicide prompts call for investigation into VA wait times
Denver Post
By MARK K. MATTHEWS
PUBLISHED: September 20, 2016

Specifically, the whistleblower said the situation in Colorado Springs could have contributed to the death of an Army Ranger who was awaiting treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

WASHINGTON — Two U.S. senators are calling for an investigation into wait times at VA facilities in Colorado following the suicide of a 26-year-old U.S. Army Ranger who did not receive PTSD counseling in time.

The request by Republican U.S. Sens. Cory Gardner of Colorado and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin also asks that an internal watchdog at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs examine allegations that VA officials forged documents after the service member’s death and then threatened a whistleblower who raised these issues with authorities, according to a letter dated Monday.

Without specifically addressing the accusations, the VA released a statement in response that said the agency would work with Congress and investigators “to determine the facts of the situation and take appropriate action should any wrongdoing be uncovered.”
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30 Forgotten Veterans Laid to Rest at Fort Logan National Cemetery

Thirty veterans whose remains went unclaimed after they died in conflicts stretching back to World War II finally get a funeral ceremony
Daily Mail
By ASSOCIATED PRESS and CLEMENCE MICHALLON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
26 June 2016

About 80 people gathered in Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver The names of the dead were read as well as their rank, branch and the war in which they serviced Some of their remains had been cremated and left at funeral homes, while others had no next of kin Vietnam veteran Jose Gonzales said attending services for fellow soldiers was 'healing to the soul'

Thirty veterans whose remains went unclaimed were finally honored during a funeral ceremony Saturday at Denver's Fort Logan National Cemetery (file picture)

Thirty veterans whose remains went unclaimed were finally honored during a funeral ceremony Saturday at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver, Colorado.

Some of the fallen soldiers' remains had been cremated and left at funeral homes, while others had no next of kin.

About 80 relatives and supporters turned up to pay tribute to the veterans, some of whom had served during World War II, the Denver Post reported.

'In my mind, they're almost MIA, because they just sat there,' guest speaker Major General H Michael Edwards said. 'Each of them has a story. I only wish we knew their full story.'

Remains sometimes go unclaimed because families forget about them or do not know they can get a military burial for their relative, Edwards added.

The names of the dead were read during the ceremony, followed by the rank, branch and war in which the soldiers served.

The veterans' past went as far back as World War II.
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Suicide Calls Up 40 Percent

Suicide calls are up and so are suicides. So what good does all the "awareness" do when they reach the point where they do not want to live instead of getting what they need to heal?

Increase in suicide calls takes toll on 911 dispatchers
The Coloradoan
Sarah Jane Kyle
June 21, 2016

Increasing suicides and suicide threat calls have become "a daily occurrence" in the last five years, he said. Last year, 81 people died by suicide in Larimer County, nearing the record of 83 set in 2014.

Shortly after completing his training to become a 911 dispatcher in Fort Collins, Brendan Solano handled a call he'll never forget — a suicidal man "holding the gun in his hands."

Solano spent an hour on the phone talking with the man about his military service, his kids and anything else he could think of to keep him on the phone until police could intervene and help the man.

"I didn't know what to ask, what to say," said Solano, 24, who became a dispatcher nearly three years ago. "I didn't know this guy. He doesn't know me. ... Those calls are really hard to deal with."

And there have been many of those calls.

“It's another person calling in and asking for help. You've got to be able to get them help, just like anybody else.”

Suicide and suicide threat calls to Fort Collins 911 increased by 40 percent from 2011 to 2015, according to Fort Collins Police Services.
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Powerful Documentary on PTSD From Soldier's Son

After War a son's documentary on how PTSD touches the whole family. Before you go to the link, get tissues for this powerful video done by a teenager.

Colorado Teen Documents Dad's PTSD, Family's Pain, In 'After War'

BY MICHELLE P. FULCHER JUN 10, 2016

As a little boy, Bailey Francisco remembers having an “awesome” dad. But when Bailey was 6, his father, Michael, went to war. When Michael Francisco returned to the family home outside Colorado Springs he had a traumatic brain injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He was erratic, angry and violent.

Once, Michael took Bailey to a Denver amusement park and drove home drunk with the boy in the backseat of the car. Another time, when the two had a fight, Michael grabbed his son and pointed a knife at his throat.

Bailey Francisco recounts those stories in a documentary he produced while he was in high school. It's called "After War."

His father, "went from a stud, like, athlete -- funny, just awesome dad -- to barely human,” Francisco says.

Bailey Francisco produced "After  War," a documentary that chronicles his father's struggle with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and its impact on their family.

In the film Francisco asks his father how PTSD changed him: “You’re not who used to be,” Michael Francisco says, speaking about himself. “And (it’s) just dealing with that fact.”

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Fort Carson Soldiers Evacuated from Rocky Mountain

Fort Carson soldiers evacuated from Colorado peak by helicopter
FOX news
June 3, 2016

North Face of Longs Peak, May 2016
(National Park Service)

Several military personnel were rescued by helicopter Friday in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park after some had trouble climbing one of the state's highest peaks.

Defense officials told Fox News that 11 Green Berets from Fort Carson in Colorado Springs were involved in a climbing training exercise Thursday on 14,259-foot Longs Peak, but a few of them had trouble continuing.
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Body Found In River Was Missing Veteran Somebody Loved

Body found on west bank of Animas River identified
Durango Herald
By Jonathan Romeo Herald staff writer
May 22, 2016

“We don’t want him to be another nameless face found in Colorado that nobody knew,” Jack Shaw said. “He was somebody.”

Courtesy of the Shaw family

The family of Randy Shaw, whose body was identified Sunday after it was discovered Saturday along the Animas River in Durango, is desperately trying to track down his dog, Johlene. The dog is a brown and white pit bull mix.

The body of a 40-year old man discovered Saturday afternoon along the west bank of the Animas River near West Park Avenue has been identified as Kansas native Randy Shaw.

“We all knew this phone call was coming,” said Shaw’s brother, Jack. “We were just glad he was found and not off the mountain somewhere and never heard from again.

“We’re all torn up about it. But at the same time he’s not suffering anymore.”

Around 2:30 p.m. Saturday, a worker spotted Shaw’s body behind a West Park Avenue home, downstream from the Main Avenue bridge. The body was in a sleeping bag, covered in brush near the river’s edge.
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Members of Congress Actually Paid Attention to Veterans on Medical Marijuana?

I have talked to VA doctors across the country for years and they say they want to be able to give veterans medical marijuana but their hands are tied because as Federal Employees, they have to obey federal law. Most want the ability to base medical care based on the veteran in front of them as it should be.

There is no "one size fits all" in treating veterans but even within standard practices, there are many choices on programs doctors can suggest like service dogs, physical activity, different types of therapy and a long list of drugs they can give. 

This is one more weapon to help veterans fight the wounds of their bodies and minds. We know that there have been too many debilitating side effects to most of the other medications they are able to write scripts for and veterans find things get worse on many of them. It is refreshing to know that some members of Congress have actually heard them.

Congress pushes VA to recommend pot for patients
The Denver Post
By Mark Matthews
POSTED: 05/21/2016

"Veterans whose doctors believe that medical marijuana will help them address medical issues such as PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) or chronic pain should be afforded that option," U.S. Rep. Jared Polis

WASHINGTON — In two separate actions, the U.S. House and Senate this week moved to make it easier for military veterans to access medical marijuana — efforts that were largely, but not unanimously, supported by Colorado's congressional delegation.

The first step was a House vote Thursday on an amendment to a budget bill for the VA and military construction that would allow doctors with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to recommend pot as treatment to veterans in states where medical marijuana is legal, which is roughly half the country.

The Senate took a similar approach in its own version of the spending measure by neutering a VA policy that had prohibited this practice.

Both measures easily passed their respective chambers.

The House approved the marijuana amendment by a 233-189 vote and the Senate on Thursday passed its spending measure, in which the pot policy change was included, by an 89-8 margin.

Five of Colorado's seven lawmakers in the House supported the amendment, including U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, who co-authored the provision.

Another supporter of the House amendment was veteran and U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora.

He said in a phone interview that the marijuana provision wasn't an easy vote but — given the number of combat veterans dealing with PTSD — that he's willing to give it a try.

"I tend to be more open on alternative therapies," he said.
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Colorado WWII Veteran Meets Holocaust Survivor He Rescued

WWII VETERAN REUNITED WITH HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR HE RESCUED
ABC 11 News
May 18, 2016

A World War II veteran from Colorado was reunited with a Holocaust survivor whom he set free from a concentration camp seven decades ago -- and the emotional moment was captured on camera.

Sid Shafner, 94, is back in the U.S. after a stirring eight-day trip to Israel and Poland last week. He was honored at a Holocaust remembrance ceremony for his hand, as a young troop, in helping to liberate some 30,000 prisoners from the Dachau Concentration Camp in southern Germany in 1945.

One of those prisoners was 19-year-old Marcel Levy, now 90.
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Fort Carson Paralyzed Solider Faults Army for Stryker Going Over Cliff

Paralyzed soldier says Army was at fault in fatal wreck on Fort Carson
The Gazette
By: Tom Roeder
May 4, 2016

Why was 1st brigade pushing so hard? Riney, 25, says it was driven by goal-focused leaders who cared for results more than their troops.

“The atmosphere there was unbelievably toxic, and I feel it led directly to this,” Riney said.

The Army says a wrong turn led to a fatal rollover wreck last year that sent an 18-ton Stryker vehicle tumbling over a cliff.

A soldier who lost the use of his legs in the incident, though, says the cause of the wreck was 1st Brigade Combat Team commanders pushing their troops too hard in training with unfamiliar equipment.

“It was murder,” said retired Sgt. Tim Riney, one of six soldiers hurt in the 9 p.m. crash on Feb. 6, 2015.

Staff Sgt. Justin L. Holt, 31, died when he was thrown from the Stryker along with Riney when the Stryker tumbled off a 250-foot cliff on the post’s training range 41, on the southeastern corner of the 135,000-acre installation.
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