Fort Carson Soldiers Arrested For EBay Sales

Fort Carson soldiers arrested, accused of stealing military equipment to sell on Ebay
The Gazette
By Kassondra Cloos
April 18, 2015

Undercover agents met with Francis and paid $4,300 in cash for a laser range finder in early February, which matched the serial number of one stolen from Fort Carson in late January.

Two Fort Carson soldiers and a third who was discharged last year have been arrested and accused of stealing military equipment that a fourth man, a civilian, allegedly sold on eBay.

A criminal complaint alleging three of the men stole Fort Carson property including two iRobots worth a combined $374,000 and dozens of pieces of body armor and other equipment was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Denver.

Staff Sgt. Benjamin Cardwell and Sgt. Johnny Herrera, unit supply specialists, according to the complaint, and former soldier Todd Crow were arrested Wednesday after admitting to conspiring with Daniel Francis, a civilian who allegedly acted as a middleman to sell the stolen military goods, according to the complaint.
read more here

Orlando Magic Teamed Up For Army Couple

Orlando Magic Teamed Up with Chase and Building Homes for Heroes for a Special Home Award and Other Surprises 
NBA.com
By John Denton
April 13, 2015

Alan met his future wife, Erika, while the two were serving together in the Army at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Co. The family has lived in Pembroke Pines in South Florida in recent years, but it will be moving to the new home in Kissimmee in June once their oldest daughter, Camila, finishes the current school year.

ORLANDO – Just minutes after presenting retired Army Sergeant Alan Wyrwa, wife Erika and daughters Camila and Ariel with a variety of gifts to go along with the mortgage-free home provided by Chase that they will soon move into, Orlando Magic CEO Alex Martins shook his head and summed up the awe-inspiring experience in one brief sentence. “This,” Martins said while still being somewhat in amazement of the tears, smiles and excited dances from the Wyrwa family, “is what making a difference in someone’s life is all about.”

The Magic joined Chase and Building Homes for Heroes on Saturday night during Orlando’s home finale to honor Sgt. Wyrwa and the family with a variety of gifts. Sgt Wyrwa, a North Carolina native, was in the Army’s infantry division for 12 years and he did four tours of duty in Iraq and another year of service in Afghanistan before an IED blast left him no longer unable to serve his country.

Wyrwa, who was honorably discharged from the Army in 2013, was recently awarded a mortgage-free home in Kissimmee by the Magic, Chase and Building Homes for Heroes.

The Magic also made the night extra special by recognizing the Wyrwa family at midcourt and honoring them with Disney Park Hopper passes, a two-night Marriott Vacation Club stay, a 40, inch television, $1,500 for home furnishings and new bicycles for the girls. Wyrwa said that the whole night felt like a dream, and he couldn’t have been more impressed with the generosity of the Magic and Chase.

Erika Wyrwa, who was also in the Army and served one tour of duty in Afghanistan, said that landing the new home was a welcome relief to a family that has struggled to plant some stable roots since leaving the military because of the difficulty in finding work. Alan has been unable to work because of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and injuries suffered while in battle, but he hopes to one day own his own business following his schooling. read more here

Crew Was Charged with Counting the Dead in Vietnam

Veteran Skip McDonald's crew was charged with counting the dead in Vietnam 
Journal Standard
By Matt Trowbridge Rockford Register Star
Posted Apr. 11, 2015

This story is part of our latest Rock River Valley Insider, which focuses on the 40th anniversary of the U.S. officially leaving the Vietnam War. The content will publish in the April 12 edition of the Register Star.

Then he was flown to a hospital in Denver. He had met Betty Yang, who is originally from Korea, during training at Fort Carson. Now Yang visited him every day. A month later, they were engaged. Four months after that, they married. March 14 marked their 45th anniversary.

Phillip "Skip" McDonald was on the bomb damage assessment (BDA) crew and was charged with counting the dead. McDonald was wounded 35 days in-country and received a Purple Heart.
SUNNY STRADER/RRSTAR.COM

Philip “Skip” McDonald, a platoon leader for the 3rd Mechanized Infantry Division, trained six months in Fort Carson, Colorado, for a job that didn’t really exist in Vietnam.

“You ride on these things with tracks that carry 10 guys and have a 50-caliber machine gun on top,” he said, “but we never rode them in Vietnam because rocket propelled grenades would go right through them, explode and kill everybody inside. So we all rode on top instead of getting inside.

“I didn’t ride tracks in Vietnam anyway because we were cavalry. I jumped out of helicopters. There wasn’t a lot of mechanized infantry in Vietnam.”

When he arrived in-country on Sept. 15, 1969, McDonald discovered that his main job was something he considers a little “sick.” He was on the bomb damage assessment crew and was charged with counting the dead.

“The B-52s come in, blow a whole bunch of crap up and then you go in there and try to count dead people,” said McDonald, who returned to his native Rockford after the war. “We had a battalion commander who kept a chart for each company, and you got points for step-ons and estimateds. Pretty sick.”

A step-on is exactly what it sounds like: a body you can step on.

“You got awards for each company and you got more points for a step-on than ones you thought you killed but couldn’t find (estimateds) that maybe left a blood trail or something, like deer hunting.”

McDonald was in-country for 35 days, but that was a long time for an officer at the front during the height of a war that killed almost as many Americans in combat (47,424) as World War I (53,402).

“You weren’t treated like they are treated today. These kids come home from Iraq and Afghanistan and, good for them, they have this big parade and everything for one kid. We had 27 wounded and nine killed in one afternoon and we were considered baby-killers. We weren’t.
read more here

Fort Carson Doctors Increased Malpractice Insurance But Didn't Change Practice of Mistreatment

This pretty much sums up what is going on when these folks increase their malpractice insurance because soldiers were trying to "game the system" instead of caring about causing the reasons the soldiers would even have to consider it.

This just goes to add up to the simple fact the rumors we've been hearing all these years are true.

Army Finds Toxic Climate of Mistrust for Fort Carson Wounded Warriors
Military.com
by Richard Sisk
Mar 25, 2015

The Army's investigation of wounded warrior care at Fort Carson, Colo., last year found allegations of a "toxic environment" that at times pitted the command and staff against the soldiers in treatment and undergoing evaluation.

Fort Carson soldiers who received care at the Evans Army Community Hospital told Army investigators that they also received abuse as staff and unit leaders tried to force them out of the Army.

Meanwhile, doctors at Fort Carson took out extra malpractice insurance to protect themselves against liability and accused soldiers of attempting to game the system to get more benefits, according to the Article 15-6 fact-finding investigation by Army Brig. Gen. John Sullivan, the Chief of Transportation and Transportation School Commandant.

The climate of mutual suspicion was such that the Army staff sergeant whose complaints triggered the investigation secretly recorded his sessions with staff when he was warned by a Fort Carson social worker that he was being set up to be discharged without benefits for misconduct, or "chaptered out."

Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho, who ordered the Fort Carson investigation, said at a meeting with Pentagon reporters last month that the issues were ultimately resolved to the staff sergeant's satisfaction and that the Fort Carson case did not indicate a "systemic" problem with Army care.

However, the Army confirmed earlier this month that a separate Article 15-6 investigation under the Uniform Code of Military justice is currently underway on new allegations of over-medication and harassment by staff at the Fort Hood Warrior Transition Unit in Texas.

Army Secretary John McHugh said earlier this month that he had met recently with Horoho and "we addressed this matter."

Last September, a congressionally mandated Pentagon advisory panel recommended that the military scrap its entire disability evaluation system.

In its final report after four years of work, the Recovering Warrior Task Force said that the Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES) was impeding the goals of wounded warrior programs to return soldiers to duty or ease their transition to civilian life.

"The current IDES is fundamentally flawed and DoD should replace it," the task force report said.
read more here

Fort Carson Soldiers and Vietnam Veterans Remember Battle of Suoi Tre

Fort Carson soldiers join Vietnam vets to remember those who fought battle 48 years ago 
The Gazette
By Stephen Hobbs
Published: March 22, 2015

Veterans of the battle of Suoi Tre have had remembrance ceremonies in places such as Florida, Louisiana and California over the years. But for 68-year-old Carl Besson, a former sergeant and member of the 2nd Battalion of the 77th Field Artillery Regiment, Saturday's memorial observance at Fort Carson topped them all.

"This is the most touching and moving ceremony I've ever attended," said Besson, who traveled from California. "We do this every year but not at this level." 

The March 21, 1967, Vietnam War battle was described Saturday as a rally and resurgence by American forces after an early-morning enemy attack.

Speakers recounted details of the battle, read the names of the service members who died and stood solemnly as a 21-cannon salute reverberated on the grounds.

Bob Choquette, a veteran of the artillery regiment, rang a bell each time the name of a fallen soldier was read. Three of his fellow gun crew members were killed in the battle, and Choquette might have died if it weren't for the help of fellow infantry unit soldiers, he said.

"It was a tough situation there and we more or less kind of ran out of ammo and everything," said Choquette, who was visiting from Rhode Island.

"Five more minutes, we wouldn't be here. None of us."

read more here

CMH Pub 91-4 Combat Operations: Taking the Offensive, October 1966 to October 1967 by George L. MacGarrigle.

"Combat Operations: Taking the Offensive chronicles the onset of offensive operations by the U.S. Army after eighteen months of building up a credible force on the ground in South Vietnam and taking the first steps toward bringing the war to the enemy. The compelling story by George L. MacGarrigle begins in October 1966, when General William C. Westmoreland believed that he had the arms and men to take the initiative from the enemy and that significant progress would be made on all fronts over the next twelve months.

Aware of American intentions, North Vietnam undertook a prolonged war of attrition and stepped up the infiltration of its own troops into the South. While the insurgency in the South remained the cornerstone of Communist strategy, it was increasingly overshadowed by main-force military operations.

These circumstances, according to MacGarrigle, set the stage for intensified combat. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong units retained the advantage, fighting only when it suited their purposes and retreating with impunity into inviolate sanctuaries in Laos and Cambodia. With Westmoreland feeling hamstrung by political constraints on his ability to wage war in the vast hostile areas along the border, 1967 ended with a growing uncertainty in the struggle to secure the countryside.

Relying on official American and enemy primary sources, MacGarrigle has crafted a well-balanced account of this year of intense combat. His volume is a tribute to those who sacrificed so much in a long and irresolute conflict, and soldiers engaged in military operations that place great demands on their initiative, skill, and devotion will find its thought-provoking lessons worthy of reflection."

If you want to see some great pictures and hear some music of the time, this is really good.

Viet Nam 1966 1967
Aug 6, 2014
Tankers in Vietnam. One of the few tank units in Vietnam the 2nd Battalion 34th Armor with M-48A3 tanks arrived in Vietnam on 12 Sept. 1966. Was in many Operations and supported many units while deployed and received the Presidential Unit Citation. These pictures were by me Ralph Arvizu during Operation Junction City in the Iron Triangle.

Matt Williams Song "You'll Make Her Cry" Will Make You Cry Too

I didn't know anything about Matt Williams when I was reading about his song You'll Make Her Cry on WOOD 8 News. I found his video on YouTube, listened and cried.

I didn't know why the song took me back to when I was a young wife discovering the man I married was in more pain than I thought he was. He's a Vietnam veteran. We met about 10 years after he left the Army. The Army didn't leave him. Neither did Vietnam.

This song is about love and how a husband can make a wife cry by showing how much he loves her. I was really confused. Why did it take me back to then instead of now that we've been married for 30 years?

I watched the video again. It did the same thing to my memories. Now I know why. I did a search and found Matt's website.

From Matt Williams web page

After High school, I went on the join the Army in 2004. On this journey my life would change forever.

I left for Iraq at 19 years old in 2005. I didn’t know what I was in for at all. I had never been shot at and never been around bombs exploding. Sure shot way to grow up FAST!! I survived that year of combat then came home and married a few months later. I reported to Ft Riley KS a few days after getting married. From there I trained for my next deployment to Iraq.

On July 20th 2007, my oldest son Bryant was born. I was the happiest man to be able to witness my son entering this world. I deployed to Iraq the second time in 2008. That year brought new experiences for me as well. During that year my second child Bradyn was born and I also went through my first divorce. Now, you may think that was the icing on the cake, nope. I was transferred to Ft. Carson Colorado.

I met a girl and got married..again. Then left for Afghanistan in August, 2010. This is where my life changed forever.

On August 30th 2010, my squad was hit in an IED attack. Two of my best friends were killed that day, Mark Noziska and Casey Grochowiak. We hadn’t been in the country for 30 days and I lost two of my best friends. I came home for a few months to recover from injuries and also battle my PTSD and depression.

While I was home I was able to see my son Christian come into this world. It was beautiful. This little guy gave me the strength to fight and move forward.

I recovered from my injuries and went back to Afghanistan in Jan 2011. From there it was a fight every day. We never knew if we would make it another step or another night.

A true living hell is what it was. Days upon days of sleeping in the dirt, no showers – you name it. On May 27th 2011, another great friend of mine lost his legs in another IED attack.

Greg Galeazzi is still alive and well today, but that day will forever be with him and us. We came home late August of 2011. From there I battled with depression and PTSD. I got out of the Army June 15 2012.

I moved to Maryville, Tennessee so that I could be closer to my father. On July 4th 2012, three weeks after I got out of the military – my father died in his sleep. The day before we had talked for over two hours, so the phone call I got the next morning – as you could imagine – shattered my world. From there every day was a battle between the military, my failing marriage and my father passing. My life was in shambles.

I turned to drinking and violence as my escape from the pain. After I noticed that those two things were not going to fix my life I turned back to the one thing I do best – and that’s music.

This is the story of far too many lives that don't need to be the way they were. When you listen to the song, it comes from a loving soul. It comes from years of living through events few others will ever know. I bet it will make you remember times in your own life and you'll cry too.
Matt Williams - You'll Make Her Cry (Fundraiser Version)

101st Airborne Cases Colors After Liberia Mission

101st Airborne Division cases colors, heads home after successful mission in Liberia

Photo Credit: Spc. Rashene Mincy Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Harris, platoon sergeant for 2nd Platoon, Division Signal Company, takes charge of the formation from Maj. Gen. Gary Volesky, commanding general of the Joint Forces Command - United Assistance and 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), at the end of the 101st's color casing ceremony held at the Barclay Training Center, Monrovia, Liberia, Feb. 26, 2015.

"The Joint Forces Command worked with our Armed Forces of Liberia partners in building and overseeing constructions of ETUs," Volseky said.

The command built and supported 17 ETUs throughout Liberia, facilities which allowed for a more swift isolation and treatment of Ebola patients.

Building the ETUs was Task Force Rugged, a team led by the 36th Engineer Brigade based out of Fort Hood, Texas, along with the 615th Engineer Company (Horizontal), based out of Fort Carson, Colorado. The 902nd Engineer Battalion, out of Grafenwoehr, Germany, and the 161st engineer Support Company of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, also built the facilities.

Along with construction, Task Force Rugged also improved roads critical to the transportation of equipment and personnel to the ETUs, camps and logistical focus points including airports and sea ports.

The Iron Knights cased their colors Feb. 25, and are steadily redeploying their Soldiers back to Fort Bliss.

Iraq Veteran Carries Guilt of Surviving

ARMY VETERAN'S GUILT OVER SURVIVING IRAQ IS A WOUND THAT WON'T HEAL
LA Times
By ALAN ZAREMBO
February 26, 2015

For Reyes, however, the thought of returning to patrol made his heart race. He told Army doctors that he couldn't stop thinking about suicide. They sent him back to Ft. Carson, in Colorado. If somebody had to die, he felt it should have been him.

A photo provided by Arvin Reyes, shows Shin Woo Kim, left,

and Reyes in Iraq before the June 29, 2007 ambush.

(Photo provided by Arvin Reyes)

It had been years since Sloan Sulham had heard from any of his men in Iraq.

But the soft voice and Philippine accent on the phone were immediately recognizable: Spc. Reyes.

"Arvin," Reyes reminded his former platoon sergeant.

Sulham wasn't likely to forget Arvin Reyes. They had been together on a day that changed both their lives.

In the early afternoon of June 28, 2007, they were riding in the same Humvee when insurgents in southern Baghdad ambushed their convoy. Five soldiers under Sulham's command were killed.

Now, nearly seven years later, Reyes had tracked Sulham down in Florida to make a confession: One of the soldiers, his friend Spc. Shin Woo Kim, hadn't died at the hands of the enemy.

Reyes said he had to tell the truth. He had accidentally shot Kim.

Sulham was astounded. He knew more than anyone else alive that Reyes was innocent.
read more here

Fort Carson "Strong Star" Suicide Study Weak

Short-term cognitive behavioral therapy reduces suicide attempts among at-risk soldiers
News Medical
Published on February 16, 2015

Short-term cognitive behavioral therapy dramatically reduces suicide attempts among at-risk military personnel, according to findings from a research study that included investigators from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

The two-year study, funded by the Army's Military Operational Medicine Research Program, was conducted at Fort Carson, Colo. It involved 152 active-duty soldiers who had either attempted suicide or had been determined to be at high risk for suicide, and evaluated the effectiveness of a brief cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in preventing future suicide attempts.

The study found that soldiers receiving CBT were 60 percent less likely to make a suicide attempt during the 24-month follow-up than those receiving standard treatment. The results were published online Friday, Feb. 13, by The American Journal of Psychiatry. The article is available online at http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/.

The findings are particularly encouraging, given that rates of active-duty service members receiving psychiatric diagnoses increased by more than 60 percent during a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rates of suicides and suicide attempts rose in comparable numbers.

"The significant increase in military suicides over the past decade is a national tragedy," said Alan Peterson, Ph.D., a co-investigator on the study who is a professor of psychiatry in the School of Medicine at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio and director of the military-focused STRONG STAR Consortium. "The Department of Defense has responded by investing significant resources into military suicide research, and the findings from this study may be the most important and most hopeful to date. To see a 60 percent reduction in suicide attempts among at-risk active-duty soldiers after a brief intervention is truly exciting," Dr. Peterson said.
read more here

Great selling job on what the military has invested and on the study, however, considering the study came after over a decade of funds producing increased suicides, not much more than a bunch of words. And this is what they didn't tell you from the article

Brief Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Effects on Post-Treatment Suicide Attempts in a Military Sample: Results of a Randomized Clinical Trial With 2-Year Follow-Up

Objective:
The authors evaluated the effectiveness of brief cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for the prevention of suicide attempts in military personnel.

Method:
In a randomized controlled trial, active-duty Army soldiers at Fort Carson, Colo., who either attempted suicide or experienced suicidal ideation with intent, were randomly assigned to treatment as usual (N=76) or treatment as usual plus brief CBT (N=76). Assessment of incidence of suicide attempts during the follow-up period was conducted with the Suicide Attempt Self-Injury Interview. Inclusion criteria were the presence of suicidal ideation with intent to die during the past week and/or a suicide attempt within the past month. Soldiers were excluded if they had a medical or psychiatric condition that would prevent informed consent or participation in outpatient treatment, such as active psychosis or mania. To determine treatment efficacy with regard to incidence and time to suicide attempt, survival curve analyses were conducted. Differences in psychiatric symptoms were evaluated using longitudinal random-effects models.

Results:
From baseline to the 24-month follow-up assessment, eight participants in brief CBT (13.8%) and 18 participants in treatment as usual (40.2%) made at least one suicide attempt (hazard ratio=0.38, 95% CI=0.16–0.87, number needed to treat=3.88), suggesting that soldiers in brief CBT were approximately 60% less likely to make a suicide attempt during follow-up than soldiers in treatment as usual. There were no between-group differences in severity of psychiatric symptoms.

Conclusions:
Brief CBT was effective in preventing follow-up suicide attempts among active-duty military service members with current suicidal ideation and/or a recent suicide attempt.

Plus this means they had 152 soldiers attempt suicide at least once at Fort Carson 2 years ago. How many of them had been in the Warrior Transition Units reported to have been mistreating them? All of them would have had Comprehensive Soldier Fitness, which has been known to increase the stigma of seeking help. The other factor is that while the study is small, the follow up assessment is important but the military admitted they do not do post deployment screenings.

Then if we add in how the VA and the DOD invested billions in research on PTSD associated with combat going back generations, they forgot lessons learned.

Soldier Audiotaped Encounters with Fort Carson Doctors

Fort Carson hospital reforms enacted after investigation into care of mental health patient
The Gazette
By Tom Roeder
Published: February 15, 2015

The sergeant said his medical care was influenced by the Army's desire for a discharge, including records that described him as a "31-year-old patient pending chapter (discharge) for misconduct."

The Army has come under fire for giving disciplinary discharges for minor misconduct to soldiers suffering from war-caused mental illness. Those other than honorable discharges, which can leave soldiers without their VA medical benefits, were documented in a 2013 Gazette investigation that earned a 2014 Pulitzer Prize. 

A mental health patient's audiotaped encounters with Fort Carson doctors led to a sweeping investigation of Evans Army Community Hospital and a series of reforms in patient care, documents obtained by The Gazette show.

The Army found that some workers in the hospital's behavioral health department were demeaning, patronizing, foul-mouthed and told the soldier that a mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, would make commanders pay attention to his claims of mental illness because they would see him as likely to snap.

The 775-page report cleared the hospital of allegations that psychiatrists and therapists worked to push mentally ill soldiers out of the Army on conduct-related discharges but found they did feel pressure from commanders to clear the way for discharges.

A social worker and a major working as a physician were disciplined after the report. Fort Carson said the major "was removed from his leadership position."

"This incident does not speak to the core values or the common practices of the Fort Carson behavioral health staff," said Col. Dennis LeMaster, the hospital's commander.

The investigation began in May when a staff sergeant presented commanders with recordings made during mental health visits. It concluded in August when Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho ordered the hospital to retrain its behavioral health staff.

"The Evans Army Community Hospital commander will conduct a phased behavioral health stand-down to address issues of professionalism in the workplace; dignity and respect during patient encounters; the use of profanity during patient encounters; how to balance demands from the chain of command with providing objective, patient-centered care and proper boundaries when discussing benefits with patients," Horoho ordered.
read more here

It is almost as if they took a trip back in time.

This doesn't seem like the same issue reported on Army Times.

WTU problems aren't systemic News outlets in Dallas reported in November that hundreds of soldiers had suffered a pattern of "disrespect, harassment and belittlement of soldiers" at WTUs at Fort Bliss, Fort Hood, and Fort Sam Houston in Texas.This comes on the heels of another incident at a medical facility (not a WTU) at Fort Carson, Colorado, that had led to discipline against a physician and a social worker for actions dating to early 2014.

Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho, the Army surgeon general, affirmed that while even one case of abuse isn't tolerable, most of the complaints turned out not to be medical care-related and about 24 cases of harassment have been dealt with. And she said the reports documented issues that the Army already uncovered itself.

"They weren't concerns that an outside source came to us and said do you realize you have these problems," Horoho said at a round-table update on her command for members of the media at the Pentagon on Friday. "We have eight different avenues (for) our warriors and their family members to have their voices heard. When those concerns come up, each of them is looked at and then we take appropriate action."

But it wasn't just happening at Fort Carson

Hundreds of Wounded Warriors, including at Fort Bliss, were reportedly harassed and abused by staff between 2009 and 2013.

It has top military officials talking. There were allegations of "disrespect, harassment and belittlement of soldiers" at a place where they should have been getting help -- the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Bliss.

"Was there in fact cause for concern at the WTU at Fort Bliss?" El Paso Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-El Paso) asked Col. Chris Toner, the head of the Army's Transitional Command, last week at a congressional hearing in Washington.

And it was far from new

Critics: Fort Carson policy targeted troubled, wounded soldiers
Stars and Stripes
By Bill Murphy Jr.
Published: November 15, 2011

FORT CARSON, Colo. — Army Cpl. Joshua Smith saw the orange glow against the South Carolina night sky long before he reached his sister’s apartment complex. The fire in the back buildings was intense. People stood in shock, watching the blaze.

Smith leapt from his rental car and vaulted a five-foot brick wall, yelling at onlookers to call for help. He grabbed an exercise weight someone had left in the yard, threw it through a sliding glass door and burst into the burning building. He shepherded a mother and her 16-month-old daughter to safety, then turned his attention to the other apartments, kicking down doors, running room to room, making sure no one else was trapped. By the time he emerged, firefighters had arrived. The local TV news hailed the 22-year-old infantryman — home on leave after a tour in Iraq before transferring to Fort Carson, Colo. — whose quick action saved lives.

“It was easy,” Smith said later. “Nobody was shooting at me.”

Sixteen months later, in November 2010, the acting commander at Fort Carson, Brig. Gen. James H. Doty, pinned the Soldier’s Medal, the Army’s highest award for noncombat heroism, to Smith’s chest. It was the young soldier’s second valor medal in three years in the military, after an Army Commendation Medal with valor device that he’d been awarded for his combat service.

For all his heroics, however, Smith’s life was falling apart.

‘This pattern ... is so clear'

With soldiers coming home broken in record numbers, the Army has pledged to take care of their physical and mental wounds. The quick-separation policy at Fort Carson stands in direct conflict with that pledge.

The Army touts a zero-tolerance policy for drug use, but commanders have considerable discretion regarding how much punishment soldiers receive and whether they ultimately are retained or discharged.

Moreover, defense lawyers and veterans advocates point to many cases in which soldiers who tested positive for use of drugs once, or occasionally even twice or more — but who were not facing a possible medical discharge — have been retained on active duty.

Just last month, the vice chief of staff of the Army, Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, talked about the link between PTSD and traumatic brain injury on the one hand, and substance abuse and suicide on the other.

OMG! WTU Soldiers Told "Sleep is like a bullet for your brain"

This is what Horoho said in the original interview with Army Times about Warrior Transition Units treating PTSD soldiers,,,,or should I say, abusing them. Now you can read the different version on the Army Military site.

"I thought the investigation was very thorough," said Lt. Gen. Patricia D. Horoho, regarding the investigation at the Colorado fort. "I believe it gave the facts and verified there wasn't a systemic problem, but it did show we had two clinicians who treated one Soldier with a lack of dignity and respect."

Speaking with the Pentagon press in a roundtable, Feb. 6, Horoho said a doctor and social worker had been disciplined. The doctor was removed from his leadership position and the civilian received disciplinary action at the local level, she said.

Horoho said the incidents between the Soldier and the two health care providers occurred between February and May 2014. She also said there had been complaints by other Soldiers stretching back to 2011, but after review they were determined "not to contain problematic behavior by the providers."

One soldier? Seriously? Ok, read down below and then go to the Dallas Morning News link on exactly how this one soldier she was talking about was many more.

What the hell is this supposed to mean? Is Lt. General Patricia Horoho saying that they knew what was going on before the Dallas Morning News and NBC interviewed the abused veterans but didn't do anything to fix it? Is she saying that?

"They weren't concerns that an outside source came to us and said do you realize you have these problems," Horoho said at a round-table update on her command for members of the media at the Pentagon on Friday. "We have eight different avenues (for) our warriors and their family members to have their voices heard. When those concerns come up, each of them is looked at and then we take appropriate action."

As bad as that was, this was down toward the end of the article.

"Now we've got leaders, one of the generals told his soldiers, sleep is like bullets for your brain. You never go to battle with an empty magazine," she said. "If you get six hours of sleep or less six days in a row, or go 24 hours without sleep, you have 20 percent cognitive impairment, and you are operating as if you had a .08 BAC [blood alcohol content]. We would never let a soldier in our formation intoxicated."

OMG! Bullets to the brain is how most of them commit suicide! Poor choice of words doesn't come close to explaining that BOHICA nonsense.

OK, so if you happened to have been living off reality TV and not paying attention the Dallas Morning News and NBC out of Texas filed a Freedom of Information Act request for Warrior Transition Units after learning of PTSD soldiers being treated like crap. Considering the Army had been telling the citizens they addressing the stigma instead of fueling it, and helping soldiers recover from combat, instead of finding excuses for them committing suicide, turns out, it wasn't what they claimed.

They waited for the request and then did a six month investigation. Maybe that is what Horoho was talking about since it gave them plenty of time to do their own investigation to find out what the reporters were discovering. Who knows?

Here is the link to the rest of the article as she twists and turns to talk about, oh well, there won't be that many needing the Warrior Transition Units anyway, after this part,

News outlets in Dallas reported in November that hundreds of soldiers had suffered a pattern of "disrespect, harassment and belittlement of soldiers" at WTUs at Fort Bliss, Fort Hood, and Fort Sam Houston in Texas. Another incident led to discipline against a physician and a social worker at Fort Carson, Colorado, for actions dating to early 2014.

Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho, the Army surgeon general, affirmed that while even one case of abuse isn't tolerable, most of the complaints turned out to be medical care-related and about 24 cases of harassment have been dealt with. And she said the reports documented issues that the Army already uncovered itself.

If that was the truth then why did this happen after the investigation?

The Army has ordered new training to address complaints from wounded soldiers describing harassment and intimidation inside the nation’s Warrior Transition Units, which are supposed to help these soldiers heal.

The order comes as two prominent Texas congressional leaders are demanding that the Army address the issues first raised in a joint investigation by The Dallas Morning News and KXAS-TV (NBC5) about three of the units in Texas.

Sen. John Cornyn, in a strongly worded letter to Secretary of the Army John McHugh, said he found “highly disturbing” complaints about verbal abuse, disrespect and unfair treatment within the Army’s Warrior Transition Units, or WTUs.

You can read the rest of the investigation here
About this series

“Injured Heroes, Broken Promises,” a joint investigative project between The Dallas Morning News and NBC5 (KXAS-TV), examines allegations of harassment and mistreatment in the U.S.’ Warrior Transition Units, which were created to serve soldiers with physical and psychological wounds. Reporters David Tarrant, Scott Friedman and Eva Parks based their findings on dozens of interviews with soldiers, Army officials and medical experts, and hundreds of pages of military documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

Go to the link and be sure to check out everything they discovered.

Fort Carson Policy Targeted Troubled, Wounded Soldiers, Still

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
February 8, 2015

Warrior Transition Units have been in the news for a long time now because some reporters actually bothered to tell their stories. Thanks to the Dallas Morning News and NBC out of Texas, some of their stories were told. Because of their reporting Army orders new training for Warrior Transition Units

The Army has ordered new training to address complaints from wounded soldiers describing harassment and intimidation inside the nation’s Warrior Transition Units, which are supposed to help these soldiers heal.

The problem is, not much has changed since 2011 for those who served, risked their lives only to find those lives were still being jepordized by the military claiming to to take their suffering seriously.

Critics: Fort Carson policy targeted troubled, wounded soldiers
Stars and Stripes
By Bill Murphy Jr.
Published: November 15, 2011

FORT CARSON, Colo. — Army Cpl. Joshua Smith saw the orange glow against the South Carolina night sky long before he reached his sister’s apartment complex. The fire in the back buildings was intense. People stood in shock, watching the blaze.

Smith leapt from his rental car and vaulted a five-foot brick wall, yelling at onlookers to call for help. He grabbed an exercise weight someone had left in the yard, threw it through a sliding glass door and burst into the burning building. He shepherded a mother and her 16-month-old daughter to safety, then turned his attention to the other apartments, kicking down doors, running room to room, making sure no one else was trapped. By the time he emerged, firefighters had arrived. The local TV news hailed the 22-year-old infantryman — home on leave after a tour in Iraq before transferring to Fort Carson, Colo. — whose quick action saved lives.

“It was easy,” Smith said later. “Nobody was shooting at me.”

Sixteen months later, in November 2010, the acting commander at Fort Carson, Brig. Gen. James H. Doty, pinned the Soldier’s Medal, the Army’s highest award for noncombat heroism, to Smith’s chest. It was the young soldier’s second valor medal in three years in the military, after an Army Commendation Medal with valor device that he’d been awarded for his combat service.

For all his heroics, however, Smith’s life was falling apart.

‘This pattern ... is so clear'

With soldiers coming home broken in record numbers, the Army has pledged to take care of their physical and mental wounds. The quick-separation policy at Fort Carson stands in direct conflict with that pledge.

The Army touts a zero-tolerance policy for drug use, but commanders have considerable discretion regarding how much punishment soldiers receive and whether they ultimately are retained or discharged.

Moreover, defense lawyers and veterans advocates point to many cases in which soldiers who tested positive for use of drugs once, or occasionally even twice or more — but who were not facing a possible medical discharge — have been retained on active duty.

Just last month, the vice chief of staff of the Army, Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, talked about the link between PTSD and traumatic brain injury on the one hand, and substance abuse and suicide on the other.
read more here

That "pattern" was clear way back in 2011 when that report came out. At least, to some. What wasn't clear was who would be the "one too many" the military keeps talking about when they have to answer questions about military suicide reports? When will that actually happen? When will there be one too many before things change for the men and women risking their lives and paying the price, far too often, with their lives because their suffering has been responded to with abuse?

Fort Carson Wounded Warrior Abused by Doctor and Social Worker
Military.com
by Richard Sisk
Feb 07, 2015

The abuse was "largely associated with disrespect, harassment, belittlement within the three WTUs in Texas" - Fort Hood, Fort Bliss and Brooke Army Medical Center, Toner told the military personnel subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee.

Editor's Note: The following article updates the previous one to include Army corrections to misstatements made by Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho on the mistreatment of a soldier at the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Carson, Colo.

A soldier at the Fort Carson, Colo., Warrior Transition Unit (WTU) suffered mistreatment by a doctor and a social worker for several months last year, an Army investigation concluded.

The fact-finding investigation under Article 15-6 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice found that the two heath care providers engaged in "problematic encounters" with the soldier between February and May of 2014, the Army said.

At a roundtable session with Pentagon reporters Friday, Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho said that the doctor and the social worker "showed a lack of dignity and respect to one soldier" and had been disciplined.

Horoho said the mistreatment at Fort Carson's WTU was limited to the two heath care providers and "we did not find that there was a systemic issue."

The Army said that the complaints of several other soldiers dating back to 2011 were also reviewed but were determined "not to contain problematic behavior by the providers.

Horoho initially suggested that the abuse by the doctor and the social worker occurred in the 2009-2013 time frame but the Army later put out a correction to several of her statements to reflect that the Fort Carson incidents occurred last year and were the subject an Article 15-6 investigation.

It was not the first time the WTU at Fort Carson had come under scrutiny. In 2010, the Army disputed a New York Times report on the Fort Carson WTUs that detailed shortcomings in therapy, and patients becoming addicted to medications and suffering abuse from non-commissioned officers.
read more here

Fort Carson Accident Leaves Soldier Dead 6 Injured

UPDATE from CBS Denver

Base officials say 31-year-old Staff Sgt. Justin Holt, of Bogata, Texas, was killed and six others were injured when a Stryker fighting vehicle turned over.

Soldier Killed, 6 Injured in Fort Carson Training Accident 
NBC News
February 7, 2015

One soldier was killed and six others were injured during a training accident Friday night at an Army base near Colorado Springs, Colorado, the U.S. military said in a statement.

The incident at Fort Carson occurred around 10 p.m., when a vehicle carrying the soldiers rolled over at a training area, the statement said. The injured soldiers were medically evacuated, with one soldier in critical condition. read more here

Fort Carson "Soldier can saunter to the post at 8 am"

New Winter Hours Start for Fort Carson Soldiers 
The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo.
by Tom Roeder
Jan 06, 2015

There also are considerations beyond military necessity. Most Fort Carson soldiers have been to war at least once since 2001 and many of them have headed to combat zones overseas several times. The war years took a toll on military families. The new hours are a step toward healing. Borrelli said the schedule will allow soldiers to spend more time with their children, including that compressed time before they head off to school.

An early December Tuesday was like any other winter morning at Fort Carson.

Thousands of soldiers shuffled into the pre-dawn darkness, shivering in their gray-and-black sweatsuits. Light calisthenics came at 6:30 a.m. before a frigid jaunt down McGrath Avenue.

Platoons of troops resembled locomotives rolling down the street, emitting the steam of respiration against the 23-degree air. But the old Army slogan, "We do more before 9 a.m. than most people do all day," won't apply after Jan. 5.

For the balance of the winter, Fort Carson is going on banker's hours. "It's a cultural change," said Sgt. Maj. Michael Borrelli, one of the leaders who came up with the new schedule. Soldiers can saunter to the post at 8 a.m. and will practice their craft until 3:30 p.m., when they'll do afternoon physical training. What happens next is nearly unmilitary.
read more here

9 months in Afghanistan
Soldiers with the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), march through the mountains at Fort Carson, Colo., on March 31 during pre-deployment training. The Department of Defense announced Friday that the brigade will be shipping out to Afghanistan for a nine-month deployment this winter.

1,200 Fort Carson soldiers volunteered for needy in Colorado

Local Soldiers on a special ruck march Friday morning
KOAA News
By Joanna Wise
December 12, 2014

COLORADO SPRINGS
UPDATE: Fort Carson says more than 1,200 soldiers volunteered for the event, a record-setting number.

Hundreds of Fort Carson soldiers are going the extra mile, marching through downtown Colorado Springs for a good cause Friday morning.

The 5th annual 1st SCBT's Operation Holiday kicked off at Dorchester Park on South Nevada Avenue. More than 500 soldiers from the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, donated clothing and canned goods to people in need this holiday season.

They stuffed their rucksacks with the items and then marched from the park to the soup kitchen. The departure time was set for 7:00 a.m.

The soldiers trekked across Pikes Peak Greenway Trail to Bijou Street and were expected to arrive at the Marian House around 7:30 a.m.

Rochelle Schlortt, spokesperson for the Marian House, said the event always has a huge impact.
read more here

Court Helps Veterans Take Leap of Faith

Veterans Trauma Court: From broken and battered to a leap of faith
The Gazette
Stephen Hobbs
November 23, 2014

"I was a battered, broken soldier that felt like I had no hope," said Kenneth Authier, an Army veteran. At the end of his speech, Authier's voice cracked with emotion as he advised program participants to "take that leap of faith" with the staff of the Veterans Trauma Court.

About 100 military veterans, community advocates and elected officials gathered for a milestone graduation ceremony recently for the Veterans Trauma Court program at the 4th Judicial District courthouse in Colorado Springs.

The program, which started at the courthouse in December 2009, works to give veterans a chance to receive rehabilitation and get treatment after entering the criminal justice system.

At the 45-minute ceremony this month, five of the eighteen graduates of the Veterans Trauma Court were given diplomas and a special coin and were congratulated by peer mentors, probation officers and attorneys connected with the program.

"You did what 99 percent of our fellow Americans chose not to do or couldn't do," said Lt. Col. Aaron M. Termain, battalion command of the Warrior Transition Battalion at Fort Carson, who gave the keynote address at the ceremony. "We're very lucky to have a community out there to support us."

The Nov. 13 event was the 10th graduation since the program began. As part of the ceremonies, three of the graduates read letters to those in attendance.
read more here

PTSD: The Invisible Front and Forgetful Writers

Stress can play part in crimes, experts say
THE GAZETTE
By DENNIS HUSPENI and TOM ROEDER
December 23, 2007

CRIMES LINKED TO CARSON VETERANS
Here are some notable criminal cases involving Iraq war veterans stationed at Fort Carson.
- Colorado Springs police allege two veterans from the same platoon are tied to a crime ring that could be responsible for the homicides of two soldiers.

Spc. Kevin Shields was shot to death and his body was found Dec. 1.

Pfc. Robert James was also shot to death. His body was found in a car parked in a Lake Avenue bank parking lot in August. The suspects are: Louis Bressler, 24, who was discharged and complained of suffering from PTSD; Pfc. Bruce Bastien Jr., 21; and soldier Kenneth Eastridge, who was an infantry rifleman. Authorities have charged or plan to charge all three with homicide, court records show.

Former soldier Anthony Marquez, 23, admitted Thursday he shot and killed a 19-year-old Widefield resident and suspected drug dealer Oct. 22, 2006, during a robbery attempt. Marquez’s public defenders attempted to introduce PTSD as a possible defense, but dropped the effort when a judge ruled against them, court records show. According to the plea agreement, Marquez will spend 30 years in prison when he is sentenced in February.

Pueblo police last month arrested Spc. Olin “Famous” Ferrier, 22, on suspicion of shooting taxi driver David Chance, 52, on Oct. 30. No charges have been filed.

Former Pfc. Johnathon Klinker, 22, was sentenced to 40 years in prison in July for killing his 7-week-old daughter, Nicolette. Klinker blamed the baby’s October 2006 death, in part, on “war-related stress.”

Former Pvt. Timothy Parker of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, was convicted by court martial of manslaughter for beating Spc. Piotr Szczypka to death in a November 2005 fight at an apartment complex near the base. Both men had been drinking before Parker hit Szczypka with a fireplace poker, trial testimony showed. Parker was sentenced to seven years in a military prison.

Nine days after 2nd Brigade Combat Team Pfc. Stephen S. Sherwood, 35, came home from Iraq in August 2005, he drove to Fort Collins and shot and killed his wife of seven years, Sara E. Sherwood, 30. The soldier, described by his commanders as a hero who fought bravely in Iraq, then turned the gun on himself and committed suicide.

Fort Carson Soldier Pulled Out Of Hospital To Redeploy

The soldier, who asked not to be identified because of the stigma surrounding mental illness and because he will seek employment when he leaves the Army, said he checked himself into Cedar Springs on Nov. 9 or Nov. 10 after he attempted suicide while under the influence of alcohol. He said his treatment was supposed to end Dec. 10 but his commanding officers showed up at the hospital Nov. 29 and ordered him to leave.

"I was pulled out to deploy," said the soldier, who has three years in the Army and has served a tour in Iraq.

Soldiers from Fort Carson and across the country have complained they were sent to combat zones despite medical conditions that should have prevented their deployment.

Late last year, Fort Carson said it sent 79 soldiers who were considered medical "no-gos" overseas. Officials said the soldiers were placed in light-duty jobs and are receiving treatment there. So far, at least six soldiers have been returned.
source: Denver Post 2008

Fort Carson's top general Maj. Gen. Mark Graham said most of the 79 soldiers remain in Iraq, while about a dozen are in Kuwait, the newspaper reported in Friday editions. A few returned to the United States because of inadequate rehabilitation available in theater, Graham said.

CBS News reported that last part

Oh, the problem continued and it didn't really matter much what it was doing to the soldiers being sent back out of "necessity" while the major news outlets pretty much ignored all of it. Shouldn't really surprise anyone that now the people responsible for most of this are now being regarded as if none of it ever occurred.

There is so much more to the following story but now you have something to really base it on.

‘The Invisible Front,’ by Yochi Dreazen
New York Times
By DAVID ROHDE
NOV. 13, 2014

When Jeff Graham was killed in Iraq in 2004, the Kentucky State Legislature passed a resolution hailing the young second lieutenant. Tens of thousands of fans applauded when his boyish face was displayed on the scoreboard at a University of Kentucky basketball game. Hundreds of mourners waved American flags as his hearse passed. One sergeant even named his son after the fallen hero.

When Jeff’s younger brother, Kevin, committed suicide in 2003 while enrolled in a University of Kentucky R.O.T.C. program, his aunt opposed holding his funeral in a local church. His memorial service was sparsely attended. Members of the community suggested to Kevin’s parents, Mark and Carol, that their son had been “a weakling, a coward and even a sinner.”

“Strangers told them that Kevin’s suicide had been a sin in the eyes of God,” Yochi Dreazen writes in his new book, “The Invisible Front,” “something Carol, a deeply religious woman, often worried about.”

Jeff, Kevin and their deaths are the spine of this harrowing book, a courageous effort to examine the military’s abysmal initial response to rising numbers of post-Iraq and -Afghanistan suicides. To his credit, Dreazen takes the book a step further. He uses one American military family’s tragedy to expose a vast double standard — and spreading epidemic — in American society.
read more here

Iraq Veteran Killed in Colorado Suffered Combat PTSD

Colorado Springs slaying victim not the same after return from Iraq war, family says
The Gazette
Lisa Walton
October 12, 2014

A yearlong deployment to Iraq in 2003 had taken its toll on a father of six who was shot to death last week in Colorado Springs, family members say.

Jamarlon "Jamanion" Keys, a former Fort Carson soldier, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, according to his ex-wife, Shereece Williams, although it wasn't diagnosed until several years after he returned from Iraq.

Williams and Keys were high school sweethearts. She learned she was pregnant with their daughter, J'Myah, shortly after he completed Army basic training. They were married in 2002, and Keys spent the first year of their marriage deployed in Iraq, she said. He was an infantryman.

His mother, Anita Crawford, said he used to say that the military "forgot to turn him off."
read more here

Fort Carson Veteran From Florida Killed in Colorado

Fort Carson Veteran From Florida Killed in Colorado

Tuesday night shooting victim identified a former Fort Carson soldier
The Gazette
By Lisa Walton and Stephen Hobbs
Published: October 10, 2014

A 31-year-old man killed in a shooting in Colorado Springs this week was a former Fort Carson soldier originally from Greenwood, Fla., family members say.

Jamarlon Keys, initially identified by Colorado Springs as Jamanion, was taken to Memorial Hospital about 
9:15 p.m. Tuesday after police responded to a shooting on the 900 block of Acapulco Court, near Academy and Fountain boulevards. He died at the hospital, police said.
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Teeanger Found Guilty of Murdering Fort Carson Soldier and Pregnant Wife

Teen Found Guilty Murders Of Soldier, Pregnant Wife 
KKTV News
September 30, 2014

Macyo January has been found guilty of killing a Fort Carson soldier and his pregnant wife.

It took a jury less than four hours to reach their verdict after beginning deliberations at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. They found January guilty of first-degree murder in the January 2013 killings, as well as first-degree burglary. Authorities said January shot and killed Staff Sgt. David Dunlap and Whitney Butler when they walked in on him burglarizing their home.

The families of both victims were in the courtroom when the verdict was read.

January will be sentenced Oct. 22. He faces life in prison for his crimes, though due to being 17 years old at the time, he could be eligible for parole.

When the public defender polled the jury, all said "yes" when asked if this was their verdict.
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