OEF OIF Veteran killed by crane died saving co-worker

Father of four killed in crane accident at SoHo construction site

PIX 11 News
BY KRISTINE GARCIA AND CRISTIAN BENAVIDES
APRIL 13, 2019

SOHO, Manhattan — A construction worker who was a father of four and war veteran died early Saturday during a crane incident at a Manhattan construction site.

Gregory Echevarria, 34, was found unconscious and unresponsive with severe trauma to his body at a construction site in the vicinity of Varick and Broome streets around 3:15 a.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The construction crew, that also included Echevarria's brother, was setting up a crane counterweight when it slipped, fatally striking Echevarria, a source told PIX11.

Echevarria's final act was reportedly pushing a coworker out of the way, saving his life.

"He's selfless, that's one thing I can say," family friend Duane Davis told PIX11 Saturday outside Echevarria's childhood home in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

"The best father, son, everything," family member Judi Cruz said of Echevarria.

Family told PIX11 that Echevarria was a father of four, including a three-month-old, and that he was a veteran. Echevarria did four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan over 10 years, according to family members, who are devastated that his baby boy is left without a father.
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Wounded Georgia Police Officer served in Afghanistan and Iraq

Police identify victims, suspected shooter in Henry County standoff leaving 3 dead

By FOX 5 News
Posted Apr 04 2019

A man identifying himself as the father-in-law of one of the injured officers just after arriving by police escort to Grady Memorial Hospital described that officer to FOX 5's Will Nunley as being a 32-year-old Army veteran. He called the situation tragic.

"Army veteran, two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, he's been on the force for a while. It's just a terrible tragedy," said Rick Corssey, a family member of the injured officer. 

HENRY COUNTY, Ga. (FOX 5 Atlanta) - Henry County Police will release more information late Friday morning on a nearly 16 hour- standoff inside a home that left a pregnant woman and her teenage son dead and 2 police officers wounded, apparently at the hands of the woman’s live-in boyfriend who took his own life.

Police identified the victims as 39-year-old Sandra Renee White of Stockbridge and her son, 16-year-old Arkeyvion White.
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Feet Jensen knows no limits to healing

Disabled U.S. veterans reach new heights, find hope at sports clinic in Snowmass

The Aspen Times
Erica Robbie
April 3, 2019

Feet Jensen believes he is a better version of himself today than he was more than 10 years ago before an explosion in Iraq nearly killed him and destroyed his legs.

Despite losing his limbs and suffering countless health complications since that life-changing moment in November 2008, the former Army combat medic chalks up the experience to being a blessing.

“I’ve learned so much, (and) I like this guy a whole lot better than that other guy,” Jensen, who legally changed his first name to Feet after the accident, said Monday at the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic in Snowmass Village.

Along with amputating his legs from near the knee down, Jensen, 33, lost much of his upper-body strength, suffers severe nerve damage and has undergone 108 surgeries.

These are only the physical ramifications of Jensen’s time serving in Iraq. Psychologically, he experiences many of the same mental health issues that can haunt wartime veterans, including survivor guilt and post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Unaccounted casualties: Veterans After Wars

Unaccounted casualties: The suicide rate of young veterans far outstrips the general population

Sun Coast Today
By Michael Bonner
Posted Mar 30, 2019

A knock on the door interrupted Brandon Cardoza. Standing outside of his second floor Chestnut Hall freshman dorm room was Luke Carreiro.

“This wasn’t ordinary for him,” Cardoza said. “When he showed up, I was concerned. He wanted to come in. I said ‘Let’s have a conversation.’”

Cardoza discarded his books, brushed aside his homework and sat on his bed. Sitting at Cardoza’s desk, Carreiro informed one of his best friends he was unhappy in college. He wanted more. He wanted to enlist in the military.

“I wanted to be a supportive friend,” Cardoza said. “I was just hoping he would stay. Because we had grown up together for five years. It’s selfish I understand, but, with the stories coming out overseas, I didn’t want to lose my good friend.”

Cardoza’s premonition became a reality. Carreiro died, not in Iraq, where he served a tour of duty, but because of Iraq.

On December 2, 2015, Carreiro, at the age of 26, took his own life on a military site in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

“Once I heard it was suicide, I instantly snapped back to that conversation in my dorm room,” Cardoza said.

The details of Carreiro’s story may be unique, however, the ending is not.

Carreiro was one of more than 72,000 veterans who committed suicide from 2005 to 2016, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The suicide rate among veterans ages 18-34, which Carreiro fell into, is 45 per 100,000, much higher than the rate of non-veterans, which is less than 30, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Younger veterans experience a higher rate of suicide, however, older veterans, ages 55-75 experience the highest number of suicides.

“This story, (Luke’s story), it happens so much,” Veteran and activist Chris Azevedo said. “And this is the problem.”read more here

PTSD on Trial: Third wife of Iraq veteran sought justice

Life was like a 'horror film': Wife's tale of abuse puts tormented war veteran behind bars

Buffalo News
By Thomas J. Prohaska
March 24, 2019

Defense attorney Randy S. Margulis said Cody Tomaselli, a Texas native, joined the Army a few months after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He spent 3½ years in Iraq and Germany and received the Army's Expert Combat Infantryman Badge. Margulis said his client suffers from severe PTSD, apparently stemming from his Army service, including infantry combat in the Iraq War's vicious Battle of Fallujah in 2004.

Cody Tomaselli joined the Army at 17, spent nearly four years in Iraq and Germany and had “dozens of kills” that left him with severe post-traumatic stress disorder.

But his claims that PTSD led him to three days of violence and threats against his wife last year did little to sway a judge to lessen his punishment. Tomaselli, 33, was sentenced last week to seven years in state prison for attempted kidnapping during a three-day ordeal that ended in the parking lot of a Niagara Falls elementary school.

Tomaselli is "dangerous and unstable," his wife, Nichole, said last week in Niagara County Integrated Domestic Violence Court.

"I'm asking for justice not only for myself but for the other women he was in relationships with," Nichole Tomaselli told State Supreme Court Justice John F. O'Donnell.

She is the third woman whose marriage to Iraq War veteran Cody Tomaselli allegedly ended in violence, but she's the first to see him convicted.

"It's my opinion that everyone who goes to war comes back with some form of PTSD," O'Donnell said. But he added that "millions of veterans" don't commit the crimes that Tomaselli did.

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He is 100% disabled and was going to the VA. So how is it that he did not get enough help to keep three of his wives safe from his rage?

If you are not wondering how they go from putting their own lives on the line to save others...into abusing people they love, then you are missing the point. PTSD is on trial and so are we!

The Glock was loaded with a round in the chamber, now veteran offers empowerment

An Indiana veteran sat in his kitchen ready to take his life. Then he looked at the clock.

Indianapolis Star
Holly V. Hays
March 14, 2019

Two days later, while he was still contemplating how best to kill himself, Eric received a phone call. One of his former platoon sergeants, a close friend, had killed himself.

The Glock was loaded with a round in the chamber.

U.S. Army veteran Eric Donoho sat in the kitchen of his Carmel home, trying to decide where he was going to die.

Not here, he thought. My family's gonna have to live in the house I just killed myself in.

Eric had been to war. Survived three bomb blasts. Lost children and friends. Was on the verge of losing his marriage.

Would the yard be better? Should I get in the car?

The minutes ticked by as he deliberated. Something made him check the clock.

2:15 p.m.

Time to pick up the kids.

He walked away from the fateful decision that day but remained committed to following through with it.

The death would later upend his family. But the death would not be his.

Bliss and heartbreak
A native of South Bend, Eric enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2004, when he was 26. He trained at Fort Benning, Georgia, completing infantry, airborne and shoulder-fired missile training. On a flight to his assignment in Fort Richardson, Alaska, he met the woman who would become his wife.

They spent much of the eight-hour flight between Atlanta and Anchorage laughing, Jenn Donoho said. They married nine months later, March 2006.

“We had so much fun in our early relationship and marriage, and whenever things were tough, he always had the right amount of humor to lighten those moments,” Jenn said.

They had less than a year together before Eric was deployed in October. Jenn was 28 weeks pregnant with their first child, a son they would name David.

"We said goodbye at base," Jenn said, "and that night, I dreamed that David died."

A Red Cross notification upon landing in Kuwait had Eric back on a flight to Alaska. There was trouble with the pregnancy. He arrived just in time for his son's stillbirth.

The couple buried their son at Fort Richardson National Cemetery before Eric redeployed to catch up with his platoon in Iraq.

“That was horrible for everybody,” Jenn said.

Eric was rattled by an explosion his first night back.

He returned to the things he loved before war: photography and the outdoors. During a veterans retreat and expedition to New Mexico he took a photo he now calls “The Canyon of Hope" along the Gila Fork River.
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Iraq veteran shown lots of love....and horsepower!

Central Florida veterans gave wounded veteran extra horsepower!

Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
March 10, 2019

Today at the Horsepower Ranch, several veterans groups got onto their motorcycles...(horses would take too long) and helped Patrick Wickens, who lost his leg in Iraq...but has not lost his love of riding...a motorcycle, gain a huge smile!

Iraq War vet sheds light on veteran suicide prevention

Iraq War vet sheds light on veteran suicide prevention after executive order

KTXS
by Rachel Aragon
March 5th 2019

Weis said what veterans need is for people across the country to take an interest in veterans, both in what they went through and who they are as a person now.

“Not feeling sympathy for them or feeling bad for them, but it’s about bringing them up,” he said. “Letting them know you’re there.” 

DAYTON, Ohio (WKEF/WRGT) - It’s a national crisis that’s caught the attention of the White House.




According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, 20 veterans commit suicide each day.

“Today we can help end this crisis,” President Donald Trump said Tuesday.

He signed an executive order aimed at bring the number of veteran suicides down.

The executive order creates a new task force that aims to get to the root of the problem.

"The task force will be charged with developing a national research strategy, so that we can more effectively identify, intervene, and help veterans during a time of need,” he said.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” Iraq War veteran Justin Weis said in response to executive order.
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Wounded Marine fought to stay alive...then stay in

SC veteran suffered severe hand wound in Iraq combat. He fought back.

Post and Courier
Bo Petersen
March 3, 2019

Bowen underwent more surgeries — it would eventually total more than 15. Medical staff would tell him after that while he was under general anesthesia they sometimes struggled to hold him down as he thrashed and yelled, “incoming.”

He stayed on the roof firing his machine gun for one mortar round too long. That’s how Dustin Bowen thinks of it.

The 22-year-old Marine lance corporal was under heavy attack in Ramadi, Iraq, in 2006, at a time when the city was ground zero for some of the fiercest combat in the second Iraq war. He remembers the blast. A fellow Marine told him he was blown off the roof and sat on the ground like he didn’t know how to get up.

He was pulled to cover and kept fighting until the unit could be reinforced, kept fighting despite some pain in his leg and his shoulder and the screaming agony in his hand.

For the next 10 years the agony in the hand wouldn’t ever go away.

They did field surgery on the hand, braced and wrapped it, knew it wasn’t fixed. Command “persuaded” him, he said wryly, not to evacuate. He took a thumb tack, snipped off the pin with a wire clipper. He embedded the pin in his numb shooting finger and lightly wrapped it before each sortie. It was the only way he could tell whether he was pulling the trigger.
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Man on trial after road rage death of Iraq veteran

Nebraska man stands trial in killing of Iraq War veteran

The Associated Press
Feb 27, 2019

Womack was in the Army and served three tours in Iraq before he moved to Omaha with his wife to raise their three children.

OMAHA — An Omaha trial has begun for a man accused in the road-rage killing of an Iraq War veteran.

Michael Benson, 26, is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of James Womack, 32. The shooting occurred at a busy Omaha intersection in 2017.

Dashcam video from another vehicle shows that the altercation began after Womack got out of his semitrailer and yelled at Benson, pounded on the passenger-side window of Benson's truck and started to walk back to his semitrailer.

Witnesses testified in a Douglas County courtroom Tuesday that they heard gunshots and then saw Womack fall to the ground. Womack was taken to a local hospital, where he later died.
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He joined the military, then police force, and then homeless in the UK?

How DID this war hero police officer end up sleeping rough on the street?: Shocking story that shows why – one year on – the helpline we fought for is needed more than ever

Daily Mail
By IAN GALLAGHER FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY
23 February 2019

Virtually penniless and unable to draw his pension, he slept rough last month, still with his warrant card in his back pocket. In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, during which he repeatedly broke down, he spoke bitterly of abandonment, his belief that his Army and police careers had effectively been ‘for nothing’ and how his life had no horizons greater than finding his next hot meal.

Britain's first homeless policeman, 46, is a former Iraq and Afghanistan veteran
He decided to change careers after the Afghanistan War and joined the Met
The unnamed man was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in 2017
He has received no support while on indefinite sick leave from the police force

A Metropolitan Police officer, and veteran, has been sleeping rough in a Home Counties town

Having risked his life for his country at home and abroad for two decades, he might be forgiven for expecting recognition for exemplary service.

First he spent 12 years with the Royal Engineers, leading a specialist bomb disposal team on perilous missions in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tiring of Army life but determined to put his experience to good use, he then joined the Metropolitan Police, proving a brave and effective frontline officer.

Yet instead of laurels, this dedicated public servant has, ten years on, achieved an altogether different distinction. Like so many who put their lives on the line to keep others safe, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in 2017.

Emotionally adrift, his marriage failed – ‘I became impossible to live with’ – and then his life fell apart as his condition worsened.

Shamefully, the state averted its eyes. On sick leave ever since, he remains in theory a serving officer because the Met appears – inexplicably – to have forgotten him, or rather, in the words of the voluntary group fighting his case, allowed him to ‘fall through the cracks’.
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Veteran “it” all started with my Combat PTSD

How Becoming an Entrepreneur Helped Me Overcome Suicidal Thoughts

Entrepreneur
Steven Kuhn
GUEST WRITER
Principle of Immediate Impact Consulting
February 13, 2019
Army veteran Steven Kuhn discusses his ongoing battle with Combat PTSD.

After years of pushing away loved ones, ignoring help and trying to forget my past, I came to the realization that embracing Combat PTSD as a source of strength was my only way out. Sounds crazy, I know, but hear me out. It shows me that I went through war and survived. I saw my inner darkness and lived there, saw death by my own hand, and lived through it all. Combat PTSD gives me the ability to do anything I want.

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

The artillery was still dropping as I ran up to Sgt. Young Min Dillon’s position. I heard he was hit and arrived just in time to share the last moments of his life. That was 1991 in Iraq. I feel fortunate to have been there and at the same time, it haunts me every day because it should have been me. At least that’s how I feel and that is where my doc says “it” all started with my Combat PTSD.

Veterans are an interesting demographic. We volunteer to do things most people don’t or won’t. Once we enlist, we are told what to do and when to do it. The basics are taken care of so that we as soldiers, marines, airmen and seamen can hyper-focus on our one task at hand. We become part of a massive team effort. In the military, no one needs to say a word: who you are, what you have done, where you served, how long you served and what you accomplished is all seen on your uniform.

I know all about the realities and horrors of PTSD firsthand. In 2008, I attempted suicide after leaving the military. At the time, I was staying in Germany where I was stationed. I attempted to grab a police officer’s weapon to shoot myself and when that didn’t work I grabbed a knife to finish the job. I came out the other side with a feeling of hopelessness I never thought I could overcome.
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Marine thanks God he was caught

McCrabb: Why a Marine says being arrested was ‘one of the biggest blessings’ in guiding him to Middletown success

Dayton Daily News
Rick McCrabb
February 17, 2019

He called being arrested “one of the biggest blessings of my life. I’m glad God cut me down that day. God was fed up and he gave me over to the authorities.”

MIDDLETOWN — When Jake Ferguson heard a strange voice yell, “Mr. Ferguson,” he knew he was busted.

“There was a wave of fear,” he said. “I thought, ‘This is how it’s all going to end.’”Ferguson, a Marine recruiter in Bowling Green in 2012, had forged a prescription for painkillers at a Meijer pharmacy, and 15 minutes later, local police charged him with deception to obtain a dangerous drug, a felony.

If convicted, the Middletown native faced a court-martial from the Marines with a possible penalty of up to 18 months in prison, the loss of his military rank and pension and probably his marriage to Nicki.

“I need treatment,” he told the judge. “I need help.”

The judge listened. The charge was suspended, and Ferguson was placed on one-year probation and told to seek therapy through Veterans Affairs.“Very blessed,” he said of his reaction to the judge’s leniency.Since then, Ferguson has received 2½ years of intense therapy — one year in Bowling Green and 18 months with the Wounded Warriors East Battalion in Jacksonville, N.C. — medically retired from the Marines in 2015, “surrendered his life” to Christ, worked as a counselor for more than three years with his wife at a church in North Carolina and recently was named Life Care Pastor at Berachah Church in Middletown.
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If you want to know how to prevent military suicides....send this Marine to talk to them and you'll see change happen!

Treating this has to happen by mind-body and spirit. Leave out the spirit and you have healing that is incomplete. Add in the spirit and you can watch them soar!

Ret. Marine Captain sues 3M for faulty ear plugs

Retired US Marine captain sues 3M; says deafness caused by faulty combat ear plugs

The Inquirer
Sam Wood
February 15, 2019

A retired U.S. Marine from South Jersey filed a federal suit in Philadelphia on Thursday, claiming that defective earplugs manufactured by 3M were the direct cause of his deafness.

Capt. Matthew Morrison (retired), 35, served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia between 2007 and 2013. During his deployments, Morrison was exposed to to extensive live-fire training of heavy machine guns, rockets, small arms, explosives and other munitions.

As directed by protocols, Morrison — like hundreds of thousands of other Marines — wore standard issue 3M Dual-Ended Combat Arms earplugs, according to court papers.

The suit alleges fraudulent misrepresentation and negligence. It claims 3M knew the earplugs were faulty.

3M declined to comment on “specific litigation matters at this time.”
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Double amputee OEF OIF veteran driven to inspire!

Double amputee veteran chases truck driving dream

WKRN
By: Adam Snider
Posted: Feb 14, 2019 12:07

CHRISTIANA, Tenn. (WKRN) - A dream decades in the making was nearly taken away from a local veteran.

"There's dark days out there. Depression, I've had to fight through them. But man, lately I've kind of forgotten about them." Erin Schaefer

Outside of Christiana though, for the last several weeks, he's worked to achieve this goal.

"My dad was a trucker so that's all I've known," said Erin Schaefer, an Army veteran who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. "I just love the open road, being out there with the truck. Just myself and my thoughts."

Those thoughts sometimes take him back to the Army and his final term in Afghanistan.

It was on this trip in 2010, that he was in the wrong truck at the wrong time.

"Was out on a convoy taking supplies from one base to the next. Came to a halt because the other truck in the rear of our convoy had become disabled," he explained. "Started moving again, and the IED blast went off."

Erin is now an amputee, losing both his legs below the knee.

"There's dark days out there," he said. "Depression, I've had to fight through them. But man, lately I've kind of forgotten about them."

He's found new life, thanks in part to an old passion.

Erin is now seeking his CDL, at the Truck Driver Institute (TDI) outside Christiana.
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Veteran attempting to break Guinness World Record for "suicide awareness"

World Record attempt to raise awareness about veteran suicide

My Champlain Valley
Posted: Feb 11, 2019

BERLIN, Vt - On March 22, Jason Mosel will be attempting to break the Guinness World Record for most 'chest-to-ground burpees' in 12 hours to raise awareness for veteran suicide.

Jason Mosel. On Friday, March 22, Mosel will be attempting to break the Guinness World Record for most chest to ground burpees in 12 hours in an attempt to raise awareness of veteran suicide.

Mosel is hoping to beat the current record of 4,556. The event will be held at Snap Fitness in Berlin.

Mosel says his personal record is 3,000, which he did during the second night of the Death Race in July of 2018. At the age of 33, he says he does a minimum of 3,000 burpees per week and is ready to grab the record-holding title.

Mosel is a former Marine with a deployment to Iraq under his belt. After returning from that deployment, he says he struggled with depression, sleepless nights, and alcoholism. The struggles came to a head In 2005, when he attempted suicide.

Mosel says this effort is an attempt at pulling back the cover of veteran suicide, and the stigma of depression in general. The topic is something he has a real connection with, and is why he's streaming the event live online.
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