Walter Reed Ex-Employee Admitted Stealing Drugs

Local man involved in stealing drugs from Walter Reed Hospital
Charles County
By Press Release, U.S. Attorney for Maryland
08/13/2015

During the period that Malone was involved in the conspiracy, the government contends that he and his co-conspirators stole over $2 million worth of Somatropin from the Walter Reed pharmacy. Gurdon admitted that the total loss to the United States over the course of the entire conspiracy was at least $4,467,000.

Greenbelt, Maryland – Lamelle Marquez Malone, age 35, of Las Vegas, Nevada, formerly of Columbia, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to steal prescription drugs from a military hospital and to interstate transportation of stolen property.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Robert Craig of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service - Mid‑Atlantic Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Antoinette V. Henry of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations.

Malone admitted that from April 8, 2011 through August 2012, he conspired with Roger Gurdon, and others to steal Somatropin, a form of human growth hormone, from the pharmacy located at the former Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Malone and his co-conspirators re-sold the stolen pharmaceuticals for profit.

Gurdon was a pharmacy technician at Walter Reed. Between January 2008 and the fall of 2011, Gurdon stole Somatropin from Walter Reed and sold it to a co-conspirator. When Gurdon traveled out of the country in April 2011, he arranged for the co-conspirator to obtain Somatropin from Malone, who was an enlisted member of the Army and worked as a pharmacy specialist at Walter Reed.
read more here

24 Years of Marriage on July 4, Couple No Longer Homeless

Vegas veteran, wife go from tent to home
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
By KEITH ROGERS
June 25, 2015

Air Force veteran Mark McGrath was among the ranks of Southern Nevada’s 692 homeless veterans until he and his wife, Jennifer, made the move to permanent housing in April thanks to a HELP USA program.

“If it wasn’t for this program we would still be sleeping in the desert,” Jennifer, 45, said Thursday, sitting on a couch at the nonprofit’s Genesis Apartments on North Main Street.

“We were across the street from the Salvation Army in a tent. So we went from having two backpacks. Now we’ve got a bed, we’ve got a couch, a TV. We’ve got dishes, and I’ve still got him,” she said.

The couple will celebrate 24 years of marriage on July 4, a thought that brought tears of joy to Mark’s weathered face while she spoke about how they are trying to live independently again after a series of setbacks that included job losses and surgeries since the recession took hold six years ago.

A former F-4 fighter jet crew chief stationed at the now-closed George Air Force Base in Victorville, Calif., he moved to Las Vegas 25 years ago to work in the plaster trade. His last union job ended when his workplace was shut down in 2009, about the time Jennifer was laid off from her job in an auto parts store.

A caseworker for the VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System’s Community Resource and Referral Center placed them in HELP USA’s transitional housing program Dec. 1. They “graduated” April 21 under a program that allows them to pay 30 percent of his VA-supported income toward permanent housing while they build savings and seek employment.
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Las Vegas Police Look For New Training After Gulf War Veteran Was Killed

Las Vegas a test to reduce police shootings 
Mohave Daily News
June 21, 2015

“When you have the trainers actually mocking the training, how seriously are the trainees going to take it?” said Andre Lagomarsino, a lawyer for the family of Trevon Cole, killed by an officer.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — By 2 a.m., nearly five hours had ticked by since Stanley Gibson’s last call. “I want to come home,” the 43-year-old Gulf War veteran told his wife, Rondha, his voice edged by post-traumatic stress disorder.

But Rondha Gibson did not know where to find him until a white Cadillac, bathed in spotlights, filled her television screen. “Local man shot by Metro police,” a headline announced.

“I think that’s my husband you guys killed,” she recalled telling the dispatcher who answered her 911 call.

On that night in 2011, local leaders had just started acknowledging two decades of shootings by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers. But Gibson’s death was a flash point.

Las Vegas, now the first department in the country to complete a “collaborative” Justice Department review, has rewritten its use-of-force rules and ramped up training to de-escalate tense encounters.

Some criticized it as not enough. But shootings by officers, which peaked at 25 in 2010, declined to 13 in 2013 and 16 last year. Through mid-June, Metro officers shot three people, killing one. Even critics credit the decrease at least partly to new training.

Policing experts say training often falls short.

A 2008 survey of more than 300 departments found one-third limited deadly-force training to requalifying in shooting skills, without focusing on judgment or tactics. More than three-fourths did not share findings from police shooting investigations with trainers.
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Vegas Station Casinos Chips Homeless Veterans

‘Month of Honor’ casino promotion helps village for homeless vets
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
By KEITH ROGERS

April 27, 2015

With a boost from Station Casinos’ “Month of Honor” promotion in May, Arnold Stalk expects his Veterans Village living center for homeless veterans will soar to a new level.

In addition to augmenting operation of the transitional and permanent residence, the effort by Station Casinos could help lay a financial foundation for a couple more floors that Stalk, founder and an architect, envisions on top of the two that already provide 125 rooms for homeless vets at the former Econo Lodge, 1150 Las Vegas Boulevard South

“When I meet with people, I don’t ask them for checks or donations,” Stalk said Monday after a tour of Veterans Village, a few blocks north of the Stratosphere. “We promote by attraction.

People get attracted to seeing the grassroots effort. They get attracted to our residents.”

The rippling effect of the branding of Veterans Village “has gotten a head of steam. This takes us to another level,” he said.

Through the end of May, all 19 Station Casinos properties and venues including cafes, casino bars, bingo rooms, spas and gaming areas will donate a portion of their proceeds and gaming winnings.

Lori Nelson, Station Casinos vice president of corporate communications, noted this is the first year of the effort and wasn’t sure how much it will generate.

“The more our guests enjoy our patriotic-themed offerings, the more money we can donate,” Nelson said.

The offerings include “patriotic pastries” and “patriotic poker,” as well as certain slot machines, designated blackjack tables and special bingo cards for players who want to help Veterans Village.

“We have obviously taken a deep interest and commitment in the local military community,” Nelson said. She was referring to Operation Thank You and the Military Mondays program that Station Casinos launched last year to thank local veterans with special discounts.
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Fort Bragg Soldier Killed in Training Exercise

Fort Bragg soldier killed in training exercise at Louisiana base 
WRAL.com
April 18, 2015

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A 19-year-old soldier stationed at Fort Bragg died Thursday during a training exercise at a base in Louisiana, base officials announced Saturday.

Pv. Joshua D. Phillips, of Las Vegas, was participating in a training at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk when he was killed. 

The death is under investigation, Fort Bragg officials said.

Phillips, who was assigned to Alpha Company, 37th Engineer Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, joined the Army in August 2014. read more here

Air Force Veteran Killed by SWAT was Retired Master Sgt

Airman killed in standoff with police was father, decorated veteran 
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
By KIMBERLY DE LA CRUZ
March 10, 2015

The retired airman shot and killed by Las Vegas police during a standoff in late February was a father and decorated veteran who specialized in warplane bombs and missiles.

Francis “Frank” Lamantia Spivey, 43, served in the U.S. Air Force from August 1990 to July 2014, when he retired as a master sergeant, according to Air Force spokesman Michael Dickerson.

Spivey’s job was as a munitions systems specialist; he tested, assembled and transported ammunition. He was a recipient of the Air Force Achievement Medal, Outstanding Unit Award with Valor Device and the Air Force Good Conduct Medal, Dickerson said.

Spivey donned his Air Force uniform one last time Feb. 25, and went to the open stairwell of his apartment building armed with an AR 15.

He called police to say he may kill himself, then stood outside his unit at Eagle Trace apartments, 5370 E. Craig Road, with a gun pointed to his chin.
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Air Force Veteran Fired 23 Shots Before Being Killed By SWAT

Air Force Veteran Fired 23 Shots Before Being Killed By SWAT

Think about this for a second. 23 shots in the air. In other words, he wasn't aiming at anyone. Next time you hear someone say something about how dangerous veterans are, remember that. He was only a danger to himself.

Don't blame SWAT officers because this happens all the time across the country and they have to decide what to do because no one knows for sure if it will end differently.

Sometimes it does end with the veteran turning himself in or just being wounded and usually they are taken to get the help they desperately need. For other times, actually most of the time, they really don't have another choice because too many veterans are still suffering instead of healing.

Someone please remind me again how repeating the same "efforts" over and over again is helping? From what I've seen, what works has been forgotten about and Congress just keeps passing the same old bullshit that failed too many for too long.

Air Force veteran fired 23 shots before he was killed by police
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
By KIMBERLY DE LA CRUZ
March 3, 3015

Metropolitan Police Department Undersheriff Kevin McMahill speaks about the officer involved shooting that occurred on Feb. 25, 2015, in the 5300 block of East Craig Road, at Metro headquarters on Tuesday, March 3, 2015. Francis Spivey, 43, was suicidal and armed with an AR-15 rifle when he was fatally shot after a two-hour confrontation with police.
(Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

On the balcony of his second-story apartment in U.S. Air Force dress blue uniform, Francis “Frank” Lamantia Spivey stood with an assault rifle pushed up to his chin just after midnight Feb. 25.

Over the course of two hours, the retired serviceman fired 23 rounds from his rifle into the air and nearby buildings at the Eagle Trace apartment complex, 5370 E. Craig Road, threatening Las Vegas police officers during a standoff before being fatally shot, police said at a press conference Tuesday.

Spivey, who served 23 years in the U.S. Air Force, told negotiators he would “shoot every single officer that he sees,” McMahill said.

A single shot to the chest from SWAT Officer Bradley Cupp’s rifle at 1:48 a.m. ended negotiations that night in Metro’s second officer-involved shooting of 2015.

“Our officers exercised incredible restraint,” Metro Undersheriff Kevin McMahill said, citing the scrutiny Metro has faced in past officer-involved shootings.

Armed with six magazines holding 124 rounds of ammunition for his AR 15, Spivey, 43, demanded to talk to his estranged girlfriend. His exchange with police was captured by a camera worn by one of the officers and shown during Tuesday’s news conference.

“You put that (expletive) on the (expletive) phone,” Spivey shouted from his balcony.

Officers taking shelter behind a car in the complex parking lot are heard pleading with him to put his rifle down.

“There’s no way I can bring the phone to you, Frank,” an officer says, trying to negotiate. “She’s scared too, Frank.”
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Ex-Navy SEAL Accused of Scamming Other SEALS

Ex-Navy SEAL faces up to 12 years for scheme that ensnared brothers in arms
FoxNews.com
By Malia Zimmerman
Published February 02, 2015

A Navy SEAL who admitted he shattered the elite special force's code of brotherhood by stealing from his brethren to finance his luxurious lifestyle and gambling faces up to 12 years in prison, not to mention the scorn of men who served with him but now consider him “the most repugnant scum on Earth.”

Jason Mullaney, part of SEAL Team Five until 2003, convinced 11 SEAL team members and one civilian to invest a collective $1.2 million into his company, Trident Global Financial Holdings.

Named after the Trident SEAL symbol, Mullaney said his company would award loans to credit-challenged small businesses and individuals for high interest rates, secured with assets that covered the principal and profit. Investors would receive back their investment plus a 24 percent profit within a year, Mullaney pledged.

Former Navy SEAL Jason Mullaney tried to change his plea, but a judge would not allow him to.
(Courtesy: 10News ABC)

“Jason, I wish you the worst and hope that you rot in Hell for what you did to all of us – you are the most repugnant scum on Earth.”
- Former Navy SEAL Alexander Sonnenberg

Instead, Mullaney ran a pyramid scheme, and, rather than repay investors, he spent their money on a new Mercedes Benz, an extravagant home and on gambling in Las Vegas, according to prosecutors. And even though Mullaney pleaded guilty to four charges on Sept. 8, 2014, including three counts of grand theft and one count of securities fraud, he has shown no remorse, and even tried to revoke his plea, a maneuver that was nixed by the judge last month.

The SEALs had no idea they were cheated until some tried to collect on their investment. Mullaney, they reported to the FBI and San Diego District Attorney on April 27, 2011, had vanished with their money.
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Nellis Air Force Base Chaplain Said PTSD Was God's Plan?

I had a massive headache and just wanted to get through my emails before I go lay down. It just got worse when I read this.

Former Nellis AFB Drone Operator On First Kill, PTSD, Being Shunned By Fellow Airmen 
KNPR News
Nevada Public Radio
Adam Burke and Joe Schoenmann
January 23, 2015

"I went to go see a chaplain," Bryant said. "And the chaplain told me that it was God's plan for all this to happen and that I should accept that."

In the new movie Good Kill, Ethan Hawke plays an airman who remotely operates Predator drones from the safety of a cubicle at Creech Air Force Base, 50 miles north of Las Vegas.

But in the film we learn that the cubicle is not such a safe place. Ethan Hawke’s character suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder on the job.

Former drone operator Brandon Bryant, who was stationed at Nellis for four years, consulted with the writer/director of Good Kill​, Andrew Niccol.

Bryant was the co-pilot in a two-man drone team, and it was his job to locate targets and pull trigger on missiles.

When he ended his four-year stint, Bryant received a certificate honoring him for having aided in the deaths of some 1,600 people.

Post-Traumatic Stress
The more that he shut himself away, the more isolated he felt. He started drinking heavily, playing video games when he wasn't working, and working out.

"I stopped sleeping because I was dreaming in infrared," he said. "White hot, black hot, the same type of filters I would see at work. It was like I couldn't escape myself."

Bryant told KNPR that at the time, airmen were discouraged from seeking psychological help at Nellis.

"When I told them I wasn't doing so well, they told me that if I sought help then they would revoke my clearance," he said. "So that kind of kept me in line."

Then Bryant's commander ordered him to go see with a chaplain.

"I went to go see a chaplain," Bryant said. "And the chaplain told me that it was God's plan for all this to happen and that I should accept that."
read more here

Ok, so far we've been made aware of the fact that Warrior Transition Units have been still telling PTSD soldiers to suck it up and get over it when they were supposed to be helped. We've read about the rise in suicides among veterans out of the military where the original damage was done. We've also read about all the bullshit about how this bill and that bill needs the public's support but never once told why we should. We've read about this group and that group with their hands out looking for money but never telling us what they've done with the money they all collected over the years while it is getting worse for veterans and families.

The list goes on but now we discover a Chaplain told an Airman looking for help that it was God's will.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff already told Congress to go to hell when they admitted they were not following the law on post deployment screenings and the DOD heads have all made stupid statements about intestinal fortitude after they pushed the "program" that made them all think it was their own fault. Just when you think you've heard everything, it gets to the point where you wonder when they hell congress will actually hear anything.

PTSD Afghanistan Veteran Walked From New Jersey to Vegas

Veteran’s cross-country walk brings him to Las Vegas
FOX 5 Vegas
Written by Craig Huber
Posted: Dec 11, 2014

Veteran Eric Peters is walking from New Jersey to California
to raise awareness about post-traumatic stress disorder. (FOX5)

LAS VEGAS (FOX5)
Veteran Eric Peters has walked from his home in Clark, NJ, to Las Vegas to raise awareness for post-traumatic stress disorder, and his journey's not over yet.

Peters, 23, won't stop until he's reached Santa Monica, CA.

A veteran of the War in Afghanistan, Peters was injured on the battlefield.

"There are a lot of demons that I'm fighting, but I continue to put a smile on my face and help out other people. It's actually more therapy to me helping other people," Peters said.

In March of 2011, Peters and his unit, the 101st Airborne Division, were hit by enemy mortar fire while patrolling in a Humvee in the Kunar province.

Peters was knocked unconscious by the blast and shrapnel. He was later diagnosed with PTSD.

"It takes a piece of your soul, you know, and it just flushes it away," he said.

Peters said the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recently sent him a letter stating his request for further treatment had been denied.
read more here

Navy Cross Vietnam Veteran Turned Down by VA?

Vegas Navy Cross recipient shot down by VA benefits office
Las Vegas Review Journal
Keith Rogers
Posted December 6, 2014

Vietnam War veteran Steve Lowery has the scars, the medals and his Marine Corps medical records to prove he was wounded when his 12-man reconnaissance team was attacked on March 5, 1969.

“We were nearly wiped out and overcome,” said the Las Vegas resident, recounting the firefight in the darkness atop Hill 1308 that left three of his buddies dead and seven wounded including him.

One who was killed, Pfc. Robert H. Jenkins Jr., was awarded the Medal of Honor for saving Fred Ostrom’s life by shielding him from an exploding grenade. Others received Silver and Bronze Stars for their bravery.

Lowery, the team leader and a 1964 graduate of Rancho High School, was awarded the Navy Cross, the nation’s second highest valor award.

That makes him among the most highly decorated veterans from Las Vegas, but he doesn’t expect to be treated any differently than other veterans who have served their country honorably.

“I wear this on behalf of the other 11 who were with me,” he said last week about the Navy Cross, which has a citation that reads: “For extraordinary heroism … Corporal Lowery was seriously wounded in both legs by the intense enemy fire.

“Steadfastly remaining in his hazardous position, he boldly delivered accurate return fire and hurled grenades at the advancing enemy … killing several of the enemy and causing the others to retreat.”

Yet in the eyes of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the bullet from an AK-47 that ripped through his thighs and shrapnel from a “Chi-Com” — Chinese Communist — grenade that pierced his right knee were not related to his military service.

Nor was the neck injury he suffered near the end of his career when a moving van rear-ended his car when he was stopped at a light while on active duty in Hawaii.

That’s what the letter says from the VA Benefits Regional Office in Reno that rejected his claim for service-connected compensation.

“We determined that the following condition is not related to your military service,” reads the Aug. 1, 2011, letter from “A. Bittler,” veterans service center manager. “Gunshot wound to left thigh; neck condition; shrapnel, right knee; gunshot wound, right thigh.”
read more here

Plugged in again refreshed and renewed

Thursday morning I got on a plane to Texas and then another plane to Las Vegas. It was to be for a happy occasion unlike most times I have flown away from home. My niece was getting married!

I haven't seen her in a few years, or the rest of my family, since we moved down to Florida.

(I'll have more pictures later on Facebook and Google+)

Lake Mead View from Wedding

Red Rock Canyon Marsha and Shawn 

It was an amazing trip, which I will write about later, however for now, I wanted to talk about being away from everything.

I never understood how so many people could be so connected to the world online, yet not know what was going on in their own families.

Sure it's easy to understand getting away from watching the news on TV, since most of the people I talked to don't trust it to be actual news anymore. After 5 days of no news, no computer or blogging getting in the way, I disconnected from technology and reconnected to my family.

I saw parts of the country I had never seen before. The trips I had made in the past put me as far west as Texas, but seeing the country from a plane or from a tiny area around where I had to be was not the same as being there. Catching up with family online was not the same as being there either.

When we talk face to face, spend time together, that is healing as well as fulfilling.

I highly recommend it!

Here are some suggestions on refueling your spirit.

Unplug! Get away from the internet and away from the TV.

See parts of the country you had never seen before or revisit places you have.

There are parts of your life needing you to remember that your daily view is not enough to feed your soul.

Stop texting so much and start talking more.

Take time to enjoy spending time with the people you care about and not just time "on them" with catching up on Facebook.

The world will still go on, news will still come out but you will have a whole new attitude when you step away long enough to look, see, hear, feel and love.

Heartless thugs steal from homeless veterans shelter

Copper thieves leave homeless veterans inside a hot building
Video
MyNews3
Copper thieves destroy AC units to veterans building
Reported by: Venise Toussaint

LAS VEGAS (KSNV and MyNews3) -- A thief broke into the air conditioning units at a homeless veteran shelter and left the veterans inside struggling to stay cool in the summer heat. The veterans have been without air conditioning since Saturday.

U.S. Vets is a place where homeless and transitioning veterans come to get help and get back on their feet. They eat here, socialize here, and for the past couple of days they’ve been doing so without air conditioning. A man climbed on top of the roof and destroyed their AC units.
read more here

Shooter shouted "revolution" gunning down police officers and woman

Source: Couple who killed 2 Las Vegas officers, 1 civilian held extremist views
CNN
By Saeed Ahmed and Kevin Conlon
Mon June 9, 2014

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Witnesses: The shooters said 'This is a revolution'
Police search an apartment believed to be their home
"My officers were simply having lunch," says sheriff
A woman was also killed

The slain officers are Alyn Beck, 41, and Igor Soldo, 31. Both were married with children: Beck left behind a wife and three children; Soldo, a wife and a baby.

(CNN) -- A married couple yelling "revolution" gunned down two Las Vegas police officers at a pizza restaurant, then ran across the parking lot to a Walmart, where they killed a shopper at the store's entrance.

The duo's Sunday morning shooting rampage ended when the wife fatally shot the husband and then herself as police closed in.

A day later, police don't know -- or haven't disclosed -- the pair's motive. Witnesses told police the shooters said "This is a revolution" during their attack.

A law enforcement source told CNN the couple held extremist views toward law enforcement.

Late Sunday night, police -- black bands around their badges in mourning -- cordoned off the area outside an apartment in downtown Las Vegas. Neighbors say the couple lived there and that police had deployed a flash grenade at the home.

Authorities, however, deferred all questions to a news conference they have scheduled for 10 a.m. (1 p.m. ET).

"This was a senseless and cruel act killing three innocent people," said Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman. "Two who dedicated their lives to protecting all of us in our community and one who was innocently going about her daily life."
read more here

Man committed suicide at VA hospital in Las Vegas

Coroner identifies man who killed himself at VA hospital
News 3

LAS VEGAS (KSNV MyNews3.com) -- The Clark County coroner's office has identified the man who killed himself in the Veterans Administration hospital parking lot Thursday in North Las Vegas.

Mark Christian Rock, 42, of Las Vegas killed himself with a gunshot wound to the head, the coroner's office said today.
read more here

Police investigating death in VA Medical Center parking lot

Concerned Veterans for America call for VA Reform

Advocates call for Veterans Affairs reform
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
By KEITH ROGERS
March 20, 2014

With their sights set on reforming the Department of Veterans Affairs, leaders of a nonprofit veterans advocacy group came to Las Vegas on Thursday night to launch the first of more than a dozen policy forums for their state chapters.

The intent is to heighten awareness about issues such as the slow processing of disability compensation claims.

“The problem is not only the backlog but the long waits, the coverups and the preventable deaths. And nobody is being fired for this, nobody’s actions are being held accountable and fired on the spot,” said Pete Hegseth, CEO for Concerned Veterans for America, which with the organization’s Nevada chapter held the forum, billed as Preserving Promises to Nevada’s Veterans.

Hegseth, an Army veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, was joined onstage by the national group’s veterans affairs adviser Darin Selnick in addressing a crowd of 200 at the South Point.

Hegseth noted that there are “good employees in the VA, mountains of good employees, but they are stifled by bureaucracy.”

That is why he said Concerned Veterans for America is working with House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., to promote legislation called the VA Management Accountability Act.

“We’re going to call on the VA to report more and disclose more,” Hegseth said. “The problem is no accountability, no transparency and no flexibility. That’s what needs to change.”

Selnick said based on his experience, when VA managers have been reprimanded for actions related to poor job performance the reprimands are only temporary.

“They fire people, then go ahead and rehire them,” Selnick said.

Selnick is a retired Air Force officer who worked as a special assistant to the secretary of veterans affairs from 2001 to 2009. He joined the group’s organizing committee because there are “a lot of good employees” who try hard to accommodate veterans. But, he said, their efforts are often compromised by a lack of accountability among VA managers and career employees.
read more here

Police investigating death in VA Medical Center

UPDATE
Coroner released cause of death Mark Christian Rock, 42, of Las Vegas

Police investigating death in VA Medical Center parking lot
Las Vegas Review Journal
By KEITH ROGERS and KIMBER LAUX
March 20, 2014

North Las Vegas and Veterans Affairs police are investigating a death in the VA Medical Center parking lot Thursday morning.

In a statement, VA spokesman Richard Beam said authorities are “investigating the death of a Veteran that appears to have been on the main campus.”

Beam said in an email that the veteran was found by a VA employee.

A spokesman for North Las Vegas police said the body was found about 7 a.m. Thursday.

Employees at the veterans hospital complex on Pecos Road received an alert when they arrived for work.

Thursday’s suicide is reminiscent of a Jan. 30 incident in which a suicidal man barricaded himself in the parking lot at the federal medical center at Nellis Air Force Base. Police closed roads near the base and SWAT team members and crisis negotiators spent several hours on the phone talking to the 50-year-old man before he was taken into custody.
read more here

Marine veteran teaches fellow homeless survival skills

Marine veteran teaches fellow homeless survival skills
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
By KEITH ROGERS
December 21, 2013

Homeless Marine veteran Michael Coughlin heads for his living quarters at a homeless encampment near Lake Mead Boulevard and North Simmons Street in Las Vegas Friday, Dec. 13, 2013. Coughlin, who's a fill-in deacon at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, says it's his mission to help the homeless. Part of that outreach includes teaching them what he calls urban camping skills.
(Bill Hughes/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

“Anybody home?” hollers Marine veteran Michael Coughlin as he strides across the chalky soil making his daily rounds through a homeless camp.

For two years, with help from the Westminster Presbyterian Church’s food pantry, he has been playing the role of guardian angel for fellow homeless people living in hidden hooches on the shrub-dotted desert next to the North Las Vegas Airport.

“It’s been the hardest two years of my life and the best two years of my life,” Coughlin, 53, said on a mid-December tour of the camp he calls “No Man’s Land.”

A survival expert who was raised on his family’s homestead land in Alaska, Coughlin routinely checks on his throng of homeless friends and teaches them outdoor skills for enduring harsh, chilly winters and sweltering summers.

He draws on his 10-year experience as an infantry Marine serving in such places as Nicaragua, Panama and Somalia. He was honorably discharged in 1987.

“I call it urban camping,” he said. “I teach them how to hide and stay warm. The last two years have been absolute dedication to make sure they’re fed and clothed.

The hardest part is to get them to know they’re loved by Jesus Christ and fellow man.”

Coughlin, a divorced man whose parents are deceased, became homeless when he was laid off from his last job in the gaming industry after the recession hit bottom in 2009. He said he had worked in several downtown casinos, rising from dealer to pit boss.

“When my unemployment was running out, I knew I had to do something good with my life,” he said, recalling the promise he made at the time. “What have you done for anybody other than yourself? I’m not going to self-medicate myself. I’m going to do the right thing.”

And “the right thing” turned out to become a homeless person and help others by living with them in their own element. With that came pitfalls to overcome such as having his bicycle stolen three times in two years. He’s now riding his fourth bike to reach odd jobs such as lawn work and moving assistance to earn a few bucks.

“The church is the hub of the wheel I work out of,” he said.
read more here

VA officials probe how its hospital treated blind Las Vegas veteran

UPDATE
VA investigators sent text messages in North Las Vegas probe

VA officials probe how its hospital treated blind Las Vegas veteran
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
By KEITH ROGERS
November 27, 2013

Sandi Niccum is shown slumped in a hospital waiting room on one of her last days. She was blind and in severe pain. (Courtesy Dee Redwine)

The House Veterans Affairs Committee and local VA officials are probing allegations that staff at the VA Medical Center in North Las Vegas mistreated a blind veteran who was writhing in pain while she waited six hours for emergency care at the center on Oct. 22.

The long wait compounded by frustration with incomplete radiology orders and alleged rude treatment increased 78-year-old Sandi Niccum’s frustration to the point that she would pound her walking cane on the hospital floor.

“Several times she would just beat it on the floor and say, ‘Please somebody help me.’ But they didn’t. Nobody cared,” said Niccum’s friend, Dee Redwine, who was with her through the ordeal.

The Navy veteran, described by her aide, Shirley Newsham, as a “brittle diabetic,” had been a volunteer for the VA’s Visually Impairment Services Team for at least eight years. She died Nov. 15 at a local hospice.

Before she died, Niccum asked Redwine to write a chronology of the VA experience and submit it to the Review-Journal.

Her blindness stemmed from diabetes developed during her fifth year of active duty with the Navy Medical Corps as a medic for the Marine Corps at Parris Island, S.C. She was honorably discharged in 1958. She lost vision in one eye in 1983 and the other eye three years later.

Suffering from septic shock from the ruptured abscess in her colon, she died in her sleep about 2 a.m. on Nov. 15. The exact cause of death was unknown, Redwine said.

Niccum’s ashes will be buried at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City at 10 a.m. on Dec. 12 with full military honors.

Donations can be made in her name to the Blinded Veterans Association, P.O. Box 46272, Las Vegas, NV 89114.

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.

read more here

The Weight Of Drone Warfare

The Hidden Cost Of The Drone Program
By NPR STAFF

A faint light has begun to shine in recent weeks on the secretive U.S. program of drone strikes and targeted killings.

Members of Congress are making speeches and statements, writing letters to the White House and holding hearings on Capitol Hill. We know the administration is now reviewing some aspects of the program.

The story of the drone program starts after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. When Congress authorized the president to use necessary force against suspected militants, drone strikes on these suspects slowly increased in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen.

The Weight Of Drone Warfare

Although the drones that carry out these targeted killings are called "unmanned vehicles," there's always someone at the controls.

As a former sensor operator for the U.S. Air Force Predator program, 27-year-old Brandon Bryant was one of the people sitting in the pilot's seat.

Bryant originally joined the military to pay off college debt. In 2006 he found himself wearing a flight suit, sitting in a kind of trailer in Las Vegas. He was surrounded by monitors and the low hum of computers and servers.

On his very first sortie as a pilot, Bryant watched from the drone's camera as American soldiers got blown up in Afghanistan. There was nothing he could do.

Bryant's "first shot" came later, as he watched a group of insurgents who had been firing on U.S. troops. He was ordered to fire a missile at a second group of armed men standing away from the others.

"The missile hits, and after the smoke clears there's a crater there and you can see body parts from the people," Bryant says. "[A] guy that was running from the rear to front, his left leg had been taken off above the knee, and I watched him bleed out."
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