Combat Medic Getting More Help After Road Rage

PTSD cited in Wellesley ‘road rage’ arrest
Boston Globe
Eric Moskowitz
Globe Staff
February 19, 2016

“It’s about the guy next to me,” Beagan’s father remembered him saying. “I feel like I should do my share to protect those guys.”

DEDHAM — When Wellesley police patted down Ian Beagan, they felt Army dog tags under his dress shirt and sweater. When they checked him for identifying marks at booking, they found the numbers 8-3-1-1 tattooed across his right knuckles.

The tags and the inked digits — the date Beagan’s friends were blown up, according to his father — hinted at the burden he has carried in the four years since he returned from Afghanistan.

On Thursday, the 25-year-old community college student was arrested for allegedly pointing a loaded gun at another motorist on Route 9, in an incident police said was “road rage.” In court Friday, Beagan’s lawyer called the episode a result of post-traumatic stress disorder, and a judge postponed Beagan’s arraignment so he could seek evaluation and treatment.

Beagan told police he had been a combat medic and hinted at an experience his father detailed to the Globe in an interview. On Aug. 3, 2011, the truck Beagan usually rode in was carrying five soldiers when it struck a hidden improvised explosive device on a bridge in the Nerkh District, his father said. Two died instantly; two others were badly wounded. Beagan was not on board, but he responded quickly to the scene, treating the wounded.

“Some soldiers have survivor’s guilt,” said his father, Michael Beagan. On top of that, “medics feel it’s their duty to keep their unit safe — that even if they weren’t there, somehow it’s their fault, and Ian has tremendous guilt that his buddies died.”
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Afghanistan Vet Ordered To Get Counseling After Wellesley Road Rage Incident From CBS News

Report on Wounded Soldier Lacking Information

There are so many pull at your heart stories on our veterans that just don't seem to add up.

On this one, there are a few paragraphs with a "feel good" read to them however it doesn't really say much at all.

Hundreds gather to support Whitman veteran injured in Iraq WFXT News Jan 29, 2016

"Hundreds of people packed the Whitman VFW to help raise money for Paul Skarinka's family to pay for the cost of Paul's recovery at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington."

Pay for cost of recovery at Walter Reed? Really? Walter Reed does not charge for wounded soldiers to get care. Skarinka was wounded in 2004, 12 years ago. Is he a veteran or still in the military? Is the reporter talking about the cost for his wife and child? Then why couldn't they go to Fisher House or any of the other charities funding places to stay nearby? Plus if "hundreds" gathered to raise funds for this wounded soldier, do you think they deserved more than a few paragraphs?

Oldest Female “Queen Bee” Veteran Died in Her Sleep at 108

Alyce Dixon, oldest female veteran, dead at 108
FOX News
January 28, 2016

Alyce Dixon, one of the first African-American women to serve in the army and believed to be the oldest living female veteran, died Wednesday. She was 108.

Dixon, known as “Queen Bee,” died in her sleep, the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center said, according to FOX5DC.

Born in Boston in 1907 as Alice Ellis, Dixon changed the spelling of her first name when she was 16, inspired by actress Alyce Mills, the VA said in a prior press release. She briefly attended Howard University but quit school early to help support her family.

She joined the Women’s Army Corps in 1943, stationed in England and France during World War II and working in the postal service with the 6888th Battalion. Her job was to help eliminate a massive backlog of letters and packages sent to soldiers fighting on the frontlines. She received the Good Conduct Medal for her service.
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Should Disabled Veterans Be Eligible for Public Housing?

Simple answer HELL YA!

Reps push bill to make more disabled vets eligible for public housing
Wicked Local Weymouth
By Katie Lannan
State House News Service
Posted Jan. 27, 2016

"The entire purpose to set up public housing after World War II was to benefit our men and women who are returning home," said Rep. Alan Silvia, a Vietnam veteran and vice chair of the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs. "Somehow, we've lost our way and we suddenly forget our veterans."

Wicked Local file photo

WEYMOUTH Income thresholds for public housing applicants are set at a level that excludes some disabled veterans, lawmakers and veterans said Thursday as they discussed a bill seeking address that issue.

"The entire purpose to set up public housing after World War II was to benefit our men and women who are returning home," said Rep. Alan Silvia, a Vietnam veteran and vice chair of the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs. "Somehow, we've lost our way and we suddenly forget our veterans."

The committee heard testimony from representatives of several veterans groups -- the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, the Marine Corps League and the Massachusetts Veterans Service Officers' Association -- in support of a bill that would exclude a certain amount of a disabled veteran's income in determining eligibility for public housing.

Silvia described the legislation, filed by fellow committee member Rep. Jim Arciero, as "incredibly perfect."
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Marine From Florida Among Missing After Helicopters Collided

Marines Identify 12 Missing After Helicopter Crash Off Hawaii
NBC News
by PHIL HELSEL
January 17, 2016

The Marine Corps on Saturday released the names of 12 Marines missing after two helicopters apparently collided in mid-air off the coast of Oahu Thursday, as the search continued for the missing air crew for a second day.

The missing air crew were identified as:

Maj. Shawn M. Campbell, 41, College Station, Texas.

Capt. Brian T. Kennedy, 31, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Capt. Kevin T. Roche, 30, St. Louis, Missouri.

Capt. Steven R. Torbert, 29, Florence, Alabama.

Sgt. Dillon J. Semolina, 24,Chaska, Minnesota.

Sgt. Adam C. Schoeller, 25, Gardners, Pennsylvania.

Sgt. Jeffrey A. Sempler, 22, Woodruff, South Carolina.

Sgt. William J. Turner, 25, Florala, Alabama.

Cpl. Matthew R. Drown, 23, Spring, Texas.

Cpl. Thomas J. Jardas, 22, Fort Myers, Florida.

Cpl. Christopher J. Orlando, 23, Hingham, Massachusetts.

Lance Cpl. Ty L. Hart, 21, Aumsville, Oregon.

Coast Guard and other aircraft and ships spent a second day searching for the missing Marines, but weather and high swells were hampering the effort.

As of 8 a.m. Saturday, searchers had scoured more than 5,000 square nautical miles, the Coast Guard said.
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Sergeant Dillon Semolina

‘He Was Just A Fun-Loving Kid’: Missing Marine Left Mark On Community

Corporal Christopher Orlando
Family of missing Hingham Marine speak about son

Sgt. Adam C. Schoeller
PHILADELPHIA MARINE AMONG 12 MISSING AFTER HELICOPTER CRASH IN HAWAII

Heroic Stalling Saved Lives

Man credited with distracting brother who wanted to shoot police
Boston Globe
By Andy Rosen Globe Staff
December 17, 2015

His lawyer could not be reached for comment, but the MetroWest Daily News reported that he said in court that McNulty had been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder since an Army tour in Iraq.

Authorities in Framingham are crediting the brother of an armed man for distracting him when police arrived at his house, preventing the suspect from getting his gun after he had vowed to shoot police officers and go out “in a blaze of glory.”

Daniel R. McNulty was held without bail on domestic violence and firearms charges, after a hearing Thursday in Framingham District Court. His next court date is Jan. 19.

He was arrested early Wednesday after an incident that began as he allegedly fought with his girlfriend and a female roommate— kicking one in the stomach and holding another by the throat against a wall, a police report said. McNulty was reported to be intoxicated, officials said.

After struggling with the two women over a bottle of wine, a police report said, McNulty apologized to his girlfriend but continued to criticize the other woman.
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Marine-Firefighter “Worcester’s Smokin’ Hot Hero”

Local firefighter fundraises as calendar cover man
Community Advocate
By Ed Karvoski Jr., Contributing Writer
December 15, 2015

Seamus Shanley pictured on the cover of “Worcester’s Smokin’ Hot Heroes”

2016 calendar to benefit the Box 4 Special Services. Photo/submitted

Shrewsbury – Seamus Shanley of Shrewsbury is a Marine Corps veteran, Worcester firefighter and marathoner. Now, he’s also the cover man of “Worcester’s Smokin’ Hot Heroes” 2016 calendar to benefit the Box 4 Special Services. Between the calendar covers are other shirtless Worcester firefighters representing each month for a charitable cause. According to its Facebook page, “Box 4 Special Services provides extended incident rehab for the first responders of Worcester County.” Citing a recent fire he worked, Shanley described the service this nonprofit organization provides.

“As soon as it becomes a multiple-alarm fire, the Box 4 truck comes, manned by volunteers,” he explained. “We had a three-alarm fire at 4 a.m. They jumped out of their beds, got on the truck and drove to the fire scene to provide food and beverages to all the citizens that were displaced and all of us fighting the fire. It’s always a good morale booster to see Box 4.”

He became inspired to help others while in elementary school when a neighbor joined the Marine Corps. Shanley served in the Marine Corps from 1996 to 2000, based at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C. He was deployed with a marine expeditionary unit to Mediterranean countries and travelled to Panama for jungle training.
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Woman Charged Poisoning Neighbor's Dog with Meds

Westford woman charged with poisoning neighbor's dog
Lowell Sun
By Robert Mill
UPDATED: 12/09/2015

James White, of Westford, poses with his family's 7-month-old miniature miniature schnauzer, Zoe, who recovered with no side effects after allegedly being poisoned with prescription medication by one of White's neighbors late last month. SUN/Robert Mills

WESTFORD -- A Westford family's 7-month-old miniature schnauzer is recovering well after it was allegedly poisoned with prescription medication by a neighbor who told police she just wanted some peace from what she called the dog's incessant barking.

But James White, of 173 Carlisle Road, says his family asked around their 5-unit apartment building in an effort to be good neighbors and got no complaints about Zoe -- the miniature schnauzer -- from other neighbors or the family of the woman who allegedly poisoned her.

Meanwhile, White's neighbor Daovone Nokham, 35, is free on personal recognizance after pleading not guilty in Ayer District Court to a single count of poisoning an animal.

Elizabeth Vlock, a spokeswoman for Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan, said Judge Elizabeth Cremens ordered Nokham not to abuse any animals while the case is pending.

Nokham could not be reached for comment. A man who identified himself as Nokham's husband closed the door on a reporter who went to her home on Wednesday.

The incident unfolded at the Westford Home for Veterans, where both families live, on Black Friday.
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Marine Died During Standoff in Massachusetts

Marine identified following Swansea standoff
NBC 10 NEWS
BY TONY GUGLIOTTA
DECEMBER 7TH 2015

SWANSEA, Mass. — A 24-year-old Marine from Swansea died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound following an altercation with another Swansea resident who police described as his former girlfriend.

The Bristol County district attorney on Monday identified the man as Brandon Leonardo.

Police were alerted to an address on Old Warren Road for reports of a disturbance where Leonardo allegedly destroyed some property and fired one shot over the head of two people at that residence.

Officials said Leonardo told his former girlfriend that he would get into a firefight with police if they came to arrest him.
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Vietnam Veteran Killed in Massachusetts

UPDATES
2 Teens Charged In Vietnam Veteran Murder In New Bedford

New Bedford stunned by taxi driver’s killing
Boston Globe
By Jan Ransom GLOBE STAFF
DECEMBER 01, 2015

"He wouldn’t want me to be mad about what happened. The people who did this to my father had no idea who they did this to."
Barry Depina, whose father, Donald, was killed over the weekend

NEW BEDFORD — Donald A. Depina, an Army veteran from the Vietnam War, survived a search-and-destroy mission in Chu Lai as an infantryman nearly five decades ago.

But Saturday, Depina, a 66-year-old cabdriver who had dedicated his life to helping veterans, was found suffering from a gunshot wound about 11 p.m. in a parking lot outside Brooklawn Park, the Bristol district attorney’s office said.

He died almost an hour later at St. Luke’s Hospital.

“They took a really good man from us,” his son, Barry Depina, 29, said. “I’m sure they thought he was a lowly cabdriver with no family, but the entire city loves him.”

The Bristol district attorney’s office declined to comment on the case Monday and said the shooting remains under investigation. An autopsy by the state medical examiner’s office is pending.
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New Bedford mayor condemns slaying of ex-veterans agent
Boston Herald
Laurel J. Sweet
November 30, 2015

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell is condemning the murder of Donald DePina, the city’s former veterans agent, as a “heinous act of violence.”

Police found DePina, 66, mortally wounded by gunfire late Saturday night near the parking lot of Brooklawn Park.

DePina, a Vietnam War veteran, was rushed to St. Luke’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after midnight, according to Gregg Miliote, spokesman for Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III.

“Our prayers go out to the family of Donald DePina, a servant of both our nation and city,” Mitchell said in a statement to the Herald.

“I am saddened and horrified by this heinous act of violence. We will work relentlessly with the District Attorney’s Office to bring the perpetrator to justice.”
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After 10 Years of Service, Veteran with 3 Children Homeless

COURAGE: Army vet, 3 children join ranks of hotel homeless in Brockton 
Cynthia Cast knows this Thanksgiving will be different for the family because of the difficult situation, but she is thankful and grateful for the help she has received.
Enterprise News
By Marc Larocque Enterprise Staff Writer
Posted Nov. 26, 2015

Before that, Cast served in the Army for 10 years. She enlisted as a senior at Brockton High School, following in the footsteps of her father, who was a veteran. She was the first woman in her family who joined the military, she said.

BROCKTON – In the Holiday Inn Express overlooking Westgate Mall in Brockton, an Army veteran has been living with three young children. Cynthia Cast found herself without a home in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving.

Her apartment lease ended and she was financially unable to secure a new one. Cast joined the ranks of roughly 50,000 homeless veterans around the country. “It’s been very discouraging,” said Cast, 42, who is trying to use a veterans rental assistance program to find a new apartment. “And it’s definitely stressful. You don’t want to be in a hotel. You want your kids to live a normal life.”
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Justin Fitch Remembered For Life's Work

Justin Fitch had no way of knowing that the number of veterans committing suicide everyday in America is closer to 73 than to 22. He had no way of knowing that state after state have been reporting that the percentage of veterans surviving military service is double the civilian rate for suicides.  He had no way of knowing any of this because reporters just keep repeating part of a study that came out in 2012 that also came with a disclaimer of just being an average from 21 states.

The only thing that this veteran knew was that there were far too many losing a reason to live while he did everything possible to stay alive long enough to change the outcome.

Friends honor late Iraq vet who fought to spread suicide awareness
Justin Fitch lost battle with stage 4 colon cancer in October
WCVB Boston
Mary Saladna
Nov 27, 2015

Despite the more than 50 chemotherapy treatments, he was determined to leave the world a better place.

BOSTON —Friends and family spent Thanksgiving Day remembering Justin Fitch.

Fitch, an Army captain and Iraq War veteran, lost his battle with stage 4 colon cancer in October.

Despite the more than 50 chemotherapy treatments, he was determined to leave the world a better place.

A veteran of two tours in Iraq, Fitch spent the final years of his life fighting to raise awareness and funds to end military suicides, calculated at 22 a day or more than 8,000 a year.

"The guy had stage 4 colon cancer, and for the last 2-and-a-half years of his life, fought, kicked, and screamed -- everything he could do to tell everybody that 22 veterans a day taking their own life is just a crime," said John Harlow, a friend.
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Fort Bragg Soldier From Massachusetts Fatal Motorcycle Accident

Fort Bragg soldier dies from wreck injuries 
FayObserver
Drew Brooks
November 16, 2015

A Fort Bragg paratrooper injured in a motorcycle wreck on post last week has died, officials said.

Pfc. Aaron Cordoba-Martinez, 24, of Taunton, Massachusetts, died Saturday, a spokesman for the 82nd Airborne Division said.

He was injured Thursday, after a wreck on Butner Road near McFayden Pond. Cordoba-Martinez, who joined the Army last November, had been assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team since May.

He served with the 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, which was his first unit since completing infantry training at Fort Benning, Georgia. read more here

Topsfield Massachusetts Remembers Coast Guard on Veterans Day and PTSD

Topsfield Veterans Day service Saturday, Nov. 7
WickedLocalBoxford
Posted Nov. 6, 2015

Veterans Day Services in Topsfield will be held on Saturday, November 7 at 10 a.m. on the Veterans’ Memorial Green in Topsfield.

According to Richard Cullinan, Topsfield Veterans Officer, the new Memorial flagpole will be dedicated, and the 225th anniversary of the US Coast Guard will be observed during the ceremony.

The Paul Revere Bell, one of the few left in the country, will be rung to honor deceased veterans.

Cullinan adds, “The service of today’s Veterans is to remember and honor past Veterans, and to teach our students about Veterans’ service and sacrifice for our communities.”

Iraq War veteran and Congressman Seth Moulton (D-MA) will bring a first-of-its-kind veterans event to Massachusetts on Veterans Day, Nov. 11th. Inspired by acclaimed author and director Sebastian Junger, the event is a community forum aiming to establish greater understanding between local veterans and the friends and neighbors they served.

In a June 2015 Vanity Fair article, Sebastian Junger, highlighted the challenges of post-traumatic stress among veterans. He suggested “making every town and city hall in the country available to veterans who want to speak publicly about the war.” Holding these community forums would “return the experience of war to our entire nation, rather than just leaving it to the people who fought.”
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Sebastian Junger: Why veterans miss war

"We've failed our vets"

OUR VIEW: We've failed our vets
WickedLocalMarshfield
Posted Nov. 6, 2015 at 12:30 PM

Not to mention, does thanking a veteran once a year really mean we care? Every day, there are veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, living with the horrific conditions they suffered for our freedom, and there are those who have trouble finding housing or jobs.

We’ve failed.

As a community, we’ve failed our veterans.

It’s not just that we canceled the parade in their honor.

It’s that we let the veterans believe it was in their best interest to cancel it.

When the news first came out that there would be no Veteran’s Day parade in Marshfield this year because of lack of spectators, we wondered two things right way: How do you cite lack of attendance in canceling a parade that hasn’t happened yet, and how does it make veterans feel?

After conducting multiple interviews, we learned it wasn’t just the lack of residents who attended the annual parade, but even veterans weren’t really that interested.

That’s what’s most striking. That’s where we failed. We’ve let our veterans believe they aren’t important.

Historically, our society has never done a very good job at saluting veterans. We’ve even shunned veterans when we didn’t agree with the war they fought in. We saw it after Vietnam, but we’ve seen it much more recently also with Iraq and Afghanistan.

We’re still sending people to war, creating new veterans all the time, and maybe that’s lending to our apathy.
read more here

Massachusetts Town Canceled Veterans Parade?

Massachusetts Town Canceled Veterans Parade?

Veteran's parade canceled in Marshfield Posted: Oct 29, 2015

Parade organizers say the timing of the parade means fewer and fewer attend. And they had added problems this year, including a loss of funding and a complaint that the parade tied up traffic for too long.

WOW!

"Year Incorporated As a town: 1640"

The Town of Marshfield is located in Southeastern Massachusetts in Plymouth County. A coastal community 30 miles from Boston, Marshfield has a yearly population of about 25,000 people which grows to about 40,000 in the summer months. The town's rich history of over 350 years dates back to the pre-revolutionary war era and is best known as the home of Daniel Webster from 1832 until his death in 1852. While a resident he was a very important national political figure and was known as "the Farmer of Marshfield".

Guess they don't want to bother remembering how men and women stepped up to make this nation free and others stepped up to retain that freedom.

Tastes From Home Reach Afghanistan Dunkin’ Donuts Coffee and Fluffernutter

Swampscott care is felt in Afghanistan 
The Daily Item
By Gayla Cawley
Posted: Monday, September 14, 2015

Care packages from Swampscott to Afghanistan Chief Master Sergeant Patrick Burke, left, of Swampscott and Sergeant Stanley Bembo hold posters from Clarke Elementary School students.

SWAMPSCOTT — While Swampscott’s Patrick Burke, a chief master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, is stationed in Afghanistan, he wants to make sure people know how grateful he is for care packages sent from students at Clarke Elementary School this past spring.

Burke put in a call from Afghanistan last Thursday morning to explain how students from the school have been sending him packages over his past deployments — he’s on his fourth tour in Afghanistan — and sent him a huge shipment, weighing hundreds of pounds, this past spring. He said the shipment was part of the school’s “Support the Troops” drive. He said the effort was led by the fourth grade class at the time. 

Burke, whose son attends the school, took a leave of absence from his full-time job at General Electric in Lynn when he was deployed. When he’s not on active duty, he is a reserve Air Force member, and normally works one weekend a month at the Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee.

He is due to end his deployment and return home in November. Burke said the 10 packages included his favorite things, such as Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, peanut butter and Fluff. He said the packages also included letters from students, cookies, candy and essential items, such as soap and toothbrushes.

He was able to distribute the materials between himself and the 50 men and women in his unit. He said the packages “raise morale for everyone.” read more here

New Researchers Decades Behind On PTSD

This is why nothing has changed on PTSD research. They did it again. Over and over and over again, repeating studies other researchers discovered over 30 years ago! And I thought you couldn't get into MIT unless you were able to read? This is the headline MIT: PTSD could be prevented And this was the "shocker"

“That was really surprising to us,” said lead author and MIT postdoc Michael Baratta. “It seems like stress is enabling a serotonergic memory consolidation process that is not present in an unstressed animal.”

Yep, they blamed serotonin

Blame it on the serotonin

The specific pathway of this disease involves a part of the brain known as the amygdala, an almond-sized structure involved in responding to and remembering stress and fear. In mice with chronic stress who experience a trauma, a neurotransmitter known as serotonin acted on the amygdala to promote the process of memory consolidation. (Memory consolidation is the process by which short-term memories are turned into long-term memories.)

This shows it goes back to 1972

40 Years of Academic Public Psychiatry edited by Selby Jacobs, Ezra Griffiths
Page 80
"Pioneering research on the role of specific brain areas (locus coeruleus, raphe nuclei, midbrain dopamine neurons) regulating brain norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine functions the systems targeted by out current psychiatric medications.

Easy to see why everything I started reading over 30 years ago has been forgotten. Guess there is no money in actually paying attention to what was learned before the internet actually gave them the ability to learn what was done long before most of them were even born!!!!!

Military veterans
Information about PTSD in veterans of the Vietnam era is derived from the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Survey (NVVRS), conducted between 1986 and 1988. The estimated lifetime prevalence of PTSD among American veterans of this war is 30.9% for men and 26.9% for women. An additional 22.5% of the men and 21.2% of the women have been diagnosed with partial PTSD at some point in their lives. The lifetime prevalence of PTSD among veterans of World War II and the Korean War is estimated at 20%.

And this shows who started all the research new researchers have avoided at all costs,,,and I do mean costs since they get paid to do new research no matter how many times it has been done before.

Causes
When PTSD was first suggested as a diagnostic category for DSM-III in 1980, it was controversial precisely because of the central role of outside stressors as causes of the disorder. Psychiatry has generally emphasized the internal weaknesses or deficiencies of individuals as the source of mental disorders; prior to the 1970s, war veterans, rape victims, and other trauma survivors were often blamed for their symptoms and regarded as cowards, moral weaklings, or masochists. The high rate of psychiatric casualties among Vietnam veterans, however, led to studies conducted by the Veterans Administration. These studies helped to establish PTSD as a legitimate diagnostic entity with a complex set of causes.

Police and PTSD "We're Still Human"

Arizona police officers helping combat stigma of PTSD
AZ Central
Jim Walsh, The Republic
August 28, 2015

A Phoenix task force recently released a series of recommendations to help police officers get the help they need early on. That came after former Officer Craig Tiger committed suicide in November 2014. Tiger was fired by then-Police Chief Daniel V. Garcia a year earlier, after his arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence.

The flashpoint was a simple “hot tone,” the kind police hear all the time.

It brought back two incidents that haunt Brian Romney, the kind that a counselor and a psychologist say damages the middle brain, leaving a permanent mark.

In 2012, as a Gilbert police officer, Romney found himself in the bloody aftermath of a quadruple murder-suicide at the hands of J.T. Ready. There was nothing police could do to save Ready’s girlfriend and three of her relatives, including a baby, from his rampage.

Two years later, Romney was splashed with blood while handcuffing a bank-robbery suspect who had been shot to death by another officer. Although Romney never pulled the trigger, “I played an active part in taking a man’s life,” he said.

The hot tone, a high-pitched noise broadcast on police radio systems to signal an emergency, triggered a reaction two weeks later. Romney started hyperventilating.

“I got in my car. I drove to the Police Department. I said, ‘Something is happening to me. I need help. I need to see a psychologist,’ ” Romney said. “The culture in a police department is to suck it up and go on to the next call. It’s hard for officers to admit they need help, because there is a stigma. They don’t want to be perceived as a weak link.”

“People expect the uniform to make calls like that bounce off, but they don’t. We’re still human.” Brian Romney

Romney took off his uniform. He never wore it again. It was the end of a 12-year career.
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Code 9 Officer Needs Assistance - The Documentary from Dangerous Curves Productions on Vimeo.

Vietnam Veteran Finally Gets Medal After 48 Years

Worcester Vietnam veteran receives medals 48 years later 
Telegram and Gazette
By Samantha Allen
Posted Aug. 6, 2015

“There’s an old cliché in the Army, ‘Hurry up and wait,’ ” he said Thursday. “So it’s been 48 years.”

Robert LaRose Jr. pins a medal on his father, retired firefighter and Vietnam War veteran Robert LaRose, during a ceremony Thursday at the office of U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern in Worcester. Looking on is Mr. LaRose's other son, Tim LaRose. T and G Staff/Steve Lanava

WORCESTER – Retired Firefighter Robert LaRose, a lifelong resident of the city, hasn’t been to the Massachusetts Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Green Hill Park yet.

Having known several of the Worcester men whose names are etched into the granite markers, he finds the memorial difficult to go and see in more ways than one, he said.

Mr. LaRose, 67, reflected on his two tours in Vietnam with the U.S. Army artillery unit Thursday, moments before U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, presented him with several medals that had never come. Mr. LaRose’s family reached out to the military to rectify the situation when they realized their father and grandfather was never recognized for his efforts more than four decades before. Mr. LaRose said he heard there was a fire at a national office that slowed the process, and then typical “red tape” ensued.
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