Vietnam Veteran Fighting For Wife's Life

CentraCare, St. Cloud man clash on plan for wife's care 
St. Cloud Times
Kevin Allenspach
February 1, 2015

Charles Holmes communicates with his wife, Tahnee Hughes-Holmes, in their home Jan. 22 in St. Cloud. Hughes-Holmes was paralyzed in a car accident and then suffered a cardiac arrest just over a year ago.
(Photo: Dave Schwarz)

Charles Holmes has disagreed with CentraCare about a potential care plan that would deny life-saving measures for his wife, Tahnee Hughes-Holmes, who is a quadriplegic and dependent on a ventilator.

For almost half her life, Tahnee Hughes-Holmes has lived as a quadriplegic in St. Cloud.

A victim of a drunken driver, she was able to maneuver in a motorized wheelchair, go garage-saling or to the movies for almost 20 years after becoming paralyzed. And she was known for speaking her mind.

That changed a little more than a year ago when she suffered a cardiac arrest while in St. Cloud Hospital, resulting in a brain injury that has made her dependent on a ventilator and robbed her of speech.

Since a monthlong hospitalization last fall, the 46-year-old has lived at home the south edge of St. Cloud. Her constant companion, other than a rotation of personal care attendants, is her husband, Charles Holmes, who has been by her side since 1991.

Holmes knows what it's like to suffer. He served in the Army in the late 1970s and said he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in 1997, years after he moved to Central Minnesota to get treatment through the St. Cloud VA Health Care System. Holmes went from job to job until going on disability in 2002. He said the PTSD is rooted in his service, but didn't want to elaborate.
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Double Murder-Suicide Claims Lives of Veteran Family

Apple Valley Couple, Child Found in Apparent Murder-Suicide were Dead for Weeks
KSTP.com
By: Ellen Galles
Created: 01/19/2015

David Crowley, his wife Komel Crowley, and their 5-year-old daughter were found dead inside their Apple Valley home over the weekend. Apple Valley police say the case appears to be a murder-suicide.

David Crowley was a veteran of the U.S. Army, he served five years and left in 2009 to become a filmmaker. Komel Crowley was a registered dietician who ran her own business. One friend says they doted on their five-year-old daughter.

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Before death of family, Apple Valley filmmaker voiced struggles over project
Twin Cities.com
By Nick Ferraro
POSTED: 01/20/2015

A photo from David Crowley's Instagram account shows Crowley with his wife, Komel.

In the days leading up to his death, David Crowley still had hope that his independent film would pan out.

But Crowley, an Apple Valley filmmaker and screenwriter, also showed concern over the project -- "Gray State," a movie that the Army veteran scripted but had yet to film.

In an email to a prospective producer, Crowley wrote that the project was "now almost completely abandoned" by its original backers and that he was "exhausted from carrying and managing this burden for so many years."

"Maybe the work load got too crazy; I don't know the personal reasons, but at the end of it all here I am at the end of the tunnel all alone," he wrote to a Los Angeles first assistant director in an email obtained by the Pioneer Press. "The fans continue to gather, but they're frustrated and despondent. No one believes anymore."

Crowley reached out to Jason Allen in the Dec. 17 email, asking if he wanted to be an executive producer and help out with the logistics of the film project, which he started about four years ago and revolves around a plot of government conspiracy.

"Jason, you know exactly what to do with this," Crowley wrote.

Allen didn't get the opportunity to take Crowley up on his offer.

On Saturday, Apple Valley police found Crowley, 29; his wife, Komel, a 28-year-old dietitian; and their 5-year-old daughter, Rani, dead of gunshot wounds in what investigators are saying was a murder-suicide at the family's home in the 1000 block of Ramsdell Drive.
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Vietnam Veteran Died Alone, Remember by Many

Community Gathers to Honor, Lay to Rest Winona Soldier Who Died Alone 
KSTP.com
By: Joe Mazan
January 19, 2015

One Minnesota community came together to honor a Vietnam Veteran who could have easily been forgotten.

Seventy-three-year-old Richard Rhodes was buried in a Winona cemetery on Monday. He died about a week before Christmas, no family or friends could be found. He left no will. A funeral home took charge of the body and discovered he served in the U.S Army in the 1960s.
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St. Cloud VA Canteen Serves Those Who Served

Cuisine Unseen: St. Cloud VA Canteen Serves Those Who Served [VIDEO]
WJON News
By Isaac Schweer
December 22, 2014

Photo by Isaac Schweer, WJON

ST. CLOUD — In this week’s installment of Cuisine Unseen, we head to the St. Cloud VA to check out the Canteen, which serves our local Veterans in more ways than one.

Open to Veterans and their caretakers, the St. Cloud VA Canteen serves over 1,000 hungry patrons every day.

The Canteen’s menu changes from day to day, ranging from fried chicken to pizza and from tacos to sub sandwiches.

The St. Cloud VA Canteen is a non-profit service that started with government funding in the very first year, but has been self-funded ever since.

The St. Cloud VA Canteen has a staff made up of 17 people – both Veterans and non-Veterans – who are led by Pam Krueger.
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Cuisine Unseen: St. Cloud VA Canteen Serves Those Who Served
AM 1240 WJON

Veteran Suicides Double Civilian Deaths in Minnesota

Despite efforts, veteran suicides remain alarming
St. Cloud Times
Kirsti Marohn
November 16, 2014

The statistics are jarring, and they don't seem to be changing.

An estimated 22 veterans take their own lives every day in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

In Minnesota, it's a similar pattern. A St. Cloud Times analysis of death records found that 102 people who had served in the armed forces killed themselves in Minnesota in 2013.

Veterans in Minnesota are dying by suicide at a rate more than double that of the general population — an estimated 30 per 100,000 last year, compared to 12.5 per 100,000 in the general population.

While there have been numerous cases of veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan taking their own lives in recent years, it's not just recently deployed veterans who are dying by suicide.

In fact, the largest number of suicide deaths are older men, said Dan Reidenberg, executive director of Suicide Awareness Voices of Education, a national nonprofit based in Bloomington.

The vast majority of veterans who commit suicide are older than 55 years, Reidenberg said. Many have had lengthy battles with post-traumatic stress, substance abuse, anxiety or other problems, he said.
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Fort Bragg Soldier Death Under Investigation

Police: Fort Bragg soldier's death believed to be 'self-inflicted'
by WNCN Staff
Posted: Nov 11, 2014

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.
Fayetteville police say a Fort Bragg soldier's death Saturday is being investigated as a possible suicide.

Fort Bragg said Tuesday that Pvt. 1st Class Kathijah "Katie" Badrul Haimi, 22, of Minnesota, died Nov. 8.
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Vietnam Veteran "I know my purpose, I know my destiny"

Vietnam vet had the Purple Heart - now he can fly the flag
Twin Cities News
By Mary Divine
POSTED:10/30/201

Richard Jenkins, left, a Vietnam vet and Purple Heart recipient, talks on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014, with his neighbors Joe Williams, center, and Jason Lange, who put up an American flag and a Purple Heart flag in Jenkins' yard in Newport.
(Pioneer Press: Jean Pieri)

His favorite Bible verse is Psalms 37:23-25: "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread."

"I have never looked back," Jenkins said. "You have to have an impact. To change the lives of people, that's with the grace of God.

The Rev. Richard Jenkins didn't receive a warm welcome when he returned from Vietnam.

Jenkins, who received a Purple Heart for shrapnel wounds to his leg, said there were no yellow ribbons, no ticker-tape parades, no standing ovations.

"I had such anger," said Jenkins, 72, an Army draftee who now lives in Newport. "I didn't volunteer for any of it."

Two of his neighbors are doing their part to right that wrong. Jason Lange and Joe Williams recently bought a flagpole and installed it in Jenkins' front yard to honor his sacrifice and celebrate his service. They also gave him an American flag and a flag that honors Purple Heart recipients.

"What he's done for us, for our families, is a lot more than we did here," Williams said.

For 30 years, he has volunteered as a chaplain at Minnesota prisons. He is an advocate for veterans, serves on the board of Black Veterans of America and counsels those with post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition he was diagnosed with 25 years ago.

"I came back with the survivor's guilt: 'Lord, why me?' " he said. "The longer I live and the veterans that I have crossed paths with, I know that God has allowed me to come back for a purpose. I know my purpose, I know my destiny.
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Hero Faker-Felon Took Advantage of Gold Star Family

This military faker tricked a town - and a Gold Star family
Military Times
Kevin Lilley
Staff Writer
Oct. 4, 2014

The toothpick and sunglasses
were two red flags for veterans that
Richard Rahn was faking military service.

(Courtesy of Chet Blue)

In public, Richard Arthur Rahn was a Ranger-tabbed command sergeant major who attended American Legion gatherings and other ceremonies, swapped tales of combat with veterans and pressed the flesh with civic leaders.

In private, he offered comfort to a Gold Star family — visiting their Minnesota home, shedding tears with them over their fallen son, even offering a small statue of a praying soldier as a token of appreciation for their sacrifice.

In reality, he was a faker and a felon.

Rahn, 54, spent the summer attending various events while posing as a high-ranking noncommissioned officer, but when he donned his dress uniform at an Olivia, Minnesota, Legion post to greet participants in a motorcycle ride paying tribute to six fallen soldiers, the ruse was up.

Veterans spotted multiple problems with the uniform, everything from an out-of-whack ribbon rack to a Combat Infantryman Badge that would’ve required Korean War service. Tips came in to local law enforcement, and it soon became clear that unearned medals were the least of Rahn’s problems.
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Minnesota: Veteran Suicides Almost Double Civilian Rate

Veterans and suicide: A national issue with local consequences
St. Cloud Times
Kirsti Marohn and David Unze
August 25, 2014

Almost 19 percent of suicides in Minnesota from 2007-12 were veterans

That's the estimated number of veterans in the United States who died by suicide every day in 2010, according to a February 2012 report from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

A St. Cloud Times analysis of state death records found that 686 veterans died by suicide in Minnesota from 2007 to 2012. Almost 19 percent of suicides in Minnesota during those years were veterans, which closely tracks the national numbers.

Veterans also are dying from suicides at a higher rate than the general population, according to the Times analysis.

The average rate of veteran suicides in Minnesota during that six-year period was 30 per 100,000 people, almost double the suicide rate of the overall population of 15.4 per 100,000.

Scars of Service

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Minnesota National Guardsmen Life After Afghanistan

Minn. National Guard Soldiers Attacked in Afghanistan Adjust to Life at Home
KSTP News 5
Kate Renner
August 16, 2014

Members of a Minnesota National Guard unit that was attacked on their base in Afghanistan by a suicide bomber this past winter met Saturday in Anoka to learn how to re-integrate into society.

The 849th Mobility Augmentation Company spent 11 months in Afghanistan. Of the unit’s 100 soldiers, five were wounded in the January attack and two were sent home early.

The company returned to Litchfield in June. The group participated in their 60-day reintegration program over the weekend.

Captain Matt Jukkala, 849th Mobility Augmentation Company Commander, has spent the past two months returning to life as a husband and a manager at Caterpillar Paving in Brooklyn Park.

"Deployed life was very simple,” Jukkala said. “You woke up, you ate, you got ready for your mission, you did your mission, you got back, cleaned your stuff, ate again and went to the gym and worked out.

And just literally repeat.”

He was among those who were at Saturday’s workshop at Anoka County Technical College. The group focused on a range of topics, including employment and family life.

"(When) You get into civilian world it's really based on building repertoire with the people who report to you, getting to know people, networking, that you really don't have to lean so hard on in the military because of the rank structure and the structure of the organization," Jukkala said.
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Minnesota jury awards Ventura $1.8M in Chris Kyle defamation case

Minnesota jury awards Ventura $1.8M in Chris Kyle defamation case
KETK News
Michael Wesp
July 29, 2014

MINNEAPOLIS (KETK) — A Minneapolis, Minnesota, jury has ruled in favor of former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura in a defamation suit against the widow of Chris Kyle. The jury awarded the former governor $1.8 million in damages.
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Standoff with Police Ends Peacefully

Man reportedly barricades himself with guns; standoff ends without arrest
[UPDATED]
Fergus Falls
Saturday, July 19, 2014

A man reportedly barricaded himself inside a rural Ottertail garage with guns Friday night, and after a standoff, police determined there was no threat at the home.

The Otter Tail County Sheriffs Office temporarily set a perimeter around the house, according to a press release from the Sheriff’s Office.

Officers arrived at the home on Long Lake Road just before 9 p.m. after receiving a call from a woman that a family member had locked himself in the garage. She said he suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and that there were guns in the garage.
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27 percent of Afghanistan and Iraq veterans going hungry

Next time you hear a politician talking about cutting food stamps remember this one.

Study: 1 in 4 Afghanistan/Iraq Vets Need Food Help
KAALtv.com
05/07/2014

(ABC 6 NEWS) -- New research by the University of Minnesota has found both men and women who served in Iraq and/or Afghanistan wars are in greater need of food assistance.

The study believes our newest veterans have financial hardships that make accessing sufficient food more difficult compared to the average citizen.

“We found that 27 percent of veterans who served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan don’t have consistent access to sufficient food,” said University of Minnesota researcher Rachel Widome, Ph.D.,. “That’s drastically higher than the prevalence of food insecurity in the U.S., which is 14.5 percent.”

Research was conducted with the Minneapolis Department of Veterans Affairs, and surveyed 922 veteran records.
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Minnesota veterans avoiding Veterans Service Centers

Veterans forgoing use of county services centers across Minnesota
Star Tribune
Article by: PAUL LEVY
Updated: April 17, 2014

Across Minnesota, county veterans services officials have struggled with getting visitors.

Minnesota veterans who were deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan have returned to their families, friends, jobs or school. But rarely do they visit county veterans services offices — not even those vets with post-traumatic stress disorder.

County officials have tried to lure young veterans into these service offices through billboard and newspaper advertisements, brochures and word-of-mouth — usually with little success. In Fillmore County, center director Jason Marquardt alerted young vets to his officewhile telling them about a new veterans cemetery under construction in southeastern Minnesota — anything to get their attention.

Pride, resistance to government programs and a preference to use the Internet are among the reasons some avoid the services offices, officials say. And there is the simple matter of age.

“Let’s say you’ve just been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan,” said Milt Schoen, Hennepin County veterans services officer. “You are invincible. You’re always going to be strong. You don’t need to go to an office where somebody can tell you about benefits if you have PTSD.”

The centers provide an array of services, from helping vets complete forms for government-paid medical assistance to providing financial and mortgage advice to directing people to resources on health and other issues. And while younger veterans’ absence is more noticeable, it’s not only they who have eschewed the offices.

“The older veterans don’t want to come in because they think they’re taking away something from younger veterans,” Marquardt said. “The Vietnam, Korea or World War II guys either don’t want anything to do with government or don’t want to take anything.”
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Minnesota National Guardsman accused of ID theft of 400 soldiers from Fort Bragg

Minn. guardsman accused of stealing military IDs
Times Leader
December 12. 2013 2:37AM
Associated Press

(AP) A Minnesota National Guardsman faces federal fraud charges in connection with the theft of names, Social Security numbers and security clearance levels of roughly 400 members of his former Army unit in Fort Bragg, N.C. The Iraq War veteran intended to use the confidential material to create fake IDs for his militia, court documents say.

Obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, the federal complaint and affidavit says Keith Michael Novak, 25, threatened to use violence if authorities came to arrest him. He also told an undercover FBI employee that he would barricade himself in his apartment and had "5,000 rounds, a thousand of it is in magazines, ready to go," according to the affidavit.

Novak, of Maplewood, was in federal custody Wednesday and unavailable for comment. His father has an unlisted number, and attempts to reach him were unsuccessful. The federal defender's office has the case, but an attorney had not been selected to represent him by Wednesday evening.

Novak served as an active-duty soldier and intelligence analyst with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg from Feb. 26, 2009, to Sept. 3, 2012, and served in Iraq in 2010. He is currently a human intelligence analyst with the Minnesota National Guard.
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Strangers rushed to rescue 5 kids trapped in car in pond

5 children in serious condition after being pulled from car in pond
NBC News
By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer
November 21, 2013

Five children were in serious condition after being submerged in a frigid Minnesota pond for half an hour of more after a car accident, authorities said.

The children, who ranged in age from 1 to 7, were not responsive when rescuers got to them, a city spokesman told the Associated Press. The State Police later listed all five as being in serious condition.

The driver of the Pontiac Grand Am, Marion Guerrido, 23, escaped when it landed in the water, state police said. She had no apparent injuries.

State Patrol spokesman Lt. Eric Roeske said passersby and a person who lived in a nearby apartment jumped into the pond to rescue the kids but the bottom was too mucky.
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2,000 Minnesota Veterans Face Deadline To File Tax Credit Worth Hundreds

2,000 Minnesota Veterans Face Deadline To File Tax Credit
KAAL ABC News
Beth McDonough
October 8, 2013

Thousands of Minnesotans are about to miss out on money and they may not even know it. They're veterans, and they need to act fast to avoid a deadline that is one week from Tuesday.

October 15, the paperwork has to be in the hands of the Department of Revenue.

Sean Gibson went out for a run in Fort Snelling Tuesday. It's part of his daily routine, a time to quiet his mind since coming back from a war zone. He's an Air Force Veteran, served in Iraq. During his tour overseas, he missed out on a lot, he didn't want to also miss out on a tax break from the country he served, "when you're gone for six months from your family and kids, it's nice to have another program out there to help us."

The tax credit allows vets to collect $120 per month served in combat territory. For Gibson, who was gone for six months, that means a check worth $720 dollars, "why not collect a benefit for those serving overseas.
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Police officer's act of kindness stuns Iraq veteran

Officer donates to Iraq war veteran whose tires were slashed in Crystal
KMSP FOX 9 News
posted by Shelby Capacio
Posted: Sep 15, 2013

CRYSTAL, Minn. (KMSP)
Crystal police say they've responded to several incidences of tire slashing in the past couple months, and when an Iraq war veteran became a target, one officer went beyond the call of duty to help.

The female officer, who has asked to remain anonymous, heard about what happened to Jamie Fields and decided to personally pay for one of the tires to be replaced to help the father of five.

"My kids play very hard, so they ruin their clothes a lot," Fields said. "I normally just watch 'em."

Fields said raising five daughters isn't as hard as it seems, but lately, the financial demands have been overwhelming.

"He just had a doctor's note from his psychiatrist saying they didn't want him to work," Sarah Fields told FOX 9 News.

As an Iraq war veteran diagnosed with post-traumatic stress, Fields admits he struggles with anger and aggression sometimes. He recently left his job as a pizza delivery man, and the family now survives on government support.
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Lt. Col. Mark Weber lost cancer battle

Soldier known for fight against cancer dies
ROSEMOUNT, Minn. — Lt. Col. Mark Weber, the Rosemount soldier who became an inspiration to many as he battled terminal cancer for nearly three years, died shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday, according to a post on his Caringbridge site.
By: Forum News Service
The Jamestown Sun
June 15, 2013

ROSEMOUNT, Minn. — Lt. Col. Mark Weber, the Rosemount soldier who became an inspiration to many as he battled terminal cancer for nearly three years, died shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday, according to a post on his Caringbridge site.

According to the post, he died at home surrounded by family and friends, hours after hospice doctors informed him the end was near.

Weber had gained international attention since his 2010 diagnosis of neuroendocrine cancer, which came shortly after he was selected to serve on the staff of Gen. David Petraeus in Afghanistan.
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Ride reaches out to Vietnam veterans

Ride reaches out to Vietnam veterans
Star News
by Nathan Warner
Contributing writer
June 7, 2013

Vietnam veterans gathered in Otsego on Thursday to receive a “welcome home” and “thank you” for their service to their country that many never got.

For many veterans of the Vietnam war, this was the first time any such official appreciation has been given for their service. The event was one of many stops in Minnesota as part the Ride for Healing – a project to visit local communities and call out Vietnam Veterans for a distinction long withheld.

“Sadly, many Vietnam veterans have not joined the VFW because of how they were treated when they returned from service,” Minnesota VFW Advocate General, Duane Hermanson said, who presided over the ceremony in Otsego, “and we hope that this long overdue appreciation for what they did for their country will help heal that pain.”
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