Chief Warrant Officer 5 Teresa Domeier Nebraska National Guard

Nebraskan is first woman to be named nation's top Army National Guard warrant officer
MDJ Online
By Steve Liewer World-Herald staff writer
May 13, 2018

An Iraq War veteran, Domeier was the base food service officer at Al Asad Air Base in 2005 and 2006. Since shortly after her return from Iraq, she served in a series of leadership positions at the Nebraska Army National Guard’s Warrant Officer Candidate School in Ashland.

Teresa Domeier

A 35-year veteran of the Nebraska Army National Guard has been selected as the leader of 8,600 Army National Guard warrant officers nationwide.

Chief Warrant Officer 5 Teresa Domeier will assume the position of command chief warrant officer at the National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Virginia. She will be the first woman to hold the position. She will take over the job later this year from Chief Command Warrant Officer Peter Panos.

She was selected to the position by Lt. Gen. Timothy Kadavy, former Nebraska National Guard adjutant general. He has served as national director of the Army National Guard since 2015.
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Army National Guardsman had to sue for justice because of PTSD?

State spends millions on settlements, often silently
Santa FE New Mexican
By Phaedra Haywood
May 12, 2018

Phillip G. Ramirez Jr., an Army National Guard veteran who served in Iraq and Kuwait, filed a lawsuit against the state of New Mexico in 2008, claiming his supervisors in the state Children, Youth and Families Department harassed and discriminated against him when he returned from more than a year of active duty.

They refused to make accommodations for his diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, Ramirez claimed in the lawsuit, then tried to push him out by mandating what he called unreasonable job requirements that made it impossible for him to fulfill his role as a community support officer monitoring at-risk juvenile offenders.

Fired by the department in 2008, Ramirez claimed the department violated a federal law that protects the employment rights of service members deployed for more than 30 days.

“I felt betrayed,” said Ramirez, who had received positive performance reviews by CYFD for nearly a decade before his deployment, according to his suit. “I was fighting the enemy overseas and when I returned I was fighting the enemy, too,” he said. “Coming home should be peacetime and I felt the fight was still on my hands.”

In 2011, a Gallup jury found in Ramirez’s favor. He was to receive $36,000 in back pay. But rather than write the check and make accommodations for him, the state appealed the state District Court’s decision to the New Mexico Court of Appeals — a move that sparked a yearslong legal battle that eventually prompted a second lawsuit and ultimately concluded with the state Supreme Court ruling in favor of Ramirez.

In the end, the costs to the state were $598,857 in legal fees for the first lawsuit; $36,000 to satisfy the judgment in the case; $235,000 to cover Ramirez’s legal expenses; $74,108 to fight a second lawsuit; $115,000 to settle that case out of court.

Total bill: $1,058,965.
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Fort Rucker lost 2 members suspected murder-suicide

Guardsman kills wife, man, then himself, authorities say
FOX News
Dom Calicchio
May 11, 2018

A National Guard member entered a Florida hotel room last weekend and fatally shot his estranged wife and another man before turning the gun on himself, authorities said.

Mark and Amanda Stokes are seen in an image from Mark Stokes' Facebook page. (Facebook)

Police identified the gunman as Mark Stokes, 37, a major in the Army National Guard who was stationed at Fort Rucker in Enterprise, Ala.

His wife was identified as Amanda Stokes, 28, a sergeant in the Army National Guard, also at Fort Rucker.

The other man was identified as Kenneth Walker Krause, 30, formerly of Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
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Indiana National Guard veteran helped by community

Volunteers pitch in to help Indiana veteran who suffers multiple seizures a day
WTTV 4 News
BY MATT SMITH
MAY 5, 2018

RUSSIAVILLE, Ind. – Volunteers descended onto a farmhouse in Russiaville Saturday, helping a veteran and Hoosier who dedicated more than two decades with the Indiana National Guard.

Larry Sparks served numerous deployments including to Iraq, Afghanistan and to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. What has followed is a traumatic brain injury, daily seizures and PTSD.

“It’s been a process,” he said. “It’s been tough.”

Sparks reached out to the non-profit Wish 4 Our Heroes to help.

Saturday volunteers sanded walls, put my new siding and help renovate numerous rooms inside the home. More volunteers are needed to help paint next week.
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No reporter serves on military suicide watch?

UPDATE

U.S. Army Secretary Mark Esper said reducing suicides in the Army is a priority, and he and his staff are working to study and resolve problems leading to them.After spending the day at Fort Riley speaking with soldiers and their families, Esper spoke with The Mercury Friday afternoon.

How long are we going to hear the same claim while they change absolutely nothing!

When will reporters tell us the truth?
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 5, 2018

Why are reporters ignoring the data on military suicides? That is a question we've been wondering about for over a decade, yet, there has been absolutely no answer.

The Department of Defense responds when suicide reports come out, and reporters being what they are, settle for what they are told. They say "most have not been deployed" but then never have to explain how they were supposed to be trained to prevent suicides. If the training did not work for non-deployed, how did they expect it to work for those sent to risk their lives in combat?

No one seems to wonder how it is that when the number of men and women serving in the military has gone down, the number of men and women serving in the military committing suicide remains close to 500 per year.

Active Duty Decreased

That chart shows how the DOD reduced force size.

This chart shows the number of suicides between 2013 and 2015

2013 254 Active, 220 "Reserve Components" Total 474
2014 273 Active, 170  "Reserve Components" Total 443
2015 266 Active, 209 "Reserve Components" Total 475

2016 280 Active, 202 "Reserve Components" Total 482
2017 285 Active, 219 "Reserve Components" Total 504

Congress started to hold hearings and passed bills with their names on it back to 2007. No reporter has bothered to ask then to account for the loss of life increasing at the same time the numbers of those serving decreased.

No reporter has asked the Department of Defense to account for any of this after they implemented mandatory "prevention" training after spending millions on funding programs that did not work.

No reporter has tied that training to the increase of suicides in the younger veterans population after they survived combat and had this training.

No reporter has tied the report of suicides from the VA to the decrease in the number of veterans living in the country while the numbers they know of remained about the same.

The simple truth is, when we say we value the "free press" that should never equate to them being free from responsible reporting.

Had they been paying attention to all the facts, all along, how many lives could have been saved because the American public had the facts? Do you think all the "awareness" raisers out there would have gotten away with using a number that is not even close to real if reporters paid attention?

In April of 2007, I wondered why we had a non-caring media about the non-combat deaths.

When I was searching for reports on suicides it became apparent that more were dying because they served than from combat itself. Why am I still asking the same question?

Clergy learning how to heal veterans with PTSD

Lay leaders learn veteran and military culture
Tyler Morning Telegraph
By LouAnna Campbell
Apr 12, 2018

Enlisted. Officer. National Guard. Reserves. Active duty.

These were just some of the terms about 30 lay leaders, pastors and community leaders learned Thursday at Central Baptist Church.

With 15 military installations in the state, Texas has become a veteran-friendly place to live, and the Smith County Behavioral Health Leadership Team and Texas Veterans Commission teamed up to give free training to faith, community and lay leaders.

“Texas is home to almost 1.6 million military veterans, many of whom have experienced one or more forms of military-service-related trauma,” said Craig Combs, Texas Veterans Commission community partner coordinator.

The training gave those in attendance a glimpse into military culture and the stress and effects that continuous readiness has on military members and their families.

Local mental health authorities like the Andrews Center are part of the programs the Texas Veterans Commission relies on to reach veterans. Now they are reaching out to faith-based communities to help veterans and those serving in the Reserves and National Guard.

The veterans group is working with faith community members to give them skills in suicide awareness, military sexual trauma, alcoholism, post-traumatic stress disorder and moral injury.
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Spc. Eric Levon Williams laid to rest

SC soldier gunned down at birthday party is memorialized
The State
BY TRACY KIMBALL
April 08, 2018

ROCK HILL
Several hundred mourners gathered Saturday at Gethsemane Church in Rock Hill to lay to rest. Spc. Eric Levon Williams at a party at the former American Legion on Cherry Road. Williams had been in the Army National Guard with a Columbia unit since enlisting after graduating from South Pointe High School in May 2013. Williams, 24, was shot and killed March 31.

He was given full military honors at the service. A bugle played "Taps" as two members of the Army National Guard Honor Guard folded an American flag draped across his casket.
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DOD Released Suicide Report for 2017

For the fourth quarter of 2017, the Military Services reported the following:
• 83 suicide deaths in the Active Component
• 16 suicide deaths in the Reserves
• 19 suicide deaths in the National Guard

Reminder

2012

Active 321 

Reserve Component 204 

2013

Active 256 

Reserve Component 220 

2014

Active 276 

Reserve Component 170 

2015

Active 266 

Reserve Component 214 

2016

Active 280 

Reserve Component 202 

2017

Active 285 

Reserve Component 219

Take a look at the casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan during the years from 2012 thru 2017

Sheriff saved letters while deployed--one from his deputy!

Wisconsin Sheriff Discovers Letter He Got As Soldier Was Written By Deputy Now Working for Him
WSLS 10 News
April 06, 2018

Jim Johnson saved every letter he got while serving overseas in Baghdad with the Wisconsin Army National Guard.

"We received these letters from these young kids. I held on to all of them," said Johnson, who is now the sheriff of Ozaukee County in his home state.

Recently, he was going through some of those old letters and stumbled upon one signed by a fourth-grader at Cedar Grove Belgium Elementary School in Wisconsin.

"Dear soldiers. Thank you for what you all do and are doing for our country. Best wishes and have a Merry Christmas. From Chris Uselding."

The letter was dated 2003.

Fast-forward to 2018 and Chris Uselding is a grown man. And he's been working for as deputy for Johnson for the past few years.
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Marty Nance Oregon Air National Guardsman's body found

Family searches for answers after missing Oregon Natl. Guardsman found dead
KATU 2 News
Keaton Thomas
April 1, 2018

Veber says her brother's body was found in the river near Waverly Country Club on Wednesday night by fisherman. Deputies do not suspect foul play was involved.

PORTLAND, Ore. -- The body of Marty Nance, an Oregon Air National Guardsman reported missing back in January, was found Wednesday in the Willamette River, but family members are still hoping for answers in his disappearance and death.

Lisa Veber, Nance's sister, says a chaplain with the Clackamas County Sheriff's office told her about the discovery Thursday night.

If he had problems, Veber said, "Marty was a fixer, Marty was a doer."

That being said, Veber understands it's possible her brother may have committed suicide.
read more here

Iraq veteran survived war, police work but not son's gun

Police arrest Plainfield teen suspected of killing his parents at Central Michigan University
Chicago Tribune
Matthew Walberg, Angie Leventis Lourgos and John Keilman
March 3, 2018

The victims were identified by authorities as Davis’ parents, James Eric Davis Sr. and Diva Jeneen Davis. Davis Sr. was a police officer in west suburban Bellwood and an Illinois National Guard veteran who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Diva Davis’s Facebook page identified her as a real estate broker; friends said she was also a breast cancer survivor and had worked as a flight attendant.

After a nearly daylong manhunt, authorities took into custody a college student from the Chicago suburbs who police said fatally shot his parents on the campus of Central Michigan University.

Part-time Bellwood police Officer James Eric Davis Sr. He and wife Diva Davis were shot and killed, allegedly by their son, James Eric Davis Jr., at Central Michigan University. (Bellwood Police Department)

The university and local police said 19-year-old James Eric Davis Jr., of Plainfield, was taken into custody after being seen passing through the campus after midnight Saturday.
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National Guardsman Saved Mother and Daughter

Police: Good Samaritan saved mother, daughter
KOB.com Web Staff
February 20, 2018

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Police say the man who opened fire in a deadly southeast Albuquerque shooting, likely saved the lives of a mother and daughter.

A 12-year National Guard veteran stopped to help and told police the man pointed his gun at him, so he shot him.

Police say the mother feared what would have happened if that veteran had not intervened.

"She said, 'He saved our lives,'" Drobik said Monday evening. "I mean, that's how much she was in fear of getting killed by this guy."

The Good Samaritan is not facing charges. The district attorney is reviewing the case.
read more here

Madison mother shares story of son’s suicide to raise awareness

There are stories that break your heart at the same time, they help heal it.

I was listening to the interview with the Mom of a young National Guardsman, who committed suicide. She was talking about something as tiny as deciding she didn't have time to listen when her son wanted to talk. Moments later, he killed himself.

I don't know if you are aware of how hard it is to live with something like that, and even harder to open up about it. This Mom is offering raising awareness that other families need to hear.

Madison mother shares story of son’s suicide to raise awareness
WHNT 19 News
BY CHELSEA BRENTZEL
FEBRUARY 18, 2018

MADISON, Ala. - Most mothers hold on to precious memories. Wendy Galloway often looks at the scrapbook she made for her son Aaron when he graduated high school.

Some of her favorite photos are Aaron's senior portraits, his military ball and the day he enlisted in the Army National Guard. It's the not so good memories that Galloway wishes she would have taken more seriously.

"I was stressed. It was a Sunday night and I was trying to get stuff done and get ready for work the next day," explained Galloway.

Aaron came home from drill practice on July 10, 2016 and wanted to talk to his mom.

"I just waited too long and then I heard a really loud boom. And when I opened the door I knew he was gone," said Galloway.

The 19-year-old had taken his own life.
read more here

When do reporters care about our troops committing suicide?

Is anyone paying attention to military suicides?
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
February 15, 2018

When do reporters care about our troops committing suicide? Talk to families in the military and they tell you there is a huge problem with suicides. If the numbers the DOD reports are any indication, they are right. The question is, why hasn't the press picked up on any of this?

Are they that unobservant?


Suicide Prevention Office 
History

The Defense Suicide Prevention Office (DSPO) was established in 2011 and is part of the Department of Defense's Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. The Secretary of Defense designated a Defense Health Board Task Force to examine efforts to prevent military suicide. The creation of DSPO was the result of the Task Force recommendations.

Approach

DoD integrates a holistic approach to suicide prevention, intervention, and Postvention using a range of medical and non-medical resources. Grounded in a collaborative approach, DSPO works with the Military Services and other Governmental Agencies, Non-Governmental Agencies, non-profit organizations, and the community to reduce the risk for suicide.

They let the Generals get away with saying most of the ones committing suicide, were never deployed. The trouble with that is, every member of the military was trained in "prevention" but this did not work for even those not deployed. Why did they continue it if this is the outcome?

Department of Defense Suicide Report

2012

Active 321

Reserve 72

National Guard 132

525

2013

Active 256

Reserve 86

National Guard 134

476

2014

Active 276

Reserve 79

National Guard 91

446

2015

Active 266

Reserve 89

National Guard 125

480

2016

Active 280

Reserve 80

National Guard 122

482

2017 3 Quarters

Active 198

Reserve 76

National Guard 107

381

And yet Congress does not seem to care about any of this. Reporters do not even ask why this is the outcome of what they funded.
How much did this cost and who made money on it?

DOD 3rd Quarter 2017 Suicide Report

Department of Defense Quarterly Suicide Report
For the third quarter of 2017, the military services reported the following:
• 67 deaths by suicide in the Active Component
• 26 deaths by suicide in the Reserves
• 38 deaths by suicide in the National Guard

Peer-to-Peer Assistance
DoD launched the new “Be There” program, which offers confidential peer coaching to active duty Service members, including National Guard and Reserve members and their families,through 24/7 chat, phone, and text. The DoD “BeThere” Peer Support Call and Outreach Center is staffed by peer coaches, who are veteran Service members and family members of Veterans,and aims to provide support for everyday problem solving, such as career and general life challenges.

Service members’ families who would like to learn more about the “BeThere” Call and Outreach Center or connection with a peer may visit www.betherepeersupport.org, call 844-357-PEER(7337), or text 480-360-6188

Why did National Guard soldier and Iraq War veteran kill Father

Hospitalized veteran with PTSD tells of killing father at Fergus Falls home
Duluth News Tribune
By Robin Huebner
Feb 10, 2018

ST. PETER, Minn. — Inside the fortified quarters of Minnesota's highest-security psychiatric hospital, Dustin Michael Defiel has spent the past year and a half of his life.

Dustin Defiel, 30, is shown at the Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter, Minn., a secure psychiatric hospital, during a recent interview. Randy Cadwell / Forum News Service

The former National Guard soldier and Iraq War veteran shot and killed his father, Rick Defiel, on June 1, 2016, in the family's home in Fergus Falls, Minn.

He was found not guilty due to mental deficiency and was committed to the Minnesota Security Hospital as mentally ill and dangerous.

Defiel, now 30, maintains he is neither of those and doesn't belong at the facility.

He wrote to The Forum newspaper of Fargo-Moorhead stating a desire to tell "my side of the story," one in which he claims he acted in self-defense against a father who used to abuse him, verbally and physically.
read more here

Indiana National Guard Soldier Died at Fort Hood

Indiana National Guard soldier dies at Fort Hood in Texas
By: The Associated Press 
Published: Sunday, January 07, 2018

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana National Guard says one of its soldiers has died after arriving for training at Fort Hood in Texas.

Indiana Guard officials said 43-year-old Sgt. 1st Class Mark Boner of Fort Wayne died early Saturday. The Guard didn't release information about the circumstances of his death, saying it was under investigation.

Boner was a member of the Kokomo-based 38th Sustainment Brigade. About 250 members of the unit left last week for training at Fort Hood ahead of a deployment to Kuwait.
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North Ogden Utah without Mayor...he got deployed

Hundreds say goodbye to North Ogden mayor ahead of Afghanistan deployment
Good4Utah
Rosie Nguyen
January 19, 2018

NORTH OGDEN (News4Utah) - Hundreds of residents lined the streets of North Ogden to show their appreciation and wave goodbye to Mayor Brent Taylor Friday morning.

North Ogden Police escorted Mayor Taylor and his family around town before he headed to the airport. The schools he stopped by included Bates Elementary, North Ogden Elementary, Green Acres Elementary, North Ogden Junior High, and Majestic Elementary.

Madilyn Erekson, a 5th grader at Bates Elementary got the chance to meet the mayor for a school project. She calls him a hero.

"I was happy for him, but I was kind of upset because we won't be able to see him for a year," said Madilyn.

One week after he was sworn into office for a second term, Mayor Taylor announced on Facebook Live that he would be training the Afghan Commando Battalion. City officials said this is the first known time in Utah history that a mayor deploys for wartime service.
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Florida National Guard soldier killed, 5 injured in crash

UPDATE

Florida National Guard identifies soldier killed in military vehicle crash

In a Facebook post Saturday afternoon, the Florida National Guard said Spc. Luis E. Garcia, from the 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team's Company G Forward Support Company was killed in the crash.

Florida National Guard soldier killed in chain reaction crash, 5 others injured in Sebring
WFLA 8 NBC News
By Corey Davis and WFLA Web Staff
Published: January 19, 2018

SEBRING, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida National Guard solider is dead and five others were injured after a chain reaction crash involving military vehicles in Sebring, according to officials.

The Sebring Police Department was called to the intersection of US 27 and Hammock Road shortly before 1 p.m.

A preliminary investigation revealed three Palletized Load System (PLS) vehicles, which are assigned to a National Guard unit out of Miami, collided in a chain reaction crash, according to officials.

Officials said the convoy was traveling north on the highway when the third vehicle failed to stop for a red light in time and hit the second vehicle, officials said.

The driver of the third vehicle sustained fatal injuries, according to investigators.

Officials said the passenger had to be extricated from the damaged vehicle.

According to officials, the passenger and four others were taken to area hospitals. Police said they suffered non-life threatening injuries.
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Did Burn Pits Kill Joe Biden's Son?

Biden addresses possible link between son’s fatal brain cancer and toxic military burn pits

PBS

Dan Sagalyn

January 10, 2018

The issue appears to be personal for Biden, whose son, Beau Biden, a former Delaware attorney general, died at age 46 in May 2015 from glioblastoma multiforme, the most common form of brain cancer.

A U.S. Army soldier watches bottled water that had gone bad burn in a burn-pit at Forward Operating Base Azzizulah in Maiwand District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, February 4, 2013. File Photo by REUTERS/Andrew Burton 

Former Vice President Joe Biden said he thinks toxins found in smoke from burning waste at U.S. military installations in Iraq and at other facilities abroad could “play a significant role” in causing veterans’ cancer.

“Science has recognized there are certain carcinogens when people are exposed to them,” Biden said in an interview with Judy Woodruff last week. “Depending on the quantities and the amount in the water and the air, [they] can have a carcinogenic impact on the body.”

Biden’s comments shed light on a debate that has roiled physicians, former service members and the Department of Veteran Affairs about whether the health of some U.S. military personnel was compromised by garbage disposal methods used by contractors and the military at overseas bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As a major in the Delaware Army National Guard, Beau Biden’s judge advocate general unit was activated in late 2008. He served in Iraq for much of 2009 at Camp Victory in Baghdad and Balad Air Force Base, 50 miles north of the Iraqi capital. Both bases used large burn pits. Earlier, he helped train local prosecutors and judges in Kosovo after the 1998-1999 war. read more here