War veteran doctor experience vital

War veteran doctor experience vital
By GRETYL MACALASTER
Union Leader Correspondent
April 19. 2013

Dr. Fred Brennan with Seacoast Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in Somersworth and head team doctor for the University of New Hampshire hugs his daughter, Alyssa, 18, after two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, where Brennan was serving as a volunteer in medical tent B, two blocks from the finish line. (COURTESY)

SOMERSWORTH - As a member of the New Hampshire Air National Guard, and a veteran of foreign wars, Dr. Fred Brennan knew there was always a chance he would again be exposed to casualties. But he never expected to see them on the streets of Boston.

Brennan, a doctor with Seacoast Orthopedics and Sports Medicine and the team doctor for the University of New Hampshire athletic program, was helping to lead the medical team in tent B at the Boston Marathon on Monday, just two short blocks from the finish line.

About 200 doctors, nurses, athletic trainers, sports medicine practitioners and other medical staff were treating a nearly full tent of runners with blisters, cramps, and some hypothermia due to the day's cold temperatures when the first bomb went off.

Brennan immediately recognized the sound of an improvised explosive device, and when he heard the second blast, he knew it was no accident. He told his team to get ready.
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Veterans to discover no man is an island but can live on one

Family to make island a veterans retreat
April 17. 2013
By GRETYL MACALASTER
Union Leader Correspondent

By 2014, Bruce Montville hopes to have this family-owned island on Bow Lake developed into a retreat for veterans and their families. (click link to see place)

STRAFFORD - The Montville family has owned a 10-acre undeveloped island for many years off the shores of Bow Lake.

As Bruce Montville, founder and CEO of LifeWise Community Projects in Hampton, began to learn of the plight of returning veterans - some troubled with traumatic brain injury, physical disabilities or challenged in returning to everyday life - he began envisioning the island as a retreat for those veterans.

He talked to his family and earned its blessing to begin development of a veterans family island retreat.

The idea is still in the planning stages, but already Montville has received buy-in and support from the N.H. State Veterans Committee, local businesses and other volunteer groups.

Landscape architect Jonathan Halle, who designed the New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen, has agreed to create a conceptual design for the retreat.
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Soldier dies of breast cancer, but her widow won’t get benefits

Soldier dies of breast cancer, but her widow won’t get benefits
Washington Post
Posted by Andrea Stone
February 10, 2013

Charlie Morgan didn’t get her last wish.

On Sunday morning, the New Hampshire National Guard soldier succumbed to Stage IV breast cancer after a long battle against the disease and a federal law that now leaves her widow with none of the benefits a grateful nation bestows on its straight warriors.

As I wrote here on Thanksgiving, Morgan, who came out as a lesbian on MSNBC in September 2011, the day the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy became history, hoped she would outlive the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The Clinton-era law forbids Karen, her legally married wife, from receiving the survivor benefits other military widows get.

That money would have gone a long way toward helping raise their young daughter Casey. Just like the death benefits Charlie’s mother got when her soldier husband died in an accident during the Vietnam War went to pay for food and a roof for young Charlie.

“I’m praying that they take it up soon,” Morgan told me in a phone interview from her home in New Durham, N.H. a few days before Thanksgiving. “It’s my motivation for staying alive. I really need to be alive when they actually do overturn DOMA, otherwise Karen is not guaranteed anything.”
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Wounded Iraq War Veteran Injured In Avalanche

Sgt. Keith Zeier, Wounded Iraq War Veteran, Injured In Avalanche While Raising Money For Charity
By HOLLY RAMER
01/18/13

CONCORD, N.H. — An avalanche has halted an attempt by a retired Marine and amputee to climb the Northeast's highest peak, but if his past comments are any indication, he'll likely try again.

Retired Sgt. Keith Zeier was in the hospital Friday, a day after he and two fellow climbers were injured in an avalanche on Mount Washington. The climb was part of a project called "Ascents of Honor" and was the latest of several grueling challenges the 26-year-old has taken on to raise awareness and money for the families of special operations forces killed or wounded in action.

"In the middle of anything that is difficult, we have the option of quitting, slowing down, or changing course. My life has been about ignoring that option," Zeier wrote last month on the Ascents of Honor blog.

According to an update on the group's Facebook page, Zeier was part of a 12-member crew trying to reach the 6,288-foot summit Thursday evening when a slab avalanche brook loose and swept three climbers to the bottom of Huntington Ravine. Zeier and the other injured climbers were able to slowly make their way to rescuers who assisted them off the mountain, the group said.

"While this is certainly not the outcome we had hoped for, we are thankful that all in our party are safely off the mountain," wrote Thom Pollard, the project's head cameraman.
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New Hampshire Nam Knights welcome home Jose Pequeno

If you know the Nam Knights, they do this kind of thing all the time and I do mean "kind" so it is great to see the New Hampshire Nam Knights get some recognition for how much they really do care about the men and women risking their lives everyday. Jose Pequeno was a police chief and was wounded in Iraq. The Nam Knights are members of law enforcement, firefighters and veterans.

Former police chief Jose Pequeno, injured in Iraq, comes home
By RAY DUCKLER Monitor staff
Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Iron Mike and Rhino never saw it coming.

They never figured Jose Pequeno, the former Sugar Hill police chief, would react as he did Friday at the Concord airport. Hadn’t that brain injury Pequeno suffered in Iraq pushed him into a world of darkness? Hadn’t that grenade tossed into his humvee nearly seven years ago wiped clean his memories, his emotions, his very identity?

That’s what people like Iron Mike and Rhino, along with the others with the rugged nicknames and the biker jackets and the barrel chests, thought when they greeted Pequeno on his trip home for Christmas.

Instead, Pequeno cried.

So the tough guys did, too.

“I saw him shortly after he came home from Iraq, and he was still in and out of surgery back then, in real rough shape,” said Iron Mike, whose real name is Mike Dempsey. “It’s very personal, but I feel as if he recognizes who we are now. When we talked to him, you could see his eyes light up and his face light up. To me, that tells me that he recognizes the voice, that he gets excited and makes it known through his own way.”

Dempsey is a 51-year-old former Marine with a gravely voice and a passion for motorcycles. He rode with Pequeno’s father in the Nam Knights of America, a philanthropic organization of retired law enforcement officers and military veterans.

They raise money, and they roll out the red carpet for people like Pequeno.

Four Nam Knights joined hands to lower Pequeno down the stairs, off a plane flown by a volunteer pilot from Land O’ Lakes, Fla., where Pequeno is now being cared for by his mother and sister. His wife and three kids still live here, in the small North Country town of Lisbon.
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Soldier’s last wish: Let DOMA die before I do

Soldier’s last wish: Let DOMA die before I do
Washington Post
Posted by Andrea Stone
November 22, 2012

Charlie Morgan should have been dead by now.

“I was to have expired last month, in October,” said the 47-year-old career soldier who has battled Stage IV breast cancer for four years and was given less than six months to live when she voluntarily stopped chemotherapy in April. “But I’m still here.”

She hopes to live to see the United States Supreme Court do right by her and her family.

You see, as a chief warrant officer in the New Hampshire National Guard, Morgan is eligible for all the benefits a grateful nation can provide its military service members. But as a lesbian married to another woman, her wife will not receive the survivor benefits other military widows get and which she will need to help raise their daughter Casey, 5, after she is gone.
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It took 43 years to clear Decorated Vietnam veteran missing and murdered

Woman finally has proof her brother wasn't a deserter
Mari A. Schaefer
Inquirer Staff Writer
POSTED: Saturday, November 17, 2012

Marine Cpl. Robert Daniel Corriveau had been under psychiatric treatment.

Virginia Cleary never gave up.

In the 43 years since her older brother, Marine Cpl. Robert Daniel Corriveau, a decorated Vietnam veteran, went missing from the Philadelphia Naval Hospital and was declared a deserter, she never stopped searching for him.

She wrote countless letters, pestered senators and congressmen, traveled from her New Hampshire home to Philadelphia to search news archives, scoured faces in crowds, battled with military and state officials for records, and enlisted police and private detectives.

Every roadblock she hit, she said, only strengthened her resolve and pushed her forward.

Finally, on May 31, Pennsylvania State Police were able to identify the remains of Corriveau, found stabbed to death in Chester County, and they are now seeking the public's assistance in solving the cold case.

"He was matched through my DNA," said Cleary, 58, of Conway, N.H.

On Nov 18, 1968, the same day the 20-year-old Marine from Lawrence, Mass., disappeared from the hospital, an unidentified man was found dead alongside the Pennsylvania Turnpike near the Downingtown interchange.

He was stabbed once though the heart and covered with a Navy pea coat. He carried no identification and became known as "Bulldog John Doe" after the distinctive tattoo on his upper right arm. He was buried at Longwood Cemetery in Kennett Square.
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Carol Shea-Porter distorts Frank Guinta's voting record on veterans

From Politifact

Carol Shea-Porter distorts Frank Guinta's voting record on veterans programs

Veterans funding was back in the news recently as the U.S. Senate failed to take up a new veterans jobs bill. But, even before the vote, one New Hampshire congressional candidate was already taking aim over the issue.

In a television ad, released Sept. 18 in and around New Hampshire, former Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, who is once again challenging U.S. Rep. Frank Guinta, charged her opponent with failing to support the country’s veterans.

"Tea Party Congressman Frank Guinta voted for billions in cuts to veterans programs," a narrator declares in the ad, "Debt,’ aired on WMUR-TV.

"I’m Carol Shea-Porter and I approve this message because our veterans deserve better," she said to conclude the ad.

Guinta, a freshman Republican, immediately disputed the ad and organized a rally in Manchester to call attention to his "strong record of supporting our veterans."

So, who’s right? We decided to check the records.
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Disabled workers in VA losing jobs

If it is a choice between veterans working for the VA or civilians, I'll side with the veterans everyday. After all, this is the Veterans Administration. It should hire veterans first. I also think the VA and Goodwill should do everything possible to find other jobs for these disabled individuals. Why weren't these jobs Federal jobs in the first place?

Disabled workers on way out at Veterans Administration Medical Center
By PAT GROSSMITH
New Hampshire Union Leader
August 19. 2012

MANCHESTER — Sixteen disabled workers employed in the mail room and on the switchboard at the Veterans Administration Medical Center soon will be out of work, their jobs filled by eight full-time federal employees.

“What we are doing is converting to federal positions,” said VAMC spokesman Stella Lareau. The conversion will be completed after a contract with Goodwill Northern New England Employment Services, which employs the disabled workers, expires on Sept. 30.

Michelle Smith, communications manager for Goodwill based in Portland, Maine, said the VA has not told her agency who will fill the jobs.

“I imagine it may be veterans,” she said.

Peter Gerrard, one of the disabled employees who works the switchboard, said employees only learned they would be laid off when someone saw their jobs posted on the U.S. government jobs website.
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New Hampshire VA psychopharmacologist was intoxicated while providing patient care

“Why I Quit the VA”
By MARK THOMPSON
April 26, 2012


Nicholas Tolentino spelled out the reasons he resigned from New Hampshire’s main Department of Veterans Affairs health center Wednesday before the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs.

While his prepared remarks also detail just how flexible the VA’s data are when it comes to showing that vets are getting adequate mental-health care, it’s why the 14-year Navy vet says he left the VA last December after two years that may be most illuminating – and frustrating:

I could detail other instances of unethical practice at the Manchester VAMC that contributed to my decision to resign, but the final straw occurred when the medical center failed to take meaningful action in response to the discovery that a VA clinical psychopharmacologist was intoxicated while providing patient care. On October 31st, 2011 the Mental Health Service Line Manager discovered that a psychopharmacologist at our facility was noticeably intoxicated and slurring his speech. The Service Line Manager became aware of this situation when a veteran reported that the clinician had failed to appear for an appointment. Looking into the matter, I discovered that he had written numerous prescriptions during that day, presumably during the period of his intoxication.
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New Hampshire Police Chief killed days before retirement

NH police chief killed days before retirement
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 13, 2012

Greenland Police Chief Michael Maloney was killed in the line of duty on April 12, in New Hampshire, days before retiring.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS The police chief in Greeland, New Hampshire has been shot to death He planned to retire in a few days
Greenland is a town 3,500 people located just south of Portsmouth
"This is a tragedy for our community," official says

(CNN) -- A police chief from southeastern New Hampshire who planned to retire in a few days has been shot to death while trying to execute a search warrant, authorities said Friday.

Chief Michael Maloney of the police department in Greenland, a town of about 3,500, was killed in a shooting that wounded four other officers on Thursday night at a home in the community, said Attorney General Michael Delaney.

"This is a tragedy for our community," he said. "Our law enforcement community is in mourning."

Two suspects, a man and a woman, were found dead in the home after a long stand off, Delaney said. Investigators believe the deaths came from either a "murder-suicide" or a "double suicide," he said.
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Wheel of Fortune Military Spouse Week shocks winner

NH Soldier Surprises Wife On Wheel Of Fortune
February 9, 2012
MANCHESTER, N.H. (CBS) – She won big on Wheel of Fortune, but for a New Hampshire woman, the prize money was just gravy.

Maryanne Rigor appeared on the show Thursday night for Military Spouses week.

She took home $14,000. That was good enough for second, but the real prize came after the final round. Her husband who had been overseas came out from backstage.
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Mitt Romney confronted by gay Vietnam veteran on gay marriage

Mitt Romney confronted by gay Vietnam veteran on gay marriage in New Hampshire: VIDEO

The cringe-worthy confrontation over same-sex marriage is just the latest for Republican presidential candidates this campaign cycle.
BY ALIYAH SHAHID
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Tuesday, December 13 2011,

When asked by reporters why he wanted to grill Romney on the issue, Garon said, "Because I'm gay, all right?" he said. "And I happen to love a man just like you probably love your wife."

A Mitt Romney endorsement event in New Hampshire turned incredibly awkward for the Republican presidential candidate after he was confronted by a gay veteran who challenged his views on same-sex marriage.

The former Massachusetts governor approached Bob Garon, 63, at a Manchester diner to ask him about his tour in Vietnam.

But Garon — who was accompanied by his husband — wanted to know if Romney would back efforts to repeal the state's law that legalized gay marriage in the state.

Romney insisted during the stop — meant to tout his recent endorsement by the city's mayor — that he believes marriage is “between a man and a woman.”

"It's good to know how you feel, that you do not believe everyone is entitled to their constitutional rights, Garon retorted.

"No actually I think at the time the Constitution was written it was pretty clear marriage was between a man and a woman," said Romney as an aide jumped in, insisting they had an interview with Fox News to go to.


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Exeter Marine Reservist Dies In Colorado Shooting

Exeter Marine Reservist Dies In Colorado Shooting

Police: Fellow Marine Corps Reservist Accidentally Shot Victim
September 20, 2011


EXETER, N.H. -- A Marine Corps reservist died over the weekend after what police said was a tragic incident.

Benton Brubaker, 24, was shot by a fellow Marine Corps reservist at a gathering in Colorado on Thursday, and officers said alcohol may have played a role in the shooting.

Officers said they arrested Barton Enoch, 25, and charged him with manslaughter.

According to a press release, "detectives are looking at the possibility that alcohol may have contributed to this tragic set of circumstances."

Police in Aurora said about six Marine Corps reservists were inside a condominium unit just after midnight when a single shot was fired from a handgun.
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When the kill zone follows them home

James Keenan, a member of the New Hampshire National Guard, made sure the rest of the members of his patrol made it safely out of the "kill zone" but no one saved him. The problem was, the only gun pointed at him at the time of his death, was in his own hands. Pulling the trigger was every memory he had.

Family and friends tried to help him and he asked for help from the VA. He was given drugs. Drugs that came with a warning about increased risk of suicide. For him, the kill zone followed him home after the danger to his life was supposed to be over.

Friends, family coping with a hero's suicide

By SHAWNE K. WICKHAM
New Hampshire Sunday News
Published Aug 14, 2011

A member of the Army Honor Guard presents a folded American flag to Robert Keenan during the funeral of his son, James. Holding another flag is James Keenan's mother, Sheila, and the soldier's son, Robbie, looks on.

According to the citation recommending him for the Bronze Star with Valor, Keenan “was facing the opposite direction and without hesitation traversed his turret 90 degrees and began engaging the ambush so that the last two vehicles in the patrol could move out of the kill zone.”

James Keenan was a “true-blue American hero,” and that's how his family wants people to remember him.

Keenan, a decorated New Hampshire Army National Guardsman, volunteered for two tours of duty in Iraq, earning the Bronze Star with Valor for saving his entire squad in an ambush nearly seven years ago.

The evening of June 29, Keenan died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in his Newmarket apartment.

Keenan, 33, left behind his parents and sister, a 7-year-old son, Robbie — and far more questions than answers.

And comrades say his death is a warning that returning troops and their families need more help to cope with post-combat stress.

According to a Newmarket police report, Keenan's girlfriend told police he had been “despondent” and was having “war-related nightmares''; he had gone to the Manchester VA two days earlier and had been given medication.

Police found drugs prescribed for depression and panic attacks in the apartment, including three that carry Food and Drug Administration warnings about possible increased risk of suicidal thoughts or actions.
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Was he patriotic? Yes or he wouldn't have been willing to go when he didn't have to go.

Was he brave? Yes or he wouldn't have earned the Bronze Star for Valor and a lot more men would not have made it back home.

Did he care about others? Yes or he wouldn't have risked his life in combat any more than he would have been willing to risk it back home in the National Guards.

He wasn't ashamed to admit he needed help any more than he was ashamed to seek it out.

So what went wrong? Why is this hero no longer here? Why does another family have to bury someone they love after the combat boots came off? Why do the members of his company have to wonder what will happen when they need help to heal from where they were sent?

New Hampshire works with VA to aid vets in jail

New Hampshire works with VA to aid vets in jail

The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Sep 19, 2010 12:35:01 EDT

CONCORD, N.H. — Veterans who are serving time in New Hampshire’s prisons will get more help when they’re released under an agreement reached between the state Department of Corrections and the federal Department of Veterans Affairs.

The agencies recently signed an agreement that calls for the corrections department to notify the VA six months before a veteran is scheduled to be released. VA officials will then meet with the offender and make appropriate referrals for housing, substance abuse, employment, medical and mental health services.

Corrections Commissioner William Wrenn says he is optimistic the arrangement will lead to a more successful re-entry for the offenders.

There are 270 inmates incarcerated in the state prison system who report that they are veterans.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/09/ap-veterans-new-hampshire-works-to-help-vets-in-prison-091910/

NH Guard to honor men lost in Vietnam

NH Guard to honor men lost in Vietnam

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Aug 26, 2009 6:25:22 EDT

CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire National Guardsmen who served in Vietnam are paying tribute to their fallen comrades.

A ceremony scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday at guard headquarters in Concord is honoring seven citizen-solders who died while serving with the 3rd Battalion, 197th Field Artillery, in Vietnam. Five of the soldiers, who were from Manchester, died together when the truck they were riding in struck a land mine Aug. 26, 1969 — 40 years ago on Wednesday.

In all, 506 New Hampshire guardsmen deployed with the battalion, serving in South Vietnam from Sept. 16, 1968, to Sept. 4, 1969. They came from five batteries located in five different New Hampshire Guard armories including Portsmouth, Somersworth, Manchester, Nashua and Franklin/Laconia.
NH Guard to honor men lost in Vietnam

Still no reason found why Spc. Adam Kuligowski died

Do you ever wonder what kind of investigations the military runs? This must be hard on the families and the unit soldiers served with. You'd think that since there is such a small group of people that finding someone in a murder investigation would be easier or a reason for a death from suicide or other causes but these investigations often take too long. How many are going on right now? Does the media ever ask? There are so many non-combat deaths that it's hard to even guess anymore but each one comes with families waiting for answers and units wondering if their lives even matter enough anymore to find out what happened.

Investigation of soldier's death continues


DERRY, N.H. — The military is still investigating the cause of Army Spc. Adam Kuligowski's death and has not determined if a crime was involved, according to a U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command spokesman.

Yesterday, Christopher Grey, the command's chief of public affairs, said a report in this week's Sunday Eagle-Tribune miscast the current status of the investigation by reporting the April 6 death was being probed as a crime.
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Investigation of soldier death continues

Urn Accompanied By American Flag, Silver Mug Left at Marine Recruiting Center

Owner Of Urn Left At Marine Recruiting Center Found
Urn Accompanied By American Flag, Silver Mug
POSTED: 9:30 am EDT July 8, 2009


KEENE, N.H. -- The owner of an urn left a U.S. Marines recruitment center in Keene has been found.

Police began an investigation after the urn, along with a heavy silver mug and a folded, framed American flag, was dropped off at the recruitment center on Winchester Street over the weekend.

"The officers collected the property, and they tried to contact the owner and determine what were the circumstances, why they were left there," Lt. Jay Duguay said. "At the time, there was no note to determine why it was at the recruiting center."

Police found that the urn belongs to an active Marine, Sgt. Scott Mastyk, who is currently stationed at Camp Lejuene in North Carolina. (They must mean Camp)
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http://www.wmur.com/news/19989926/detail.html

Seacoast veterans sit on N.H. Guard panel on Vietnam War

Seacoast veterans sit on N.H. Guard panel on Vietnam War
Veterans to give talk on Vietnam

By Joshua Clark
news@seacoastonline.com
May 19, 2009 6:00 AM
CONCORD — Four days before the country officially celebrates Memorial Day, a group of N.H. Army National Guard veterans will meet in Concord to remember and discuss their experiences during the Vietnam War.

The eight-member panel includes veterans John Sullivan of Portsmouth, Bill Toland of Exeter and John Barvenik of North Hampton. In honor of the 40th anniversary of their tour of duty in 1969, members of the 3rd Battalion, 197th Field Artillery, will share their experiences on Thursday as the only N.H. Army National Guard unit to serve in Vietnam.

Toland, a retired Exeter fire chief, said while this will mark the first time he has been part of a Guard forum, he has spoken publicly on his experiences as a medic in Vietnam on numerous occasions.

From high school students to those preparing to leave for the Gulf War, Toland has shared his insight and provided depictions of "things that happen in real life the movies don't capture," such as details about the sounds and smell of warfare.

"They'll learn a lot more about Vietnam," he said, "and hopefully walk away with a different perspective."
go here for more
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20090519-NEWS-905190379