Brave Marine joked after being blown up "I told you guys I was gonna get to go home first"

MILITARY: Escondido Marine stays upbeat despite toll from roadside bomb

By MARK WALKER
Posted: Saturday, February 11, 2012


Five months after a bombing in Afghanistan tore off his legs, Marine Cpl. Michael Fox plans to stand on the parade deck at Camp Pendleton in early April and greet his buddies when they come home from war.

And he'll be smiling.

No one doubts the Escondido-raised Fox will be there, least of all his rehabilitation specialists at Naval Medical Center San Diego.

They also don't doubt he'll have a big grin on his face ---- that's just his way.

Fox even cracked a joke just after the hidden bomb detonated Nov. 15, shearing off his right leg above the knee and his left leg below the knee.

When his fellow Marines and a Navy medical corpsman rushed to his side, the resilient Fox greeted them with typical aplomb: "See, I told you guys I was gonna get to go home first."

The blast came as he and the rifle squad he led in the Helmand province area of Shir Ghazi searched a compound.
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Marine from Los Angeles is found dead in La Jolla

Marine from Los Angeles is found dead in La Jolla
January 28, 2012

A 20-year-old Marine from Los Angeles has been found dead in the La Jolla section of San Diego, the Marine Corps announced Saturday.

Cpl. Cody Adler was found dead Thursday. No information was released on where his body was found or the cause of death.

He was a small-arms technician assigned to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.

Adler's death is being investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
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Navy SEAL is on life support after accidentally shooting himself in the head

UPDATE Sad News

Navy SEAL Dies After Accidentally Shooting Himself

January 09, 2012
UPI
A U.S. Navy SEAL died of an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head at a hospital Saturday in Southern California, Navy officials said.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Gene "Geno" Clayton Jr., 22, of Poland, Ohio, was mortally wounded about 2 a.m. Thursday, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
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Police: Navy SEAL Accidentally Shoots Self in Head

January 06, 2012
Associated Press
SAN DIEGO -- San Diego police say a Navy SEAL is on life support after accidentally shooting himself in the head.

Officer Frank Cali tells U-T San Diego that officers were called to a home in Pacific Beach early Thursday morning on a report that a man had been playing with a gun and accidentally shot himself.
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USO Sailor Of Year Killed In Afghanistan Standing In For Wounded Bomb Tech

U-T: USO Sailor Of Year Killed In Afghanistan

Chad Regelin Killed Monday

Jeanette Steele, U-T San Diego
SAN DIEGO -- When Navy bomb disposal technician Chad Regelin was named 2011 USO sailor of the year, he couldn’t make it to the October gala in Washington, D.C.

He was in Afghanistan, standing in for a wounded bomb technician.

That job took his life Monday. Regelin, a 24-year-old sailor assigned to a San Diego unit, was killed during combat operations with a Marine Corps special operations company in Helmand province, Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced.

His brother Ryan said the sailor was on foot patrol when an explosion occurred. Regelin went to check it out and a second bomb, detonated via a wire, went off.
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2 Navy Pilots Among Dead in Murder, Suicide Pact

2 Navy Pilots Among Dead in Murder, Suicide Pact

January 03, 2012
Associated Press
by Amy Taxin
Two Navy pilots and the sister of one of them were among four people killed in an apparent New Years Day murder-suicide on the wealthy island of Coronado off the coast of San Diego, officials say.

The two F/A-18 pilots were in training at the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, the base said. The San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office initially posted on its website that the pilots were both 25-year-old males and that a third male among the dead was a 31-year-old resident of nearby Chula Vista.

The county office later took the information off the website, according to the Reuters news service.

Sheriff’s deputies found the bodies shortly after 2 a.m. Sunday when responding to a call about shots being fired at the residence.

Though officials have yet to identify all the dead, the Navy confirmed for The Associated Press that David Reis, 25, of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, and his sister Karen Reis, 24,were among the four.Their father, Tom Reis of Bakersfield, told AP that he didn’t know who else was living in the condo of the wealthy seaside community where his son was staying.

"He just had his first F/A-18 flight," Tom Reis said. "Oh man, he loved it."

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Navy police called in for murder-suicide investigation Monday, January 2, 2012

Navy police called in for murder-suicide investigation

Four dead in apparent murder-suicide near San Diego

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Three men and a woman were found shot dead in an apparent murder-suicide at a home near San Diego after shooting broke out in the early hours of New Year's Day, police said.

Authorities in Coronado, a tony island enclave off the coast of San Diego, were called to a condo shortly after 2 a.m. on Sunday to investigate a report of shots fired at the residence, sheriff's Lieutenant Larry Nesbit said

Navy police from the nearby base at North Island were brought in to determine if any of the victims were in the military, Nesbit said.

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Suspected murder-suicide after standoff at San Diego military housing

UPDATE

Navy man, woman found dead at San Diego home

Apparent murder-suicide reported in San Diego military housing
December 21, 2011
4:30 pm

San Diego police are investigating an apparent murder-suicide Wednesday afternoon in an off-base military-housing neighborhood.

A man called police to say he had killed his wife and was holding their child as a hostage. After a SWAT standoff, a toddler was carried from the home in the Serra Mesa neighborhood.

When police went into the home, the bodies of a man and woman were found.
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Marine Corps Officer surprises his girlfriend on the Ellen DeGeneres Show

Ellen DeGeneres Gives Love to SD Couple
A San Diego Marine Corps Officer surprises his girlfriend on the Ellen DeGeneres Show
By Elena Gomez
Friday, Oct 28, 2011

Source: Ellen DeGeneres Gives Love to SD Couple
NBC San Diego
It’s a typical story of love at first sight.

“The first time we met I knew she was the one,” says Kyle Davis, a Marine Corps Officer at Camp Pendleton.

His girlfriend Sarah Luymes, a nurse in the ICU, felt the same way about their first date.

“Something about him," she said. "I just thought I might be with this man for the rest of my life.”

And as the love grew over the year, it was time for the next move in the relationship.

Except, Davis thought big and took his proposal idea to Ellen DeGeneres, his girlfriend's favorite TV host.

“I knew she was a huge fan of the Ellen Show and I thought this would probably be a good thing but probably wouldn’t happen … but I thought I’ll write to the show and tell them how great she is,” she said. “Just tell them about us and see where it goes.”

Not expecting to hear back, he was shocked when he got a phone call.

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Veteran Says Deputies Shot Him in the Back

Veteran Says Deputies Shot Him in the Back
By MATT REYNOLDS

SAN DIEGO (CN) - A Gulf war veteran and his wife say a sheriff's deputy shot the veteran in the back, leaving him paraplegic, and that the Sheriff's Department then lied about the shooting, claiming the veteran had shot first.

Michael and Kimberly Foster sued San Diego County and its Sheriff William Gore in Federal Court.

Kimberly Foster says she called 911 from her Alpine home on Oct. 19, 2010, "out of concern for her husband's safety." She says she felt that her husband, an Army medic who had served in Bosnia and the Persian Gulf, "was having a PTSD episode."

Alpine is a distant suburb in the hills east of San Diego.

She says San Diego County Sheriff deputies and a SWAT team responded to her call.

"At approximately 1:00 pm, plaintiff Michael Foster walked outside into his back yard in broad daylight. With his back turned to the officers and without provocation, plaintiff Michael Foster was shot multiple times in the back by the SWAT team members," the complaint states.

Kimberly adds that "at the time he was shot," her husband "posed no immediate threat of harm to any of the officers."

She says that when she heard the shots she thought her husband had been killed.

"Immediately after the shooting, San Diego Sheriff's Lieutenant Dennis Brugos made a public statement indicating that the Sheriff SWAT officers shot Mr. Foster because Mr. Foster first shot at them one or two times," the complaint states. "Lieutenant Brugos' statement was entirely false as subsequent investigation has proven that Mr. Foster never discharged his firearm in the presence of the sheriff's officers."

The Fosters say the County of San Diego stuck by the story, even though Brugos' statement was "indisputably false."
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Thousands attend funeral for San Diego police officer, Marine Captain

Thousands attend funeral for San Diego police officer

BY DEBBI BAKER, REPORTER - POLICE & FIRE
KRISTINA DAVIS, REPORTER - PUBLIC SAFETY
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AUGUST 12, 2011

SAN DIEGO — He was a captain in the Marines with a chest full of medals and a natural gift of leadership. He could have done anything, gone anywhere.

Which was why his family back in Texas couldn’t fathom why Jeremy Henwood would want to become a San Diego police officer.

“I tried to tell him, ‘Jeremy, why would you want to go to back to the academy with a bunch of kids 10 years younger than you and be a rookie cop?,’” his younger brother, Robbie, recalled. “I tried to tell him to come join me in federal law enforcement ... He wouldn’t hear of it, he wouldn’t discuss it. Jeremy absolutely loved San Diego, he loved the PD.”

That dedication to the two uniforms he wore and lived by was evident Friday, when an estimated 3,500 law enforcement officers, Marines, family and friends packed the Rock Church in Point Loma to near-capacity to honor his life.
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Slain San Diego, Iraq Veteran and Police officer to be honored for service

Slain San Diego officer to be honored for service

By ELLIOT SPAGAT
Associated Press
Published: Friday, Aug. 12, 2011 - 1:08 am
Last Modified: Friday, Aug. 12, 2011 - 2:18 am
SAN DIEGO -- Jeremy Henwood went to Iraq twice as a Marine and returned in February from a combat tour in one of Afghanistan's most troubled regions. But it was at home in San Diego where he was killed, shot in the head in an unprovoked attack during routine police patrol.

The 36-year-old police officer will be honored for his service at home and overseas on Friday. California Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to attend.

Henwood, a Marine Corps Reserve captain who had been a police officer for four years, died Sunday. Police say Dejon White flashed his headlights behind Henwood's patrol car, as if to seek help, then pulled alongside the officer and shot him.

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San Diego Police Officer killed a few weeks after he came home from Afghanistan

Couple called 'true heroes' for calmly aiding gravely wounded cop
A man administered first aid to San Diego Officer Jeremy Henwood, who had a gaping shotgun wound in his head, while his wife took down the gunman's vehicle information and radioed police.

By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times
August 9, 2011
Reporting from San Diego— The woman's voice was urgent but composed under the circumstances.

"There's an officer shot. There's an officer shot. He's still breathing."

A San Diego police dispatcher asked the caller for more information and then broadcast the imperative that brought dozens of law enforcement personnel racing to a street corner in the mid-city neighborhood on Saturday afternoon.

"1199, 45th and University," said the dispatcher, using the code for "officer down" and giving the address where Officer Jeremy Henwood, a Marine combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, sat slumped in his police vehicle, a gaping shotgun wound in his head.

When Police Chief Bill Lansdowne, his badge covered with black tape, announced Sunday that Henwood had died, he praised the woman who had used Henwood's car radio to alert police to the shooting.

He also lauded her husband, who had desperately tried to administer first aid to stem Henwood's bleeding.

Henwood had only been on the beat for a few weeks, after returning from a deployment in Afghanistan, where, as a captain in the Marine Corps Reserve, he had been commanding a logistics company. The Texas native, who played football in high school and studied criminology at the University of Texas, had also served two combat tours in Iraq.

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Couple called 'true heroes' for calmly aiding gravely wounded cop

New PSA Combats Spice Use Among Military

New PSA Combats Spice Use Among Military

Synthetic Drug Spice Mimics Marijuana

SAN DIEGO -- A controversial campaign launched by a Marine general aims to combat the use of spice, a synthetic drug that mimics marijuana.

The effects of spice are unpredictable and range from headaches to psychedelic trips.

The drug has appealed to young people and some members of the military because standard drug tests could not detect it.

In a new public service announcement, a one-star Marine general based in Japan takes aim at spice.

"The use of spice has no role in our corps," says the general in the PSA. "It degrades readiness, [and] puts other Marines and sailors at risk… I ask you to join me, police our ranks, hold other Marines and sailors accountable and say, 'Not in our corps!'"
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New PSA Combats Spice Use Among Military

Red Cross unveiling military emergency call center

REGION: Red Cross unveiling military emergency call center

By MARK WALKER mlwalker@nctimes.com

The San Diego Chapter of the American Red Cross has hired nearly three dozen workers as it launches the agency's only military emergency call center west of the Mississippi River.

Set for unveiling on Thursday, the San Diego center is expected to deliver as many as 170,000 such messages involving significant family news to more than 60,000 troops stationed worldwide.

"We're extremely honored and excited to chosen as only one of four calling sites across the country," said San Diego Red Cross spokeswoman Teri Klemchuk.

Thursday's ceremony begins at 10 a.m. at the call center, 3950 Calle Fortunada, San Diego. A variety of military officials and community leaders are expected to attend.

Red Cross officials have moved in recent months to streamline services and cut administrative costs, leading to consolidating call centers into the San Diego site along with ones at Fort Sill, Okla., Louisville, Ky., and Springfield, Mass.
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Red Cross unveiling military emergency call center

San Diego Navy Wife begs for return of missing husband with PTSD

Missing sailor found

UPDATE - A San Diego sailor suffering from post traumatic stress disorder who had been missing for five days was located on Saturday.


Amanda Hamilton told San Diego 6 News her husband turned himself into police and is now receiving treatment at Balboa Naval Hospital.

Navy Wife begs for return of missing husband with PTSD

SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - A local Navy wife is desperate to find her missing husband, who has post traumatic stress disorder and hasn't been seen in days.

"My whole world is collapsing because this is the guy I was going to spend the rest of my life with," says Amanda Hamilton.

She and Nicholas married four and a half years ago and have two sons together. As a couple they've faced deployments, but the most recent deployment on the USS Ronald Reagan to provide humanitarian relief to Tsunami victims in Japan proved to be a tipping point, according to Amanda.

"He had a really bad flashback episode while on the Reagan," she says. Adding that flashback dealt with a previous humanitarian effort to retrieve bodies from the 2004 Tsunami in Indonesia.

"He took nearly 200 over the counter medications to try and end his life," she says.

That was March 25th of this year and Amanda says Nic was then flown to an Air Force Base in Japan for treatment and then sent back home to San Diego for further treatment on March 31st.

Since then he's regularly checked in twice a day to a Medical Hold unit at the Navy hospital, according to his wife, until May 1st when things unraveled.
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Navy Wife begs for return of missing husband with PTSD

San Diego Navy Base Security Shoots Sailor

Navy Base Security Shoots Sailor
February 28, 2011
UPI
One U.S. Sailor was shot and another taken into custody Saturday during a chase at Naval Base San Diego, a Navy spokesman said.

The incident started about 1:30 a.m. when the two Sailors showed up at a base entrance and a guard ordered the driver to pull over to check to see if he was intoxicated, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
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Navy Base Security Shoots Sailor

Nearly 3.8 million prescriptions for pain medications given by military doctors

They come home addicted to prescribed drugs the military doctors give them to keep them going and then we dare wonder why they end up in so much trouble back here? They get a drug to calm them down and then wind them up, another to fall asleep and then another to wake them up. They are give pain medications with most of them leading to addiction to them. It is not longer just bullets and bombs they have to worry about but the threat of their own military getting them hooked on drugs.

MILITARY: Abuse of pain meds by vets skyrockets

By RICK ROGERS - For The North County Times

Post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury remain the most common combat maladies arising from service in Afghanistan and Iraq. But abuse of prescribed drugs, particularly pain medications, is on the rise, and its effects are being felt in San Diego County.

Phil Landis, chief executive officer of Veterans Village of San Diego, has witnessed a six-fold increase in young, homeless veterans in the last two years, and many of them are struggling with addiction to prescription medications.

"Almost 10 percent of our vets here are post-9/11. By the time they get to us, they have fallen through about every other support net," Land is said. "The younger veterans we're seeing have really fallen hard and they've fallen fast. Many of them are addicted to prescribed drugs. We don't see that much among our other veterans here.

Landis said the connection between drug abuse and homelessness is well known from the experience of Vietnam vets. But what is critically different now is the speed with which today's veterans are plunging into homelessness. A downward cycle that used to take eight to 10 years to land a veteran on the streets is now down, in some cases, to less than a year.

Finding a cause for the surge in over-the-counter drug abuse might be as easy as reviewing government records.

Military doctors wrote service members nearly 3.8 million prescriptions for pain medications in 2009, up from 866,773 such prescriptions in 2001, according to data from the Defense Department.

Pentagon records also show that abuse of prescription drugs by the military is more than twice that seen in the civilian population ---- 5 percent compared to 11 percent, according to a 2008 military survey measured against a 2007 civilian survey.

The drugs most abused were painkillers, such as Vicodin and OxyContin, although alcohol abuse continues to be a concern.

A military survey released a year ago found that, out of nearly 30,000 troops, 1 in 4 admitted abusing prescription drugs, most of them pain relievers, in a one-year period.
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Abuse of pain meds by vets skyrockets

60 Minutes shines light on local homeless Marine vet

60 Minutes shines light on local homeless Marine vet
BY JEANETTE STEELE
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2010 AT 8:02 P.M.


What a difference three months made in the life of former enlisted Marine Charles Worley.

In July, Worley was one of a handful of young veterans living on the streets of San Diego . Worley, then 31, had been bouncing among friends’ couches after he lost his job and unemployment ran out.

To get a break from that routine, he showed up at the annual three-day Stand Down for the Homeless event held by Veterans Village of San Diego at San Diego High School.

That’s where the cameras of 60 Minutes discovered him. Worley was prominently profiled in a report aired Sunday night. He was also featured in this story in the San Diego Union-Tribune on July 16.

The 60 Minutes piece leaves off with the viewer wondering about Worley’s destiny.
60 Minutes shines light on local homeless Marine vet

Off-duty Marine accused of throwing kitten at wall

I removed his name for one simple reason. There has to be a back story on this and my hunch is, he very well could be dealing with PTSD, or at the very least, anger issues associated with combat. You can't just assume a Marine willing to die for this country, would suddenly find it ok to hurt a kitten. If I find a back story on this, I'll post it as soon as I do.

Off-duty Marine accused of throwing kitten at wall
July 28, 2010 4:28 pm
A Marine sergeant is set to be arraigned Thursday in San Diego County Superior Court on a felony charge of animal abuse for allegedly hurling a kitten at a wall, authorities said.

(the Marine) 27, is assigned to administrative duties at the Marine Corps' San Diego boot camp. The kitten was badly injured, but survived after extensive medical treatment, officials said.
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Off-duty Marine accused of throwing kitten at wall

Veterans Village of San Diego

For years readers of this blog have heard me say how the Vietnam Veterans lived up to the promise of never leaving one generations of veterans behind. This is one group that proves just how serious Vietnam Veterans were about this expression of dedication.

Courage to Call
24/7 Information & Support HelplineCourage to Call, (877) MyUsVet, (877) 698-7838, is a new Prevention and Early Intervention program in San Diego County, entirely staffed by military veterans who have recently served their country. Services are provided to those who have served in any Military or Guard (both active & former), their families and loved ones.

VVSD History
Over the years, VVSD has developed a continuum of care for veterans which stretches from the three days of outreach to homeless veterans at Stand Down to providing affordable, sober living houses for those who have successfully passed through VVSD's Veterans Rehabilitation Center.

1981: Veterans Village of San Diego was founded as the Vietnam Veterans of San Diego by five Vietnam Veterans, dealing with their own issues and addictions stemming from the Vietnam War. From the onset to the present day, VVSD has been dedicated to assisting needy veterans. 1984: Established "Landing Zone" on 11th Avenue near Market Street opened providing 44 licensed alcohol and drug treatment facility beds for Vietnam Veterans funded by County Alcohol and Drug Services.

1988: Established "Dust Off", an 18 bed transitional housing facility on 5th Avenue. During that same year VVSD founded Stand Down and served over 650 homeless veterans. VVSD is the model for the over 200 Stand Downs that now exist nationwide.
go here for more of VVSD's history

http://www.vvsd.net/history.htm