Army Ranger vet representing Sox at All-Star Game

Army Ranger vet representing Sox at All-Star Game
MLB.com
By Jacob Thorpe
7/10/2013

SEATTLE -- In a profession of heroes, Joe "Kap" Kapacziewski stands out. The soldier underwent 42 surgeries on his leg after a grenade explosion badly wounded Kapacziewski in Iraq in 2005. Still, the doctors couldn't fix his leg and were forced to amputate. That sacrifice made Kapacziewski a hero. It's what he did next that will make him a legend.

With a prosthetic limb where his right leg used to be, Kapacziewski returned to active combat with the Army Airborne Rangers, the first ever to do so after an amputation.

Kapacziewski went on to serve five additional combat deployments, and in 2010, he saved a fellow soldier's life by dragging the wounded warrior to safety despite heavy enemy gunfire. Now Kapacziewski mentors other veterans with Challenged Athletes Foundation's Operation Rebound.

For that extraordinary bravery and service, Kapacziewski was recognized on Wednesday when Major League Baseball and People Magazine announced him as the Red Sox's representative among the 30 winners of their "Tribute for Heroes" campaign. This nationwide initiative aims to honor service members while supporting Welcome Back Veterans, which addresses the needs of veterans returning from combat.
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Missing Marine found by police and getting help he needs

Missing marine found safe, now being treated for PTSD
FOX News
Dana Rebik

SEATTLE — For weeks, Sandy Pablik feared the worst. Her son, a 23 year-old Marine from California, was missing and was last seen in the Seattle area. On Saturday, Sandy got a phone call.

“The nurse of the hospital called me and it was a bit surreal because I thought it was just somebody calling in for a tip,” said Pablik.

Police found her son, Jonathan, outside a local grocery store. The vet reportedly suffers from PTSD, after tours to Iraq and Afghanistan. He was lucid enough to talk to his mom on the phone.

“He said he missed me a lot. I reassured him I loved him dearly and he said he loved me, too. It was such a sigh of relief, I can’t even tell you,” said Pablik.
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Marine Combat Vet Jonathan Pablik missing

Marine Combat Vet Jonathan Pablik is missing in the Seattle

Happy update. Police found him and he is getting help for PTSD.

Marine Missing in Seattle Washington
Salem-News.com
May 20, 2013

(SEATTLE) - A Marine Combat Vet named Jonathan Pablik is missing in the Seattle area, his friends and family are concerned, they say Jonathan is suffering from PTSD.

Paul Isaac with Occupy Marines writes, "He is a good friend of mine. If you guys could post this, it would be awesome. If anyone has any information, they can contact his Mother on facebook."

Jonathan's mother, Sandy Pablik, wrote the following in regard to her son's disappearance:

"He was following a personal journey which he called walk of faith. The problem was he was the only one who knew what this all really meant. He suffered a PTSD episode on Wednesday night and that's the last we heard of him.
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Was Madigan PTSD doctor suspended in retaliation?

Madigan PTSD doctor suspended
Dr. Russel Hicks, a Madigan Army Medical Center psychiatrist, has been suspended from his hospital duties for alleged problems with patient care. He believes the action is retaliation for information he gave Army investigators looking in to the hospital’s troubled PTSD diagnosis program.
Seattle Times
By Hal Bernton
Seattle Times staff reporter

A Madigan Army Medical Center psychiatrist has been suspended from his hospital duties because he allegedly practiced outside the scope of his clinical privileges and did not properly document patient records.

Dr. Russel Hicks, a senior member of Madigan’s staff with 15 years of service, received a Jan. 17 memorandum that informed him his privileges were in “abeyance.”

During an initial investigation that could last a month or more, he must refrain from any diagnosis, prescriptions, charting or treatment.

Hicks, in a letter to Madigan’s credential’s committee, said he believes the actions were in retaliation for information he offered Army investigators who last year examined diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at the hospital.
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Firefighter answers call of duty for fallen son

Marine answers the call of duty for his slain son
by ERIC WILKINSON
KING 5 News
Posted on November 29, 2012

Mike Washington is one of three generations in his family who've dedicated their lives to serving others. The retired marine and 25 year Seattle firefighter taught his children the importance of being part of something bigger than themselves.

“I told them when people need help, why not help?” he said.

So, when Hurricane Sandy ravaged the East Coast, Washington rallied the troops in the Northwest, bringing desperately needed relief to New York and New Jersey. For two weeks the Northwest members of "Team Rubicon," a nationwide band of military brothers and sisters, helped storm victims dig out of the ruins of their former lives. It was a proud moment for this humble marine.

“I look at these young people and they've stepped up before and now they're stepping up again and thriving,” said Washington. “This is what they were meant to do.”

But this story isn't about Mike Washington or Team Rubicon, or even the victims of Hurricane Sandy. It's about someone who never set foot in the disaster zone, but is helping to inspire much of the good work being done there.

That inspiration comes in the form of a black and white photo taped to Washington's firehouse locker, and a tribute typed below it. It’s a picture of hope and promise.

It’s a picture of Mike Washington’s 20 year old son, Michael, killed in action in Afghanistan.
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Double amputee Afghanistan veteran gets special homecoming

Wounded warrior gets special homecoming
KOMO News
By Luke Duecy
Published: Sep 28, 2012

SEATTLE -- A local soldier came home Friday for the first time since being severely wounded while fighting in Afghanistan.

But what makes his story really special are the men and women who flew him home for free.

The Sawyer family had been hoping and praying for the day they could see their son, brother and friend come home. On Friday, that day finally came. But it was a long and violent road that brought Jereme Sawyer home.

Wounded in a roadside IED attack in Afghanistan, Sawyer lost both his legs at the knees. While rehab and recovery proved painful at times, it was nothing compared to the pain of being away from his family.

Since his injury, Sawyer has been recovering on post in Texas when all he wanted to do was be home with his family.
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Major General Lanza expected to improve troubled Joint Base Lewis-McChord

New general expected to improve JBLM management
August 31, 2012
Seattle Post Intelligencer
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD
Wash. (AP)

The Army expects the addition of a two-star general at Joint Base Lewis-McChord will improve oversight of combat brigades and provide more attention to the care of soldiers and their families.

The base welcomed Maj. Gen. Stephen Lanza on Thursday as the commander of the reactivated 7th Infantry Division.

Lanza's arrival completes a pledge from Army Secretary John McHugh to create a division headquarters at Lewis-McChord to better manage rapid growth. JBLM has more than 34,000 active-duty soldiers, up from 19,000 in 2003.
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Seniors take action and stop shooter at grocery store

Gunfire wounds 3 at grocery in Pierce County
A 20-year-old woman armed with a revolver opened fire in a grocery store on Pierce County's Key Peninsula on Saturday afternoon, wounding three men. In the shooting's aftermath, a husband and wife provided crucial help — the wife sitting on the shooter while the husband tended to a man who had been shot.
By Ken Armstrong and Sandi Doughton
Seattle Times staff reporters

A 20-year-old woman armed with a revolver opened fire in a grocery store on Pierce County's Key Peninsula on Saturday afternoon, wounding three men. In the aftermath, a husband and wife provided crucial help — the wife sitting on the shooter while the husband tended to a man who had been shot.

The shooter was still inside the store when Pierce County sheriff's deputies arrived and took her into custody.

The woman has a history of mental illness and apparently didn't know any of the victims, Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said. "All she told us was that she didn't like the people she shot," he said. "But we have no way of tying her to any of them."
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Homeless Gulf War Veteran saves life of shooting victim

Homeless veteran credited for saving life of shooting victim
by KING 5 News
Posted on July 2, 2012

A homeless veteran is credited for saving the life of a shooting victim in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood early Monday.

Seattle police said around 3 a.m. near 2nd Avenue and Bell Street, an argument between two men escalated into a fight, which ended with one man pulling out a gun and shooting the other man. According to officers, the victim ran a block before collapsing on the street.

A couple of blocks away, a homeless man known on the streets as Staff Sgt. Royal, a 10-year Army man and a veteran of the first Gulf War, heard the shots and came to the man’s rescue.
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Homeless Vet Aided Dying Bellevue Mom in Seattle Shooting

Homeless Vet Aided Dying Bellevue Mom in Seattle Shooting

Gloria Leonidas of Bellevue was one of Ian Stawicki's victims in Wednesday's shooting spree in Seattle. SeattlePI.com reported that a homeless veteran was among those who came to Leonidas' aid after she was shot.
By Patch Staff
June 1, 2012

A homeless veteran, a married couple and a passerby who abandoned her running car were among those who came to the aid a Bellevue mother of two killed in a Seattle shooting rampage that took the lives of six people, the SeattlePI.com reported.

Gloria Leonidas of Bellevue was fatally shot and her Mercedes SUV taken by Ian Stawicki, who had fled the scene of a mass shooting at Cafe Racer coffee shop in the Ravenna neighborhood earlier in the day, Seattle police said.

Seattle police say that Stawicki, 40, shot five people at Cafe Racer, killing four of them and critically wounding the fifth.
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Man charged for attacking Marines after he saw uniform

Man charged with car attack on Marines
Published: Sept. 14, 2011

SEATTLE, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- A Seattle-area man charged with using his car in a failed attack on two U.S. Marines is tied to another man charged in a suicide bombing plot, prosecutors say.

Prosecutors filed assault charges Tuesday against Michael McCright of Lynnwood, SeattlePI.com reported. McCright was arrested Thursday.

McCright, who allegedly also uses the name Mikhial Jihad, has been charged with trying to run a uniformed Marine sergeant off the road. Prosecutors said the sergeant, who was behind the wheel of a government car, and another Marine who was in civilian clothes, spotted another driver who apparently became angry when he saw the uniform.

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Man Charged in Attempted Highway Attack of Marines

Man Charged in Attempted Highway Attack of Marines
September 14, 2011
Seattle Times|by Mike Carter
An ex-con with possible ties to the alleged ringleader of a plot to attack Seattle's Military Entrance Processing Station with assault rifles and hand grenades has been charged with assault for allegedly trying to run two Marine recruiters off Interstate 5 near Northgate.

Michael Dale McCright, who prosecutors say uses the nickname "Mikhail Jihad" on the Internet, is facing his "third strike" and a possible life sentence if convicted of the attack.

He has an extensive criminal history, including convictions for first-degree robbery in 2006, assault in 2005 and other felony crimes.

King County prosecutors have asked that McCright, 28, be held on $2 million bail. He is to appear in King County Superior Court for arraignment on Sept. 27, said office spokesman Dan Donohoe.
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$53 Million Barracks Won't Help Soldiers Who Can't Get In

​Wounded Warriors Get $53 Million Barracks, But that Won't Help Soldiers Who Can't Get In
By Nina Shapiro Tue., Aug. 16 2011

Joint Base Lewis-McChord held a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday for a $53 million barracks that will house wounded soldiers. The facility, part of the base's "Warrior Transition Battalion," features wood floors and barbeque grills, and was hailed by U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks as a sign of "significant improvement" in the way the Army treats its returning soldiers. As two recent suicides show, though, a fancy new barracks isn't likely to insure that soldiers get the help they need.
On June 28, Army Ranger Jared Hagemann, stationed at Lewis-McChord shot himself in the head. "He needed psychological help," says Michael Prysner, a Los Angeles-based organizer with the national veterans' group March Forward who has talked to Hagemann's widow, Ashley. Hagemann (pictured above) had been trying to get that help since his first deployment, Prysner says.

Yet the Army kept redeploying Hagemann. Before he killed himself, he faced a staggering ninth deployment. The staff sergeant, convinced that he was damned for his actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, fought to get out of another tour, but the Army insisted, according to a KOMO-TV interview with Ashley.

Several veterans' rights activists who spoke with SW today see Hagemann's fate as typical of many damaged soldiers. They don't go to the Wounded Transition Battalion because they aren't judged wounded enough, and the military is desperate for their manpower.

Kevin Baker, who was discharged from the 4-9 Infantry Regimen last December, says that virtually "every person in my unit on rear detachment was trying to get into WTB." A rear detachment is composed of soldiers who stay at the base, or are sent back from war due to mental or physical injuries. He says his detachment held about 15 people, and none were admitted into the battalion for wounded soldiers.
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Army Widow Channels Grief Into Running

Army Widow Channels Grief Into Running
Austin Jenkins
06/22/2011

DUPONT, Wash. — This weekend, an Army widow named Lisa Hallett will lead a group of runners in Seattle's Rock 'n' Roll marathon and half-marathon. They are members of a running club that formed during an especially deadly deployment of Washington-based soldiers to Afghanistan. For Hallett and her teammates, running has become not only a way to remember their loved ones, but an outlet for their grief.

It's a Saturday morning in DuPont, Washington – just across Interstate 5 from Joint Base Lewis-McChord. More than 350 people in blue shirts have gathered in a local park.

"Moment of silence please."

Army Lt. Ben Hunter leads a weekly ritual. Members of the group call out the names of fallen soldiers – starting with the 5th Stryker Brigade.

Hunter calls out, "From 1-17 infantry Sgt. Troy Tom, Pfc. Jonathan Yanney, Capt. John Hallett."

Dozens of names later, the circle breaks up. Shoe laces are tied, maps are checked and then they're off - a ribbon of blue snaking through the wooded park trails, the sound of footfalls on pavement.

Wear Blue: Run to Remember is a group of military families, supporters and even soldiers who gather each week to run and remember the war dead.

Founder Lisa Hallett says she first got serious about running when her Army husband went to Ranger school.
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Army Widow Channels Grief Into Running

Terminally ill Vietnam Vet shot by police in Seattle

Armed man shot by Kent cops was ill and wanted to be killed, family says
The family of a Kent man thinks he intended to be killed when he armed himself and confronted police Wednesday near the Kent Transit Center.
By Sara Jean Green
Seattle Times staff reporter

The armed man fatally shot Wednesday by Kent police was a terminally ill Vietnam veteran who had been deeply depressed, according to his adult daughters.

The three women and their mother, who had been married to the man for more than 20 years before they divorced a few years ago, cried and held each other soon after arriving near the Kent Transit Center, where the shooting occurred.

"I believe he came down here with the intent to be killed by police. He wouldn't hurt anybody," said the man's youngest daughter, declining to give her name or the name of her father.

The man, whose name has not been released by authorities, had been depressed and frustrated with his declining health, medical care and the amount of medication he was required to take, said his daughters. They said he was terminally ill and suffered from diabetes, hepatitis C and cirrhosis of the liver.

"He's the type that would give you the shirt off his back. He wouldn't threaten anybody," said his eldest daughter. "He's always just been so strong. I don't understand how this could be the end of it."

At 9:10 a.m., Kent police received a 911 call from a Far West cabdriver who was concerned about his passenger, said Cathy Schrock, spokeswoman for the Federal Way Police Department, which is investigating the shooting. The cabbie, who pulled over at the transit center and was able to get out of the cab, told the 911 operator his passenger held a rifle or shotgun across his knees, she said.
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Armed man shot by Kent cops was ill

Amazing Grace students reach out to war vets

Amazing Grace students reach out to war vets
Students at Amazing Grace Christian School in Seattle cleaned out their piggy banks and raised more than $2,500 to benefit veterans groups and one disabled veteran.
By Nancy Bartley

Seattle Times staff reporter
The war in Afghanistan may be across the globe, but the conflict is very much a part of the daily curriculum in Michelle Zimmerman's class at Amazing Grace Christian School in Seattle.

When the class saw a news story about Army 1st Lt. Dan Berschinski, of Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, who had lost his legs in battle, "We wanted to know more about Afghanistan," said Taelor Willhoite, 12, one of the students in the combined sixth- and seventh-grade class.

Writing to the soldiers there and learning about the war prompted the students to start a school-year-long campaign to support the troops and their families. The results: more than $2,500 raised for veterans groups and Berschinski.
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Amazing Grace students reach out to war vets

Police: Iraq vet abused daughter

Is this a case of deplorable child abuse we read about all too often or is there something more to this story?

Police: Iraq vet abused daughter, held her head in water
By Patrick Oppmann, CNN
February 8, 2010 11:03 p.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Soldier's girlfriend tells police he was abusing his daughter, 4
Police: Girl had bruises and scratches; child said, "Daddy used his hands"
Police report: Sgt. Joshua Tabor was angry that she "does not know her alphabet"
Authorities: Tabor admits putting her head in sink, denies putting face underwater
Seattle, Washington (CNN) -- An Iraq war veteran has been charged with assault on suspicion of abusing his daughter, whose head he allegedly held in water to get her to recite the ABCs, according to police in Yelm, Washington.

Police arrested Army Sgt. Joshua Tabor on January 31 after they responded to complaints about 2 a.m. that he was wandering around his neighborhood and appeared to be intoxicated.

"He was threatening to break windows with his Kevlar helmet," said Todd Stancil, police chief of Yelm, about 60 miles south of Seattle.

Although the arrest happened more than a week ago, details of the case were not widely known publicly until Monday.
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http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/08/washington.soldier.charged/

Two clinics promise treatment, regardless of income

Two clinics promise treatment, regardless of income

By Connie Thompson
SEATTLE -- With the recent economic slump, the number of people using hospital emergency rooms for treatment has jumped as much as 30 percent. More people are out of work and with no health insurance, they use the ER to replace their family doctor.

But for many, there's an alternative where lack of insurance in not an obstacle. And patients who know about it are traveling miles out of their way to get a local primary care physician they can see on a regular basis, without having to worry about getting turned down over money.

One couple taking advantage is Deborah Spear and her fiance Darion Mallard.

After Deborah's recent stroke, they didn't have to worry about finding a doctor to follow up with Deborah's care, thanks to the Country Doctor Community Clinic.

"We don't deny services to anybody, based on their inability to pay," said Dr. Rich Kovar, medical director at the clinic -- one of two unique clinics in Seattle.

The clinics have one mission: Provide quality health care without regard to the patient's ability to pay the bill. Patients are billed on a sliding scale, with a co-pay based on documented annual income.

"Many of our patients go on and off insurance but they still can come here and not be treated any differently," Kovar said.
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http://www.komonews.com/news/consumer/57288832.html

Severe burn victim forgives arsonist

Severe burn victim forgives arsonist

By Elisa Jaffe
Watch the story SEATTLE

Carlos Salmeron was trapped inside his Greenwood apartment, with smoke and flames raging around him, after an arsonist set it ablaze last week.

He managed to escape, but now he is in Harborview Medical Center with third-degree burns over 70 percent of his body.

Still, he says, he forgives the arsonist and feels no anger. "I feel like a miracle," he says, after escaping with his life.

The arsonist struck on Thursday while Salmeron was at home.

Trapped and frightened, Salmeron spotted smoke outside his basement apartment, but he couldn't open the only door out.

"I was thinking, 'I'm gonna die,' and I don't see no way to go out," he says. "The door don't open - I'm kicking and fighting, and the fire come in like - whoosh!"

The backdraft burned more than three-quarters of Salmeron's body. The part-time custodian, who just became a U.S. citizen this year, escaped with only his wallet.
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http://www.komonews.com/news/local/53741662.html

Traveling Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall Comes to Seattle

Traveling Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall Comes to Seattle

Community Invited to Pay Respects to America's War Veterans


SEATTLE, July 13 /PRNewswire/ -- The Dignity Memorial(R) Vietnam Wall, a three-quarter-scale traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., will be open for public viewing August 14-16, 2009 at Acacia Memorial Park, 14951 Bothell Way NE in Seattle.


Free and open to the public 24 hours a day from Friday, August 14 through Sunday, August 16, the replica is eight feet high and 240 feet long. Its black, reflective surface is inscribed with the names of more than 58,000 servicemen and women who died or are missing in Vietnam. Paper and pencils will be provided so visitors can make rubbings of names etched on the wall.


The Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall is dedicated to all Americans who served in Vietnam and honors all veterans of the U.S. military. The three-day exhibition is sponsored by Vietnam Veterans Association Posts 102 and 423 and local Dignity Memorial funeral, cremation and cemetery service providers.


"The monument was created as a service to those who might never travel to the nation's capital to experience the Vietnam Veterans Memorial firsthand," said Donna Wagner, director of Dignity Memorial providers in Seattle. "Our replica offers visitors a chance for healing and reflections, and we are very pleased to be able to share it with the community," she said.
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Traveling Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall Comes to Seattle