Marine Corps seeks to use buddy ethic to stem rise in suicides

A recent news story told how having a "buddy" does work when a soldier pulled the bullets out of his buddy's rifle fearing he would try to kill himself. The soldier did in fact pick up the rifle and tried to kill himself but nothing happened. He's alive today because his buddy was watching out for him the same way they do during combat operations and the enemy is trying to kill them. This is an enemy but it acts like a sniper striking when no one can see it when it starts but sooner or later, they can see the results of this attack. They see it in the changes that someone they know goes through, like a scream for help. If they know what they are seeing with their own eyes, lives can be saved but too many still don't have a clue.

The other thing is that we've heard this from the Marines before, just as we've heard this from the Army and the National Guards. The years of hoping they finally got it have resulted in a higher suicide rate. I'm beginning to wonder if they will ever get it for real almost as much as I wonder who is telling them what they should do because so far, it has not worked. It's done more harm than good and this is proven when the numbers of suicides and attempted suicides went up!

Sgt. Maj. Carlton W. Kent, the top enlistee in the Marines, speaks last month at a town hall meeting at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan. (Sgt. Steven Williams / U.S. Marine Corps)

Marine Corps seeks to use buddy ethic to stem rise in suicides
52 Marines killed themselves last year, compared with 42 the previous year. The corps wants Marines to rescue other Marines from the edge, just as they would come to their aid in combat


By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times

September 10, 2010


Reporting from Helmand province, Afghanistan — The young Marine had just gotten a Dear John letter from a woman he had described as "my everything." Days later, he killed himself while on guard duty here in Helmand province.

None of his buddies, even those who had known him since boot camp, had seen the signs of the man's downward emotional spiral.

The pain of his death was visible on their faces as Sgt. Maj. Carlton W. Kent, the senior enlisted man in the Marine Corps, delivered a message he has repeated at a dozen bases and outposts throughout this dangerous Afghan desert region: Marines are committing suicide in record numbers, and something has to be done about it.
read more here
Marine Corps seeks to use buddy ethic

This is what the National Guards is talking about...

Army Maj. Gen. Carpenter: More needs to be done to prevent soldier suicides
by: Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill National Guard Bureau Thursday, September 9th, 2010

More vigilant leadership, pre-screening recruits for compatibility with military service and better post-deployment follow up are among solutions proposed by the acting director of the Army National Guard for stemming soldier suicides.

Army Maj. Gen. Raymond W. Carpenter sounded the alarm about the Army’s current high suicide rate at a breakout session of the 132nd general conference of the National Guard Association of the United States on Aug. 21.

“We [could] be at 100 suicides by the end of this year,” said Carpenter, who periodically briefs Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the Army’s vice chief of staff, on the Army Guard’s suicide rate and specific cases.

“We have an incredible amount of brainpower to put against this,” he said. “We can solve this.”
read more here
More needs to be done to prevent soldier suicides

Navy Cross recipient continues to help Marines

Navy Cross recipient continues to help Marines

By Jeb Phillips - The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch
Posted : Saturday Sep 4, 2010 16:35:02 EDT

COLUMBUS, Ohio — One of the most highly decorated Marines during the war in Iraq had to drink to fall asleep.

He once tried to kill himself.

This was after Jeremiah Workman’s tour in Fallujah, where on Dec. 23, 2004, he demonstrated such extraordinary heroism that he was awarded the Navy Cross.

Workman, a retired staff sergeant, led three assaults into a house where insurgents had trapped other Marines. Injured by grenade shrapnel, he helped save many of those Marines and kill 24 insurgents.

Workman, now 27, originally is from Richwood and was a high-school football player. He tells these biographical details to current and retired Marines, including the ones he has recently spoken with in Ohio.

“I wasn’t broken before I went in,” he tells them. “I’m you.”

He still goes to counseling, he says, and he still takes medicine for post-traumatic stress disorder. If a football player, not to mention a Navy Cross recipient, admits that he needed help after a deployment, maybe other Marines will admit it, too.
go here for more
Navy Cross recipient continues to help Marines

also

Navy Cross Citation for Jeremiah W. Workman

Sgt. Jeremiah Workman was awarded the Navy Cross for his heroism while on duty in Fallujah. "Almost any infantry Marine would have done what I did," he says. (By Sarah L. Voisin -- The Washington Post)

A Hero Who Did not Save Himself
For Jeremiah Workman, Decorated for Bravery in Iraq, the Battle's Not Over Yet

By Peter Carlson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 4, 2007

Despite heavy resistance from enemy automatic weapon fire and a barrage of grenades, Corporal Workman fearlessly. . .

Jeremiah Workman stood at attention and tried to listen as the narrator read the citation that detailed what he'd done to earn the Navy Cross, an award for valor that is second only to the Medal of Honor.

. . . Corporal Workman again exposed himself to enemy fire while providing cover fire for the team when an enemy grenade exploded directly in front of him, causing shrapnel wounds to his arms and legs . . .

He was standing on the parade ground, facing a grandstand packed with hundreds of people, including his wife and his mother. Behind him were several hundred Marine recruits who were about to graduate from boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., where Workman had recently lost his job as a drill instructor after he suffered what he calls a "mental meltdown."

. . . Although injured, he led a third assault into the building, rallying his team one last time to extract isolated Marines . . .

When the narrator finished reading the story of Workman's "extraordinary heroism" in Iraq, Brig. Gen. Richard T. Tryon pinned the Navy Cross to Workman's chest and the crowd in the grandstand stood and cheered. It was a moment of well-deserved triumph, but it didn't make Workman feel any better.

"When they put that medal on me, from that point on, I sunk deeper into depression," he recalls. "Everybody says it must be awesome to win the Navy Cross. Well, as a matter of fact, it's not. I lost three guys that day, so for the longest time, I didn't even want to wear it. I'd look down at it and see three dead Marines."
click links for more of these

Father John Fergueson On Accepting His Darkside and PTSD

Father John Fergueson On Accepting His Darkside And Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Jamala Henderson
08/28/2010

Father John Fergueson is an Episcopal priest at the Church of the Redeemer in Kenmore, Washington. In 1967 he was a Marine fighting in the Vietnam War. He was part of a counterintelligence unit whose mission was to take down the Viet Cong infrastructure. In order to do that, they took prisoners. Father John Fergueson talks about becoming a priest and accepting who he was as a soldier in order to manage his post–traumatic stress disorder.
listen online here
Father John Fergueson On Accepting His Darkside

Former Berwyn Heights mayor returns from Iraq deployment

Former Berwyn Heights mayor returns from Iraq deployment

By David Hill
The Gazette
Thursday, August 26, 2010
When former Berwyn Heights mayor Brad Jewitt was deployed to Iraq in 2009, he expected to miss his family and home town but felt comfortable making the sacrifice.

"Many of my peers have served multiple tours in Iraq or Afghanistan," said Jewitt, 40, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps. "I was really at peace with the idea of going, because it was my turn so someone else wouldn't have to go again."

Jewitt -- a Marine reservist who served as mayor in 2003, as a Town Council member in 2002 and as mayor pro tem from 2006 to 2008 -- returned home Aug. 1, after a scheduled one-year tour of duty. His return coincidentally came during the same month that defense officials withdrew all major combat units from Iraq.
read more here
Former Berwyn Heights mayor returns from Iraq deployment

Father of Marine killed on motorcycle was hit by drunk driver on his motorcycle too

Friends, family share stories of hometown hero
Marine from Rosenberg allegedly killed by drunken driver
By SHAMINDER DULAI
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Aug. 12, 2010

Rain clouds blanketed the sun to trickle out a smattering of rain drops Thursday afternoon as Dwayne Stidman carried the ashes of his son out of a Rosenberg funeral home and toward a row of motorcycles.

"Today is a time of saying goodbye," Stidman said.

With military hymns in the air and a slideshow of his son behind him, Stidman stood up to thank the nearly 100 friends, family, Marines and complete strangers as they paid their respects to Marine Cpl. David James Stidman, who was killed last week when an alleged drunken driver struck his motorcycle.

Guests wearing red, the 23-year-old's favorite color, made an effort to turn the funeral into a joyful day of sharing memories to honor the son who survived two deployments to Iraq and one to Afghanistan, and recently finished a five-year commitment to the Marines.

Affinity for motorcycles
But there was sorrow.

One by one, Marines and friends stood up to share stories about one of Rosenberg's hometown heroes. He had built a gym out of found wood because he was bored, had coached his fellow soldiers to get up to speed and had shared stories from home of how much he loved his father.

Like his father, David Stidman became a Marine and a motorcyclist. The two also shared an affinity for fishing, so much so that they'd bought a boat. They were still planning their first trip to the open sea when the son was killed. Dwayne Stidman plans to take his son's ashes to the Gulf of Mexico.

The young Marine came home four months ago after a drunken driver hit his father, who was on his motorcycle. He broke his legs, a shoulder blade and his skull was severely cut.

Dwayne Stidman slowly recovered with the help of his son and soon bought another motorcycle so the two could continue riding together.

"I know how it can get and I didn't want him riding alone," Dwayne Stidman said

go here for more

Friends family share stories of hometown hero


Marine survived three tours of combat

Marine's mother to get his Bronze Star three years later

Marine's mother to get his Bronze Star -- 3 years late
August 11, 2010
Things, even very important things, can get overlooked when the fog of war is combined with the bureaucratic glitches that can occur when two branches of the military service are involved.

On Thursday, the Marine Corps plans to do something that should have been done nearly two years ago: making sure the family of Sgt. Clinton W. Ahlquist receives the Bronze Star for bravery that he was awarded posthumously.

Ahlquist, 23, a squad leader with the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, was cited for continued heroism and leadership during the fierce fighting in Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's Anbar province. He was killed Feb. 20, 2007, while rescuing a wounded Marine.

"His example proved to be a combat multiplier to the Marines he led and contributed decisively to the destruction of enemy forces during these engagement," according to the Bronze Star citation.

Just days before his death, Ahlquist had reenlisted. He listed Creede, Colo, where he finished high school, as his hometown, but he had spent much of his youth in Arizona.

The award was made in November 2008 and the family was notified. But because the 2-4 was under the command of an Army unit, the paperwork that would have made sure the Bronze Star was presented to Ahlquist's family went awry.
go here for more
Marine mother to get his Bronze Star

US sends Marine ship, helicopters for flood aid

US sends Marine ship, helicopters for flood aid
By SAGAR MEGHANI (AP)

TAMPA, Fla. — The United States is more than tripling the number of helicopters it is providing to help in flood-ravaged Pakistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday.

Gates said the USS Peleliu is now off the coast near Karachi, carrying 19 helicopters and a complement of about 1,000 Marines.

The six U.S. helicopters which were sent to Pakistan from Afghanistan earlier have been helping rescue people and deliver aid supplies. Gates said the Peleliu's complement will replace six combat helicopters on loan from the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan.

Gates said President Barack Obama has directed his administration to "lean forward" in offering help to the Pakistanis, which he stressed will be at a pace dictated by Pakistan's needs and its ability to handle aid.

"There's no point in having a lot of helicopters if we don't have the relief supplies to deliver," Gates told reporters traveling with him to Florida. He said the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development and other areas of the government will have to be involved in helping Pakistan recover.
go here for more
US sends Marine ship, helicopters for flood aid

For Marine battery, a happy return and a brief respite

For Marine battery, a happy return and a brief respite
The 129 Marines and sailors who returned to Camp Pendleton on Tuesday will get a one-month leave, and some much-needed family time, before they begin training for another deployment.
By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times

August 11, 2010
Reporting from Camp Pendleton — For a brief moment Tuesday afternoon, the cheering of family members of Marines returning from Afghanistan drowned out the echoing sound of artillery blasts from the training exercises of other troops preparing to deploy soon.

The 129 Marines and sailors of Tango battery of the 5th battalion, 11th Marine regiment were home after a seven-month deployment in Helmand province, arguably the most dangerous place in an increasingly dangerous country.

For Tango battery, it was considered a successful deployment: providing missile and rocket-fire to support infantry Marines fighting entrenched insurgents, including during the February battle for the Taliban stronghold of Marjah. The battery suffered no fatalities.
read more here
For Marine battery, a happy return and a brief respite

Two Marines killed by prisoner escaping prayer room

Prisoner in Afghanistan kills two US Marines
(AFP) – 5 hours ago

KABUL — A prisoner killed two US Marines in southern Afghanistan after escaping a prayer room and grabbing a rifle, NATO said Monday.

The alliance said the gunman was later shot dead and that the incident on Saturday was under investigation.

"The prisoner escaped a room where he was observing prayer time, acquired a rifle and subsequently engaged Afghan and coalition forces. The Marines were killed while trying to subdue the prisoner," said NATO in a statement.
read more here
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jixtFRWm8zowW5HKGqB3nm28NOIg

Marine suicide rate up again

Here's a thought, how about we stop treating them like victims and start regarding them the way they really are, as survivors? Do you think that would finally open the door to getting them help to heal? Do you think that would get rid of the damn stigma standing in their way, keeping them from asking for help? How about we finally manage once and for all to actually have the right things in place for them instead of repeating the same mistakes over and over again? WTF is it going to take to stop losing them? (Yes a chaplain swore but considering this story and how long the military has had to get this right, it's appropriate.)

The Army reported an increase in suicide deaths last month. Wonder if this month they'll say it went up again? Considering how much effort the military has put in to saving their lives, do you think they will finally get the fact they are jumping up and down on the edge of a cliff patting themselves on the back?

We can count the numbers all we want but the truth is, we will never know exactly how many commit suicide or how many reach the point of desperation when it seems to be their only solution to ending their pain. We can talk all we want about this being a wound because trauma is Greek for wound, but we can't get it into their brains that this was not caused by anything they did wrong or any flaw within them. They won't get that message as long as they keep getting the wrong messages drilled into their brains.

This isn't rocket science if someone like me can figure this out. This is about human nature and common sense.

Hopes just crashed to the ground. I was wrong to think they finally got it last month,,,,,,

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Marine Corps sees big drop in monthly suicide statistics
Please, please tell me it is because they get it and are going for help instead. Tell me they are getting the support they need from their CO and their buddies. Tell me they are getting support from their families and friends back home. Tell me that they are finally, once and for all, hearing what they need to know to heal and live. Above all, tell me that this is not just a fluke and the numbers will stay down.

MILITARY: Marine suicide pace picks up in July
After falling to only one in June, six suspected self-inflicted deaths reported last month

By MARK WALKER - mlwalker@nctimes.com

One of the latest suspected suicides occurred last month at Camp Pendleton, where 18-year-old Pfc. Derek Capulong was found hanging from a rifle range observation tower.

Capulong's family in Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., had called base officials the night before saying he was despondent and that they were worried about his safety, according to published reports in Detroit-area newspapers.

The U.S. Marine Corps is reporting six suspected suicides and seven attempts in July, returning to a near-record pace of self-inflicted deaths.

Officials were cautiously optimistic that outreach efforts were working after only one Marine committed suicide in June.

So far this year, 28 Marines have killed themselves. A record 52 Marines took their lives in 2009.

The Marine Corps' suicide rate of 24 per 100,000 is the highest among all branches of the military and higher than the civilian rate of 20 per 100,000.

This year's suicides include 13 troops with no deployment history and 10 who had been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Five Marines killed themselves while on deployment to a war zone. Eleven Marines killed themselves while assigned to a war front last year, according to service statistics.
read more here
Marine suicide pace picks up in July

also on this
Thursday, July 22, 2010

Camp Pendelton investigates apparent suicide of 18 year old Marine

I can keep screaming about what they need to do but no one with the power has listened. After all, I'm not in the military and I'm not a veteran, so all the meetings I've had with members of the military and VA employees has done no good at all. Sure they listen and are very polite but the end result is they stop answering my emails and phone calls. They have already decided there is nothing they need to hear from me.

I keep saying that the best therapists either have PTSD or live with someone with it for the simple reason they see all that comes with PTSD first hand. Reading it in a book or seeing someone once every couple of months does not give therapists any kind of understanding of what life is really like for them. If therapists don't ask what they were like before military life, they won't know how much they've changed, what is behind the changes and then they'll never know how to get them back on their feet.

Here's some of my thoughts;

First, get rid of the stigma of PTSD by providing real education on PTSD at their level and stop the psychological language they don't understand. Talk to them like humans on a human level. What good will your ego being fed do them? If they don't already respect you with your degree hanging on the wall, psycho talk won't gain you anything other than a patient thinking about how long he/she has to sit there listening to you.

You are not the only answer to the veteran's problem. Get the families involved so you can really find out what's going on in their lives and then work with the families so they understand what PTSD is and what they can do to help instead of unknowingly feeding into the problem. They are very important in this. No matter how hard you try to help them heal if you do not enlist the families the next time the vet comes into your office you may find the family has broken up and they are spending their nights on the couch of a friend.

If therapists keep doing the same thing over and over again that have not worked, they will never do more good than harm.

Marine starts Project Guardian Angel

Local Marine starts Project Guardian Angel

HOPE HODGE

Stumble out of a Jacksonville night spot with keys in your hand, and you just might be met with a friendly question and a pop breathalyzer test.

Robbie Johnson, a Marine corporal with Camp Lejeune’s Headquarters and Support Battalion, is the founder of a new organization, Project Guardian Angel, designed to ensure that troops have no excuse for getting behind the wheel after a night of drinking.

The organization is in the process of securing 501(c)3 nonprofit status, Johnson said, and is an answer for those Marines and sailors who might be worried about using the base’s Arrive Alive program for transportation.

“Marines (sometimes) don’t want to use it because they don’t want their commands to think they’re alcoholics, or they don’t want to return to the barracks,” Johnson said. “We give them someone to have their back and help them make those choices.”

In Project Guardian Angel, the name of the game is stealth. A team of five volunteers will enter a club around 9 p.m. on a weekend night, Johnson said, hanging out and chatting with the clientele — but not drinking.

Around 11 p.m., when people begin to leave, the volunteers will tactfully approach those who look like they’ve had too much and encourage them not to drive. For those who protest that they’re fine, volunteers can produce an individual breathalyzer test. If the Marine or sailor is over the legal limit, another team of volunteers has vehicles waiting outside, ready to transport him or her to a destination of choice.
read more here
Local Marine starts Project Guardian Angel

Only human after all

Only human after all
by
Chaplain Kathie

After the training is over they are rough, tough, combat ready Marines. Their bodies are young, conditioned, able to be pushed past where most others would collapse. Their senses sharpened by training and the sense of individuality beaten out of them by the Drill Instructor's constant taunting. They are ready to face any enemy, any obstacle and any harsh condition. This training also attempts to prepare them to forget about being human.

Marines try to explain that when they come home from combat, after watching bombs blow up friends, seeing buddies burn, picking up pieces of what used to be someone they knew, they are not supposed to cry. They have witnessed the worst man is capable of at the same time they have witnessed courage beyond all measure from their buddies and themselves. While back home they may reflect on the actions of others in full perspective, they often forget about their own. They focus on the pain they finally allow themselves to feel when the danger to their buddies is over. They tell themselves Marines don't cry because it means they are weak.

What they don't see is the Marine who did their duty no matter how much pain they were in, no matter how much they were grieving and no matter how much PTSD had already taken away from them. They had a duty to do and they carried it out but they forget that part when they are back home and then they blame themselves for not "preparing their brains" for not being "tough enough" and for being human.

We talk a lot about PTSD and what it does to them when they come home but what we don't talk about is the magnificence of their spirit when they are able to endure so much while deployed and others are counting on them to be fully engaged in the battle. This they do no matter what but once out of harms way, when they are alone, when they are back home, the greatest danger awakens. There is no one there to remind them of their courage rising above the weight of the world on their shoulders.

"Never leave a man behind" is often regarded as an action taken in combat but should be always part of what happens when they come home and one of their own is in danger from the enemy within. They need to be retrained to accept the fact they are only human after all.

I've held Marines in my arms as they run out of words to explain the pain they are carrying but the silence is broken with apologies for falling apart because I was dealing with a "Marine" who thought that returning to a human state of mind meant they did not train properly.

I've talked to soldiers in shock as they wonder what the hell happened to them. When they couldn't wait to go home and then once there, they couldn't wait to go back into hell. The hell of combat became a familiar place and home became foreign territory because the person inside of their skin changed.

National Guards tell a familiar story but for them it is more complicated because they return home to civilian life in communities facing the same demands and problems everyone else has but carrying the memories of combat while they listen to their neighbors complain about the trivial details of their own lives. They hear co-workers complain about having to stay an hour late to finish a project after they had just returned from days without much sleep at all and a year on a project that could have cost them their lives.

With all of this, somehow they got the message that being human, suffering from PTSD, is their fault. Somehow they got the message that they should be tough enough to defeat this enemy on their own. No one told them they were not deployed into combat alone, didn't fight the enemy alone over there and they should not have to fight the enemy inside of them alone either.

We read about the rates going up and shake our heads wondering when it will stop being too late to save the lives that managed to survive combat but cannot survive coming home.

Here is one of their stories

A Marine's Suicide Brings The Battle Home
by Wade Goodwyn

Tina Fineberg/AP
Mary Gallagher, photographed at her home in October 2007, the year after her husband, Marine Gunnery Sgt. James Gallagher, took his own life.

'Lot Of Ugly Things'

Mary Gallagher said when her husband returned stateside, he kept the worst of it to himself: "Most Marines were not ones to really talk at all. Jim always said he'd placed it in his heart, and he said, 'I'll carry it forward because that's what I have to do and that's how I'll get through it.'

"I'm sure he saw a lot of ugly things. I just don't know all the ugly he did see."

After he returned home, Sgt. Gallagher was soon sent to the Marines advanced course. Mary Gallagher said her husband seemed mostly fine.

"I didn't really see it coming at all. I think that people are a little misled at the fact that PTS is very visible, but it's not as visible as people think," she said.

PTS refers to post-traumatic stress.

It is only in retrospect that Mary Gallagher can see what she missed at the time.

"To me, he just seemed sad. You know, he was not quite himself, but, you know, I just had no idea that he was really struggling as bad as he was," she said. "And obviously he was struggling a lot.

"And that's the hardest part for me. You know, it's something I carry with me every day, that I didn't notice that I didn't realize how much he was hurting."

A Sergeant's Suicide Brings The Battle Home
NPR
July 30, 2010
A U.S. Army study released Thursday says it suffered a record number of soldier suicides last year, pointing to a military that has been stretched thin by wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.


The report says 160 soldiers took their own lives in 2009; another 1,800 tried to commit suicide. The report says multiple deployments and too little time at home are part of the underlying problem.

"Our last phone call of that day, he just repeatedly told me how much he loved me and, you know, if I truly knew how much he loved me, and I said, 'I do, Jim, and we can get through this together.'

"And my children and I came home, and my daughters actually found their father before I could protect them from that — and he was hanging in the garage in our home."

click link above for the rest of this

This can help because too many are not getting any mental health counseling at all.

N.J. Sen. Frank Lautenberg introduces mental health counseling bill for U.S. soldiers
Published: Friday, July 30, 2010
MaryAnn Spoto/The Star-Ledger


WASHINGTON, D.C. — A day after the U.S. Army released a report showing alarming increases in suicide rates among its soldiers, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg today introduced legislation to help more military personnel get mental health counseling.

Called the Sgt. Coleman Bean National Guard and Reserves Mental Heath Act, the bill extends to National Guard and Reserves members the same access to mental health as active-duty personnel.

Last year’s National Defense Authorization Act amended added a provision requiring five in-person mental health screenings for military personnel returning from combat. But that provision did not extended to the Inactive National Guard, the Individual Ready Reserves and Individual Mobilization Augmentee, who, unlike full-time Army personnel, have a more difficult time accessing mental health services after returning from combat because they return to civilian life.
read more here
Lautenberg introduces mental health counseling bill

Here's some more links you may want to read
• U.S. House of Representatives passes suicide-prevention measure named after N.J. soldier
• N.J. Army soldier's death highlights gap in military suicide prevention efforts
• U.S. Rep. Rush Holt introduces military suicide prevention bill named for N.J. soldier
• Military suicides: Cases of post-traumatic stress mount at alarming rate
• Military suicides: Army Sgt. Coleman Bean's downward spiral ends with gunfire
• Military suicides: Hero's life transforms to nightmare for Marine James T. Jenkins
• VIDEO: Military suicides: U.S. soldiers struggle with torment of war

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.
read more here
Off-duty Marine accused of throwing kitten at wall

Family of victims sues over Marine jet crash in SD

Family of victims sues over Marine jet crash in SD
(AP)

SAN DIEGO — The family of four people killed in the crash of a Marine Corps jet in a San Diego County neighborhood two years ago sued the federal government and Boeing Wednesday.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court by Dong Yun Yoon, whose wife, two daughters and mother-in-law were killed in the December 2008 crash that incinerated two homes and damaged others in University City.

The suit accuses the military and Boeing, the aircraft's maker, of negligence and seeks unspecified damages.

The military disciplined 13 members of the Marines and Navy after the crash, which was blamed on mechanical problems and a string of bad decisions that led the pilot to bypass a potentially safe landing at Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado.

The suit claims the F-18 Hornet had "a history of warnings and system failures" related to its fuel system and never should have been cleared for takeoff.
read more here
Family of victims sues over Marine jet crash in SD

Marine impersonator in custody

Marine impersonator in custody
Published: July 26, 2010 at 4:21 PM


SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., July 26 (UPI) -- An Arizona man convicted in absentia of fraud and forgery after his past as a U.S. Marine was revealed as a fabrication was taken into custody in California.

Authorities said John Rodriguez, 31, of Scottsdale had claimed to be a decorated Marine sergeant and used the lie to gain access to military bases, obtain discounts on airline tickets and attend the Marine Corps Ball in Las Vegas, The Arizona Republic reported Monday.
read more here
Marine impersonator in custody

Marine Chief Warrant Officer Sam Domino celebrates 100th birthday

Camp Pendelton investigates apparent suicide of 18 year old Marine

Apparent suicide of private, 18, at Camp Pendleton under investigation by Marines
July 21, 2010 11:23 am

An investigation is continuing into the apparent suicide of an 18-year-old Marine at Camp Pendleton whose family had warned he was despondent, officials said Wednesday.

The body of Pfc. Derek Ryan Capulong, of Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., was found last week hanging from an observation tower that overlooked a rifle range. The night before, his family had called the base to warn that he was distraught.
read more here
Apparent suicide of private

Pair came to Marine pilot's aid

Pair came to Marine pilot's aid
Teen, grandfather found pilot who ejected from jet in woods

By Joe Callahan
Staff writer


Published: Tuesday, July 20, 2010 at 6:30 a.m.


SALT SPRINGS - Brandon Coon was raking leaves at his grandfather's home Sunday evening when he saw that a passing military jet was in trouble.

The teenager ran to get his grandfather, Gerald Sherrer, 59, and the two jumped into a pickup truck and raced toward the area where the plane had disappeared.

At the end of Northeast 77th Street, where it meets State Road 19, Brandon spotted a plume of smoke. Then he saw the pilot drifting toward the ground in a parachute.

The pilot appeared motionless, his chin drooped against his chest, as the wind began carrying him west of SR 19.

Sherrer told Brandon to keep an eye on the pilot. They turned west on Forest Road 46, which used to be called Forest Road 10, and drove down the clay road until Brandon lost sight of the pilot.

The pair walked 100 yards and found Marine Corps Capt. Jarrod L. Klement, 29, who was still in his parachute harness. He was alive and alert. "Who are you?" Klement asked them. Brandon and Sherrer helped Klement back to the pickup, where the pilot sat down on the tailgate and called his wife to let her know he was OK.

read the rest here

Pair came to Marine pilot aid

Man says son allegedly killed by fellow US Marine

Man says son allegedly killed by fellow US Marine
(AP) – 11 hours ago

ROTA, Northern Mariana Islands — The father of a U.S. Marine killed in Afghanistan says he was devastated to learn that a fellow Marine was allegedly responsible.

David Mundo Santos is quoting a military representative who carried the news of Cpl. Dave M. Santos' death as saying another Marine is accused in the fatal stabbing.
go here for more
Man says son allegedly killed by fellow US Marine

Marine suspected of drunk driving in fatal accident

Marine suspected of drunk driving crashes in Reseda, killing woman and seriously injuring her grandson, 5
July 18, 2010 12:39 pm
A 51-year-old woman was killed early Sunday in Reseda and her 5-year-old grandson was in serious condition after a 23-year-old Marine suspected of drunk driving crashed his SUV into their car, police said.

Chandrika De Silva, her husband and their grandson were inside a black Toyota Prius that pulled up to a residence on Strathern Street, just west of Wilbur Avenue about 2 a.m., Los Angeles Police Officer Mary Brady said. De Silva’s husband, the driver, went to unlock the gated driveway of a residence while De Silva got out of the car to tend to her grandson.
read more here
Marine suspected of drunk driving crashes in Reseda