Utah SWAT officers helping Gulf War Veteran after standoff

Man surrenders, taken to mental health agency after standoff
Cathy Allred and Mary Burgin
DAILY HERALD
Posted: Tuesday, May 8, 2012

“We are more concerned for him hurting himself than others,” Smith said. “This is a veteran who served our country. We want to get him the help he needs.”

PLEASANT GROVE -- A Gulf War veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder was safely taken into custody and transported to Wasatch Mental Health after a more than 3-hour standoff in the Pleasant Grove neighborhood of Monkey Town on Monday evening.

Police estimate some 12-15 homes were evacuated between 300 and 500 North and 200 and 400 East, with the 2-block area cordoned off to civilians during that time.

“The suspect is in custody but we are not going to file charges at this time,” said Lt. Britt Smith, Pleasant Grove police information officer.

Forty-year-old Nathan Hilton willingly surrendered to SWAT officers.

“I don’t think he had any knowledge that the SWAT team was there,” Smith said.

Police received a call from Hilton’s parents at approximately 5:15 p.m.; they said they had arrived at the home that they share with their son and heard gunshots and smelled gunpowder. The parents found their son in the basement of their home and tried to get the firearms — there were several in the home —from him. He was uncooperative, which is when the parents called the police.
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Former POWs reject Utah man’s claims of being one of them

Former POWs reject Utah man’s claims Stolen valor?
A nonprofit that investigates vets’ claims of service says the Utah man is not on a Department of Defense list of POWs.

By Kristen Moulton
The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published Apr 20 2012
POWs from the Vietnam War contend that Dave Groves, a West Jordan man honored last week by the Veterans Administration and years ago by the University of Utah, was never held captive in Vietnam.

(Al Hartmann The Salt Lake Tribune) Dave Groves, who claims he was captured and held as a POW in the Vietnam war, shakes the hands of POWs from World War II during a POW appreciation luncheon Friday, April 13, in Salt Lake City. Some now question Groves' account.

Groves does not appear on a database of Department of Defense Vietnam-era POWs, compiled from military records.

"He’s a typical liar," said Mike McGrath, historian of Nam-Pow, a nonprofit organization of Vietnam prisoners of war. "There are 540 of us still alive from Vietnam, and we have 3,000 wannabees who want to be us."

Groves, who has hired an attorney after a week of online challenges to his truthfulness, insists he was a POW who for unexplained reasons does not appear in the Pentagon’s database.
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Utah senate kills veterans tuition bill

Senate kills veteran tuition bill
BY DAVID MONTERO
The Salt Lake Tribune

First published Feb 24 2012
SB44 • Sen. Luz Robles saw her bill that would have extended tuition benefits to military veterans fail Friday in the Utah Senate on a 14-11 vote, leaving the Salt Lake City Democrat incredulous and bewildered after the measure had sailed through previous votes.

“I don’t understand what happened,” Robles said. “I’m in shock.”

The measure, SB44, passed its committee unanimously and its second reading — where senators often debate legislation — 26-1. It would’ve allowed for the state to fund a gap between federal funds military veterans apply for when attempting to obtain a bachelor’s degree at the university level.
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Police suspect Iraq vet in shooting of six officers in Utah

Police suspect Army vet in shooting of six officers

By James Nelson
OGDEN, Utah
Thu Jan 5, 2012 5:10pm EST

(Reuters) - Six police officers were shot, one of them fatally, when a gunman said to be a U.S. Army veteran opened fire on them as they served a drug-related search warrant in Utah, authorities said on Thursday.

The gunman fired on the officers late on Wednesday as they approached a home in a quiet residential neighborhood of Ogden, north of Salt Lake City, Ogden police Lieutenant Danielle Croyle said.

"We have lost a brother. We will grieve this loss, he will be sorely missed," Weber County Sheriff Terry Thompson said of local drug task force agent Jared Francom, who was pronounced dead on Thursday.

Three Ogden police officers remained in critical condition at McKay-Dee Hospital, spokesman Chris Dallin said, while a Weber County Sheriff's sergeant was in stable condition.

An agent with the Roy Police Department was treated at Ogden Regional Medical Center and released, the hospital said.

Police identified the suspected gunman as 37-year-old Matthew Stewart, and said he was under guard at a hospital where he was being treated for non-life-threatening injuries suffered when officers returned fire.
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Does PTSD give anyone an excuse to commit crimes? No, considering how few reports come out of the over 2 millions sent into Iraq and Afghanistan most live peaceful lives. Are they our fault? Yes, somewhat when you consider that a lot of these standoffs with police officers could be avoided if all the help they needed was available no matter where they live. No one can stop all of this and we have to face the facts that some veterans don't want help for whatever reason. We still need to try to save the ones we can. In all of this, members of law enforcement have to face off with combat veterans that usually end badly.

Father: Suspect in deadly Utah shootout had PTSD
By PAUL FOY
The Associated Press

OGDEN, Utah — Search warrant in hand, a team of bulletproof vest-wearing officers rapped on the door of a small, red-brick Utah house, identifying themselves as police. When no one responded, authorities say, the officers burst inside. That's when the gunfire erupted.

When it was over Wednesday night, a 7-year veteran officer was dead and five of his colleagues were wounded, some critically. The suspect, an Army veteran whose estranged father said suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and may have been self-medicating with marijuana, was injured.

Now, as the city tries to grapple with the outburst of violence and the loss of one of its officers, investigators are trying to determine how the raid as part of a drug investigation could have gone so terribly wrong.

"It's a very, very sad day," an emotional Ogden Police Chief Wayne Tarwater said Thursday.

Police declined to reveal details of the shooting besides a general timeline, citing the ongoing investigation.

They would not say, for instance, whether the shootout took place entirely inside the home or spilled out into the yard, how many shots were fired and how many guns were recovered.
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Utah soldier killed in Afghanistan awarded Silver Star

Utah soldier killed in Afghanistan awarded Silver Star
Published: Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011
By Alex Cabrero, Deseret News

GRANTSVILLE — Nearly a year ago, 19-year-old Army Pfc. Jordan Byrd was shot and killed in Afghanistan while helping one of his fellow soldiers who had also been shot during combat. His family recently received a Silver Star awarded to him after his death.

For all the honor and glory behind being awarded the Silver Star, his family would give it back in a minute if it meant another second with Jordan Byrd.

“We think about him every day,” Jodi Steinfeldt, Byrd’s aunt, said. “You’d think as time goes on, it would get easier, but I think it’s gotten harder.”

Byrd was married for less than a year. He was stationed in Fort Campbell, Ky., and was an Army medic with the 101st Airborne in Afghanistan. His deployment was pushed back about a week so he could be there for the birth of his son, Ayden.
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Heroes rush to help motorcycle rider from burning car

Motorcyclist's uncle tells rescuers, 'You are heroes'

By the CNN Wire Staff
September 14, 2011 2:07 a.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
"We are just human beings trying to help, another human being," bystander said
Tyler Riggs said his nephew is in good spirits
Bystanders rescued Brandon Wright, who was trapped under a burning car
The group is credited with saving his life

(CNN) -- The uncle of a Utah motorcyclist pulled from underneath a burning car by a group of bystanders told his nephew's rescuers they are "heroes to our family."

Tyler Riggs spoke to CNN's Piers Morgan one day after a group of construction workers, students and other bystanders turned into a ragtag team of first responders to save Brandon Wright, 21.

The accident happened Monday on a street near Utah State University in Logan and was captured on video.

"I thank you on behalf of my family, and I know that my nephew Brandon will hope to thank you at some point, too. I know that you might be shy and want to dislodge the title, but you are heroes to our family," Riggs said, adding that his nephew is in good spirits.

"He was talking to us earlier and going through physical therapy and felt good after that. Things could have been much worse."

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Search resumes for Utah soldier missing in desert

Search resumes for Utah soldier missing in desert
BY LYNN DEBRUIN
The Associated Press
Jun 11, 2011 11:19PM
Kevin Bushling marked his oldest son’s 27th birthday last week at home, curtains closed, reflecting on happier times. Now he’s bracing for a Father’s Day spent believing both his boys are dead — the youngest by suicide last year and the other, an Army soldier, missing for more than a month in the remote Utah desert.

Authorities were planning to search again Sunday for Army Spc. Joseph Bushling, who disappeared May 8 from the U.S. Army’s Dugway Proving Ground after telephoning a fellow soldier to tell him he was out of gas, cold and walking without shoes, according to a sheriff’s document.

The Dugway site was established in 1942 to study chemical and biological warfare and covers nearly 800,000 acres in the desert along the Nevada border. About 850 people live on the isolated base.

Bushling’s father fears the worst — that his son died of exposure or possibly that he stumbled upon unexploded munitions or even mustard gas. He fears the Army may be hiding something. Dugway officials deny any such assertion.

“I am glad they are still searching,” Kevin Bushling said from his home in Russellville, Ark. He said he was shocked to learn several weeks ago that the search had been called off but is pleased with the resumption.
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Search resumes for Utah soldier missing in desert

Father joins search for soldier missing in Utah

Father joins search for soldier missing in Utah
By Lynn DeBruin - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday May 17, 2011 18:29:29 EDT

SALT LAKE CITY — Army Spc. Joseph Michael Bushling had a tough year following his recent divorce and the 2010 suicide of his younger brother, but was looking forward to a new post in Texas and a career as a nurse. He’s now missing somewhere in Utah’s western desert.

His father, Kevin Bushling, had planned a trip this week to see his son, who was stationed at the U.S. Army’s remote Dugway Proving Ground. The site was established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942 to study chemical and biological warfare and covers 798,214 acres in the desert along the Nevada border.

Instead, Bushling will fly out from his home in Arkansas to collect his son’s things. A weeklong search has now been suspended indefinitely.

“I’m very worried. I really am,” Kevin Bushling said Tuesday. “Yesterday was my wife’s birthday. He went missing on Mother’s Day. It’s really been a difficult time.”

Bushling disappeared May 8 after calling a friend to report he had run out of gas. His vehicle was found Saturday about 60 miles southwest of the facility’s main gate. His Arkansas Razorbacks hat was found Monday about six miles from his abandoned car, but searchers have since turned up nothing else.
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Father joins search for soldier missing in Utah

Utah soldier mourned by family, including 60 foster siblings

Utah soldier mourned by family, including 60 foster siblings
Crossfire » Kurt Curtiss told family his Afghanistan tour was 'brutal.'
By Matthew D. LaPlante

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 08/28/2009 06:26:33 PM MDT

As a boy, Kurt Curtiss didn't understand all the tragic stories that guided dozens of children through the open door of his mother's foster home in Diamond Valley, Arizona.

All he knew was that he had plenty of brothers and sisters to play with, to fight with, and to lean on in difficult times.

Today, Curtiss' four siblings and more than 60 foster siblings are leaning on each other once again, as they try to come to terms with the 27-year-old soldier's death in Afghanistan.
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http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13225138

Search on for pilot in F-16 crash

Search on for pilot in F-16 crash
Story Highlights
Emergency responders from Hill Air Force Base in Utah searching for pilot

Crash site found in remote area of Utah Test and Training Range

No contact has been made with the pilot, who was on a routine training mission
(CNN) -- A search was under way Tuesday for the pilot of an F-16 that crashed over the Utah Test and Training Range west of Salt Lake City, Utah, the Air Force said.


An F-16 from Hill Air Force Base trains in Utah in 2001.

The F-16 crashed about 10:25 p.m. Monday, according to a posting on the Air Force's Web site.
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http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/06/23/utah.f-16.crash/index.html

Eagle Mountain soldier's wife praised, rewarded for heroism

Eagle Mountain soldier's wife praised, rewarded for heroism
By Donald W. Meyers

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 06/10/2009 04:28:34 PM MDT

Eagle Mountain » Just winning the city's "Tribute to a Hero" award left Kindra Jones thunderstruck.

"I couldn't sleep last night," Jones said about her recent night at a Park City resort, part the award from the city. "I was overwhelmed at being chosen for this honor."

But getting three days at a resort was just the beginning of the surprises for Jones, who was recognized for her efforts to help the city's military families.

She came home June 3, with her four children in a limo escorted by a city fire truck -- running with red lights and sirens -- with Mayor Heather Jackson riding shotgun. They tooled down flag-lined streets to find more than 100 people, including Utah National Guard Adjutant Maj. Gen. Brian Tarbet, standing in her front yard. There was a newly installed flagpole and a granite paver engraved with her name as a Eagle Mountain hero award recipient.

But there was a still-bigger surprise behind the backyard fence.

Volunteers spent two days installing a wood deck and pergola, a playhouse for her children and landscaping. Inside, people converted an upstairs bedroom into a nursery for the baby she's expecting July 31.

"I feel like I am going to have to work much harder to prove that I am worthy," Jones said after seeing everything that was done for her and her husband, Mike, who will be deployed later this year to Afghanistan. Mike Jones, a National Guard staff sergeant, was in North Dakota for training June 3, and didn't attend the ceremony.

Jackson said Jones also organized a support group for soldiers who were coping with post-traumatic-stress disorder.

The group, Soldier's Promise, provides a place for soldiers to talk about their stress issues in an anonymous setting, without fear of any professional repercussions, said Jones. It's a subject about which she has intimate knowledge.

"I know so many soldiers who deal with PTSD," Jones said. She takes early-morning calls from many of them.
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http://www.sltrib.com/slc/ci_12557174

Educational movie aims to help soldiers with PTSD

Educational movie aims to help soldiers with PTSD
June 6th, 2009 @ 8:30pm
SALT LAKE COUNTY -- Some realistic scenes from Afghanistan were re-created at Camp Williams Saturday morning for a short movie being made as an educational tool.

The Utah Department of Veterans Affairs is putting together a video about the signs of post traumatic stress disorder. Many soldiers suffer from the disorder when they return home from war but few get help for it.

Often, the simplest event can trigger a response, such as a car broken down on the side of the road. A former soldier can take it as a possible ambush.

The military wants to start paying better attention to these types of issues.

The department's Darin Farr said, "A lot of guys are afraid to come forward because they don't want to be perceived as a head case or that they've got problems or issues. This is a legitimate issue they are dealing with, and they need help. It's not going to go away on its own."

The department says the video should be completed sometime next month and will be available to soldiers who want a copy.
go here for video
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=6736264

Homes for Our Troops volunteers building Utah vet a new home

Charity organization, volunteers building Utah vet a new home
May 5th, 2009
By Jed Boal
HERRIMAN -- U.S. soldiers wounded in war often face big challenges in recovery, but one Iraq War veteran in Utah is starting the next chapter of his life with the help of the community.

Specialist Bryant Jacobs can hardly believe what's happening in his life. "Words can't describe it. It's just an amazing feeling," he said.

A Build Brigade is underway in Herriman to build Jacobs his very first home, at no cost. "I have somewhere to call home. I'm not running. I don't have to worry about my lease coming up," he said.

Jacobs showed us around amid the clamor of construction. Homes for our Troops, a national nonprofit organization, is leading the charge. In three days, volunteers and professional builders will frame the home; install windows, doors and a roof; and build in special features for the injured veteran.
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http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=6387242

Utah filmmaker seeks to help veterans cope with PTSD

Utah filmmaker seeks to help veterans
By Matthew D. LaPlante

The Salt Lake Tribune

Posted: 04/04/2009 07:13:04 PM MDT


Chantelle Squires thought she was working on a project for school.

In 2004, the Brigham Young University film student heard that her neighbor had just returned home from Iraq, where he had served as a Marine Corps sniper. Unable to fathom how the shy, sweet boy she'd grown up with could have been the man behind a sniper rifle, she convinced him to submit to an interview.

The project turned into a years-long effort to document the lives of four Marines from the Utah-based Fox Company of the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines.

The resulting film, "Reserved to Fight," has won critical acclaim, been nationally televised and was singled out by a major veterans advocacy group for support.

Now the documentary has turned into something else. With Monday's release of the film on DVD, Squires and those she worked with are seeking to use the film as a catalyst for education on the struggles of returning war veterans.

To that end, the DVD's extra features include expert interviews on post-traumatic stress disorder and guidance -- for veterans, their friends and families and mental health care providers -- on how to cope with the mental anguish of war.
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Utah filmmaker seeks to help veterans

Don't abandon the mentally ill or their caregivers

Don't abandon the mentally ill or their caregivers
Deseret News - Salt Lake City,UT,USA

The billboard reads something like, "If you have cancer, nobody tells you to just get over it," and then lists a Web site to learn about depression, a mental illness about which well-meaning people might say, "Just get over it, exercise more, and eat right."

I recently attended a National Alliance on Mental Illness of Utah press conference asking legislators to maintain funding for the mentally ill. Those who spoke had been touched by the illness — individuals, fathers, mothers, siblings, loved ones. Mental illness had a human face, a community face. As I listened to their stories, they could have been the families of patients suffering from a physical disease, cancer, diabetes or other illnesses. Their responses were the same — they hurt and stand by helplessly wishing they could take away the pain. But unlike a physical illness that may be visible, mental illness is not, and those suffering often do so in silence; not to mention the stigma and stereotypes our society still has about it.

It's a growing problem, exacerbated by our modern society, where we are now more mobile and transient, unlike previous times when parents and family were geographically close by and could help out. The social and emotional ties important for the development and sustenance of meaningful life are vanishing. More people are homeless and jails are overcrowded. At a time when we have become increasingly sophisticated in our ability to diagnose and treat people, resources remain inadequate and many who are ill are left to the street or prisons.
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Soldier gets 7 months in blindfold death deal

Did anyone evaluate these soldier for PTSD? Did anyone even wonder why they did this? If the soldiers involved in this do have PTSD, what kind of justice would this be for them?

I am not defending what they did but I am wondering what the reason is behind what they did. When you think of the character of the men and women who serve this nation, something like this does not fit right. Is it possible they just snapped? Sure, but more than likely this is a case of wounds of war, PTSD. If you understand what PTSD is and what it can do to them, then you'll be wondering about all of this as well.

What happens if it is PTSD and Spc. Ramos goes to jail and never receives treatment for PTSD when time is the enemy? The longer PTSD goes on without treatment, the more damage is done. Would it be justice if that is the reason behind this? Would it be justice to toss someone into jail who would have been sent to a mental hospital for treatment if he had been a civilian?

If Spc. Ramos comes out of jail without treatment, again if it is PTSD behind all of this, then he won't be able to receive treatment by the VA after either. What will happen to him then or the others if they are found guilty as well? When it comes to war, we are not dealing with cut and dry facts at all. If it was not in their character before war, then why assume it is now?

Soldier gets 7 months in blindfold death deal

By George Frey - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Sep 18, 2008 9:14:41 EDT

VILSECK, Germany — An American soldier was sentenced to seven months in prison Thursday after pleading guilty to conspiracy to murder in the slaying of four Iraqi prisoners who were bound, blindfolded and shot.

The relatively lenient sentence for Spc. Belmor Ramos was part of a deal that will see him testify against the others alleged to have been involved in the killings last year.

Ramos, of Clearfield, Utah, told a judge at his court martial that he stood guard as the men were killed.

The 23-year-old, of the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, had faced a possible sentence of life in prison for conspiracy to commit murder.

Judge Lt. Col. Edward O’Brien said that, had it not been for the plea agreement, he would have sentenced Ramos to 40 years in prison. Ramos will also have his rank reduced to private and be dishonorably discharged from the Army.

His defense attorney, Capt. Patrick Bryan, who had asked for his client to be formally reprimanded and allowed to stay in the Army, had little to say about the sentence.

“It is what it is,” he said, noting that the case would be automatically reviewed, a process akin to an appeal.

The four Iraqi men were blindfolded, shot in the head and dumped in a Baghdad canal in April 2007 — allegedly in retribution for casualties in Ramos’ unit.

Three other soldiers in the unit — Sgt. John E. Hatley, Sgt. 1st Class Joseph P. Mayo, and Sgt. Michael P. Leahy Jr. — were charged Tuesday with premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit premeditated murder and obstruction of justice.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/ap_soldiercharged_091808/

Another non-combat death in Iraq under investigation

DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Pvt. Jordan P. P. Thibeault, 22, of South Jordan, Utah, died Sept. 5 at Forward Operating Base Hammer, Iraq, of injuries sustained in a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Baumholder, Germany.

The incident is under investigation.

http://icasualties.org/oif/

Soldier's death steels mom's voice

Capt. Brian S. Freeman, USMA 1999, a civil affairs officer assigned to the 412th Civil Affairs Battalion, Whitehall, Ohio, a subordinate unit of the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne), died while deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Utah delegate to Dem convention
Soldier's death steels mom's voice
By Robert Gehrke
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 08/23/2008 01:26:51 AM MDT

Four years ago, Kathleen Snyder wouldn't have considered being a national delegate to the Democratic Convention.

But that was before her son, Capt. Brian Freeman, was kidnapped, tortured and executed while fighting in a war he didn't believe in.

"He would always say 'quit complaining and do something,' " she said.

A lifelong Democrat, she hadn't done much more than vote before her son was called up and deployed to Iraq.

She started working in local races and became more active in the state party. But she says her new vocation was given a keen focus when she learned her son had been killed.

Next week, Snyder will be casting a vote for Sen. Barack Obama when Democrats gather in Denver, hoping it might help end the war.

"I was against the war and he was against the war long before he was called back" to active duty, Snyder said. "I think it's futile. It never should have been fought. It's the saddest thing ever in my life."
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http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_10283464

10 Killed In Plane Crash Near Moab Utah

10 Killed In Plane Crash Near Moab

Last Update: 12:40 pm
MOAB, Utah (AP) - A twin-engine plane crashed and burned near an airport not far from Arches National Park in southeastern Utah, killing the pilot and nine passengers connected with a group of skin cancer clinics, an official said Saturday. The plane was fully engulfed in flames when emergency responders arrived late Friday at the site about 2 miles from the Canyonlands Field airport, and there were no survivors, Grand County Sheriff James Nyland said.

The victims included the director of a company with dermatology clinics in three states and staff members.

Nyland said the plane had taken off from the airport, about 18 miles northwest of Moab.

Officials were initially responding to a call of a fire in the area. When they arrived on scene they discovered the fire was actually something more.

“In that particular area there is hardly any vegetation, it’s out in the desert, so we got a little bit concerned,” said Sheriff Nyland. “Upon reaching the area, it was discovered that we’d had a plane crash.”


He identified them as pilot David White; Dr. Lansing Ellsworth; David Goddard; Mandy Johnson; Marcie Tillery, 29; Valerie Imlay, 52; Keith Shumway, 29; Dallon Ellsworth, 24; Camie Vigil, 25; and Cecilee Goddard, 25.
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Linked from CNN

3 Veterans Rural Health Resource Centers opening in October

VA Opening Rural Health Resource Centers
Last update: 12:18 p.m. EDT Aug. 18, 2008
WASHINGTON, Aug 18, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will open three Veterans Rural Health Resource Centers on Oct. 1 to better understand rural health issues for veterans and develop special practices and products to implement across the country.
"For our veterans living in rural areas, the nearest medical center can be miles away," said VA Secretary Dr. James B. Peake. "VA's commitment is to provide the best quality care to veterans regardless of their address. These centers are a major step toward ensuring that commitment is met."
The centers will serve as satellite offices for VA's Office of Rural Health. The eastern center will be located in Vermont at the White River Junction VA Medical Center, the central region in Iowa at the Iowa City VA Medical Center and the western region at the Salt Lake City VA Medical Center.
Each resource center will be staffed with administrative, clinical and research staff who will identify disparities in health care for rural veterans and formulate practices or programs to enhance the delivery of care.
"VA has always been committed to providing quality care to rural veterans," said Dr. Michael J. Kussman, VA's under secretary for health. "These centers will allow us to better identify and meet the unique needs of our rural veterans as their population continues to grow."
For the latest news releases and other information, visit VA on the Internet at:
http://www.va.gov/opa.