Navy Helicopter Crashed Into River During Training

Navy helicopter crashes in river
CNN
By Jamie Crawford
Updated 2:08 PM ET, Tue June 14, 2016

(CNN)An MH-60S helicopter crashed in the James River in Virginia during a training mission Tuesday but all crew members were rescued, the Navy said.

The three crew members were taken to Naval Medical Center Portsmouth with non-life threatening injuries, the Navy said in a press release, while adding that the helicopter was based at Norfolk Navy Station Chambers Field.

The Navy announced an investigation to look into Tuesday's incident in Virginia to determine its cause.

The incident follows several recent crashes involving military aircraft during training exercises.
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Navy SEAL's Brain Studied To Help Others

A Navy SEAL's last act of service: A search for the truth about brain disease and the military
The Virginian-Pilot
By Corinne Reilly
Special to The Virginian-Pilot
May 28, 2016

On the afternoon of March 12, 2014, Jennifer Collins checked her phone and found a message from her husband, Dave Collins, a retired Navy SEAL. He’d texted to say that she should pick up their son from kindergarten, and then this: “So sorry baby. I love you all.”

Hours later, two police officers showed up at their house in Virginia Beach with news that Dave, 45, had shot himself in his truck a few miles away. Although Jennifer had held out hope for any other explanation, she also knew the moment she read it what the text meant. For months, she’d watched Dave disintegrate into a man she hardly knew. She’d tried everything, but nothing had alleviated his severe insomnia, intense anxiety and worsening cognitive problems.

“I was so frustrated that I couldn’t find the answers he needed,” she remembers.

It was out of that frustration, she says, that the idea came to donate his brain to research. She was still answering a detective’s questions in her living room that night when she blurted it out: Tell the medical examiner to do whatever is needed to preserve Dave’s brain. She hoped the decision might help others struggling with what everyone believed explained Dave’s afflictions – traumatic brain injury and PTSD, the most common wounds of the post-9/11 wars.

“That’s what he’d been diagnosed with,” Jennifer says. “I had no reason to think there was anything else to find.”

In June, three months after Dave died, a letter came from the doctor who examined his brain. It left Jennifer stunned.

What had caused Dave’s unraveling was chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative brain disease best known for affecting former professional football players. Associated with repeated head trauma, CTE causes neurological decay, has no known treatment and can be diagnosed only at autopsy. It is linked to memory loss, personality changes, depression, impulsivity, dementia and suicide.
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Widow Celebrates Life of Husband By Taking Another Plunge

Her Husband Was Killed in Afghanistan 
Patch 
By TANYA SNYDER (Patch Staff) 
May 28, 2016

She Went Skydiving to Celebrate Him. Alicia Dickinson is part of a new generation of young military widows who are having to rewrite the script of their lives alone. Arlington, VA

ARLINGTON, VA — The woman walking in front of Alicia Dickinson at Arlington Cemetery that September day in 2012 was old. She was also there to bury her husband.

At age 30, Alicia Dickinson was a widow.

“I remember walking behind her, thinking, ‘This is what it’s supposed to be,’” Dickinson said. “Not me.”

Her husband, Scott Dickinson, died August 10, 2012, in what’s called a “green on blue” attack, shot by an Afghan soldier the U.S. forces were training. He was due to come home in 10 days. He was just 29 years old.

“Going to Arlington, you’re reminded of how many young men and women gave their lives and how many young men and women they were married to and now were left to face a new life that you don’t expect at such a young age,” Alicia Dickinson said in an interview.

She’s part of the American Widow Project, a mutual support organization for a new generation of military widows. “There should be a different term when you’re so young,” Dickinson said. “’Widow’ just seems so old.”
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After 20 Years of Military Service Firefighter With PTSD Needs Service Dog To Serve Community More

Waynesboro firefighter searches for dog to help battle PTSD
WSHV 3 News
By Matthew Fultz
May 19, 2016

WAYNESBORO, Va. (WHSV) -- One Waynesboro firefighter is looking to get a service dog to help him cope with post-traumatic stress disorder. He's hoping he can still serve his community with a new companion.

Paul Whitmer is battling PTSD, and now he's in search of a service dog to help not only him, but the entire Valley.

Whitmer is a retired veteran who served 20 years in the U.S. Army. He now works with the Waynesboro Fire Department serving his community.
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Virginia Retreat Helps Couples Learn How to Heal PTSD Together

I've been married to my Vietnam veteran husband going on 32 years, so please know I know exactly where you're coming from. We are proof that it can work out no matter what you face as long as you do it together. If you are a spouse, learn as much as you can about what PTSD is and then you can stand by his/her side while they seem like they are trying to push you away.

Couples look for ways to heal relationships, psychological wounds of war at Virginia retreat 
Stars and Stripes
By Dianna Cahn
Published: May 17, 2016

“When a man seats before his eyes the bronze face of his helmet and steps off from the line of departure, he divides himself, as he divides his ticket in two parts. … He banishes from his heart all feeling of tenderness and mercy, all compassion and kindness, all thought or concept of the enemy as a man, a human being like himself. ... He could not fight at all if he did not do this.”
— Steven Pressfield, “Gates of Fire,” read during the Bridging the Gap retreat

Social worker Victoria Bruner interacts with mentoring couple Adrian and Diana Veseth-Nelson during a Bridging the Gap retreat in Middleburg, Virginia on Dec. 10, 2015. Bruner created the retreat model to help not only veterans suffering from war trauma or injury, but also their spouses.
DIANNA CAHN/STARS AND STRIPES

MIDDLEBURG, Va. — They drove or flew here. Some fought along the way, as they do.

Then, the awkward first meeting. Smiles, shifting uncomfortably.

Six couples if you include Adrian and Diana Veseth-Nelson, mentors here to show the others that there is hope. Lucas Lewis is busy, brusque. David Inglish is chatty, finding smoking buddies on the stoop. The two men know each other — and Adrian — intimately. They were at war together.

The rest are mostly strangers. The women attempt to hide their nervousness and keep their secrets — we sleep in separate bedrooms; he no longer lives at home. They wonder whether anyone else is waiting for their partner’s mercury to rise.

They are all here, at this Virginia retreat, to heal. Or to try. Or to do something. Because anything is better than what they have now — one partner traumatized by war, the other overwhelmed by how much falls on them and how little they understand.

“It’s your experience here, nobody else’s,” social worker David Shoots tells the couples in the first session. “The only thing I ask from you: If you are not yet on the road, get on it now. The road is called recovery.”
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Korean War Veteran Warns Others About "Advocate" Broken Promises

Veterans say advocate left trail of broken promises 
WDBJ 7 News 
May 13, 2016

"To just wake up one day, and find out it's all been a lie, I just want to get that out there," Castillo said. "I want people to know what she's done. And I want it to stop. Nobody else needs to go through this."

BUCHANAN, Va. Norman Dooley was a cook in the U.S. Army, a Korean War veteran who believes Agent Orange is responsible for the serious medical problems he is still dealing with today.

He hoped Charlotte Krantz would help him qualify for disability benefits.

"And she just seemed to be so promising, and gave us a lot of dreams that you know didn't come true."

Dooley says she agreed to take on his case, and told him his claim was moving forward, but in the last few weeks he learned that wasn't true.

"She told me twice that I had been approved at 100 percent," Dooley said in an interview. "And that I was going to get a lot of money. And of course that made me and my wife happy, you know because we'd be able to get us a home, and stuff like that, but it just didn't come true."

Krantz worked from a storefront on Main Street in downtown Buchanan.

Her name is still on the door, and a flyer in the window explains the services she was offering, but no one was there when we visited Thursday afternoon.

Krantz is currently a resident of the Botetourt County jail.

Investigators believe there might be more veterans who worked with Krantz and face similar circumstances. They're asked to call Detective Tolley at the Botetourt County Sheriff's Office.
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Special Forces Soldier Taken For Medical Evaluation After Armory Standoff

Police release name of Special Forces soldier in barricade at National Guard armory
The Baltimore Sun
Ian Duncan
May 3, 2016

(XXXXXX) turned out to be unarmed and did not have access to the weapons, which were locked with a code, a police spokeswoman said. He eventually agreed to come out of the building and was sent for a medical evaluation.

Baltimore County police released the name of the Special Forces soldier who is accused of trespassing at an armory in Glen Arm on Monday.


(XXXXXX) 43, of Virginia, allegedly tripped an alarm at the Gunpowder Military Reservation at about 11 a.m. Monday, starting a standoff with heavily armed police that lasted several hours.

He was taken into custody without incident and released on $7,500 bail, online court records show. He could not be reached for comment on Thursday, and had no attorney listed in online records.

Police responded in force to the facility on Notchcliff Road, unsure if (XXXXXX) had access to the weapons stored there.
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**Name removed**

Senior Chief Petty Officer Accused of Identity Theft From Sailors

Navy senior chief charged with stealing identities of subordinates
The Virginian-Pilot
By Scott Daugherty
Published: April 29, 2016

In all, investigators linked Pressley to more than $24,000 in loans issued in the names of the two sailors, according to court documents.

NORFOLK, Va. (Tribune News Service) — A 19-year Navy veteran and Bronze Star recipient is charged with stealing the identities of at least two subordinates to secure fraudulent loans.

Senior Chief Petty Officer Clayton Pressley III – who is currently assigned to a Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit in Virginia Beach – is set to appear this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Norfolk for a preliminary hearing.

According to court documents, Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents believe Pressley stole the identities of at least two sailors. The first sailor, identified in court documents only by the initials J.B., told investigators last October he received a letter of denial about two months earlier from Discover Financial Services in reference to a personal loan application he did not complete.
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Police Officer Killed in Virginia Was Also A Veteran

Officer killed at Va. bus terminal was Marine veteran; Police ID gunman
Associated Press
By Alanna Durkin Richer and Alan Suderman
April 1, 2016

Police say the slain trooper, the father of two children, was a native of Jackson, Michigan, and Marine veteran who had served on the force in Jackson and Newport News, Virginia.

Chad Dermyer stands beside his bride Michelle Dermyer in November 2000. The Marine veteran was fatally shot Thursday, March 31, 2016, at a bus terminal in Virginia. FACEBOOK

RICHMOND, Va. — A 34-year-old Illinois man fatally shot a Virginia state trooper at a busy bus terminal before the gunman was killed by other troopers, authorities said Friday.

Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller identified the shooter as James Brown III, of Aurora, Ill. Police did not give a motive for the shooting.

Brown shot Trooper Chad P. Dermyer, 37, multiple times Thursday in Richmond before he was killed by two other troopers, police said. Dermyer had been participating with about a dozen other troopers in a training exercise at the bus station when a brief encounter with the gunman quickly turned violent, police said.
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Veterans Run 1.500 Miles From Boston to Atlanta

They are running to fund help for PTSD and TBI, which is a good thing. But yet again, they are using "22" as if that is a real number. Will these folks raising awareness ever get the point that it is much more than 'just a number' to use?

PHOTOS: Shepherd's Men run through Lynchburg
The News and Advance

The Shepherd's Men group came through Lynchburg Tuesday, March 28, 2016 as part of a 1,500-mile journey between Boston and Atlanta to raise money for the SHARE Military Initiative, a donor-funded 12-week-program that treats the physical and psychological effects of traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder.
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Disabled Veteran Sues After Police Siege Led to Attempted Suicide

Va. Man Says Police Siege Led to Suicide Attempt
Courthouse News
By Charly Himmel
March 18, 2016

"Wells was not a criminal but it seemed that he was under a brutal military type attack from the police and deputies," the complaint says. "He decided to end it right there and die by his own hand before he'd be taken in this insane situation."

After one failed attempt, Wells says he managed to shoot himself in the chest.

RICHMOND, Va. (CN) - A disabled veteran claims in court that an entirely unwarranted siege at his home by law enforcement officers caused him to try to kill himself.

In a complaint filed in Richmond City Circuit Court, Ronald Elwin Wells Jr. says he was home alone with his dog and watching a baseball game on Sept. 16, 2013, when a police officer showed up at his door, saying he'd been asked to check on Wells by the "welfare department."

Wells says he told the officer he wasn't on welfare, and that in any event, he was fine.

The officer left, and Wells says he went back to watching the game, then promptly fell asleep.

Sometime around 7 p.m. that, the complaint says, Wells was awakened by state troopers who were knocking at his door.

"Wells started to be afraid because of all this attention he was getting for no apparent reason," the complaint says.

He did not answer his door, and he didn't answer it later when, he says "a number of State Troopers or other police type people came in fatigues with helmets and face shields with long guns in their hands."

Wells says in an attempt to remain calm, he went back to watching television. Two hours later, however, he heard someone calling him over a loudspeaker.

At this point, the complaint says, "Wells became really scared."
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Guindon Military Family Suffers Second Tragedy

New England native fatally shot on first patrol as police officer
Boston Globe
By Maria Cramer Globe Staff
FEBRUARY 28, 2016

The shooting ended a young life already marked by tragedy. In 2004, when she was in high school, her father, Air National Guardsman David Guindon, killed himself the day after he returned from a grueling six-month tour in Iraq.

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT PHOTO

Officer Ashley Guindon of the Prince William County (Virginia) Police Department.

New England native Ashley Guindon first joined the Prince William County Police Department in Virginia in 2015 but left abruptly for personal reasons. She returned less than a year later.

“She felt like she still wanted to do this job,” Police Chief Stephan M. Hudson told reporters. “She couldn’t get it out of her blood.”

Late Saturday afternoon, on her first day back with the department, 28-year-old Guindon and two other officers approached a house in Woodbridge, a suburban community 20 miles south of Washington, D.C. A woman there had called police after a fight with her husband. As they neared the front door, the husband, Ronald Hamilton, a 32-year-old Army staff sergeant, allegedly opened fire, striking all three officers, Hudson said during a press conference Sunday.

Guindon, who was born in Springfield, Mass., and raised in Merrimack, N.H., was killed.

On Sunday morning, Merrimack police escorted Guindon’s mother, Sharon, to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport so she could fly to Virginia.

Determined and intellectually gifted, Guindon graduated in 2005 from Merrimack High School and went to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla. She spent six years in the US Marine Corps Reserve and was drawn to forensic science, a fascination that led her to work in a funeral home while she was still in college.
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Virginia Gunman Facing Murder Charges, Pentagon Army Staff Sergeant

UPDATE
Police: Army staff sergeant killed rookie cop who was Marine reservist

Guindon was a former Marine Corps reservist and had a master's degree in forensic science, according to Hudson. Guindon served in the Marine Corps Reserves from May 2007 to February 2015 as a field radio operator, said Capt. Andrew Chrestman, a spokesman for U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve. She ultimately reached the rank of corporal and was awarded the National Defense Service Medal and the Selected Marine Corps Reserve Medal.

Virginia police officer killed on her first day on the job; man charged
CNN
By Ralph Ellis, Faith Karimi and Joe Sutton
Updated 4:02 PM ET, Sun February 28, 2016
Video Source: WJLA

Ronald Williams Hamilton faces two murder charges.

Hamilton is an active duty Army staff sergeant assigned to the Joint Staff Support Center at the Pentagon, said Cindy Your of the Defense Information Systems Agency at Fort Meade, Maryland.

Ashley Guindon was sworn in as an officer on Friday.

CNN)A police department in a Washington suburb is mourning an officer who was killed during her first day on the job.

Ashley Guindon, 28, of the Prince William County Police Department was fatally shot Saturday in Woodbridge, Virginia, while answering a domestic call in which two other officers were wounded and the suspect's wife was killed, county police Chief Steve Hudson said at a news conference on Sunday. Guindon had taken the oath of office on Friday.

Ashley Guindon was sworn in as an officer on Friday.

"The Prince William County Police Department is in deep mourning," Hudson said. "This is a sad day for everybody in this room, a sad day for law enforcement."

Ronald Williams Hamilton, 32, is accused of shooting the three police officers as they approached the front door of his house about 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Hudson said.
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Ex-Marine Getting Jail Time After Lying About Service

Former Marine who lied about service to get donations is sentenced to jail time
The Virginian-Pilot
By Jane Harper
12 hrs ago

When the charity obtained a copy of his record, it showed that Henry received a bad conduct discharge from the Marine Corps in 1998, the stipulation said. He was never in combat, received no commendations or medals, was not a K-9 handler and was not involved in a helicopter crash, which were all claims that he had made, the stipulation said.

A former Marine who lied about his military service to get assistance from a local charity was sentenced Wednesday to eight months in jail, according to a spokeswoman for the commonwealth’s attorney.
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Hampton VA Nurse Convicted of Raping Veteran

Hampton VA nurse convicted of sexually assaulting patient previously raped 
The Virginian-Pilot 
By Scott Daugherty 
17 hrs ago

According to a news release drafted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Lopez was a nurse in the hospital’s emergency department on Sept. 20, 2014, when a woman sought treatment for a leg injury. The woman had post-traumatic stress disorder related to a prior rape and two traumatic brain injuries, the release said.

NEWPORT NEWS

Juan M. Lopez, 52, of Virginia Beach is set for sentencing May 19.
He faces the possibility of life in prison. Courtesy Photo

A former nurse at the Hampton VA Medical Center was convicted Friday on charges of aggravated sexual assault and making a false statement to a federal agent. 

Juan M. Lopez, 52, of Virginia Beach is set for sentencing May 19 in U.S. District Court in Newport News. He faces the possibility of life in prison. A federal jury returned the guilty verdicts Friday on the fourth day of trial. Stephen Plott, Lopez’s attorney, maintained his client’s innocence and said he was disappointed in the jury’s verdict. read more here

WWII Veteran Will Meet Old Girlfriend on Valentines Day!

World War II Veteran to Reunite with Wartime Girlfriend 
Military.com
Associated Press
January 21, 2016

In this photo taken Nov. 6, 2015, Norwood Thomas, 93, talks with Joyce Morris via Skype from his home in Virginia Beach, Va. (Bill Tiernan/The Virginian-Pilot via AP)

VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia -- A World War II veteran will travel to Australia to reunite with his wartime girlfriend after more than 70 years. The Virginian-Pilot reports 93-year-old Norwood Thomas will travel to Adelaide, Australia, next month to reunite with 88-year-old Joyce Morris.

Thomas told Morris that he would love to see her again in person when the two recently spoke via Skype. After their story went public two months ago, more than 300 people made donations online to help the two rekindle their romance.

The newspaper reports Air New Zealand has also made arrangements to send Thomas and his son to Australia free of charge. read more here

Virginia Christmas Display Remembers Fallen Servicemembers

Christmas display honoring veterans gives neighbors goosebumps
WTVR News
BY GREG MCQUADE
DECEMBER 12, 2015

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- Among the Santas, reindeer and blinking lights sits a Christmas display with a different message. Christine Thompson's yard is a tribute to the country's service men and women. In addition to an inflatable Santa and Frosty wearing camouflage, Thompson lined up military boots adorned with American flags and photos of military members who will not be home from Christmas.

Christine's husband Staff Sgt. Patrick Thompson survived two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He now lives to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
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Virginia AG Giving Veterans Legal Aid, Will Other States?

VA Attorney General announces legal aid for Veterans
WAVY News
Published: December 7, 2015

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring came to Norfolk Monday morning to announce his office is launching pro bono veterans legal clinics around the state.

Herring’s program will give low-income veterans free help in three areas: creating ills, power of attorney and advanced medical directives.

“These are folks who have served our country in times of need and we owe so much to them this is a way we can begin to repay that,” said Herring.

He told WAVY.com that over half of Americans do not have this kind of basic estate planning.

Walter Goodwyn, a veteran and chair of the Tidewater Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve is one of them.

“In March I’ll probably be one of the first ones up there,” Goodwyn told WAVY.

In his work Goodwyn sees how difficult it is for families after a death when there is no legal guidance. He is also excited for the more than 780,000 veterans who call Virginia Home.
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Veteran With PTSD Service Dog Kicked Out of Mall

Veteran kicked out of mall for having service dog
13 News Now
Arrianee LeBeau
November 23, 2015

Brown said the experience immediately triggered his anxiety, sending him into a panic attack.

CHESAPEAKE, Va (WVEC) -- Joshua Brown is a veteran that requires the assistance of a service dog, because he suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). He has had his current dog for about a year, and said she helps him get back to living a normal life.

"She's definitely helped me with being able to go out in public places with crowds," said Brown.

Last Friday, Brown said he was kicked out of Greenbrier Mall in Chesapeake, because of his service dog. Brown's dog trainer -- a psychiatrist and another veteran -- were walking the animals around the mall to get them both comfortable in public places.
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Price Harry Feels Responsible for Veterans Because He is One

It has been said that if leaders had to go to war, wars would come to an end.

January 10, 1946
“I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity.”
General Dwight D. Eisenhower Speech in Ottawa

Prince Harry, Michelle Obama honor wounded veterans 
The British royal said he first felt a responsibility to help veterans following his first tour of Afghanistan.
UPI
By Annie Martin
Oct. 28, 2015

"It hit me then that this flight was one of many, carrying home men and women whose lives would be changed forever, and some who had made the ultimate sacrifice. From that moment, I knew I had a responsibility to help all veterans, who had made huge personal sacrifices for their countries, to lead healthy and dignified lives after service." Prince Harry

FORT BELVOIR, Va., Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Prince Harry and first lady Michelle Obama honored wounded veterans Wednesday in Fort Belvoir, Va.

The 31-year-old British royal and 51-year-old American advocate visited injured servicemen and women with Jill Biden, professor and wife to vice president Joe Biden.

Prince Harry arrived in the U.S. earlier in the day to promote the upcoming Invictus Games.

The event sees wounded armed services personnel partake in multiple athletic challenges, and will be held May 8-12, 2016, outside Orlando, Fla. read more here