Man Risked Life to Save Veteran and Wife in Las Vegas

Veteran talks to man who shielded him, dying wife, after Vegas shooting
KWTX 10 News
Julie Hays
October 5, 2017

WACO, Texas (KWTX) An Army veteran whose wife of 32 years was killed in the Las Vegas shooting rampage heads home Friday, but not before he talked to the stranger who shielded him and his dying wife as shots rang out.

“It was a selfless act of kindness,” Tony Burditus said Thursday.

His wife Denise was among the 58 who died when Stephen Paddock opened fire on the crowd at the Route 91 Harvest Festival Sunday night on the Las Vegas Strip.

Burditus will fly back to West Virginia Friday after the Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office released his wife’s body.

But before he left Las Vegas he had an emotional phone conversation with the stranger who threw himself on top of the couple as bullets flew.

Sam Porter, a CPA from California, was attending the three-day music festival outside the Mandalay Bay hotel with 15 friends, mostly Los Angeles firefighters, when bullets began to rain down around them.

As news organizations began to identify the shooting victims and showed photographs, Porter immediately recognized Denise.
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Army of Heroes Showed Up in Las Vegas

Here are a few more stories about veterans still risking their lives for the sake of others!

Matthew Cobos, US Army

Cobos used his belt as a tourniquet to stop bleeding and even used his fingers to try to plug wounds. Cobos told family and friends that he could see the shots hitting the ground and ricocheting around him.

The young soldier is stationed with the Army in Hawaii where he is a cavalry scout. He was at the Route 91 Harvest Festival with his sister and her boyfriend during the shooting, and is for the time being back with his family in California.

Dr. James Sebesta, Ret. Army

is a surgeon who retired last year from service at Madigan Army Medical Center after an Army career that included four deployments to combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sunday, he encountered some of the worst carnage of his career during what he called a “prolonged date night” as he attended the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas. After surviving the onslaught of bullets unleashed in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, he sent his wife away with friends to a safe place while he stayed behind to help the wounded.

Aaron Stalker, Army veteran

While thousands of people scrambled from the parking lot where the Route 91 Harvest music festival was held as bullets rained down from overhead, Stalker ran straight into the crowd. He searched frantically for his girlfriend and her mother. Unable to find them in the chaos, "I just started helping anyone and everyone I could," Stalker said. 

He went to the first wounded person he could find and ripped up a piece of clothing to use as a tourniquet. He made splints, patched bullet holes, flipped over the plastic barriers that had been set up around the perimeter of the festival and turned them into stretchers. With two other men whose names he never learned, he carried the wounded to cars that would take them to the hospital.

Robert Ledbetter, Army veteran 

was a scout sniper for the U.S. Army Rangers during one tour of duty in Iraq. He was trained for war.

Those instincts kicked in on Sunday night at a different battlefield: about 40 yards from the stage where Jason Aldean was performing.

Ledbetter, 42, now a loan officer in Las Vegas, said at first it sounded like a firecracker or a firework. “We all looked around,” he said, as he and his wife and family members made sense of the popping sound.

Another burst of rounds went off, and someone about four rows ahead at the concert dropped to the ground. He saw Aldean escorted from the stage.

Las Vegas Survivors and Responders Struggle to Heal

Las Vegas survivors have been through hell. And it's not over.
USA TODAY
Anne Godlasky
Published Oct. 5, 2017

"Most people who've gone through something this horrifying will have symptoms that look like PTSD initially. It's only when they continue to linger that a diagnosis would be given," Gillihan said. Though rates of PTSD vary depending on the trauma, Gillihan said he would expect a "high percentage" to experience it in this case.

Now is about the time you've got Las Vegas fatigue. For the sake of your sanity, you turn your attention to other things, lighter things.

Now is about the time survivors of that attack are beginning to feel the shock subside and an onslaught of emotions — anguish, grief, guilt — take over.

"There's national recognition and solidarity around these big events, (but) that sense of attention and care and compassion seems to fade with the next news cycle," said Seth Gillihan, a psychologist and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder researcher. "The country pretty quickly returns to its baseline."

But survivors can't return to their baseline. Those who escaped the bullets can go home, and the injured will leave the hospital, but they can't go back to the lives they had.

"The world they knew before it happened is profoundly changed," Gillihan said. "They're probably going to have a different way of seeing the world, they may have a different way of seeing themselves, they may be critical of themselves for how they reacted during the event."

Las Vegas survivors have been thrust onto a new trajectory, one that will feel worse before it gets better. They are joining an unfortunate fellowship of those who've endured trauma — but one that can at least provide guidance down this too well-trodden path.
read more here

I hope you read the rest of the article because it is important to understand that the rest of the country moved on.

Everyone shot, obviously needs help. Not so obvious are the other concert goers. Even less obvious are the First Responders trying to save everyone else.

After Pulse, Police Officers said that the worst part was after the shooting stopped. They had to walk around in puddles of blood, but even that wasn't the worst for them. It was the constant ring of cell phones as they prayed the batteries would die. They knew on the other end of the call, was someone looking for someone who was not going home to them.

Truck Thief You Got To Love!

This Iraq veteran stole a truck and rescued dozens as gunfire rained down in Las Vegas

Sacramento Bee

Mandy Matney
October 3, 2017

An Iraq veteran is being hailed as a hero for stealing a festival truck and rescuing dozens of shooting victims as gunfire rained down in Las Vegas Sunday night.

Taylor Winston, 29, of San Diego, first thought the gunshots were fireworks while drinking and two-stepping at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, CBS News reports. But his combat skills kicked in when he heard the screams and the gunshots got closer during the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
read the rest here

How to Help Mandalay Bay Survivors. Be There!

This morning I posted advice on Google+ about how to help someone after they have survived something like Mandalay Bay shooting. It is really simple advice.

"If you know survivors of the shooting in Las Vegas, be there to listen to them. Do not turn it into a contest or try to "fix them" with any words, other than letting them know you care. Hold their hand and hold your tongue. Be there as they bring what happened as survivors back into the safety of what "normal" life is supposed to be."

Aside from living through many times when my life was on the line as a civilian, (remember, I am not the veteran in the family) this works. My family did it naturally, not knowing they were beginning my healing as a survivor. I also studied it, trained to work with First Responders, because of how much I do believe it works. 

Having seen the worst that can happen after a survivor is suffering without help, I weep more because I know that suffering did not need to happen.

It isn't just me saying this. It is repeated over and over again from the type of experts I learned from. You know, the ones with degrees up the you know what and a proven history of being right.


This is from one of those types of articles that just came out from an interview with Michele Hart.

A place to feel safe
"The first step is safety. Give someone a safe place to be and just be," she said. "Right now the talking isn't the important part."

Hart said the priority should be giving people a place where they can cry and express emotions and begin to process what has happened in a way that is safe and comfortable.  

The rush for 'psychological first aid' in the aftermath of the Las Vegas shooting
CNBC
Jessica Mathews
October 3, 2017

The morning after Stephen Paddock opened fire on 22,000 concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival in Las Vegas, Mandalay Bay Resorts promptly opened a crisis center.
What was to be an evening of country music and celebration turned into a night of bloody terror, leaving those affected at risk of severe post-traumatic stress disorder.
Clinical social worker Michele Hart, who specializes in stressor-related disorders, says one of the best measures to treat PTSD is providing a place where those affected can cry and express emotions.

Denise Truscello | Getty Images
People embrace during a vigil on the Las Vegas strip for the victims of the Route 91 Harvest country music festival shootings on October 2, 2017, in Las Vegas.

The morning after 64-year-old Stephen Paddock opened fire on 22,000 concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival in Las Vegas, Mandalay Bay Resorts promptly opened a crisis center, asking certified trauma counselors to volunteer and go to "Circus Circus – Ballroom D," according to a tweet. The makeshift crisis center was open to all victims, family members and anyone else directly impacted by the events, including Mandalay Bay guests and employees.

"Psychological first aid," or early mental health response, after the aftermath of horror and heartbreak is relatively new. In the first two weeks after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings on December 14, 2012, which left 29 people dead, more than 800 people visited the main crisis counseling center in Newtown, Connecticut. Within 24 hours after the June 12, 2016, nightclub shooting in Orlando, which claimed 49 lives, local counselors began circulating a spreadsheet, asking practitioners to sign up for shifts to offer therapy and support to victims, their families and community members. In a few days 650 practitioners signed up.

The Las Vegas shooting on Sunday night turned out to be the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, leaving 59 dead and 527 injured. For nearly 15 minutes shots rained down on the attendees, who had nowhere to escape. What was to be an evening of country music and celebration turned into a night of bloody terror, leaving those affected — whether directly or vicariously — at risk of severe post-traumatic stress disorder.
read more here


But remember, it isn't just about the survivors. It is the First Responders, the families, the friends and the people who just left, will also be changed. Will you be there to help them change again for the better?

The best that comes out of many because of the "one"

One man decided to kill as many strangers as possible. 

Many more decided to risk their lives to save as many strangers as possible.

Thousands fled the hail of gunfire in Las Vegas. These people stayed to try to save lives.

Blyleven, who is the son of Hall of Fame pitcher Bert Blyleven, said he has no formal medical training but that he felt obligated to do whatever he could to save lives.

“I just felt like I had to,” said Blyleven, who estimated that he may have helped about 30 or 40 people get away from the gunfire. “I would hope that if me, or my family, was in a situation like that, that someone would come in and get me.”

During the gunfire, Mike McGarry, a 53-year-old financial adviser from Philadelphia, said he tried to shield his children.

“It was crazy — I laid on top of the kids. They’re 20. I’m 53. I lived a good life,” McGarry told Reuters. He said he had shoe prints on the back of his shirt from people who ran over him to get away.

A parade of police officers, firefighters and paramedics rushed to the scene of the shooting, where good Samaritans were seen in photos kneeling down, tending to victims.

One man told Fox News that he hid behind a table and, when it was all over, helped load several bodies into a truck.

Las Vegas shooting: At least 58 dead, 515 hurt in Mandalay Bay shooting

Jose Baggett, 31, of Las Vegas, said he and a friend were in the lobby of the Luxor hotel-casino -- directly north of the festival -- when people began to run, almost like in a stampede. He said people were crying and as he and his friend started walking away minutes later, they encountered police checkpoints where officers were carrying shotguns and assault rifles. 

"There were armored personnel vehicles, SWAT vehicles, ambulances, and at least a half-mile of police cars," Baggett said.

That is the place where we find hope. There are still far more good people in this country than bad. Sure we may think that members of law enforcement and first responders are just doing their jobs, but they decided to do those jobs for the sake of everyone else.

Are there some who do not deserve to wear the badge? Yes, but they are few among many. So why is it that we forget that?

Are there some bad people in this country? Yes, but why do we forget that there are far more good ones?

People carry an injured person at the music festival grounds after gunfire was heard.

This man was talking about his friend who had been shot. He also talked about how many people went to help strangers. 



Southern California resident Chris Roybal, 28, died after he was shot in the chest, ABC Chicago station WLS reported. Roybal was a Navy war veteran who served in Afghanistan.



Time and time again we have witnessed the worst that can be done, but we have also witnessed the best that comes out of many because of the one.

First Responders to Pulse Searching For Healing

Pulse survivors share memories, messages
USA TODAY , KHOU
Rick Jervis
June 09, 2017

“I don’t care how rich or important you are, when you have a problem, you’re going to dial those three little numbers. But when we need the help, who do we call?” Omar Delgado

More than anything else, Omar Delgado remembers the phones. Dozens of them, he said, ringing incessantly and spinning in pools of their owners’ blood, the only sound in an otherwise quiet nightclub.

Delgado, 45, an Eatonville Police officer, was one of the first responders to the June 12, 2016, Pulse nightclub shooting. As he entered the club through a patio door that night, he saw bleeding and bullet-torn bodies strewn across the dance floor, many of them slumped on top of one another, their phones ringing next to them.

“I knew it was a loved one trying to reach that person and they were never ever going to pick up that phone again,” Delgado said in an interview with USA TODAY. “It was horrific.”

A year ago Monday, gunman Omar Mateen opened fire inside Pulse, a popular LGBT club in Orlando, with a semi-automatic rifle and a 9mm Glock pistol, killing 49 patrons and injuring 53 others in one of the deadliest shooting sprees in U.S. history. Mateen was shot and killed by police after a three-hour standoff.
read more here

When Will Fort Hood Families Receive Justice?

Lawyer for 2009 Fort Hood shooting victims seeks resumption of long-delayed civil case
Army Times
Kevin Lilley
June 18, 2016

Nearly seven years after an Army major’s shooting rampage left 13 dead and dozens wounded at Fort Hood, Texas, lawyers for about 130 of the victims and family members have asked a federal judge to lift a stay in their civil case against the service and other defendants.

While many of those killed or injured received Purple Heart Medals (and the financial benefits that accompany those awards) in 2015, Reed Rubinstein, one of the lawyers on the case, said the Army and other defendants – including the FBI – have yet to pay in full the debt owed to the victims.

“Nothing, nothing is going to happen on this case, if the government has its way, until well into 2017,” said Rubinstein, who first filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in November 2012. “Long after the people involved are gone, and presumably … long after everybody will have forgotten about Fort Hood.”

The complaint cites multiple reports on the killings, including a Senate report that outlines Hasan’s statements in support of extremism in the years before the shooting. Lawyers for the victims also point to a 2013 letter from three members of Congress to then-Army Secretary John McHugh, saying the hands-off approach to Hasan despite his statements that seemed to link him to extreme Muslim ideology, and the promotions he received after making them, amounted to “preferential treatment” given because of his Muslim faith.

That treatment, Rubinstein said, ultimately resulted in the Army failing to stop Hasan’s actions.

“It seems like it’s happening over and over again,” Rubinstein said, alluding to the more recent shootings in San Bernardino and Orlando. “These shooters are being identified. It’s not like they’re missed or weren’t discovered. They’re discovered, and somebody makes the determination to let it drop.”

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ORMC Doctor Wore Army Boots Before Sneakers As A Medic

The doctor behind the bloody shoes on Facebook
Orlando Sentinel
Naseem S. Miller Contact Reporter
June 16, 2016

Corsa joined the Army after he finished high school in North Carolina. He spent six years in the Army, where he was a medic. He came back home and got his bachelor's degree in two years and then went to medical school.

A week before the bloody massacre at Pulse nightclub, Dr. Joshua Corsa bought a new pair of shoes from the REI outdoor company.

They were Keens and he liked them because he could put them on quickly – one of those important little details for a senior resident who has to rush around a busy Level I trauma center like Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Little did he know that in a few days those sneakers would become a symbol of all that's good and evil in this world.

It started with a text from an attending physician at the trauma center: possible active shooter and up to three injured with gunshot wounds.

Throughout those years he worked full-time as a firefighter/paramedic.
read more here

Two Disgusting Camp Pendleton Marines Post Threat After Orlando Massacre

Facebook photo of Marine threatens gays?
Camp Pendleton investigating 2 Marines for social media post following Orlando massacre
San Diego Union Tribune
By Jeanette Steele
June 16, 2016 


A social media post that seemingly references Sunday’s mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub has led to an investigation of two Camp Pendleton Marines.

The Camp Pendleton-based 1st Marine Expeditionary Force announced Thursday that it is looking into a photo posted Wednesday in a Facebook group called Camp MENdleton Resale, which advertises itself as a private forum for male troops and veterans.

The photo, which has since been removed, shows a uniformed Marine corporal pointing a rifle toward the camera. A caption at the bottom says, “Coming to a gay bar near you!”

Based on other features shown on the post, it appears the photo also was sent through the instant messaging program Snapchat. The post has since been shared on several other Facebook pages.

This incident continues a week of questionable or disturbing responses to the massacre at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, where 49 people — most of them gay or lesbian — were killed and more than 50 others were wounded. The death count makes it the largest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
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OneOrlando Fund Reaches $7 Million

$7 million donated to OneOrlando Fund, mayor says
WFTV ABC News
Updated: Jun 17, 2016

ORLANDO, Fla.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer announced Friday that the OneOrlando Fund had received more than $7 million in donations.

“We're showing the world that we are Orlando United. I'm so proud of the people standing behind me,” said Dyer.

The fund was set up to help people directly affected by the Pulse nightclub shooting, he said.

The outpouring of support from our City partners has already begun:

• Walt Disney Company $1,000,000

• In addition, eligible donations from Disney employees will be matched dollar for dollar by Disney. Employee Matching Gifts: A Program of The Walt Disney Company Foundation

• Darden Restaurants $500,000

• The Orlando Magic $100,000

• JetBlue $100,000

• Mears $50,000

• Comcast NBCUniversal $1,000,000

• Tishman Hotel Corporation $25,000

To contribute to the OneOrlando Fund, please visit OneOrlando.org.

read more here

President Obama Feels Pulse of Orlando

I have never been more proud of this city. To see the way people have stepped up to help strangers for no other reason than love, to see businesses set aside profit because of heartache, folks show up standing in line to donate blood and hold a candle to light the darkness, that shows the pulse of this city is beating strong enough to prove that hate will not defeat love.

President Obama meeting with victims’ families, survivors in Orlando
WESH 2 News
UPDATED 3:45 PM EDT Jun 16, 2016

After leaving the Amway Center, President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden stopped at the memorial resurrected outside the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center.

Orlando Mayor Buddy dyer shows President Obama a black "Orlando Pride" t shirt with a rainbow heart. AP IMAGE

3:30 p.m.

President Obama’s motorcade left the Amway Center shortly after 3:30 p.m. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden spent a little over two hours meeting with survivors and family members of the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting.

2:30 p.m.
Hundreds of people have gathered outside the Amway Center as President Barack Obama meets with survivors and family members of the victims inside.

1:30 p.m.
President Obama's motorcade arrived at the Amway Center just before 1:30 p.m. He will be meeting with the families of victims and survivors.

Survivors of the mass shooting were brought to the Amway Center Thursday morning.

After meeting with the families and survivors. President Obama and Vice President Biden will be meeting with local law enforcement officials to thank them for their work in response to Sunday's mass shooting.
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Afghanistan Marine Veteran Saved Dozens at Pulse

War veteran saves dozens during Orlando nightclub shooting
CBS NEWS
By Mark Strassmann
June 13, 2016

ORLANDO -- When Omar Mateen opened fire with his military style AR-15 assault rifle on a gay nightclub in Orlando, there was one man who recognized the sound, a war veteran.

Imran Yousuf, a bouncer at the Pulse nightclub, never saw the gunman in the early Sunday morning hours. Right after last call, he was making his rounds, and barely missed coming face-to-face with Mateen.

Yousuf, a 24-year-old Hindu, served as a U.S. Marine in Afghanistan. On Saturday night, the combat zone followed him to Orlando.

He ended up saving dozens of lives.

"The initial one was three or four (shots). That was a shock. Three of four shots go off and you could tell it was a high caliber," he said. "Everyone froze. I'm here in the back and I saw people start pouring into the back hallway, and they just sardine pack everyone."
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Names of Lives Lost in Orlando Released

Remember these names and not the name of the one who caused their deaths.

Do not stand at my grave and weep I am not there; I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond glints on snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain. I am the gentle autumn rain. When you awaken in the morning's hush I am the swift uplifting rush Of quiet birds in circled flight. I am the soft star that shines at night. Do not stand at my grave and cry; I am not there; I did not die.

Victims’ Names

City of Orlando

Posted date: June 12, 2016

Updated June 13, 2016 2:40 p.m.

During this difficult time, we offer heartfelt condolences to the victims and their families. Our City is working tirelessly to get as much information out to the families so they can begin the grieving process. Please keep the following individuals in your thoughts and prayers. #PrayforOrlando

The below list of individuals includes victims who have lost their lives during the early morning incident, and next of kin have been contacted. As we continue to reach out to the families of victims, we will continue to update this post.

Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34 years old

Stanley Almodovar III, 23 years old

Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20 years old

Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22 years old

Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36 years old

Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22 years old

Luis S. Vielma, 22 years old

Kimberly Morris, 37 years old

Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30 years old

Darryl Roman Burt II, 29 years old

Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32 years old

Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21 years old

Anthony Luis Laureanodisla, 25 years old

Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35 years old

Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, 50 years old

Amanda Alvear, 25 years old

Martin Benitez Torres, 33 years old

Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37 years old

Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26 years old

Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35 years old

Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25 years old

Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez, 31 years old

Oscar A Aracena-Montero, 26 years old

Enrique L. Rios, Jr., 25 years old

Miguel Angel Honorato, 30 years old

Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40 years old

Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32 years old

Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19 years old

Cory James Connell, 21 years old

Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, 37 years old

Luis Daniel Conde, 39 years old

Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33 years old

Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25 years old

Jerald Arthur Wright, 31 years old

Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25 years old

Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25 years old

Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24 years old

Jean C. Nives Rodriguez, 27 years old

Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33 years old

Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49 years old

Yilmary Rodriguez Sulivan, 24 years old

Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32 years old

Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28 years old

Frank Hernandez, 27 years old

Paul Terrell Henry, 41 years old

Antonio Davon Brown, 29 years old

Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz 24 years old

Orlando Police Officer's Helmet Saved His Life

Orlando Police Credit Kevlar Helmet with Saving Officer's Life
Military.com
by Brendan McGarry
Jun 12, 2016

Orlando police credited this kevlar helmet with saving the life of an officer who responded to the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

(Photo courtesy Orlando Police Department.)

The Orlando Police Department is crediting a Kevlar helmet with saving the life of an officer who responded to the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

The department on Sunday posted a picture of the officer's helmet showing damage from being struck by a bullet during the incident. The green paint is chipped, parts of the fabric is torn and there appears to be a small hole.

"Pulse shooting: In hail of gunfire in which suspect was killed, OPD officer was hit. Kevlar helmet saved his life," the department tweeted on its Twitter account.

The make and model of the helmet weren't immediately known.

The officer, who wasn't identified but was presumably a member of the department's SWAT team, suffered an eye injury, Danny Banks, special agent in charge of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Orlando bureau, told CNN.
read more here

Orlando, Strong Love Showed Up in the City Beautifully

If you want to know what hate does, it did it this morning in Orlando. If you want to know what love does, it began in the seconds after the first shot was fired and continued as more and more people showed up out of love.

We are heart broken but with that pain the healing already began and I just witnessed it at the AMC Theater in Altamonte Springs FL. The Red Cross was there and so were hundreds of people. I only lasted about an hour and a half when I had to give up. It was 95 degrees and my row was in the sun. 

There were not just the people standing there waiting to do what they could to help, but an Army of volunteers handing out water bottles, drinks, snacks, ice drenched paper towels and even fans from a radio station.

We talked about how love showed up by the hundreds after one person decided to kill out of hate. That was beautiful.

It was beautiful in face of that mass murderer still taking lives while strangers stopped to help the wounded. It was love that had one after another do whatever they could to help get a terrified person to safety. It was yet again love as the first responders showed up not knowing what they were heading into but ready to take on anyone trying to kill as many as possible.

While a few haters may rejoice and claim they had something to do with it, fear lost this morning. Love won this day and will continue to show up in response to others who will never know what true love feels like.  

Orlando massacre: Deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history
Police confirm 50 dead, 53 others taken to hospitals
WESH 2 News
Jun 12, 2016

ORLANDO, Fla. —Fifty people are dead and at least 50 others were taken to area hospitals after a mass shooting at a downtown Orlando nightclub early Sunday morning, officials have confirmed.

The massacre is now the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

Police said Omar Mateen, 29, was armed with an AR-15 rifle and a handgun when he stormed into the Pulse nightclub off Orange Avenue and Kaley Street about 2 a.m. In a video provided to WESH 2 News, more than 20 shots can be heard.

Officials said more than 300 people were inside the club at the time. "Everyone get out of Pulse and keep running," the club posted on its official Facebook page at 2:09 a.m.
read more here

Disgraceful Neglect of Fort Hood Survivors

Neglecting Fort Hood Survivors Is a National Disgrace
TIME
Kathy Platoni
April 19, 2016

Too many survivors don't have access to the benefits they need

Nearly seven years after the national tragedy of the Fort Hood massacre, little has changed. Despite the unveiling of the magnificent memorial in Killeen, Texas, on March 11 to pay tribute to the wounded and the fallen, this catastrophic event and its victims have been largely forgotten. Thirteen innocents lost their lives and more than 30 were wounded that day, gunned down by a self-proclaimed radical jihadist who advocated for the burnings and beheadings of his fellow soldiers.

Some of the wounded have been obtaining medical treatment on their own dime, desperately trying to restore themselves to health and to find their way back to any degree of normalcy. And then there are the psychological wounds, which often remain unspoken and are often unlikely to ever heal. Joshua Berry, a survivor of the massacre, suffered from post-traumatic stress and committed suicide in 2013. The Army should have done more to help him and others like him.

Kathy Platoni is a retired Colonel in the U.S. Army and a survivor of the Fort Hood massacre.

read more here 

Army's largest base reeling from four apparent suicides in one weekend 2010

Fort Hood Memorial "Sobering Reminder" Of What Was Lost in 2009

Remembering ‘what we lost’ ... Nov. 5, 2009, Fort Hood Memorial dedicated in Killeen
Killeen Daily Herald
Jacob Brooks
Herald staff writer
March 16, 2016

Gabe Wolf | Herald Ft Hood Memorial-4 Ashlee Nemelka and Kevin Harmer visit PFC. Aaron Nemelka's bronze Friday at the Fort Hood Memorial dedication.

KILLEEN — Three small boys, all children or grandchildren of those killed on Nov. 5, 2009, approached the stage as about 800 people quietly watched.

They placed their hands over their hearts and began to speak in unison: “I pledge allegiance to the flag...” The audience quickly joined in, creating a resounding, unifying “Pledge of Allegiance” inside the Killeen Civic and Conference Center on Friday.

It was one many emotional, yet also patriotic, moments that marked the long-awaited dedication ceremony of the November 5, 2009, Memorial, which honors the 12 soldiers and 1 civilian who were killed and dozens wounded in the mass shooting that day.

“The memorial itself will always be a sobering reminder of what we lost,” said Maj. Gen. John Uberti, deputy commander for III Corps and Fort Hood.

He was one of several speakers at the nearly three-hour event, which ended with the families of the fallen, the wounded and others visiting the memorial adjacent to the conference center.

The $400,000 memorial — which was paid for through donations and in-kind services — includes a gazebo, 13 statues symbolizing those killed and a flag pole in the center.
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Living in pain: For some wounded on Nov. 5, 2009, fight for benefits continues

Shawn Manning and Alonzo Lunsford Jr. — both former staff sergeants who were shot multiple times by Nidal Hasan — said despite earning the federal Purple Heart medals last April, their struggles with the government’s lack of labeling their wounds as “combat related” remain.

They said the pain they live with is an everyday reminder of what happened.

“I just had surgery last summer to remove a bullet out of my thigh and a bullet out of my back,” said Manning, who in addition to physical pain, also deals with post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from the shooting. “I still have a bullet in my back,” Lunsford said. “It cant be removed because it’s so close to my spine.” He, too, has complications from lingering pain and PTSD, as well as a traumatic brain injury from a bullet that hit close to one of his eyes.

November 5, 2009 Fort Hood Memorial Opened

Hundreds honor those lost, wounded in Nov. 5 shooting as memorial is dedicated
Killeen Daily Herald
Jacob Brooks
March 11, 2016

"Those killed on Nov. 5, 2009, honored self service above all else. Together we all honor their sacrifice.” Governor Greg Abbott

Sheryll Pearson, mother of fallen soldier PFC. Michael Pearson,

shows his bronze to Maj. Theresa Long during Friday's Fort Hood

Memorial dedication Gabe Wolf Herald Ft Hood Memorial

Soldiers who were shot in one of the bloodiest mass shootings in American history, as well as family members of the fallen, were reunited today, more than six years after the 2009 Fort Hood shooting that left 13 people dead and 31 wounded.

Dozens of families who lost sons, daughters, spouses and other loved ones were in Killeen today for the official dedication of the “November 5, 2009 Fort Hood Memorial,” an outdoor memorial that honors those who were killed and wounded in the shooting.

The $400,000 memorial — which was paid for through donations and in-kind services — includes a gazebo, 13 statues symbolizing those killed and a flag pole in the center.

Former Army Capt. Dorothy Carskadon, who was shot four times by Nidal Hasan in the shooting, said she got into town Thursday night, and had already visited the memorial twice.
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Fort Hood Murderer Got Paid, Wounded Still Waiting

Just a reminder on how much this all really stinks is this NBC reported Hasan was still getting paid in 2013

A military panel also ordered that Hasan be stripped of his military pay. However that order will not take effect until place 14 days following his sentencing. Hasan will continue to receive his full military salary until Sept. 10.

Earlier this year, NBC 5 Investigates was the first to report that the Department of Defense showed Hasan had been paid about $300,000 after his arrest for the Nov. 5, 2009, shooting.

Disgraceful when you consider the wounded are still waiting.

Fort Hood victim still waiting for injuries to be called ‘combat-related,’ despite Army pledge
FOX
By Catherine Herridge, Pamela Browne
Published November 06, 2015

Manning has received combat-related special compensation under the Purple Heart medal which amounts to $700 a month and a lump sum for back pay.

Six years after the Fort Hood massacre killed 13 and injured more than 30 others, at least one of the survivors says he is still fighting to have his gunshot wounds officially classified as "combat-related injuries," despite a pledge from the Army secretary to provide all possible benefits to the families.

"I hope that this can be fixed. I mean it isn't even necessarily about the benefits anymore, it's just, getting this fixed so I can put this behind me," Shawn Manning told Fox News.

Manning was a staff sergeant when he was shot six times by then Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan on Nov. 5, 2009. Two bullets remain lodged in his back and leg. Yet he's still seeking the "combat-related" classification for his injuries from a military physical evaluation board.
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