Senator Manchin "Army Too Small To Meet Threats Around The World"

Army Needs 220K More Soldiers to Deal With Major Foes: Milley
Military.com
by Matthew Cox
Apr 07, 2016

Gen. Mark A. Milley tells 300 ROTC and U.S. Military Academy cadets his winning philosophy. Milley spoke during the George C. Marshall Award and Leadership seminar on Fort Leavenworth, Kan., March 31, 2015. (U.S. Army photo/ David Vergun)

The U.S. Army's chief of staff told lawmakers Thursday that the service would need another 220,000 soldiers before it could confidently handle major operations with emerging military foes around the world.

Gen. Mark Milley told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Army is operating at "high military risk" if it continues to operate at the proposed total Army troop strength of 980,000 soldiers.

By fiscal 2018, the Army's active force is slated to have 450,000 soldiers in its ranks. The National Guard will have 335,000 and the Army Reserve will have 195,000 soldiers.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, has been one of several lawmakers who's been very vocal about his concern that the Army is too small. "Everything that I have heard from your generals is there is no way we can meet the imminent threats that we have around the world with 980,000 soldiers," Manchin said.
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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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Military Suicide Report Added 142 For 3rd Quarter of 2015

Does someone want to explain how the numbers of suicides went up after all these years? When do they actually get to the "one too many" so they change what isn't working?

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Department of Defense Releases Third Quarter Calendar Year 2015 Suicide Information
Press Operations

Release No: NR-001-16

January 4, 2016

Today, the Department of Defense released the Quarterly Suicide Report (QSR) for the third quarter of calendar year 2015.

The report summarizes confirmed suicide counts for all services and components during the months of July through September 2015, and also includes total suicide counts for calendar years 2012, 2013 and 2014.

In the third quarter of 2015, there were 72 suicides among service members in the active component, and 70 suicides in the reserve component, which includes 38 suicides among reserve service members and 32 suicides among service members in the National Guard.

Marine Reservist in Hot Water For Wearing Uniform at Trump Event

Marine Rebuked for Performing at Donald Trump Rally in Uniform
Military.com
by Hope Hodge Seck
Dec 01, 2015

The Defense Department allows troops to participate in political and campaign activities as private citizens, but does not allow them to represent the military or associate the Pentagon with any specific candidate, issue or cause. Participation in political activities in uniform is prohibited.

A Marine who recently performed the national anthem at a Donald Trump presidential campaign rally has been told to cease further uniformed campaign activities. Cpl. Jason Perkins, a reservist with Combat Logistics Battalion 451 out of Charlotte, North Carolina, awed crowds at a Nov. 21 campaign rally for the Republican candidate in Birmingham, Alabama, with a booming rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner," which he performed in his dress blue uniform.

But when a video of the performance began circulating online, members of the military quickly pointed out that he was in violation of regulations prohibiting troops from wearing their uniforms to political events.

Marine Forces Reserve spokesman Capt. Andrew Chrestman said the command had reached out to Perkins after his campaign performance.

"Cpl. Perkins is now aware that his conduct violated long-standing DoD policy," Chrestman said in an email. "[He] has been informed of the appropriate ways to participate in the political process as a member of the Marine Corps."
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102,499 Soldiers Non-Deployable

Army Has 50,000 Active Soldiers Who Can't Deploy, Top NCO Says 
Military.com
by Matthew Cox
Nov 25, 2015

In total, the Army's active, Guard and Reserve force 102,499 soldiers from all ranks that were non-deployable for medical, legal, or other administrative reasons as of mid-August, according to Master Sgt. Michelle Johnson, spokeswoman for Dailey, adding that that number is about 10 percent of the total force, Johnson said.

The U.S. Army's top enlisted soldier said the number-one readiness problem facing the service is that the active component -- the most deployable force -- has 50,000 soldiers who can't deploy.

That figure represents the largest number of non-deployable soldiers in all three components of the service. The National Guard has 28,000 non-deployable soldiers and the Reserve component has 25,000, according to Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel Dailey's office.

Having 50,000 non-deployable, active soldiers is comparable to three of the Army's 10 active combat divisions, Dailey told a group of sergeants recently at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, according to an Army press release.

"That's huge. That's three out of the 10 divisions," he said. "If you will not or cannot fight and win, then there's no place for you in the Army. We have to become unemotional about this. We have a job to do."

Dailey's comments come at a time when President Barack Obama is under enormous pressure to commit some type of ground force to the Middle East to fight extremists from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.
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Missing Army Reservist's Body Found in St. Louis

Missing Army veteran found murdered in St. Louis may be victim of Craigslist killing
FOX News
October 16, 2015

Police said an Army reservist found dead in a St. Louis alley Thursday had been shot, while family members said he was going to look at a used car advertised on Craigslist before his disappearance.

These undated photos show Robert Polk, 22, an Army reservist found murdered Thursday Oct. 15, 2015,
12 days after his family said he left his home to look at a used car advertised on Craigslist.
(St. Louis Metropolitan Police)

Workers for a demolition company found the body of Robert Lovings Polk, 22, in the Baden area of north St. Louis.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Polk's remains were concealed behind a piece of drywall in a garage. Worker Daniel Parker told the Post-Dispatch that he and his colleagues had smelled a strong odor when they had been at the property the previous two days, but assumed it was a dead animal.

"It really did freak me out because we never knew when we removed that drywall that we would find a dead body there, " worker Jerry Montaque told KTVI. "It stunned me; I just had to get myself together and walk away for a minute."
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Newest Female Ranger School Graduate Also Mom

Latest Female to Graduate Ranger School Is 37-Year-Old Mother of Two 
Military.com
by Matthew Cox
Oct 12, 2015

Maj. Lisa A. Jaster, 37, carries a fellow soldier during the Darby Queen obstacle course at Ranger School at Fort Benning, Ga., April 26, 2015. (U.S. Army)

The last remaining female soldier of the original group of 19 women who tried out for Army Ranger School in April will graduate from the punishing infantry leadership course.

Maj. Lisa A. Jaster, a combat engineer with the U.S. Army Reserve, is 37 and a mother of two children. She will earn the coveted Ranger Tab along with 87 men, according to an Oct. 12 press release from the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Georgia. 

The West Point graduate had to repeat all three phases of the two-month course. Jaster follows two of her Ranger School classmates -- Capt. Kristen Griest and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver, who earned their Tabs in an Aug. 21 in a historic ceremony at Fort Benning. When Jaster graduates on Oct. 16, she will have spent 180 days in the course, the release states. read more here

They Finally Figured Out Pentagon Suicide Prevention Office in Disarray

Report: Pentagon suicide prevention office in disarray
Military Times
By Patricia Kime, Staff writer
October 2, 2015

The Pentagon’s suicide prevention office lacks clear guidance and authority to develop and execute effective programs, leaving a vacuum that the military services filled with their own, often inconsistent programs, a new Defense Department Inspector General report says.

Defense Suicide Prevention Office logo

(Photo: Defense Department)

The Defense Suicide Prevention Office, or DSPO, was established in 2011 to develop and implement suicide prevention policies, programs and surveillance across the force, with any eye toward promoting resilience, mental fitness and suicide awareness and prevention.

But from its inception, the office had a confusing governing structure and alignment of responsibilities under different committees within the office of the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, resulting in “less than effective DoD strategic oversight" that hampered implementation of suicide prevention programs, according to the report released Wednesday.

According to Pentagon data, 130 active-duty troops died by suicide from January through June this year, along with 89 reserve members and 56 National Guard members.

Last year, 273 active-duty personnel, 170 reservists and 91 Guardsmen took their own lives.

Military suicides rose steadily from 2006 to 2009 before leveling off for two years. They then increased sharply in 2012, peaking at a high of 321 active-duty, 192 reserve and 130 Guard deaths.
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Military suicides remain constant despite Pentagon efforts
Stars and Stripes
By Heath Druzin
Published: October 2, 2015

WASHINGTON — Despite an ongoing Pentagon campaign to combat suicide, the numbers of troops who killed themselves held steady in the first half of 2015, with active duty numbers down and reserve numbers up over the same period last year, according to the most recent Department of Defense statistics.

The Defense Department quarterly statistics, released Wednesday, show 219 troops took their lives in the first half of this year, as compared to 223 in the first half of 2014. Military suicides are down 8 percent from the first half of 2013, when there were 238.

For this year, the number of suicides breaks down to 130 among active duty troops and 89 among the Reserves and National Guard. That represents a 9 percent drop for active duty troops and a 10 percent rise for reserve troops over the same period last year.
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I left this comment

Why? How about you start with Comprehensive Soldier Fitness? Suicides went up after this started. How did they expect telling soldiers they could train their brains to be mentally tough would work when that meant they were weak if they suffered? It fed the stigma. Plus add in another fact that there are less serving since 2012 and you'll begin to understand how huge this issue is. Veteran suicides went up for OEF and OIF generation as well. They are triple their civilian peer rate. They were trained to suffer in silence too!

Army Reserve Captains Attacked Outside Restaurant

UPDATE: Army captain assaulted on Plaza out of hospital, back at Ft. Leavenworth
He is at Leavenworth for 12-week course
KSHB 41 News Kansas City
Shain Bergan, Nick Sloan
Sep 26, 2015

The man punched the soldier, according to police. The other five individuals then piled on and began punching and kicking the soldier while he was on the ground.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - UPDATE, 9/28: The Army captain who suffered serious injuries after being assaulted on the Country Club Plaza on Sept. 19 was released from the hospital Monday. He is back at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., being examined by on-base medical crews, according to officials there.

The 37-year-old man was admitted at St. Luke's hospital in Kansas City after being jumped by six assailants outside of the Zocalo Mexican restaurant on the Plaza in Kansas City, Mo. Another Army captain he was with was also assaulted, but was treated at the scene and released, according to Fort Leavenworth officials.

Both captains serve in the Army Reserve with the 151st Theater Information Operations Group at Fort Totten, New York. They are at Fort Leavenworth for a 12-week qualification course

Officials said the severely injured captain met with family at the base and was released from on-base medical care Monday.
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Air Force Record Number Suicides Years After "Preventing" Them?

Air Force Must Do More to Curb Record Number of Suicides, Cody Says 
Military.com
by Richard Sisk
Sep 16, 2015

According to the 2014 Defense Department 4th Quarter Suicide Information Report, the Army had 122 active-duty suicides, the Navy 53, the Air Force 59, and the Marine Corps 34. The 59 deaths in the Air Force were the most in a single year for the service since the military began tracking suicides closely in the early 2000s.

When life gets difficult, suicide can seem like the only way out.

(U.S. Air Force photo illustration/Steven White)

The Air Force has to do a better job of curbing suicides and dealing with quality of life issues that add to stress in the ranks following the worst year on record for suicides, the top enlisted airman said.

When asked what the service was doing to bring down the suicide rate, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force James A. Cody said "Obviously not enough to be honest with you. We're struggling with it."

He pointed to an upcoming summit among the services on the issue to "try to figure how we're missing the mark. We lose too many airmen. We lose far too many airmen. I wish I had a good answer on how to get out of this."

Cody and his wife, Athena, spoke Monday at a forum on personnel with Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James and Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh and their spouses at the Air Force Association's annual Air and Space Conference at National Harbor, Maryland.

A Pentagon report in the spring said that the number of suicides among active-duty military personnel increased slightly last year, while those among members of the Reserves and National Guard dropped by nearly 25 percent.
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Just a thought but do you think he'll figure out they should stop doing what hasn't worked and start doing what does work?

Tastes From Home Reach Afghanistan Dunkin’ Donuts Coffee and Fluffernutter

Swampscott care is felt in Afghanistan 
The Daily Item
By Gayla Cawley
Posted: Monday, September 14, 2015

Care packages from Swampscott to Afghanistan Chief Master Sergeant Patrick Burke, left, of Swampscott and Sergeant Stanley Bembo hold posters from Clarke Elementary School students.

SWAMPSCOTT — While Swampscott’s Patrick Burke, a chief master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, is stationed in Afghanistan, he wants to make sure people know how grateful he is for care packages sent from students at Clarke Elementary School this past spring.

Burke put in a call from Afghanistan last Thursday morning to explain how students from the school have been sending him packages over his past deployments — he’s on his fourth tour in Afghanistan — and sent him a huge shipment, weighing hundreds of pounds, this past spring. He said the shipment was part of the school’s “Support the Troops” drive. He said the effort was led by the fourth grade class at the time. 

Burke, whose son attends the school, took a leave of absence from his full-time job at General Electric in Lynn when he was deployed. When he’s not on active duty, he is a reserve Air Force member, and normally works one weekend a month at the Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee.

He is due to end his deployment and return home in November. Burke said the 10 packages included his favorite things, such as Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, peanut butter and Fluff. He said the packages also included letters from students, cookies, candy and essential items, such as soap and toothbrushes.

He was able to distribute the materials between himself and the 50 men and women in his unit. He said the packages “raise morale for everyone.” read more here

Hundreds Mourn Loss of Officer Charles "G I Joe" Gliniewicz

Funeral of Illinois police officer draws hundreds of mourners 
AOL News
BRENDAN O'BRIEN
Sep 7th 2015

Gliniewicz retired as a first sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserve and his awards as a police officer included a medal of valor. He also was involved in a youth law enforcement training program for about a decade.

Hundreds of mourners gathered in Illinois on Monday for the funeral of police officer Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, who was shot last week while pursuing three suspects who are still on the loose.

Police officers from nearby towns were among those who filled the Antioch Community High School auditorium to pay last respects to Gliniewicz, an officer for the village of Fox Lake in northwestern Illinois. Two overflow rooms were also nearly full.

Outside the high school, hundreds of people lined the sun-washed streets to watch the funeral procession. They held American flags and tied blue ribbons around their wrists as a tribute to Gliniewicz.

Some held homemade signs saying: "Rest in Peace, Joe." Two fire-truck ladders held a large U.S. flag that waved in the wind.

Gliniewicz, a decorated 30-year veteran of the Fox Lake Police Department and the father of four boys who was known as "G.I. Joe," was killed on Tuesday. He was 52.
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Veteran's Unlawful-Search Suit Tossed in D.C.

Under the law is a requirement to report anyone who is a threat to themselves or others. That depends on how serious the observer thinks the situation is. Is there a need to act instantaneously? Most of the time, it is, because hindsight could end up coming too late to save a life. Veterans don't call the Suicide Hotline for fun. They call it out of desperation.

After tracking reports around the country, the fact is, when police officers are called, they usually end with officers having to explain why a call for help left a veteran in jail or dead.

In this case, the mental health worker did the right thing and so did the officers, for the most part, because the veteran is still alive and was taken to get the help he needed.

Veteran's Unlawful-Search Suit Tossed in D.C.
Courthouse News
By ROSE BOUBOUSHIAN
August 27, 2015

(CN) - A veteran has no claims against Washington, D.C., police for searching his home, taking a grenade and several guns, leaving the door open, and letting his fish die, a federal judge ruled.Matthew Corrigan, a former D.C. resident and an Army reservist, phoned the National Suicide Hotline - though he believed he was calling the military's emotional-support hotline - on the night of Feb. 2, 2010, because "he was depressed and had not slept for several days," according to court records.

In response to questioning, Corrigan told a hotline employee that he was a veteran and owned firearms, but did not indicate that he planned to harm anyone or kill himself, he claims. Corrigan turned off his phone, took prescribed sleeping pills and fell asleep, according to his lawsuit.

Unbeknownst to Corrigan, the employee called 911 and reported an attempted suicide. Metropolitan police officers were sent to Corrigan's apartment around 11 p.m., where they reported a strong odor of natural gas, so they had the service cut off.

The reservist says he awoke at about 4 a.m. on Feb. 3, hearing his name being called over a bullhorn, and saw about eight cops in the back yard and 20 in the front, lit up by floodlights.

When he came outside at about 4:50 a.m. and locked his apartment, he refused to give the key to an officer, who said he did not "have time to play this constitutional bullshit. We're going to break down your door. You're going to have to pay for a new door," according to Corrigan's deposition testimony.

Officers then entered and reportedly found a military smoke grenade and whistler device. Corrigan claims police took him to a Veterans Affairs hospital, where he admitted himself for three days because weapons being pointed at him triggered "PTSD hyper-vigilance."

"Under the community caretaking, exigent circumstances, and emergency aid doctrines, Lt. Glover's orders to the [Emergency Response Team] and [Explosive Ordnance Division] Unit to enter without a warrant and search the plaintiff's apartment for people, threats, and hazardous materials were objectively reasonable and, therefore, did not violate the plaintiff's Fourth Amendment rights," Howell wrote.
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Two Troy Police Officers Shot, One is Air Force Reservist

Suspect dead in exchange of gunfire; 2 wounded Troy police officers identified
Press conference at 11 a.m. will detail attempted carjacking incident, shootout
Times Union
Staff report
Sunday, August 23, 2015

Comitale is a 7-year member of the force, and Chad Klein, a 9-year member who is an Air Force Reserve veteran who served in the Gulf War. Klein will need surgery in the future, and Comitale will need additional surgeries on his legs, Tedesco said.

Calling it the first time in 40 years that a city police officer has been shot, Chief John Tedesco outlined Sunday morning how a carjacking suspect allegedly shot two officers before being shot multiple times himself and Tasered.

The suspect, now identified as Thaddeus Faison, 39, of Albany, died from his injuries. Tedesco, who held the press conference at 11 a.m. at Troy City Hall, said Faison approached a man in a car near 114th Street and Second Avenue around 10:45 p.m. Saturday night. Tedesco called it an attempted carjacking, with the victim driving away from the scene. Tedesco said the victim called someone to tell them what happened, and that person called police.
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New York Marine Reservist Died After Motorcycle Accident

Andrew Salabarria, USMC Afghanistan veteran, dies at 23 in motorcycle crash
Staten Island Advance
August 19, 2015

After his return from active duty, he joined the USMC Reserves and was working for a moving company in Manhattan.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Funeral arrangements have been set for Andrew Salabarria, 23, of Annadale, who died early Sunday morning in Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, of injuries sustained when his motorcycle crashed in Bulls Head.

Born and raised in New Dorp Beach, Mr. Salabarria had been interested in the military since he was a boy and his family moved to South Beach so he could attend Susan E. Wagner High School, which has an Air Force Junior ROTC program.

Mr. Salabarria served for four years in the Marine Corps, including two tours in Afghanistan, where he saw duty as a turret gunner in Helmand province, assigned to Combat Logistics Regiment 2, Regional Command (Southwest), leading convoys.
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Fort McCoy Reservist From Chicago Death Under Investigation

Reservist who died at Fort McCoy identified
WISN ABC News
Published 1:41 PM CDT Aug 14, 2015

SPARTA, Wis. — Fort McCoy has identified an Army reservist who died after being found unresponsive at the Wisconsin training base.

The Army says Staff Sgt. Aida Hernandez was 31 and from Chicago. 
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Army Reserve and Guard Not Sure How Many Fit to Fight?

GAO: Army Reserve, Guard don’t know how many soldiers are fit to fight 
Stars and Stripes
By Jennifer H. Svan
Published: August 7, 2015

The GAO evaluated data from January 2015 regarding 85,000 soldiers in six units. Of these, about 66,000 soldiers were listed as available and 19,000 were listed as nonavailable.

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — The Army Reserve and Army National Guard can’t properly determine how many of their soldiers are fit to fight, sometimes listing jailed soldiers as available to conduct missions, the Government Accountability Office says in a recent report.

The nonpartisan GAO also determined that hundreds of soldiers who were reported as ready to to serve were actually ineligible to mobilize and deploy under Army guidance.

The inconsistencies suggest the components’ overall nonavailability rates as of January — 22 percent in the Reserve and 21 percent in the National Guard — could be even higher.

The audit highlights the problem at a time when both the Army and Reserve components are drawing down, making accurate tracking of soldier availability even more critical, the GAO said. read more here

Army Reservist Due Promotion Killed in Her Home

Woman shot, killed remembered as loving mother, dedicated soldier
El Paso Times
By Aaron Martinez
POSTED: 08/01/2015

A 29-year-old woman shot to death Thursday night was known as a loving mother to an 8-year-old girl, a dedicated soldier and an all-around wonderful person, neighbors said at a vigil on Friday.

Blanca Rivera, 29, was shot and killed at about 9:15 p.m. at her home in the 11500 block of St. Thomas Way in East El Paso, police said. Her husband, Steven Quinteros-Rios, 25, was arrested in connection with slaying, police said.

Neighbors in the small gated community gathered Friday night in front of Rivera's home to pray and sing, including "Amazing Grace," in her memory. More than a dozen neighbors attended the vigil. They lit candles and left flowers and stuffed animals in front of her home.

"It is just heartbreaking," said Angel May, who lives across the street from Rivera. "I have known her for about a year. She was a soldier in the Army, she was funny, she was just a sweet girl all around. She loved her daughter so much. Blanca was such a great, loving mother."

Several neighbors said that Rivera served in the U.S. Army and was just two days from being promoted to staff sergeant.

Fort Bliss officials said Rivera was not stationed at the post, but was assigned to a local U.S. Army Reserve unit in the El Paso area.

"She was always friendly and would come talk to us and we would just laugh," said Maria Estela Cheung. She said she witnessed the start of the incident and called 911. "She was a wonderful person and an even better mother. It is just so sad that she lost her mother."
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Iraq Veteran Killed in Kermit Texas

Deadly Shooting Outside Bar in Kermit
NewsWest 9
By Kalene O'Brien
Updated: Jul 27, 2015

WINKLER COUNTY, TX - One person was shot and killed outside of a bar in Kermit over the weekend. Authorities are now working to figure out who’s at fault. It happened around 1:00 a.m. on Saturday at the Texas Moon Bar and Lounge.

It all started out as a fist fight and then quickly turned into a deadly shootout between four guys. Locals say it’s a shock for their small community. 25 year old Mark Stahlman was killed by the gunfire.

His brother was one of the four guys involved in the gunfight.

The other two guys were place in custody for just over four hours before they were released. read more here

Illinois County VA Superintendent Veteran Locked Out For PTSD?

Advocate for veterans says PTSD caused manic episode 
Belleville News Democrat
BY ELIZABETH DONALD
July 18, 2015

“PTSD is not a mental disease, it is a neurochemical change brought on by the experiences of combat or stress,” he said. It is very common for people with PTSD not to even seek treatment due to its massive misunderstandings, he said — “being good soldiers, they keep their mouths shut.” Dr. Jay Liss

A Madison County veterans’ advocate has been locked out of his office after a mental break related to post-traumatic stress disorder, and he is suing the county for permission to return to work, with the backing of the commission that hired him.

Bradley Lavite is the superintendent of the Madison County Veterans Assistance Commission, which operates a number of veterans’ services out of the Madison County Administration Building. Lavite is a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Army Reserves and an adjunct professor of military science with the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Reserve Officer Training Corps. Library of Congress records indicate Lavite served in Kuwait, Fallujah and Baghdad, achieving the rank of captain as platoon leader and convoy commander. Through his service, he has been decorated with the Combat Action Badge, two National Defense Service medals and the Bronze Star, among others. He became superintendent of the VAC in 2009, and was named veteran of the month by the state of Illinois in 2012.

But Lavite has had problems, which his attorney said are attributed to post-traumatic stress disorder relating to his service. In early March, his wife applied for a temporary restraining order, though later she asked a judge to let the order expire. In that application, Sherry Lavite wrote that her husband now had been properly diagnosed and medicated, which had not always been the case since returning from service overseas.

“America doesn’t understand combat in general,” he said. “They’re used to going to the movies, seeing horrible things...and think they’re a veteran themselves, because they’re used to turning it off and going for pizza.” read more here