Orlando Nam Knights Eternal Chapter Memorial Ceremony

Orlando Nam Knights Eternal Chapter held their annual memorial for fallen members during Biketoberfest party

Veterans in other news October 17, 2018

Ex-Marine to serve 18 years after attempt to run over Las Vegas pastor

A former Marine convicted of menacing his neighbors and attacking a Las Vegas pastor was ordered to serve up to 46 years behind bars on Tuesday. Walter Laak was found guilty but mentally ill in August after prosecutors argued that he knew his actions in September 2016 were illegal, while acknowledging that the Iraq War veteran suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder...He was acquitted of one count of assault with a deadly weapon. Laak, who served two tours of duty in Iraq, was accused of beating and attempting to run over a Las Vegas pastor with his vehicle, then driving to the victim’s home and firing multiple gunshots into it while the pastor’s wife and children were inside. It was the third serious crime for which Laak faced charges since his return from combat. He was given a general discharge in 2005. read more here

We’re Too Excited About MDMA’s Potential for Treating PTSD is the headline, however, it is far from new. They have been "researching" it since the 70's.

Read the rest of the article on SLATE here

Florida man rescued after clinging to capsized boat for nearly 20 hours says he prayed, 'called on the Father'

“A bigger wave came and it just filled the back of the boat up and it just went down,” Stills told FOX35. The grandfather and Vietnam War veteran grabbed onto the boat while his friend, 73-year-old Earnest Jones, ended up in the water with a lifejacket on. “Then he started drifting off and he told me to stay with the boat,” Stills told FOX35. read more here

An Army Veteran Wages War on Social-Media Disinformation

 The Wall Street Journal

Kris Goldsmith’s campaign to get Facebook Inc. to close fake accounts targeting U.S. veterans started with a simple search. He was seeking last year to gauge the popularity of the Facebook page for his employer, Vietnam Veterans of America. The first listing was an impostor account called “Vietnam Vets of America” that had stolen his group’s logo and had more than twice as many followers. Mr. Goldsmith, a 33-year-old Army veteran, sent Facebook what he thought was a straightforward request to take down the bogus page. 

At first, Facebook told him to try to work it out with the authors of the fake page, whom he was never able to track down. Then, after two months, Facebook deleted it. The experience launched him on a hunt for other suspicious Facebook pages that target military personnel and veterans by using patriotic messages and fomenting political divisions. It has become a full-time job. read more here

Veterans in other news for October 14, 2018

Colorado man charged in slaying of Army captain from Santa Fe

Santa Fe New Mexican
Cynthia Miller
October 13, 2018

Police have charged a Colorado Springs, Colo., man in the September slaying of a 28-year-old U.S. Army captain from Santa Fe who was found fatally shot near an intersection east of the city’s downtown area.

Gilberto Chavez Jr., 27, who was already jailed on unrelated charges, faces a count of first-degree murder in Army Capt. Daniel Chamberlain Lehman’s slaying, the Colorado Springs Police Department announced Friday in a Facebook post. Chavez is being held without bond in the El Paso County, Colo., jail.Police found Lehman’s body at the end of a trail of blood around 7 a.m. Sept. 15. But they believe he was shot about five hours earlier and two blocks away. read more here

Crooked scientist who worked on 

combat PTSD research dodges prison 

by playing piano for poor people

By: Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press

In June, Neumeister pleaded guilty to theft of government funds. He admitted stealing $87,000 from New York University and various grant programs from 2012 to 2014.

NEW YORK — A former prominent neurological researcher at Yale and New York universities avoided prison time Wednesday for stealing research funds, but a judge said he must play piano for indigent elderly people in Connecticut to make amends.

The unusual sentence for Dr. Alexander Neumeister was handed out Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres.

Neumeister must play piano an hour at least twice weekly for the next three years at group facilities in Bridgeport, New Haven, Hartford and Waterbury, the Manhattan judge said.
read more here

Car repair shop owners helping veterans get service dogs

Rocket City Now
By: Kelly Kennedy
Posted: Oct 13, 2018

"Most of the veterans that I've dealt with over the years that have had PTSD or non-physical injuries coming back from war, there's something not quite wired right because of the job that they had to go do," said LeClair.

Car repair shop owners in Hazel Green are doing what they know best to help others. The Lowdown in Dubtown event is put on annually to support local causes.

There was a 50/50 engine blow contest where participants bought guesses on how long an old engine would run.

The event is raising money for the Train a Dog, Save a Warrior charity this year. The charity trains dogs to help veterans better adapt to life after war.

Certified dog trainer, Sara Astle, siad, "People who join the program do it because they feel that they need the dog to help them regain their life."

"What we see is more of an emotional support, and the dog can actually read if the veteran is having a bad day, if the PTSD is starting to kick up," said owner of Airkooled Kustoms, Eric LeClair.
read more here

'The greatest honor': 3 names added to California Vietnam Veterans Memorial

KCRA News
Max Resnik
October 13, 2018

Three names were enshrined on the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Saturday.

The names were read aloud during an elaborate ceremony on the California State Capitol grounds.

Joining more than 5,000 other Vietnam veterans on the memorial were MSgt. William A. Gerg, U.S. Air Force, of North Highlands; Spec. 4 James E. Williams, U.S. Army, of Bakersfield; and CTM2 Gregory K. Zeller, U.S. Navy, of Pasadena.

"It is like the greatest honor that I think that anybody could have done for him, for the things that he did for everybody," said William Gerg about his father.

Unlike the overwhelming majority of names at the memorial, Gerg's father made it home from his two tours in Vietnam, where he served as an Air Force flight engineer.

Decades later, the veteran would succumb to the effects of cancer in 2009 as a result of Agent Orange.
read more here

Veterans in other news October 9, 2018

By now you should have heard that Google+ will be shutting down. Now they are saying it will happen next year, but I am not waiting.

From today onward, news reports that used to be shared with followers there, will be on this site, in condensed format.

Since the national news 24-7 stations are no longer interested in anything but political talk, at least here, veterans are the story we cover! (OK, so we cover First Responders too, but they matter to us too :~)

If you subscribe to this site, then you will get a daily email that looks like this

Under the headlines that were posted the day before, you will see what is on the post. Then you can click the link or forward it to other people you know so that they can find out what is going on in other parts of the country, and often, in other parts of the world.

Because there are a lot of people who follow this site, in consideration of them, this is the best way to cover the news without driving them nuts with too many updates.

Followers get an email that looks like this every time a post goes up.

Considering there could be up to 30 updates, that would be way too many emails for most people to get through.

When there is a story that needs to be a single post, that will still be done as well.

I thought long and hard about this but when I thought about how Google+ posts end up going directly to the news source, it ended up cutting this site out. I had no way of knowing what stories mattered, or how many times it was read. Now I will know.

So dear readers, this is how the rest of the days will go. Let me know what you think. 

Leave a comment PLEASE because most of the time I do not hear from readers and IT GETS PRETTY LONELY by myself.

*******

Yokota airman, a recent ‘Airlifter of the Week,’ found dead in off-base home

STARS AND STRIPES
By SETH ROBSON
Published: October 8, 2018

Staff Sgt. Eliction Chan, 27, of the 374th Mission Support Group at Yokota Air Base, Japan, was found dead in her off-base residence, Monday, Oct. 1, 2018.

COURTESY OF THE U.S. AIR FORCE

Staff Sgt. Eliction Chan, 27, assigned to the 374th Mission Support Group at Yokota Air Base, Japan, died Oct. 1, according to an Air Force statement issued last week.

Chan had recently been named “Airlifter of the Week” by the 374th Airlift Wing, which encompasses the support group.
read more here

Florida's largest medical cannabis producer seeing 'huge transition' from opioids to marijuana treatment 
CNBC

CEO Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers describes how Florida's largest fully licensed medical marijuana company is faring amid the cannabis craze.

Rivers tells CNBC's Jim Cramer that Trulieve is "seeing a huge transition" from opioids to medical cannabis. Elizabeth Gurdus October 8, 2018

Florida patients with serious conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder are increasingly opting for medical cannabis over opioids, the CEO of the state's first and largest fully licensed medical marijuana company told CNBC on Monday.

"We're seeing a huge transition," Kim Rivers, the CEO of Trulieve, told "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer in an exclusive interview. "That's actually one of our initiatives in front of the [Florida state] legislature this upcoming session, to introduce policies to say instead of only having opioids as an alternative, why not medical cannabis?"

With over 80,000 patients and 17 retail locations in the state of Florida, Trulieve offers 90 cannabis-based products that help treat a series of conditions including seizure conditions, cancer and AIDS. A bulk of Trulieve's patients also suffer from PTSD given Florida's large veteran population, Rivers said.
read more here

Navy veteran and family still dealing with the mess Hurricane Irma left behind

NBC 8 News
By: Chip Osowski
Posted: Oct 08, 2018

WINTER HAVEN, Fla (WFLA)
When Faye Mays watches Hurricane Michael barrel toward the Florida panhandle, she thinks to herself, I hope those people have insurance. When Hurricane Irma blew through Polk County last year she thought she had insurance. She did not. She learned that the hard way when a huge Oak tree came crashing through the home she shared with her sister and two children.

The home on Sears Avenue Northeast in Winter Haven was willed to her and her sister by her parents. Her mother died unexpectedly and was quickly followed by her father. At some point during the funeral planning, burials and everything else that was going on, the insurance on the home lapsed.

It was September 10th, 2017 when Faye's life changed drastically. She was taking IT classes and had just laid down when the tree came crashing through the living room of the home. Had she been sitting on the couch where she normally sat, she believes she would've been killed. Her first priority: getting everyone out of the house safely. "We were able to get out," said Mays, pointing to one of the many wires that are haning from the exposed rafters. "These were sparking."
read more here

Navy petty officer wins transgender bodybuilding contest

By: David Goldman, The Associated Press 

 Wes Phills, of Brooklyn, N.Y., center, walks offstage after winning the overall award and middleweight class in the International Association of Trans Bodybuilders competition in Atlanta on Saturday. At left are fellow competitors Peter Moore, and Sandy Baird, both of Oakland, Calif., and Kennedy Conners, right, of Conyers, Ga., who took home the heavyweight trophy. (David Goldman/AP)

ATLANTA — It’s been 20 years since Charles Bennett took the stage to compete in bodybuilding. But at the age of 63, he’s now done something he’s never done before — compete as a man for the first time in what’s billed as the world’s only transgender bodybuilding competition.

Bennett and seven fellow competitors went before a crowd Saturday evening in the annual International Association of Trans Bodybuilders competition at a theater in Atlanta. read more here

Killed WWII Marine returning home after being buried for 75 years as an unknown serviceman
Associated Press
October 8, 2018 

Relatives of a Chicago-area Marine killed during World War II are welcoming his body back after 75 years being buried in Hawaii as an unknown serviceman.

Military officials say DNA tests helped confirm the identity of Marine Corps Tech. Sgt. Harry Carlsen of Brookfield, who was 31 when he was killed while storming a Japanese stronghold in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands.

Death by 'friendly fire': Local veteran's name added to Vietnam War Memorial
Bakersfield.com
Steven Mayer
October 9, 2018

It's extraordinary when you think about it, said Larry Bramblett, president of the Sonora chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America, where Williams was a remote member.

Williams didn't die of conventional wounds on the battlefield, Bramblett noted. He died slowly, over a period of decades, from a constellation of health problems that didn't leave bullet wounds, but were just as deadly.

"There should be a new Purple Heart just for the Agent Orange guys," Bramblett said. #AgentOrange

Navy mom's tweet makes #HimToo mockery go viral

Stars and Stripes
October 9, 2018

"This is MY son. He graduated #1 in boot camp. He was awarded the USO award. He was #1 in A school. He is a gentleman who respects women. He won't go on solo dates due to the current climate of false sexual accusations by radical feminists with an axe to grind. I VOTE. #HimToo," the tweet read.

She posted the now-deleted tweet on the day Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court, after a confirmation process that featured accusations of sexual misconduct. Twitter's response was rife with mockery, spawning a variety of "This is MY son" memes. And her sons had plenty to say, too.

Pieter Hanson, the son featured posing in his Navy uniform in the tweet, created an account in the early hours of Tuesday morning called @thatwasmymom. The first post?

"That was my Mom. Sometimes the people we love do things that hurt us without realizing it. Let’s turn this around. I respect and #BelieveWomen. I never have and never will support #HimToo. I’m a proud Navy vet, Cat Dad and Ally. Also, Twitter, your meme game is on point," he tweeted.
read more here

Veterans in other news

When reporters decided that they would cover politics more than anything else, everything else went unnoticed but we were actually looking out for veterans.

So, dear readers, here are veterans reports in other news!

Vietnam veteran was fired as Dean of military school. 
Why? He used cannabis for cancer.

Missing since Pearl Harbor Sailor's remains were identified as Harold Lloyd Head.

Widow of Sgt. Richard Kutch, will run the Marine Marathon to honor her husband. He committed suicide five years ago.

Army veteran Tyler Lackey was murdered at an ATM two years ago. Man was just convicted of it.

Navy veteran's puppies were stolen from his home. He is disabled.

Veteran reacted to the latest VA budget, sold by reporters as the largest in history, but did not mention that most of that increase goes to private providers and not into the VA.

Volunteers helped a Vietnam veteran who has been living out of his car. Why? His house was ruined by Hurricane Harvey. Yes, that long ago.

Two soldiers in Alaska were hunting when a bear dropped on them from a ridge after being shot. One of them has "life threatening injuries."

Lt. Col. Patrick Schreiber's adopted daughter is being deported. Why? He did not fill out the papers in time. He was deployed.

VA Secretary Robert Wilkie went to check the damage done to VA facilities by Hurricane Florence.

A headline that has been about Staff Sgt. Ronald Shurer II, receiving the Medal of Honor, should have mentioned that he is also dying of stage 4 lung cancer and has set up a GoFundMe for his family. Oh, by the way, he has also been serving in the Secret Service for President Trump.

There are a lot more but those are just from today on Google+.

Then again, considering they are also reporting on veterans committing suicide, missing several keys points, here are a few of those too.

Veteran suicides have increased, not decreased. The number of living veterans has decreased since 2005 but clearly this chart shows the bigger picture.

But reporters do not seem to mention any of this, other than a few who actually care.

You can also check to see how your state did with all the "raising awareness" campaigns going on, and on, and on.

Nam Knights off to the races in Leesburg

I see bed people!
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
June 24, 2018

Yesterday at Gator Harley Davidson in Leesburg Florida, the Green Swamp chapter of the Nam Knights had a unique fund raiser. They had groups race with costumes pushing beds. Yes, beds.

Members of some businesses, police officers, firefighters, Marines and one of them did pushups on the bed, Soldiers and even SWAT. Naturally SWAT had to top everyone with blowing something up!

And SWAT won!