Elderly Florida Veterans Attacked

Air Force veteran, 90, attacked in Publix parking lot; police search for suspects, witnesses

ABC Action News

Kelly Razzle

October 27, 2017

Police say the arguing lasted approximately six minutes. Police say one of the occupants of the black vehicle struck the 90-year-old man, causing him to land face first on the pavement and hit his head. The victim briefly lost consciousness due to the fall. 

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - A 90-year-old Air Force veteran was attacked in a Winter Haven Publix parking lot on Wednesday and police are now searching for the suspects involved and anyone who may have witnessed the incident.

On Wednesday, October 25, at approximately 4:50 p.m. the 90-year-old victim, who police are not identifying, was backing his car out of a parking space at the Publix located at 1395 6th St. NW in Winter Haven. 

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Man accused of killing veteran, 87, commits suicide, officials say

WFTV ABC News
October 27, 2017

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - A man who was arrested on charges of killing an 87-year-old veteran, was found unresponsive inside the Orange County Jail, officials said Friday. 

Authorities said Edward Marrero was taken to a hospital where he died. They believe he committed suicide. Officials said he was not on suicide watch. 
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Police Officer Takes Action When 89 Year Old Veteran Appeared Abused

Elderly neglect suspected after veteran pictured with growth on ear
KENS 5 San Antonio
Marvin Hurst
October 26, 2017

SAN ANTONIO - An elderly man sitting in a local fast food restaurant seemed unaware of massive growth near and on his ear. Luckily, a law enforcement agent in the same restaurant was.

Prior to the agent's management denying access for an interview with KENS 5, we talked with him informally about an image of elderly man posted on his personal Facebook page. He said the man was an 89-year-old veteran who looked like he had maggots crawling in his ear.

KENS 5 confirmed the San Antonio Fire Department sent an EMS crew to 3239 South East Military Drive on October 18.

According to the law enforcement agent, the elderly man refused treatment because he was worried about the cost of the ambulance ride. The agent said they convinced the man to go to the hospital.
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Fake Vietnam Veterans Facebook Page Got More Views Than Real One?

Facebook shuts down ‘imposter’ veterans page

Stars and Stripes
Nikki Wentling
October 25, 2017

Vietnam Veterans of America, a congressionally chartered veterans service organization, runs a public Facebook page. Another page, Vietnam Vets of America, isn’t affiliated with a major veterans group. VVA calls them an "imposter page." 

WASHINGTON – Facebook Inc. disabled a page on its social media platform Tuesday after determining it violated the intellectual property of a congressionally chartered veterans service organization.

The company shut down the page Vietnam Vets of America, which created politically divisive posts and had a following of nearly 200,000 people. That’s tens of thousands more than the number following Vietnam Veterans of America, a page run by the veterans service organization of the same name that accused the other page of being an “imposter.”

Vietnam Vets of America violated a section of the social media network’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities about protecting other people’s rights, said a Facebook official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the information had not been publicly released.

The action comes months after Vietnam Veterans of America alerted Facebook’s security team.

“We’re glad to see that Facebook is taking seriously the fact that agents outside the U.S. are targeting veterans on social media,” said John Rowan, president of Vietnam Veterans of America.

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Disabled Veterans Reaching Out For Help

Ohio

Veteran, disabled police officer now calls fifth-wheel camper home in Highland County

A disabled former police officer and U.S. Army veteran is now calling a small fifth-wheel camper home in northern Highland County.

He met with The Highland County Press this week inside his Big Sky Montana camper parked in a rural area on private property between Leesburg and Greenfield.

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Michigan

Disabled veteran fights massive tax bill from IRS

LANSING, Mich. - A disabled veteran is in the fight of his life as the country he fought to serve and protect is fighting him for a massive sum of money.

William Milzarski, 46, is a highly decorated, disabled Michigan Army veteran, but now he's being forced to take on a new battle. The IRS has left him with a financial burden he struggles to carry.

Many college graduates know the crushing weight of college debt. Milzarski said he succeeded in getting his debt canceled, but the IRS still has its hand out.

Milzarski served three years as an engineer during the first Gulf War before he left the military, finished law school and became a top state of Michigan disability advocate.

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Indiana

Disabled veteran frustrated by craftsmanship of donated home

ANDERSON, Ind. -- A disabled veteran in Anderson is frustrated after he says a non-profit organization took on more than they could handle and left him with an unfinished home with lots of projects to complete.

Tim Senkowski lost both of his legs to a buried explosive while serving in Afghanistan.

“I lost both my legs – they cut right above the joints. I lost half my bicep, three-quarters of my triceps,” said Senkowski.

After he returned home to Anderson, he was put in touch with a local non-profit veterans group called “The Path Home.” Organizers there offered to build he and his family a house with donated time and resources.

But the process was slow, Senkowski said it took four years for him to get the keys to his new home – and it was still incomplete. 

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Bored Florida High School Student Called Veterans Suicide Prevention Hotline!!!!

Student, bored in class, prank calls veterans' suicide hotline
USA Today
Pamela McCabe
October 26, 2017

FORT MYERS, Fla. — A Lee County student is in trouble at school after making three false reports to a suicide prevention hotline for veterans — all because he was bored in class.

The student, who hasn't been identified, attends Ida S. Baker High School in Cape Coral and used his cellphone to log into the Veterans Crisis Line.

The student first logged into the hotline Oct. 18, when he reported that he "had a gun and was going to kill themselves," a report from the Lee County Sheriff's Office states.

A district IT staff member, who was contacted by the hotline, was able to track the phone, a Samsung Galaxy S8, to one of three classrooms on campus.

The onsite deputy for the school alerted the teachers so they could be aware of the situation.

The same cellphone contacted the hotline again on Monday, roughly an hour into the school day. This time the student falsely reported that they had "cut their wrist and were bleeding out" at a McDonald's in Seattle.
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What would this kid think if he had to explain to the family of a veteran, who did commit suicide, why this seemed like a fun thing to do?

Veterans Call "Choice" a Disaster

HINT TO CONGRESS: VETERANS WANT THE VA TO WORK AND YOU GUYS TO ACTUALLY DO YOUR JOB AND MAKE SURE IT DOES! STOP SELLING THEM OUT AND PUTTING THEM INTO THE MESS THE REST OF US HAVE TO DEAL WITH!!!!

Veterans call program to get health care with civilian doctors 'a disaster,' broken

Independent Record

Holly K. Michels

October 24, 2107

Veterans from around the state expressed frustration over the Veterans Choice program, meant to increase access to health care, during a listening session in Helena on Monday night.

Veteran Don Paul discusses the tribulations he endured while trying to acquire new prescription glasses during a town hall meeting at The American Legion Post in Helena.Thom Bridge, thom.bridge@helenair.com

Nearly 50 veterans came to American Legion Post No. 2 to talk about their experiences with Veterans Affairs Department health care. The town hall is one of about a dozen the Legion will hold around the country this year to gather feedback to share with state congressional delegations and VA officials.

“That Choice is broke, broke, broke,” said veteran Tom Johnson, who said he was employed by the VA for more than three decades. “The VA has gone downhill drastically in the last eight years.”

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Fort Hood Solider Found Dead Identified

Fort Hood: Soldier found dead in off-post residence identified

KWTC News

Staff

October 24, 2017

FORT HOOD, Texas (KWTX) Fort Hood Tuesday identified a soldier who was found dead in his off-post residence on Oct. 18 in Copperas Cove as Spc. Luke Hampton Toomey, 21, of Lakeland, Tenn.

Copperas Cove police and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command are investigating the circumstances of the death, Fort Hood said.

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Penn State Gets New Mental Health Center?

It isn't just the VA spending money for "research" on PTSD but also the National Institute of Mental Health. Take a look at how long Cognitive therapy has been around.

Penn receives $6.4 million from NIMH for new mental health center

WHYY

Anne Hoffman

October 25, 2017

A $6.4 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health will fund a new research center at the University of Pennsylvania to study how evidence-based treatment can better circulate to more therapists and mental health care providers.

University of Pennsylvania (Ashley Hahn/PlanPhilly

Researchers want to try to reduce the “research to practice gap” in mental health.

Rinad Beidas, an assistant professor of psychiatry and director of implementation research at Penn, said it takes 17 years for a small percentage of research to make its way into community settings.

“That means that if an innovation today was developed to treat a particular condition, it’s likely that a patient with that condition today may never get that innovation,” she said. “And if they do get it, it will be many years in the future … there is a growing sense and understanding in the literature that that’s not acceptable.”

Take cognitive behavioral therapy, for example. It was developed in the 1960s, and though it’s been proved to work, lots of providers still don’t use it.

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Honor Flight Brought Veterans of Military and Law Enforcement to DC

Veterans who also served in law enforcement get a warm welcome home at CVG

WCPO News
Ashley Zilka
October 24, 2017

HEBRON, Ky. -- The country's first-ever law enforcement "honor flight" returned home Tuesday night to a waiting crowd of 1,000 well-wishers at Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky Airport. 

Honor Flight Network organizers said they had never seen such a large turnout to welcome passengers home.

"We need more of this in America," Chief Jim Gilbert, who accompanied his Vietnam veteran father Harry and brother Officer Eric Gilbert on the trip, said.

"(It was) overwhelming," Harry Gilbert added. "I never dreamed something like this. … I am at a loss for words."

The Honor Flight Network recognizes veterans by flying them to Washington, D.C., to visit memorials dedicated to the wars in which they fought. Tuesday night's was special in that, like Harry Gilbert, every passenger honored by the trip was a veteran who entered law enforcement when they left the military.
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Homeless Army Veteran and Wife Have New Home

U.S. Army veteran and wife look to keep homelessness behind them

KTBS News

Sierra Pizarro

October 24, 2017

Rhonda and her husband work at Overton Brooks VA Medical Center.

The two bedroom one bathroom home sits on the 600 block of Yarbrough Street in Bossier City, La.

(Bossier City, La.) -- From homeless to homeowners: a U.S. Army veteran and his wife are handed the keys to their first home - a freshly built, bright blue house.

It is the Fuller Center's 57th home, dedicated to Mr. and Mrs. Sterling Combs, in honor of Melissa Rose Maggio and Molly Reed - two young women, both killed in car accidents.

To give back, Mrs. Combs tells KTBS-3 News the first thing she wants to do after moving in is create a garden in Molly's name.

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