Sunday, November 2, 2008

Shoot the Messenger - VA Tries to Fire Doctor-Turned-Whistleblower in Texas

"I had a chance to help 40,000 veterans with brain injury," Van Boven said. "I felt this was a gift and a blessing to help those who have served and suffered, and I am well trained to do it. ... I don't want these soldiers to become the next generation of homeless veterans."

Nov 1: Shoot the Messenger - VA Tries to Fire Doctor-Turned-Whistleblower in Texas

Laurel Chesky
Austin Chronicle (Texas)

Nov 01, 2008
October 31, 2008 - It all began with such promise. The Brain Imaging and Recovery Laboratory, launched in January, would hunt for treatments for what has become the Iraq war's signature ailment: traumatic brain injury. A program of the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, BIRL was housed at the University of Texas' J.J. Pickle Research Campus, where VA researchers had access to UT's $2.7 million brain scanner to help diagnose invisible head injuries.

But now, BIRL's research has ceased, and the program's director, neurologist Dr. Robert Van Boven, has been suspended from duty with pay since September, while the VA decides what to do with him. On Oct. 15, the VA held a closed hearing to determine whether or not to terminate Van Boven's employment. A board presiding over the hearing is expected to make a recommendation to Thomas Smith, the director of the Central Texas system, within a few weeks.

Van Boven is a compact, tightly wound man. Fast-talking and brimming with energy, he could serve as poster boy for the type A personality. His educational and professional feats match his tireless demeanor. Van Boven earned a doctorate in dental surgery from the University of Illinois and an M.D. from the University of Missouri. He completed two neurology residencies, at Harvard's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and at Northwestern University. He has worked as a clinician at the National Institutes of Health and as an associate professor at Chicago Medical School and Louisiana State University.

go here for more
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/11541

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Elizabeth Dole would attack Christ too


When Kay Hagan said she was suing Dole for this, I thought Dole would have been smart enough to just stop but she didn't.



Dole, despite outcry, unleashes another 'Godless' ad
U.S. Senate candidate Kay Hagan said she came to talk about issues, but it wasn't long after arriving at an early voting site in Charlotte that a few voters brought up what's become the focal point of the race — the "godless" ad that Sen. Elizabeth Dole is running against her. Dole unveiled a new one Friday. » read more


It doesn't matter to Dole that Hagan is a church elder in a Presbyterian church, and last I heard they were still a branch of the Christian faith. Maybe they are not Dole's kind of Christian, but Christian nonetheless. Dole is a Methodist. Now, while most Methodists I've met remember who Christ spent a good deal of His time with while He was on this earth, apparently this is a part of the Bible Dole skipped over.


Matthew 9:11-13 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society


11When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"

12On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

13But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=9&verse=11&end_verse=13&version=31&context=context

Another thing that Dole forgot is that this is a nation made up of many different faiths and many different people. As an elected official, they are supposed to represent all people and not just the people they agree with or like. They are supposed to take care of all of their constituents. If Dole doesn't think they should then she shouldn't be a politician. To attack someone with a lie is also breaking a Commandment and that, Christ made it even more of a sin when He said that it is not what enters into your body that matters, but what comes out of it, in other words, your own mouth. Dole must have skipped over this part too.

The Heart of Man

15 Peter said to Him, “Explain the parable to us.” 16 Jesus said, “Are you still lacking in understanding also? 17 “Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? 18 “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. 19 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. 20 “These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”
http://biblebrowser.com/matthew/15-1.htm


There is a lot of things someone like Dole must have decided did not matter to her when she can say what she has said about someone else. Someone who has devoted herself to her church, but happened to be in the wrong place, according to Dole. kc


VA hopes new shredding guidelines protect claims seekers

VA hopes new shredding guidelines protect claims seekers
By William R. Levesque, Times staff writer
In print: Saturday, November 1, 2008
The Department of Veterans Affairs is finalizing a sweeping new records policy to prevent the destruction of claims documents in benefits offices around the nation.

The policy comes as the VA continues to investigate improper shredding at a St. Petersburg veterans benefits office and 56 other regional offices in nearly every state.

The policy calls for the appointment of a records control team in Washington, D.C., to oversee the handling of documents. It also would lead to the hiring of records officers in each benefits office to do the same on a local level.

And before shredding any document, two VA employees, including a supervisor, would have to sign off, according to a draft of the policy obtained by the St. Petersburg Times on Friday.
The policy comes after the discovery last month of nearly 500 veterans' claims documents improperly set aside for shredding in 41 VA benefits offices.

The documents, which had no duplicates in VA files, could have been crucial in deciding if an individual veteran received a pension or disability payment.

That total includes 13 documents found in shredding bins in the VA's busiest benefits office at Bay Pines in St. Petersburg, where the agency's inspector general is still conducting an audit.

Bay Pines is the home benefits office for Florida's 1.8-million veterans and the 330,000 who live in the Tampa Bay area.

go here for more
http://www.tampabay.com/news/military/veterans/article884990.ece

As Taliban overwhelm police, Pakistanis hit back

As Taliban overwhelm police, Pakistanis hit back
By JANE PERLEZ AND PIR ZUBAIR SHAH
Citizens have been encouraged to form posses of their own in a sign of the shortcomings of Pakistan's police forces.
By Jane Perlez and Pir Zubair Shah
Published: November 1, 2008
SHALBANDI, Pakistan: On a rainy Friday evening in early August, six Taliban fighters attacked a police post in a village in Buner, a quiet farming valley just outside Pakistan's lawless tribal region.

The militants tied up eight policemen and lay them on the floor, and according to local accounts, the youngest member of the gang, a 14-year-old, shot the captives on orders from his boss. The fighters stole uniforms and weapons and fled into the mountains.

Almost instantly, the people of Buner, armed with rifles, daggers and pistols, formed a posse, and after five days they cornered and killed their quarry. A video made on a cellphone showed the six militants lying in the dirt, blood oozing from their wounds.

The stand at Buner has entered the lore of Pakistan's war against the militants as a dramatic example of ordinary citizens' determination to draw a line against the militants.

But it says as much about the shortcomings of Pakistan's increasingly overwhelmed police forces and the pell-mell nature of the efforts to stop the militants, who week by week seem to seep deeper into Pakistan from their tribal strongholds.
click link for more

Vickie Castro shares a mother's pain after stop-loss and son's death

Open letter to Mrs. Castro,

I don't know what it's like to lose a son or a daughter in combat. I don't know what it's like to lose a husband or a wife, or a father or a mother. I only see what it does to them after they come home. I pray you're pain is eased and you begin to heal the void your son's death has left within you.

What you said in this video is exactly what many have been saying, but far too few every really hear. You, as a mother, proud of your son, probably since the day he was born, supported what he wanted to do with his life. He was born with the warrior in his soul. That quality that makes them all willing to lay down their lives for the sake of someone else. I bet Jonathan would have been a police officer or a firefighter had he not joined the military or a National Guardsman. They have come into this world to defend others and that is a noble thing. What is not noble, is those who have sent them for absolutely nothing that had to do with our own security. This you know and that must be very painful above the fact your son was killed in combat.

There are some who have twisted supporting the troops into supporting those who sent them blindly. I feel sorry for them because they think they are doing the "patriotic" thing, not noticing the harm they are doing to the troops. They support stop-loss that holds soldiers long after they agreed to give the time in their lives and they find no problem at all with the troops not getting what they need when they need it or asking for proof of what they are told, or even holding any of the people in Washington responsible for any of it. This would not be bad enough if they did not turn around and attack people like you who have paid attention.

The same people who want to hold parades and cheer the troops when they come back, won't bother to write letters to make sure the wounded are taken care of properly, wounded are not forced to stand in a line that does not end trying to have their claims approved or have their wounds treated. They won't demand anything for the sake of the troops or the veterans. I see it all the time.

It must be a lot harder on you to have visit your son's grave and know what you know about why he was in Iraq, but please take comfort in knowing that your son died because he was willing to lay down his life for the sake of this nation and it was up to the people who sent him to honor the life he was willing to lose for our sake. They just didn't respect Jonathan's life enough, or any of the lives lost. The rest of us noticed this and we honor the lives of those who were willing to do what so few are willing to do. I think that's why we fight so hard. We just tend to value the lives more than the mission they are sent on when there is no need for the mission in the first place.

I often wonder if the supporters of the occupation of Iraq ever notice that no one argues about the need to send troops into Afghanistan, which was in direct response to the attacks here. I think they would be fully disgusted with themselves if they ever did. It's also one of the biggest reasons the politicians hardly ever mention Afghanistan. They wouldn't want to remind people that because troops were sent into Iraq, we have lost so many in Afghanistan.

I am determined to fight to have the warriors taken care of when it comes to PTSD because I live with it everyday in my own husband. The veterans and families trying to cope with it have tugged at my heart. You have now taken on the families who do not support the occupation of Iraq but have lost family members all the same. They need to hear you to find the support so few of the others are willing to give. They're too busy calling parents like you "anti-military" or "unpatriotic" depending on which talking point hit them the hardest. I know what it's like to live with PTSD, but you know what it's like to be in their shoes when they lost someone they loved. Reach out to them and help them heal and in doing so, like me, you will begin to heal yourself.

You will forever be in my prayers. Bless you for speaking out.

Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington


'Life as you know it stops
'Vickie Castro's 21-year-old son, Jonathan, was killed by an Iraqi suicide bomber after the Pentagon extended his tour of duty.

Dan Glaister hears her story

guardian.co.uk,
Saturday November 1 2008
Vickie Castro recalls the moment that every soldier's parent dreads most
Link to this video
She knew it could happen at any time. But in order to get through each day, Vickie Castro had to struggle to block the thought from her mind, and keep the fear at bay. That all ended when she saw the man in the neatly pressed uniform with all the medals on his chest coming to the door.
The officer knew what to do. He waited patiently until the screaming stopped. And then said: "I regret to inform you…" Vicki begins to cry as she tells the Guardian's Dan Glaister of the moment when she learned that her son, Army Spc Jonathan Castro, had been killed in Mosul, Iraq.
That was almost four years ago, when Jonathan was serving his second tour of duty on a "stop-loss" order, which required him to stay in the service beyond his initial enlistment. He was 21 years old when he died.
Neither Vickie nor anyone else in her family opposes the war for political reasons. Her son wanted to be a soldier. But the young combat engineer came to believe that the United States should not be in Iraq. Still, he continued to do his duty and serve his country. Vickie mentions that she distrusts John McCain, but says all that matters to her now is that the government brings the troops home.
click post title for more

Republican and voted for McCain kicked out of rally because she didn't look right?

“I saw a couple that had been escorted out and they were confused as well, and the girl was crying, so I said ‘Why are you crying? and she said ‘I already voted for McCain, I’m a Republican, and they said we had to leave because we didn’t look right,’” Elborno said. “They were handpicking these people and they had nothing to go off of, besides the way the people looked.”


October 30th, 2008 11:14 pm
Pre-emptive ejection: Audience members removed at McCain rally in Cedar Falls


By Dylan Boyle / Iowa State Daily

Audience members escorted out of Sen. John McCain’s, R-Ariz., campaign event in Cedar Falls questioned why they were asked to leave Sunday’s rally even though they were not protesting.

David Zarifis, director of public safety for the University of Northern Iowa, said McCain staffers requested UNI police assist in escorting out “about four or five” people from the rally prior to McCain’s speech.

Zarifis said while the people who were taken out weren’t protesting or causing problems, McCain’s staff were worried they would during the speech.

“Apparently, they had been identified by those staffers as potential protesters within the event,” Zarifis said. “The facility was rented by the RNC for the McCain campaign, so it’s really a private facility for them. We assisted in their desires to have those people removed.”

Lara Elborno, a student at the University of Iowa, said she was approached by a police officer and a McCain staffer and was told she had to leave or she would be arrested for trespassing.

go here for more
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=12471
linked from RawStory

Mary Schmich: A hip bakery where the bakers are homeless

Mary Schmich: A hip bakery where the bakers are homeless
Mary Schmich
October 31, 2008
Meet the cast of characters of the Sweet Miss Givings Bakery.

•Stan Sloan, 45, idea mastermind, a tanned Episcopal priest who wears a black leather jacket and grooves on Madonna.

•Stephen Smith, 28, chief operating officer, Harvard grad who just moved back to town with a master's degree from the London School of Economics.

•Kristi Gorsuch, 30ish, head baker, who earned her pastry degree at a school of the Cordon Bleu.

And the bakery's interns, among them:

•Mary Pelts, 44, 5th-grade graduate whose birth certificate, she says, carries the words "female pelvis" where a name should have gone, who was diagnosed with HIV in 2001 and never had a job except street hustling until she came to Sweet Miss Givings.

•Stanley Long Bey, 44, who was diagnosed with HIV the year he finished high school, who spent half his adult life in prison, and who, when he finally got out, had nowhere to sleep but parks and sidewalks.

Since last week when Mayor Daley snipped the ribbon, Reverend Stan, Stephen, Kristi, Mary, Stanley and a dozen others have come to work at this little brick factory off Division Street near the Chicago River.
click link for more of this great story!

Northwestern students deliver from Campus Kitchen to needy

Northwestern students deliver from Campus Kitchen to needy
Elizabeth Hubbard and her two children know that the meals they deliver to residents at a low-income apartment in Evanston are appreciated, but they recently discovered their visits mean much, much more.

"Mom, look," daughter Frances, 8, whispered during a stop at a woman's apartment. She noticed that every Valentine's Day card that she and her brother, Wyatt, 6, had drawn for residents during four years of delivering meals was displayed on the refrigerator.

"It's been a really rewarding thing for all of us," said Hubbard, whose mother also helps make the food runs for the Campus Kitchens Project at Northwestern University, which started in 2003. "We really enjoy the continuity of going to the same place. [The residents] enjoy watching the kids get bigger."

The project at Northwestern is one of the Chicago-area organizations supported by Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV Holiday Giving, a campaign of Chicago Tribune Charities, a McCormick Foundation Fund.
click link for more

4 teens die in head-on collision in Kane County


4 teens die in head-on collision in Kane County


Four people died early this morning in a head-on collision in unincorporated Burlington Township when a Pontiac Grand Am crossed the center line and slammed into a Pontiac Grand Prix.


The driver of the Grand Am, Eric Silva, 18, of Streamwood, was airlifted to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove where he was pronounced dead just after 1 a.m. Two passengers in his car, Christian Miguel Gody-Olvea, 19, and Andres Solis, 19, both of Streamwood, were pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the Grand Prix, Marco Leon, 19, of Elgin, was also pronounced dead at the scene.
click link for more

Police officer dies in the line of duty on what was supposed to be a night off


Schaumburg cop collapses, dies chasing suspect on foot
November 1, 2008

A Schaumburg police officer died early Saturday morning after collapsing while pursuing a suspect on foot in the 1000 block of Golf Road, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.


Officer Frank Russo, 47, was taken to Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove where he was pronounced dead shortly before 3 a.m. An autopsy is scheduled for today.

Schaumburg police said that Russo was working on his night off along with another officer
click post title for more

Retired Marine rebuilds his life after brush with death in Iraq


Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times
Wounded in Iraq, Nick Popaditch got a prosthetic eye decorated with the Marine Corps' eagle-globe-and-anchor logo. He has two others: one with the gun sights of a tank gunner and one with the logo of the 1st Tank Battalion.

Retired Marine rebuilds his life after brush with death in Iraq
Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times
Wounded in Iraq, Nick Popaditch got a prosthetic eye decorated with the Marine Corps' eagle-globe-and-anchor logo. He has two others: one with the gun sights of a tank gunner and one with the logo of the 1st Tank Battalion.
He has a new life and a new set of goals, including one to become a high school teacher. He has written a book, works with other wounded veterans and is a sought-after motivational speaker.
By Tony Perry
November 2, 2008
Reporting from San Diego -- In his San Diego apartment, retired Marine Gunnery Sgt. Nick Popaditch keeps two jagged hunks of metal from Iraq: one from a day of triumph, the other from the day he almost died.

One piece is from the statue of Saddam Hussein that Marines pulled down in central Baghdad in April 2003. A news photo from that day shows a grinning, cigar-smoking Popaditch sitting atop his tank as the statue fell.
click post title for more

Heroes of 2 Para: The bloody reality of the war against the Taliban

Heroes of 2 Para: The bloody reality of the war against the Taliban
By Andrew Malone Last updated at 10:00 PM on 31st October 2008


They've suffered the worst death rate since World War II. In the week they came home, battle-scarred Paras reveal the bloody reality of their terrifying war against 'Terry Taliban'.

On parade for the cameras this week, the soldiers of 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment had finally arrived home. They marched through the streets of Colchester, their Essex garrison town, applauded by hundreds of members of the public, friends and family. Tanned and fit, they cut heroic figures just returned from fighting a war on treacherous foreign fields.

Hugging their loved ones in the English rain, the soldiers spoke of their joy at seeing their families after a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan's Helmand province, a place of lethal intrigue known as the Tournament Of Shadows on account of the treachery by warlords vying for control. But this was not an entirely joyful homecoming. This battalion have gained the awful distinction of suffering the fiercest 'kill ratio' since World War II.

It was only after the cameras had gone, and the barrack doors were closed, that this remarkable story of 2 Para's deadly sojourn in the badlands of Afghanistan finally emerged in full.



Their mission was to win hearts and minds among the local population, train the Afghan National Army (ANA) to take over and carry out regular patrols to flush out Taliban fighters lurking in opium fields. In truth, all they really wanted to do was 'kill Terry'.

'We'd been training and training,' said Tom Wilson, 24, who had gone through basic selection with Dan Gamble. 'We'd done lots of live firing exercises. We were itching to put it all into action. But nothing happened. We could walk through villages and chat to the local people. It's not what we expected.' YET THE Taliban, many of whose soldiers repelled the might of the Soviet Red Army 30 years earlier, were simply biding their time.

They did not want fighting to damage their precious crop of opium poppies, used to fund their war against the West. That much became clear during a routine patrol on June 8, almost two months after Four Platoon arrived at Camp Inkerman.

About a mile-and-a-half from the garrison, the 30-strong patrol came across a strange fort built from mud. As they approached the fort, an old man shuffled into sight. The Para's regimental motto - Ready For Anything - was of little use. There was a deafening explosion. The old man was a suicide bomber. With the help of fellow Taliban soldiers, he had packed explosives around his body and covered them with his robes.

Then, as the British platoon approached, he pressed the detonator. It was a deadly new twist to the Taliban's tactics in the Afghan war. The scene was chaotic. Cries of 'Medic, medic!' could be heard above the noise of the fading explosion. Some soldiers fanned out to protect their flanks - and the wounded. Three men had been hit: Cuthie, 19, Dan, 22, and Dave, 19. They were treated at the scene, then airlifted out by helicopter. But it was hopeless. They died from their injuries. All three had been popular figures at Camp Inkerman.
click post title for more

SAS chief quits over 'gross negligence' that killed his troops

SAS chief quits over 'gross negligence' that killed his troops

A commander of the SAS in Afghanistan has resigned – blaming the Government's failure to provide adequate kit for the needless deaths of four of his colleagues. Major Sebastian Morley criticised the 'gross negligence' of Whitehall officials and military commanders. He said they repeatedly ignored his warnings about the vulnerability of Snatch Land Rovers.

Boatswain Mate 2nd Class Eugene Morgan, "buried at sea"



WWII veteran reunited with former shipmates
Archive WWII Disaster Still Vivid -- Survivors Of Indianapolis Sinking To Attend Memorial Ceremonies
When the submarine USS Ohio surfaced at sea and Machinist Mate 1st Class Jason Witty emerged from the hatch to look around, he saw calm...

By Eric Talmadge

The Associated Press


YOKOSUKA, Japan — When the submarine USS Ohio surfaced at sea and Machinist Mate 1st Class Jason Witty emerged from the hatch to look around, he saw calm, blue water under a peaceful sky — perfect for the solemn task he was about to perform.

On the map, the Bangor-based Ohio was afloat in just another indistinguishable expanse of the Pacific Ocean. As Witty, of Puyallup, stood on deck holding a silver pitcher, the vessel was alone.

Just like the ill-fated USS Indianapolis, 63 years earlier.

The pitcher contained the ashes of Witty's grandfather, Boatswain Mate 2nd Class Eugene Morgan, who had survived the sinking of the Indianapolis — one of the worst tragedies for the U.S. Navy in World War II.

Morgan, a Seattle firefighter, had died of a heart attack in June at age 87, just before Witty went to sea, and among his last wishes was the desire to be rejoined with his shipmates at roughly the same spot in the Pacific where the Indianapolis went down.

Witty, sitting in a wardroom of the Ohio at this Japanese port, recounted the Oct. 2 burial at sea, saying he had never participated in one before.

He had sheepishly asked one of the officers if his grandfather's wish could be granted. The request went up the chain of command to Capt. Dennis Carpenter, who quickly approved.

"I thought it would be an honor," Carpenter said. "And I wanted to make sure that we did it right. Sometimes on a submarine at sea, you just can't go topside. But everything seemed to be on our side."
click link for more

USS Indianapolis CA-35
This site is the official site of the USS Indianapolis Survivor's Organization. It is dedicated to all of the members of the crew.


The Worst Naval Disaster in US History

At 12:14 a.m. on July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the Philippine Sea and sank in 12 minutes. Of 1,196 men on board, approximately 300 went down with the ship. The remainder, about 900 men, were left floating in shark-infested waters with no lifeboats and most with no food or water. The ship was never missed, and by the time the survivors were spotted by accident four days later only 316 men were still alive.

The ship's captain, the late Charles Butler McVay III, survived and was court-martialed and convicted of "hazarding his ship by failing to zigzag" despite overwhelming evidence that the Navy itself had placed the ship in harm's way, despite testimony from the Japanese submarine commander that zigzagging would have made no difference, and despite that fact that, although over 350 navy ships were lost in combat in WWII, McVay was the only captain to be court-martialed. Materials declassified years later adds to the evidence that McVay was a scapegoat for the mistakes of others.

In October of 2000, following years of effort by the survivors and their supporters, legislation was passed in Washington and signed by President Clinton expressing the sense of Congress, among other things, that Captain McVay's record should now reflect that he is exonerated for the loss of the Indianapolis and for the death of her crew who were lost.
click link for more of this

Man who set self on fire released from UW job in August

Man who set self on fire released from UW job in August


UW students are praised for trying to help a 61-year-old former facilities employee who set himself on fire Thursday on campus. The man died despite the efforts of the students.
By Nick Perry and Will Mari

Seattle Times staff reporters

University of Washington students are being praised for trying to save the life of a 61-year-old man who doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire Thursday in Red Square.

Despite the efforts of more than a half-dozen students who initially tried to beat down the flames with their clothes and later used fire extinguishers, the man — a former UW employee — died Thursday afternoon at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

"It really is phenomenal how people tried to help him out," said Ralph Robinson, an assistant UW Police Chief. "It says a lot about the caring community of the entire university. People reacted almost instantaneously, even though there was some danger to themselves."

Some new details about the man emerged Friday, although authorities have not released his name pending notification of his next of kin.
go here for more
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008337455_burnedman01m0.html

Chief Master Sgt. Richard Etchberger may be "secret" hero no more

Medal of Honor

Airman may get highest award for actions in secret Laos mission
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Oct 31, 2008 17:42:24 EDT

Pentagon officials told Cory Etchberger that his father died in a helicopter accident in Southeast Asia on March 11, 1968.

But even at 9 years old, Cory said he felt something was missing in the story when his family was secretly whisked into the Pentagon to accept his father’s Air Force Cross.

Turned out Chief Master Sgt. Richard Etchberger died saving three Americans fighting off waves of North Vietnamese commandos advancing on a top-secret U.S. radar station in the Laotian mountains, but those details were omitted.

Four decades later, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley has recommended Etchberger’s Air Force Cross be upgraded to the Medal of Honor. It’s now up to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and President Bush for final approval, said an Air Force official.

Etchberger was nominated for the Medal of Honor in 1968, but President Lyndon B. Johnson didn’t approve it. Military officials instead awarded Etchberger the Air Force Cross.

This is where the story gets complicated.

Johnson didn’t sign off on the award because the U.S. wasn’t supposed to have troops in Laos, and at the time of his death, Etchberger wasn’t technically in the Air Force.

Before he was deployed to Lima Site 85 — a radar station used to locate bombing targets in North Vietnam and Laos — Etchberger and his wife went to Washington, D.C., along with the other airmen about to go on the secret mission and their wives. There they were told they would be made into civilian employees who worked for Lockheed Aircraft Services as a cover, said Col. Gerald H. Clayton, then the commander of 1043rd Radar Evaluation Squadron, Detachment 1.



Only seven Americans survived past 3 a.m., and they were backed up against a ledge.

With rescue helicopters en route, records show Etchberger tended to the wounded while also trying to fight off the advancing enemy soldiers.

When the helicopters arrived, Clayton said Etchberger loaded the wounded Americans onto the rescue sling as the helicopter hovered over the station. He refused to leave until everyone else was on board.

Those who survived say Etchberger saved at least four airmen before he rushed onto the helicopter. But moments later, an armor-piercing round ripped through the helicopter’s underbelly, hitting Etchberger. He bled to death en route to an air base in Thailand.

go here for more

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/10/airforce_etchberger_moh_103108/

Military Rise in drug prescriptions may signal abuse

Rise in drug prescriptions may signal abuse
By Gregg Zoroya - USA TodayPosted : Saturday Nov 1, 2008
The sharp rise in outpatient prescriptions paid for by the government suggests doctors rely too heavily on narcotics, says Army Col. Chester “Trip” Buckenmaier III, of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

Recently, at least 20 soldiers in an engineer company of 70 to 80 soldiers at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., shared and abused painkillers prescribed for their injuries, according to court testimony.

“The groundwork for this toxic situation was laid out through the continual prescription of highly addictive, commonly overused drugs,” said Capt. Elizabeth Turner, the lawyer for one defendant in the case.

In response to six suicides and seven drug-related deaths among soldiers in Warrior Transition Units — created for the Army's most severely injured — aggressive efforts are underway to manage prescription drugs, says Col. Paul Cordts, chief of health policy for the Army surgeon general. These include limiting prescriptions to a seven-day supply and more closely monitoring use.
click link for more

John McCain's 14th Amendment Problem

Worth reading and make up your own mind about what this says. One thing to think about is that 100% of people who have been tortured develop PTSD. If he was tortured, then he has it, but the question remains, at what level. The other, if he was not torture, he did give information and did do propaganda pieces for the North Vietnamese. Either way McCain has a problem and needs to explain it fully before Tuesday but given the fact the media have spent so much time on things like people Obama met at some point in his life (without having real relationships with them) and his ex-pastor, who gave a sermon with a lot of anger (but they only came up with one out of all the years Wright was preaching even though the church provides the tapes and Obama was not even there that day) I doubt they will look into any of this at all.

John McCain's 14th Amendment Problem
Giving Aid and Comfort to the Enemy
By DOUGLAS VALENTINE

Technically, the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits John McCain from becoming president of the United States.

Section III of the Amendment says, “No person shall … hold any office, civil or military, under the United States … who, having previously taken an oath … as an officer of the United States … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have … given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

It is a fact that McCain was an officer in the U.S. Navy and took an oath to “bear true faith and allegiance” to the Constitution. This was a solemn appeal to Jehovah to smite him silly in the event he lied about or broke his oath. If he fell into captivity, he was bound by the Military Code of Conduct not to answer questions or make any oral or written statements disloyal or harmful to the U.S. To do so was considered collaborating with the enemy, and meant yet another mighty swipe from Jehovah.

It is also a fact that, in 1967, Lieutenant Commander John McCain was shot out of the sky while dropping bombs on North Vietnamese civilians. McCain’s plane crashed in a lake, and he suffered some broken bones and was slapped around after he was rescued. And all of that hurt, but none of it reached the Rumsfeld-Bush-Cheney standard for torture. Yet after a mere four days, McCain cracked like a robin’s egg. He told his captors, “I’ll give you military information if you will take me to the hospital.”

In his autobiography McCain elaborated, saying, “I gave them my ship’s name and squadron number, and confirmed that my target had been the power plant.”

It is alleged that McCain gave the numbers of aircraft in his flight formation, information about location of rescue ships, and the order of which his attack was supposed to take place. According to retired Army Colonel Earl Hopper, McCain divulged classified information North Vietnam used to hone their air defense system, including “the package routes, which were routes used to bomb North Vietnam. He gave in detail the altitude they were flying, the direction, if they made a turn … he gave them what primary targets the United States was interested in.” As result, Hopper claims, the U.S. lost 60 per cent more aircraft, and in 1968 “called off the bombing of North Vietnam, because of the information McCain had given to them.”
go here for more
http://www.counterpunch.org/valentine10312008.html

Faith community gathers to hone trauma-support training

Faith community gathers to hone trauma-support training
Colorado Springs Gazette - Colorado Springs,CO,USA
"Spiritually, church counselors want to help, but they don't always understand what PTSD actually is," Griggs said.

MARK BARNA
THE GAZETTE
Religious leaders might know how to comfort someone who has lost a relative or counsel a couple in the midst of a marriage meltdown, but when it comes to helping military members traumatized by battle, they could use some counseling themselves.

That was the purpose of an all-day seminar Thursday in Colorado Springs. The seminar, called the "Trauma Support and Resources Training for the Faith Community," had two goals: to educate faith leaders about combat-related psychological conditions, and to let them know about resources where they can refer military members in need.

"Military folks seek the counsel of church leaders, but most of them don't know how to deal with combat stress-related issues," said Brian Duncan, an event organizer and program manager at First Choice Counseling Center in Colorado Springs. "We want faith leaders to know where they can refer people for services."
click link for more

Like feeling the hand of God


While the following article discusses football, the part of the Warrior Ethos reminded me of a conversation I had a few days ago. While discussing the difference between regular military and the citizen soldiers, I seemed to have shocked someone who is considered an expert but never stopped to think about what makes all of us different. It is what is within our souls.

There are many parts within our soul making us into what people see within us. Some of us are giving and caring while others are greedy and selfish. Even the greedy and selfish can take care of their own families but the others tend to look at the needs of others outside their families. Some of us are brave and will stand up to people who appear to be stronger, others will back away. Some of us have it within us to be willing to not only risk our own lives for the sake of others, but kill them. Some do not have it within them to be able to kill to save but will if they are forced to. In other words, they would rather not even think about it.

That is the biggest difference between the citizen soldiers and the firefighters when compared to those who enter into the regular military and the police force.

The people who enter into the military have it within them to not only risk their lives but to take the lives of others, just as the people who enter into the police force. While many will have problems after traumatic events and develop PTSD, the rates are lower than the other group. They have it in the front of their minds that as a warrior, they will have to kill someone at some time and they train for it. The basis is the need to be of service but the awareness of taking a life is active.

The people who enter into the National Guards and fire departments have it within them to risk their lives for the sake of others, but they never think of having to take a life. While they train to do it in the National Guards, this was not something active in their decision to enter into the Guards. The thought is trapped in the back of their minds. The bravery is on equal level to that of a warrior as well as their sense of duty, but what else comes with war is not on an equal level.

When the National Guards and Reservist come home, they are expected to return to their normal lives but they are ill prepared to deal with what came home with them.

This article about football mentions the Warrior Ethos and this applies to the regular military as well as to the citizen soldiers. The difference is that while a football team is putting their bodies on the line being tackled with force, the baseball players put their bodies on the line in a different way, just as the basketball players in yet another way. It is what we all have within us, what we came onto this earth to do and contribute that leads us in different directions.

The Hand of God is always there to guide all of us if we use what He has prepared us to do. He is also there to help us if we were faced with doing what He did not intend for us to have to do.

For those who feel as if God has turned His back on them, please watch PTSD Not God's Judgment. It's on the side bar of this blog under My Videos.

Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
International Fellowship of Chaplains
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington


Like feeling the hand of God
Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia
It is the warrior drive and the warrior ethos that are resurrected in modern football. The team becomes a band of blood brothers, men who assemble together to undertake dangerous exploits under conditions of duress and threat. The experience creates strong bonds of companionship - ones that often last for life, and certainly long after the team has disbanded. Students who were members of teams wrote unselfconsciously, in a similar vein to returned soldiers, about their attachment to their mates.

The warrior ethos, stressing courage, tenacity, and self-sacrifice for the higher good of the collectivity, carries over directly into football with, of course, the one great difference that the greatest sacrifice of all is not asked for. What is involved is "manliness", with its deepest roots, whatever the humanist niceties of modern civilisation, in the war hero. These roots do not seem to wither.

Indeed, I had students who added, without prompting, that if there were a war they and their team-mates would be the first to volunteer, and that, because of their collective morale, they would make an excellent unit. Football shows the young the working of key values in situations of high emotional and physical duress. It shows them what it means to be a hero, and what is shameful.
click link for the rest of this