Fort Carson 10th Special Forces Group Lost Hero

Decorated special forces soldier dies in combat in Afghanistan

NBC News
By Tim Stelloh
July 14, 2019

Sgt. Maj. James Sartor "was a beloved warrior who epitomized the quiet professional," a military official said.

A Special Forces company sergeant was killed during combat operations in Afghanistan, military officials said Sunday.

Sgt. Maj. James Sartor, 40, died Saturday in the country’s northern Faryab Province, U.S. Army Special Operations spokesman Lt. Col. Loren Bymer said in a statement.

Additional details about Sartor’s death were not immediately available.

Sartor, of Teague, Texas, was assigned to the 10th Special Forces Group in Fort Carson, Colorado, Bymer said. He deployed to Iraq as an infantryman in 2002 and later as a Green Beret. Sartor had served in Afghanistan twice — once in 2017 and again this year.

Sartor, who went by "Ryan," joined the Army in June, 2001, and was given more than 20 awards and decorations during his military career. He will posthumously receive a Purple Heart and Bronze Star, Bymer said.
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Robert Craft gave Jarheads $100,000 hugs

Robert Kraft Pledges $100,000 To Families Of Motorcyclists Killed In NH Crash

CBS News Boston
July 13. 2019

“I know you have a GoFundMe page and it said you’re looking to raise 700 (thousand dollars) and you’re somewhere near $560,000, so our family, we’re going to commit $100,000 to that,” Kraft said.

The crowd erupted in cheers.

“And if you don’t get to the 700 today, we’re making it up whatever it is,” the Patriots owner said. “We are all Patriots and you are the true Patriots.”

FOXBORO (CBS/AP) — New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft made a surprise announcement Saturday, as he pledged to donate $100,000 to the families of seven motorcyclists killed in a tragic crash in New Hampshire last month.

More than a thousand bikers came from across the country to Gillette Stadium in Foxboro to celebrate the lives of the men and women who were killed when a pickup truck and trailer crashed into a group of motorcycles in Randolph, New Hampshire on June 21. They were members or supporters of the Jarheads, a New England motorcycle club that includes Marines and their spouses.

Kraft met the group in the parking lot for the event Saturday, which raised money for the families of the victims. When he got up on stage to address the crowd, he made this surprise announcement.
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Stunning Coast Guard crew video shows them in action stopping narco sub

Dramatic video shows Coast Guard leaping onto submarine carrying 17,000 pounds of cocaine

NBC News
By Doha Madani
July 11, 2019

Crew members can be seen jumping onto a moving narco-sub and busting open the hatch in the USCG video.

The U.S. Coast Guard released video Thursday of service members leaping onto a submarine carrying 17,000 pounds of cocaine as part of a months long, $569 million cocaine bust.

A member of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro can be seen in the video yelling at an unidentified aquatic vehicle to stop as it moved alongside the cutter at the surface of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Crew members then jump onto the top of the mostly submerged vessel as it's moving and bust open the hatch.

A person inside the vessel can be seen briefly just as the hatch opens at the end of the minute long video.

About 17,000 pounds of cocaine were found inside along with five suspected smugglers, the U.S. Coast Guard told NBC News on Thursday. The estimated street value of the drugs is $232 million.

Self-propelled submersible vessels, often called “narco-subs,” are sometimes used by cartels and traffickers to smuggle drugs across borders.

The operation, which occurred June 18, was one of 14 drug-smuggling vessels intercepted off the coasts of Mexico, Central and South America by three Coast Guard cutters between May and July of this year. A total of 39,000 pounds of cocaine and 933 pounds of marijuana, were seized in that time, for an estimated worth of $569 million, according to a press release Thursday.
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World War II veteran James Pepe, hero among us

Heroes Among Us: Navy Veteran James Pepe Helped Many Wounded Soldiers During World War II

CBS 4 News
By Marybel Rodriguez
July 12, 2019

U.S. Navy World War II veteran Jimmy Pepe was awarded the bronze star for his service. He was recently honored at a Florida Panthers game.

SUNRISE (CBSMiami) – Now to a weekly segment you will only see right here on CBS4.

Every Friday, in partnership with the Florida Panthers, we put the spotlight on a hero among us men or women who have gone beyond the call of duty for our country.

This week we’re meeting World War II veteran James Pepe.

James Pepe, who goes by Jimmy, served in the United States Navy as a pharmacist from 1943 to 1945. He enlisted and was part of the new Georgia-Rendova-Vanganu Campaign.

Pepe’s job was to take care of the wounded and although he says they were under very stressful conditions he did whatever he had to do save lives.
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Vietnam Veteran Sgt. Matthew Francis Kelly made a dying wish to his nurse

Strangers invited to funeral for Vietnam veteran who died alone. ‘I wanted to honor his final wishes,’ his nurse said.

Philadelphia Enquirer
by Melanie Burney
July 9, 2019

Kelly left Vietnam in November 1970 and received an honorable discharge, his records show. Little is known about his life after the military. He returned to Philadelphia. Richello said he had a hard life, “and he was one of the forgotten.”

BRADLEY C BOWER / FOR THE INQUIRER

Former Army Sgt. Matthew Francis Kelly made a dying wish to his nurse: He wanted to be buried with full military honors, a parade, bagpipes, and a 21-gun salute.

In death, Kelly will get what he did not receive in life when he returned home to Philadelphia from the Vietnam War nearly 50 years ago. His nurse, Jennifer Richello, has recruited a band of strangers to keep the promise she made to Kelly on his deathbed a few months ago.

“I wanted to honor his final wishes, and love and respect for his service to our country,” Richello, a registered nurse, said in a statement Tuesday. “Kelly was a good man and deserves this.”

Richello also made a special request to mourners: bring a can of Pepsi to the funeral. Kelly loved the soft drink, she said.

After graduating from high school, Kelly enlisted on Jan. 14, 1969, his 20th birthday. He completed training at Fort Bragg, N.C, and Fort Sill, Okla., according to his military record. He was deployed to Vietnam in December 1969 and served as a communications chief in the 13th Battalion Signal, First Cavalry Division.
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Disabled veteran left with nasty note for parking in handicap spot

DISABLED VETERANS PARK IN HANDICAP SPOT, RETURN TO FIND RACIST NOTE CRITICIZING THEM FOR USING THE SPACE

Newsweek
BY DONICA PHIFER
7/11/19

"You may not physically see their disability. But everyone wears their scars differently. You just have to simply go back to the Golden Rule: treating people how you want to be treated," Marqueena said.

Two veterans are speaking out after they discovered a racist note left on their car following a trip to the grocery store.

Kenneth and Marquenna Moore, both former military veterans who were injured in service, returned to their car to find a note telling them not to park in a handicap space, despite their car having a license plate that says they are disabled military veterans. KHOU

The incident occurred in Cypress, Texas when Kenneth and Marquenna Moore parking in a handicap space during their trip to H-E-B. The couple, who have been married for 15 years, returned to their car afterward to reportedly find a note that read, "just because you are black and have a nice car does not make you handicapped ;)," KHOU reports.

"(I was) Shocked. Then actually angry, because I'm like, the plates are right there! How do you not see?," Marquenna told KHOU.

The couple's car does not have a hangtag to designate their car as one for disabled persons, but the license plates — required by Texas law to be placed on the front and back of all vehicles — indicates that the car is registered to a disabled veteran. According to KHOU, the designation is noticeable by the "Disabled Veteran U.S. Armed Forces" text printed along the bottom of the plate.

Both Kenneth and Marqueena were injured while serving in the U.S. Military, they told the tv station. Both were stationed with the U.S. Navy and met while serving in Japan, Kenneth served for 12 years and Marqueena for eight.

Kenneth told KHOU that his time serving was "amazing" but added that "it does take a toll on your body mentally and physically."

Kenneth's injuries include a traumatic brain injury which created a stutter. Both say they suffer from PTSD.
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Disabled veteran, who was not D.B. Cooper, passed away

He died claiming to be a disabled veteran. But many believe he was hijacker D.B. Cooper.

The Washington Post
By Morgan Krakow
July 11, 2019

Rackstraw, a former Army helicopter pilot who had been awarded a Silver Star for valor, didn’t surface as a suspect until the late 1970s, according to news reports. He’d been arrested on charges of murdering his stepfather, but was acquitted in a trial in 1978.

A man who some believed to be the elusive D.B. Cooper died Tuesday in Southern California.

Robert Rackstraw, who was featured in a 2016 History Channel documentary about the notorious criminal, was pronounced dead at home in the early hours of July 9, according to the San Diego Medical Examiner’s Office. He died of a “long-standing heart condition,” according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Cooper, known for the hijacking of a flight bound for Seattle from Portland, Ore., is thought to have leaped from the plane with $200,000 in cash. Authorities tracked down hundreds of potential suspects but were never able to find Cooper or his body.

The hijacking, the longest unsolved crime of its kind in FBI history, has baffled official and unofficial investigators for decades. Though the FBI closed the case in 2016, theories about the identity of Cooper have continued to swirl.
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Disabled veteran attacked by man with knife

FLORIDA OFFICER SHOOTS DEAD MAN HOLDING KNIFE ON VETERAN IN WHEELCHAIR WHO ENDS UP WITH MINOR NOSE INJURY

By FOX 13 News staff
Posted Jul 11 2019

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (FOX 30/FOX 13) - Jacksonville police shot and killed a man holding a disabled Army veteran in a wheelchair at knifepoint, they said.

The officer-involved shooting occurred on State Street near the Ritz Theatre around 11:20 p.m. Wednesday, reports FOX 30. Police initially responded out to an “armed aggravated assault” report.

When law enforcement officers arrived, they found a man holding a knife to the victim’s neck. Officers said he refused to drop the knife even after they gave a verbal command, according to FOX 30.

The officer feared for the victim’s life and fatally shot the suspect, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. They said the officer was wearing a body camera.

The man in the wheelchair, who did not want to be identified, told FOX 30 he is an Army veteran who calls Jacksonville his home. He explained that he met the suspect this week and the man appeared to be nice and quiet. However, on Wednesday, the victim said the suspect was acting belligerent while holding the knife and threatening to harm people.
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Driver backed up to get around body of veteran he hit before driving off

77-year-old Army veteran in motorized scooter hit, killed by minivan in hit-and-run crash

WFTS News
By: Michael Paluska
Jul 09, 2019

"The driver was going way too fast, and the driver knew that he hit him never got out of his vehicle backed up a little bit to basically get around the body or around the wheelchair or the scooter and proceeded westbound down Moog Road," Zimmerman said.

HOLIDAY, Fla. — The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating a deadly hit-and-run crash in Pasco County.

Troopers tell us they located a 90-year-old man who is a person of interest along with the minivan they believe was involved in the fatal hit and run. The person of interest lives five blocks away from where 77-year-old Larry Small was hit and killed.

The Florida Highway Patrol responded to a call of a crash involving a pedestrian on a motorized wheelchair and a Dodge minivan just before 12:30 p.m. on Monday.

The incident happened on Moog Road at Pinehurst Drive.

Troopers say Small, of Holiday, was hit by a 1991 Dodge minivan as he entered the intersection. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the minivan drove away after striking Small.

That vehicle has since been seized as evidence.
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21 Flags meant to honor veterans burnt at funeral home

A funeral home says 21 US flags honoring veterans on July 4th were set on fire

CNN
By Paul P. Murphy
July 10, 2019

(CNN)Twenty-one American flags were found burned at a cemetery in Anderson, South Carolina, according to the funeral home that runs it.

Owner Jess McDougald says his family has never seen anything like it in McDougald Funeral Home's 85 years of operation.

The funeral home has been run by the same family for three generations, since McDougald's grandfather started it, and he says they put out American flags during patriotic holidays.

The remains of the flags were found in a pile, the funeral home says.

"We've put flags out for as long as I can remember," McDougald said. "We've never had a problem." The flags lined the road to the veterans section of the cemetery on the evening of July 3: about 30 of them, 4 feet by 6 feet in size, fixed to 8-foot poles.

But when cemetery staff arrived for work July 5, they found poles in a pile with the burnt remains of 21 flags.
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Amazon sold fake books?

Amazon Sold $240K of ‘Liturgy of the Ordinary’ Fakes, Publisher Says

Christianity Today
KATE SHELLNUTT
JULY 08, 2019

Christian values can seem increasingly countercultural in a society drawn to the instant gratification offered by the world’s biggest online retailer.

A Christian bestseller (and CT Book of the Year) was targeted by a major counterfeiting scheme. It took Tish Harrison Warren nearly three years to publish her first book. It was more than 18 months of arranging childcare and carving out time to write before she had a manuscript—11 chapters chronicling details from her day-to-day life paired with the rhythms of church ritual.

By the time Liturgy of the Ordinary debuted in December 2016, she and her publishing team had gone through the process of selecting a cover (an open-faced peanut butter and jelly sandwich against a bright green backdrop) and editing the page proofs to check every dot and detail.

But over the past year, thousands of readers ended up with copies that didn’t quite look like the book she and InterVarsity Press (IVP) had finalized three years ago. The cover was not as sharp. The pages were a bit off-center.

These were not IVP’s books at all. They were counterfeits.

Just as The New York Times put out a report in late June on a surge of counterfeit books available on Amazon, the 70-year-old Christian publisher discovered that one of its own had also “been victim of a highly organized and sophisticated counterfeiting scheme.”

The Times covered complaints that the country’s top bookseller “has been reactive rather than proactive in dealing with the issue” and found examples of Amazon’s third-party sellers pushing fakes across genres: medical handbooks, popular novels, and classic literature. With Warren’s case, add Christian books to the list.

IVP estimates that at least 15,000 counterfeit copies of Liturgy of the Ordinary were sold on the site over the past nine months, their retail value totaling $240,000. That nearly cuts sales of Warren’s book in half; IVP reported 23,000 legitimate copies were sold over the past year. IVP also found evidence of counterfeiting on a smaller scale for one other title, Michael Reeves’s Delighting in the Trinity, which came out in 2002.

Publishers Weekly reported how AAP specifically called out Amazon for facilitating sales of fraudulent books: “The organization claimed that Amazon, on its retail site, allows ‘widespread counterfeiting, defective products, and fake reviews that both degrade the consumer experience and diminish the incentives of authors and publishers to create new works and bring them to the marketplace.’” read it here

*******

I guess this explains why Amazon would not tell me how many of my books were sold when it happened to me.

While I thought I had something to be happy about back in April when Amazon finally got my highjacked book taken down...that feeling did not last long. They would not tell me how many of the stolen books they sold.

Stolen? Yes, when an author does not get paid for their work, it is stolen. What made it worse was that it had gone on for 16 years! Xlibris was the publisher and refused to take down the book...or even bother to find out why it was still for sale, and yes, being bought by people. Those "people" included me at full price so that I could prove what was happening.

The problem was, no matter what I proved, no one would do anything to help me. I got the Better Business Bureau involved. I got a lawyer. I wrote and wrote and wrote emails to the "publisher" and tormentor. I called other lawyers but they would not help unless I knew how many were sold.

Warren is a "best selling author" and apparently, her publisher cared about what was happening.

I just have a very well established online connection...over 15 million.

But that news hit me a few years ago. The number was from Google before they had to switch to a Google+ account. Now, who knows? My site less than 5 million views, so that means all those people on my profile came from someplace else.

I couldn't even get anyone to care when I wrote about all this back in April...April Fools Publishing With Xlibris.

You can hear the story about this here. Just goes to show that it is not always what you know...but who you know when you are seeking justice or help to get it.

Anonymous angel delivered life changing gift to disabled veteran

Disabled Veteran Gets Incredibly Thoughtful, Anonymous Gift

The Epoch Times
BY JACK PHILLIPS
July 8, 2019

An Oregon woman shared about a touching act of kindness that has gone viral.

Brittany Lynn Garrett wrote on the Love What Matters Facebook page detailing the act of kindness.

“As I was getting ready for my day, my husband appeared at the door with tears in his eyes holding our son,” Garrett said on Facebook. “My heart sank and I thought someone we love took a trip to Heaven… He quickly assured me that no one had died, but someone had just given him a very expensive riding lawn mower!”

She said she had no clue who sent him the generous gift.

“I don’t know who they are, but they have been watching my 100% combat disabled husband push mow our entire yard once or twice a week, and thought this would help make more time for the important things in life!!” she wrote.
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Active duty member of military found dead

Frederick police: Man found outside garage ruled a suicide

Frederick News Post
By Jeremy Arias
Jun 24, 2019

Detectives later used video surveillance to determine that the man fell from the third floor of the garage and his death was ruled a suicide, Alcorn said. The man was described only as 37 years old and an active-duty member of the U.S. military.

A man who died Monday after police found him injured on Sunday outside a garage in downtown Frederick was eventually ruled a suicide, according a police supervisor.

The man was discovered by a passer-by shortly before 9 a.m. Sunday just outside the Carroll Creek parking deck, according to Sgt. Andrew Alcorn, supervisor of the Frederick Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division. The man was still alive and was taken to a hospital, where he was stabilized long enough for his family members to arrive from out of state, Alcorn said.
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Murder-suicide investigation involved Philadelphia Police Officer

Philadelphia Cop Apparently Kills Wife, Himself Inside Juniata Park Home, Police Say

By CBS3 Staff
July 8, 2019

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Philadelphia police are investigating an apparent murder-suicide involving an 11-year veteran of the department and his wife in the Juniata Park section of the city. 

The couple was found inside the home on the 4600 block of Weymouth Street around 9:30 a.m. on Monday. They have been identified as 39-year-old Jose Rodriguez and 36-year-old Evelyse Rodriguez.

According to Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross, the couple’s 17-year-old daughter called police to check on her parents’ well-being. Ross says the daughter didn’t hear from her father or mother for some time and tried to reach out to them around 2:30 a.m.
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Eight year old girl knew who Bessie Coleman was. Do you?

8-year-old applauded for asking to report on aviation pioneer Bessie Coleman instead of Amelia Earhart

ABC News
By MARQUIS HUGHES
Jul 10, 2019

For all of Noa’s hard work and willingness to report on Coleman, the National Aviation Hall of Fame Museum decided to fly Noa and her family to the museum in Dayton, Ohio. There she got the privilege to meet a relative of her hero.

Bessie Coleman’s great-niece, Gigi Coleman, greeted her when she arrived and awarded Noa a medallion for her outstanding project.

When 8-year-old Noa Lewis was assigned a school project on Amelia Earhart, she flipped the script and asked instead to report on Bessie Coleman, who was the first female African American and Native American pilot.

Noa Lewis giving her best of Bessie Coleman.

Noa and her second-grade class were given the assignment to create and be a part of a “wax museum,” with each student embodying their assigned historical figure. Noa had originally been assigned Amelia Earhart, the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

“Noa knew about Amelia Earhart but she told her teacher she wanted another figure but couldn’t remember the name,” Moniqua Lewis, Noa’s mother, told “Good Morning America.”

Lewis was picking up her daughter from school when Noa told her mom about the project and about how she wanted to report on a person who was once featured in her favorite Disney show, “Doc McStuffins.” Lewis was naming names, trying to help her daughter remember who it was.

It turns out it was Bessie Coleman, or “Queen Bessie,” as Noa refers to her. Coleman was the first female African American and Native American to hold a pilot’s license.

Lewis saw how passionate Noa was about Bessie Coleman, so as Noa’s teacher was exiting the school, she asked her if her daughter could instead report on Coleman.
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Ace Combat 7 battle between Dad and Son

Air Force 1st Lieutenant Beats 4-Star Dad in Livestreamed Dogfight Game

Military.com
By Oriana Pawlyk
8 Jul 2019

At one point during the game, the two swapped aircraft and flew each others' fighters.

U.S. Air Force Gen. Mike Holmes, the commander of Air Combat Command, and 1st Lt. Wade Holmes, his son, battle each other in a combat flight action video game June 29, 2019, at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia. (U.S. Air Force/Emerald Ralston)

Score a win for the Viper pilot in the battle over which Air Force fourth-generation aircraft brings the heat.

1st Lt. Wade Holmes, an F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot, recently beat his dad, Air Combat Commander Gen. Mike Holmes, an F-15 Eagle pilot, in the game Ace Combat 7, according to a service release.

The two pilots flew their respective aircraft during the hour-long game June 29. The event was live-streamed on Twitch so viewers could watch and call in, asking the pilots questions about flight training.

Ace Combat 7 takes place in a fictional world in which pilots attempt to secure the skies during an air campaign between two sparring rivals. Holmes and Holmes played on an Xbox One system.
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Officer Kevin Valencia gets help from PitBull

Free Pitbull concert raises $1M for officer shot in line of duty

Click Orlando
By Adrienne Cutway - Web Editor
July 08, 2019

ORLANDO, Fla. - A free Pitbull concert held last month raised more than $1 million for the family of officer Kevin Valencia, who has been receiving treatment since he was shot in the head a year ago while responding to a hostage situation.

The office of attorney Dan Newlin, which organized the community event, said Monday that the money raised has been presented to the Fraternal Order of Police so that it can be distributed to the Valencia family.

Newlin wrote in a letter to the organization that he and Meghan Valencia came up with the idea because she wanted to bring her husband home but she didn't have the financial resources to make the necessary renovations to her house.

They also hoped the event would highlight Kevin Valencia's ongoing struggle because they both feared that members of the community had forgotten that he's still receiving treatment.
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Put Vets First shut down after putting veterans last on the to do list

Veterans' Charities, PAC Shut Doors Amid Fundraising Scrutiny

Military.com
By Patricia Kime
July 8, 2019

The PAC, for example, raised $4.8 million, with the telemarketers netting $4.4 million and Hampton receiving $183,500 in salary, according to the report.

Homeless veteran. Getty Images

A Virginia-based political action committee purportedly established to support veterans' issues was disbanded Saturday amid questions over its fundraising and expense practices.

The Put Vets First! PAC filed termination paperwork Saturday with the Federal Election Commission, according to a report Monday by the Center for Public Integrity. The PAC appears to have followed the same fundraising and expense patterns as two affiliated nonprofits, all established by a retired Army Reserve major. The organizations raised millions but donated little to veterans causes or candidates.

Founded by Brian Arthur Hampton, the organizations began pulling in cash around 2013, when Hampton hired telemarketing firms to conduct fundraising. Yet according to Internal Revenue Service tax filings, the groups gave little of those earnings to veterans' causes, instead paying most of the money back to the telemarketing firms and covering administrative costs, including salaries.
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What are veterans really worth to the candidates?

Next President needs to prove what veterans are worth

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 9, 2019

Veterans, if your Mom told you that you were special...Mom knows best. You actually are! Surprised? You shouldn't be. The budget of the federal government prove it.

The two of the biggest departments this nation has are the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

The DOD budget was $1.3 Trillion.  The VA budget request for 2020 is $220.2 billion. Yet when it comes to size of both departments, you get the idea that you are even more special. Current military members are less than 1% of the population. Less than 10% of our citizens are veterans, and less than half of you use the VA.

Right now there are 2 Republicans and 24 Democrats who want to become the next President. It seems that everyone is talking about what is either strong or wrong, but no one is talking about what matters to your lives. We are just hearing the same old crap on what they will do for you, but no apologies on what they already did to you.

Let's get honest and shove politics out of the way because as we already know, it is both parties messing up. Congress has had since 1946 to get it right for your sake...and they all failed.

For the 26 some odd...and changing, they want to become the next Commander-in-Chief but all of them should be "chef" considering the strange brew they have been cooking up for veterans while calling it good medicine.

Members of Congress have been telling the American people how bad our healthcare system is...and it is bad. These same folks are telling veterans sending them into this mess is "good for them" and they should be grateful. As to "what" they should be grateful for...no one has an answer.

This is easy, or it should be. Disabled veterans became disabled serving this county. They were promised that their wounds would be treated and they would not have to worry about surviving after they pre-paid for their healthcare with their service.

Now, you'd think that would come with a square deal and it would be delivered. You'd also have to imagine that the folks leading this country are grateful enough to make sure our veterans and current military members were actually honored. Then again, if you do, then you haven't been paying attention to the facts.

The percentage of veterans living in this country is lower than in 1999 when the VA said that 20 veterans a day were committing suicide. They released the the first report in 2012. Back then, the general public had no idea but veterans knew all about it. (In 2000, my husband's nephew was one of them.)

Seven years after the first report, everyone is talking about veterans killing themselves but no one is talking about how it has gotten worse for them to stay alive.

Sure we have the usual problems that have been going on for as long as I've been alive (a very long time) but it got worse with the wrong people advising Trump. 

Fact, he wanted to cut the "unemployable" percentage from senior veterans disability checks because they were too old to work anyway. While the largest percentage of veterans in this country are over the age of 50...they are also the majority of the known veterans committing suicide. Did anyone think about what hearing this did to them?

I can tell you there was a major freak out when veterans thought the one thing they could depend on was that "permanent and total" actually meant that.

Then we have what is going on with the military. Their suicides have gone up too. According to the DOD, suicides hit the largest number in ten years! The other fact is that it has averaged about 500 a year since 2012.

Military families are subjected to not only living on contaminated bases, 126 at last count by the DOD. Military housing has also been harming them because someone thought it was a good thing for them to be handed over to for profit businesses.

Yes, even more horror for those who had been prepared to face the enemy...but did not think they would have to face all this.

When you hear all the people running for the office make them actually answer questions without running away from what they've already done to you! Stop letting them get away with treating you as if you are just like everyone else they can just make a speech to and then get your vote.

MAKE THEM EARN IT!

When do we “Protect Those Who Served"

ABUSING THOSE WHO SERVED

The Intercept
Jasper Craven
July 8 2019

Veterans Affairs Police Are Supposed to “Protect Those Who Served.” They Have a Shocking Record of Brutality and Impunity.

For years, veterans advocates and policymakers have worked to open the VA to the half-million so-called bad paper veterans like Hathaway. Last year, Congress directed the VA to offer more mental health care benefits to this neglected population. For Hathaway, however, it was too little and too late.

DERRICK HATHAWAY SERVED multiple tours in Kosovo, contributing to a NATO peacekeeping mission aimed at preventing ethnic cleansing. While Hathaway envisioned his Marine mission as a humanitarian one, he soon became ashamed of his work. In the course of mapping safe routes for NATO forces, Hathaway’s platoon would perform no-knock home raids to search for weapons or contraband, leading to tense confrontations with frightened families.

“It was martial law,” Hathaway said. “That left a nasty taste in my mouth. All we were doing was feeding a new form of hate.”

Still, Hathaway followed orders and earned a number of awards for his military service, including the Good Conduct Medal, which is given to recognize “good behavior and faithful service.” But after half a decade in uniform, Hathaway was given a bad conduct discharge in February 2005. He got the boot after failing a Department of Defense drug test administered shortly after a rowdy weekend in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Among other things, this denied him access to mental health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

For years, veterans advocates and policymakers have worked to open the VA to the half-million so-called bad paper veterans like Hathaway. Last year, Congress directed the VA to offer more mental health care benefits to this neglected population. For Hathaway, however, it was too little and too late.
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