Shinseki Announces Veterans' Stories Posted on VA's Web Page

Shinseki Announces Veterans' Stories Posted on VA's Web Page


Countdown to Veterans Day with Library of Congress




WASHINGTON (Nov. 4, 2009) - Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K.
Shinseki announced the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will join
with the Library of Congress to host a "Veterans History Countdown" on
the VA Web site - www.va.gov - featuring the oral
histories of Veterans from every state and U.S. territory.



"VA has partnered with the Library of Congress to honor our Veterans,
preserve their histories and ensure that their service, sacrifice and
heroism will never be forgotten," said Secretary Shinseki. "We want to
encourage Americans to record the oral histories of Veterans for future
generations."



Each day, beginning Nov.1, VA's Web feature will introduce new personal
histories, culminating on Veterans Day when a Veteran's history from
each state and U.S. territory will be available simply by clicking on
the U.S. map in the display.



As Veterans Day approaches, the VA Web display will urge Americans to
"Honor our Veterans. Record their Histories!" The display will link to
the library's Veterans History Project Web site -- www.loc.gov/vets --
which provides background about the program, a guide for volunteers to
follow in recording and submitting Veterans' oral histories and to
access the project's extensive digital archive.



VA has collaborated with the Veterans History Project since its
implementing legislation was signed into law on Oct. 27, 2000. VA
Voluntary Service has made oral history recording part of its program.
VA offers Veterans the opportunity to record their histories at its
facilities and special events. These collections of first-hand accounts
are archived in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.



"We hope the Veterans History Countdown will serve as a call to action
for volunteers to record the first-hand stories of the Veterans they
know-relatives, neighbors, friends," said Bob Patrick, director of the
Veterans History Project.



The Veterans History Project collects and preserves the remembrances of
American war Veterans and civilian workers who supported them.



The recordings make accessible the first-hand remembrances of American
wartime Veterans from World War I through the current conflicts in Iraq
and Afghanistan so that future generations may hear directly from
Veterans and better understand the realities of war. Approximately
65,000 individual stories comprise the collection of the Veterans
History Project.



The project relies on volunteers to record Veterans' remembrances using
guidelines accessible at www.loc.gov/vets

Volunteer interviewers may request information at vohp@loc.gov

or the toll-free message line at (888)
371-5848.

Soldiers look to ATV rides to beat stress of returning

Soldiers look to ATV rides to beat stress of returning

By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Last week, they used the same type of four-wheeled motorcycles to blow off steam after returning home.

Hohenfels Outdoor Recreation recently purchased 20 ATVs, helmets, body protection, gloves and goggles with a $150,000 seed grant to set up a riding program at the sprawling training facility in southern Germany, said Outdoor Recreation ATV instructor Brian Witty.

The daylong safety course and trail ride is part of Warrior Adventure Quest — a program that aims to help soldiers beat post-deployment stress through adventure sports.

One of the Company B soldiers riding an ATV last week was Pfc. Christopher Gist, 20, of Union, S.C. Gist said he and his buddies just returned from Forward Operating Base Baylough, a platoon-size outpost high in the mountains of Zabul province, Afghanistan.
read more here
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=65836

White River's VA hospital grows for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

White River's VA hospital grows for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

By Gregory Trotter
Valley News of Lebanon
Published: Wednesday, November 04, 2009
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, Vt. — The White River Junction Veterans Affairs Medical Center is expanding and evolving to help a new generation of soldiers returning from war.

The first physical proof is the metal frame of the new office building, visible from Route 5, which will eventually house the Executive Division of the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

After its slated March 2010 completion, the PTSD center will provide evidence-based research and expert access for VA hospital administrators and regional directors trying to stay abreast of the most effective ways to help soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The center will also inform the care at the White River facility, as more young men and women in military uniform begin to populate the campus.

“This is about meeting the needs of patients like this young man,” said Andy LaCasse, spokesman for the VA Medical Center, nodding toward a young soldier in full dress bustling past. “Until two years ago, the majority of our patients were World War II veterans but we’re going to start seeing more young people like him.”

There are about 4,000 veterans from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraq Freedom in Vermont, according to a PTSD center news release. That number stands to increase after the National Guardsmen and others return. Vermont and New Hampshire will each have approximately 1,800 young men and women deploying by the end of the year.
read more here
http://sentinelsource.com/articles/2009/11/04/features/health_fitness/free/id_377694.txt

Man shot by police a Iraq three tour veteran

Man shot by police a veteran
The father of a 26-year-old Lake Stevens man who was fatally shot by police on Sunday, says his son returned from three deployments in Iraq an angry man.

By Christine Clarridge

Seattle Times staff reporter

When John LaBossiere returned from his third tour in Iraq this summer, he was an angry man, according to his father.

"I'm not saying that all of his issues were war-related," Phil LaBossiere said on Tuesday. "But it seems to me that the service just used him and spit him out."

John LaBossiere, 26, was fatally shot by a Lake Stevens police officer on Sunday after he reportedly forced his way into a home where his wife and three children were staying with friends. Investigators found one handgun near him and another on his body, according to Sgt. Robert Goetz, a spokesman for the Snohomish County Multi-Agency Response Team (SMART), which is investigating the shooting.

According to Goetz, officers were called to a "domestic disturbance" that involved a weapon at about 8 p.m. in the 10400 block of 25th Street Southeast near Lake Stevens in unincorporated Snohomish County. Two Lake Stevens officers arrived and almost immediately got into an "altercation" with LaBossiere that ended in LaBossiere's death, Goetz said.

Phil LaBossiere, however, confirmed his son's death.

He said he believes his son was "confused and upset" by his return to the civilian world and a deteriorating marriage.

read more here

Man shot by police a veteran

United States Marine Corps met a wild stray dog

'Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine and a Miracle'
by Helena Sung (Subscribe to Helena Sung's posts)
Nov 3rd 2009 6:00PM
When Maj. Brian Dennis of the United States Marine Corps met a wild stray dog with shorn ears while serving in Iraq, he had no idea of the bond they would form, leading to seismic changes in both their lives. "The general theme of the story of Nubs is that if you're kind to someone, they'll never forget you -- whether it be person or animal," Dennis tells Paw Nation.

In October 2007, Dennis and his team of 11 men were in Iraq patrolling the Syrian border. One day, as his team arrived at a border fort, they encountered a pack of stray dogs -- not uncommon in the barren, rocky desert that was home to wolves and wild dogs.

"We all got out of the Humvee and I started working when this dog came running up," recalls Dennis. "I said, 'Hey buddy' and bent down to pet him." Dennis noticed the dog's ears had been cut. "I said, 'You got little nubs for ears.'" The name stuck. The dog whose ears had been shorn off as a puppy by an Iraqi soldier (to make the dog "look tougher," Dennis says) became known as Nubs.

Dennis' experience with Nubs led to a children's picture book, called "Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine and a Miracle," published by Little, Brown for Young Readers. They have appeared on the Today Show and will be appearing on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on Monday.
read more here
The True Story of a Mutt a Marine and a miracle