U.S. serviceman dies in shooting at Mexican strip club

U.S. serviceman dies in shooting at Mexican strip club

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Air Force Staff Sgt. David Booher shot with 5 others in Ciudad Juarez
Gunmen appeared to have targeted the victims, Mexican spokesman says
Juarez is considered off-limits for the U.S. military because of drug violence

(CNN) -- A U.S. serviceman was among six victims of an early morning shooting at a Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, strip club Wednesday, officials said.

Unidentified gunmen entered the Amadeus club in the border city across from El Paso, Texas, just after midnight and fatally shot six men, Chihuahua state attorney general's office spokesman Arturo Sandoval said.

A statement from Holloman Air Force Base, near Alamogordo, New Mexico, confirmed that the airman was based there, and identified him as Staff Sgt. David Booher, 26.
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U.S. serviceman dies in shooting at Mexican strip club

Fort Benning soldier dies in Iraq

Fort Benning soldier dies in Iraq

The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Nov 3, 2009 20:24:44 EST

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Defense Department says a Fort Benning soldier from Colorado Springs has died in Iraq of injuries from a noncombat incident.

Military officials said Tuesday that 21-year-old Spc. Jonathon M. Sylvestre died Monday in Kut, Iraq. Details of his injuries weren’t released.

Sylvestre was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga.

The circumstances of his death are under investigation.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/ap_benning_soldier_dies_iraq_110309/

Military Family Caucus has Mullen’s OK

Military Family Caucus has Mullen’s OK

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Nov 4, 2009 14:43:37 EST

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs said both he and his wife fully support the new Congressional Military Family Caucus, a group formed to work on child care, education, health and deployment issues.

Adm. Mike Mullen was the keynote speaker at Wednesday’s inaugural meeting of the caucus — which has 70 members and growing — formed by members of the House of Representatives to identify and try to resolve issues affecting military families.

Mullen said he and his wife, Deborah, will do everything they can for the cause.

“We are extremely grateful for your starting the caucus,” he said. “This is a big deal.”

Mullen endorsed the list of issues gaining attention from the caucus, saying it matches the feedback he has received from his wife and from meeting with military family members around the world. He urged the caucus to also listen to families.
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Military Family Caucus has Mullens OK

Veterans agency to track, assess PTSD treatments

Veterans agency to track, assess PTSD treatments
By Mary Mosquera
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
The Veterans Affairs Department wants to develop a Web-based system for tracking and analyzing clinical data about the treatment that veterans receive for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The VA has said previously that it has expanded care for the large number of soldiers returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan who suffer from the condition. The department now wants to be able to assess its treatment and outcomes.
VA published a request for proposals from vendors for the PTSD treatment monitoring tool on the Federal Business Opportunities Web site Oct. 28.
The software will run alongside VA’s VistA computerized patient record system and extract data on veterans’ PTSD care, according to the notice. The system will then generate reports for VA healthcare program managers.
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Veterans agency to track, assess PTSD treatments

No excuse for Senator Colburn holding up bill for veterans

The "objection is cost" and he said that? The price was due and payable as soon as the first pair of boots was sent into Afghanistan and then into Iraq. Didn't they think of this when they sent them? After all, wars do not produce only coffins coming back but wounded as well. Keep in mind that there were less doctors and nurses working for the VA with two campaigns going on than there were after the Gulf War. Also keep in mind that there was nothing really being done for any of the wounded for far too long, so there is no excuse Senator Coburn can use now. This money should have been paid in full years ago. To complain now is forget what a huge role he played in all of this in the first place. He should be ashamed he does not understand that while he's complaining about money, they are suffering. They didn't make the congress wait when they were told to go so why the hell should they have to wait until Coburn finds his conscience and understands this is what we owe them now?

Sen. blocking bill: Objection is cost, not vets

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Nov 4, 2009 17:09:49 EST

The senator holding up consideration of an omnibus veterans’ health bill doesn’t hate veterans and their families, but he does hate the idea of creating new benefits without paying for them, his spokesman says.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., is using Senate rules to block a vote on S 1963, a major veterans bill, unless he has the chance to offer amendments to pay for the new benefits it creates, especially stipends, health benefits, counseling and other programs aimed at family caregivers of seriously wounded combat veterans.

Coburn spokesman John Hart said the senator has questions about the new benefit, wondering why, if it is such a good thing for families, it is limited to helping only those of Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans. But the main objection is cost.

“We are at a point in our history when we have to start paying for things,” Hart said.
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Objection is cost, not vets