Oklahoma doctor held in death of son, 9
November 16, 2009 5:09 p.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Third-grader was dead when authorities arrived at family's home after several 911 calls
Dr. Stephen Wolf, 51, faces first-degree murder charges in death of Tommy Wolf
"There had been some type of altercation," and knife was found at home, sheriff says
Stephen Wolf's wife suffered defensive puncture wounds to her hands, wound to her mouth
(CNN) -- A doctor in suburban Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was arrested Monday and accused in the early morning death of his 9-year-old son, police said.
Dr. Stephen Wolf, 51, faces first-degree murder charges, said Nichols Hills, Oklahoma, Police Chief Richard Mask.
Third-grader Tommy Wolf was dead when authorities arrived at the family's home about 4 a.m. CT in response to several 911 calls, Mask said.
"It was obvious there had been some type of altercation" when police arrived, Mask said. Arriving officers disarmed Wolf, he said, but did not elaborate except to say a knife was found at the home.
Although the investigation is still under way, authorities believe the altercation may have begun in the boy's room "and proceeded from there" to other rooms, Mask said.
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Oklahoma doctor held in death of son
Monday, November 16, 2009
Tests widen for streamlined disability system
Tests widen for streamlined disability system
By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Nov 16, 2009 14:49:59 EST
The test of a streamlined system for examining and evaluating disabled veterans will be expanded to an additional six U.S. bases beginning in January, the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday.
The new locations offering the Disability Evaluation System pilot program will be Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Benning, Ga.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort Lewis, Wash.; Fort Riley, Kan.; and Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, Va., which serves bases in the greater Hampton Roads, Va., area. The expansion, to be completed by March 31, 2010, will bring the total number of facilities using the pilot to 27.
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Tests widen for streamlined disability system
By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Nov 16, 2009 14:49:59 EST
The test of a streamlined system for examining and evaluating disabled veterans will be expanded to an additional six U.S. bases beginning in January, the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday.
The new locations offering the Disability Evaluation System pilot program will be Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Benning, Ga.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort Lewis, Wash.; Fort Riley, Kan.; and Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, Va., which serves bases in the greater Hampton Roads, Va., area. The expansion, to be completed by March 31, 2010, will bring the total number of facilities using the pilot to 27.
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Tests widen for streamlined disability system
Soldier mom refuses deployment to care for baby
Soldier mom refuses deployment to care for baby
By RUSS BYNUM (AP) – 1 hour ago
SAVANNAH, Ga. — An Army cook and single mom may face criminal charges after she skipped her deployment flight to Afghanistan because, she said, no one was available to care for her infant son while she was overseas.
Spc. Alexis Hutchinson, 21, claims she had no choice but to refuse deployment orders because the only family she had to care for her 10-month-old son — her mother — was overwhelmed by the task, already caring for three other relatives with health problems.
Her civilian attorney, Rai Sue Sussman, said Monday that one of Hutchinson's superiors told her she would have to deploy anyway and place the child in foster care.
"For her it was like, 'I couldn't abandon my child,'" Sussman said. "She was really afraid of what would happen, that if she showed up they would send her to Afghanistan anyway and put her son with child protective services."
Hutchinson, who is from Oakland, Calif., remained confined Monday to the boundaries of Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, 10 days after military police arrested her for skipping her unit's flight. No charges have been filed, but a spokesman for the Army post said commanders were investigating.
Kevin Larson, a spokesman for Hunter Army Airfield, said he didn't know what Hutchinson was told by her commanders, but he said the Army would not deploy a single parent who had nobody to care for his or her child.
Soldier mom refuses deployment to care for baby
By RUSS BYNUM (AP) – 1 hour ago
SAVANNAH, Ga. — An Army cook and single mom may face criminal charges after she skipped her deployment flight to Afghanistan because, she said, no one was available to care for her infant son while she was overseas.
Spc. Alexis Hutchinson, 21, claims she had no choice but to refuse deployment orders because the only family she had to care for her 10-month-old son — her mother — was overwhelmed by the task, already caring for three other relatives with health problems.
Her civilian attorney, Rai Sue Sussman, said Monday that one of Hutchinson's superiors told her she would have to deploy anyway and place the child in foster care.
"For her it was like, 'I couldn't abandon my child,'" Sussman said. "She was really afraid of what would happen, that if she showed up they would send her to Afghanistan anyway and put her son with child protective services."
Hutchinson, who is from Oakland, Calif., remained confined Monday to the boundaries of Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, 10 days after military police arrested her for skipping her unit's flight. No charges have been filed, but a spokesman for the Army post said commanders were investigating.
Kevin Larson, a spokesman for Hunter Army Airfield, said he didn't know what Hutchinson was told by her commanders, but he said the Army would not deploy a single parent who had nobody to care for his or her child.
Soldier mom refuses deployment to care for baby
Chaplains: Fort Hood traumatized us, too
The question chaplains get most is "Why did God let this happen?" just as you will read later in the posted article regarding Fort Hood and the aftermath. It has been more helpful to answer this question with another question. "What would you have had God do?" Usually this leads to having God stop it but they can't think of how or when it's supposed to be stopped. When does it stop? Before this one is hurt or killed or after that one? Can you justify someone living thru it instead of another person? Were they less worthy? No they were not and they were loved just as much. God didn't decide to put the guns in Major Hasan's hands. Hasan did. God does not force anyone to do anything but He does ask us, guides us, opens our eyes and our hearts so that we do not turn into people like Hasan, able to kill others for no reason other than he could.
There are many times when people say "God only gives us what we can handle." which is the most perplexing statement I have ever heard in my life. Is it they think a loving God sends them pain and suffering, heartache and misery? Why would He do such a thing? It is not that He sends what is bad but He sends the good surrounding us to help us through it. In times of crisis, there is goodness and compassion surrounding those who suffer. When they act out of care for someone else, God is there. When they act out of bravery to save someone else, God is there. The very fact humans can survive something that seems straight out of hell and still care about someone else proves God is there.
People either do things to others or for them. Do we blame God when they do bad things to us? Do we thank God every time someone comes to help us? Do we ever wonder who God could see us there in need just as we wonder where He was when evil unleashed a wrath upon us? The very fact that all that is from our better angels lives on after traumatic events indicates the love that God has for us and that He sent it to live within each of us because it was good. Some people just decide to kill off what is good inside of them, block out cries for help, ignore the calling of their souls to think of others and seek to take what is not their's to have. They become bitter and angry and live off hurting others. These people did not change like this on orders from God but from the selfishness of our ego.
Better angels were more in number that day at Fort Hood than the worst mankind had to offer. The soldiers who helped the wounded, the police officers responding and then the entire base caring about everyone else there, leaning on each other like family and the prayers of an entire nation with them in the days that followed. Just as funerals are still going on and communities line the street to honor the fallen's return and prayers go out for the wounded. These are our better angels and considering how much we outnumber the bad, it's easy to see that God did not allow any of it but most likely grieved as He had to watch too.
There are many times when people say "God only gives us what we can handle." which is the most perplexing statement I have ever heard in my life. Is it they think a loving God sends them pain and suffering, heartache and misery? Why would He do such a thing? It is not that He sends what is bad but He sends the good surrounding us to help us through it. In times of crisis, there is goodness and compassion surrounding those who suffer. When they act out of care for someone else, God is there. When they act out of bravery to save someone else, God is there. The very fact humans can survive something that seems straight out of hell and still care about someone else proves God is there.
People either do things to others or for them. Do we blame God when they do bad things to us? Do we thank God every time someone comes to help us? Do we ever wonder who God could see us there in need just as we wonder where He was when evil unleashed a wrath upon us? The very fact that all that is from our better angels lives on after traumatic events indicates the love that God has for us and that He sent it to live within each of us because it was good. Some people just decide to kill off what is good inside of them, block out cries for help, ignore the calling of their souls to think of others and seek to take what is not their's to have. They become bitter and angry and live off hurting others. These people did not change like this on orders from God but from the selfishness of our ego.
Better angels were more in number that day at Fort Hood than the worst mankind had to offer. The soldiers who helped the wounded, the police officers responding and then the entire base caring about everyone else there, leaning on each other like family and the prayers of an entire nation with them in the days that followed. Just as funerals are still going on and communities line the street to honor the fallen's return and prayers go out for the wounded. These are our better angels and considering how much we outnumber the bad, it's easy to see that God did not allow any of it but most likely grieved as He had to watch too.
Chaplains: Fort Hood traumatized us, too
By Rick Jervis - USA Today
Posted : Monday Nov 16, 2009 15:23:53 EST
FORT HOOD, Texas — They were supposed to be spending a day leading Mass, talking to soldiers about love and marriage, readying for their own deployment. Instead, the military chaplains of Fort Hood found themselves on the afternoon of Nov. 5 scrambling to the front lines of the worst shooting massacre on a military base in U.S. history.
Thirteen people were killed and more than 30 wounded. Authorities charged Maj. Nidal Hasan with murder.
As some of the first to arrive on the chaotic scene that day, the chaplains counseled dazed, injured soldiers, comforted witnesses and prayed over the bullet-ridden bodies of the slain.
Now they are being asked to lead the healing process. The pace and success at which they counsel the wounded and their families will determine how quickly the post returns to normalcy, said Ralph Gauer, past president of the local chapter of the Association of the United States Army, a group that counsels military families through tragedy.
“Chaplains right now represent the glue that holds an awful lot of units together,” Gauer said. “But they have to come to grip(s) with it themselves. They have to try to understand what they saw themselves as they explain it others.”
There are 75 chaplains at Fort Hood, most of them assigned to units, said Lt. Col. Keith Goode, deputy 3rd Corps chaplain. Ten more chaplains have been flown into Fort Hood, including an imam and a rabbi, to help with the counseling.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/ap_hood_chaplains_111609/
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Vietnam Veteran receives retroactive PTSD benefits
“It’s unfair to make a man who has sacrificed for his country go through decades of fighting through the bureaucratic red tape,” he said.
Vietnam Veteran receives retroactive PTSD benefits
CHESTER – Edward Kehoe, a local Vietnam Veteran, received retroactive disability benefits for injuries he received from Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.
Kehoe, of Chester, served in Vietnam from 1966 until 1971 and during his service was awarded the Bronze Star among other honors. Exposure to Agent Orange, an herbicide contaminant used in the war, the loss of friends and heavy combat, left Kehoe with post traumatic stress disorder. The disorder hindered his transition back to civilian life
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