1-star urges WTUs to involve families more
By Joe Gould - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Mar 4, 2012
The chief of the Army’s Warrior Transition Command says warrior transition units must do better to keep family members involved in soldiers’ care.
“We suggest that family be involved, but the implementation piece on the ground … that’s problematic,” said Brig. Gen. Darryl Williams, the commander of Warrior Transition Command and assistant Army surgeon general for warrior care and transition.
Sometimes that’s a challenge because soldiers opt to exclude their families.
“There are families where the service member, the [recovering warrior] says, ‘I don’t want you contacting my family,’ and that is a huge challenge when there is an active nonparticipation,” said Lt. Col. Danny Dudek, the former commander of the Warrior Transition Battalion at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
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Monday, March 5, 2012
Army spouse of the year proves PTSD doesn't have to end anything
Real People: Woman named Army Spouse of the Year
March 04, 2012
Molly McGowan/Times-News
Military deployment doesn’t just impact the troops who leave home to serve.
Not by a long shot.
It’s also a tumultuous time for the families left behind. Alamance County native Crystal Cavalier knows all about it.
Cavalier, now living in Fort Bragg, has raised her children, worked with several organizations for military families, seen her oldest daughter diagnosed with juvenile arthritis, started a nonprofit and earned her master’s degree while her husband, Sgt. Dany Cavalier, was deployed in the Middle East.
That’s why the sergeant nominated his wife for the 2011 Military Spouse of the Year Award, sponsored by Military Spouse Magazine and Armed Forces Insurance. Though the overall winner was Bianca Strzalkowski, representing the Marine Corps, Cavalier is the 2011 Army branch award-winner, the 2011 Army Spouse of the Year.
Born in Burlington, Cavalier grew up in Mebane and graduated from Eastern High School before attending the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Cavalier’s been a military spouse for more than a decade, and has lived at Fort Bragg for the past six years, where her husband — an E5 mechanic — is stationed during his current tour of duty to South Korea.
Cavalier said her husband has been deployed four times. He’s served three tours in Iraq and once in Kosovo. Each deployment ranged from seven to 14 months and during those times, Cavalier kept busy.
All the work she’s done — both volunteer and paid — has been to help families of military personnel stay informed, become acclimated and gain as much peace as possible while their loved ones are overseas. As soon as she got married, Cavalier volunteered in her husband’s “family readiness group,” then became a leader of the FRG at Fort Stewart and Fort Riley.
March 04, 2012
Molly McGowan/Times-News
Military deployment doesn’t just impact the troops who leave home to serve.
Not by a long shot.
It’s also a tumultuous time for the families left behind. Alamance County native Crystal Cavalier knows all about it.
Cavalier, now living in Fort Bragg, has raised her children, worked with several organizations for military families, seen her oldest daughter diagnosed with juvenile arthritis, started a nonprofit and earned her master’s degree while her husband, Sgt. Dany Cavalier, was deployed in the Middle East.
That’s why the sergeant nominated his wife for the 2011 Military Spouse of the Year Award, sponsored by Military Spouse Magazine and Armed Forces Insurance. Though the overall winner was Bianca Strzalkowski, representing the Marine Corps, Cavalier is the 2011 Army branch award-winner, the 2011 Army Spouse of the Year.
Born in Burlington, Cavalier grew up in Mebane and graduated from Eastern High School before attending the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Cavalier’s been a military spouse for more than a decade, and has lived at Fort Bragg for the past six years, where her husband — an E5 mechanic — is stationed during his current tour of duty to South Korea.
Cavalier said her husband has been deployed four times. He’s served three tours in Iraq and once in Kosovo. Each deployment ranged from seven to 14 months and during those times, Cavalier kept busy.
All the work she’s done — both volunteer and paid — has been to help families of military personnel stay informed, become acclimated and gain as much peace as possible while their loved ones are overseas. As soon as she got married, Cavalier volunteered in her husband’s “family readiness group,” then became a leader of the FRG at Fort Stewart and Fort Riley.
The first time her husband came back, he was only home for a short time and didn’t have enough down time to “forget about what happened,” said Cavalier. His second deployment was tougher.
“He was actually blown up on his Humvee … (and) he was stabbed in the back by an insurgent,” she said. “When he came home, he started showing signs of PTSD.”
Cavalier said many soldiers originally thought it a sign of weakness to ask for help or therapy following deployment, but she said it’s important for them to feel at ease asking for medical help. That’s why Cavalier spoke at this year’s Boots on the Ground Conference in Fayetteville, where she emphasized to non-military medical professionals the importance of making resources available to soldiers who no longer live on a base.
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Triple amputee Iraq veteran lost limbs but stuns professors
Iraq war veteran loses limbs, not courage to pursue dreams
by Craig Harris on Mar. 04, 2012
TUCSON – It’s a weekday afternoon when Brian Kolfage pulls into the parking lot at the University of Arizona’s College of Architecture.
Immediately, it’s clear Kolfage isn’t your typical student.
At 30, he’s older than most undergraduates studying architecture. His gait isn’t like that of his fellow students. And he’s missing his right hand.
Kolfage, a triple-amputee who lost his limbs serving in Iraq with the U.S. Air Force, steps out of the driver’s seat of his specially made black Range Rover on prosthetic legs. He heads toward the back of the SUV, where he removes his manual wheelchair, climbs in and heads off to class.
Kolfage is in the third year of a rigorous five-year program, and classmates and faculty say they are amazed by his work.
“Brian was right-handed, and he not only had to learn to write with his left hand, but he had to learn to draw with his left hand. And he’s impeccable,” said Siri Trumble, an adjunct lecturer who was Kolfage’s first architecture teacher at UA. “He quickly emerged as one of the top draftsmen.”
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by Craig Harris on Mar. 04, 2012
TUCSON – It’s a weekday afternoon when Brian Kolfage pulls into the parking lot at the University of Arizona’s College of Architecture.
Immediately, it’s clear Kolfage isn’t your typical student.
At 30, he’s older than most undergraduates studying architecture. His gait isn’t like that of his fellow students. And he’s missing his right hand.
Kolfage, a triple-amputee who lost his limbs serving in Iraq with the U.S. Air Force, steps out of the driver’s seat of his specially made black Range Rover on prosthetic legs. He heads toward the back of the SUV, where he removes his manual wheelchair, climbs in and heads off to class.
Kolfage is in the third year of a rigorous five-year program, and classmates and faculty say they are amazed by his work.
“Brian was right-handed, and he not only had to learn to write with his left hand, but he had to learn to draw with his left hand. And he’s impeccable,” said Siri Trumble, an adjunct lecturer who was Kolfage’s first architecture teacher at UA. “He quickly emerged as one of the top draftsmen.”
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Navy Chaplain shocked to discover he won award he nominated someone else for
Navy chaplain receives Craven Award: His service to country recognized
350th Public Affairs Detachment
Story by Spc. Chelsea Russell
CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan - U.S. Navy Capt. Steve Brown, the Regional Command Southwest, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) force chaplain, based out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., has been in the military for 32 years. His dedication to country and God helped him realize the perfect way for him to serve both: as a chaplain in the military.
Navy chaplains are unique because they serve with the Navy, the Marine Corps or the Coast Guard. During the course of his military career, Brown has served with all three. But even though he is in the Navy, his heart remains with the Marine Corps.
“I was an enlisted Marine for five and one-half years when I felt the Lord’s calling into full-time ministry, and then later to be a chaplain. I wanted to be a chaplain that would serve with Marines,” Brown said. “But Marine chaplains are Navy chaplains. So, I joined the Navy and I’m actually in the Navy, but then I get tours periodically to serve with the Marines. And it just so happens I’ve spent a good number of my years with Marines.”
The John H. Craven Servant Leadership Award is a peer-nominated award that acknowledges the significant service of a Navy chaplain who has earned the rank of Captain or Captain-select. Since the award process allows any Navy chaplain to nominate a peer for consideration, Brown actually recommended a fellow chaplain for the award and expected him to win. When Brown found out he had won the Craven Award instead, he was shocked.
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350th Public Affairs Detachment
Story by Spc. Chelsea Russell
CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan - U.S. Navy Capt. Steve Brown, the Regional Command Southwest, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) force chaplain, based out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., has been in the military for 32 years. His dedication to country and God helped him realize the perfect way for him to serve both: as a chaplain in the military.
Navy chaplains are unique because they serve with the Navy, the Marine Corps or the Coast Guard. During the course of his military career, Brown has served with all three. But even though he is in the Navy, his heart remains with the Marine Corps.
“I was an enlisted Marine for five and one-half years when I felt the Lord’s calling into full-time ministry, and then later to be a chaplain. I wanted to be a chaplain that would serve with Marines,” Brown said. “But Marine chaplains are Navy chaplains. So, I joined the Navy and I’m actually in the Navy, but then I get tours periodically to serve with the Marines. And it just so happens I’ve spent a good number of my years with Marines.”
The John H. Craven Servant Leadership Award is a peer-nominated award that acknowledges the significant service of a Navy chaplain who has earned the rank of Captain or Captain-select. Since the award process allows any Navy chaplain to nominate a peer for consideration, Brown actually recommended a fellow chaplain for the award and expected him to win. When Brown found out he had won the Craven Award instead, he was shocked.
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Fort Carson soldier drowned in Florida
Fort Carson GI killed in Florida incident
March 04, 2012 10:31 PM
TOM ROEDER
The Gazette
A Fort Carson soldier drowned in Florida on Sunday after walking off a beachside dock.
Authorities in Pinellas County, Florida said 36-year-old Luis G. Serrano was walking along a boardwalk in Indian Rocks Beach just before 5:30 a.m. when a bystander saw him plunge into the Gulf of Mexico.
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