Iraq War Vet Loses Everything In Condo Fire
CBS
Edward Moody
December 28, 2012
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A large fire ripped through more than a half-dozen condos in Uptown Minneapolis Friday morning, sending huge clouds of smoke into the air and one resident to the hospital.
The flames quickly chewed through three floors at the 100-year-old building on Lake Street and Irving.
The fire burned for hours before dozens of firefighters could finally get the upper hand. The culprit was found to be unattended candles.
The people who lived in the eight-unit building lost everything. Among them was a young Iraq War veteran who says he’s been trying to get back on his feet.
Steven Stack says he heard about the fire while riding the bus on his way home from work.
“I did not expect that it was the building I’ve been staying in,” he said. “You go to work, you get off and you just plan on going about your day.”
Stack says he served two tours of duty in Iraq. The 21-year-old army specialist says he’s been working through post-traumatic stress disorder. He says seeing flames shooting out of his building didn’t help his condition.
read more here
Monday, December 31, 2012
Two tour Iraq veteran lost everything in fire
At 21 Steven Stack has now survived two deployments into Iraq and now, a fire.
God and family helped homecoming soldier
Soldier Adjusts to Life at Home After Afghanistan
By BRENNAN LINSLEY
Associated Press
FOUNTAIN, Colo.
December 31, 2012 (AP)
First Lt. Aaron Dunn deployed to Afghanistan in early March 2012. His 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, was charged with engaging Taliban fighters in Kunar Province and mentoring Afghan government soldiers. Upon returning, here are some of his views.
Coming home:
By BRENNAN LINSLEY
Associated Press
FOUNTAIN, Colo.
December 31, 2012 (AP)
First Lt. Aaron Dunn deployed to Afghanistan in early March 2012. His 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, was charged with engaging Taliban fighters in Kunar Province and mentoring Afghan government soldiers. Upon returning, here are some of his views.
Coming home:
"War and coming home are going to mean different things to each soldier. For me it was God and family. I get my security in life from my hope in God, and my companionship and support from my family. I really didn't worry too much during deployment, because of that faith."
read more here
Soldier from Ocala Florida killed in Afghanistan
Update
Miami Herald
Relatives tell the Ocala Star-Banner that Sims got married in October, and his wife is pregnant.
Miami Herald
Relatives tell the Ocala Star-Banner that Sims got married in October, and his wife is pregnant.
North Florida private killed in Afghanistan
December 31, 2012
HERALD STAFF REPORT
A Florida soldier who was on his first deployment to Afghanistan was killed this weekend in an explosion, the Pentagon said Monday.
Army Pfc. Markie T. Sims, 20, of Citra, north of Ocala, died Saturday in Panjwal, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device, according to a Defense Department statement.
Read more here
17 Year old prank called suicide prevention hotline
Suicide hot line prank call highlights mental health services available to area families
By Kathryn Brenzel
The Express-Times
December 30, 2012
A call confessing suicidal thoughts sent swarms of law enforcement descending on a house where they expected to possibly find a slain teenage girl and her father, who’d confessed to shooting her.
What they found was a 17-year-old Mansfield Township boy who’d invented the plot as a prank, police say.
The teen, later charged with creating false public alarm, allegedly called a Warren County suicide prevention hot line and said he’d shot his daughter and was thinking of turning the gun on himself. Several agencies responded, ultimately wasting resources and incurring overtime costs, said Mansfield Township police Lt. Michael Reilly.
The threshold of anonymity on suicide hot lines is crossed when the caller threatens harm to others or themselves. At that point, law enforcement is contacted, Reilly said.
“It puts everyone at risk because we don’t know what we’re responding to,” he said of the prank. “Everybody’s short on resources. Any major event, we all help each other out.”
The alleged joke highlighted the severity of making false reports, but it also showed how a county network can react to crises involving children and their families.
Communication between crisis intervention, law enforcement and other mental health agencies is key to quickly and accurately responding to situations, said Warren County Prosecutor Richard Burke.
read more here
By Kathryn Brenzel
The Express-Times
December 30, 2012
A call confessing suicidal thoughts sent swarms of law enforcement descending on a house where they expected to possibly find a slain teenage girl and her father, who’d confessed to shooting her.
What they found was a 17-year-old Mansfield Township boy who’d invented the plot as a prank, police say.
The teen, later charged with creating false public alarm, allegedly called a Warren County suicide prevention hot line and said he’d shot his daughter and was thinking of turning the gun on himself. Several agencies responded, ultimately wasting resources and incurring overtime costs, said Mansfield Township police Lt. Michael Reilly.
The threshold of anonymity on suicide hot lines is crossed when the caller threatens harm to others or themselves. At that point, law enforcement is contacted, Reilly said.
“It puts everyone at risk because we don’t know what we’re responding to,” he said of the prank. “Everybody’s short on resources. Any major event, we all help each other out.”
The alleged joke highlighted the severity of making false reports, but it also showed how a county network can react to crises involving children and their families.
Communication between crisis intervention, law enforcement and other mental health agencies is key to quickly and accurately responding to situations, said Warren County Prosecutor Richard Burke.
read more here
How Badly Will Budget Cuts Hurt Troops?
How Badly Will Budget Cuts Hurt Troops?
Dec 31, 2012
Stars and Stripes
by Joyce Tsai
WASHINGTON -- In the final presidential debate, President Barack Obama declared to the American people with unflinching certainty that sequestration “will not happen.”
Two months later, the Jan. 1 deadline is looming, with no debt reduction deal in sight.
Now what?
How quickly and deeply will these automatic defense budget cuts totaling about $500 billion over the next decade hit troops, Defense Department civilians and contractors?
And how much will they hurt?
Many experts agree: “The sky is not going to suddenly fall on Jan. 2,” said Todd Harrison, a defense budget expert at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington think tank. “In fact, we are likely to see hardly any impacts in that first week.”
But in the weeks that follow, the D0D could begin implementing the furlough plan for civilian employees that was announced before Christmas by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.
The Defense Department could hit the entire civilian workforce -- about 700,900 full-time employees -- with furloughs. In that instance, offices would not be shuttered.
Furloughs would come in waves and in a rolling manner, so only a handful of civilian employees from each department would stay home without pay each month.
read more here
Dec 31, 2012
Stars and Stripes
by Joyce Tsai
WASHINGTON -- In the final presidential debate, President Barack Obama declared to the American people with unflinching certainty that sequestration “will not happen.”
Two months later, the Jan. 1 deadline is looming, with no debt reduction deal in sight.
Now what?
How quickly and deeply will these automatic defense budget cuts totaling about $500 billion over the next decade hit troops, Defense Department civilians and contractors?
And how much will they hurt?
Many experts agree: “The sky is not going to suddenly fall on Jan. 2,” said Todd Harrison, a defense budget expert at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington think tank. “In fact, we are likely to see hardly any impacts in that first week.”
But in the weeks that follow, the D0D could begin implementing the furlough plan for civilian employees that was announced before Christmas by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.
The Defense Department could hit the entire civilian workforce -- about 700,900 full-time employees -- with furloughs. In that instance, offices would not be shuttered.
Furloughs would come in waves and in a rolling manner, so only a handful of civilian employees from each department would stay home without pay each month.
read more here
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)