Marine to be jailed after accidentally shooting brother

Marine to be jailed for brother's death
By Paul Foy
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jan 15, 2013

SALT LAKE CITY — A grieving former Marine who accidentally shot and killed his younger brother over a campfire was sentenced Tuesday to 90 days in jail followed by a public-speaking tour.

Eric Charlton, 27, was ordered to talk about the dangers of mixing alcohol and firearms twice a week for 45 weeks, said a court clerk for the 4th District judge in Nephi, about 75 miles south of Salt Lake City.

Judge James Brady spared the veteran of tours in Iraq and Afghanistan a longer jail term after Charlton's family, friends and counselors pleaded for mercy.

His wife of six years, Julianne, said jail would keep him from a 3-year-old daughter, a son born in October and "cause Eric to become locked inside his head."

Charlton was described as inconsolable by more than a dozen people who wrote letters describing a special bond between brothers. They asked the judge to reject prosecutors' requests for a stiffer sentence. The judge previously dismissed a felony manslaughter charge. Charlton was sentenced Tuesday for negligent homicide and handling a weapon while intoxicated, both misdemeanors.
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Iraqi war vet awarded $3.7 million in PTSD case against VA

Iraqi war vet awarded $3.7 million in PTSD case
Times Leader
January 16, 2013

SCRANTON – A federal judge has awarded $3.7 million to an Iraqi war veteran who alleged the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Plains Township failed to properly treat his post traumatic stress disorder.

U.S. District Judge James Munley issued the order today in the case of Stanley Laskowski III and his wife, Marisol.

Laskowski, of Carbondale, filed suit against the VA in 2010, alleging physicians there were grossly negligent in the care they provided him for PTSD he developed during a tour of duty in Iraq with the U.S. Marine Corps in 2003.
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Reliving the pain of war: military deployment and PTSD

Reliving the pain of war: military deployment and PTSD
The Coverstation
16 January 2013
AUTHOR
David Forbes
Director, Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health
Professor of Psychiatry at University of Melbourne

Importantly, current research informs us that the risk for mental health problems does not rise with increased deployments per se. Rather, the risk of PTSD is determined by the frequency and severity of the potentially traumatic events to which serving members may be exposed on these deployments.

Serving on operational deployments in conflict zones carries not only the obvious physical threats, it also poses significant mental health risks. While depression and anxiety disorders are common among returned service personnel, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is perhaps the most commonly considered mental disorder in this group.

Approximately 8% of Australian Defence Force (ADF) members report current PTSD, though the rates of PTSD following specific deployments have not yet been published.

A parliamentary committee is currently investigating this issue as part of its inquiry into the care of ADF personnel injured on operations. The release date of the final report hasn’t been confirmed, but so far submissions and public hearings have raised concerns about the risks of PTSD, disclosure of mental health problems and when it’s safe to redeploy soldiers who have experienced mental ill health.
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Marine from Davie takes own life after battling demons of war

If there was ever a day when I wanted to stop doing this work, this is one of those days when I know I can't. I read the following story about a Marine here in Florida committing suicide after fighting a battle with PTSD that he could not win. More proof that what the military have been doing SUCKS AND THEY WON'T CHANGE. John Lutz is not in the count of 349 military suicides because he was already discharged. Active duty military suicides are all over the news right now but reporters are not doing their jobs. If they had been, they would have been asking how many committed suicide after being discharged. In other words, veteran suicides because the number of veterans committing suicide have also gone up.

Read this story and then watch the video. It even made me cry~

Marine from Davie takes own life after battling demons of war
By Mike Clary
Sun Sentinel
January 16, 2013

As a machine gunner in the U.S. Marine Corps, John Lutz survived combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq while earning 13 service commendations and the respect of his buddies.

"He was a Marine to the fullest," said fellow Marine Kevin Ullman. "He was someone who could lighten any situation with witty sarcasm."

Ultimately, however, Lutz could not escape the demons he carried back home to Davie after his discharge 18 months ago.

On Saturday, just hours after a lunch with his mother in which he chatted about his classes at Palm Beach State College, Lutz swallowed a handful of pills VA doctors had prescribed to help him cope with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Lutz died in his bedroom, in the house where he grew up. He was 24.

"I'm sorry," he said in a farewell note he left on his open laptop. "I am happier now."

Among active duty members of the military, suicide is epidemic, according to Pentagon officials. Last year 349 active-duty troops took their lives, according to figures obtained Monday by the Associated Press. That exceeds the 295 Americans who died from combat in Afghanistan.
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Fort Carson soldier and wife killed by burglar

UPDATE
Police arrest teen accused of killing Ft. Carson couple
Macyo January found at Colorado Springs apartment
Lindsay Watts
Target 13 Reporter
POSTED: 11:43 PM MST Jan 14, 2013

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.
The Colorado Springs teenager accused of murdering a Fort Carson soldier and the soldier's pregnant wife was captured at an apartment complex Thursday.

Police tracked down Macyo January, 17, at the Vistas at Citadel apartments on east Bijou Street off of Academy Boulevard. January is the only suspect in the killings of 37-year-old David Dunlap and 35-year-old Whitney Butler.

"This case was such a senseless violent crime that it really rocked our detectives to the core," said Colorado Springs police spokesperson Barbara Miller. "They've been working around the clock since Monday to identify the suspect and ultimately arrest him."

Police said Dunlap and Butler were shot to death when they walked in on a burglary at their home on Bassett Drive around noon Monday.
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Police: Carson soldier, wife killed in burglary
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jan 15, 2013

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Colorado Springs police say a Fort Carson soldier and his wife are dead after being shot by a burglar in their home.

Police say it appears 37-year-old David Dunlap and 35-year-old Whitney M. Butler returned home around noon Monday to find a burglar, who shot them before fleeing. Coroner’s officials on Tuesday ruled their deaths homicides.

A suspect wasn’t immediately identified.