Number of unemployed veterans up 150,000 in four months
By LEO SHANE III
Stars and Stripes
Published: February 1, 2013
WASHINGTON — The number of unemployed veterans rose above 800,000 in January, a spike that raises concerns about the long-term viability of efforts to find jobs for former military personnel.
According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the overall unemployment rate for veterans rose to 7.6 percent in January, more than 1 percent above where it was last fall but still below the national rate of 7.9 percent.
But the total number of veterans unsuccessfully looking for work rose to 844,000, almost 150,000 more than it was four months ago.
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Friday, February 1, 2013
Veteran suicides almost one an hour
Will Congress finally figure out they have been funding the wrong programs and pushing what has not worked? If not, then this will just keep getting worse. This isn't news if you have been paying attention to the veterans committing suicide when they are supposed to be safe. If it is news to you then you should really be ashamed of yourself for not caring.
U.S. military veteran suicides rise, one dies every 65 minutes
WASHINGTON
Fri Feb 1, 2013 6:56pm EST
Feb 1 (Reuters) - The most extensive study yet by the U.S. government on suicide among military veterans shows more veterans are killing themselves than previously thought, with 22 deaths a day - or one every 65 minutes, on average.
The study released on Friday by the Department of Veterans Affairs covered suicides from 1999 to 2010 and compared with a previous, less precise VA estimate that there were roughly 18 veteran deaths a day in the United States.
More than 69 percent of veteran suicides were among individuals aged 50 years or older, the VA reported.
"This data provides a fuller, more accurate, and sadly, an even more alarming picture of veteran suicide rates," said Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington state, who has championed legislation to strengthen mental health care for veterans.
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Fallen soldier's son gets wish to send letter to heaven
If you ever wanted to cry for a good reason, here it is. A soldier died and a son wanted to send a letter to him in Heaven. His wish was granted by an angel with the wings of Lt. Col. Brian Baldwin.
Pilot Delivers Letter To 'Heaven' For Little Boy's Fallen Soldier Dad
The Huffington Post
By Zoe Mintz
Posted: 02/01/2013
PHOTOS: Tech. Sgt. Dana RossoUPDATED: Fri., Feb. 1, 2013 3:34 p.m. EST
MacAidan Gallegos was just five years old when his father was killed in Afghanistan in 2009.
Four years later, 9-year-old ‘Mac’ had a special request in honor of his father’s birthday on Jan. 24 . He wanted to write his dad a letter that would be delivered to him in heaven, KTUU reports.
"I wanted to write a letter because I wanted to know more about my dad and to show that I didn't forget him and to show that I also love him," Mac, who lives in Anchorage, Alaska, told the news outlet.
Amanda Marr, Mac’s mother, posted her son’s wish on Facebook and was soon contacted by Helping American Veterans Experience Alaska (HAVE Alaska), a nonprofit that organizes and funds fishing and hunting trips in Alaska for injured veterans. The organization connected Lt. Col. Brian Baldwin with the family to fly the letter as high as his F-22 aircraft would allow, according to ARPC.
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Congress Targets Contractors and Overseas Crimes
Congress Targets Contractors and Overseas Crimes
Feb 01, 2013
Associated Press
by Eric Tucker
WASHINGTON -- With thousands of civilian contractors remaining in Iraq and Afghanistan, Justice Department officials want Congress to resolve a legal issue they say obstructs efforts to prosecute any such workers who rape, kill or commit other serious crimes abroad.
Scofflaw Pentagon employees and contractors supporting the American war mission overseas are subject to federal prosecution in the U.S., but a nonmilitary contractor who breaks the law may fall outside the Justice Department's jurisdiction. Lawmakers who have pushed in the past to extend the reach of U.S. criminal law plan to renew their efforts this session with bills to make civilian contractors and employees liable to federal prosecution for acts including murder, arson and bribery.
Federal prosecutors believe clearer and more uniform rules are needed to resolve a jurisdictional question made murkier by the end of the Iraq war and the ongoing reduction of troops in Afghanistan. The issue caused problems for authorities during the first prosecution of Blackwater contractors accused in 2007 shootings in Baghdad and could again be a stumbling block as prosecutors seek a new indictment in the case.
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Feb 01, 2013
Associated Press
by Eric Tucker
WASHINGTON -- With thousands of civilian contractors remaining in Iraq and Afghanistan, Justice Department officials want Congress to resolve a legal issue they say obstructs efforts to prosecute any such workers who rape, kill or commit other serious crimes abroad.
Scofflaw Pentagon employees and contractors supporting the American war mission overseas are subject to federal prosecution in the U.S., but a nonmilitary contractor who breaks the law may fall outside the Justice Department's jurisdiction. Lawmakers who have pushed in the past to extend the reach of U.S. criminal law plan to renew their efforts this session with bills to make civilian contractors and employees liable to federal prosecution for acts including murder, arson and bribery.
Federal prosecutors believe clearer and more uniform rules are needed to resolve a jurisdictional question made murkier by the end of the Iraq war and the ongoing reduction of troops in Afghanistan. The issue caused problems for authorities during the first prosecution of Blackwater contractors accused in 2007 shootings in Baghdad and could again be a stumbling block as prosecutors seek a new indictment in the case.
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Standoff continues as man holds boy in underground bunker
Standoff enters third day as man holds boy in underground bunker
WTVR
January 31, 2013
by Nick Dutton
MIDLAND CITY, Alabama (CNN) — Somewhere underneath this red Alabama dirt is a little boy. A kindergartner, snatched from the safety of his school bus by a gunman and stashed in an underground bunker;
A boy who needs daily medication;
A child that this Bible Belt community of 2,300 is praying for.
Many details have been released about the boy’s abductor:
How he was supposed to have been in court to face charges that he’d shot at his neighbors over a minor property dispute;
How he boarded a stopped school bus Tuesday and allegedly shot dead the bus driver;
How he worked on the bunker in the middle of the night for more than a year.
But as the sun rose again on Midland City on Thursday, many more questions remain:
How deep is the bunker?
What’s in it beside the man and the boy?
How are they keeping warm when temperatures have dipped into the 30s in the area?
Is the boy safe?
And most importantly, why him?
WTVR
January 31, 2013
by Nick Dutton
MIDLAND CITY, Alabama (CNN) — Somewhere underneath this red Alabama dirt is a little boy. A kindergartner, snatched from the safety of his school bus by a gunman and stashed in an underground bunker;
A boy who needs daily medication;
A child that this Bible Belt community of 2,300 is praying for.
Many details have been released about the boy’s abductor:
How he was supposed to have been in court to face charges that he’d shot at his neighbors over a minor property dispute;
How he boarded a stopped school bus Tuesday and allegedly shot dead the bus driver;
How he worked on the bunker in the middle of the night for more than a year.
But as the sun rose again on Midland City on Thursday, many more questions remain:
How deep is the bunker?
What’s in it beside the man and the boy?
How are they keeping warm when temperatures have dipped into the 30s in the area?
Is the boy safe?
And most importantly, why him?
The suspect
Authorities have not released the name of the suspected gunman. But neighbors and news outlets around Midland City identified him as 65-year-old (name removed), a Vietnam veteran and a retired truck driver.
Neighbor Jimmy Davis told CNN that (suspect) began digging a hole on his property soon after he moved in down the road from him.
Davis, who works a night shift, said (suspect) worked on his bunker in the middle of the night — every other night, between 2 and 3 a.m., for a year and a half.
He was friendly and welcoming and told Davis the hole would be a storm shelter.
But Tim Byrd, chief investigator with the Dale County Sheriff’s Office, told the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hatewatch that (suspect) had “anti-America” views.
“His friends and his neighbors stated that he did not trust the government, that he was a Vietnam vet, and that he had PTSD,” Byrd told the civil rights group. “He was standoffish, didn’t socialize or have any contact with anybody. He was a survivalist type.”
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