NEWS RELEASE
Fort Bragg Public Affairs Office
Fort Bragg, NC 28310-5000
910-396-5620
www.bragg.army.mil
www.facebook.com/fortbraggnc
Feb. 13, 2013
Shughart Schools complex cleared after bomb threat
FORT BRAGG, N.C. – The Shughart School complex in Fort Bragg’s Linden Oaks community has been cleared by law enforcement officials after a bomb threat was reported to school administrators around noon, Feb. 13. Students at both Shughart Elementary and Middle schools were evacuated from school grounds to near-by facilities and explosive ordnance teams cleared the buildings.
“Our school evacuation and emergency response procedures worked exactly as we have rehearsed and tested them,” said Tom McCollum, Fort Bragg spokesman.
All students and school administrators have been accounted for.
Families were notified by the Fort Bragg Schools administration and children released to parents and guardians shortly after 2 p.m.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Soldiers paying for own Internet in Afghanistan?
WOW! Read this in a letter to the editor of the Berkshire Eagle.
Soldier hit with huge Internet bill
Posted: 02/14/2013
I would like to share some disturbing information I just received from my son, (name removed. (He) was recently deployed to Afghanistan for nine months. Upon his arrival, while settling in, he inquired about getting the Internet to stay connected to his family and friends. He was rudely awakened by this cost! He had to purchase the dish at an out-of-pocket, immediate expense of over $2,000, and then will be charged a monthly fee of $1,200!
Luckily, other members of his platoon are willing to share this expense to defray the cost. I realize having the Internet is a luxury, but waking up to an email from your son is such peace of mind!
In sharing this frustration, my goal is to make the public aware of this financial burden to our soldiers and perhaps get input as to where I can turn to for some guidance.
Why didn't MOH Romesha attend State of Union? Love
Here's a great Valentines Day love story!
Medal of Honor recipient declines State of the Union invite
By Stephen J. Lee Grand Forks Herald
16 minutes ago
Published: February 14, 2013
The Army veteran presented Monday with the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama made the unusual decision to decline the invitation of the first lady to sit beside her during the president's State of the Union address Tuesday night in Washington.
According to Capt. Dan Murphy of the North Dakota National Guard, who accompanied former Staff Sgt. Clint Romesha to Washington this week, the quiet hero gave up his box seat to history for reasons similar to why he quit the Army after nearly 12 years: his family and friends.
Tuesday was the 13th wedding anniversary of Romesha and his high school sweetheart, Tammy, who made the trip with him to Washington. She and their three children are the reason he left the Army in 2010, he said last month.
read more here
Navy SEAL "the shooter" fighting for veterans in Washington
SEAL who killed Bin Laden met with lawmakers to talk veteran care
By Matt Pearce
February 13, 2013
Out of the service, out of the shadows: The Navy SEAL who reportedly killed Osama bin Laden in the world's most famous secret raid has stepped a little closer toward the sunlight.
The unnamed shooter, profiled in a recent Esquire cover story that describes a post-military life without a pension or timely disability benefits, met with lawmakers Tuesday to discuss veteran's care.
The SEAL, who didn't qualify for a pension or health benefits for his family because he retired four years earlier than the Navy's 20-year threshold, met with Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
The SEAL's disability claim with the military is reportedly caught up in a backlog with about 900,000 veterans who have to wait, on average, more than nine months for a determination on their claims.
"The fellow who killed Osama bin Laden is one of many people who are having these problems. It helps spotlight these problems," Sanders told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, declining to go into detail about the meeting with the shooter, who has been worried about retaliation from Al Qaeda.
read more here
By Matt Pearce
February 13, 2013
Out of the service, out of the shadows: The Navy SEAL who reportedly killed Osama bin Laden in the world's most famous secret raid has stepped a little closer toward the sunlight.
The unnamed shooter, profiled in a recent Esquire cover story that describes a post-military life without a pension or timely disability benefits, met with lawmakers Tuesday to discuss veteran's care.
The SEAL, who didn't qualify for a pension or health benefits for his family because he retired four years earlier than the Navy's 20-year threshold, met with Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
The SEAL's disability claim with the military is reportedly caught up in a backlog with about 900,000 veterans who have to wait, on average, more than nine months for a determination on their claims.
"The fellow who killed Osama bin Laden is one of many people who are having these problems. It helps spotlight these problems," Sanders told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, declining to go into detail about the meeting with the shooter, who has been worried about retaliation from Al Qaeda.
read more here
Bereavement Valentines for Military Families
Bereavement Valentines for Military Families
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
February 14, 2013
When you read about Military suicides there is a family left behind to grieve for each one of them. Last years alone almost 500 military families received word someone they loved committed suicide. That was 60 Naval families, 59 Air Force families, 48 Marine Corps families, 182 Army families and the usually forgotten about 96 Army National Guards families with 47 Army Reservist families.
This part paints the clearest picture of what a massive failure all of this is. 193,000 calls to the crisis line with 6,400 rescues shows what the DOD has been doing on PTSD, outreach, training and everything else they claim they have "done" has resulted in deadly outcomes. They have been claiming to be "taking steps" to reduce the stigma and get these servicemen and women the help they need for too many years and when the press was no longer accepting that for an answer they tried to detour the conversation into the civilian suicide rate without ever mentioning many of the "civilians" committing suicide were in fact veterans. Then they proceeded to further outrage bereaved families by saying "many of them had never been deployed" as if that would make any sense at all.
These men and women were willing to risk their lives when they signed up. They were exposed to combat within the training itself along with seeing coffins come home and amputees fill military hospitals. Did they ever once consider some of these high school kids ended up with some level of PTSD from the training itself? Civilians get PTSD from not being in combat but the military has failed to grasp that simple fact. Not everyone joining the military is cut out to be in the military but they can't just quit so that is more traumatic than losing a job. They also seem unable to consider hazing. Military sexual assaults are forgotten about. The list goes on but again, the military failed to acknowledge that people do not simply go from being willing to die for the sake of others to taking their own lives on a whim.
So each day news arrives that a family member decided they would rather die than spend one more day on this earth because they cannot endure the hell they are in when the military and the VA get away with making unsubstantiated claims.
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
February 14, 2013
When you read about Military suicides there is a family left behind to grieve for each one of them. Last years alone almost 500 military families received word someone they loved committed suicide. That was 60 Naval families, 59 Air Force families, 48 Marine Corps families, 182 Army families and the usually forgotten about 96 Army National Guards families with 47 Army Reservist families.
Eighty percent of veterans who attempted suicide and survived had received mental health care one month earlier from the Department of Veterans Affairs, underscoring the potential peril of 50-day average wait times they face in trying to access VA treatment, a suicide expert told a Congressional committee Wednesday.From the same article
According to a VA report released earlier this month, 18 to 22 veterans commit suicide each day. And that rate “has remained steady” since the Iraq and Afghanistan wars began 12 years ago, said Veterans' Committee chairman Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., who noted that during that same span the VA has increased its budget by 39 percent and its staffing by 41 percent.From the same article
In 2012, for example, the VA’s 24-hour crisis line fielded 193,000 phone calls that resulted in more than 6,400 “rescues” of veterans who were threatening to hurt themselves or their family members, Petzel said.
This part paints the clearest picture of what a massive failure all of this is. 193,000 calls to the crisis line with 6,400 rescues shows what the DOD has been doing on PTSD, outreach, training and everything else they claim they have "done" has resulted in deadly outcomes. They have been claiming to be "taking steps" to reduce the stigma and get these servicemen and women the help they need for too many years and when the press was no longer accepting that for an answer they tried to detour the conversation into the civilian suicide rate without ever mentioning many of the "civilians" committing suicide were in fact veterans. Then they proceeded to further outrage bereaved families by saying "many of them had never been deployed" as if that would make any sense at all.
These men and women were willing to risk their lives when they signed up. They were exposed to combat within the training itself along with seeing coffins come home and amputees fill military hospitals. Did they ever once consider some of these high school kids ended up with some level of PTSD from the training itself? Civilians get PTSD from not being in combat but the military has failed to grasp that simple fact. Not everyone joining the military is cut out to be in the military but they can't just quit so that is more traumatic than losing a job. They also seem unable to consider hazing. Military sexual assaults are forgotten about. The list goes on but again, the military failed to acknowledge that people do not simply go from being willing to die for the sake of others to taking their own lives on a whim.
So each day news arrives that a family member decided they would rather die than spend one more day on this earth because they cannot endure the hell they are in when the military and the VA get away with making unsubstantiated claims.
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