Marine, OEF OIF veteran left to die after hit and run

Man found dead on Maryland road was former Marine who served in Afghanistan
Washington Post
Matin Weil
September 1, 2013

The man who was killed Saturday in Prince George’s County by an apparent hit-and-run driver was a former Marine who had served in Afghanistan, his mother said.

Eric D. Bridgett, 27, of Clinton was found early Saturday at Kirby Road and Marwood Drive in the Clinton area, police said. They said preliminary investigation suggested that he was struck while trying to cross Kirby. The vehicle that hit him did not stop, police said.

His mother, Claudia Bridgett, said he was headed to his in-laws’ home, where his wife, Brandi, and their three children were staying while the couple looked for a home of their own. She said he had finished work at a restaurant and then stopped by his mother’s home in Clinton before heading to his in-laws’ house about 1 a.m.
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Six Scottish soldiers arrested for beating off duty NYPD officer

UK soldiers suspected of beating NYC cop outside bar
NBC
By Alexander Smith
NBC News contributor September 2, 2013

An off-duty New York police officer was allegedly assaulted and robbed outside a Manhattan bar by six soldiers from a Scottish regiment who were in town on a rugby tour, police said Monday.

One of the soldiers, of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, is said to have snatched the 21-year-old officer's cell phone while the other five are suspected of assault.

A friend of the officer was also alleged assaulted.

"A verbal confrontation escalated into a physical confrontation," a New York Police Department said.

"Words were said and the situation became aggressive.

"Somebody tried to de-escalate things but then the fight started. It is not clear what was said between the men.
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Vietnam vets shut down The Butler movie because of Jane Fonda

Vietnam vets shut down Fonda movie showing in Wellsville
Wellsville Daily
By John Anderson
Daily Reporter
Posted Sep 01, 2013

Moviegoers in Wellsville had a choice of two movies on Friday night, once they walked past a group of Vietnam veterans 20 strong.

The veterans, who were right around the corner from their American Legion post at the Grand Theater on North Main Street, were upset Jane Fonda was portraying former First Lady Nancy Reagan in the movie, "The Butler."

'These guys are Vietnam vets and when you are 18, 19 or 20 and you hear she is applauding planes being shot down ... and I don't know what is true and not true, but it burns in your mind," said Skip Merrick, one of the protesters. "One my my jobs (during the Vietnam war) was seeing the planes off and making sure they were back. When one plane did not come back in the order I sent them out ..."

Merrick's voice trails off. But the chants of "Vets don't forget, no Fonda here," from the protesters rang on from 6 p.m. to almost 10 p.m.

According to the theater release, The Butler, "Tells the story of a White House butler who served eight American presidents over three decades. The film traces the dramatic changes that swept American society during this time, from the civil rights movement to Vietnam and beyond, and how those changes affected this man's life and family."

The first five people to go to the 7 p.m. showing opted to see Grown Ups 2, a comedy, showing in the smaller theater upstairs.
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$12 billion given to veterans charities but not for veterans

If you read Wounded Times on even an occasional basis, you know how great the need is for our veterans to find help. You also know about some great charities doing great work along with some collecting millions because they are great at raising awareness for themselves. No matter how much you've read in the past, this report will make you sick, sick, sick! It is linked from NBCNews.com.

'Scoundrels, Thieves and Rip-off Artists' Prey on Veterans
News21
by Chad Garland and Andrew Knochel
Published Aug. 24, 2013

Over four years, as increasing numbers of veterans returned home from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a charity called Disabled Veterans Services of Pompano Beach, Fla., reported raising more than $8 million in cash and nearly $4 million in donated goods that it claimed would help disabled and homeless veterans.

But barely a nickel of each dollar the charity raised in cash went directly to help veterans, a News21 analysis shows. Although it claimed to have sent about $2.5 million in donated drugs and medical supplies to a Boston homeless shelter, the shelter said it received just one shipment worth about $210,000.

Another charity, Help Hospitalized Veterans of Winchester, Calif., spent only 25 cents of every dollar it raised on arts-and-crafts kits and “craft care specialists” as “diversion therapy for veterans facing extended hospitalization.” Most of the rest of the money, according to the charity’s filings with the Internal Revenue Service, paid for mass mailings soliciting more money and urging Americans to volunteer at veterans’ hospitals and become pen pals with patients.

In the years that the country has been at war, Americans have given more than $12 billion to veterans’ and military charities. Donations grew nationwide from more than $615 million in 2001 to more than $1.6 billion in 2011 alone.

Federal and state laws demand financial reporting from all charities, but they require little in the way of reporting the results of services the charities claim to provide, the News21 investigation shows.

Though many charities offered needed help, others spent much of their money — sometimes most of it — on the organization’s overhead expenses, rather than services promised to veterans.

“The scoundrels and the thieves and the rip-off artists … that want to make a lot of money know that these are categories of charities where the American public is gravitated, it pulls at the heartstrings and they know that the tendency of Americans is to give impulsively, emotionally with that pull,” said Ken Berger, president and chief executive officer of Charity Navigator, an independent charity evaluator. “They exploit that and they use that.”
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The excuse of "raising awareness" is as stupid as it gets. Example, this site does it everyday but so do thousands of others and we get the information to share from reports all over the country, FOR FREE! Facebook is free, Twitter is free and so is LinkedIn.

Another good example of this are the charities around the country operating with budgets funded from their own pockets because what they do is on the local level requiring time more than anything else and gas money.

Some charities do more like put a roof over their heads in a shelter or food in their bellies so they need more money just as charities to put clothes on their backs need funding as well as clothing donations.

If you know someone giving to a charity that says they are taking care of veterans, they should be able to prove where your money will go if not, then you need your money to go some place else. Just because they are great at raising money doesn't mean they are great at taking care of veterans!

Army failed to tell Mom 6 year old daughter's rape was on video

Tennessee mother sues Army over soldier rape case
Associated Press
Posted August 31, 2013

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A Tennessee woman has sued the U.S. Army for $30 million, claiming authorities did not alert her to an investigation into allegations that a Fort Campbell soldier raped her daughter and videotaped the act.

The soldier, Joshua Cline, has been convicted on rape charges in Tennessee and federal child pornography charges involving the girl, who was 6 when the abuse was discovered in 2008.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Nashville earlier this month. It claims the Army failed to warn the girl's mother after officials began investigating the charges, and instead told her that she didn't have anything to worry about regarding her daughter. The Army also waited at least 10 months to notify the Tennessee Department of Children's Services that the girl could be in danger, according to court and state records.
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