No Charges For Green Berets Friendly Fire Deaths in Afghanitan

Green Berets won’t be punished for Afghanistan 'friendly fire' incident 
Stars and Stripes
By Jon Harper
Published: December 31, 2014

WASHINGTON — The commander of U.S. Army Special Operations Command won’t punish two Special Forces soldiers involved in "friendly-fire" deaths in Afghanistan earlier this year, according to officials.

Five American soldiers and their Afghan counterpart were killed June 9 when an Air Force B-1 Lancet dropped guided bombs on their position after they were misidentified as Taliban fighters.

American special operators, conventional troops, and Afghan army soldiers had been battling insurgents in the Arghandab district of Zabul province throughout the day.

Following a U.S. Central Command investigation, Air Force Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, the investigating officer, blamed the deaths on a series of communication problems between the forces on the ground and the aircrew.

“Had the team understood their system’s capabilities, executed standard tactics, techniques and procedures and communicated effectively, this tragic incident was avoidable,” Harrigian wrote in the executive summary of his report.

The troops killed by friendly fire were

Staff Sgt. Scott R. Studenmund, 24

Staff Sgt. Jason A. McDonald, 28

Spc. Justin R. Helton, 25

Cpl. Justin R. Clouse, 22

Pvt. Aaron S. Toppen, 19

Afghan army Sgt. Gulbuddin Ghulam Sakhi.

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Canada lost 23 firefighters to suicide in the first part of 2014

Canada has a huge problem with PTSD. So does the UK. So does Australia. So does America. So do most countries and the ones hit hardest are the ones civilians depend on the most.

They are emergency responders showing up at accidents on the road while the rest of us complain about the traffic and they are not just trying to save lives, but zipping up bodies into bags.

They are firefighters showing up all over the place from the roads to apartment buildings and homes, never knowing when the next call will be their last while we complain our tax dollars pay them to stand around and wait for it to happen.

They are cops on the streets and sheriffs on county roads making sure people behave and when they don't, they risk their lives just trying to stop them from doing worse but we complain about them, blame them and now, they are being attacked.

What most people don't get is most of them are either veterans or members of the National Guards. One more group we claim to honor yet facts prove we don't.

They are all the first to be there when we need help yet the last to ask for help when they need it. When they finally do ask, the help they need isn't there. No matter how much people love to claim they are doing whatever they can, the truth is, it has all been a better than nothing approach to people who constantly give their best up to and including their lives.

This story is out of Canada but it applies to the US as well.

Firefighters raise calls for help with PTSD
'A lot of times you wish your mind would remove what your eyes have seen'
CBC News
Posted: Dec 31, 2014

A Yukon fire crew at work. Some firefighters are calling for legislation like Alberta's that recognizes post-traumatic stress disorder as a hazard of the job. 'This is a very real occupational exposure,' says Ken Block, Edmonton’s fire chief.
(submitted by Jim Regimbal)

Chris Cleland started as a volunteer ambulance driver at age 16. In 2000, he moved on to volunteer firefighting. Over the years, he’s seen many things. “Been to multiple calls of fatalities and calls of friends and what not,” he says.

Last spring, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I don't, won't say that I was at that point of going to suicide, but I wasn't too far away from it.”

Cleland says the challenge he faced getting his treatment covered shows the need for more provinces and territories to follow Alberta’s lead in making it easier for PTSD to be recognized as a hazard of the job.

The Association of Yukon Fire Chiefs is also calling on the Yukon government to give special recognition to PTSD.

“A lot of times you wish your mind would remove what your eyes have seen, some of the fires you're going to and some of the smells and things that you see at the fire,” says Dawson City Fire Chief Jim Regimbal.

“You put them in the back of your brain but they have a tendency to creep back up.”

Regimbal says Canada lost 23 firefighters to suicide in the first part of 2014.

He helped Cleland get coverage through the Yukon Workers Compensation Board — a process Cleland says "felt like “being left behind."

"He first came to me in May," Regimbal says, "and it wasn't until, let's say, October that his case was approved by WCB."
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PTSD I Grieve

(Moved from Great Americans)
I posted this with the video in 2010.

NamGuardianAngel commented on July 25, 2010
This is why we all need to get the word out about this,,,,, National Guard and Reserve suicide rates climbing By DAVID GOLDSTEIN McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON -- Suicides among Army and Air National Guard and Reserve troops have spiked this year, and the military is at a loss to explain why. Sixty-five members of the Guard and Reserve took their own lives during the first six months of 2010, compared with 42 for the same period in 2009. The grim tally is further evidence that suicides continue to plague the military even though it's stepped up prevention efforts through counseling and mental health awareness programs. http://www.miam­iherald.com/2010­/07/25/1745790/n­ational-guard-and-reserve-suicide.html

The worst thing is, nothing has really changed in all these years. There are just more people doing whatever instead of what is needed.

Pain doesn't end for families after end of war in Afghanistan

Afghanistan war ends but grief endures for Dunedin mom
TBO
Howard Altman
December 30, 2014

For Kim Allison, the pain of loss did not end Sunday when Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel presided over a ceremony in Kabul officially closing out the 13-year-long war in Afghanistan.

On March 11, 2013, Allison’s youngest son, Army Spc. Zachary Shannon, died in a Black Hawk helicopter crash in Afghanistan.

Shannon, a 2010 graduate of Dunedin High School, was just 21.

There was no way of knowing it at the time, but Shannon would be the last service member who grew up in the Tampa area to die in Operation Enduring Freedom, as the war was officially called,

Since Oct. 7, 2001, when bombs and missiles began falling on insurgent positions in Afghanistan, 150 service members who listed Florida as their home of choice died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Aside from Shannon, there were 34 men and one woman who listed Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Polk, Manatee or Hernando counties as their addresses, according to an Associated Press database.

Allison, 53, says she didn’t pay attention to the Kabul ceremony, didn’t really realize the war was over and didn’t know that her son was the last lifelong Floridian to die.

All she knew was that the grief is enduring — for her son, for all the others who made the ultimate sacrifice and their families and for all those who survived but are still suffering the aftermath of combat.

“I will be glad when the troops come home,” she says, “so that nobody else will go through what we did.”
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Troops listing the Tampa area as home who died in the Afghanistan war.

Oct. 8, 2002: Marine Cpl. Antonio James Sledd, 20, Tampa.
March 23, 2003: Air Force Mst. Sgt. Michael Henry Maltz, 42, St. Petersburg.
May 8, 2004: Marine Cpl. Ronald Raymond Payne Jr., 23, Lakeland.
July 2, 2003: Army Staff Sgt. Michael Wayne Shafer 25, Spring Hill.
June 24, 2006: Florida Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Joseph Frederick Fuerst III, 26, Tampa.
June 28, 2006: Army Cpl. Aaron Matthew Griner, 24, Tampa.
April 27, 2007: Army Staff Sgt. Michael D. Thomas, 34, Seffner.
Aug. 28. 2007: Army Sgt. Cory L. Clark, 25, Plant City.
Sept. 28, 2008: Army Sgt. William E. Hasenflu, 38, Bradenton.
June 15, 2009: Army Spc. Jonathan C. O’Neill 22, Zeyphyrhills.
July 14, 2009: Army Sgt. 1st Class Jason J. Fabrizi, 29, Seffner.
July 24, 2009: Army Spc. Justin D. Coleman, 21, Weeki Wachee.
Oct. 23, 2009: Army Spc. Eric N. Lembke, 25, Tampa.
Jan. 24, 2010: Marine Sgt. Daniel M. Angus, 28, Thonotosassa.
Feb. 13, 2010: Army Staff Sgt. John A. Reiners, 24, Lakeland.
March 14, 2010: Marine Cpl. Jonathan D. Porto, 26, Largo.
June 27, 2010: Army Spc. David W. Thomas, 40, St. Petersburg.
Aug. 8, 2010: Army Pfc. Paul O. Cuzzupe, 23, Plant City.
Aug. 21, 2010: Marine Lance Cpl. Nathaniel J. A. Schultz, 19, Safety Harbor.
Oct. 10, 2010: Army Spc. David A. Hess, 25, Ruskin.
Feb. 22, 2011: Marine Cpl. Jonathan W. Taylor, 23, Homosassa.
March 22, 2011: Army Pfc. Michael C. Mahr, 26, Homosassa.
April 28, 2011: Marine Lance Cpl. Ronald D. Freeman, 25, Plant City.
June 2, 2011: Army 1st Lt. Dimitri Del Castillo, 24, Tampa.
July 16, 2011: Army Spc. Frank R. Gross, 25, Oldsmar.
Sept. 4, 2011: Army Pfc. Christophe J. Marquis, 40, Tampa.
Sept. 28, 2011: Army 1st Lt. Ivan D. Lechowich, 27, Valrico.
Dec. 3, 2011: Army Spc. Ryan M. Lumley, 21, Lakeland.
June 11, 2012: Navy Master Chief Petty Officer Richard J. Kessler, 47, Gulfport.
July 8, 2012: Army Spc. Clarence Williams III, 23, Brooksville.
July 8, 2012, Army Staff Sgt. Ricardo Seija, 31, Tampa.
Aug. 2, 2012: Army Staff Sgt. Matthew S. Sitton, 26, Largo.
Oct. 13, 2012: Army Spc. Brittany B. Gordon, 24 St. Petersburg.
March 11, 2013: Army Spc. Zachary L. Shannon, 21, Dunedin.
*April 3, 2013: Air Force Cpt. Michael Steel, 29, Tampa.
*Aug. 20, 2014: Army Sgt. 1st Class Matthew I. Leggett, 39, Ruskin.
*Though troops can list anywhere as an address of choice, neither Steel nor Leggett grew up in Florida.
Steel was born at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa but moved out of state when he was a toddler. Leggett was born in Minnesota and raised in Wisconsin, but his mother lives in Ruskin.
Source” AP News Research Web services.

Iraq veteran with PTSD and TBI missing in Dallas

Authorities searching for missing Dallas-area Iraq Veteran with PTSD, TBI 
KETK News
December 30, 2014 - 4:54pm

JOHNSON COUNTY, TEXAS (KETK) — Johnson County officials are asking for the public's help locating a missing Iraq veteran suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury.

Joseph Jennings, 33, was last seen at around 7 p.m. in the 14000 block of County Road 511 Venus, Texas, wearing a dark blue jackets, overalls, black duty boots and an Iraqi Freedom ball cap. He is described as 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighs 220 pounds and has hazel eyes with brown hair.

Authorities stated the veteran was depressed at the time of his disappearance. The Johnson County Sheriff's Office is asking for everyone to be on the lookout for this veteran who served our country. If you know the whereabouts of Jennings, please contact 911 or the Johnson County Sheriff's Office at (817) 556-6060. Venus is located about 30 miles southwest of Dallas.
check here for updates

Army Captains Move Wedding After Commander-in-Chief Planned Golf Game in Hawaii

Soldiers Relocate Wedding to Accommodate Obama's Golf Game
Bloomberg News
Michael C Bender
Dec 29, 2014

An unusual RSVP from the commander in chief leads to an unforgettable moment for Army newlyweds.

Natalie Heimel and her fiancé, Edward Mallue Jr., a pair of captains in the Army, were walking from their wedding rehearsal on Saturday at the 16th tee box at Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course in Hawaii when they were informed they'd have to move their wedding, scheduled for the next day.

President Barack Obama wanted to play through.

It was the second time that day that the couple heard from the nation's commander in chief, whose affinity for golf has, at times, caused political headaches for the White House.

Stationed in Hawaii and knowing the president spends his Christmas holiday on the islands, they invited him to their ceremony on a lark. They had received a letter earlier on Saturday saying Obama regretted he couldn't come and wishing them happiness on their wedding day.

“He apologized and congratulated them,” McCarthy said, adding that it was a “wonderful talk.”

“We were all there, it was perfect,” she said. “Made their day.”
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