Fort Bliss Chaplain Deployed 7 Times

Ready First: Brigade chaplain inspired by 9/11 to serve in Army, minister to soldiers
El Paso Times
By David Burge
POSTED: 01/01/2015

Barkemeyer is also the most deployed Catholic priest and most deployed chaplain currently serving in the Army, Fort Bliss officials said. He has been to Iraq five times and to Afghanistan twice. He volunteered for six of those deployments.

Chaplain Maj. John Barkemeyer is the chaplain for the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team. He is the most deployed chaplain currently in the U.S. Army. (Rudy Gutierrez — El Paso Times)

Army Chaplain Maj. John Barkemeyer was a Catholic priest in the Chicago area when he was inspired to join the service.

He witnessed Ground Zero in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City. He served as a chaplain for the Chicago Fire Department when its firefighters went to New York to help out.

Barkemeyer also saw many courageous young men and women in his parish join the military in a call to duty after 9/11.

"I saw the selflessness in them and asked myself, 'Am I doing everything I can do?'" said Barkemeyer, a 50-year-old native of Wilmette, Ill. "That coupled with the Ground Zero experience were two eye-opening experiences. 'OK, God, you got my attention.' "

Barkemeyer has now been in the Army for 12 years and is currently the brigade chaplain for the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division. He became the Ready First Brigade chaplain in July 2014.

He helps fill one of the most critical shortages in the Army — a chaplain who is a Catholic priest. There are only about 100 Catholic priests serving in the Army and they probably need about 400 to ideally cover the needs of soldiers, Barkemeyer said.
read more here

Iraq Veteran Tender Proposal Starts New Year Off

Iraq Veteran Pops the Question During a John Michael Montgomery Song [Watch] 
Taste of Country
By Coti Howell
 January 2, 2015

An Iraq veteran was having a super sweet moment with his girlfriend during a John Michael Montgomery song and he made it even more special when he popped the question!

You may need a tissue for this story. Wylie Wheeler is an Iraq War veteran who will be tying the knot soon. Recently, Wheeler and his girlfriend, Brooke, went to a bar in Jacksonville, Fla., according to Country Music Nation.

While the adorable couple were at the bar, the DJ played a song clearly familiar to both parties — JMM’s ‘I Can Love You Like That.’

That’s when Wheeler took his girlfriend to the dance floor so they could dance to the sweet love song.

Wheeler, who is still serving in the military, is clearly a country fan and loves the song.
read more here

Vietnam Veteran PTSD Service Dog Found

There is something off about this story. Since when does a trained PTSD service dog run away from owners? They paid a "professional" to train the dog to be a service dog and they don't just run off if trained properly. The other puzzling thing is why would the dog run away instead of to them when they finally found her?

Vietnam vet gets back his missing service dog
Sun Sentinel
By Tonya Alanez
January 1, 2015

The $500 reward went to Peterman, Jarrod Jones and Brian Johnson, said Rodriguez, a retired Army veteran who was awarded two Purple Heart medals.

Lost service dog found
(second from left) Rene Rodriguez paid a $500 reward to the three men who led him to his dog Thursday. James Peterman (green pants), Jarrod Jones (holding the cash) and Brian Johnson (wearing a hat).
(Rene Rodriguez, Courtesy)

Missing for five days from her Pompano Beach home, Bambi the service dog has been found and three Pompano Beach men are $500 richer.

It took two hours and 25 people chasing the skittish Shar Pei around Weaver Park Thursday afternoon to subdue the animal, but now she's home safe and sound, said her owner René Rodriguez, a Vietnam veteran.

"She was starving and dirty," an elated Rodriguez, 65, said Thursday evening. "As soon as she got in the car, she fell asleep and started snoring like she hadn't slept in years."

Bambi — BB for short — had been missing since 6 p.m. Saturday. Rodriguez's wife, Mimi, 66, said she cried every day and the couple offered a $500 reward for her return.

Both Rodriguez's suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. The couple got BB as a puppy more than a year ago from a kennel in Tennessee, and hired professionals to train her as a service dog.
read more here

Colorado VA Hospital Construction "Boondoggle"

Look at all the years this has been going. What has Congress done about any of it other than complain after reporters started asking questions? What were their excuses for all of this happening without anything being done to fix it?

VA facing new congressional crackdown after Colorado hospital boondoggle 
FOX News
By Kelly David Burke
Published December 31, 2014

A congressional battle is brewing over the Department of Veterans Affairs' admitted mismanagement of construction projects across the country -- including an over-budget, billion-dollar hospital in Colorado that was, briefly, abandoned by the contractor.

"VA construction managers couldn't lead starving troops to a chow hall," Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman said in a recent statement.

Coffman, an Army and Marine Corps combat veteran, plans to introduce legislation stripping the VA of its authority to manage construction projects, and putting the Army Corps of Engineers in charge instead.

The Republican congressman's district includes the location of the troubled VA hospital project in Aurora, Colo. -- the latest black eye for the agency following the scandal over secret waiting lists.

The VA's original design in 2005 was estimated to cost $328 million. By 2008, design changes led Congress to authorize $568 million for the project. By 2010, Congress increased the authorization to $800 million.
read more here

Florida Comfort Food Helped Air Force Nurse in Afghanistan

Nurse saves lives during Afghanistan deployment
Chugiak Eagle River Star
Chris McCann
Published: 2014

Air Force Capt. Tavia Leonard, an intensive-care nurse assigned to the 673d Medical Group, recently returned from Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, where she worked at the Craig-Joint Theater Hospital for four months. U.S. AIR FORCE JUSTIN CONNAHER

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON — The improvised explosive device detonated early — in his hand.

The 16-year-old Afghan boy was rushed to the Craig Joint Hospital on Bagram Air Field, missing a hand, an eye, and a lot of blood. Third-degree burns covered nearly half of his body.

Air Force Capt. Tania Leonard, an intensive-care nurse, was ready.

“He was an angry little fellow,” she said. “But after a while, he became the most polite kid. I may not have reached the masses in Afghanistan, but I hope in his village, he’ll tell people how we took care of him.”

Leonard joined the Air Force hoping to be an ICU nurse. Her first assignment, however, was at the pediatric unit at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany. She was disappointed, but that billet prepared her for the future.

An unexpected motivation came in a care package from a friend — a jar of pickled okra. The Jacksonville, Florida, native said she was ecstatic to get such a creature comfort.

“That was the best day ever,” she said. “I was taking pictures with the okra. Oh, and there were crab legs Fridays. I was on the hunt Fridays; I’ve got to have crab legs. I love seafood. And those little comforts were just great.”
read more here