LCpl Janos V. Lutz Live To Tell Ride For PTSD Support

Marine mom works for better PTSD programs 
Sun Sentinel
By Mike Clary
January 11, 2015

Live to Tell Ride scott fisher / Sun Sentinel fl-live-to-tell-ride-011115b--Bike riders participate in the Second Annual LCpl Janos V. Lutz Live To Tell Ride, from Western High School to C.B Smith Park in Broward County on Sunday, January 11th, 2015. The ride honors veteran's who have taken their own lives due to Post Traumatic Stress...

Two years after U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Janos Lutz took his own life, his mother said she is determined to leave as his legacy a means through which other war veterans can be saved.

"We are growing and we will do this," said Janine Lutz of her envisioned national network of "Buddy Up" chapters where military veterans can find fellow veterans to help them as they battle PTSD — post-traumatic stress disorder.

"When my son reached out to his battle buddies, they were in other states. We have to have people here by their side when they need them." 

Lutz spoke of her plans Sunday at the second annual PTSD Awareness Ride sponsored by the foundation she started to honor her son. Lutz, called Johnny, died Jan. 12, 2013, after taking an overdose of prescription medication at the family home in Davie. He was 24. "I'm sorry," he said in a farewell note he left on his open laptop. "I am happier now."

Just before leaden skies opened up to deliver pelting rain showers, the pictures of 211 veterans who have committed suicide were removed from the back of a hearse and pinned up for all to see. Lutz said they represented just a fraction of military veterans who have taken their lives in recent years.

Live to Tell Ride scott fisher / Sun Sentinel
Former Marine Hipolito Arriaga helps assemble the PTSD Memorial Wall as bike riders participate in the Second Annual LCpl Janos V. Lutz Live To Tell Ride, from Western High School to C.B Smith Park in Broward County on Sunday, January 11th, 2015.

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Video from WSVN News

Timeless Love Story: Veteran Visits Wife's Grave Everyday

California veteran visits wife’s grave every day 
KHON 2 News
By Danielle Radin
Published: January 9, 2015

REDDING, CA (KRCR/CNN) – It’s a love story that goes beyond this earthly realm, a veteran whose loyalty to his wife is truly an inspiration.

“I just saw her one day and I just fell for her right then and there,” Wes Breese said.

The 79-year-old recalls the first time he saw his wife, Bea, over 60 years ago. It was love at first sight.

16 months after her passing, Breese still feels the same. He visits her here at the Redding Memorial Park Cemetery. Breese comes here 364 days a year, every day except one.

“She died in September of 13 and I’ve been here every day since then, except the Fourth of July. They had the gates locked and I couldn’t get in,” Breese said.

Breese has been coming to this graveyard for over a year now. He’ll spend anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours reading and talking to his wife.
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Afghanistan Veteran Thwarts Theft for Fallen Heroes Memorial Fund

Veteran foils suspected theft attempt by Mount Clemens man accused of taking from Fallen Heroes Memorial display
The Macomb Daily
By Carol Hopkins
POSTED: 01/09/15

Tom’s Coney Island in Waterford staff and friends were happy Waterford Police were able to recover veterans memorial money taken Jan. 2. From left to right, waitress Maria Mason, fund director Skip Bushart, Tom’s owner Liz Sinishas and veteran Brandon Vickery. Carol Hopkins--For The Macomb Daily

A suspicious active-duty veteran is being credited for helping police track down men accused of taking cash intended for an Oakland County veterans memorial. Brandon Vickery, 28, of Waterford –– a staff sergeant with the U.S. Army National Guard –– was sitting at the Tom’s Coney Island lunch counter in Waterford the late afternoon Jan. 2 when two men came into the restaurant.

Near the cash register is a display with candy bars and an envelope for anyone who wants to donate to the Oakland County Fallen Heroes Military Memorial run by Skip Bushart of Waterford.

When the men got their food and left, Vickery –– who recently returned from his second tour in Afghanistan –– told the staff to check the candy bars since he’d seen the men near the display. “We looked and the money was gone,” said Sinishas, who has owned the restaurant nine years. The envelope had $7 inside, she said. read more here

VA Programs Don't Communicate

Veterans' advocates: '99 programs that aren't talking to each other'
MyFOX Alabama
By Charles Molineaux
Updated: Jan 08, 2015

Advocates say besides complex bureaucracy and some redundancy, the biggest issue for vets is tracking down the help they need and signing up.

Advocates say besides complex bureaucracy and some redundancy, the biggest issue for vets is tracking down the help they need and signing up. (Source: WAFF)

HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF)
At this point, disabled Navy Veteran Nancy Eason declares herself an expert in the veterans' benefits paper chase.

Her career ran all the way from the Vietnam War to the first Persian Gulf War, but when she retired, she recalled a confounding bureaucratic maze of forms and records.

“Well, it took me 12 and a half years to get my claim settled,” she said. “In DC, even though I took (my paperwork) there in person twice, they lost it both times within six months. And then Baltimore, they sent me a letter and I took a copy of everything to Baltimore - and they lost it too.”

A new report from the Government Accountability Office found a vast number of programs to help veterans transition to civilian life offered through the Veterans Administration or the Defense Department, 99 of them ”to help address the effects of combat on… service members, their families, or both,” and 87 to help “servicemembers and veterans transition to civilian life.”
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Son charged with stealing from disabled Veteran Dad

Man charged with stealing VA benefits
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
BY ROBERT BOCZKIEWICZ
Published: January 9, 2015

DENVER — A man arrested this week in Canon City is charged in federal court with stealing his father’s veteran’s benefits.

Corey Bomsta is accused of stealing about $5,600 of disability compensation benefits that were intended for his father, Dennis Bomsta, between February 2011 and March 2013.

The alleged theft is believed to have occurred by Bomsta withdrawing the money from a bank account where the VA had electronically deposited the funds for the benefit of his father. read more here