Boots On The Wire, War Not Left Behind

Local Soldiers Plan Trip to Honor Friend
WOWT News
By: Brian Mastre
Feb 09, 2015

“The last memory I have is of us throwing our boots on the wires,” said Hanson. “It's sort of a military tradition when you get out of the military – that you throw your boots on the power lines.

When you're on the battlefield, veterans will tell you that bond with your team is inseparable. But when you come home, it can be a struggle to fit in the slower pace of real life. Even more so if you've suffered a traumatic brain injury. Some local soldiers want to honor one of the men they came to respect serving in Iraq.

“He was one of the first people I met at Fort Bragg,” said Kyle Hanson of Omaha.

“He was one of the first people to take me around and show me the ropes. He quickly became one of my best friends,” said Jenna Vaughn of Lincoln.

Their friend – their fellow soldier, Specialist Jessie Lee Tolbert's final resting place became the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

He was 26.

“This man who was full of life,” said Vaughn. “He had the best smile and biggest blue eyes, and he was always there for his friends with a go-get-them attitude of honor that a lot of people don't get to see.”

“The last memory I have is of us throwing our boots on the wires,” said Hanson. “It's sort of a military tradition when you get out of the military – that you throw your boots on the power lines.

Last time I saw him, he was full of life. He said he'd catch us later – we had a beer and he got out of Dodge.”

Kyle Hanson and Jessie Tolbert provided base defense. They patrolled together as part of the 2-59th Field Service Company. They spent 13 months in Iraq.

“None of the phone numbers for him worked anymore,” said Kyle, “And so I went online to look for him – and I didn't find a phone number – but his obituary.”

Kyle knew his friend suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“It was often the topic of conversation when we would speak,” said Kyle.

But he thought Jessie was managing it best he could.

Friends acknowledge that on December 30th, 2012, he ended his own life.
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OMG! WTU Soldiers Told "Sleep is like a bullet for your brain"

This is what Horoho said in the original interview with Army Times about Warrior Transition Units treating PTSD soldiers,,,,or should I say, abusing them. Now you can read the different version on the Army Military site.

"I thought the investigation was very thorough," said Lt. Gen. Patricia D. Horoho, regarding the investigation at the Colorado fort. "I believe it gave the facts and verified there wasn't a systemic problem, but it did show we had two clinicians who treated one Soldier with a lack of dignity and respect."

Speaking with the Pentagon press in a roundtable, Feb. 6, Horoho said a doctor and social worker had been disciplined. The doctor was removed from his leadership position and the civilian received disciplinary action at the local level, she said.

Horoho said the incidents between the Soldier and the two health care providers occurred between February and May 2014. She also said there had been complaints by other Soldiers stretching back to 2011, but after review they were determined "not to contain problematic behavior by the providers."

One soldier? Seriously? Ok, read down below and then go to the Dallas Morning News link on exactly how this one soldier she was talking about was many more.

What the hell is this supposed to mean? Is Lt. General Patricia Horoho saying that they knew what was going on before the Dallas Morning News and NBC interviewed the abused veterans but didn't do anything to fix it? Is she saying that?

"They weren't concerns that an outside source came to us and said do you realize you have these problems," Horoho said at a round-table update on her command for members of the media at the Pentagon on Friday. "We have eight different avenues (for) our warriors and their family members to have their voices heard. When those concerns come up, each of them is looked at and then we take appropriate action."

As bad as that was, this was down toward the end of the article.

"Now we've got leaders, one of the generals told his soldiers, sleep is like bullets for your brain. You never go to battle with an empty magazine," she said. "If you get six hours of sleep or less six days in a row, or go 24 hours without sleep, you have 20 percent cognitive impairment, and you are operating as if you had a .08 BAC [blood alcohol content]. We would never let a soldier in our formation intoxicated."

OMG! Bullets to the brain is how most of them commit suicide! Poor choice of words doesn't come close to explaining that BOHICA nonsense.

OK, so if you happened to have been living off reality TV and not paying attention the Dallas Morning News and NBC out of Texas filed a Freedom of Information Act request for Warrior Transition Units after learning of PTSD soldiers being treated like crap. Considering the Army had been telling the citizens they addressing the stigma instead of fueling it, and helping soldiers recover from combat, instead of finding excuses for them committing suicide, turns out, it wasn't what they claimed.

They waited for the request and then did a six month investigation. Maybe that is what Horoho was talking about since it gave them plenty of time to do their own investigation to find out what the reporters were discovering. Who knows?

Here is the link to the rest of the article as she twists and turns to talk about, oh well, there won't be that many needing the Warrior Transition Units anyway, after this part,

News outlets in Dallas reported in November that hundreds of soldiers had suffered a pattern of "disrespect, harassment and belittlement of soldiers" at WTUs at Fort Bliss, Fort Hood, and Fort Sam Houston in Texas. Another incident led to discipline against a physician and a social worker at Fort Carson, Colorado, for actions dating to early 2014.

Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho, the Army surgeon general, affirmed that while even one case of abuse isn't tolerable, most of the complaints turned out to be medical care-related and about 24 cases of harassment have been dealt with. And she said the reports documented issues that the Army already uncovered itself.

If that was the truth then why did this happen after the investigation?

The Army has ordered new training to address complaints from wounded soldiers describing harassment and intimidation inside the nation’s Warrior Transition Units, which are supposed to help these soldiers heal.

The order comes as two prominent Texas congressional leaders are demanding that the Army address the issues first raised in a joint investigation by The Dallas Morning News and KXAS-TV (NBC5) about three of the units in Texas.

Sen. John Cornyn, in a strongly worded letter to Secretary of the Army John McHugh, said he found “highly disturbing” complaints about verbal abuse, disrespect and unfair treatment within the Army’s Warrior Transition Units, or WTUs.

You can read the rest of the investigation here
About this series

“Injured Heroes, Broken Promises,” a joint investigative project between The Dallas Morning News and NBC5 (KXAS-TV), examines allegations of harassment and mistreatment in the U.S.’ Warrior Transition Units, which were created to serve soldiers with physical and psychological wounds. Reporters David Tarrant, Scott Friedman and Eva Parks based their findings on dozens of interviews with soldiers, Army officials and medical experts, and hundreds of pages of military documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

Go to the link and be sure to check out everything they discovered.

Brian Williams’ interview with Stars and Stripes

UPDATE From WCPO News

9 On Your Side talked Monday with Terpak, an Iraq veteran who had a fateful encounter with Williams during the invasion, to ask why he hasn't spoken up about the controversy. Terpak said he wanted to say something but he was concerned his every word would be dissected.

The Ripley County man said he hadn't spoken publicly all these years because he wasn't in the chopper that really was shot down in the desert that day and he wasn't in Williams' chopper, which landed an hour later. Williams' helicopter wasn't fired upon and arrived safely.

Terpak was in charge of the armored platoon sent to protect Williams' crew and others in the desert. Terpak's platoon didn't get there until three days after the choppers landed. So for Terpak, it was not his place to say what did or did not happen to Williams in Iraq.

Terpak, who earned three Bronze Stars, returned home Friday and said he never expected so much attention.

But Terpak is in the spotlight because Williams put him there.

55 minutes ago
EXCLUSIVE REPORT
In his words: Brian Williams’ interview with Stars and Stripes 
Stars and Stripes
By Travis J. Tritten
Published: February 9, 2015

WASHINGTON — NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams on Sunday scuttled what would have been his first public appearance to explain his situation when he canceled a planned appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Williams has only ever answered questions about the Iraq incident — how he ended up telling a war story he now admits was false — during an interview with Stars and Stripes.

The embattled anchor published a Facebook apology to troops after claiming he was in a Chinook forced down by rocket-propelled grenade fire in 2003, addressed the issue on air Wednesday, and issued a brief statement over the weekend saying he will temporarily leave the news desk while NBC investigates.

Questions have also arisen around statements he made about reporting on Hurricane Katrina from New Orleans in 2005, and Israel’s war with the militant group Hezbollah in 2006.
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WWII Veteran Laid To Rest Where Battle War Fought

In death, Marine returns to island where he survived battle 
Journal Sentinel
Jordan Vinson
February 9, 2015

Roi-Namur, Marshall Islands — Under a cluster of coconut palms on a tiny coral island more than 6,400 miles from Milwaukee, Lynne Rivera and Paula Smith honored their father's final wish.

Frank Pokrop had been a sniper in the 4th Marine Division during World War II. Trudging through the jungle, trapped behind enemy lines, he was shot and nearly lost his life on Namur, one of two conjoined islands at the northern tip of Kwajalein Atoll in the heart of the Marshall Islands.

Seventeen at the time he enlisted, 18 and a corporal when he took part in the Battle of Kwajalein, the experience never really left him.

He served as president of the 4th Marine Division Association, helped organize reunions, and for 47 years ran a scholarship committee for division members' college-bound children and grandchildren. Twice, he returned to the island for anniversary commemorations, in 1985 and 1994.

The speck of land in the central Pacific kept calling her father back, said Smith, who lives in Menomonie.

Pokrop achieved much in his life — coach and counselor, teacher and principal, community volunteer and church leader. He and his wife, Maxine, had three children and five grandchildren.

But when he died at age 89 a few weeks before Christmas — the anniversary of Pearl Harbor to be exact — it was time to head back to Namur one final time.

And so on Jan. 30, just shy of 71 years after the island battle started, Pokrop's daughters landed here and climbed out of a 19-seat turboprop commuter plane, bringing with them their father's ashes.
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Police Officer, Coast Guard Petty Officers Shot at a Condominium Complex

2 Coast Guard Officers Shot at Condo Complex Were Married
Military.com
Associated Press
Feb 09, 2015

Officials lead Coast Guardsman Adrian Loya of Chesapeake, Va., into District Court Feb. 5, 2015, in Falmouth, Mass., where he was arraigned on charges he killed one woman, injured another and shot a police officer. AP/Cape Cod Times, Merrily Cassidy

BOURNE, Mass. -- Two Coast Guard petty officers shot at a condominium complex, one of them fatally, were married, the Coast Guard said.

Lisa Trubnikova was killed in Thursday's shooting in Bourne, an hour's drive south of Boston. Her spouse, Anna Trubnikova, was wounded and was hospitalized in stable condition.

Another Coast Guard member, Adrian Loya, has been charged in the shooting. Loya, of Chesapeake, Virginia, pleaded not guilty to charges including murder and was detained without bail.

Loya also lit a car on fire to hamper police, planted fake bombs and opened fire on police officers, authorities said.

One police officer, Jared MacDonald, was shot in the back. MacDonald's family said Friday he was doing well but faces a long recovery. The family's statement was released by Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, where he was being treated.
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