Marine Veteran Stops Intruder Twice

Former Marine Stops Burglary, Holds Intruder at Gunpoint 
News Channel 20
Brendan Cullerton
January 29, 2016

"He did an outstanding job of defending his castle, and had the restraint to know not to shoot because he didn't feel his life was in danger at that point."

Josh Crammond said when he first heard the break in Thursday night, he thought it was his girlfriend.

"I was awake and then I heard glass break," Crammond said. "I thought she fell in the kitchen and dropped something and it scared me, and then I heard somebody kick in my door."

24-year-old Christopher Price had busted through the glass in Crammonds door, but he picked the wrong house.

"My father was a police officer, and I spent four years in the Marine Corps."

So Crammond pulled a gun on the intruder, scared him off, called 911 and went upstairs.

But Price tried breaking in again.
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Marine Presented with Navy and Marine Corps Medal

Marine awarded for saving Senegalese man from drowning
Marine Corps Times
By Matthew L. Schehl
January 29, 2016

Sprankle, who also happens to be a Marine Corps water survival instructor, was at dinner with fellow Marines when they heard screams coming from a nearby pier: A swimmer had been caught up in a strong rip current.

U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Matthew A. Sprankle is awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal after saving a Senegalese man from drowning last August, aboard Morón Air Base, Spain, Jan. 26, 2016. The award is the highest non-combative decoration for heroism awarded by the U.S. Department of the Navy.
(Photo: Sgt. Kassie McDole, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa)

A Marine who leapt into the ocean to save a drowning Senegalese man has received the Navy’s highest non-combat decoration for heroism.

Sgt. Matthew Sprankle was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal on Tuesday by Maj. Gen. Niel Nelson, commander of Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa, at a ceremony aboard Moŕon Air Base, Spain. 

The mortarman deployed with Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force — Crisis Response — Africa is credited with saving the man’s life as he was being swept out to sea Aug. 28 in Dakar, Senegal.
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Army Captain Back from South Korea Meets 4 New Babies

FATHER MEETS NEWBORN QUADRUPLETS FOR FIRST TIME WHILE HOME FROM DEPLOYMENT 
ABC 7 News Chicago
Will Jones
January 29, 2016

HINSDALE, Ill. (WLS) -- Four newborn quadruplets are meeting their father - home from his deployment in South Korea - for the first time.

Anthony Burch and his wife Mary Pat are now the parents to Henry, Molly, Nathaniel and Samuel.

"I can't wait to hold them," Anthony said.

This is the moment this Army captain has been waiting for.

The quadruplets are getting stronger every day in the neonatal intensive care unit at AMITA Adventist Medical Center at Hinsdale.

Although Anthony couldn't be in the delivery room last Sunday morning to welcome them into the world, he wasn't too far away thanks to FaceTime.

"Perfect timing. Everything clicked together I was able to see the babies as they were getting cleaned off in the room," Anthony said.

"He got to see them before I did even though I was right there and he was 12,000 miles away," Mary Pat said.
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Judge Regrets Sending Veteran to Prison

With regret, judge gives veteran 6 years for home invasion
Pantagraph
Edith Brady-Lunny 1 hr ago

Saying he appreciated the state's willingness to support the minimum sentence of six years, Luckman said "I wish our legislature had shown the same thoughtfulness."

BLOOMINGTON — Thanking an Iraq War veteran for his service and bravery, a McLean County judge expressed regret that no sentencing option other than prison existed before giving him a six-year term for home invasion.

Lawyers for Sam Siatta spent Friday afternoon arguing the psychological aftermath of his service with the Marines in Afghanistan was behind his out-of- control conduct in April 2014. Siatta, 26, of Diamond, a small town near Joliet, was convicted in November of breaking into a man's home in Normal and hitting the man with a frying pan. Siatta was stabbed nine times by the victim during the altercation.

The situation Siatta and other veterans find themselves in was not contemplated by lawmakers when they approved a mandatory prison term of six to 30 years for home invasion, said defense lawyer Kerry Luckman.

"This is an issue we are going to be dealing with more with the veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan," said Luckman.

In his brief comments to Judge Scott Drazewski, Siatta apologized to the victim. He said he has no memory of the incident that occurred while he was a student at Illinois State University.

With day-for-day good time credit, Siatta will serve about three years of the sentence.
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Veteran Caregiver Stipends Dropped 7,000 Families

Reminder; this program was for only post 9-11 veterans and their families. Older ones, waiting even longer for help were not part of this. We didn't matter.

Veterans’ caregivers lose VA stipends, struggle to understand why
The Olympian
Adam Ashton
January 29, 2016

So far, about 7,000 veterans who once were enrolled in the program no longer are getting stipends. About a third were cut because VA staff members determined they did not meet medical criteria for the support.

For some, caregiver stipends validated work at home with loved ones

Overall program growing at a fast pace, adding 400 caregivers every month

Advocates notice more complaints, but unsure what’s behind changes

Alisha McNulty of Olympia received a stipend from the Department of Veterans Affairs since 2012 to help her family care for her husband, Jared, an Iraq veteran with post-traumatic stress. The family lost the benefit in December. She and her husband do not understand why. Steve Bloom sbloom@theolympian.com

For three years, a monthly stipend of $1,275 from the federal Department of Veterans Affairs gave Sarah Jenkins the freedom to care for her husband without having to worry about resuming her career.

That let her keep a calm home and respond instantly if her veteran husband experienced one of the mood swings that have characterized his behavior since a group of mortars landed close to him on an Iraqi air field.

The checks abruptly stopped in August when the VA declared her family no longer needed them. Jenkins is still trying to figure out why.

“How am I going to keep him still feeling safe? That’s what the caregiver program has enabled me to do — to keep him feeling safe,” said Jenkins, 39, whose family recently moved to their hometown in North Idaho after spending the previous 17 years in Roy and Yelm.
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