Marine's father vows lawsuit after fatal Hawaii Osprey crash
Marine Corps Times
By Jeff Schogol
February 21, 2016
An MV-22 Osprey with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261 (Reinforced), 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, lifts off at Udairi Range in Kuwait, July 29, 2012, as part of a live-fire event.
(Photo: Cpl. Michael Petersheim, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit )
The father of one of two Marines killed in an MV-22B Osprey crash last year in Hawaii said he plans to sue Boeing and the other companies that make the aircraft.
Mike Determan told Marine Corps Times that evidence shows the MV-22B is unsafe to fly because sand and dust can get sucked into its engines, causing the aircraft to crash. Military.com first reported about the pending lawsuit and that Determan wants the Marine Corps and Air Force versions of the Osprey to be grounded and eventually replaced by the Bell V-280 Valor.
His son, Lance Cpl. Matt Determan, was killed on May 17, 2015, when the Osprey he was flying in crashed while landing in low-visibility conditions. Lance Cpl. Joshua Barron was also killed.
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Sergeant who served in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Northern Ireland was beaten to a pulp by his dumbbell-wielding girlfriend
Daily Mail UK
By AMANDA WILLIAMS FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED:22 February 2016
Rob Bryan has served in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Northern Ireland
He was left lying in blood after he was attacked by Angelique Doyle
He is sharing his story to help other male victims of domestic violence
The 36-year-old smashed a glass and a bottle over his head before battering him with a stool and biting him. She picked up a 12kg dumbbell, and launched it at his face, breaking his nose and leaving the father needing hospital treatment
A war veteran who served in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Northern Ireland was beaten to a pulp by his girlfriend in an unprovoked attack with a dumbbell.
Rob Bryan, was left lying in a pool of blood at his flat in Manchester after the attack at the hands of partner Angelique Doyle.
The 36-year-old smashed a glass and a wine bottle over his head before battering him with a stool and biting him.
She picked up a 12kg dumbbell, and launched it at his face, breaking his nose and leaving the father needing hospital treatment.
Now the former soldier is sharing his story to urge other male victims of domestic violence to speak out.
The 43-year-old, who was discharged from the army with PTSD in March 2014 after 21 years of service, had been in a relationship with Doyle for 15 months.
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Oscar-nominated film spotlights death-row veterans, combat PTSD
Military Times
By Patricia Kime
February 22, 2016
“They was able to discern his physical wounds and was able to patch them up, but they never got around to patching that wound in his head.” Bill Babbitt
A film that raises questions about veterans' mental health care, capital punishment and justice for troubled troops is on the short list for an Oscar on Feb. 28.
The 30-minute documentary “Last Day of Freedom” tells the story of Marine veteran Manuel Babbitt through the eyes of his brother. Babbitt was executed in California after being convicted of beating an elderly woman to death.
(Photo: Courtesy of Dee Hibbert-Jones)
The 30-minute documentary “Last Day of Freedom” tells the story of former Marine Manuel Babbitt through the eyes of his brother Bill. Babbitt was executed in California in 1999 after being convicted of beating an elderly woman to death in Sacramento in 1980.
Babbitt — “Manny” to family and friends — had suffered a head injury as a child, and despite having learning disabilities and dropping out of school in seventh grade at age 17, was recruited by the Marine Corps. He went to Vietnam and later developed a host of mental health issues, including schizophrenia, severe post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse.
“They was able to discern his physical wounds and was able to patch them up, but they never got around to patching that wound in his head,” Bill says in the film.
Through a melange of film footage and animation using more than 30,000 drawings and sketches, filmmakers Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman follow Manny Babbitt's life from childhood to grave, focusing on his struggles but also on the system they believe failed him.
"One of the things we really wanted to uncover is the complexities of the death penalty and of veterans' care," said Hibbert-Jones, an associate professor of art at the University of California-Santa Cruz. "The fact that someone would go to war and serve their country and then be failed by that country is a complete travesty.”
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FOX 11 Investigates report leads to help for Appleton veteran
FOX 11 News
BY MARK LELAND
FEBRUARY 21ST 2016
Appleton — An Appleton Vietnam Veteran is celebrating his new home with many of the volunteers and companies that made it possible.
Jerry Monson's mobile home on his Appleton lot was destroyed by a government program looking to make it more energy efficient. That happened back in 2014.
FOX 11 Investigates uncovered the problems and held government officials accountable for the destroyed mobile home. The program's insurer paid for the lost mobile home.
The money was used along with community donations and volunteer labor to build a 1,200 square foot, 3-bedroom, 2-bathrooms home on his lot. Replacing the mobile home with another mobile home was not an option due to zoning laws.
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Fred Cherry, POW in North Vietnam for seven years, dies at 87
The Washington Post
By Bart Barnes
Published: February 20, 2016
Fred Cherry, an Air Force fighter pilot, was downed by enemy fire over North Vietnam in 1965, and he spent more than seven years a prisoner of war.
He had grown up in the Jim Crow South, and his captors made it clear he could mitigate the harshness of his incarceration, including routine torture, and improve his living conditions by speaking out against the racial injustice and discrimination that he had faced as an African American in the United States.
When beatings failed to bring him around, his jailers tried another tactic. They assigned a self-described "Southern white boy" as his cellmate, hoping that racial antipathy between the two men would weaken his resolve and produce a propaganda triumph for North Vietnam.
The plan failed.
Instead, the two men, Cherry and a Navy fighter pilot, then-Ensign Porter Halyburton, became fast and lifelong friends. Each would credit the other with having saved his life.
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