Conservative group releases brutal anti-Trump ads featuring veterans calling him a 'con man'
Business Insider
Pamela Engel
Mar 7th 2016
Military veterans are appearing in ads released over the weekend by an outside group, hoping to stop Donald Trump from snagging the GOP presidential nomination.
The ads, from the conservative American Future Fund, feature veterans disavowing Trump's statements about prisoners of war and end with the text: "Trump's a phony. Stop him now."
In one ad, former Special Forces commander Michael Waltz, who served in Afghanistan, said that Trump "hasn't served this country a day in his life" and called him a Vietnam War draft-dodger.
"He essentially called anyone who is captured in combat a loser," Waltz said. "It's something that I just personally can't stomach and am sickened by, as should every veteran and every soldier in the United States military."
Trump, who is the clear frontrunner for the Republican nomination, criticized Arizona Sen. John McCain last year and called into question his status as a "war hero."
"He's not a war hero," Trump said. "He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured."
Trump quickly walked back that statement and agreed that McCain, a Vietnam War POW, was in fact a war hero. Trump also said that he doesn't like "losers," referring to McCain's loss to President Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.
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Monday, March 7, 2016
Lawmakers Try to Halt Bad Discharges
Legislation would halt bad military discharges due to PTSD, TBI
Military Times
Leo Shane III
March 7, 2016
Last week, a coalition of Republican and Democratic lawmakers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan introduced legislation to ensure that military discharge review boards must consider troops’ mental health issues, and must accept a PTSD or TBI diagnosis from a professional as an acceptable rebuttal to a dismissal.
The move could affect thousands of military discharges each year and open the door for a review of more. Army officials have confirmed that at least 22,000 combat veterans have received less-than-honorable discharges since 2009, many for minor offenses like alcohol use or lateness.
For some troops, those infractions are a sign of untreated issues like PTSD and TBI. A less-than-honorable discharge severely limits the care and support options for those veterans, leaving them with decreased medical support and an increased risk of suicide.
“Those discharges could be a death sentence for these veterans,” said Kris Goldsmith, an advocate behind the legislative push.
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Military Times
Leo Shane III
March 7, 2016
In the past, that decision covered only a select group of Vietnam veterans. The new memo would expand that to all veterans, and waive statutes of limitations for those appeals.Lawmakers want to avoid having troops disgracefully forced from the ranks because of behavior related to post-traumatic stress or traumatic brain injuries, but Pentagon officials may already be on the way to fixing the problem.
Last week, a coalition of Republican and Democratic lawmakers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan introduced legislation to ensure that military discharge review boards must consider troops’ mental health issues, and must accept a PTSD or TBI diagnosis from a professional as an acceptable rebuttal to a dismissal.
The move could affect thousands of military discharges each year and open the door for a review of more. Army officials have confirmed that at least 22,000 combat veterans have received less-than-honorable discharges since 2009, many for minor offenses like alcohol use or lateness.
For some troops, those infractions are a sign of untreated issues like PTSD and TBI. A less-than-honorable discharge severely limits the care and support options for those veterans, leaving them with decreased medical support and an increased risk of suicide.
“Those discharges could be a death sentence for these veterans,” said Kris Goldsmith, an advocate behind the legislative push.
read more here
Ia Drang Valley Veterans Memories Deeply Etched
Ia Drang veterans recall bloody battle
Victoria Advocate
By Jon Wilcox March 6, 2016
PORT LAVACA - Despite graying beards and wrinkled faces, the veterans honored their flag with rigid salutes and straight backs.
The men, forever linked by their shared experiences from the battle, visited with each other throughout the day. They shared lunch, pleasant conversation and deeply etched memories of the fateful days they had endured in the Ia Drang Valley.
"It's important so that they are not forgotten," said Jacque Rudd, honorary member at the post. "It keeps them alive."
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Victoria Advocate
By Jon Wilcox March 6, 2016
PORT LAVACA - Despite graying beards and wrinkled faces, the veterans honored their flag with rigid salutes and straight backs.
March 6, 2016 Photo By: Leslie Boorhem-Stephenson From left to right, Joe Pena, Jo Rivera, Elias Cuevas, Robert Saucedo, Arturo Villareal, Anastacio Lara, Nathan Harvey and Martin Latigue pose for a photo at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 4403 in Port Lavaca. They all fought in the Vietnam War, specifically the battle of Ia Drang.From across the state and beyond, veterans from the Vietnam War and other conflicts gathered Saturday at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4403 outside Port Lavaca. They traveled from their homes to remember the Battle of Ia Drang and those they had lost in that faraway Vietnamese valley in November 1965.
The men, forever linked by their shared experiences from the battle, visited with each other throughout the day. They shared lunch, pleasant conversation and deeply etched memories of the fateful days they had endured in the Ia Drang Valley.
"It's important so that they are not forgotten," said Jacque Rudd, honorary member at the post. "It keeps them alive."
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Afghanistan Veteran Donated Kidney to Save Mom!
ARMY VETERAN DONATES KIDNEY TO MOTHER, SAVES HER LIFE
ABC 7 News
Darsha Phillips
March 5, 2016
LOMA LINDA, Calif. (KABC) -- When a local mom needed a kidney transplant, her Army veteran son did not hesitate to donate and save her life.
There are over 100,000 patients every year waiting for kidney transplants, and less than 20 percent of them will actually get a donor.
Living with kidney disease for more than 8 years, Lucia Zubia was afraid dying while waiting for a donor would be her fate.
"It's sad when you see your friends that you make at dialysis pass away, you know?" she said.
Lucia didn't have to wait very long. Her son, Emanuel, who had already served in Afghanistan, didn't hesitate to do something heroic again.
"For my mom, I'd do anything. I'd die for her," he said.
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ABC 7 News
Darsha Phillips
March 5, 2016
LOMA LINDA, Calif. (KABC) -- When a local mom needed a kidney transplant, her Army veteran son did not hesitate to donate and save her life.
There are over 100,000 patients every year waiting for kidney transplants, and less than 20 percent of them will actually get a donor.
Living with kidney disease for more than 8 years, Lucia Zubia was afraid dying while waiting for a donor would be her fate.
"It's sad when you see your friends that you make at dialysis pass away, you know?" she said.
Lucia didn't have to wait very long. Her son, Emanuel, who had already served in Afghanistan, didn't hesitate to do something heroic again.
"For my mom, I'd do anything. I'd die for her," he said.
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Navy SEALS Lacking Rifles?
Navy SEALs tell congressman there is a combat rifle shortage
Associated Press
By Richard Lardner
Published: March 7, 2016
WASHINGTON — The tip of the spear may be losing its edge.
Navy SEAL teams don't have enough combat rifles to go around, even as these highly trained forces are relied on more than ever to carry out counterterrorism operations and other secretive missions, according to SEALs who have confided in Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.
After SEALs return from a deployment, their rifles are given to other commandos who are shipping out, said Hunter, a former Marine who served three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. This weapons carousel undercuts the "train like you fight" ethos of the U.S. special operations forces, they said.
Hunter said he's been contacted by several SEALs, but he declined to provide further information about the weapons they use in order to protect their identities.
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Associated Press
By Richard Lardner
Published: March 7, 2016
Army Gen. Joseph Votel, the top officer at U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Florida, and Losey's superior, told Hunter last week that he is aware of the congressman's concerns. "We're certainly running that down," Votel said during testimony before the House Armed Services Committee.
Navy SEALs demonstrate winter warfare capabilities in this Dec. 2014 photo.
U.S. NAVY
WASHINGTON — The tip of the spear may be losing its edge.
Navy SEAL teams don't have enough combat rifles to go around, even as these highly trained forces are relied on more than ever to carry out counterterrorism operations and other secretive missions, according to SEALs who have confided in Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.
After SEALs return from a deployment, their rifles are given to other commandos who are shipping out, said Hunter, a former Marine who served three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. This weapons carousel undercuts the "train like you fight" ethos of the U.S. special operations forces, they said.
Hunter said he's been contacted by several SEALs, but he declined to provide further information about the weapons they use in order to protect their identities.
read more here
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