Iraq war hero who sleeps in car after suffering PTSD slams lack of support from army
Mirror UK
BY JOHN SCHEERHOUT
7 APR 2016
Decorated veteran Daniel Smith, 31, says he has been let down after his discharge on medical grounds three years ago
A war hero who is sleeping in his car while battling post traumatic stress disorder has slammed the lack of support he has received.
Decorated Iraq veteran Daniel Smith, 31, from Rochdale, described his 3 Series BMW as ‘a little mobile house’.
He takes his car onto the moors above the town to surf the internet on his tablet and even takes a quilt to sleep there to get away from people, the Manchester Evening news reported .
“I find it a bit depressing but I’d rather be alone to be honest,” said Daniel, who claims he has been let down by the army after his discharge on medical grounds three years ago.
The former fusilier was diagnosed with PTSD after his patrol was blown up by a roadside bomb in Basra in 2005.
He was handed the George Medal, second only to the Victoria Cross, by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace in 2013.
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UPDATE April 7, 2016
Officials: Standoff subject has PTSD
Officials reported Muirhead is a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq and was suffering from PTSD, a condition of persistent mental and emotional stress occurring as a result of injury or severe psychological shock, typically involving disturbance of sleep and constant vivid recall of the experience.
Police: Woman in Port Clinton standoff is Iraq War veteran
Toledo Blade
April 7, 2016
PORT CLINTON — Authorities have identified a 31-year-old Iraq War veteran as a woman who kept law enforcement agents at bay in a nearly seven-hour standoff in the city Wednesday night.
Melissa Jo Muirhead, an Army veteran, was taken to a hospital for evaluation, according to Port Clinton police.
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From NBC 24
Officials say Muirhead is known to police and is believed to be suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Charges are not likely, according to Chief Hickman.
UPDATE: Bar fight takes deadly turn
WRCB News
April 5, 2016
UPDATE: Chattanooga police have identified the stabbing victim as 36-year-old Shawn Russell.
According to the bartender, a fight broke out around 1;15 a.m. between Russell and another man. Danielle Harvey said that unidentified man stabbed Russell in the torso and then left with his friend in a black SUV.
"These two guys got in a fight and things went sour. The next thing I know, he's stabbed and he didn't even know he was stabbed. He came around the bar and collapsed," the bartender said. "I got some bar towels, put them over the wound and called 911."
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From The Chattanoogan
Shawn Russell, a 36-year-old veteran of two tours of duty in Iraq.
More than 70 years later, WWII Marine arrives home
WBTW
Nick Sturdivant
Published: April 5, 2016
FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) – After more than 70 years, a United States Marine finally made it back home to Florence.
A Japanese sniper killed Sgt. John Charlton Holladay in 1943. However, on Monday his family finally got the chance to give him a proper burial.
Many across the area attended Holladay’s ceremony to recognize the once lost soldier. His family was at Charleston International Airport to receive his remains Friday.
Holladay was U.S. Marine during World War II, but after his death bombing runs would destroy the temporary grave he was buried in.
Last year, workers in the Solomon Islands found his remains in the jungle and through a DNA testing connected this missing marine back with his family.
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This is from Navy Life on what the Bible on the POW MIA Table means.
"The tradition of setting a separate table in honor of our prisoners of war and missing comrades has been in place since the end of the Vietnam War. The manner in which this table is decorated is full of special symbols to help us remember our brothers and sisters in arms."
"The Bible represents faith in a higher power and the pledge to our country, founded as one nation under God." Yet somehow over the years some folks seemed to manage pretty well putting their lives on the line for others they served with but cannot manage to put up with seeing something like this on a table. Pretty astonishing when you think about it.
Ohio VA Clinic Swaps Bible for 'Prop' Book After
Complaint
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan
Apr 06, 2016
A Department of Veterans Affairs clinic in Youngstown, Ohio, substituted a "prop" book for a Bible after a civil rights organization accused the facility of endorsing a particular faith by having only the Christian holy book displayed at a table set up to honor American prisoners of war and missing in action.
In a note to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation on Monday, Kristen Parker, chief of external affairs for Cleveland VA Medical Center -- which handles media for the Youngstown clinic -- said the Bible was "replaced with a generic book, one whose symbolism can be individualized by each of our veterans as they pay their respects" to POWs and MIAs.
Parker told Military.com on Tuesday that because the VA cannot endorse, favor or inhibit any specific religion, "we are supporting our local veteran organizations with their decision to use a prop-book on the POW/MIA Table at our Youngstown [clinic]."
Parker previously said the clinic would support the Disabled American Veterans -- the group that set up the table -- in its decision to display the Bible on the missing man table.
The switch was made after the veteran who initiated the complaint, working with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, responded to the clinic's initial refusal to pull the Bible by demanding a separate table be set up with the Jewish Torah and a copy of "The God Delusion," a popular book on atheism.
"If in the future I decide to add the Quran, or Mormon book of Latter Day Saints, that is my implied right," retired Army Capt. Jordan Ray wrote.
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