Charles Lanam, Homeless Navy Veteran Laid to Rest Surrounded by Love

Once homeless, veteran far from alone at funeral
Des Moines Register
Grant Rodgers
April 18, 2016

"He has no family — absolutely no family, so our staff and the chaplain from IVH will gather on a quiet hillside at IVH and put this man to rest," Mitchell wrote in a post that was shared more than 1,500 times.

MARSHALLTOWN, Ia. — The mourners stood on a breezy hillside Monday to honor a Navy veteran whose face most had never seen. There wasn't even a photograph available of Charles Lanam to adorn the small program at his funeral.

But more than 100 people gathered to see him laid to rest, inspired by a funeral director's plea not to let a veteran's death go unnoticed.

Lanam, who never married and once was homeless while living in Des Moines, was 81 when he died April 10 at the Iowa Veterans Home, leaving behind no known family members.

"Charles was one of those quiet individuals who passed through life seemingly leaving not much of a mark," Craig Nelson, an Iowa Veterans Home chaplain, told the crowd assembled outside the home. "But as with all lives, he touched the people he came in contact with: His family while he was growing up, his shipmates while he served in the Navy, those he worked with, and our staff and the residents of the veterans home … your presence is a reminder of the fact that Chuck's life mattered."
read more here

Congresswoman Corrine Brown's Message to Veterans Missing Facts

Simple message to Rep. Corrine Brown,,,,READ THE REPORT AND KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!!! 
All you had to do was get to page 14 to notice that this report was only from limited data obtained from just 21 states topped off with a list of veterans they new they missed.
IT IS NOT 22 A DAY and you should know that considering you are on the Veterans Affairs Committee.

AND OH BY THE WAY, THE "CRISIS LINEIS NOT NEW. IT GOES BACK TO 2009 AFTER CONGRESS WROTE THE JOSHUA OMVIG SUICIDE PREVENTION ACT.

You may have wanted publicity for doing something about proving that Congress has reached that magical number of "one too many" but you only managed to prove that members of Congress have not really done much at all including reading the reports your committee has jurisdiction over.

"In this week’s CBC Message to America, Congresswoman Corrine Brown (D-FL) the ranking member of Veterans Affairs discusses how the Veterans Crisis Line can help prevent suicides amongst our soldiers.

American war veterans experience “22 suicides a day.” “One [suicide] is unacceptable,” she said.

She encouraged the American public to “soldier up and reach out to veterans and make sure that they’re calling the VA.”

CBC Message To America: “22 Veteran Suicides A Day Is Unacceptable” Congresswoman Corrine Brown says Americans need to "soldier up and reach out to veterans."

You talk about the majority of those veterans "African Americans" being from Vietnam and not in the system however the majority of all veterans are not in the system.  There is a reason for that and that is because Congress has not done their jobs since 1946 when the first House Veterans Affairs Committee was seated.

How can members of Congress expect anything to change if they keep doing the same things over and over again? When will anyone be held accountable?

Twentynine Palms Marine Gunned Down in San Bernadino

US MARINE FATALLY SHOT OUTSIDE SAN BERNARDINO STRIP CLUB
ABC7.com staff
Sunday, April 17, 2016

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) -- A 20-year-old U.S. Marine was fatally shot in the parking lot of a strip club in San Bernardino early Sunday morning, police said.

The victim, who was stationed at Twentynine Palms, was gunned down outside Flesh Club Showgirls in the 100 block of W. Hospitality Lane.

San Bernardino police responded to a report of shots fired and a possible shooting around 2:12 a.m.

Upon their arrival, officers found the victim suffering from numerous gunshot wounds. He died as a result of his injuries, police said.
read more here

Congress Not Told Truth on Military Sexual Assault Cases by Pentagon Brass

Pentagon Misled Lawmakers on Military Sexual Assault Cases
Associated Press
by Richard Lardner
Apr 18, 2016

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon misled Congress with inaccurate and vague information about sexual assault cases that portrayed civilian law enforcement officials as less willing than military commanders to punish sex offenders, an Associated Press investigation found.

Adm. James "Sandy" Winnefeld

Local district attorneys and police forces failed to act against U.S. service members who were subsequently prosecuted in military courts for sex crimes, according to internal government records that summarized the outcomes of dozens of cases. But in a number of cases, the steps taken by civilian authorities were described incorrectly or omitted. Other case descriptions were too imprecise to be verified.

There also is nothing in the records that supports the primary reason the Pentagon told Congress about the cases in the first place: To show top military brass as hard-nosed crime fighters who insisted on taking the cases to trial.

The records were obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by the advocacy group Protect Our Defenders, which provided the documents exclusively to AP. Protect Our Defenders is scheduled to release a report Monday that criticizes the Pentagon's use of the cases to undermine support for Senate legislation that would mandate a major change in the way the military handles sexual assault allegations.
read more here

Georgia Iraq Veteran Getting Surgery 10 Years After Being Wounded

This article leaves many questions. Why has it taken so long for this? Plus there is a section talking about the cost being covered by a charity and the veteran will only have to pay for his hospital stay after the surgery. So why would he have to pay anything? Why wouldn't the VA cover it? This veteran should not have to pay a single dime!

Georgia veteran to undergo surgery decade after being shot in face
FoxNews.com
Published April 18, 2016

Nearly 10 years after being shot in the face by a sniper, a Georgia Navy veteran will undergo surgery Monday to repair his badly damaged mouth and jaw.

Dusty Kirby, 32, of Canton, Georgia, was shot in the face while on guard duty with a U.S. Marines unit in Iraq on Christmas Day in 2006.

"I was hit with a high-powered sniper rifle,” Kirby told Fox5 Atlanta, pointing at his chin. "It impacted right here, and made contact [on] the middle of my tongue, and then blew my jaw out here.”

Military trauma surgeons saved Kirby’s life, and he’s since undergone over 30 operations. The father of four recently received a letter confirming that a team of New York City surgeons will repair his mouth and jaw. The surgeons are part of Marine Assist, which provides free plastic surgery and dental services to Marine veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Kirby will only have to pay for his hospital stay after the operations.
read more here