Woman Gets Jail After Using American Legion Auxiliary Funds For Herself

Clermont women sentenced to prison for theft of veterans organization
Orlando Sentinel
Jason Ruiter
November 4, 2016

When auxiliary officers asked for financial statements of the nonprofit during Briere's tenure, she "always had an excuse" not to provide the information, Rousseau said. Some of the money she embezzled was spent on a $6,000 ring, she said.

A 64-year-old Clermont woman who embezzled more than a half-million dollars from a veteran-services organization spent the money on jewelry, furniture and concert tickets, an officer from her organization said Friday.

Robin C. Briere stole more than $657,000 from the American Legion Auxiliary Department of Florida by writing checks to herself or paying her personal expenses with the organization's checks, according to court documents. She was sentenced to 33 months in prison Friday.

"It wasn't visible to us. We trusted her completely in the position that she had," said Diane Rousseau of Fruitland Park, auxiliary parliamentarian.

But when Brier left her position of seven years as secretary treasurer in 2014, the new treasurer found inconsistencies in her reports, she said.
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US Troops in Afghanistan Help Sisters of Charity

US troops, civilians volunteer to help Afghan needy
STARS AND STRIPES
By PHILLIP WALTER WELLMAN Published: November 5, 2016

About a dozen volunteers help with the sorting and packing of the nuns’ car. The volunteers tend to rotate from week to week, but Army Capt. Rachel Campion, 27, with the 82nd Airborne Division, participates regularly.

National Guard Capt. Carl Crawford holds a device used to make fuel bricks out of paper waste, Oct. 21, 2016. On the table are circular bricks formed with ordinary food containers. Every Friday, civilian and military volunteers at Resolute Support headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, donate their time to make the bricks for an orphanage in the Afghan capital.
Andrew Yurkovsky/Stars and Stripes

KABUL, Afghanistan — Twice a month, Jerry Farkas, a retired Air Force flight chief from Utah, greets two Catholic nuns who come to the NATO headquarters here to collect donations for orphans at their Sisters of Charity home and needy families the nuns help support.

The nuns’ visits coincide with a weekly meeting of volunteers, primarily American troops, who organize the donation drive — one of several initiatives the volunteers are engaged in to help underprivileged families and orphans in the Afghan capital.

“Many people want to try to help,” said Farkas, 54, who works for Combined Security Transition Command — Afghanistan’s contracting enabler cell. “They’re here in Afghanistan and they’re trying to figure out: what can I do?”

Appeals for donations have resulted in a steady stream of clothes, school supplies and other items arriving at the NATO base from companies and citizens in the United States. People living on the Resolute Support base also make some donations.

Volunteers sort through the donated items in a shipping container used as a storage unit, preparing them for collection.
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Veteran of WWII and Korean War Proves PTSD is Not New

A veteran's life of triumph and tragedy
WUSE 9 News
Bruce Leshan
November 4, 2016

Next Thursday, the French Embassy will give Col. Gabriel one of its highest honors: a French knighthood, the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.

ALEXANDRIA, VA (WUSA9) - On Veterans Day next week, Colonel Arnald Gabriel will be just where he's been for decades: conducting a symphony and remembering lost comrades.

In his 91 years, the Army and Air Force vet has seen several lifetimes worth of triumph and tragedy.

He is one of the few vets left to remember what it was like to land on the beaches of Normandy in that first wave on D-Day.

He didn’t think he would survive.

“Gosh no,” he said. “Scared to death.”

Gabriel was a 19-year-old machine gunner. He said there are no words or movie that can give any of us a sense of chaos.

“If you watch Private Ryan and multiply it by 100, maybe that will come close to what the carnage was really like,” he said.

He marched across Europe to Germany with his two buddies, Harry Ashoff and Johnny Arrowsmith. On Jan. 9, 1945, a German shell hit the trench where they were sheltering.

“Those two buddies will remain with me forever,” he said, his voice breaking.

In a book just out, The Force of Destiny, Gabriel's son describes how he returned home and buried himself in work to deal with the mental anguish now called post-traumatic stress disorder.

When the Korean War broke out, Gabriel volunteered again. This time as a conductor for the Air Force Band. And for 34 years, Gabriel was a military band director. He played with some of the biggest stars of the day.

“Shirley Temple, Edward G Robinson, Peter Graves,” Gabriel said.
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Iraq Veteran's Day Will No Longer Be A Homeless One

Veteran and family gifted new house
FOX 13 News
Kelly Cowan
November 4, 2016

Guevara Ruiz was part of the first wave of soldiers sent to Iraq in 2003. He served 12 years in the army before being medically discharged. Suffering from PTSD and anxiety, he and his family struggled for years and were at times homeless.

TAMPA (FOX 13) - From homeless, to homeowner: with Veteran's Day just around the corner, a Bay Area vet and his family are moving into their very first home. Friday morning the dream of home ownership came true for Iraq War veteran Manny Guevara Ruiz and his family.

"It's something that never dawned on me that could happen to us," said Manny, who for nine years has moved his family from place to place, at times relying on the kindness of friends and family for a place to stay.

"Knowing that this is ours and we won't have to worry about being homeless again is very surreal, it's very humbling," said wife Erica Guevara Ruiz.
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Air Force Afghanistan Veteran Receives Silver Star

Airman receives Silver Star for battlefield bravery in Afghanistan
Air Force Times
By: Charlsy Panzino
November 4, 2016

(Photo Credit: Airman Miranda A. Loera/Air Force)

Under fire and drenched from head to toe in the frigid waters of Afghanistan's Bala Murghab River, former Airman 1st Class Benjamin Hutchins refused to leave the two soldiers who needed his help.

Hutchins, a tactical air control party airman, fought back and refused to give up on the two soldiers, who were being swept away by the river's current, until reinforcements arrived.

For his actions on that day in 2009, Hutchins on Friday was awarded the Silver Star, the nation's third-highest award for valor.

"It's not a medal for me," Hutchins, who is now medically retired, told Air Force Times. "It's a medal for all the other folks who are slaving away right now and doing the same stuff but not getting the recognition."

Hutchins, who was assigned to the 14th Air Support Operations Squadron at Fort Brag, North Carolina, was honored Friday, exactly seven years after his actions in Afghanistan.
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