Fort Hood Soldier's Family Wants Missing Warrior Alert

Family of Fort Hood soldier who went missing wants "warrior alert" law
KCEN
Jim Hice
November 22, 2016

FORT HOOD - The family of a Fort Hood soldier who was missing for more than three weeks before he was found dead on post wants a version of the Amber Alert law, called a "Warrior Alert," when soldiers go missing.

Dakota Stump's mother, Patrice Wise, started an online petition on November 14th entitled "Dakota's Law."

Its aim is to "change Standard Operating Procedures on how Law Enforcement and Military handle situations when our Veterans and Active Duty Members go missing."

"I have no ulterior motive except to stop another soldier or family from having to go through what I'm probably going to have to go through for the rest of my life," Wise said.

Stump went missing October 10, 2016. Soldiers conducting land-navigation training found his body 24 days later next to his flipped over vehicle near building 43028 on Fort Hood.

Law enforcement officials believe that Stump's car veered off the road into the parallel wooded area and then rolled over multiple times.

Stump's family maintains that law enforcement and the military assumed he was AWOL.
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Stolen Valor--Real Wounded Marine Committed Suicide

UPDATE
Former Marine steals dead combat veteran's valor
WFAA
Tanya Eiserer
November 25, 2016

Casey Owens will always be a hero to his sister.

“There is the saying that all gave some, but some gave all,” says Lezleigh Owens Kleibrink of Trophy Club. “That was Casey.”

The Marine lost both legs when his Humvee hit an anti-tank mine in Iraq in 2004. For his bravery, he received the Purple Heart.

“Casey wasn't perfect but he stepped up,” she said. “That's what makes him a hero to me."

What really hurts her is knowing that a fellow Marine stole her late Casey's story of valor. It was Casey's fellow battle buddies who discovered Brandon Blackstone's web of deception.

“It took my breath away that someone would do something like that,” she says.

Blackstone recently pled guilty to felony counts related to the deception. He will be sentenced in February. He faces up to 21 years behind bars for his crimes.

For years, Blackstone had gone around the country talking about how he had been injured when a Humvee ran over a land mine. He claimed to have suffered a traumatic brain injury. He claimed he suffered leg and ankle injuries. He claimed he earned a Purple Heart.
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Marine admits lying about combat injury in Iraq to get free house, VA benefits
The Dallas Morning News
By Kevin Krause
Published: November 22, 2016

“These were supposed to be your brothers, and you steal valor from one of your brothers?” said Kleibrink, who lives in Trophy Club. “My mom and I just feel so sad for this guy. For someone to do this, you are not a Marine.”

Lezleigh Kleibrink, with a photo of her late brother, Casey Owens, called Blackstone's deception "a slap in the face."

(David Woo/Staff Photographer)

They were two Marines from Texas in western Iraq, taking part in some of the worst fighting in the early stages of the insurgency.

Both left the battlefield early — and ended up with Purple Hearts. But one didn’t earn it.

Casey Owens was critically injured and lost his legs when his Humvee hit an anti-tank mine. He committed suicide in 2014 after a decade of suffering from numerous surgeries, brain injury and severe pain.

Brandon Blackstone went home after about a month, his military records show. His medic said he got appendicitis and did not return. The Arlington man ended up in a Dallas federal courtroom last month, where he pleaded guilty to two felonies for claiming he was “blown up” in a Humvee in Iraq in order to profit personally.

Blackstone said in an online biography that he had been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from Germany.

(Channel 4 News)

Owens’ Marine buddies say they believe Blackstone took key details of Owens’ combat injury and made them his own so he could bilk the government and charities out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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Navy Veteran Gets PTSD Service Dog and Hope to Heal

Oviedo veteran, rescue dog help each other get second chance at happiness
U.S. Navy veteran suffers from PTSD
Click Orlando
By Shannon McLellan - Social Media Producer
November 21, 2016

PONTE VEDRA, Fla. - An Oviedo veteran has a new best friend, thanks to the K9s For Warriors program.

US Navy veteran Nicholas Balzano obtained his service lab, Nate, through the Florida-based nonprofit organization that aims to serve veterans suffering from PTSD as a result from their service.

The organization says the average veteran in the program is on 10 to 15 medications when they begin. But with help from their new furry friends, they're able to reduce or eliminate their medication when they are done with program. Both Nicholas and Nate graduated last month.

The K9 For Warriors program offers refuge for veterans who have tried several treatments with little or no success.

"I want to be more active in society and not controlled by my panic disorder anymore," said Balzano. "K9s helped me regain control of my life."
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7 veterans commit suicide every 10 days in Arizona

Report: 7 veterans commit suicide every 10 days in Arizona
Daily Courier
Scott Orr
November 22, 2016

“This is one thing that a veteran should not feel like they have to do on their own.” Nicholas Wood

PHOENIX – Between January 2015 and June 2016 — an 18-month period — 393 veterans committed suicide in Arizona, according to a report issued by the Arizona Violent Death Reporting System on Thursday, Nov. 10.

And, although the study does not provide hard numbers on Yavapai County, it does show that the suicide rate for veterans in the county is 76.2 per 100,000, which is slightly higher than the average rate statewide.

Some of the smaller counties have higher rates, with La Paz recording 146.3 suicides per 100,000, and Maricopa and Pima counties coming in just below Yavapai County, with 75.8 and 72.0, respectively.

The goal of the study is to aggregate data from county medical examiners and law enforcement to help detect trends in veteran suicides, and also homicides, with an eye toward preventing them in the future, said David Choate, associate director of the Arizona State University Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety.
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Shocked Coffee Shop Customers Rushed to Help Vietnam Veteran After He Set Himself on Fire

Vietnam veteran sets himself on fire as a political protest
WEWS
By Bob Jones
Nov 21, 2016

AKRON, Ohio (WEWS) -- Surveillance video from Angel Falls Coffee shows the Vietnam veteran-- dressed in a Marine Corps uniform--- including a hat-- trying to get into a political conversation with customers.

The owner of the coffee shop said the vet wanted to know who organized recent protests against Donald Trump.

"He seemed to be pro-rally, against Trump and he talked to my customers about how people needed to protest more about Trump," said Jim King.

When no one engaged in the conversation, the veteran left the shop, handed his cell phone to a stranger and told him to record a video. What happened next was horrifying.

"He walks over to his car and grabs a gas can and proceeds to douse himself with gasoline and then light himself on fire," said Lt. Rick Edwards of the Akron Police Department.

The stunned witness did not get a video. Others threw coats on the veteran and put out the fire with an extinguisher.

King said, "He was curled in a fetal position perfectly still except for some hand movement and he was completely coated in ash."
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