Soldier rescued puppy in Afghanistan...now he needs help

This soldier rescued a puppy from a garbage pit. Now he’s fighting to bring her home
Star Telegram
BY ELIZABETH CAMPBELL
May 12, 2018

ALEDO
Zack McEntire is fighting battles on two fronts, serving in Afghanistan and finding a way to bring his beloved puppy home when his tour ends in about a month.

Zack McEntire rescued this puppy from a garage pit in Afghanistan. He needs $6,000 for expenses to bring her to the United States. Paws of War

McEntire, a U.S. Army specialist from Aledo, found the Afghan hound named Mimi in a 50-foot “garbage burn pit” filled with medical waste in March, said his mother, Nancy McEntire.

“I can see him climbing down in to the pit to rescue the dog; he’s been a dog lover all of his life,” his mother said.

“He would always say, look what I found. We have to feed it,” his mother said.

Bringing Mimi home will not be easy. The cost is around $6,000 to cover the flight, quarantine and veterinary expenses.

McEntire is getting help raising the money from Paws of War, a nonprofit organization in Long Island, N.Y., that helps soldiers who want to return home with their dogs. Donations can be made through “Operation Saving Mimi.” Paws of war also trains service dogs for veterans with PTSD.
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Chief Warrant Officer 5 Teresa Domeier Nebraska National Guard

Nebraskan is first woman to be named nation's top Army National Guard warrant officer
MDJ Online
By Steve Liewer World-Herald staff writer
May 13, 2018

An Iraq War veteran, Domeier was the base food service officer at Al Asad Air Base in 2005 and 2006. Since shortly after her return from Iraq, she served in a series of leadership positions at the Nebraska Army National Guard’s Warrant Officer Candidate School in Ashland.

Teresa Domeier

A 35-year veteran of the Nebraska Army National Guard has been selected as the leader of 8,600 Army National Guard warrant officers nationwide.

Chief Warrant Officer 5 Teresa Domeier will assume the position of command chief warrant officer at the National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Virginia. She will be the first woman to hold the position. She will take over the job later this year from Chief Command Warrant Officer Peter Panos.

She was selected to the position by Lt. Gen. Timothy Kadavy, former Nebraska National Guard adjutant general. He has served as national director of the Army National Guard since 2015.
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Army National Guardsman had to sue for justice because of PTSD?

State spends millions on settlements, often silently
Santa FE New Mexican
By Phaedra Haywood
May 12, 2018

Phillip G. Ramirez Jr., an Army National Guard veteran who served in Iraq and Kuwait, filed a lawsuit against the state of New Mexico in 2008, claiming his supervisors in the state Children, Youth and Families Department harassed and discriminated against him when he returned from more than a year of active duty.

They refused to make accommodations for his diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, Ramirez claimed in the lawsuit, then tried to push him out by mandating what he called unreasonable job requirements that made it impossible for him to fulfill his role as a community support officer monitoring at-risk juvenile offenders.

Fired by the department in 2008, Ramirez claimed the department violated a federal law that protects the employment rights of service members deployed for more than 30 days.

“I felt betrayed,” said Ramirez, who had received positive performance reviews by CYFD for nearly a decade before his deployment, according to his suit. “I was fighting the enemy overseas and when I returned I was fighting the enemy, too,” he said. “Coming home should be peacetime and I felt the fight was still on my hands.”

In 2011, a Gallup jury found in Ramirez’s favor. He was to receive $36,000 in back pay. But rather than write the check and make accommodations for him, the state appealed the state District Court’s decision to the New Mexico Court of Appeals — a move that sparked a yearslong legal battle that eventually prompted a second lawsuit and ultimately concluded with the state Supreme Court ruling in favor of Ramirez.

In the end, the costs to the state were $598,857 in legal fees for the first lawsuit; $36,000 to satisfy the judgment in the case; $235,000 to cover Ramirez’s legal expenses; $74,108 to fight a second lawsuit; $115,000 to settle that case out of court.

Total bill: $1,058,965.
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PTSD Patrol Sunday Morning Empowerment Zone: Four Tires

Four tires move your forward
PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
May 13, 2018 

My friend Rev. Karen Estes has a message about how all of us need help along the way. One tire won't get you anywhere and you need three more. In other words, if we get help with what we need, then we get to move forward! 

When you are stuck because of PTSD, you may think you do not want to burden anyone else. Those same people would have died for you, but you don't want to bother them? The same people you would have died for, yet you cannot bring yourself to ask them to help you heal?

How is that right? What does that actually say to them when you did not trust them enough with what is going on with you, yet you trusted them with your life in combat?

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
Genesis 2:18 New International Version (NIV)

The second tire is the buddy, or helper to stand by your side. 
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Vietnam veterans "still in Saigon"

I was listening to oldies on the radio and heard this song. It is one of those songs I forgot about.
When you ask a Vietnam veteran "when were you there" the usual comeback is stating a year, but "last night" comes out a lot. That is the honest answer. If you want to get an idea about PTSD, this should help get you started.

This is a great video with Charlie Daniels Band Still In Saigon

Still in Saigon

Charlie Daniels

'Got on a plane in Fresco and got off in Vietnam.

I walked into a different world, the past forever gone.

I could have gone to Canada or I could have stayed in school.

But I was brought up differently. I couldn't break the rules.

Thirteen months and fifteen days, the last ones were the worst.

One minute I kneel down and pray And the next I stand and curse.

No place to run to where I did not feel that war.

When I got home I stayed alone and checked behind each door.

Still in Saigon

Still in Saigon

I am Still in Saigon in my mind!

The ground at home was covered with snow. And I was covered in sweat.

My younger brother calls me a killer and My daddy calls me a vet.

Everybody says that I'm someone else That I'm sick and there's no cure.

Damned if I know who I am. There was only one place I was sure

When I was

Still in Saigon

Still in Saigon.

I am still in Saigon in my mind!

Every summer when it rains, I smell the jungle, I hear the planes.

I can't tell no one I feel ashamed. Afraid someday I'll go insane.

That's been ten long years ago and time has gone on by.

But now and then I catch myself

Eyes searchin' through the sky.

All the sounds of long ago will be forever in my head.

Mingled with the wounded's cries and the silence of the dead

'Cause I'm

Still in Saigon

Still in Saigon

I am still in Saigon in my mind

Songwriters: Dan Daley

Still in Saigon lyrics © Asilomar Music