Soldier amputees have more options for continued service Joint Base San Antonio U.S. Army Warrior Care and Transition By Whitney Delbridge Nichels July 26, 2018
FOB FRONTERAC, Afghanistan - Col. Todd R. Wood (right), commander of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, administers the oath of re-enlistment to Staff Sgt. Brian Beem (left), a cavalry scout assigned to the 5th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, during a special ceremony at Forward Operating Base Frontenac, Nov. 9. Beem is a single leg amputee who has continued to serve despite his injury. He lost his leg after an improvised explosive device detonated during his 2006 deployment to Iraq.
ARLINGTON, Virginia —
Thanks to advances in modern medicine and the availability of sturdier prosthetics, soldiers who are able to redeploy after amputation have a number of possible options for continued military service.
Army Staff Sgt. Brian Beem lost his leg in 2006 to an improvised explosive device in Iraq. "I thought my career was over," he said.
Beem credits his experiences at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, with helping him assess and eventually find options for returning to duty.
“It took me about a year to get up to speed with physical training, and I was feeling pretty confident,” he said. Within a short time, Beem was ready to deploy to Afghanistan with his unit. Although he was no longer on patrol as he was in previous deployments, he still played a vital role in battle staff operations.
“It was really gratifying to be able to deploy,” he said. “It’s possible, but it’s not easy. The process is there for those who have the perseverance.”
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Man who pretended to be a decorated veteran sentenced WPTV Webteam Tory Dunnan Jul 27, 2018
"My actions, which I thought were for a good reason. To help my family overall," he said. "I've dishonored myself, my sons, my daughters, my family, my country, and veterans everywhere. For that, I am truly sorry," said Liroff who could barely get through a prepared statement.
ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. - ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. - A man in Port St. Lucie who pretended to be a veteran entered a no contest plea in court Friday.
For years, Edward Liroff told stories about his service saying he was shot twice in combat and that he pulled two soldiers out of a burning helicopter.
The ruse unraveled when tried to get a code enforcement job with the city and police say a document he used turned out to be falsified.
In court, a judge credited him with some of the time he has spent behind bars but he still must serve nine more months in jail.
Liroff apologized and said, "this wasn't his brightest moment."
Once he pays back all the money he received from veterans benefits, his one-year probation will be dropped. read more here
The Millennial Who Uses Comedy to Help Veterans Heal Politico By DEREK ROBERTSON July 26, 2018
“Until I joined the class, I talked about [that experience] two times, and each time I had full breakdowns about it,” Croghan told me afterward. “I hate to use the word ‘safe,’ but that’s what [the class] was. I felt comfortable discussing it with the group we had. … Until that point, I’d never done that before.”
A millennial-run nonprofit is bridging a divide between the military and civilians by giving veterans a chance to tell their stories—and their jokes—in public.
For the better part of a decade, Christopher Croghan was at war.
He deployed to Iraq for the first time in 2007 at the height of the conflict. Returning home, he found it no more peaceful than the desert. Like many in his generation of post-9/11 veterans, Croghan found it almost impossible to speak candidly about what he had lived through—particularly with those closest to him. When faced with the choice between returning to the battlefield and processing at home the trauma he brought back, he repeatedly volunteered for redeployment, even as a soldier for hire after leaving the Marines.
“The only stuff my family knew about the war and me is that every once in a while we would have a celebration, and I would get way too drunk,” Croghan said. “And I’d say, ‘Well, you’ve never shot at a fucking kid, so shut the fuck up.’”
Croghan’s drinking led to a DUI. Both the judge and his therapist at the VA encouraged him to pursue writing, his personal outlet of choice. One day, however, a slightly adjacent program crossed the desk of Croghan’s therapist—the Armed Services Arts Partnership, a nonprofit that teaches creative- and performing-arts classes for veterans and military families. ASAP’s mission is to forge “a new path for veterans to reintegrate into civilian life, and for our communities to welcome them home.”
Which is how, on a warm evening in May, Croghan came to be standing on a stage at the Drafthouse Comedy Theater on Washington, D.C.’s K Street, just a few blocks north of the White House, preparing to deliver a monologue that he had spent the previous six weeks perfecting in a storytelling class with nine other men and women. read more here
There is something that Sgt. 1st. Class James Spraggins understands very well. He understands what his choice of profession caused, but he understands a lot more than that! It takes a lot of courage to choose a career that could kill you. It takes a lot of courage to put your life on the line for the sake of others. It takes a lot of courage to admit that sometimes, you need help too. What takes even more courage, is to speak out publicly so that others are inspired to ask for help too!
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A Platoon Sergeant receives the gift of hope, strength and life U.S. Army Warrior Care and Transition By MaryTherese Griffin Courtesy Story 07.27.2018
"...this would be the start of my new life; the gift of hope, strength, and most importantly the gift of life.” Sgt. 1st. Class James Spraggins
Courtesy Photo | Sgt. 1st. Class James Spraggins Iraq 2008, (Photo courtesy James Spraggins)
ARLINGTON, Va. - “I was a disaster who was proficient at hiding the fact that I needed help. I was very confused on what was going on with myself and feared for the future.”
Those courageous words are from Sgt. 1st Class James Spraggins. The former Infantryman turned Army Sniper has deployed multiple times over his 15 year Army career and wants to let other Soldiers know a few things about his journey.
The events of September 11th encouraged Spraggins to enlist; he felt like he was honoring his family name by taking it overseas to defend the nation’s freedoms. However, after his last two deployments, Spraggins says he was a different person. “I no longer had the same mentality towards human kind when I returned,” and that included himself Spraggins said.
Spraggins suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. He was assigned as a Platoon Sergeant to the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Knox, Kentucky. This was the first time, he says, he was away from his comfort zone. “I can remember feeling on top of the world (before PTSD), but then I lost who I was, I lost all hope. This began the complete spiral and destruction of Sgt. 1st Class Spraggins,” Spraggins recalled. “Those moments were some of the darkest moments of my life. I began neglecting everyone close to me so that I didn’t have to visit them or talk to anyone.”
Spraggins says he even began neglecting his basic human needs, like hygiene, for weeks and would skip meals for days to the point of complete exhaustion and he didn’t sleep. After suffering multiple panic attacks daily for several months he started thinking to himself that living was no longer an option. He sat with a loaded pistol in a church parking lot, thought about it, prayed about it, then he called his sister. “After failing in every direction, I turned for help. I made the choice to walk into Building 1480, the Behavioral Health Clinic on Fort Knox, this would be the start of my new life; the gift of hope, strength, and most importantly the gift of life.” read more here
North Dakota Veterans’ personal information at risk, audit says Bismark Tribune James B. Miller, Jr. Forum News Service Jul 24, 2018
Most notably, the audit found that the Veteran Aid Loan System was outsourced to a vendor without the department receiving an exemption from the Information Technology Department, meaning that, since 2005, information from veterans including credit history, debt-to-income ratio, discretionary income, spousal income, discharge information and more were hosted by an unvetted vendor.
In an extensive report, the Office of the State Auditor recently expressed concerns with the North Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs’ handling of the veteran aid loan, hardship assistance grant, impact grant and highly rural transportation grant programs.
The report stems from a performance audit conducted on the NDDVA beginning in October 2017 and concluding on March 28, 2018. The effort was headed by Rep. Chet Pollert, R-Carrington, and the Legislative Audit and Fiscal Review Committee.
The Veterans Aid Loan Program is a permanent revolving fund for eligible veterans and surviving spouses to receive funds for relief or assistance. The audit found that to obtain a loan, the Administrative Committee on Veterans Affairs required applicants to have the financial ability to repay the loan. However, neither ACOVA or the NDDVA had established underwriting guidelines to use when determining an applicant’s financial ability to repay the loan.
Attempts to reach North Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner Lonnie Wangen and Administrative Committee on Veterans Affairs Chairman Dean Overby for comment went unanswered. read more here
