Former NFL star shows his love and respect for Veterans
Department of Veterans Affairs
Upon receiving the call a few months ago, former National Football League star running back Earnest Byner felt honored to be tapped for the role. He had been selected as a guest speaker during the annual “Parade of Athletes” at the National Veterans Golden Age Games in Albuquerque.
Byner is the founder of The Healing Dawgs, a non-profit group that is aimed at teaching, helping, and healing through humanitarian efforts in communities, with a special focus on Veterans, the homeless, and youth. He has led visits to VA medical centers in Cleveland, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., in hopes of assuring wounded Veterans that their service and the sacrifices they have made for their country are not going unnoticed.
The “Parade of Athletes” took place Sunday evening at the Kiva Auditorium at the Albuquerque Convention Center. The nearly 1,000 Veterans who are participating in the Golden Age Games—which run from Aug. 3-8 in Albuquerque and offer many sports and recreational events for Veterans age 55 and older—were on hand to hear Byner speak.
Speaking with passion and emotion, Byner urged the Veterans to keep on competing in sports “because healing comes from within when you are competing,” he said. “If you are trying to get better on a daily basis, you provide healing for the mind, body, and spirit.”
He also told the Vets: “I appreciate and honor and love you because of the freedoms you have fought for. You have given your life and limbs.”
Byner said the Veteran community and retired NFL players like himself share several potential similarities. Members of both groups could be experiencing debilitating symptoms from concussions. In addition, the Veteran population is battling alarming rates of suicide and drug and alcohol addiction, issues that are also of concern in the community of retired NFL players.
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Michigan Air Force base water may have caused cancer
By: The Associated Press
August 12, 2018
The chemical was first found in the base's water in 1977, but drinking water wells could've been contaminated for many years before the discovery, according to the report. The Air Force installed a groundwater treatment system to clean up the trichloroethylene in the 1980s after being sued by Michigan.
The Wurtsmith Air Force Base grounds in Oscoda Township, Mich., two years ago. (Garret Ellison/MLive.com via AP)
OSCODA, Mich. — A federal health agency says contaminated drinking water might have caused cancer and other chronic disease among veterans and families who lived at a former northern Michigan military base.
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry released last month a draft report about the Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda, Michigan, MLive.com reported. The report concluded that people who consumed or had skin contact with Wurtsmith water may be at an increased risk for cancer.
Extremely high levels of benzene and trichloroethylene were documented in the former B-52 bomber base’s water before its 1993 closure.
The report is based on long-term exposure over a period of years. The findings also note that even short-term exposure to trichloroethylene for pregnant mothers during the first trimester could lead to heart birth defects in their children.
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Sailor found dead on base in Norfolk
Navy Times
By: Mark D. Faram
August 13, 2018
NORFOLK, Va. — A sailor from Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station, Atlantic was found dead at Naval Station Norfolk Friday night, Lt. Cmdr. Ben Tisdale, spokesman for U.S. Fleet Cyber Command told Navy Times on Monday.
Tisdale said the cause of the death was still under investigation on Monday but officials have identified the deceased sailor as Information Systems Technician 3rd Class Joshua I. Johnson.
A three-year Navy veteran, Johnson, 22, was originally from Orange Park, Florida.
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‘Tough as nails’ veteran urges focus on fitness, not wounds
STARS AND STRIPES
By ROSE L. THAYER
Published: August 11, 2018
Reeves said Bullock’s focus as a business owner is incredible — just as it was during his early days of recovery.“When he got injured, he said, ‘This does not define me.’ He hasn’t let it define him,” Reeves said.
Jared Bullock, a former Green Beret, and his wife Jesica stand outside Foundry Athletics, a gym they opened May 19, 2018, in Carterville, Ill.
PHOTO BY TIM KOLCZAK
AUSTIN, Texas — Everything changed for Sgt. 1st Class Jared Bullock on Nov. 13, 2013.
It was one month into his fifth deployment, and the Green Beret and a team of soldiers were riding in an all-terrain vehicle in Kandahar when it ran over an improvised explosive device. Bullock woke up in Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where he learned he’d lost his right arm above the elbow and his right leg above the knee.
The explosion also took the life Bullock’s best friend, Staff Sgt. Richard L. Vazquez, 28, and Staff Sgt. Alex A. Viola, 29, died days later in the hospital.
His injuries left him wondering what was next for him, after 10 years in the Army doing a job that he loved.
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Pensacola veterans struggle to pay for legal help in civil court cases, panel says
Pensacola News Journal
Melissa Nelson Gabriel
Aug. 10, 2018
A Tampa veterans crisis line receives more than 10,000 calls a month from veterans needing help, said Dennis Baker, president of the Florida Veterans Foundation. Many of the calls are about suicidal thoughts or addiction issues. A lot of the calls are also from veterans who need help negotiating the legal system, he said.
From child support hearings to eviction notices, many Florida veterans are left to fend for themselves when it comes to complicated legal issues, members of a statewide committee on civil justice heard Friday.
Judges, lawyers and veterans advocates from around the state met in Pensacola to discuss what can be done to ensure veterans have better representation in the civil justice system.
Florida Supreme Court Justice Jorge Labarga, chairman of the Florida Commission on Access to Civil Justice, said the group took its meeting on veterans' issues to Pensacola because of the high number of active-duty military members and retirees in the region.
"Access to civil justice not only impacts the poor, it also affects those of moderate income," he said.
A Tampa veterans crisis line receives more than 10,000 calls a month from veterans needing help, said Dennis Baker, president of the Florida Veterans Foundation. Many of the calls are about suicidal thoughts or addiction issues. A lot of the calls are also from veterans who need help negotiating the legal system, he said.
"A number of callers are telling us they need an attorney. It's everything from landlord/tenant disputes, wills and estates, mortgages and foreclosures, and taxes," he said.
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