Fort Knox soldier earns Soldier’s Medal for saving man from burning fuel truck Army Times By: Charlsy Panzino September 8, 2018
“He was upside down and his feet were stuck under the dash,” King said. “He managed to grab and push out the windshield.” The sergeant first class pulled Bowling out of the vehicle and dragged him about 150 feet away as the truck’s fuel tank was engulfed in flames and its tires were exploding.
Sgt. 1st Class Mario King, Army Human Resources Command information technology specialist career adviser, is presented the Soldier's Medal during a ceremony hosted by Maj. Gen. Jason Evans, Army Human Resources Command commanding general. (Master Sgt. Brian Hamilton/Army)
Sgt. 1st Class Mario King and his wife, fellow soldier Sgt. Adriane King, were driving in Kentucky when a movie-like scene unfolded in front of them.
The information technology specialist at Army Human Resources Command at Fort Knox, Kentucky, received the Soldier’s Medal on Friday for his actions that day.
It was May 13, and the Kings were coming back from a surprise visit to Mario’s parents for Mother’s Day.
“Normally we take a different route back, but because of all the traffic that weekend, we took a detour,” King told Army Times.
They were behind a small car and a fuel truck on a two-lane highway when they noticed the small car had veered off to the left, as if to make a turn.
“But then all of a sudden, it went back to the right in front of the fuel truck, and that’s when the accident occurred,” said King, who has served in the Army for 17 years. read more here
This is what happens when disabled veterans are treated like their care is not due to the service they gave to this nation!!!!
Double-Billing for Private Care Cost VA $101 Million, IG Finds Military.com Richard Sisk September 8, 2018
The double-billings by Health Net and TriWest cost the VA $66.1 million in overcharges, and three other types of accounting errors by the two contractors cost $35.3 million, for a total of $101.4 million in losses to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the report said.
U.S. Senator Jon Tester talks about his VA Mission Act last May on Capitol Hill. The bill, which would replace the VA Choice program, was passed by Congress but has yet to be funded. (U.S. Congress/Ann Strausse)
More than 250,000 double-billings by medical contractors for private care in the Department of Veterans Affairs' Choice program -- and other accounting errors -- cost the department $101 million in overcharges from March 2016 through March 2017, a VA Office of Inspector General audit found.
During that one-year period, 142,493 duplicate payments were made to Health Net Federal Services and 111,148 to TriWest Healthcare Alliance Corp., for a total of 253,641 duplicate claims out of 4,758,759 medical claims submitted, the audit, released Thursday by the IG's office, revealed. read more here
And now that POTUS keeps pushing to make sure even more veterans get into the hands of these profiteers, there will be even more veterans betrayed for bucks!!
Moral Injury inflicted by ignorant reporters Combat PTSD Wounded Times Kathie Costos September 8, 2018 Reading many reports over more than three decades has left me stunned by some reporters failure to do basic research on the topics they write about. We are living with what they failed to do. Vietnam Veterans have been forgotten over and over again! Ryan Sanders, "contributor" to the Dallas Morning News, wrote "Some troops come home with wounded souls that need healing" leaving out the very veterans who caused all the wounds of war to be known! There are so many things wrong with this article on "moral injury" that I am regretting being up this early! Moral Injury is not some new condition penetrating the souls of the veterans of today's wars, yet once again, older veterans have apparently been doing just fine and dandy in the mind of the author. I got a kick out of this part!
Hyperconnectedness: In previous conflicts, especially in world wars but even as late as the Vietnam War, combatants engaged in battle after a long boat ride. They had limited contact with home, almost exclusively through letters. While no amount of separation can or should make war easy, these factors allowed fighters to sort their battlefield experiences, allowing many to leave that part of their lives "over there." In today's conflicts, an American soldier can be dodging improvised explosive devices in the morning and video chatting with his children in the afternoon. Separation becomes impossible, and the wounds can stick.
A long boat ride?Does he know they did have planes during the Vietnam war? Did he ever consider what it was like being the FNG coming into a unit when everyone wanted you to stay away from them especially the short timers counted down the days for DEROS instead of months? Does he even understand that the term "moral injury" came from research on Vietnam veterans? One of the best researchers and writers on the subject won numerous awards including the Genius Award, is Jonathan Shay who wrote about Achilles in Vietnam, among other books. This was all about the "moral injury" and it came out in 1994. It was one of the best things I read at the time while doing research on what was trying to kill my husband...PTSD.
Why do some people think they can eliminate the majority of veterans in this country, living with the same wounds of war, at higher rates...in higher numbers? I have no idea if the subject of Sanders article gave him this wrong information or he figured it out all by himself, either way this is one more reason why the majority of veterans committing suicide remain the highest in veterans over the age of 50! This is pure BS! Wonder if he even had a clue that it was called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder back in 1978!
And yes, that is hanging on the wall behind my desk to remind me of why I do this and why my head explodes when the veterans, who pushed for all the research, keep being the Forgotten Warriors!
Respect to veterans: Teen creates a coin for every grave site Palm Beach Post By Kevin D. Thompson Staff Writer September 7, 2018
LAKE WORTH Four years ago, Joshua Katz, a 12-year-old devoted Boy Scout, was at a Memorial Day ceremony at the South Florida National Cemetery in suburban Lake Worth passing out water to those thirsty from the heat. A penny on a headstone caught Katz’s eye.
Joshua Katz, 16, at the South Florida National Cemetery Memorial Garden and Benches in Lake Worth. (Greg Lovett / The Palm Beach Post)
“I took a picture of it and looked it up because I didn’t know what it meant,” said Katz, now 16.
He learned it was meant as a message to the deceased soldier’s family that someone else has visited the grave to pay respects.
He learned more: A nickel meant another solider stopped by to visit. A dime meant a soldier served with the deceased soldier and a quarter meant that somebody was there when the soldier died.
While Katz understood the practice of leaving coins, he wanted to do more.
“I spent my whole summer to come up with a way to make sure there was some kind of symbol of recognition on their headstones and that all the names were read aloud,” said the suburban Lake Worth resident.
That will happen Saturday, Sept. 8 at the event Katz helped create, the 5th Annual POW-MIA-OREE (Prisoner of War, Missing in Action, Outdoor Remembrance Educational Event) at the cemetery. The 90-minute event starts at 8:30 a.m.
The event is to show respect for veterans and their families by having the names of every veteran interred at the cemetery read aloud. Also, a custom challenge coin will be placed on each headstone and marker for loved ones, to have as a keepsake to know their loved one has not been forgotten. read more here
Soldiers who attempt suicide often have no history of mental health issues Reuters Lisa Rapaport September 5, 2018
Previous combat injuries were also associated with a 60 percent higher risk of suicide attempts among soldiers without a history of mental illness.
(Reuters Health) - More than one-third of U.S. Army soldiers who attempt suicide don’t have a history of mental health problems, a recent study suggests.
Attempted suicides have become more common among enlisted soldiers since the start of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, researchers note in JAMA Psychiatry. While a history of mental illness has long been linked to an increased risk of suicide among military service members and civilians alike, less is known about the risk among soldiers who haven’t been diagnosed with psychiatric disorders.
For the current study, researchers examined data on 9,650 active-duty Army soldiers who attempted suicide between 2004 and 2009 as well as a control group of more than 153,000 soldiers who didn’t attempt suicide.
Overall, 3,507, or 36 percent, of the soldiers who attempted suicide had no previous diagnosis of mental illness, the study found.
“Soldiers without a mental health diagnosis may have had mental health problems but had not reported them to their medical care teams,” said lead author Dr. Robert Ursano, director of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. read more here
