"Thank You For My Service" by veteran Army Ranger

Review: ‘Thank You For My Service’

The Washington Free Becon
Jeffrey Cimmino
AUGUST 25, 2019

From Balad to Black Rifle

He doesn't discount the reality of PTSD or survivor's guilt among some veterans, but he takes issue with the media-made notion that every veteran story is an "endless parade of horribles" and veterans are "ticking time bombs waiting to explode." 

Mat Best is an American man's man, someone who loves "man s—t like beards and whiskey and guns and hot chicks in American flag bikinis." Beneath layers of playful, irreverent humor, Best’s memoir Thank You For My Service is a serious book about a former Army Ranger navigating his way back into civilian life, overcoming an addiction to war, and trying to support his fellow veterans.

Best's book covers everything—his decision to join the military out of high school, his deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, and more than a modest portion of his sex life. After serving multiple deployments in Iraq, he wrestled with the question of whether to stay in the military.

"Was I going to age too rapidly and burn myself out over here and miss all of my twenties if I stayed? Probably. Would it be more rewarding to stay? Maybe. Would I regret not giving the carefree twenties a shot? I didn’t know," Best writes.

Yet the transition proved challenging. College initially seemed compelling, but an afternoon on a campus listening to students' conversations—and their "fundamental lack of understanding of how the world works"—dissuaded him from that path.

He then opted for a job in private security that ended in a booze-filled sex-fest during a party at the home of a Gatsby-esque Los Angeles billionaire. Best blasts Los Angeles for its "selfishness, rudeness, and disrespect," observing that "it's incredibly mind-blowing how quickly that town can break you down."
read it here

After search suspended for missing firefighters, community joined in prayer service

Prayer service held for missing firefighters in Vero Beach

CBS 12 News
by Luli Ortiz
August 23rd 2019

VERO BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — It’s been a week since two firefighters went on a fishing trip off the coast of Florida and never came home.

Nearly 150 people gathered at Jaycee Beach Park Friday afternoon to pray Brian McCluney and Justin Walker.

“We believe Justin in on that boat. We believe that he is surviving, and we believe he’s coming home,” said Sheila Walker, Justin’s mother.

After the prayer service, strangers embraced her.

Walker described her son, a Vero Beach native, "beautiful young man, big heart, everybody that meets him, loves him. He’s just got the best smile. He’s the life of the party when he shows up."

She said her son and McCluney went to EMT school together and have been inseparable ever since.

“I know he loves my son. [He’s] a good family man. He’s got two children, so we’re just trying to get back to his children and my son back to his wife and us,” she said.
read it here

VA Medical Records of PTSD Veteran Released to Public

update VA Employee Pleads Guilty to Leaking Former Army Officer's Medical Records

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A Department of Veterans Affairs employee has pleaded guilty to leaking the medical records of Richard Ojeda as the former Army major was running for Congress. Federal prosecutors announced Tuesday that Jeffrey Miller has acknowledged accessing the medical records of six veterans when he was working for the VA's benefits administration.

Ojeda says his VA medical records were stolen, wants answers from government

West Virginia Record
By Chris Dickerson
Aug 23, 2019

HUNTINGTON – A former state Senator and U.S. House candidate says his medical records were stolen from a Veterans Affairs office and used against him in his 2018 congressional campaign.

Richard Ojeda filed a complaint Aug. 22 in federal court asking to have a Department of Veterans Affairs investigation into the matter released. Federal prosecutors said Jeffrey S. Miller, a claims assistant at the Veterans Benefits Administration’s Huntington office, took a photograph of medical records of a public figure on May 17 and sent the photo to someone.

The incident occurred days after Ojeda won the Democratic primary for the open Third District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. That fall, Ojeda lost to Republican Carol Miller in the general election.

In his federal lawsuit, Ojeda says he is the anonymous public figure. He says Jeffrey Miller accessed his medical records for more than two months “without authorization and without any legitimate work-related purpose.”

read it here

Vietnam veteran taken from pauper's gave to proper burial

Veterans band together to give Vietnam vet a proper burial

Fairfield Citizen
August 24, 2019

"We had so many mixed emotions because of things that had happened over the years," Carla said. "Even today, we still have so many questions and regrets that we didn't force him to talk to us. We would reach out to Billy, and he would ignore our phone calls. Or if he answered the phone and realized it was us, he would hang up on us. It was just really bad. But we loved him nonetheless."

COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) — Billy Harold Watts was a decorated and disabled Vietnam War veteran. He had six children, 14 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

After collapsing in early June while home alone in Marion County, the 70-year-old lost his battle with lung cancer on Father's Day in a Columbus hospice.

Estranged from his family, no next-of-kin was found before he was buried in a pauper's grave.

But through a remarkable series of events, his family was eventually reached and local veterans were alerted. They, along with other caring folks in the community, rallied together to have his body exhumed for a proper burial: a funeral with military honors in his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi.

"It was just a blessing after a blessing at the end of all of this," said daughter-in-law Carla Watts of Jackson, Tennessee.

Billy served for three years active-duty in the U.S. Marines Corps. He earned two Purple Hearts, a National Defense Service Medal, a Vietnamese Service Medal, a Vietnamese Campaign Medal and a Combat Action Ribbon. He was a private when he was honorably discharged in 1970 at age 21.

Although he wasn't diagnosed, Billy had symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder and was "highly medicated by the VA," Carla said. "When we cleaned Billy's house out, we took 26 bottles of narcotics to the sheriff's department and turned them in."

He and his last of six wives divorced in 2001, she said.

"Billy was very much a loner," she said.
read it here

Disabled and decorated 74 year old Vietnam veteran training to be welder to care for wife?

'She deserves the best': Decorated Vietnam veteran, 74, enrolls in welding school to support ailing wife

Tulsa World
By Tim Stanley
August 23, 2019

The school awarded Nelson a full scholarship. “It’s the least we can do. He’s so inspirational,” Hinojosa said. “We owe our freedom to people like him.”

Whenever he has nightmares about Vietnam, David Nelson takes solace in knowing he’s not alone.

His wife, Cynthia, is always by his side.

“I don’t have them as often as I used to,” Nelson said, “but when I do, it’s normally a doozy. And she just lays on me and hugs and kisses me.”

“She’s worth her weight in gold,” he added.

A decorated Vietnam veteran and Army retiree, Nelson is committed to supporting his wife, as well.

Since her diagnosis with cancer, it’s been a challenge. Recently, with the related expenses mounting, the 74-year-old took what seemed like an unlikely leap for his stage of life.

He enrolled at Tulsa Welding School to embark on a new career.
read it here