Over 100 military construction projects on hold to fund Trump's Wall?

update Fort Bragg among N.C. military bases to take $80M hit to fund Trump’s border wall

North Carolina’s military bases will lose about $80 million in planned military construction, according to a list released by the Pentagon on Wednesday of projects across the United States losing funding to build President Donald Trump’s border wall with Mexico. The affected projects in North Carolina include $40 million for a new battalion complex and ambulatory care center at Camp Lejeune, a previously canceled $32.9 million elementary school at Fort Bragg, and a $6.4 million storage facility for the new KC-46 tanker at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. Those projects join cuts at a Florida base nearly destroyed by last year’s hurricane season, a new middle school for Kentucky’s Fort Campbell and a new fire station for a Marine Corps base in South Carolina.

UPDATE Tarps from Florence are still on roofs of hundreds of buildings at Lejeune, New River as Hurricane Dorian arrives

Fahy said following Florence, 345 buildings needed tarps on them. But he said that the Marine bases have made some progress with regards to roof repairs, with many buildings slated to get metal roof replacements. With a nearly $3.6 billion price tag in damages from Florence, the Corps is worried about the additional destruction that may come with Hurricane Dorian.

Maj. Gen. Julian D. Alford, the commander of Marine Corps Installations East, posted on the Camp Lejeune Facebook page that “many of the buildings on our installations are still undergoing repairs and are vulnerable to leaks.”
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More than 100 military construction projects could be put on hold to free up funds for a US-Mexico border wall

Military Times
By: Meghann Myers
Septamber 3, 2019

The funding comes from $1.8 billion each in funds designated for domestic and overseas projects, McCusker said. The 127 projects targeted are not canceled, she added, and are not necessarily going to be put on hold.

The Army Corps of Engineers is slated to replace, or build new barriers, in 11 places along the U.S.-Mexico border. (Dave Palmer/Army Corps of Engineers)

The Pentagon is prepared to fund 175 miles of border wall construction, Pentagon officials said Tuesday, using $3.6 billion in military construction funds that had been designated for 127 projects over the next year.

Officials declined to release a full list of the affected projects until the Pentagon has finished notifying the lawmakers who oversee the districts where they are planned, but said that family housing, barracks or projects that have had contracts awarded or are expected to be awarded in fiscal year 2020 will not be affected.

About 3,000 active duty and 2,000 National Guard troops are currently deployed to the southwestern border helping the Homeland Security Department with surveillance, detention of migrants and processing asylum requests.
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Now you know who is paying for Trump's Wall! It isn't Mexico....no shocker there.

Marines evacuate Beaufort and Parris Island ahead of Hurricane Dorian

Parris Island Evacuates, Canceling Graduations as Dorian Threatens East Coast

Military.com
By Gina Harkins
3 Sep 2019

Beaufort and Parris Island are near Hilton Head Island, on South Carolina's southeast coast. Parris Island is a marshy base just a few feet above sea level.

Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island started the evacuation of recruits to Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, Ga., Sept. 3, 2019. (U.S. Marine Corps/Sgt. Dana Beesley)

Thousands of Marines and recruits will evacuate two South Carolina military installations as the deadly hurricane that devastated the Bahamas makes its way toward the East Coast.

Leaders ordered evacuations at Marine Corps Base Parris Island and the nearby Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort on Monday as Hurricane Dorian moves across the Caribbean and toward Florida and the Carolinas. Personnel and any dependents must head to safe locations at least 100 miles -- but no more than 400 -- away from the base, according to evacuation orders, which went into effect Monday.

All graduation events at Parris Island, where about 20,000 recruits train to become Marines each year, have also been canceled this week. That includes ceremonies for Golf and Papa companies, which were held at the base Sunday, ahead of schedule.
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NYPD Retired Officer Committed Suicide

Retired NYPD sergeant reportedly kills himself amid department's 'mental-health crisis'

FOX News
Nicole Darrah
September 3, 2019

The most recent death was of Robert Echeverria, a 20-year NYPD veteran who killed himself in his Queens home in August. The 56-year-old's death came one day after a police officer from nearby Yonkers also killed himself.

Editor's note: This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).]

A retired New York City police sergeant reportedly killed himself Monday — adding to the growing number of police officers protecting the country's biggest city who have committed suicide this year.

The 48-year-old male officer, who has not been publicly identified, shot himself in the head while sitting in his car in a parking lot on Staten Island, a borough of New York City, the New York Post reported.

While apparently retired, his death follows the deaths of nine NYPD officers who have killed themselves since January — a situation described by Commissioner James O'Neill as a "mental-health crisis."
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#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife

PTSD, suicide: ‘I didn’t care about my life or anyone else’s’ but now he does!

Alabama’s homeless veterans: PTSD, suicide: ‘I didn’t care about my life or anyone else’s’

AL.com 
By J.D. Crowe 
September 3, 2019

Homeless. Veteran. These two words don’t belong together. How could someone who is willing to die for our country wind up on the streets, kicked to the curb after their service? I’m on a mission to draw as many of Alabama’s homeless veterans as possible and let them tell their stories.

Anthony Rivers, Houston County

U.S. Air Force, ’79-‘83, Army National Guard

We met Anthony and more than 60 other veterans who are struggling with PTSD at a recent American Legion Veterans Retreat near Wetumpka, Alabama. There will be more stories to come from this retreat.

Anthony tells his story:

“After I got out of the Air force, I was doing pretty good – I thought I was. I felt good about doing my patriotic duty and I liked the military, so I joined the Army National Guard which kept me connected to the military lifestyle. Before I went into the military I didn’t drink or do drugs or anything like that. I was clean cut. But in the military, I began to indulge in drugs and alcohol.

“Things started happening to me – the way I thought, the way I treated my family, my sisters and brothers. I got divorced because of the way I began to change. I was initiating the type of discipline on my wife that I learned in the military. I didn’t see anything wrong – that was the way I had been taught. It caused problems and eventually she left me.

“After I joined the Army National Guard I got into some legal trouble and had to leave. I wound up doing time in the penal system. Having a criminal record, it was hard to get a job. So I went to a community college and made myself into an electrician.
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While you were sleeping, Coast Guard was pulling bodies from the water

25 Victims Found, 9 People Missing After Diving Boat Catches Fire In California

NPR
Vanessa Romo and Merrit Kennedy
September 2, 2019

"This is probably the worst case scenario you could possibly have. You have a vessel that's on the open sea ... in the middle of the night." Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown

Updated at 1:31 a.m. ET Tuesday
Twenty-five people are confirmed to have died in the weekend dive boat disaster, according to The Associated Press, citing the Coast Guard. Nine people remain missing. A total of 39 people were on board the boat.

In this photo provided by the Ventura County Fire Department, firefighters respond to a boat fire off the coast of Southern California on Monday. The U.S. Coast Guard said it launched several boats to help over two dozen people "in distress." Ventura County Fire Department via AP

Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Kroll told The AP that at least 25 people died in the accident. Kroll said five victims have been found but their bodies have not yet been recovered due to unsafe conditions under the boat. He said authorities will continue to search overnight for the nine people still missing.

Five crew members were rescued, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told reporters at a news conference Monday afternoon.

The vessel was identified as the Conception, based out of Santa Barbara Harbor, and was on a three-day dive trip to the Channel Islands. It was operated by Truth Aquatics. Coast Guard Capt. Monica Rochester told a news conference Monday that the company has been in full compliance with regulatory standards.
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