Marine puppy toss may be fake

Marine seems to hurl puppy off cliff in video
By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writerPosted : Monday Mar 3, 2008 18:43:59 EST

A video that appears to show an armor-clad Marine hurling a small puppy off a cliff and joking with his buddies as it smashes against a rock-strewn desert landscape has sparked outrage online and an investigation by commanders in Hawaii.

A 22-year-old lance corporal from Seattle was named in several online postings as the “puppy killer” and accused of being a “sociopath.” A home address for the Marine was posted on several sites, with at least one urging readers to “make him pay.”
Marine Corps Times could not confirm his identity.

As the puppy flies through the air, the video’s soundtrack features a distinct yelping sound, but Dejournett said that could have been edited in afterward. She noted that the squealing sound does not diminish as the puppy appears to fade in the distance.
To some degree, she said, it doesn’t matter whether the Marines were torturing the puppy or playing with a dead animal.
“Regardless, it is horrifying and it’s not the kind of behavior that we want to see our troops engaging in,” Dejournett said.
View the video (Warning: This video may be disturbing to some viewers)

Yes Congressman Buyer we noticed what you did for seven years

Lawmakers argue for bigger veterans budget

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Mar 3, 2008 17:08:51 EST

Republican members of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee — who for seven years have defended the Bush administration’s funding requests for veterans programs — now want to add $5.8 billion to the White House request for 2009.

The budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs requested by the 12 Republicans is about $2 billion more than the VA budget recommendations from the Democratic majority.

Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., the committee’s ranking minority member, said the budget requests about $2 billion to be set aside to improve GI Bill education benefits for members of the National Guard and reserve, about $2.5 billion for medical care and services, $700 million for major construction, $200 million for minor construction and $644 million for cemetery construction.

The rest of the funding would be spread among other programs, including $320 million to improve information technology, a Buyer priority.
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Veterans' Affairs Committee (Ranking Member)
Energy and Commerce Committee
Subcommittee on Health
Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality
National Guard and Reserve Components Caucus, Co-Chairman

When asked about potential compensation for veterans whose personal data was compromised by the theft of a Veterans Administration computer, Rep. Buyer told the Army Times, "How many of them would have had their identities stolen anyway?"[5]

In November, 2005 Buyer announced plans to eliminate testimony from veteran's service organizations before the annual joint session of the House and Senate Veterans Service committees, a tradition going back more than 50 years. A joint letter of protest from the four major veteran’s service organizations was hand delivered members of congress in May, 2006.[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Buyer

Yes we noticed. We noticed all of it. While you were sitting there making sure you gave Bush whatever he wanted, even if it meant soldiers and veterans would have to suffer, you made sure they came last. Even the writer of this report began with "after seven years" so yes, we all noticed.

Bob Woodruff Family Foundation Get PR Giant's Help

JWT to Volunteer Services for Bob Woodruff Family Foundation

Will Support Group That Helps Injured Service Members and Their Families
March 03, 2008: 09:00 AM EST

NEW YORK, March 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- JWT, the largest advertising agency in the U.S. and the fourth largest in the world, announced today that it will volunteer its broad marketing expertise to support the Bob Woodruff Family Foundation (BWFF), a nonprofit organization that raises awareness of the devastation caused by the "hidden injuries of war", traumatic brain injury (TBI) and combat stress.

Bob Woodruff, an ABC News anchor, was nearly killed in a roadside bomb attack while reporting from Iraq in January 2006. The Woodruff Family launched BWFF to help service members, veterans and their families as they navigate their road to recovery and reintegration back into their local communities.

"JWT has a long history of working with the U.S. Marine Corps, and we're honored to rally behind the BWFF," says JWT chairman and CEO Bob Jeffrey. "This is a chance to use our resources for the greater good and to give back to those brave men and women who sacrifice everything in the line of duty."

JWT has handled the U.S. Marine Corps account since 1946; founder James Walter Thompson was a Marine Corps veteran.
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UK fight is on to give medal for PTSD wounds!!

Falklands surgeon Rick Jolly backs medal fight
By Jeff Pickett 3/03/2008

A hero doctor of the Falklands war who continued to fight for troops when he returned home backed the Mirror medal campaign last night.

Surgeon Captain Rick Jolly, 62, was the only serviceman to be decorated by both sides after the conflict. He was also part of a veterans' group which urged the Government to recognise soldiers with posttraumatic stress disorder.

He believes a medal to recognise troops killed or hurt in Afghanistan and Iraq would be a great morale-booster.

He said: "The principle of an award is a good one although it must be extended to those injured or killed in other conflicts.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2008/03/03/
falklands-surgeon-backs-medal-fight-89520-20338711/


As generals dither, MPs will demand new medal for heroes
EXCLUSIVE
By Bob Roberts And Chris Hughes 26/02/2008
Britain's top military brass will come under ferocious attack today for refusing to award a new medal to the country's most courageous soldiers.
In a historic Parliamentary debate, MPs from all political parties will say the campaign for a new honour to recognise dead and injured servicemen has been held up by the generals for too long.
And they will say it is wrong for the heads of the armed forces to block a new medal for ordinary troops when they are happy to take honours for themselves.
Former military chiefs will also express their disgust at the refusal of today's generals to award the new medal.
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Ex commander of British Armed Forces in Afghanistan, Colonel Richard Kemp says he is disgusted the top brass are out of touch.
"I never thought I would say this, but it is beginning to appear that the politicians are more attuned to the needs of our fighting men and women than are the generals," he told the Mirror, which has long campaigned for the medal.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has backed the idea of a British equivalent to an American Purple Heart which is awarded to all dead and wounded service personnel.
Soldiers across the ranks and politicians of all parties have backed the Mirror's campaign. But Chief of the General Staff Sir Richard Dannatt and his deputy Sir Timothy Granville-Chapman are dithering, claiming a new medal for the wounded would be "divisive" amongst soldiers.
Labour MP Kevan Jones who called for the debate is expected to tell Parliament they should not be receiving their own honours while refusing them for others.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2008/02/26/
as-generals-dither-mps-will-demand-new-medal-for-heroes-89520-20331967/



Hero Victoria Cross Gurkha soldiers back Daily Mirror medal campaign
Number of MPs backing Daily Mirror medal campaign reaches 303
MPs tell PM Gordon Brown 'give soldiers award they deserve'
Soldiers' families demand medals for their fallen heroes

I'm not the only one calling for this,,,,,,,when will we begin a push for this here too?

Who Will Stand new video on impact of PTSD with Clint Holmes

Photo may be used in documentary
Monday, March 3, 2008
By Clint Confehr


An image of Christian Golczynski, published here nearly a year ago, may be used in a documentary and music video to illustrate psychological impacts of war on Americans.

The photograph, by now-retired Times-Gazette editor Kay Rose, portrays the son of slain Staff Sgt. Marc Golczynski, who grew up in Lewisburg. Her photo shows an 8-year-old boy receiving the American flag that had been draped across his father's coffin at Wheel Cemetery.

Phil Valentine of his own Red Live production company in Las Vegas, Nev., explained he wanted to use the picture in a music video for "Who Will Stand" as sung by Clint Holmes, and as an image during a documentary that explores issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

An early cut of the music video may be seen at www.whowillstand4us.com. The site did not yet include the photograph by Rose when viewed early this week. Valentine said he hoped to reach Marc Golczynski's widow Heather in Maryland, and/or his parents here in Tennessee. Henry Golczynski is a Murfreesboro businessman. Marc's mother, Elaine Huffines, teaches science at Forrest High School.

Rose agreed that the photo should be available for the Red Live productions so long as it wasn't used to advocate or oppose the war, she said Sunday. The Times-Gazette has had a policy of sharing its images with other media that acknowledge the source. Valentine has agreed to that.

The director's videos are avoiding any "political spin," he said, by focusing on what the documentary reveals from speaking with soldiers, Marines, their families and doctors.

"It's such a powerful photograph," Valentine said Friday. "People see it and it brings things together; the pain and sacrifice that the families go through."

The sacrifice of families of soldiers and Marines was recognized late last year in Lewisburg where the Golczynskis, Huffines and survivors of Todd Nunes and David Heirholzer were honored by the Elks Club where members expressed their respect for what survivors experience.

"It was a very emotional moment," Rose said of that afternoon of April 4 in the Wheel Cemetery. "I left in tears and I didn't know the family."
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http://www.t-g.com/story/1315445.html

Army to Release Anti-Suicide Film

Army to Release Anti-Suicide Film
Last Update: 6:32 am

Film Aims to Lower Soldier Suicide 3/2/08

Oswego County, New York (WSYR-TV) - The Army is releasing an interactive video in April aimed at curbing the soldier suicide rate. It’s the highest it’s been in more than twenty years. That’s just among active soldiers. There have also been a staggering number of suicides among veterans home from the war, who are dealing with post traumatic stress disorder.

Joe Godfrey from Oswego County says he doesn’t think the video will work. Godfrey knows far more about post traumatic stress disorder than any father should.

His son, Joe, came home from Iraq at the end of 2004 a different man. He couldn't sleep, was afraid of the dark and started drinking despite being on a slew of medications.

“He was always afraid that someone was out to get him,” Godfrey says.

Joe knew he needed help but didn't get it from the VA in time. Joe was killed outside a bar in Oswego a few months later. His father believes that he ended up dying as a result of the fact that he couldn’t get treatment in a timely manner.

Godfrey's other son, Justin, will be leaving for Iraq this summer – on his third tour.
“You make it through the first time, then the second time was when his brother was killed. Now, he’s going back a third time. Every time you go back, you're bucking the odds, you know?” Godfrey says.
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http://www.9wsyr.com/news/local/story.aspx?
content_id=8143c4df-7ec4-4c1f-919a-dd5d7f59c70b

Maj. General Clara Hawley-Bowland, woman in charge!

Military medicine

By NOELLE STRAUB
Star-Tribune Washington bureau
Saturday, March 1, 2008 11:20 PM MST

WASHINGTON -- In 2005, while commander of the Europe Regional Medical Command, Carla Hawley-Bowland received an e-mail asking general officers to reply if a child of theirs had deployed to Iraq, because Newsweek magazine was doing a story on military families.

What the e-mail failed to mention, because it didn't seem necessary, was that they were looking for dads.

"They didn't say it was a Father's Day article, but they didn't know that they had a female general that had kids," the Casper native recalled recently. "I don't know if I'm the first one to have kids, but there's very few of us."

Her son Scott had deployed to Iraq in 2003-04, serving as a medic at a battalion aid station at the Fallujah airfield. She replied to the e-mail, and she and her son were included in the article.

Now a two-star major general, Hawley-Bowland in December took command of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the U.S. Army's North Atlantic Regional Medical Command.

Hawley-Bowland is the first female physician who has risen to the rank of general. "We've had nurses and medical service corps female generals, but not a doc," she said. "So I'm the first one there."

She has found the Army to be very fair to women when it comes to career progression.

"I don't think I was ever discriminated against," she said. "There were individuals you always had issues with like anybody else does, but as a whole, as an institution, I felt that actually, in comparing what my career would have been in academic medicine and that of the civilian sector, I progressed probably 10 years faster in the military than I would have in the civilian sector."

Asked if female officers ever tell her she inspired them, she laughed and said, "Yeah, and there's some that say, 'We're glad you made general so we don't have to do it, Carla.'"

"I don't know," she added. "I've just done the jobs they gave me, and had fun and just kept doing it. Never saw a reason to change."
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Army Spc. Russell Johnson Bronze Star V

As with other soldiers in Iraq and other wars, Johnson still had some intangible reminders of the trauma of war. A soldier may leave the war, but the war does not always leave the soldier.

"When he first came home, he was having nightmares," said Harold Johnson, Russell's father. "He was taking medication."

Deltona soldier decorated for saving comrade

BEACON PHOTO COURTESY SPC. RUSSELL JOHNSON

Honored for heroism —U.S. Army Spc. Russell Johnson receives the Bronze Star with a V for valor, along with a certificate for his heroic service in rescuing a fellow soldier from a burning vehicle during an attack in Iraq last spring. He was decorated Jan. 19 at Fort Hood, Texas, home of the 1st Cavalry Division. Johnson's family lives in Deltona.

Published 2-29-2008

By Al Everson
BEACON STAFF WRITER

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

— John 15:13


June 3, 2007, is a day Army Spc. Russell Johnson will never forget.

While Americans at home were enjoying their Sunday, Johnson had to act quickly to save a fellow soldier when their Bradley fighting vehicle was heavily damaged by a roadside bomb in Baghdad.

For that act of gallantry, the Deltona GI would win the Bronze Star, one of America's highest honors for bravery in battle. His Bronze Star also has a "V" for valor.

"We were out on our second patrol of the day, and we kept passing this one checkpoint. My Bradley was hit by an IED [improvised explosive device]. The Bradley was burning. I drove the Bradley about 100 meters outside the kill zone," Johnson told The DeLand-Deltona Beacon.

He was serving in the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division, and the division was about halfway through its 15-month deployment in Iraq.

Of the three soldiers in the flaming vehicle, Johnson was the only one not hurt. The machine-gunner was injured by the blast that had killed their commander.

Johnson had to act quickly amid multiple dangers: The Bradley fighting vehicle was ablaze, and the machine-gun ammunition was "cooking off" as the flames came into contact with the bullets. There was also hostile fire from Iraqi insurgents.

To save the gunner, Spc. Robert Cresanto, Johnson lifted the body of his dead commander, Sgt. Caleb Christopher, off Cresanto, and pulled Cresanto out of the Bradley.

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http://www.beacononlinenews.com/dailyitem.php?itemnum=643

Veteran sues VA so they will get it right for others

Cancer-fighting vet sues the VA after failing to ID tumor
Darryl E. Owens | Sentinel Staff Writer
March 1, 2008
An Ormond Beach veteran faces an uncertain future after doctors at the Department of Veterans Affairs clinic in Daytona Beach missed a cancerous tumor on his chest X-ray, a mistake for which military officials have apologized.

Ted Schrolucke, 63, who served in Germany for the U.S. Army from 1965 to 1967, has filed a $200,000 claim against the VA. The complaint says doctors at the William V. Chappell Jr. VA Outpatient Clinic failed to diagnose a late-stage mass in his right lung that had developed from a previous bout he had with colon cancer.

VA officials earlier this month admitted the error and offered its apologies in a memo it sent to Schrolucke.

But he wanted more than a concession and a mea culpa. He wanted to give other vets a warning that an incorrect diagnosis could happen to them. But the VA handles such matters internally, he was told, so he went public.

"Veterans are walking in there every day getting X-rays and sitting down with doctors and are told everything is OK," he said. "I want them to fix this."

Schrolucke's problems began in August 2005, when he turned to the VA to cover his medications and care until his wife could add him to her insurance plan. His own private policy had become too expensive, he said.

In his VA paperwork, he noted his 2002 colon-cancer diagnosis. Doctors took X-rays, and Schrolucke "walked out of there feeling cancer-free."

In March 2006, under his wife's insurance plan, he visited a non-VA doctor. A blood test suggested cancer, and a repeat of the test six weeks later proved more telling. Scans showed "a big tumor on my right lung," Schrolucke said.
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Bill to highlight female veterans

Bill to spotlight issues for female veterans

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Mar 1, 2008 8:11:43 EST

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is expected to announce legislation next week aimed at increasing the focus on female veterans at Department of Veterans Affairs facilities.

Since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began, Murray has spent many hearings questioning VA officials about female veterans with histories of sexual trauma, whether research has been done to determine their health needs and whether VA hospitals are so focused on men’s health issues that women get left behind.

Though VA officials say they are conducting a survey on women’s experiences at their facilities, as well as offering programs specifically for women, proponents of the proposed bill say it would target areas VA has not addressed. It follows a similar House bill proposed by Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., and Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Fla.

Murray’s bill will ask for:

• Assessment and treatment of women who have suffered sexual trauma in the military.

• More use of evidence-based treatment for women — particularly in areas such as post-traumatic stress disorder, where responses may be different or involve different issues than it does for men.

• A long-term study on gender-specific health issues of female veterans.

“One of the things we started to see early on is that there’s a lot we don’t know,” said Joy Ilem, assistant national legislative director for Disabled American Veterans.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/military_femalevets_health_022908w/