Combat Operational Stress Control Conference

Conference targets war-born stresses
Second annual 'Marine Corps Combat Operational Stress' gathering set for San Diego

By MARK WALKER - Staff Writer


Confronted with rising rates of suicide and post-traumatic stress disorder among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, hundreds of Marine and Navy officers meet in San Diego next month to address ways to limit war-born physical and psychological damage.

The officers, along with military and civilian medical specialists, are meeting Aug. 12-14 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt to discuss the latest treatments for troops suffering as result of their combat experience.

The conference also will focus on the children and spouses of troops who have been disabled by post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury.

In its first-ever such conference last year, Marine Corps leaders vowed to eliminate an institutional mind--set that prevented some troops from seeking help for stress-related problems.

This year's "Combat Operational Stress Control Conference" includes updates on what service leaders have done in the months since last year's inaugural symposium in Washington.

Among the brass making presentations are Camp Pendleton's Maj. Gen. Michael Lehnert, commanding general of Marine Corps installations throughout the West, and the top enlisted man in the Marine Corps, Sgt. Maj. Carlton Kent.

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http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfJUL08/nf073108-6.htm

School bus, semi crash on I-4

School bus, semi crash on I-4
Jul 31, 2008 15:43 -0400

('Jul 31, 2008 15:43 -0400', '3:43 PM');

Updated: 53 minutes ago
The Florida Highway Patrol is reporting an accident between a school bus and a truck on Interstate 4 in Volusia County. Eastbound traffic is blocked.

Operation Homefront moving in wounded and families

Veterans moving in and up
by Shawna Ohm
Jul 30, 2008



Shawna Ohm/MNS




The Woods talk about their experiences and their future



Last week, four veterans and their families moved into new, furnished apartments... for free. The veterans, all severely wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan, had been living with their families in cramped temporary housing at the Walter Reed Army Hospital. Now they will live in Silver Spring, Md. in two-bedroom apartments with views and pool access.

The move was organized by Operation Homefront, a Texas-based non-profit. The organization uses money from corporate sponsors to pay rent and furnish the apartments. The occupying families pay no rent and are allowed to stay for as long as their treatment requires.

Since last week's opening four families have moved in to the 15 available apartments. Housing is meant to be used for three to six months, but can be extended as long as necessary.

For Travis Wood, who is still recovering from severe injuries sustained in Afghanistan, the stay could be as long as two years.

"It's a dream come true," Wood said. "(Here) you feel like you’re living your own life a little bit. I mean, I’ll still have to report to people and I'll still have to keep tabs, but at least I can come home to this."

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http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/washington/news.aspx?id=95775

Someone tell McCain wounded troops are not fair game

The following is very good and goes a long way in showing that the troops should never be used in anyone's campaign, especially wounded ones. Obama has never allowed reporters to cover his trips to see the wounded and as far as this trip goes, reporters were never under the impression they would be going to Landstuhl this time either. It was to be a private visit but even at that, the retired General he was taking was told that his visit would appear to be political. It made Obama aware that his visit would be seen that way as well.

What McCain managed to do was use wounded troops in Landstuhl as part of a political game. Not just in the lie created in his commercial, but by also saying that McCain has been any kind of a champion of wounded troops or veterans. His record shows how little he manages to support them when it counts.

The biggest indication of this is the fact the DAV has given McCain such a deplorable grade on veterans issues. Keep in mind that while the DAV as an organization stays away from taking political sides, the majority of people in the DAV are Republicans. They put wounded and disabled veterans ahead of any kind of politics and proved it when they ranked McCain at 20%. Most of the highest ranks from the DAV have gone to Democrats simply because it is not the majority of Republicans supporting the veterans when it counts, but it is the Democrats.

If Obama had used his trips to Walter Reed or Bethesda Naval Hospital as a political stunt, I would have come out against using the troops. If McCain ever does manage to support the wounded, it would go a long way to proving what he says. Someone really should tell him that the troops, the wounded and the disabled veterans are not tools he can use in a political game. Obama has to run on his record and what he does. McCain has to run on his record and what he does but especially because McCain is a wounded veteran, what he fails to do carries a lot more ramifications.

Fact Check: No evidence that Obama troop visit was to be media event

10:10 AM CDT on Thursday, July 31, 2008
By Robert Farley / PolitiFact.com

A John McCain campaign ad claims that Barack Obama "made time to go to the gym, but canceled a visit with wounded troops. Seems the Pentagon wouldn’t allow him to bring cameras." Mr. Obama's campaign denies the Democrat ever planned to take reporters with him, and The Washington Post reported Wednesday that there was no evidence that media would be invited. Some background:

In an effort to shore up his foreign policy chops, Mr. Obama took the unusual step of making a trip overseas — to the Middle East and Europe. The idea, in part, was to show the presidential candidate's gravitas as an international leader.

But the strategy backfired a bit when Mr. Obama canceled plans to visit wounded troops at a military hospital in Germany.

Mr. Obama had been part of a congressional delegation that visited Iraq and Afghanistan, but when that trip ended Mr. Obama stayed on the road, spending several days on a campaign-funded tour of Europe. Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, was supposed to be one of the stops.

The decision to cancel was made after the Pentagon raised a number of issues about its policy against campaign activity at a military base — including visits by campaign staff or any media coverage or speeches. As a sitting senator, Mr. Obama was welcome to visit troops, but no one on the campaign trip with him, including a retired general who is advising his campaign, could go along.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/
politics/national/stories/073108dnpolfactcheck.1a2b2fec.html

Body of soldier found at Hood identified

Body of soldier found at Hood identified

By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jul 31, 2008 10:05:33 EDT

The Army has identified the soldier whose body was found Tuesday at a training area on Fort Hood, Texas.

Spc. Donald James Scott, 28, of Boyceville, Wis., was a biomedical equipment specialist with 1st Medical Brigade, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary).

The cause of death was not reported, and the incident is still under investigation.

Scott’s body was found in a training area, though no training was taking place in the area at the time the body was found, according to brigade spokesman Maj. Raul Marquez.

Scott joined the Army in November 1999 and had been assigned to the 582nd Medical Logistics Company, 61st Multifunctional Medical Battalion, since December 2005, according to an Army news release. He had deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in 2003.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/07/army_hoodbody_072908w/

Priest sues over care at Manatee Memorial

Priest sues over care at Manatee Memorial
He claims the hospital believed he was trying to get powerful pain medication
By Frank Gluck


Published: Thursday, July 31, 2008 at 2:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, July 31, 2008 at 1:25 a.m.
BRADENTON - Emergency room physicians must tread carefully when patients come in seeking pain medication. All too often, those patients are addicts simply looking for a narcotic fix.

But that caution may have led staffers at Manatee Memorial Hospital last year to miss the serious injuries of a Catholic priest who had just fallen more than eight feet from a ladder at his home.

Now that priest, the Rev. Charles Jackson, 57, is suing. He claims the hospital erroneously believed he was trying to get powerful pain medication while overlooking multiple bone fractures that ultimately left him permanently incontinent and barely able to walk.

The hospital's chief executive, who said Jackson's behavior was suspect that day, said the emergency room physician made a mistake.

Jackson's Bradenton attorney, Richard Shapiro, called the episode "a crime against humanity."

"I don't care whether he was a priest or a bum from the streets, he had a right to a decent, reasonable amount of medical care," Shapiro said. "They have ruined his life."
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St. Pete to homeless: Move your stuff

St. Pete to homeless: Move your stuff
The city has ordered about 100 homeless people living under Interstate 375 to remove belongings that have accumulated there. The order is based on a city ordinance passed within the past year that requires public property and rights of way to be clear of private belongings.

After outcry, event to help Sanford's homeless moved to Longwood

After outcry, event to help Sanford's homeless moved to Longwood
Kate Santich Sentinel Staff Writer
July 31, 2008
First, Sanford officials decided they didn't want 200 homeless people flocking downtown for a daylong event that would offer them medical care, showers, meals, employment counseling and identification.

Then the city's mayor showed up Wednesday at the rescheduled event -- moved to Longwood's Northland church -- to show her support.

A mixed message?

"We're not really evil, mean and wicked," said Sanford Mayor Linda Kuhn, who, at the urging of the City Council, had asked if the event could be relocated. "I believe in what they're doing."
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http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/seminole/orl-homeless31x08jul31,0,5971031.story

Flurry of bullets near Orlando playground kills three

Flurry of bullets near Orlando playground kills three
Vincent Bradshaw and Willoughby Mariano Sentinel Staff Writers
6:10 AM EDT, July 31, 2008

Gunfire erupted only a few feet from a crowded playground Wednesday, leaving a man and two teenagers dead.

The 5 p.m. triple slaying outside The Palms Apartments on Mercy Drive occurred as the complex's courtyards were jammed with playing children and residents returning from work.

Witnesses reported that as many as two dozen shots rang out, sending residents running for cover.

Police this morning confirmed two of the victims as Carlos Patterson, 16, and Cedric Garrett Jr., 18. Relatives identified Marcus Lorenzo Hayes, 29, as the third victim. Investigators with the Orlando Police Department have not released the motive in the slayings.
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Group gives three veterans honor burials they deserve

Group gives three veterans honor burials they deserve
Dwight Lewis

dlewis@tennessean.com
615-726-5928


They won't be sending Frank Murray to the University of Tennessee's Anthropology Research Facility, better known as the Body Farm, after all.

Instead, Murray, 65, a Vietnam War veteran found dead June 30 in the trailer where he lived in Murfreesboro, will be given a military burial Tuesday in the Middle Tennessee Veterans Cemetery on McCrory Lane.

"Our goal is to make sure no veteran ends up at the Body Farm,'' William J. Burleigh, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and executive director of Operation Stand Down Nashville, told me Tuesday.

That goal is one that Operation Stand Down Nashville, which helps the community re-establish ties with its veterans, can't accomplish by itself. And it's a goal that's being achieved not only with Murray's burial at 9 a.m. Aug. 5, but that of Dennis Gill, a homeless veteran, at 10 a.m. and Jerry Moran, a veteran who was formerly homeless, at 11 a.m.

"This is an extreme message,'' John Furgess, who served as assistant state commissioner for veterans affairs for 20 years before retiring in 2002, said by phone Tuesday. "When a veteran leaves the military he carries a lifelong record of service to his country. … Many times experts talk about the emotional effects on a veteran. You and I know it as post-traumatic stress disorder. …''

Furgess went on to tell me about the death and life of Jerry Moran, 61, who like Murray was a Vietnam veteran.

Eastland Funeral Home, which is owned by the Dignity Memorial Network, is providing free burial preparation for all three men, Burleigh and Furgess said. And officials with the Middle Tennessee Veterans Cemetery are making burial arrangements.
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