Thankful for Brenden Foster, 11 year old angel opened eyes and hearts

11 year old Brenden Foster's dying wish, feed the homeless
Brenden Foster said he wants to be an angel so that he can help the homeless from Heaven. Get ready to cry for this sweet child when you watch this video. He's proof there are angels here on earth already. He's one of them.

This is the first post on this giving thanks day. Brenden Foster was the first wonderful story that came to mind. While some will read this story and think of how this child died at the age of eleven from Leukemia, they need to see how wonderful Brenden was and be thankful for him coming into this world as an earthly angel and for his Mom Wendy who gave him the love he needed so when it came time for his dying wish, he thought of others.

Brenden managed to care about people we so often find it so easy to avoid. The homeless people he saw, were not people to turn away from. They were people to turn to help. His unselfishness was a lesson to people around the world. This first post on Brenden brought in the most hits out of almost 5,000 posts on this blog. It received as of this posting 75 comments. Truly beautiful postings from people touched by his compassion.

Of all the stories I've posted on this year, Brenden's is was the most rewarding spiritually. Many conversations I've had over the years have come from people who see the world and what God has not done, children dying and suffering as innocents, crimes and acts of pure greed. I will remind them that those are the reason good people were created. They we sent into this world to offer kindness, mercy, gentleness and compassion. God cannot overrule freewill by His own rules but what He did was send into this world others who can show the love God has. How can anyone read about Brenden's story and not find love there? How can anyone read what his gesture changed for the forgotten and not see miracles?

Read the rest of the posts on Brenden but then click back on the link to this first post and read some of the comments there. They will help you to believe in miracles again.

11 year old Brenden Foster sees his dying wish come true
This is the third post on this little angel. He's only been here for 11 years and has already managed to change this nation and how we look at homeless people. To think this wonderful child could have asked for anything for himself and it would have been given, he asked that we take care of the homeless and feed them. There are angels among us!I was in the site for KOMO looking for an update and discovered this.Go to the Problem Solvers donation page and select "Brenden Foster Food Drive" from the donation options list.

Dying boy inspires goodwill in people near and farWatch the story By KOMO StaffWatch the story BOTHELL, Wash. -- An 11-year-old boy's dying wish to feed the homeless has taken on a life of its own, sparking a movement to help the hungry nationwide. Doctors gave Brenden Foster two weeks to live. His time was up last Wednesday. "I should be gone in a week or so," he said last Friday. On Monday, groggy and medicated, Brenden was having a rough day. "Tired," he said, visibly weak. "(You) need some more medicine," said his mother, Wendy Foster, stroking his head. Leukemia halted the young life of Brenden, who once dreamed of becoming a marine photographer. Brenden has relapsed for the last time.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

11 year old Brenden Foster: 'I could have done more'"
Brenden Foster: 'I could have done more' Watch the story The local boy whose dying wish to feed the homeless inspired thousands across the world has taken a turn for the worse. Brenden Foster is growing weaker. His body is failing, his skin yellowing. His mother is trying to decide on the wording for his grave marker. BOTHELL, Wash. -- The local boy whose dying wish to feed the homeless inspired thousands across the world has taken a turn for the worse. Brenden Foster is growing weaker, but his message is growing stronger. His body is failing, his skin yellowing. His mother is trying to decide on the wording for his grave marker. "B-Man is his nickname, or Mr. B. But most people call him B-Man," said Wendy Foster. The end is near, and Brenden has one question for God. "Why at so young an age? I could have done more. But if it has to be now, it has to be now," he said.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Angel to homeless, Brenden Foster died in his mom's arms
May the Good Lord comfort Wendy and Brenden's family. This little angel changed the world for the better.Brenden Foster: 'I had a great time'Brenden Foster, who inspired countless people around the world with his wish to feed the homeless, died early Friday in his mother's arms. He was 11. Read more »By Elisa Jaffe BOTHELL, Wash. -- The day I met Brenden Foster, I met an old soul in an 11 year old's body."I should be gone in a week or so," he said calmly.When I asked him what he thought were the best things in life, Brenden said, "Just having one."I didn't understand how this child, who was a year younger than my own son, could be so courageous facing death."It happens. It's natural," Brenden told me.

Today's blog posts devoted to giving thanks

For today there will be no posts on trauma or tragedy. I have the other 363 days of the year to do that because I don't plan on posting them on Christmas day either. I'm doing this because while it is so easy to find things to complain about, stories the media covers under the rule of "if it bleeds it leads" and tragedies around the world, it is often hard to find the hopeful stories. There are many I've found this year and I'll be re-posting them today.

I can't take credit for this idea. I was watching CNN and saw the promo for the Hero's night for broadcast tonight.

CNN HEROES
Tonight at 9 ET on CNN
Grammy winners Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys and John Legend perform for CNN Heroes

I thought of how wonderful it was they picked tonight to do this honor for wonderful people. Pop back in often today and read some of the stories that were covered this year on this blog. Then try to remember when your feast is over as you lay down in bed tonight to give thanks for what is good in your life but also what is good in this world.

Senior Chaplain Kathie "Costos" DiCesare

International Fellowship of Chaplains
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
www.youtube.com/NamGuardianAngel
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington

L.A. County mental health chief says he will try to rely less on police

L.A. County mental health chief says he will try to rely less on police

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske
Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:35:14 AM

Marvin J. Southard's office can't force crowded hospitals to accept its emergency patients, so it sends them to law enforcers who can. He tells county supervisors he's looking for other options.
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske
November 26, 2008
Los Angeles County's chief mental health official said Tuesday that he is working to reduce the number of times his staff forwards emergency assistance calls involving the mentally ill to police, a practice that has grown over the last year as fewer hospital beds have been available to treat such patients.

Marvin J. Southard, called before the Board of Supervisors after news reports highlighted the problem, told the board he is in talks with county health officials to find better options.

"This issue is really an issue of indigent care at the county hospitals," Southard told Supervisor Mike Antonovich during questioning. "We contract with private hospitals to provide indigent care, but there are some patients only county hospitals will accept."

Mental health workers have increasingly turned to law enforcement officials to handle emergency calls because hospitals are required by law to take emergency mental health patients transported by police. If a county mental health worker brings people in for treatment, facilities are not compelled to accept them.

As of last month, there were 2,562 beds available for mental health patients in Los Angeles County, records show, and only about 200 of them were at county hospitals, which are required to admit poor and uninsured patients.
click link for more

Disney worker dies from accident injuries

Disney worker dies from accident injuries
Scott Powers | Sentinel Staff Writer
11:04 AM EST, November 26, 2008
An electrical power technician working for Walt Disney World has died from injuries sustained in a power maintenance accident earlier this month.

Douglas Howell, 54, of Rockledge, died earlier this week from injuries sustained in a Nov. 5 accident at a substation near the Walt Disney Swan and Dolphin Resort. The Orange County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration were notified at the time of the accident and OSHA is investigating.

Non-combat death in Iraq

DoD Identifies Army Casualty


The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

1st Lt. William K. Jernigan, 35, of Doraville, Ga., died Nov. 24 in Baqubah, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to Headquarters Company, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation.
http://icasualties.org/oif/

Scores die in India rampage with hostages held

Scores die India rampage; hostages held
Gunmen have targeted nine locations in south Mumbai, including two luxury hotels. A state spokesman put the death toll at 78. Gunmen are holding hostages at the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, police said. One witness told reporters gunmen had tried to find people with U.S. or British passports. developing story
iReport.com: Are you there? Send photos
Mumbai hotel 'under siege' Videos
Truck opens fire; bystanders duck Photos
Witness: 'I was splattered with blood'

Lawsuit: Police forced vets to lick ground

Lawsuit: Police forced vets to lick ground

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Nov 26, 2008 13:59:29 EST

MADISON, Wis. — Two Iraq war veterans allege in a federal lawsuit they were forced by small-town Wisconsin police officers to lap up what was thought to be urine.

Wisconsin National Guardsmen Anthony Anderson and Robert Schiman filed the suit against the city of Wisconsin Dells, its police chief and three officers last week in U.S. District Court in Madison.

The guardsmen, both of whom have served two tours of duty in Iraq, were in the Dells for weekend training. Two police officers stopped them in the early morning of June 1.

The suit says officers Wayne Thomas and Collin Jacobson accused the guardsmen of urinating in public and pointed out a wet spot in an alley that they thought was urine. The guardsmen denied having relieved themselves there.

In order to prove that it was not their urine and avoid citations, the officers made Anderson and Schiman lick the ground, the lawsuit claims. Schiman also was made to eat a plant that was drenched in the liquid, it states.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/ap_lickgroundlawsuit_112608/

UK PTSD:Coping with the trauma of warfare

Coping with the trauma of warfare
BBC News -

By Caroline Wyatt Defence correspondent, BBC News

"I started drinking, I started fighting and I was more aggressive - but I didn't care. I couldn't sleep, my chest felt tight, I felt sick - and then there were the flashbacks.

"I got diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder by my unit's medical officer - and that was it.


"There was no treatment. And they still sent me to fight in Iraq."


Ian, a 27-year-old veteran of Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Northern Ireland and Iraq, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in 1999, but went on to fight in several more campaigns.



Ian - not his real name - left the Army after Iraq, but he is sure many more British troops are silently suffering mental anguish from Iraq and Afghanistan than official figures suggest.

click link for more

"True Life: I Have PTSD” on MTV

I was sent this by email and it is an amazing thing to watch. This is what they are going through and not enough is being done to help them. When they have PTSD, the tears come because the wall that was protecting them from harm is being broken down. When you watch him break down, understand that he in the process of healing from great emotional turmoil.

Here is a clip from the episode that you can share with your readers:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0POxbds4do



And here is a description of the episode:



5pm - “True Life: I Have PTSD”- One in five veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan report symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, a mental illness that causes depression, inability to trust, constant alertness, nightmares and fits of rage. If untreated, severe PTSD can last a lifetime and make it impossible to hold down a job, form a lasting relationship, stay sober or lead a satisfying life. Yet only half of veterans with symptoms seek treatment. In this episode of MTV’s “True Life,” viewers will see what it’s really like to live with PTSD through three young veterans who are struggling to get their lives back on track.

The Think Community at think.mtv.com will help educate and connect viewers with content and provide them with the necessary help with issues featured in the "True Life: I Have PTSD” episode. Viewers will also be able to comment on the show and the issues on think.mtv.com.

My new PTSD web site is almost done

http://www.namguardianangel.com/ is just about finished. The videos are up and running. It still needs a bit more work and more features are being added.



There are only a couple more videos to put up.

Features will have PowerPoints on two often requested videos, Wounded Minds and Death Because They Served. Both of these videos are long and the tiles contain important information for people doing presentations. Soon Wounded Minds will have translated tiles into Spanish for Power Point. A doctor in Argentina requested the tiles so that he can translate them and he'll be sending the Spanish version.

My book will also be available on the site, as well as on this blog.

There is a forum ready to go, but bear with me on that one because I'm still not too sure how it works.

I've done this because of YouTube and Google videos. The main reason is that the troops cannot access either one of them and they are missing the information in these videos. Plus considering how many videos there are on both sites, mine, well, let's just say they get buried. People are shocked once they finally find them and wish they found them a couple of years ago when I first started to do them.

There are two videos for female soldiers and veterans. Women At War and The Voice, Women At War.

There are two videos on the other causes of trauma as well for civilians because they also end up wounded by abnormal events. Those are PTSD After Trauma and IFOC Chaplain Army of Love.

There is a video for the citizen soldiers, the National Guards and Reservist, who end up coming back and going back to work for the police and fire departments across this country as well as back to regular jobs.

There are several videos for the Vietnam Veterans because they have been tugging at my heart since 1982. Naturally there are videos for the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Two videos are for the family members who need to know what PTSD is and when the veteran needs more help than just love can give. Learn the signs and you'll be able to help them heal.

There is also a special video, PTSD Not God's Judgment. This video was created because of what veterans have found very hard to come to terms with. They want to know if God can forgive them. Yes, there is really no reason for them to feel that way, but when you consider what they go thru it's not that hard to understand. This video was also made after a very long argument I had with God. I get the ideas for the videos, find the music and the pictures to go with the message I feel is important. This one, kept nagging at me. I kept finding reasons to not do it. Reluctantly I put it together, put it up on YouTube and let the Good Lord take over from there. He did. When I was at the IFOC conference in Ohio, I found out that it has been used to help police officers and firefighters to heal by therapists. Amazing! I did not intend it to be used with them, but evidently God had other plans.

The work I do on this blog will still go on and trying to find out the best way to incorporate it with the new site, but Wounded Times is not going anywhere.

So, until the DOD blocks my site from being viewed by the troops, let them know the videos are there and more will be added. Tell the families and friends so they can understand what PTSD is as well. One more thing. Consider how many we're talking about. RAND Corp put the number at 300,000, but with all I know about PTSD after all these years, they are not even close. By 1978 there were already 500,000 Vietnam Veterans with PTSD. We have over 7 million people in the USA with PTSD from other causes. Too many suffer because they don't know what it is. Help me to help them. Spread the word about the videos if you can.

You won't be able to download them from the site but you can download them from Google and YouTube for now. If you need a DVD copy of one email me and I'll burn you one for a small donation.

Senior Chaplain Kathie "Costos" DiCesare
International Fellowship of Chaplains
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.com

www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
www.youtube.com/NamGuardianAngel
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington

Widow settles VA hospital suit

Widow settles VA hospital suit
Her husband died after '07 surgery in Marion facility
By Deborah L. Shelton Tribune reporter
November 25, 2008
A widow who sued the U.S. government over her husband's death at the Marion VA Medical Center has accepted a settlement of almost $1 million.

Robert Shank III of Murray, Ky., died in the hospital after gallbladder surgery last year. His widow, Katrina, sued this year, alleging medical negligence and accusing the government of failing to adequately check the background of her husband's surgeon, Dr. Jose Veizaga-Mendez, before hiring him."It was a combination of negligence in the way he did the surgery and post-operative care, and institutional negligence for allowing him to practice there," her Chicago attorney, Dr. Stanley Heller, said Monday.

The suit was settled Nov. 13.
click post title for more

Chaplains visit Anaheim Hills and Yorba Linda after Freeway Complex fire

Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times
Chaplain Keith Stiles, right, of the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team, consoles Vivian Vargas, left, after she lost her home on Aviemore Drive in Yorba Linda in the Freeway Complex fire. Stiles gave them a Bible and prayed with them.

Chaplains visit Anaheim Hills and Yorba Linda after Freeway Complex fire
By Duke Helfand
Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:33:32 PM

When they respond to disasters, chaplains from the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team usually encounter throngs of desperate victims.

So the evangelical Christians were surprised Monday as they searched deserted, mountainous neighborhoods of Anaheim Hills and Yorba Linda that had been charred by the Freeway Complex fire.


The chaplains were awed by the panoramic views from Orange County's sloping suburbs, but struck by the absence of victims and eager to apply their ministerial hands.

The seven men, led by a retired police chief from North Carolina, had received just 15 requests for help since their arrival last week, their third deployment to Southern California since 2003 in response to wildfires.

A much larger contingent of chaplains received several hundred requests for help during last year's Witch fire in northern San Diego County.
click above link for more

Giving Thanks In Troubled Times

Growing up in a Greek/Scottish household, we were always surrounded by family. There were five members of my immediate family, aunts, uncles and cousins all gathered around for holidays. Thanksgiving was always huge for my family. It was a wonderful day with cherished memories no matter how the rest of the year was going. Nothing else mattered that day except to spend time together with the people that mattered the most.

Four years ago when I moved to Florida, there were two less members of my family. My father passed away in 1987. Ten years ago, one of my brothers passed away at the age of 42. Uncles and aunts were gone as well as another cousin, also passed away at a young age. My husband's family had all passed away in thirteen months between 1993 and 1994. The first Thanksgiving here in Florida was hard, but friends of ours came from back home. They have a winter place in St. Petersburg. Having them here made it better for us. They repeated it the following year. Last year, it was hard because it was just the three of us. It was very lonely and my mother had passed away that February. This year will be especially hard because my brother Nick passed away last month, less than a week after he was laid off from his job. I've been out of work since January when I was let go because my job as Administrator of Christian Education was eliminated. It's been a rough year financially especially considering it seems to be costing me more and more to be a Chaplain. Between training, membership and traveling, it's been more out of my pocket than in. But there has been a trade off that you cannot put a price tag on.

When my mother was getting on in years, she tended to focus on what was wrong instead of what was right. I used to remind her that she needs to see what is good instead of only looking at what is bad in her life. It helps me get through really hard times and a very, very stressful time covering trauma on this blog. I read so many horrible stories about suffering, accidents, families falling apart, people dying and especially the people suffering from trauma that it could very well send me into a deep dark depression of my own. While I tend to think that I've just gotten to the point when I can tolerate it all better, the truth is, it never really does get easier.

A strange thing happened this year above all the other years. My faith in human kindness is fully restored because of some of the wonderful stories I've read this year. People making a difference for others by sharing their own pain. People deciding that since they know how it feels, they want to make sure others find some comfort at the very least. People who decide to rise above their own pain to do whatever they can to help total strangers. I've met them as Chaplains, as outreach workers and as average people, all trying to make things better and asking nothing in return, expecting nothing more than the feeling they get when they help someone else.

I remember being infuriated that a post I did on a Marine on YouTube tossing a puppy off a cliff managed to get more hits than a story of a veteran committing suicide because he had PTSD. That made me think that the importance some people place on the shocking mattered more than sorrowful. That all changed with an 11 year old boy named Brenden Foster.

Brenden was dying when he made a wish the beginning of November. He could have asked for anything he wanted for himself. After all, who would turn down the dying wish of a child? While Brenden could have asked for anything as leukemia was taking days of his life away, Brenden saw some homeless people and made the wish that would change the world. He wanted to feed the homeless people.

I tracked the story of this earthly angel and felt blessed just to be able to share his story. The miracle came when the comments started to roll in. One by one, people were talking about how this child changed their minds and warmed their hearts. Today by 4:00 this post has pushed my daily hit count over 1,200. That's how important this child's story is. It has gained more comments than anything else I've posted since this blog began last year.

When we have troubles in our own lives, it's very easy to close our eyes to the needs of someone else. (I'm guilty of that as well. There are days when I don't even want to turn on the PC. ) This year, with all I have to think about that has not been very good, Brenden's example will cause me to do the blessing this year with a restored faith in God's bounty. There is so much for me to be grateful for. While our house needs a new roof we cannot afford to replace, we still have one when so many have lost their's. While my extended family is a lot smaller, the survivors are very close emotionally. While I don't have a paycheck anymore, I have a rewarding calling that is filling more than the big paychecks I used to get back in Massachusetts. While I could look at what I can no longer buy, I am looking at what money cannot buy and that is love. Love, prayers, compassion from total strangers coming into my life to help me, offering support and friendship. What I also have to be very grateful for this year is how many other people across the nation who have taken on helping our veterans with PTSD. This is a miracle as well. I've never had so much hope in my life that things will get better for them and their families.

If you have had a bad year, open your heart and then your eyes and you will find what you are truly blessed with. It's not that hard to do. You will find what really matters in your life instead of what you want out of life. Brenden did that and if an 11 year old child can do that facing death, so can you. Brenden first came into the media spotlight three weeks before he passed away and no one will ever be the same again.



Senior Chaplain Kathie "Costos" DiCesare
International Fellowship of Chaplains
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.com
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
www.youtube.com/NamGuardianAngel
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington

Boy, 9, commits suicide

My heart just sunk deeply in my chest. We hear about people committing suicide at all different ages and it never really makes sense. What causes people to be faced without any hope of a better day the next day? Yet when it is such a young child, it leaves a hole in all of us. A family is left to grieve the loss and wonder why it happened, what they could have done or said. It will not comfort them that all too often, there is really nothing they could have done differently. Please pray for this family after this tragedy.

Boy, 9, commits suicide

By Camille C. Spencer and Molly Moorhead, Times staff writers
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
NEW PORT RICHEY — Saturday was a typical evening in the Tyree household.

Jacqueline Tyree fixed cabbage, sausage and rice for dinner. Her 9-year-old son, Efrem, took his bath after dinner, then went to put on lotion while Jacqueline fixed her 7-year-old daughter's hair.

After a few moments of silence in her son's room, Jacqueline went to check on him and made a horrifying discovery:

Efrem was hanging from his closet shelf by two leather belts.

Jacqueline screamed, unlaced the belts and began CPR. A neighbor and paramedics tried to revive him, too, but it was too late.

Efrem, a fourth-grade honor roll student who earned his gold belt in karate this summer, was pronounced dead at Morton Plant North Bay Hospital.

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office has called the case a suicide. An autopsy is pending, but "preliminary results point to death by hanging," said sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll.
click link for more

Family parenting "expert" arrested for domestic violence

Tampa family therapist jailed

By Alexandra Zayas, Times Staff Write
Monday, November 24, 2008

TAMPA — Tired of your child's defiance, arguing, and disrespectful attitude?

Having problems with your child at home, in school, or out in public?

Family therapist Michael Anthony Holder poses these questions on his Web site, and offers an answer:

His "Dynamic Parenting System," an intensive series of in-home consultations designed to help parents correct their children's negative behaviors.

But Saturday night, Holder's own parenting tactics landed him in jail.

Holder, 39, was arrested on two domestic battery charges, including battery on his 15-year-old stepson, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office reports.

Holder is accused of grabbing the boy by the neck during a dispute, choking him and inflicting several cuts on the boy's arms and face and a bruise on his left arm, an arrest report said
click link for more

Tampa Marines returning from Iraq today

Tampa Marines returning from Iraq today
Nov 25, 2008
November 25, 2008
Tampa Marines returning from Iraq today
TAMPA -- About 70 Marine reservists are returning home to Tampa today after seven months in Iraq.

The Marines, part of the 4th Assault Amphibian Battalion, fly in to Tampa International Airport and head to the Marine Reserve Training Center on Gandy Boulevard in Tampa between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., where family will be waiting to greet them.
click link for more

Student wrecks car on snowy road, disappears

Maura Murray and William Rausch were college sweethearts and had just gotten engaged.

Student wrecks car on snowy road, disappears
Story Highlights
Maura Murray told her professors there had been a death in the family

There was no death, relatives say

Car was found crashed into a tree along snowy New Hampshire roadway

A $40,000 reward is offered. Tips? Call 603-271-2663

By Rupa Mikkilineni
Nancy Grace Producer
CNN

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Every weekend for more than four years, Fred Murray has walked the road where his daughter, Maura, vanished. Family, friends and volunteers help him look in the woods and mountains near Haverhill, New Hampshire, for clues to what happened to her.

Maura Murray, a 21-year-old nursing student at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, disappeared on a cold and snowy night in February 2004. She was last known to be driving from Massachusetts through New Hampshire. It is still unclear where she was heading in her black 1996 Saturn.

The car was found abandoned, its front end crashed against a tree. It apparently had skidded off a road at a sharp curve.

Shortly after the accident, a passing bus driver stopped and asked Murray if she needed help. She said no.

Ten minutes later, police arrived. Inside the crumpled Saturn, they found some of Murray's belongings -- school books, running gear, snack foods and alcohol -- police won't say what kind.

But Murray was gone, along with her car keys and a backpack she always carried.

There was nothing to hint she'd be motivated to run away, according to her fiancé, William Rausch, and her father, Fred Murray.
Watch why this cold case is a true mystery »

go here for more
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/11/25/grace.coldcase.murray/index.html

VA and Louisiana State University join forces

Recent VA News Releases

To view and download VA news release, please visit the following
Internet address:
http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel



VA and Louisiana State University
Announce Site Selections for New Orleans Medical Center Projects

WASHINGTON (Nov. 25, 2008) - In a public event held today in New
Orleans, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the State of
Louisiana jointly announced the selection of adjacent downtown sites for
construction of their replacement medical center projects. The two
projects, called the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the Louisiana
State University Academic Medical Center, restore greatly needed health
care capability lost in New Orleans during flooding after Hurricane
Katrina in late August 2005.

"Restoring a full capability medical center for our veterans in New
Orleans and southeastern Louisiana is one of the Secretary's highest
priorities," said Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs Gordon H.
Mansfield. "Site selection is a key milestone in the project delivery
process."

"VA selected the downtown site because it offers the best solution for
our veterans, today and into the future," Mansfield added. "The site,
located within a robust medical district with affiliate health care
teaching universities, promotes long term operational synergy and
efficiency. The selected site aligns with the City of New Orleans and
State of Louisiana Hurricane Katrina recovery and redevelopment plans."

An agreement between VA and the City of New Orleans obligates the city
to acquire the land for the new facility, prepare the site for
construction and turn over the site to VA within one year.

"I understand this site selection creates near term impact on the
directly affected and surrounding neighborhoods," Mansfield continued.

"We have been working cooperatively with federal, state, city and
neighborhood partners to develop a robust package of treatment measures
to mitigate the negative impacts and invest in new local opportunities."


"Constructing this state-of-the-art medical complex near downtown New
Orleans follows through on the Administration's commitment to fully
support recovery efforts," he said.

The announcement follows a nearly one-year process of extensive study of
site alternatives, including analysis of the potential impacts on the
environment and historically significant structures.

"Today is of great significance for the City of New Orleans and for the
veterans of the Gulf Coast. The announcement by my colleagues at the
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs brings to closure a collaborative
and inclusive process involving Federal, state and local government, as
well as stakeholders who determined the location of the new veterans
hospital," said retired Maj. Gen. Douglas O'Dell, federal coordinator
for Gulf Coast rebuilding.

"The hospital is a key component of the city's vision of a revitalized
downtown area and a world class medical campus," O'Dell added.

"Further, this decision advances the goal President Bush and Secretary
Peake established of better access to quality health care for the needs
of current and future veterans,"

Dr. John Lombardi, LSU System President, said that building these
hospitals in close proximity to each other assures the future of top
quality health care, research, and medical education not only for the
New Orleans area but for the entire state for many years to come. "This
is a major milestone in constructing these joint academic medical
centers that are destined to be models of health care reform for the
nation in creating thousands of jobs while delivering cost-efficient
medical treatment and disease management," he said.

New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin, who hosted today's news conference where
the announcement was made, said, "The new VA hospital in downtown New
Orleans will provide needed medical care for veterans throughout the
region and will serve as a key economic driver for our future. Along
with the new LSU hospital, it will serve as the centerpiece of our
biomedical district, generating thousands of jobs and enabling our city
to compete with communities that are known for their medical services
and research."

More information on the VA and LSU medical center projects is available
at http://www.valsumedcenters.com

Post-Combat Coping Methods Vary, Troops Say

Post-Combat Coping Methods Vary, Troops Say
By AmericasNewsTodayCom


By AmericasNewsToday.Org staff




Methods of coping with combat and its after effects vary as greatly as the effects themselves, six warriors participating in a conference panel in Washington said.

The Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury hosted the "Warrior Resilience Conference: Partnership with the Line." Combat veterans who spoke at the conference described a range of effects and needs in becoming resilient.

Army Maj. Stephen Williams was the head nurse with an outpatient unit of the 3rd Medical Command’s 28th Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad when the base was hit with mortars July 10.

Since then, Williams has dwelled not on what he saw or did that day, but on what he couldn’t do -- save his battle partner, Army Capt. Maria Ortiz.

"I couldn’t provide assistance to my comrade who was actually lying next to me and ended up passing away," said Williams, who was seriously wounded in his leg with a severed femoral artery.

Dealing with the reality that he couldn’t help Ortiz was just one piece of a larger puzzle for Williams. He also had to face how his injuries would affect him and his family. When he returned home to convalesce, he said, his young children wouldn’t touch him, for fear they would hurt him.

"In hindsight, I didn’t know enough to say, ‘Hey, we need to talk to them more [deeply] on this," he said. "So, I think there’s something more that we could do for the families out there [to] let them come to grips with these situations."

An Army couple at the conference, the Blackledges, also know how crucial it is to have family support during the healing process and just how important it is to come to grips with what’s happened.
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Young Veteran fights against homelessness and PTSD

A young Vets fight against homelessness
WTNH - New Haven,CT,USA


Young Vet fights against
homelessness
Last Edited: Tuesday, 25 Nov 2008, 12:06 AM EST
Created On: Monday, 24 Nov 2008, 11:10 PM EST

Alan Cohn
Bridgeport (WTNH) - One young solider says his life was going well until he signed up to serve his country. After surviving the danger of war, he came back to the states and found his real battle is surviving a new reality of homelessness.

It's estimated about 300,000 service members who served in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 suffer from Post Traumatic Stress. And, a growing number of them are winding up on the street. One of them is named Joe Johnson.

It took a little more than a year. Johnson went from returning hero, greeted by Governor Jodi Rell when his National Guard Unit returned home, to down on his luck and out on the street.

"It's difficult coming back from that situation and never thinking you're going to be homeless at some point and there it happens," he said.

Johnson was a member of the Branford-based Delta Company, of the 102nd Infantry, spending a year in Afghanistan just steps from Pakistani border.

"A 107 rocket flew over my head 20 feet up in the air and exploded about 50 feet behind me," Johnson said. "That was a scary moment; the scariest moment of my life."

It was a year he had one foot on the battlefield and one foot at home.

"The phone calls were very difficult," Johnson said. "My three-year-old daughter over there, 'Daddy when are you coming home from Afghanistan? I want you home daddy.'"

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PTSD:General's story highlights combat stress

Gen. Carter Ham, to call him a hero would be putting it mildly. He's a hero to the troops not just because he's a high ranking officer, but because he is willing to speak out on having PTSD. That is a kind of courage very few in his position are willing to do.

When men like my husband came home from Vietnam, they knew something had changed inside of them but they didn't know what it was. They suffered in silence just as generations before them suffered. When PTSD was first used in 1976 with a study commissioned by the DAV, news was slowly reaching the veterans. While they fought to have it recognized as wound caused by their service, it was very difficult to talk about. The perception that there was something wrong with them kept too many from even seeking help to heal.

After 26 years of doing outreach work and 24 years of marriage, my husband finally reached the point when he was ready for me to actually use my married legal name. Up until now it was almost as if he was ashamed to be wounded. Imagine that! What gave him the comfort was not anything I did. It came from seeing reports on the news and people he knows coming out, talking about it without any shame whatsoever. Hearing the courageous words from others is what brought him peace with PTSD. Because of great care from the VA, after a long battle with them, he's living a life instead of just existing in one slowly dying inside.

General Ham does not realize what he's just done by being willing to talk about this wound and normalize it. He's normal but combat and all other trauma related events are not part of normal life. It's all a normal reaction to abnormal events. Simple as that.

While there are still some commanders in the military today dismissing PTSD, calling it anything other than what it is, still exist and injure their troops, General Ham has shown what true care and leadership is. Plan on seeing a lot more veterans coming forward seeking help because of General Ham.

Senior Chaplain Kathie "Costos" DiCesare
International Fellowship of Chaplains
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.com coming soon!
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
www.youtube.com/NamGuardianAngel
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington

Then-Col. Gary Patton salutes during a service for Staff Sgt. Thomas Vitagliano, Pfc. George Geer and Pfc. Jesus Fonseca. The men died Jan. 17, 2005, in Ramadi.
By Joe Raedle, Getty Images

General's story highlights combat stress
USA Today - USA

By Tom Vanden Brook

Gen. Carter Ham was among the best of the best — tough, smart and strong — an elite soldier in a battle-hardened Army. At the Pentagon, his star was rising.

In Iraq, he was in command in the north during the early part of the war, when the insurgency became more aggressive. Shortly before he was to return home, on Dec. 21, 2004, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mess hall at a U.S. military base near Mosul and killed 22 people, including 14 U.S. troops. Ham arrived at the scene 20 minutes later to find the devastation.

When Ham returned from Mosul to Fort Lewis, Wash., in February 2005, something in the affable officer was missing. Loud noises startled him. Sleep didn't come easily.

"When he came back, all of him didn't come back. … Pieces of him the way he used to be were perhaps left back there," says his wife, Christi. "I didn't get the whole guy I'd sent away."

Today, Ham, 56, is one of only 12 four-star generals in the Army. He commands all U.S. soldiers in Europe. The stress of his combat service could have derailed his career, but Ham says he realized that he needed help transitioning from life on the battlefields of Iraq to the halls of power at the Pentagon. So he sought screening for post-traumatic stress and got counseling from a chaplain. That helped him "get realigned," he says.

"You need somebody to assure you that it's not abnormal," Ham says. "It's not abnormal to have difficulty sleeping. It's not abnormal to be jumpy at loud sounds. It's not abnormal to find yourself with mood swings at seemingly trivial matters. More than anything else, just to be able to say that out loud."

The willingness of Ham, one of the military's top officers, to speak candidly with USA TODAY for the first time about post-traumatic stress represents a tectonic shift for a military system in which seeking such help has long been seen as a sign of weakness.

It's also a recognition of the seriousness of combat stress, which can often worsen to become post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Sgt 1st Class Miguel A. Wilson died while trying to save another soldier

DoD Identifies Army Casualty


The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Sgt 1st Class Miguel A. Wilson, 36, of Bonham, Texas, died Nov. 21 in Abu Sayf, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a rescue attempt of another soldier while their unit was conducting a dismounted reconnaissance mission. He was assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Hood, Texas.

The incident remains under investigation.

http://icasualties.org/oif/

IIT student died after doing 'whippets'

IIT student died after doing 'whippets'

New details in IIT student's death
November 24, 2008 at 12:10 PM Comments (0)
The 19-year-old Illinois Institute of Technology student who was found dead in his fraternity house Saturday died of asphyxia from inhaling nitrous oxide from a whipped cream container, authorities said today.

The body of Benjamin Collen, a sophomore biomedical engineering major from Lincolnwood, was discovered Saturday night in a storage room in the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity house on campus.

Small cylinders containing nitrous oxide from whipped cream containers, known casually as "whippets," were found near Collen's body, said Mitra Kalelkar, Cook County deputy chief medical examiner.

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Wounded told "It's not a combat wound."

With so many in congress also being lawyers, it boggles the mind how they can write these rules without understanding what the language they choose actually means and how it will be interpreted.

This is not the first time they did something because it sounded good at the time only to but our veterans through torture. In the 90's they managed to come up with a rule to allow the VA to collect for any treatments they did for "non-service connected" medical needs. That sounded good but what this rule allowed was for veterans with a claim tied up or on appeal to be charged for even conditions caused by their service. A PTSD veteran with a claim tied up is charged for his treatment and tests until the claim is approved. A veteran with Agent Orange poisoning is charged for his treatments until he can prove it happened because of his/her service. The list goes on and on because the congress did not understand the way the VA works. Any claim that is not approved as "service connected" is not service connected until they give the claim their stamp of approval. The veteran is charged until they prove it because no one paid attention.

Now our new veterans are being wounded in rollovers and accidents, but they are told that was not combat related. Excuse me! If it happened in Iraq or Afghanistan, were they there on vacation? These are military campaigns for Heaven's sake! A roadside bomb blows up and a soldier ends up with TBI from the blast and it's pretty much up in the air if the DOD regards it as "combat" wound.

Injured veterans engaged in new combat
Dixon Family
Marine Cpl. James Dixon in Iraq.
In a little-noticed regulation change, the Pentagon's definition of combat-related disabilities is narrowed, costing some wounded veterans thousands of dollars in lost benefits.
By David Zucchino
5:56 PM PST, November 24, 2008
Marine Cpl. James Dixon was wounded twice in Iraq -- by a roadside bomb and a land mine. He suffered a traumatic brain injury, a concussion, a dislocated hip and hearing loss. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Army Sgt. Lori Meshell shattered a hip and crushed her back and knees while diving for cover during a mortar attack in Iraq. She has undergone a hip replacement and knee reconstruction and needs at least three more surgeries.


In each case, the Pentagon ruled that their disabilities were not combat-related.

In a little-noticed regulation change in March, the military's definition of combat-related disabilities was narrowed, costing some injured veterans thousands of dollars in lost benefits -- and triggering outrage from veterans' advocacy groups.

The Pentagon said the change was consistent with Congress' intent when it passed a "wounded warrior" law in January. Narrowing the combat-related definition was necessary to preserve the "special distinction for those who incur disabilities while participating in the risk of combat, in contrast with those injured otherwise," William J. Carr, deputy undersecretary of Defense, wrote in a letter to the 1.3-million-member Disabled American Veterans.


The group, which has called the policy revision a "shocking level of disrespect for those who stood in harm's way," is lobbying to have the change rescinded.
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Crowd gathers to turn scrawlings of hate into messages of hope

"This is a place where intolerance is not tolerated," Malmberg said.

Crowd gathers to turn scrawlings of hate into messages of hope
About 200 join to show support of Newton temple
By John S. Forrester
Globe Correspondent / November 24, 2008
NEWTON - Responding to swastikas spray-painted outside two places of worship last week, about 200 people gathered outside Temple Shalom in Newton yesterday to condemn the incidents and spread a message of hope and tolerance.

A swastika was found on a sign outside Temple Shalom on Nov. 15 as members arrived for a bar mitzvah and a bat mitzvah, rites of adulthood for a boy and girl. Another swastika was found Wednesday on a curb outside of Eliot Church, a United Church of Christ affiliate.

"We've wiped away the hateful symbol, but it is our presence here as one community that enables us to say no to hate," said Rabbi Eric Gurvis of Temple Shalom, as he began yesterday's rally.

Gurvis thanked the Newton Police Department, residents, and community leaders for their support after the vandalism.

"I know that out of something very bad, we're going to make something good," said Newton Mayor David Cohen. Addressing residents' potential safety concerns, Cohen urged the crowd not to be afraid and "to be whoever you are."

"We have to reaffirm our commitment to diversity," he said.

Reverend Richard Malmberg of the Second Church in Newton, former chairman of the Newton Interfaith Clergy Association, highlighted his church's more than 50-year relationship with Temple Shalom and denounced the painting of the swastika on the sign as a "cowardly and vulgar act of vandalism."

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Firefighter Severely Burned in ’06 Dies in Staten Island Blaze

Mary DiBiase Blaich for The New York Times
Lt. Robert J. Ryan in an undated family photo.


Firefighter Severely Burned in ’06 Dies in Staten Island Blaze
By MICHAEL WILSON

The fire burned so hot that it melted a smoke detector, dripping molten plastic through Lt. Robert J. Ryan’s fire jacket and across his neck and shoulders. It was the kind of injury that could have tempted others to leave the Fire Department, but he chose to stay, spending a year recuperating, and returning to work in 2007 with twisted pink scars above his shirt collar.

His determination to return cost him his life. Lieutenant Ryan, 46, coming off the first engine to arrive at a house fire in the New Brighton section of Staten Island on Sunday morning, was killed when the attic ceiling collapsed on him, knocking off his helmet and air mask, the Fire Department said.

“Unconscious, he was carried out of the building by his fellow firefighters who were standing right around him when the accident occurred,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said at a news conference at Richmond University Medical Center, where Lieutenant Ryan was pronounced dead. “Firefighters and E.M.S. personnel on the scene tried to revive him, but they were, I am sad to say, unsuccessful.”

Lieutenant Ryan is the first member of the department to die while fighting a fire since Jan. 3, when Lt. John H. Martinson was killed in a blaze in a 14th-floor apartment in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
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Fast-moving fire kills three children in Cincinnati

Fast-moving fire kills three children
Published: Nov. 24, 2008 at 12:14 PM

CINCINNATI, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Cincinnati firefighters say they were too late to save three children who died early Monday in a house fire.

The children, all under the age of 10, died in a predawn fire that broke out in a home on State Avenue just blocks from the fire station that received the alarm.

Officials told The Cincinnati Enquirer that the two-story home was nearly engulfed in flames when the first fire equipment arrived.
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Teenagers with history of hardship find empowerment in aiding others

Teenagers with history of hardship find empowerment in aiding others
By Cathy Zollo


Published: Monday, November 24, 2008 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, November 24, 2008 at 1:11 a.m.
Gonzalo Moody spent Sunday lugging boxes of turkey, green beans, potatoes, rolls and pies to families struggling in this economy.



Moody, 19, was among the 25 or so teenagers from the YMCA's Bowman Ranch, Transitional Living Program and Youth Shelter, taking part in the event. YMCA board members escorted the youngsters.

The deliveries are as much about helping the teenagers as helping the families who get Thanksgiving dinner, say board members. The youngsters -- some in foster care, some just getting out of it and some who need an escape from the streets -- ranged in age from 11 to 19.

They benefit from helping others and working toward a common goal alongside adults. They went in groups to a dozen front doors Sunday, dropping off the heavy boxes and wishing families a happy holiday.
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Deputies: Teen kills brother over a hat

November 23, 2008
Deputies: Teen kills brother over a hat
TAMPA -- An argument between two brothers turned physical overnight, and ended with one of them fatally stabbing the other, deputies said today.

The fight between brothers Deadreart J. Holmes, 18, and Jason Phifer, 22, started just after 1 a.m. this morning at their Tampa home at 12509 Sugar Pine Way, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office reported.

Holmes stated he was going to stab his brother, then left the bedroom they shared and returned with a knife. Deputies say Holmes stabbed Phifer in the chest, in front of a third brother who is 14.

Phifer ran into his mother's room, told her his brother stabbed him and collapsed. The family called an ambulance, but it was too late.

Deputies say the fight was over a hat that Phifer had borrowed and left in someone's car.
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http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/2008/11/deputies-teen-k.html

Christmas Charity Appeal: Andy McNab on fighting the battle that does not end

Christmas Charity Appeal: Andy McNab on fighting the battle that ...
Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom


Combat Stress is one of the charities you can support in this year’s Telegraph appeal. Here, Andy McNab, who has seen brave friends devastated by the aftermath of war, explains why it is such a vital cause.

With thousands of members of the Armed Forces returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, the number of soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is rising dramatically.

We shouldn’t be surprised by this. The ancient Greeks recorded similar symptoms in their soldiers after they returned from battle. They understood that their veterans would require support. But somehow the Greeks’ lessons were lost on us.

During the First World War, a PTSD sufferer would have been placed against a wall and shot because it was believed that this condition was brought on by weakness of character. During the Second World War, the sufferer was instead sent down the coal mines and made to wear a LMF (lack of moral fibre) armband.

Even today, PTSD suffers are stigmatised. This has to stop. Any service personnel hit by the disorder are casualties of war, just as much as soldiers hit by an enemy bullet. More service personnel who fought in the 1982 Falklands War have gone on to commit suicide than the 255 killed in action.

I know this from experience. Two of my closest friends have committed suicide as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder, and many more have suffered terribly for years. My SAS troop, 7 Troop, was never more than 12-strong, so we knew each other very well. Frank Collins and Nish Bruce were a bit older than me and they became my heroes. I operated with both of these men in South East Asia, as well as under cover in Northern Ireland. Frank eventually left the SAS, got ordained into the Anglican Church and became an Army Padre.
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Recalled 12 year old spare tired causes fatal crash

How a 12-year-old recalled tire caused a crash that killed one man, paralyzed another
Rene Stutzman | Sentinel Staff Writer
November 24, 2008


SANFORD - The tire was a Firestone ATX, the subject of one of the nation's biggest consumer-product recalls. Millions of Americans read or heard news reports about it in 2000 and 2001, warning that it was dangerous.

But for a decade this particular tire was just a spare, bolted to the underside of an aging Ford Explorer.

A lawsuit settled in October revealed how in 2005 -- long after consumers and mechanics had stopped checking -- this tire did exactly what safety officials feared: It shredded at 65 mph.

Rotated into service on the right rear hub of the 1993 sport utility vehicle, the tire flew apart on Interstate 4 near Sanford, and the Explorer went out of control.

Its driver, Michael Enriquez, a Deltona father of four on his way home from work, hit the brakes. The vehicle skidded across the median, flipped and plowed head-on into an Infiniti driven by Douglas George Gibson, 56, of Orlando.
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Sword-Wielder Killed At Scientology Center

Sword-Wielder Killed At Scientology Center
Security Guard Shoots Man Waving Pair Of Samurai Swords At Hollywood Building, LAPD Says

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 24, 2008
(AP) Police said a man who waved a pair of Samurai swords on the grounds of a Hollywood Scientology building had a "previous relationship" to the church, but released little other information about the man shot and killed by a security guard.

The unidentified man, described as being in his 40s, approached three guards Sunday in the parking lot of the Scientology Celebrity Centre, Los Angeles Police Deputy Chief Terry S. Hara said.

The man was "close enough to hurt them" when one of the guards shot him, Hara said, and after questioning the guards and looking at surveillance tape decided the shooting was justified.

"The evidence itself, it's very, very clear," Hara said. "The security officers were defending their safety."
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Unhappy couples staying together as economy makes divorcing too costly

‘I just want to leave him, but I can’t afford it’
Unhappy couples staying together as economy makes divorcing too costly
By Alex Johnson
Reporter
msnbc.com
updated 7:42 p.m. ET, Sun., Nov. 23, 2008
what pastors, family therapists and matrimonial counselors have long struggled to accomplish: keeping troubled marriages together.

Marriage counselors and divorce lawyers nationwide say more distressed couples are putting off divorce because the cost of splitting up is prohibitive in a time of stagnant salaries, plummeting home values and rising unemployment.

While the stress of economic uncertainty often worsens already shaky unions, it also can make couples more financially dependent on each other, said Pamela Smock, a researcher at the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27808110/

1 dead, 2 wounded in N.J. church shooting

1 dead, 2 wounded in N.J. church shooting
Published: Nov. 23, 2008 at 6:14 PM

CLIFTON, N.J., Nov. 23 (UPI) -- A man opened fire in a church in Clifton, N.J., Sunday, killing his estranged wife and critically wounding two other people before fleeing, police said.

The shooting -- just before noon in the vestibule of St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church -- left Reshma James, 24, dead and a 47-year-old woman, described as James's cousin, and a 23-year-old man clinging to life with head wounds, The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger reported.
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Non-combat death in Iraq

DoD Identifies Army Casualty


The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who
was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Pvt. Charles Yi Barnett, 19, of Bel Air, Maryland, died on Nov. 20 of
injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident in Tallil, Iraq.
He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 4th
Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

The incident is under investigation.

http://icasualties.org/oif/

Police search for shooter in mall slaying Tukwila, Washington.

Police search for shooter in mall slaying
Story Highlights
Police trying to determine if mall shooting was gang-related

Some people said group of teens had been involved in a fight

Store manager: "Parents grabbed their kids and ran out of there"

Mall placed on lockdown while police search for suspect


(CNN) -- Authorities continued to search for the person who shot one man to death and critically injured another Saturday evening at a shopping center in Tukwila, Washington.



The shooting victims, believed to be in their 20s, were removed from the Westfield Southcenter on stretchers and taken to Harborview Medical Center, police spokesman Mike Murphy said Saturday.

He didn't know how many times they were shot.

A woman who appeared to go into labor and a man who suffered a neck injury as people rushed from the shopping area were also taken to the hospital, Murphy said.

Eyewitness Chris Plummer told CNN affiliate KIRO-TV there was a fight between a group of 18- to 20-year-olds, and one of them pulled out a gun and started shooting. Plummer told KIRO-TV he was standing next to the shooter when bullets started to fly -- six to seven shots in all.

Murphy told KIRO-TV that authorities are trying to determine whether the shooting was gang-related.

The mall was placed on lockdown as SWAT teams searched store-to-store for the shooter. At least two people were detained for questioning, but neither was the shooter, Murphy said.

Shoppers and employees described a chaotic scene.
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http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/11/23/mall.shooting/index.html

PTSD:“Killing really changed me.”

When I was in Ohio for the IFOC conference, I was interviewed by another chaplain who is also a therapist. I told her about the depth of cuts. They come in all sizes when we're talking about PTSD. Combat soldiers have the deepest cuts because they are exposed to horrific events more often and they are also forced to kill. The second comes the police officers, there again, horrific events and often they are force to kill. The third level are the National Guards, reservists and firefighters. They are exposed to horrific events as well, but in their core, they do what they do in order to help. Most never think of having to take a life when they enter into the world of the citizen soldiers but they find themselves in combat between Iraq and Afghanistan, a rock and a hard place. The numbers are higher for the citizen soldiers but I believe the depth of the wound is higher in the soldiers, then the Marines, Navy and Air Force. Each time they kill, the cut of the wound sinks deeper.

I do not come to this conclusion lightly. It's from years of communicating with them online. It comes from listening to them from different walks of life. Just as I believe the God factor plays a huge role in the wounded warriors, also from what they've said, it does not take a lot to see what connects them and what makes them different.

Study: PTSD rates higher for troops who kill

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Nov 22, 2008 12:51:21 EST

CHICAGO — New research presented at the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies shows post-traumatic stress disorder rates are higher in service members who have had to kill someone.

Shira Maguen, health sciences assistant clinical professor at the University of California, began her research when she realized that the Vietnam vets she treated at the San Francisco VA Medical Center were “really struggling with taking another life,” she said, adding that they often told her: “Killing really changed me.”

She started hearing the same complaint from veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but found “there’s not much discussion” about the issue in VA and Pentagon research. She and her colleagues decided to look into past research to see if there was a correlation between those who had killed and those who had mental health issues. They found that killing is “strongly predictive of PTSD.”

She talked to 259 veterans involved in the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study, and found that if a person had killed someone, they were 3½ times more likely to have symptoms of PTSD than someone who hadn’t killed.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/military_ptsdkill_112208w/

Staff Sgt. Travis Twiggs and the story behind the story

Here's the story behind the story. It isn't written in the article from Bill Finnegan in this version or the one the New Yorker published.


Dear Ms. Costos,

I've recently started researching a story about the difficulties faced by soldiers now returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that a lot of journalism has already been produced on this subject, but it seems to me that PTSD and related problems can't get too much publicity. The New Yorker is also able to devote more time and space to a subject such as this one than most other magazines and news outlets are.

Subject:
New Yorker Magazine interview
Date:
7/9/2008 6:02:58 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
From:
billfinn@rcn.com
Reply To:
To:
Namguardianangel@aol.com
I would like to speak to you, if you have a few minutes. I am looking for leads and insights and I gather, from what I've read so far, that you have a lot of experience in this area.

Please give me a call or drop me an email if you might be willing to chat.

Thanks.

Sincerely,
Bill Finnegan

William Finnegan
Staff Writer The New Yorker Magazine 4 Times Square New York, NY 10036 USA

Well, I emailed him back and we spent about an hour on the phone. Bill spent some time on my blog and picked the "subject" which turned out to be Travis Twiggs. In July he emailed me that he was in Texas.

When I first posted the link to the New Yorker, I was devastated. Finnegan said that he was using some quotes from me but said his editor cut me out of the story. I thought for once the videos I did would finally get some attention because the need is so great. I keep getting contacted by reporters and others working on PTSD and they will pick my brain dry, which is fine but when I am stuck in obscurity no matter what I know or how many hours a day I spend doing this, they don't take any of this into consideration at all.

When this article was in the New Yorker, I decided to avoid doing a rant but now that the UK picked it up, enough is enough. There is always someone behind these reporters giving them the stories they cover. When it came to Travis Twigg, there was another one working on this story, to make sure the world did not forget about him. Lily Casura at http://www.healingcombattrauma.com/ also had her site gone over looking for information on Travis by Bill and other reporters. When it came time to publish the stories by these so called reporters, none of them gave her any credit either. Just go into her site and see how well she covered the story of this hero who was let down. Had it not been for us, he would have ended up just another veteran who met a tragic end. We did not let the story die but the "real reporters" who have their names published around the net did until they thought they had an easy way to cover this.

It's one thing to spend countless hours a day trying to bring the suffering of our veterans into the light of day, doing it for the sake of helping them, without much financial gain, and another to use people like us.

I don't make a habit of posting emails I receive but if I just ranted about this without proving it, no one would believe me. I've been doing this for 26 years! I track it everyday and live with it so all of this is personal to me. I take this so personally that in 2004, the hours I spend were taking too much time and I was working too many hours. I figured Florida would give me the chance to do this full time and work a part time job for the income. In February of 2005 I started my other blog after several others and 9,992 posts later, you can see how much went into that one. It's at http://www.namguardianangel.blogspot.com/.

Last year, I started this one to devote it to trauma, mainly focusing on the men and women who serve this nation and the veterans. This post is 4,781. Think of how much work goes into this. Think about all the articles I read that don't get posted. If it's the editor's fault when a reporter tires to give credit where credit is due, then they are eliminating getting their hands on stories people like me find. I know I will not be so willing to help a reporter the next time. As for the reporters who think they can just take the work other people do and get all the credit for it, you should think twice about doing it because you never know when a blogger will be so fed up with the way they are treated that they turn around a blast you publicly. Finnegan can live with the global fame he's getting for this, he has the true talent to write a compelling story but as for the state of his heart and conscience, that is left up to your own imagination.

Sergeant Travis Triggs: Driven over the edge
Times Online - UK
A US soldier tried to drive himself and his brother over the rim of the Grand Canyon. When that failed, he blew their brains out. What did the war do to Sergeant Travis Twiggs?

William Finnegan
When the Twiggs brothers got to the Grand Canyon, on May 12, Willard called his girlfriend, a married woman in Louisiana, on Travis’s mobile phone. She had to see the canyon someday, he said. “It will make the hair on your arms stand up.” A few minutes later, driving east along the South Rim past a spot called Twin Overlooks, Travis took a sharp left and drove his Toyota Corolla straight towards the 5,000ft drop. The Corolla jumped over the kerb, but did not take the plunge. It got caught in a small fir tree clinging just below the rim.

Travis and Willard Twiggs were not in trouble with the law. Willard, 38, was a former maritime-logistics specialist in New Orleans. He had been working in construction, intermittently, since Hurricane Katrina. Travis, 36, was a Marine Corps staff sergeant, a decorated combat veteran with one tour of duty in Afghanistan and four tours in Iraq. In January 2008 he had created a minor stir by writing an article about his struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the Marine Corps Gazette.

Twiggs emphasised his recovery; he soon found himself working with a new unit, the Wounded Warrior Regiment, spreading the word about the treatment and prevention of PTSD. In late April, he met President Bush at the White House. Rather than shake the president’s hand, Twiggs bear-hugged him, proclaiming: “Sir, I’ve served over there many times — and I would serve for you any time.”

Three weeks later, he tried to drive into the Grand Canyon. Witnesses said the brothers behaved oddly after the crash. They tried to reverse the Toyota out of the tree branches but could gain no traction. They did not want anyone to call for help. One seemed interested only in finding his cigarettes. They put on backpacks, said they were going to continue with their plans, and set off on foot before park rangers arrived. More likely, they went across the road and waited in the scrubby conifer forest while the rangers cleared the wreck.

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Disabled veteran's dream of a new home comes true

Laney Cope and her father, Joshua, test the water in the pool at their new Oakland home this week. (Gary W. Green, Orlando Sentinel)

Home at last: Disabled veteran's dream of a new home comes true
Nov 22, 2008
Darryl E. Owens | Sentinel Staff Writer
November 22, 2008
As soon as the Honda Element eased into the driveway Tuesday morning, a barefoot Laney Cope bolted from her car seat and scampered around to the passenger side to greet her father. The 2-year-old just couldn't wait. Neither could Joshua Cope.The doors of his adaptive vehicle couldn't open soon enough, the hydraulic ramp couldn't lower quickly enough, and his motorized wheelchair couldn't roll out of the hold fast enough. Finally, this was the day. Joshua and Erica Cope were homeowners.


The Copes' 3,775-square-foot house, nestled on a tree-lined half-acre plot in this west Orange County town, was built and paid for by West Orange Habitat for Humanity. The group's "Home at Last" project, which will be dedicated this morning at Oakland Avenue Charter School, was a pioneering venture to build a house for a severely injured veteran of the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Its first recipient: Army Sgt. Joshua Cope.

Usually, recipients of Habitat houses must invest hundreds of hours of their own labor in building their home, which in the United States costs an average of $60,000. The "sweat equity" requirement was waived for the Copes.
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The Copes tour their new home Photos

Do you know a severely injured vet who need a home?
Josh Cope - Long journey back, a step at a time Photos

Two US Generals and Iraqi General survive suicide bomber

Close call

Senior leaders’ MRAP is destroyed by suicide bomb, but they survive
By Sean D. Naylor - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Nov 22, 2008 8:05:14 EST

Two U.S. generals and an Iraqi general survived an Aug. 24 suicide car bomb attack that destroyed the armored vehicle in which they were riding.

The attack occurred as a convoy rolled out of Forward Operating Base Marez on the edge of Mosul, said Multi-National Division-North spokesman Maj. Dan Meyers. “They had just left the base,” he said.

The bomber aimed his car, packed with 800 pounds of explosives, at a mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle carrying Lt. Gen. Frank Helmick, commander of Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq, and Brig. Gen. Raymond “Tony” Thomas, assistant division commander for support of Multi-National Division-North. Also riding in the vehicle were an Iraqi general, a linguist and the MRAP crew, said MNSTC-I spokesman Col. Steven Wujciak, who added that he did not know the Iraqi general’s name.

The generals were on what Wujciak called “a normal battlefield circulation,” a phrase the military uses when senior leaders tour their areas of operations, visiting troops. Although the blast destroyed the vehicle and left a crater five feet deep and 10 feet wide, none of the vehicle’s occupants was seriously hurt, he said.

Thanks to the MRAP’s protection, the only casualty of the attack was the suicide bomber.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/army_generals_112208w/

If you think you had a bad day, read this

Pasco man pulled from burning house, sent to jail
By Erin Sullivan, Times staff writer
Saturday, November 22, 2008

ZEPHYRHILLS — A few minutes before 11 o'clock Friday morning, Henry Morgan's wife called his cell phone. When he answered, he could barely make out her voice because she was crying.

"The house is on fire," she shouted.

And then the phone went dead.

Morgan didn't know if she was stuck inside the house. He kept trying to call her back, but her phone wouldn't pick up. He and his wife, Sherry, live in the 1,200-square-foot house with their three children — daughters Brandy, 17, and Sierra, 13, and son Cameron, 7 — along with several cats and dogs. One of the cats had just had kittens.

Morgan jumped in his pickup truck and sped to the house on Chester Drive in Zephyrhills. He and Sherry have been married for 20 years and the house is nearly paid off. But he works in construction and is only getting one or two days of work a week. Sherry, who had always been a stay-at-home mom, went to work at a daycare about a month ago. They didn't want to lose their house to foreclosure, so something had to go.

They canceled their homeowner's insurance.

When Morgan got to the house one side of it was engulfed in flames. There were three firetrucks, two rescue vehicles and tons of emergency workers. Morgan, 41, said he didn't see his wife or children or pets so he thought they were inside the house.

And he ran toward it.

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http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/fire/article912912.ece

St. Petersburg Times hero to single mom laid off

November 21, 2008
Followup: Readers respond to unemployed single mom's story
At least six people want to interview Annie Lesso for a job.
Dozens more want to donate money to her and help her give her kids Christmas. Others want to give her advice.
Dozens of readers reacted to Lesso's story, which appeared in the St. Petersburg Times Friday, and detailed her plight trying to get a job in the current economy.
Lesso, a 45-year-old widow, was laid off Oct. 1 from her job as an airline manager. She has sent out 200 resumes and has not received one reply.
"There have been many articles in the Times that I wanted to respond to and offer some assistance,'' wrote Sandi Ford of St. Petersburg. "I had to respond to this one because it hit so close to home. I have been a single working mother most of my adult life and have been laid off twice so I know what Annie Lesso is going through. I felt exactly the way she does - that my faith would get me through - and it did.''
Several said they might have a job opportunity for Lesso. One paramedic company wanted to interview her for a management position that paid $45,000, the same amount she was making before she was laid off.
Another wanted to talk to her about a new career. "Your story about Annie Lesso was compelling and made me cry,'' wrote Lynne Herrick of Valrico, a district sales manager at American Family Life Assurance Co. "I have been a single mom and know the emotional strain it can put on you, knowing you are the provider of your children and yet through all of this she relies on God and is reaching out to others in her church. What an amazing woman!''

Related content:Lesso's struggles show job crisis is far-reaching