3 Police officers dead in Oakland, 1 officer brain dead

Oakland police officer pronounced brain dead after shootings
Story Highlights
NEW: Police officer being kept on life support until decision on organs made

Three of his fellow officers killed in shootings in Oakland, California

Shootings occurred in two different locations in Oakland neighborhood

Suspect died in exchange of gunfire with police, police say

(CNN) -- An Oakland, California, police officer critically injured in one of two Saturday shootings that killed three fellow officers was pronounced brain dead on Sunday, a police spokesman told CNN.




Initially, Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason said John Hege, 41, was the fourth officer to die after a man being pulled over in a traffic stop opened fire and then battled SWAT officers at a nearby building Saturday.

However, Thomason clarified later Sunday that Hege was pronounced brain dead about noon Sunday, but being kept on life support until a decision is made on organ donation.

The man who police said was the gunman -- Lovelle Mixon, 26, of Oakland -- was fatally shot in a gunbattle with SWAT officers in an apartment complex Saturday.

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http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/22/california.officers/index.html

17 killed in Montana plane crash

FAA: 17 killed in Montana plane crash
A single-engine airplane crashed close to this cemetery near Butte, Montana, on Sunday, killing at least 17 people, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said. "We drove into the cemetery to see if there was any way my husband could help someone," crash witness Martha Guidoni said. "We were too late -- there was nothing to help." full story

Army dropped Lariam finally!!

Army scales back use of anti-malaria drug

Concerns centered on soldiers with brain injury, anxiety
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Mar 22, 2009 14:53:47 EDT

The Army has dropped Lariam — the drug linked to side effects including suicidal tendencies, anxiety, aggression and paranoia — as its preferred protection against malaria because doctors had inadvertently prescribed it to people who should not take it.

Lariam, the brand name for mefloquine, should not be given to anyone with symptoms of a brain injury, depression or anxiety disorder, which describes many troops who have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.

The Army’s new choice for anti-malarial protection is doxycycline, a generic antibiotic.

“In areas where doxycycline and mefloquine are equally efficacious in preventing malaria, doxycycline is the drug of choice,” Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker said in a memo dated Feb. 2.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/03/army_lariam_032209w/

Disabled veterans get legal help

27 years of saying been there done that and I'm still not there yet. I am determined more than ever to make sure the claims on file with the VA reach the level where they finally understand what a tsunami looks like!

The American people let out a shriek when they heard about the Rand Study declaring 300,000 with PTSD. They thought this would be catastrophic especially considering the VA had not been able to take care of the relatively few seeking treatment and compensation for PTSD. "You ain't seen nothin yet!"

We've already seen what an uninvolved populace coupled with an unresponsive government did when Vietnam veterans came home. We've seen the results in them, their spouses but more in the generation that came after them. We saw the incarcerations. We saw the drug overdoses. We saw the divorces, the homelessness and all that came with what Vietnam veterans brought home with them but we also saw funerals because casualties of PTSD had to end their suffering their own way with suicide. We watched them die as we made mistakes. We watched them suffer as we studied them. We asked all the wrong questions and heard what we wanted to hear. Been there and done that too many years ago.

By the time the first set of boots came back from Afghanistan, we knew what needed to be done but did not do it. Some of us were screaming before they were even sent but no one would listen. They are still not listening as hope slips away and so do their lives.

There are about a hundred other things I could be doing instead of this. I can tell you they would be a lot more fun and far more financially rewarding. The issue I have is that I know what hope looks like. I know what miracles look like. I know what is possible when they have the help they need and their families find the support they need. I know what it's like to hear a veteran, long estranged from family and friends finding that connection again as they restore relationships and bad feelings are laid to rest. To hear the sound of happy tears rejoicing because they found out how much they are loved by God and He had not abandoned them. What it's like for a father to once again hold his child and the look of love beams from his eyes.

While I've seen the devastation and heartbreak, I've also seen how the human spirit of these men and women can come out on the other side, changed but more alive than they were before. This is what I want to flood the VA with. This is the tsunami they have been trying to hold off with a beach shovel. I'm not greedy. I want to share and spread the love. I want every family to have what I ended up having. I want every veteran with PTSD to end up wanting to be alive instead of wanting to die. We've all heard the expression of the "I got mine screw you club" when people feel as if only they are entitled to be happy but since I have mine, I want everyone else to have their's. If I didn't feel this way, I never would have become a Chaplain because there would have been no reason to be doing any of what I do.

Now please read the following and know that along with the hundreds of others stories on this blog, there are armies gearing up to take on this fight and will not give up until we finally get this all right!

Disabled veterans get legal help
Sunday, March 22, 2009
BY CHRIS STURGIS
Special to the Times
Three lawyers, two of whom are disabled, are joining forces to help veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars get what is due them from the Veterans Administration.

To that end, Lawyers C. Patterson McKenna, Melissa A. Gertz and Lisa A. Turowski last week held an open house at the Community Justice


"There is a backlog of 750,000 cases before the VA of people seeking disability benefits, primarily for post traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury," said McKenna, who has been blind since age 5.

And the problem is likely to grow, McKenna said.

Gertz said post-traumatic stress disorder cases are complicated by the fact that seeking treatment carries a stigma in the military.

"Patients don't want to seek treatment for fear of the stigma in case they want to re-enlist," she said.

Often they apply after several years have passed and they have had trouble functioning in civilian life, she said.

More veterans are surviving traumatic brain injuries than ever before because of life-saving advances in medicine, she said. However, they need assistance in living with the resulting disabilities, she said.
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Killeen Police officer shoots, kills Fort Hood soldier

Police officer shoots, kills Hood soldier

The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Mar 21, 2009 16:34:55 EDT

KILLEEN, Texas — A Killeen police officer early Saturday morning fatally shot a Fort Hood soldier driving an sport utility vehicle after authorities said the officer was dragged through a parking lot as he tried to detain a man while others inside the vehicle were trying to pull the man inside.

The name of the 21-year-old soldier was being withheld until his family was notified, authorities said.

The officer, whose name also was not disclosed, was able to free himself from the SUV and fell to the ground. He was treated at a hospital and released and was placed on administrative leave.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/03/ap_hood_soldier_shot_032109/

About 15 percent of Oregon's deploying soldiers are on stop-loss

Stop loss hits home
by The Oregonian Editorial Board
Saturday March 21, 2009, 11:09 AM
About 15 percent of Oregon's deploying soldiers are on stop-loss, roughly twice the military average



The 41st Brigade Combat Team patch
When Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced last week that the Army will end its practice of extending soldiers' contracts beyond their end dates, he said such stop-loss orders "break faith" with service members.

But the deployment next month of Oregon's 41st Brigade Combat Team will include 479 soldiers affected by stop-loss, according to the Oregon Military Dept. That means that about 15.3 percent of the brigade could be deployed involuntarily. That's a rate a little more than twice that of stop-lossed troops currently deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Nobody likes stop loss, the policy that allows the Army to order soldiers to active duty when they would otherwise be able to leave the service. The people it hurts most are families and soldiers who intended to serve one or two hitches, then quit. For some, this stop loss order will force some to drive the highways of Iraq for the next year rather than working or attending school in Oregon. For them, stop-loss is, indeed, a policy that "breaks faith" with volunteer soldiers.

To be sure, some portion of Oregon's stop-lossed component includes soldiers who have every intention of re-enlisting when they get to Iraq, knowing retention bonuses are tax-free. Others among the stop-lossed may not deploy for medical reasons. But the fact remains that Oregon's ratio of stop-lossed soldiers is substantially higher than typical.
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http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/03/stop_loss_hits_home.html

Gary Sinise Commentary: We can't do enough for our veterans

Commentary: We can't do enough for our veterans
Story Highlights
Gary Sinise: I agreed to help produce a film made by man with two brothers in military

He says "Brothers at War" shows side of military rarely seen

Sinise: We can't do enough to honor military for sacrifices on our behalf

By Gary Sinise
Special to CNN

Editor's note: Actor and director Gary Sinise has appeared on film in "Forrest Gump," "Truman" and "Apollo 13" and on television in "CSI: NY." He co-founded the Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago.


Actor Gary Sinise says we can't do enough for veterans who sacrifice to protect America.

(CNN) -- A while back, a friend of mine suggested that I take a look at a film that a buddy of his had made about his two brothers serving in Iraq.

Having spent some time there myself, I was eager to see it. Once I did, I wanted to do all I could to help the filmmakers find a distributor and get this wonderful film into the theaters.

I was honored to be asked to come on board as executive producer of the film, "Brothers at War," an honest and inside look at our military service members. It's told through the point of view of one brother who is in search of answers as to why his two younger brothers are serving in Iraq and what they and their families are doing during these long deployments.

I got involved with the film "Brothers at War" because I believe it shows a side of our military that is rarely seen. The call to duty that many of our military members share is depicted in the film through Isaac and Joe Rademacher.
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http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/21/sinise.military/index.html

Borat star fools Ala. Guard into training stint

Borat star fools Ala. Guard into training stint

By Jay Reeves - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Mar 17, 2009 20:28:00 EDT

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The actor best known as “Borat” tricked the Alabama National Guard into allowing him onto a post, giving him a military uniform and briefly letting him train — all, supposedly, for a German TV documentary.

The ruse, which included comedian Sacha Baron Cohen exposing his thong underwear while changing clothes, was going well until a young cadet recognized Cohen and notified older officers who weren’t familiar with the actor.

“It’s an embarrassment to the Alabama National Guard,” Staff Sgt. Katrina Timmons said Monday. “Since then we have put in protocols to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

A film crew pulled the stunt Feb. 13 at the Alabama Military Academy, which trains officer candidates from across the nation. The school is located at the Army’s old Fort McClellan in Anniston, about 65 miles east of Birmingham.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/03/ap_borat_guardsmen_031609/

NH Gov. Lynch wants to cut suicide prevention when National Guards need it the most

Vet suicide prevention program faces big cuts

The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Mar 20, 2009 16:41:04 EDT

CONCORD, N.H. — A nationally recognized suicide prevention program for soldiers may take a financial hit because of New Hampshire’s severe budget crunch.

Gov. John Lynch has proposed cutting state funding for the Connect-Frameworks Suicide Prevention Program, which helps the New Hampshire National Guard provide mental health support to soldiers and their families.

State health officials are trying to restore some of the funding, but program director Kenneth Norton says any cut would hurt training efforts.

Since 2005 the program has trained more than 4,000 police officers, educators and mental health workers in suicide prevention for young adults. It started working with the National Guard last year.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/03/ap_vets_suicide_prevention_032009/

Vets Can Find Hope in Pointman Ministries

Local Vets Can Find Hope in Pointman Ministries
by Michelle Ventress on March 20, 2009

in News


Rancho Cordova has long been heavily influenced by military service. As many family members and friends of vets and active duty soldiers know, the veterans who come home are rarely the men and women who originally left. Often times, this can lead to a troubled life shadowed by addiction, mental illness, and homelessness. But this doesn’t have to be the case, and those of Point Man International Ministries are intervening and rehabilitating vets who need help adjusting after they’re home.

The Point Man International website says the organization began when “Seattle Police Officer and Vietnam Veteran Bill Landreth noticed he was arresting the same people each night, he discovered most were Vietnam vets like himself that just never seemed to have quite made it home.” Landreth began meeting these vets regularly in coffee shops and learned their stories. Point Man Ministries was created out of the fellowship these meetings allowed, and soon became a staple of the Seattle area.

The local Point Man Ministry Outpost is led by Thomas Potts. Potts bravely served our country over seas from December, 1967 through June, 1969. He became involved in Point Man Ministries in 2005 as he saw the need for intervention for our veterans steadily growing. Some of the veterans Potts works with he only counsels through one telephone call. Often times, they just need to know they aren’t alone. Others have gone on to become fully functioning members of society from lives of homelessness and addiction due to the encouragement and services Potts was able help provide.
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Local Vets Can Find Hope in Pointman Ministries


To see more about Point Man Ministries, please watch my video

Point Man Ministry Serving Those Who Served - watch more videos