Soldier's letters give first-hand look at Spanish flu pandemic

Soldier's letters give first-hand look at Spanish flu pandemic
Story Highlights
U.S. soldier survived Spanish flu pandemic not once, but twice

1918 Spanish flu ravaged military camps where soldiers trained for WWI

Letter says camp put "under quarantine to prevent an epidemic of Spanish influenza"

Martin "Al" Culhane in letter told his brother to keep infection secret from rest of family

By Larry Shaughnessy
CNN Pentagon producer


Editor's note: With fears of a swine flu pandemic rising daily, CNN Pentagon producer Larry Shaughnessy remembered a batch of letters from his grandfather, a World War I soldier who battled the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1919.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- "I'm coming, I'm coming
For my head is bending low
I hear those gentle voices calling
Old Black Joe"

As World War I rages in Europe, fresh U.S. Army soldiers pass the time on a train ride to to Camp Forrest, Georgia. "The boys are just starting to sing," Martin Aloysius Culhane wrote on September 6, 1918, to his friend back home. "They've gotten back to 'Old Black Joe' so far."

Stephen Foster's classic song from the Civil War is about the death of slaves who had become his friends. But Culhane, known as "Al," and the soldiers who sang along could not know how much death would hunt the recruits on that train, most of whom never made it to Europe to fight in the Great War.

They would find themselves in the deadliest influenza pandemic in history.

Culhane's letters to his older brother Frank and his long-time "chum" Clif Pinter are a young soldier's firsthand account of life as a draftee private and how he coped with a disease that would haunt Army camps around the United States and eventually infect people around the world. Some estimates say as many as 50 million people were killed by what's called the Spanish influenza in 1918 and 1919, far more than the number killed in combat during the war.

Three weeks after the train trip to Georgia, Culhane, a 21-year-old clothing salesman from Chicago, Illinois, writes again. Already the flu occupies his thoughts.
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Soldier's letters give first-hand look at Spanish flu pandemic

DoD issues new GI Bill family transfer rules

DoD issues new GI Bill family transfer rules

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Apr 29, 2009 17:23:07 EDT

Defense and service officials have settled on final rules that will allow career service members to share Post-9/11 GI Bill education benefits with their immediate families beginning Aug. 1.

In general, service members — officer, warrant officer or enlisted personnel — must be on active duty Aug. 1 and must have completed a minimum of six years of service, with a commitment to serve four more, in order to share their new Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits.

For most students, the benefits will cover full tuition and fees at any four-year public college or university at in-state tuition rates for undergraduate studies.

Defense officials expect to begin accepting requests to transfer benefits in June. But payments could not begin before Aug. 1, the start date of the new GI bill program.

Special rules have been approved for people who are eligible to retire before Aug. 1, 2012, or who have at least 10 years of service and are prevented by high-year tenure, mandatory retirement or other personnel rules or laws from completing the four years of additional service needed to earn transfer rights.
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DoD issues new GI Bill family transfer rules

Florida Gator prefers Toyota and shakes things up at car lot

Visit by big alligator shakes up Pasco car lot
By Erin Sullivan, Times Staff Writer

An alligator measuring 8 feet 7 inches is corralled by a trapper at Sun Toyota on Tuesday. “I was shaking,” said Denise Anderson, the first person to see the gator. Courtesy of Michael Chaparro

NEW PORT RICHEY — Something moved in the shadows. Denise Anderson peered close and then froze. Next to the used Toyota Sequoia she planned to test drive was an alligator.

"I saw its eyes. Mouth. Its jaws. Its teeth," said Anderson, 33.

It measured 8 feet 7 inches.
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Visit by big alligator shakes up Pasco car lot

National Convention for Veterans

You are cordially invited to attend and participate in the National Convention for Veterans to be conducted in the distinguished Reserve Officers' National Headquarters, a block from the US Capital in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, May 13th & Thursday, May 14th.

The Convention will advance a comprehensive veterans' platform and raise the priority for veterans in our nations' agenda. The two day program will feature the following:

* National Veterans' Leaders from Around the Country



* Leading Members of the United States Congress



* Highly Credentialed and Outspoken Speakers & Panel Members on the Subjects Veterans' Advocacy, National Defense and Budgetary/Spending Reform



* Continuous Media Opportunities with Nation & Regional Outlet's, Especially Live National Talk Radio



Complimentary morning and afternoon passes each day are issued until the hall is booked up. Complimentary tickets for Veterans' Leaders Luncheon on Wednesday May 13th, Congressional Leaders' Luncheon on Thursday May 14th and cocktail receptions are available to those with personal and institutional standing in support of American Veterans, a fiscally sound budgeted economy and a strong national defense.

Confirmation numbers for all tickets will be issued until all events are filled.

To RSVP to This Event Click Here:

http://vetsvision.org/registration.html

Having problems registering online? Contact us at (800) 528-5385 and we will register you personally.

For More Information Regarding the Circle of Friends for American Veterans Visit Our Website at www.vetsvision.org.

Our nation is as strong as the core. Veterans are the core. We take care of the veterans and we take care of the core. My God Bless American Veterans and Continue to Bless Our Great Country.

Children exposed to violence have PTSD symptoms

If you happen to be among the few in this country saying too much money is spent on PTSD research and treating our soldiers and veterans, consider this. Whatever the government spends on trying to get a grip on PTSD is a benefit to the entire country. PTSD is real and it comes after traumatic events striking humans. The troops, veterans, police officers, firefighters, emergency responders, families living with all of the people wounded by PTSD and regular civilians. Now read this about children exposed to traumatic events and understand there should never be a limit on what the government spends until we find the best way to treat this. The spending however should never include doing studies they have repeated over and over and over again over the last 30 years. In that case, it's just wasted time and money when it could be used on finding something new.

Children exposed to violence have PTSD symptoms
Wed Apr 29, 2009
By Joene Hendry

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Among children showing high levels of stress in reaction to exposure to community violence, researchers found stress hormone responses similar to children diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms include attention or sleep problems, intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, and other symptoms of psychological distress.

In previous research in children, Dr. Shakira Franco Suglia, at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, identified a disruption of the stress hormone, cortisol, among those with PTSD. Suglia and colleagues have now found "similar effects among children living in urban communities who have not been diagnosed with PTSD," Suglia told Reuters Health.

The study involved 28 girls and 15 boys, 7 to 13 years old. Forty-six percent were Hispanic, 54 percent were white. Forty-two percent of the children had mothers with less than a high-school education, Suglia and colleagues report in the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine.

The researchers assessed mothers' reports of their children's exposures to hearing gunshots or witnessing other forms of community violence, and mother's and children's reports of symptoms typical of PTSD.
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Children exposed to violence have PTSD symptoms

Queen Latifah daughter of Vietnam Vet with PTSD

April 29th, 2009
Queen Latifah reveals experience with PTSD




Queen Latifah’s special appearance on Seasame Street.

"My father actually suffered from PTSD. He was a veteran of Vietnam and I know he’s helped a lot of his friends from Vietnam and from other wars to try to get treatment and get help… it was very challenging for us as a family, so I can kind of relate to what the kids have gone through because it can challenge your relationships… [My father] just really explained that he saw a lot very difficult things that were hard to deal with and it was hard for him to deal with them emotionally and psychologically. I started to understand it. Luckily he sought treatment…and it really made a big difference because it helped him to recognize what was going on."
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http://www.hvpress.net/news/122/ARTICLE/6801/2009-04-29.html

'Furious' Obama orders review of NY plane flyover

I didn't jump on this story when it happened simply because I, like everyone else, did not know exactly what happened or where to direct my anger. Now we know. Louis Caldera made a terrible mistake and I'm sure he feels bad about it, but I think he should resign over this. Make no mistake about this. He caused more trauma than he ever could have imagined if he bothered to think at all. The horrors of 9-11 will never go away and it wasn't just the people in New York that day suffering from the trauma caused by the attacks. It was people across the entire nation, especially combat veterans having PTSD escalate. Wasn't he advised to not do this? Didn't anyone in the military tell him how harmful this would be? Anyone in the position Caldera has needs to be fully aware of what they are doing and the ramifications of his actions. We just had 8 years of no one being held accountable for anything and keeping Caldera on the job after this is not a good way to change the way this country behaves. Caldera said he "approved the mission" but we also need to know who started it in the first place and hold them accountable as well.

'Furious' Obama orders review of NY plane flyover
Story Highlights
NEW: 911 call: "There's a plane falling, there is a big aircraft falling like 9-11"

Sen. John McCain "profoundly disturbed," requests investigation

Air Force source: Planned photo shoot over D.C. monuments cancelled

YouTube video shows New Yorkers scrambling as plane screams overhead



NEW YORK (CNN) -- A "furious" President Obama has ordered a review of the decision to fly a Boeing 747 frighteningly close to the lower Manhattan skyline, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday.

Louis Caldera, director of the White House Military Office, quickly apologized for Monday's incident after the planes prompted workers and residents to evacuate buildings in New York and New Jersey. Watch Townsend slam Caldera »

"Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision," Caldera said. "While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey, it's clear that the mission created confusion and disruption."
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http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/28/low.flying.plane/index.html

Konami Corp pulls Fallujah video game!

Score one for respect! War is not a game and turning Fallujah into one is the biggest insult to the service of the troops and lives lost.

Company pulls plug on 'Fallujah' war video game
By BARBARA ORTUTAY
AP Technology Writer


The publisher behind a video game based on one of the Iraq war's fiercest battles has pulled the plug on the title, called "Six Days in Fallujah."

A spokeswoman for Japanese game company Konami Corp. confirmed Tuesday the company is no longer publishing the game, which was set to go on sale early next year.

The game, which was still in development, sought to re-create the November 2004 Fallujah battle from the perspective of a U.S. Marine fighting against insurgents. Fallujah had been an insurgent holdout until U.S. forces stormed it in one of the war's most intense ground battles.

"Six Days" was developed by another company, Atomic Games, with input from more than three dozen Marines. Before deciding not to publish the game, Konami had advertised it as a realistic shooting game "unlike any other," combining "authentic weaponry, missions and combat set against the gripping story of the U.S. Marines on the ground."

But the game was criticized by some veterans, victims' families and others who called it inappropriate.
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http://www.kansascity.com/811/story/1167553.html

Marine found dead in barracks ID'd as Miramar mechanic

Marine found dead in barracks ID'd as Miramar mechanic
UNION-TRIBUNE
6:49 p.m. April 28, 2009
MIRAMAR – A Marine who was found dead Thursday in his barracks at the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station has been identified as Pvt. Jeffrey D. Ghen.
Ghen was a native of Fairfax Station, Va., and enlisted in the Marine Corps in August 2006, a Marine Corps spokesman said. He had been working as a mechanic with the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing on the base.
His decorations include a National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Iraqi Campaign Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, NATO Medal and a Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.
The Marine Corps said the cause of death was still being investigated.
Mark Arner: (619) 542-4556; mailto:mark.arner@uniontrib.com

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/28/bn28ghen-marine-dead/

Veterans study legacy of Iowa in Vietnam War

Veterans study legacy of Iowa in Vietnam War
By DANIEL P. FINNEY • dafinney@dmreg.com • April 29, 2009


The topic was the Vietnam War, but there were few war stories.

More than 50 people gathered in a Drake University classroom for the first of a five-part course on Iowa's legacy in the divisive Southeast Asian conflict during which nearly 59,000 U.S. soldiers died.

Yet the mood was less lecture and more reunion bonding - a long-awaited, sometimes emotional coming-together of old soldiers from all wars, each with a yearning to understand their collective service experiences.

"You know what veterans love most about war?" Moon said. "Other veterans." go here for more Veterans study legacy of Iowa in Vietnam War

Command Sgt. Maj. Benjamin Moore Jr. known for wisdom

Schofield soldier known for wisdom
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

Command Sgt. Maj. Benjamin Moore Jr. was the senior enlisted man in his battalion in Iraq, and he was the "lifeline" of his large family back in Georgia, his sister said.

Moore, 43, an Army veteran of 26 years with service in South Korea, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq, died Friday at Contingency Operating Base Speicher in northern Iraq of non combat related injuries, the Army said.

With Moore's death, three Schofield Barracks soldiers with the 3rd Brigade have died from non combat causes since the 3,500-soldier unit deployed in October and November. Three other soldiers with the brigade have died in combat.

Moore was the "baby" of the family of 10 sisters and five brothers, said one of those sisters, Teresa Brakes.

"He's the glue that held the family together when we used to go through crises and stuff," said Brakes, who lives in Waycross, Ga. "He was the one that we went to and he would sit down and put it to us in a way we could understand, and just give us good advice. And the advice that he gave us, it was usually the right thing to do."

He had served in Operations Desert Storm in 1991, she said. Moore earned 55 medals over his 26-year career, including a Bronze Star with Valor, the Army said.
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Schofield soldier known for wisdom

100 Days On Veterans: A Reason To Hope

In 1982 I met a Vietnam Veteran and my life changed. Totally unaware of what the Vietnam War was all about, without a clue what PTSD was, I managed somehow to fully research it so that I could help veterans like my husband and their families. Keep in my at the time Jack was in Vietnam, I was only 11. This has been my mission and my ministry ever since. I've researched it and tracked it as if my life depended on. So now you know where what I am about to write comes from, aside from my heart.

When President Obama was running for the office, as a US Senator, he was on the Veteran's Affairs Committee. He was on that committee when most of the monumental changes and improvements were made to make lives better for our veterans. That gave me some hope. I was still on the fence about how serious he was until he made a stunning judgment.

There are hundreds of programs across the country to address PTSD and suicides. One of the best ones has been what the Montana National Guard came out with. They developed this program after the suicide of Spc. Chris Dana. With all the programs Obama could have picked to support, he picked this program. To me, that was the most telling moment in what he would do as President. Keep in mind that I've researched all of this since 1982, so for me to come across this program was nothing odd, but for a man with so many other things on his mind and issues to face to zone in on this showed he was fully invested in our veterans. It showed he did not just care with words, but serious attention and action. President Obama did this quietly and that sense of seriousness along with compassion touched my heart to the point where I had hope again. I still do.

Were there mistakes made by his advisers? Sure but they all make mistakes but the important thing is what the intent is. The intent is to once and for all prove the slogan "grateful nation" is true in this country and with him leading the way, we may just catch up to what other nations are doing for their veterans and then lead the way once more.

If you hear a veteran slam Obama for anything over the first 100 days, ask them where they were all these years when the veterans were betrayed and used. Ask them where their anger was when the VA was cut under President Bush or when there were less doctors and nurses working for the VA with two active military campaigns than there were after the Gulf War. Ask them where they were when Secretary Nicholson was returning funds at the same time veterans were coming back from Iraq and committing suicide because they could not get the care they needed from the VA. The list of things they ignored for political reasons caused so much damage to the veterans suffering and fighting for care, they cannot be forgiven for remaining silent. When it comes to our veterans, politics should never, ever come first. They should since they put the nation first everyday. They are Democrats, Republicans, Independents, all serving side by side. They come from red states and blue states. They come from cities and towns across the nation and they do not serve just one party with their lives, but the entire nation including the people they do not agree with. As a nation we need to all come together and support the veterans with whatever they need because they earned it!

100 Days On Veterans: A Reason To Hope


Jon Soltz
Co-Founder of VoteVets.org, served as a Captain in Operation Iraqi Freedom
Posted April 29, 2009 09:01 AM (EST)

There's only so much a President can do in 100 days, and we don't know what a President will do in the remaining 4-years-minus-100 days, so it is hard to say a whether a President has been a success or failure. However, when looking at the needs of veterans at the end of the Bush administration, and whether those needs have been fulfilled, it's tough to say that President Obama's first 100 days haven't been incredibly encouraging.

When it comes to veterans care, most issues fell under three categories as the President took office - funding, confusion, and lack of access. In all three areas, while there's a ton to still do, there's been dramatic improvement in the first 100 days.


FUNDING OF VETERANS CARE

This area, above all, is the shame of the Bush administration. The Department of Veterans Affairs was consistently underfunded by the Bush Administration. The low-point came when then-Secretary Jim Nicholson had to come groveling to Congress for more than a billion dollars in emergency funding, admitting that the administration had not prepared for the boom in returning veterans in need of care, as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The underfunding had dramatic consequences across the board - from research and treatment into Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to the shameful commonplace practice of veterans having to duct tape their prosthetic limbs, because the VA couldn't get them decent ones.

President Obama's budget for the VA errs on the side of caution - funding the department over the amount determined adequate by the Independent Budget (the budget offered by the nation's Veterans Service Organizations), and increases funding by $25 billion over the next five years.
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VA advance funding one step closer to reality

VA advance funding one step closer to reality

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Apr 28, 2009 17:41:35 EDT

There is good news for military and veterans’ organizations in the 2010 budget agreement reached Monday night by House and Senate negotiators.

The budget, which includes $606 billion for the Defense Department and $106.5 billion for the Veterans Affairs Department next year, also creates a window of opportunity for passage of some high-priority issues this year.

For example, the agreement opens the door for the top priority of veterans’ organizations, providing money for veterans’ health care one year in advance. The key language, in this case, is a provision preventing a point of order being raised against legislation to provide a 2011 VA health funding bill this year.

Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawaii, the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairman and a sponsor of advanced appropriations legislation, said the provision “brings us closer to our goal of providing on-time funding for veterans’ health care, allowing VA to plan ahead and make better use of taxpayer money.”

Raymond Dempsey, national commander of Disabled American Veterans, called the budget “good news for our nation’s veterans.”
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VA advance funding one step closer to reality

Nine burn-pit lawsuits filed against KBR

Nine burn-pit lawsuits filed against KBR

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Apr 28, 2009 17:25:00 EDT

Lawyers filed seven class-action lawsuits in seven states on behalf of service members and civilians who say they were sickened by the open-air burn pits on U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The lawsuits, including a wrongful death suit, were filed against contractor KBR Inc., as well as its parent company, Halliburton, after a Military Times story that ran last October showed that the burn pit at Joint Base Balad, the biggest U.S. base in Iraq, burned everything from petroleum products to dioxin-releasing plastic water bottles to amputated limbs.

Two more lawsuits are expected to be filed Wednesday
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Nine burn-pit lawsuits filed against KBR/

The Soloist, a lesson in fixing ourselves

There were times tonight as I watched this movie, I had tears. The plight of Fox's character and the need of Downey's character to "fix" Fox, was what got to me the most. The scenes of homeless people in LA made me think that among many of the homeless, there are veterans, much like my husband. While he only came close to becoming homeless during his darkest days, we managed somehow to stay together. Most of that came from understanding what PTSD was and the Grace of God changing my mind every time I wanted to walk away.

I kept remembering when I thought I could "fix" my husband. If I were loving enough, calm enough, strong enough, smart enough, if I were enough at all for him, he would be the way I wanted him to be instead of the way he was. When I faced the truth that I could only "fix" myself, then I was happier and so was he.

I learned to live my life by myself, doing what made me happy and what I enjoyed to do, with him or without him, without holding any resentment toward him for not being able to go with me. I learned to stop wanting what I could not have but to tell the truth, it still hurt to have to walk away from conversations when other people were complaining about such trivial matters in their own lives when I was living with PTSD. Over time, knowing my marriage would be the way it is was a choice I made to stay and I stopped blaming others unable to stay in their own marriages.

That was the lesson of this movie. I highly recommend anyone living with someone with a mental illness or PTSD to go and see this movie. It's heartwarming and transforming. It shows a side of life few others really see with their hearts. While this is a movie about schizophrenia, there are many parts of it that can apply to living with PTSD as well. What we want to give to others is sometimes not what they need from us. Sometimes it comes down to just caring about them that matters the most of all.

The Soloist, starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr.

Synopsis
Academy Award-nominated Atonement director Joe Wright teams with screenwriter Susannah Grant to tell the true life story of Nathaniel Ayers, a former violin prodigy whose bouts with schizophrenia landed him on the streets after two years of schooling at Juilliard. Steve Lopez (Robert Downey, Jr.) is a disenchanted journalist stuck in a dead-end job. His marriage to a fellow journalist having recently come to an end, Steve is wandering through Los Angeles' Skid Row when he notices a bedraggled figure playing a two-stringed violin. The figure in question is Ayers (Jamie Foxx), a man whose promising career in music was cut short due to a debilitating bout with mental illness. The more Lopez learns about Ayers, the greater his respect grows for the troubled soul. How could a man with such remarkable talent wind up living on the streets, and not be performing on stage with a symphony orchestra? Later, as Lopez embarks on a quixotic quest to help Ayers pull his life together and launch a career in music, he gradually comes to realize that it is not Ayers whose life is being transformed, but his own. - Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-soloist/30936/synopsis?flv=1