Operation Open Arms now offers mental health services to military

Operation Open Arms now offers mental health services to military
By MARIANNE PATON, news@breezenewspapers.com
POSTED: June 3, 2009

Thanks to Operation Open Arms, soldiers visiting Lee County can now seek assistance with coping with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder free of charge.

Earlier this year, OOA founder Capt. John "Giddyup" Bunch put out a call to area counselors for their help with a growing problem among members of the military.

"In January of this year, I had read that more of our soldiers were dying from self-inflicted wounds than all of those kill in the line of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan combined and I knew I had to do something about it," he said. "I then began calling area therapists to enlist their help and now we have a great team that will provide counseling pro bono."

According to Bunch, members of the military can obtain counseling through the Veteran's Administration, but the soldier would have to clear the need for treatment with his or her superior officer, wade through a mountain a paper work and possibly face the threat of the negative stigmatizement commonly associated to those who are in need of mental health treatment.

"In addition to avoiding the sigmatism frequently attached to any mental health issue, these soldiers are on leave for a limited time and often times are made to make a co-payment for services provided by the VA." he said. "Our program is completely confidential and won't cost the soldier a dime."
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Operation Open Arms now offers mental health services to military

The Wall That Heals in Johnson City TN

The Wall That Heals
Bristol Herald Courier - Bristol,TN,USA
By Mac McLean
Reporter / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: June 3, 2009

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Support for Parkinson’s disease sufferers blended perfectly with a desire to honor America’s veterans Tuesday as 300 motorcycles escorted The Wall That Heals to Freedom Hall’s Liberty Bell track.

Among the bikers was Mike Johnston of Bristol, Tenn., a veteran who has Parkinson’s and, as a member of the Northeast Tennessee Parkinson’s Disease Support Group has traveled more than 23,000 miles on his bike to champion efforts to find a cure.

“There’s a lot of days I can’t ride because the tremors are so bad, but other days I can ride as good as I ever could,” Johnston said. And being a part of Tuesday’s procession was a good day, he could ride and champion both of his causes: his fellow veterans and his desire to find a cure for Parkinson’s disease.

The Wall That Heals is a half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial that sits on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The half-scale version travels the country, giving people a chance to pay their respects to those who died in the Vietnam War, said Richard “Gunny” Lyons with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.

“This is for people who can’t get to Washington,” Lyons said, adding that The Wall That Heals can attract crowds of 4,000 to 10,000 people when it is on display.

It also brings large escorts of motorcycle riders organized by veteran’s support groups, including Rolling Thunder.
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94 percent of military families feel disconnected from the rest of us

U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak
Vets, beyond Memorial Day
By JOE SESTAK

AS A 31-year Navy veteran, I'm grateful for the Daily News editorial on veterans and share your concern that few Americans are as aware of the true meaning of Memorial Day as they should be, and even fewer continue to recognize its purpose once it's passed.

A recent survey sponsored by Blue Star Mothers of America found that 94 percent of the military families polled felt they were disconnected from our society. The group represents the relatively few American families touched by our current conflicts. When we consider that less than one percent of our population is directly involved in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it's all the more important that we never take those who are serving and waiting for granted.

As for the men and women deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, many go outside the wire every day for entire 15- month deployments, not knowing if the car beside them, or even a person walking down the street, will explode. A 2008 Army survey reported that more than one in eight soldiers in these conflicts take anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medications or sleeping pills. Yet the number of behavioral health workers in the theater of combat decreased from one for every 387 troops in 2004 to one for every 734 in 2007.

The challenges of helping veterans of current conflicts are compounded by the fact that we have not, for three generations, appropriately dealt with the psychological impact of war on our warriors. Thomas Childers, author of the recently published "Soldiers from the War Returning," uncovered 1.3 million hospitalizations for neuropsychiatric symptoms during WW II. He found that divorce filings by vets were twice the civilian rate, and, in January 1946, only 6,000 of the 52,000 disabled veterans who applied for jobs found employment.

During my lifetime our nation broke faith with our Vietnam veterans. The severe recessions of 1969 and 1974 did much to complicate the return of that generation, and those men and women came home not only to a struggling economy, but also to a lesser GI Bill than their fathers and a VA unprepared to deal with the unique nature of that war and the changes to our society since the 1940s. Partly as a result of these past failures, as well as the stress of today's military operations, one in four homeless Americans are veterans and every day 18 vets commit suicide.

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Vets, beyond Memorial Day

Congressman Sestak closed it this way

As George Washington so eloquently put it:

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation." *

U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak is a Democrat who represents the 7th District.

It is the same way I end my emails.

Is there really any need to wonder why military families feel isolated and alone? I've lived with veterans all my life, so I guess it's only natural that I care. Yet when I go out with friends, the conversation usually turns temporarily to what I do. The conversation doesn't last long and someone always seems to change the subject but that someone is never me. While PTSD is more easily discussed among veterans in social gatherings, again, they are never lengthy conversations unless the person happens to be living with PTSD.

Strangers will notice my Chaplain shirt and make some kind of comment like "I didn't know they made female chaplains" and I'll add fuel to the fire by saying " Yes, they even make female veterans chaplains." The conversation usually ends there. If I say very little without mentioning veterans, the conversation lasts longer. When you think we are a nation of over 300 million people and there are less than 30 million veterans, it's easy to understand the disconnect.

While TV shows like MASH were popular and some movies like Saving Private Ryan, the TV coverage of two live military campaigns has been virtually non-existent. During the Vietnam War there were daily reminders of the sacrifices being made by the warriors but it was not a movie and the American public had enough. The Gulf War was covered more but considering how fast it was over, it did not "get on people's nerves" as much as Vietnam did. With Shock and Awe, the bombing of Baghdad, again, it seemed to be over almost as fast as it began and soon the military was rolling in to the heart of the city. By then, Afghanistan was all but forgotten.

Afghanistan was invaded in 2001 and 12 US lives were lost. As of today the total is 695 with each year claiming higher and higher fatalities and casualties. The Coalition forces did not lose any lives until 2002 when 20 were killed. As of today that number is 473. Last year was the worse year with 155 US lives lost and 139 Coalition forces lost according to ICasualties.org.

Iraq has been going on for 2,265 days and has claimed the lives of 4,308 US lives, 179 from the UK and 139 from other nations. The US is pretty much alone in Iraq now. It's hard to believe both of these military campaigns have been going on that long.

What is even harder to believe is the American public are too consumed with their own problems to even notice. They don't see the hardship on the troops redeploying or on their families saying good-by yet again, or the strain of being a single parent. They don't see the hardship on the citizen soldiers or their families when they ship out as they try to make ends meet in between deployment and homecoming. They surely don't see the numbers of PTSD wounded either.

When we read reports in the newspapers about the growing numbers there is another disconnect between acknowledging the difference between what the VA has for reported numbers and what the Department of Defense has. These numbers are not combined. One more fact is that until a claim is approved by the VA, they are not counted either and there are over 900,000 claims in the backlog pile getting higher everyday. I was talking with someone in suicide prevention and I stated clearly given the numbers we had after Vietnam, the redeployments and increase risk of PTSD, we're looking at a million within the next two years. He said we were already at 600,000. Try telling that to the American public when the broadcast media has been missing in action on this. How many special reports have they done? How many investigative reports have they done?

Even with the killing at Camp Liberty in Iraq by Sgt. Russell, there was very little reporting done. How can we expect the American public to become involved if they know nothing? The bigger question is, how can we fill in the break between military families and the rest of society when this minority remains out of the spotlight?

U.S. D-Day Memorial struggles to stay afloat

U.S. D-Day Memorial struggles to stay afloat

By Sue Lindsey - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jun 2, 2009 17:28:32 EDT

BEDFORD, Va. — On the eve of the 65th anniversary of D-Day, the foundation that runs the National D-Day Memorial is on the brink of financial ruin.

Donations are down in the poor economy. The primary base of support — World War II veterans — is dying off. And the privately funded memorial is struggling to draw visitors because it is hundreds of miles from a major city.

The memorial opened eight years ago at a ceremony attended by President George W. Bush. It was built in Bedford because the community suffered among the highest per-capita losses in the United States on D-Day.

Facing the prospect of cutting staff and hours, the memorial’s president believes its only hope for long-term survival is to be taken over by the National Park Service or by a college or university.

So far, he has found no takers.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/06/ap_d_day_memorial_060209/

D-Day veteran: "The horror I saw"

D-Day veteran: "The horror I saw"

US veteran Robert Sales was dropped on the beaches of Normandy as part of the D-Day landings, a crucial turning point in the war with Nazi Germany.

In one of the biggest military exercises in history, the Allies landed around 156,000 troops on 6 June 1944. On D-Day alone up to 3,000 Allied soldiers died, with 9,000 wounded or missing.

As the world prepares to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the operation, Mr Sales reflects on his experience, admitting, "I had never dreamed of a disaster like this".

SOS from VFW: Combat Vets in Trouble

After posting about the idiot denying the reality of PTSD, I have found restoration of my fellow informed readers of reality. This article was followed by over 300 comments and most of them were positive. They comment on how they are veterans or have someone in their family suffering from PTSD. After you read the article, please read some of the comments and know, the plague of deniers of PTSD are the minority and have everything to be ashamed of instead of the veterans.

SOS from VFW: Combat Vets in Trouble
David Wood

Their stories are legion. The stress behind their stories, stress that combat veterans often hold tight inside, can be painful and destructive.

There was the Marine in Afghanistan who told me he has post-traumatic stress disorder so bad he can't stand to be safe at home, where he sometimes drops to the floor, thinking a loud noise is an incoming mortar. He keeps volunteering to return to combat, where his hair-trigger reflexes make sense. Where he's comfortable.

For veterans, telling their stories can be helpful. Having someone listen? Priceless.

With a new generation of veterans returning from combat and military suicides on an alarming rise, listening is the idea behind a global alert from the Veterans of Foreign Wars to its 2.2 million members. Find a vet. Offer to listen.

"The need has overwhelmed the capacity of government and civilian mental health centers,'' said VFW Commander Glen M. Gardner, Jr., who served as a Marine in Vietnam.

"I urge every VFW member to get immediately involved by seeking out and extending a hand of friendship and help'' to local veterans. "Our government cannot battle this enemy alone, nor should that 22-year-old combat veteran," Gardner said in a May 29 appeal to his members.
For most combat veterans, the stress of wartime deployment eases over time.

"Whether people have full-blown PTSD or just some of the symptoms, most people do get better over a short period of time with the support of family and friends," said Dr. Sonja Batten, deputy director of the Pentagon's Center of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury.
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Combat Vets in Trouble

Also on this

VFW chief: Look out for struggling soldiers

By Kristin M. Hall - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jun 3, 2009 13:55:21 EDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The head of the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization is urging more than 1.6 million veteran members to reach out to soldiers who may be considering suicide.

Commander in Chief Glen Gardner issued the open letter following the announcement last week that 11 soldiers from Fort Campbell, Ky., have committed suicide in 2009 — the highest of any Army post.

The Army reached the highest rate of suicides on record last year.

Gardner said Wednesday that veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely to open up to other combat veterans about personal or psychological problems.

“Your credibility goes up greatly with these young people” if you have served in combat, he said. “VFW people are not counselors, they are not trained to be counselors, but those of us who have been in combat can listen and understand what they are talking about.”

He asked the members to listen, be sympathetic and take soldiers to professional counseling through the military or the Veterans Affairs. He said this is first time the Kansas City, Mo.-based veterans group has asked its members to seek out both active duty and National Guard and Reserve soldiers who may be struggling.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/06/ap_vfw_plea_troops_060309/

Ignorance of PTSD is a plague against veterans

by
Chaplain Kathie

With literally hundreds of articles to read during the week, I tend to pass by opinion pieces. There is just not enough hours in the day to respond to all of them. This one got to me. Maybe I'm in a bad mood this morning? Lack of sleep tends to do that.


A broken warrior By Catherine Whitney was as great piece telling the story of her brother, a Vietnam veteran wounded by PTSD. This lead to a response from a reader denying the reality of PTSD. While I've read too many of this kind of ignorance from the uneducated over the years, there is no excuse for them to attack the veterans they are claiming they care about. What is behind the denial of PTSD and baseless claims? The end result is that this kind of attitude is like a plague against veterans and the generations of warriors risking their lives, putting themselves in harms way and suffering for doing what the rest of us have not.

Here is the comment posted on Hutchinson News Online and my reply in case they will not allow it to be published.

The PTSD myth
Catherine Whitney's "Broken Warrior" piece about veterans and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was about 180 degrees off course. It perpetuates the myth that there is an epidemic of mental illness in veterans because of their military experiences. My 30 years in the VA disability benefit bureaucracy showed a far different situation. Almost every VA employee I ever met who evaluated PTSD claims concluded that most were bogus grabs for money.

The truth is that the VA pays out billions of dollars a year in payments for PTSD where it does not exist. A huge self-serving industry has sprung up around this "disorder." Veterans profit by claiming the condition when they don't have it. VA medical clinicians diagnose the condition because their jobs depend on it. There is also profit for the attorneys, service organization representatives, VA bureaucratic personnel, politicians, and, yes, even authors who grandstand on this. The result is a siphoning of money away from the truly deserving vets with the real injuries and wounds.

Catherine Whitney would have you believe that it is difficult for a veteran to receive a diagnosis and money for PTSD. Actually, the money and diagnosis are available to about every vet, with or without a combat history. There is no objective test for the condition. It exists if the vet seeking money says he has it and the VA clinician needing a job supports him. The VA tends to pay more PTSD money to the rear echelon clerks than to vets with primary combat duties. That the money is paid inversely to actual combat experience is just a clue to the enormity of the fraud and abuse surrounding this diagnosis.

Ms. Whitney blamed her brother's alcoholism and situation in life to his military experiences rather than face the fact that some people just become alcoholics. She said that today's war heroes too often become tomorrow's poor or resort to suicide when there is no statistical evidence of that. Such unsupported claims were exposed years ago by the book "Stolen Valor" by B.G Burkett. Anyone who wants a true picture of the PTSD situation should go find a copy. What you shouldn't do is listen to people like Catherine Whitney or anyone trying to make a buck from the true sacrifices of vets.

MARK ROGERS

Pretty Prairie

http://www.hutchnews.com/Westernfront/wfrogers

Mr. Rogers,
What is your history with researching PTSD, living with it or even knowing someone with it? How many veterans have you talked to so wounded they have to struggle just to find reasons to get up out of bed after another night of reliving what they went thru in their dreams? Have you ever seen a veteran going thru a flashback? Somehow, I doubt you know very much about this but apparently think you can justify your lack of knowledge and ambivalence by writing about it.

Here are some facts for you because apparently while you have an opinion, it is not based on facts but merely assumptions.

PTSD comes from an outside force after a traumatic event that is captured within the soul/emotions, in case you are not a religious person. Scientists have found the part of the brain changed by PTSD responsible for the emotions in humans. It's been proven.

Next, if you ever read history regarding warfare, you'd see all the signs of it. Ancient Greek and Romans recorded the aftermath of war. It is recorded in the pages of the Bible even though there is a tendency to over look it. Abraham was a warrior and so was Moses. Read Judges and Kings or the Psalms of David and see it. Every generation of Americans have endured this invisible wound going back to the Revolutionary War. It's been called many things. Nostalgia, Soldier's Heart, Shell Shock and then arriving at Post Traumatic Stress Disorder by 1978. By then there were 500,000 Vietnam veterans with PTSD and this was published in several studies. The DAV commissioned a study by Jim Goodwin, Psy.D, Readjustment Problems Among Vietnam Veterans, The Etiology of Combat Related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and it was all there.

By 1986 there were 117,000 suicides. Two later studies put the numbers between 150,000 and 200,000. Over 300,000 ended up homeless. Incarcerations of Vietnam veterans suffering from PTSD and self medicating with street drugs and alcohol became part of the aftermath. One more fact you lack is that had it not been for Vietnam veterans coming back and fighting to have this wound treated as a service connected disability, the rest of us would find no help at all. That includes police officers, firefighters and emergency responders. It includes people suffering from traumatic events like crimes and accidents along with natural disasters. All generations of veterans have been helped because of what Vietnam veterans did.

Now, you can look at PTSD anyway you want, but when you publicly come out making baseless claims against the reality, you are a plague much like the morons in the past unable to think like a human with emotions. People like you are part of the reason my own husband would not go for help when PTSD was mild and he had a better chance to heal more fully. Because of people like you he didn't want help until it was almost too late. I had the ammunition to overrule people like you because I knew exactly what PTSD was and what it was doing to him along with all the other veterans I had helped thru the years.

Next time you go to the VA try talking to a Marine back from Iraq, if they'll talk to you at all. I'm a Chaplain so they know they can trust me. I've held enough of them in my arms when they were crying and apologizing for the pain they were carrying because people like you would rather judge them than help them heal. No one is slamming veterans because they have PTSD, but people like you slam them and insult them all the time because you deny this wound is real. These brave men and women ended up doing their duty, finishing their mission, caring for their brothers in arms with the pain eating away at them with flashbacks and nightmares and did not allow themselves to think of themselves until their duty was over. And you, you with your ignorance insult them?

And now read what produced the comment by Mr. Rogers.

A broken warrior
By Catherine Whitney - Special to the Los Angeles Times

My brother, Jim, was a soldier once, but when he died, at age 53, he was long past the time when anyone called him a hero. He died alone, in poverty, alienated from family and friends, his life and death complicated by war wounds that penetrated far deeper than the pieces of shrapnel that won him his Purple Heart. Jim was a Vietnam combat engineer who survived the war but later became another kind of statistic - a lost soul, a veteran who never recovered from his experiences.

Jim didn't seek help, nor did the Army offer it during his 20-year military career. Instead, to try to deal with his pain, he began to drink. He was forced into retirement when he was 37, with nothing but a drawer full of medals, a subsistence-level pension and a crushed spirit.

We hear a lot of talk about post-traumatic stress disorder afflicting troops and veterans. To its credit, the military has tried to update its attitudes and systems to accommodate the growing number of traumatized soldiers returning from our current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But PTSD is still viewed as an abnormal response to battlefield trauma rather than the reaction of a normal person to the horrors of war. And so the stigma remains.

Tragically, it is often left to individual soldiers and veterans to seek help. Many are career military, as my brother was, and they fear the dishonor associated with a diagnosis of PTSD.
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http://www.hutchnews.com/Columns/brokenmkow

When you live with PTSD in your own home, you know what is real. When you help other veterans and police officers, firefighters and their families, you know what is real. When you work with Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, you know what is real. People like Mr. Rogers, well, they are part of the reason the stigma lives on and I really believe they are the biggest insult to veterans because they seem to think they are looking for a free ride. I don't know about this Mr. Rogers or his history but he fails to understand that this kind of suffering is real, they can make a lot more money working for a living instead of being unable to work and collecting disability from the VA and suffer all kinds of indignation in the process. If people like Mr. Rogers cared at all about our veterans, he would invest some time in finding out what PTSD is, what it does to them instead of spending time attacking them. He is too much like too many still in some kind of bubble finding fault with the wounded instead of themselves getting in the way of them getting the help to heal. The dishonor only exists because of people like Mr. Rogers and frankly I'm glad he does not live in my neighborhood!

3 brothers found dead in Lake Houston likely drowned

Police: 3 brothers found dead in Lake Houston likely drowned

Bodies found near Dwight D. Eisenhower Park

08:32 PM CDT on Monday, June 1, 2009

By Michelle Homer & Rucks Russell / 11 News

HOUSTON -- Something went terribly wrong during a family fishing trip Sunday and three brothers ended up dead.


A fisherman spotted the bodies just after 10 a.m. Monday in the Big Eddie Tributary that flows into Lake Houston.

Homicide investigators were called to the scene, but said there were no signs of foul play and the cause of death appeared to be accidental drowning.

The brothers, ages 21, 16 and 14, were fishing from the shore. The younger ones were visiting their brother from Mexico and had just arrived here five days ago.
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brothers found dead in Lake Houston likely drowned
linked from CNN

For soldiers, stress after war may be the biggest enemy

For soldiers, stress after war may be the biggest enemy
by Karen Leigh
June 02, 2009
Insurgents are stealthy fighters, their attacks unexpected, startling and violent.

Combined with the stress of longer deployments, loneliness and brutal desert conditions, they are the perfect trigger for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.


Soldiers now returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are experiencing the highest levels of PTSD since the Vietnam War.


Some just have trouble sleeping. Some find themselves emotionally numb or easily startled.


In the most extreme cases, soldiers have killed themselves – and fellow soldiers.


The nonprofit aid organization Veterans for Common Sense said that as of December 15, 2008, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, or VA, had diagnosed 115,000 Iraq and Afghanistan vets with PTSD.


“These are staggering numbers,” said VCS executive director Paul Sullivan. “We can either admit that there’s a very serious problem and begin treatment, or we can ignore the problem and wait until the PTSD turns into unemployment, drug use, and suicide – very expensive social problems.”
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http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/washington/news.aspx?id=132737

Zoo Train Derails, Injuring 22 People

Zoo Train Derails, Injuring 22 People
By BRETT BARROUQUERE, AP

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (June 2) - A small train carrying visitors to the Louisville Zoo fell off the tracks Monday, sending 22 people to hospitals including one child who was critically injured, officials said.

The train of open-air cars is pulled by a small engine and circles the zoo along a two-mile track. It was carrying about 30 passengers when three cars and the engine fell off the rails near the gorilla exhibit. A person briefly trapped was able to be freed, zoo spokeswoman Kara Bussabarger said.

Seventeen children were taken to Kosair Children's Hospital for treatment, including one in critical condition and another in serious, said spokesman Brian Rublein. Five adults were taken to University of Louisville Hospital, and spokesman David McArthur said all were in fair or better condition and that one might be admitted.
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Zoo Train Derails, Injuring 22 People

Soldier's Mom calls on friends, volunteers to make quilts

Laurie Malms photo
Sgt. W. Eric Rodman and his mom, Laurie Malms

Mom calls on friends, volunteers to make quilts

By AUDREY PARENTE
Staff writer

DAYTONA BEACH -- Each time Laurie Malm's son "goes down range," as he describes his three deployments to Iraq, she has sent lap-size quilts for his whole unit.

The project isn't what's hard, because Malm of Fernandina Beach usually enlists the help of willing volunteers from quilting guilds.

The hard part for Malm is knowing this is her son's third time being sent into a dangerous war zone.

The first time was when her son's Army unit marched on Baghdad in 2003.

"He was there when they invaded," Malm said in a phone interview. "What I wrote to President Bush and Colin Powell at the time: 'If you are sending my son to die, there better be weapons of mass destruction and a horde of them.' So now, to know that there wasn't, and so many of the soldiers have fallen, I feel it's wrong."

Rodman's return was welcomed with a parade for his unit, and Malm thought it was over.

As a result of the first project, she started Lollipops Designer Bindings -- an online business that sells bias bindings made for quilting and sewing enthusiasts -- when she learned "how many quilters hate to make bias," she said, referring to the bindings created using strips cut on the bias of the fabric.

For her son's recent deployment she assembled nearly 40 volunteers to make more than 20 quilts with the help of her friend Gracye Beeman, owner of The Sewing Garrett in Daytona Beach. Beeman has a special sewing machine that helps speed up the process of building a quilt.
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Mom calls on friends, volunteers to make quilts

Police: Good Samaritan beheaded in Florida

Police: Good Samaritan beheaded in Florida

By Associated Press FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) - Authorities in south Florida say a homeless man beheaded a good Samaritan who had given him a place to stay.

Lee County Sheriff's deputies went to 70-year-old Charles Rogers' apartment Thursday and found his body still in his wheelchair. His head had been placed near the front door.
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http://www.komonews.com/news/national/46486397.html

Body found in river where Fort Lewis soldier disappeared

Body found in Nisqually River
By KOMO Staff OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Search and rescue crews have recovered a body from the Nisqually River.

PFC Robert Wheatley Jr. was one of nine people on three rafts which capsized in the river when they hit a log jam. The other eight made it to shore safely.

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http://www.komonews.com/news/local/46733502.html

Maj. Steve Hutchison adopted dog finds a home in the U.S.

Slain soldier's dog finds a home in the U.S.
A dog adopted by a 60-year-old Army major who was killed last month in Basra, Iraq, will have a home in Michigan.


After Maj. Steve Hutchison was killed on May 10, the saga of his “illegal” adoption of the stray dog he named Princess Leia became one of the fondest stories told by members of his unit.

In their telling, Hutchison signed a memo authorizing the dog as a member of the unit, which trains Iraqi border security officials. But even when that got him in trouble with his bosses, Hutchison didn’t give up.
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Few answers year after body of guardsman found

What will it take to get the military to finally figure out what happened? A movie of the week deal? How could they leave the family suffering without answers? Will reporters beat down their doors for answers? Someone must know something!

Few answers year after body of guardsman found

By Holbrook Mohr - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jun 2, 2009 12:47:16 EDT

JACKSON, Miss. — One year after the skeletal remains of a Kentucky soldier were found in the woods on a South Mississippi military base just days before his unit left for Iraq, his death is still a mystery.

Spc. Ryan Longnecker, a Kentucky National Guard soldier, was training at Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg, Miss., when he disappeared Aug. 6, 2007. His body was found June 3, 2008.

Several theories about the death and apparent inconsistencies in the case have left Longnecker’s family with questions they fear may never be answered, said Shirley Ann Longnecker of Cambridge City, Ind., the soldier’s paternal grandmother.

“They were supposed to give lie detector tests to a couple of the guys that he had a run-in with earlier, and somebody’s keeping them from talking about it,” the grandmother said. “We still feel like there could be foul play, but we don’t know.”

Longnecker’s nose and jaw were broken when the remains were found in a secluded area on the massive, 136,000-acre base just two days before his unit shipped out, Shirley Ann Longnecker said. The military would not confirm that to The Associated Press.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/06/ap_longnecker_one_year_060209/