Man meets fellow soldier whose life he helped save in Iraq

Man meets fellow soldier whose life he helped save in Iraq
By Karen Madden • Daily Tribune Staff • September 26, 2009


Paul Morrison didn't know how he'd react when he saw Robert Jackson on Friday.

They shared a life-changing day during the summer of 2003 in Baghdad, when Jackson lost his legs, but Morrison helped save his life. There aren't many people Jackson calls a hero, but Morrison is one of them.

On Friday -- the first time they truly met in person -- the two shared smiles, a handshake and a quick hug at Hotel Mead in Wisconsin Rapids. The moment didn't seem to require more than that.

In March 2003, Morrison, now a 43-year-old Grand Rapids resident and Adams County deputy, went to Iraq with his National Guard Unit, the Madison-based 32nd Military Police Company. Their mission: to train Iraqi police.
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Man meets fellow soldier whose life he helped save in Iraq

What happens without veterans' courts

Please don't pass this by just because it comes from the UK. This is what happens when Veterans' courts are not there. It is what happened when Vietnam veterans came home too.

Veteran was discharged and jailed suffering from stress disorder
Case study: Mary Bowers

Danny McEneany, 37, had been home from Iraq for a year when he started seeing “terrorists” waiting outside his house, “staring through the patio window”.

A tip-off alerted the police to the gun he had acquired to protect himself. In December 2006 Mr McEneany was sentenced to five years in prison for possession of a firearm, despite the fact that in the interim he had been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and spent two months in a military hospital.

Before beginning his sentence he spent two nights under supervision in a military camp. “They said, ‘remember you’re a Royal Dragoon Guard.’ I thought: I’m not likely to forget.”

But Mr McEneany — formerly Sergeant — learnt of his discharge after 16 years of service from “a scrap of paper” sent to him post-hearing.


“They didn’t take my PTSD into account,” he said. “The judge said to me, ‘there are thousands who go through the same situation as yourself but they don’t act like you.’”

While in prison in Sussex and Wisley, he was never offered treatment for his condition. “If you go there with a drink problem you get help,” he said. “But prison is a dumping ground for those with mental issues.”

Mr McEneany found consolation in other ex-soldiers, both prisoners and officers. “They said ‘you’re ex-army and you’ll have no trouble here.’ We looked after each other.”
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6847984.ece

Family health insurance premiums $13,375

I did accounting for a small company back in Massachusetts. Part of my job was the arduous task of negotiating the health insurance coverage for the employees. Each year we had to take a look at what companies were offering, what it would cost and what the employee would have to do without. It was never a matter of searching for better plans as it was searching to save what we could for the company and the employees.

Each year we had to tell them how their raise was going to have to pay for the increase the company had to make and then tell them they would have to pay more out of their paychecks for their share as well. A pay raise they were used to making ended up being a pay cut over health insurance. I have a problem with calling it healthcare coverage since it is not about taking care of their health, but about addressing an insurance company. They had no problem getting their doctors paid since they really liked their doctors, but making sure the insurance company was paid by eating away their raises, well, that was a different story.

This is something a lot of people just never stop to think about. It's not just a matter of the health insurance companies making a profit, they end up making a killing when you get right to the bottom of what's been allowed to happen.

Family health insurance premiums $13,375

MENLO PARK, Calif., Sept. 15 (UPI) -- An annual U.S. survey of non-federal private and public employers indicates most employers and employees are paying more for health insurance.

The Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust survey found in 2009, the average annual premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance were $4,824 for single coverage and $13,375 for family coverage. Premiums for family coverage are 5 percent higher than last year, but there was no statistically significant growth in the single premiums.

Since 1999, average premiums for family coverage increased 131 percent while the average worker increase was 128 percent for the same period.
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Family health insurance premiums

PTSD a wound to humans and not nation

While this is about German soldiers in Afghanistan, it just goes to show that PTSD does not know one nation from another. It only knows humans. The US has a bigger problem with troops and PTSD because we have more of them. It's as simple as that but also we don't take care of them any better than other nations take care of their own.

One Psychiatrist for 4,500 Troops
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Cases Rise in German Soliders in Afghanistan
The Germany armed forces' deployment in Afghanistan appears to be having an impact on soldiers' psyche. Several newspaper reports claim the number of cases of post-traumatic stress disorder is on the rise. And the Bundeswehr lacks psychiatrists to provide the necessary treatment.

The number of Bundeswehr soldiers affected by psychiatric problems has increased rapidly in recent months, with the number of those suffering from so-called post-traumatic stress disorder having risen particularly quickly, two German newspapers reported on Thursday.


Both of the dailies, the Rhein-Zeitung and the Süddeutsche Zeitung, referred to a request for information made to the defense affairs committee of the German federal parliament by politician Elke Hoff of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). "Up until now the government has neglected to do anything to better the psychological care and treatment of soldiers," she told the Süddeutschen Zeitung.

According to the newspapers, the number of soldiers suffering first symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder had risen by over 30 percent in the first six months of 2009. This resulted in a total of 163 cases. Last year, a total of 245 cases of the psychiatric disorder were reported in the military, with 226 of them occurring in Afghanistan. In 2006, only 55 soldiers were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. During the past six months, attacks on German forces in Aghanistan have risen.
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http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,651015,00.html

Man set on fire after fight over beer, cigarettes, money

As bad as this story is, at least someone did try to help the man set on fire.

Man set on fire after fight over beer, cigarettes, money
The Associated Press

2:09 p.m. EDT, September 27, 2009
DAYTONA BEACH, Florida - Officials say a man's face was doused with gasoline and his body set on fire after a fight over beer, money and cigarettes Saturday afternoon.

EVAC Ambulance spokesman Mark O'Keefe says Dean Allen Fultz, 47, suffered "serious burns." Fultz was airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center for treatment.

According to Daytona Beach police Chief Mike Chitwood, Fultz was drinking in a home's back yard when the fight broke out.
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Man set on fire

Samaritans are helping in Hiram Georgia

Helping flood victims 1:29
Some good Samaritans are helping one Hiram, Georgia, family whose home was hit hard by floods. CNN's Catherine Callaway reports.


Helping Flood Victims

Vietnam MIA's remains return to his family

Remains of soldier killed in 1965 come home

The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Sep 27, 2009 12:26:27 EDT

OMAHA, Neb. — The remains of a soldier who has been missing since a 1965 helicopter crash in South Vietnam have been returned to Nebraska.

A casket containing Spc. Donald Grella’s body was flown from Hawaii to Omaha on Sept. 26. Grella’s sister, Shirley Haase of Omaha, accompanied his remains.

Haase learned in July that Grella’s body was among the remains found at a helicopter crash site near An Khe, Vietnam, in 2006.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/09/ap_army_soldier_returns_home_092709/

Clergy abuse victims suffering after settlements

Clergy abuse victims suffering after settlements
Chris Carlson / AP
Money was meant to heal, but for the most deeply scarred, the checks have instead made things far worse. Virginia and Frank Zamora, with a picture of their son, Dominic.
LOS ANGELES - David Guerrero lies curled like a small child in bed, his teeth chattering and his fever spiked at 104 degrees. He has left his room only once since he crawled home from his latest crystal meth binge three days ago, to let his mother drive him to the emergency room for his soaring temperature.

Now, Minerva Guerrero hovers close to her 41-year-old son, making a mental list of the day ahead: she must change his bed linens, nurse him, pick up his new prescriptions.

Sixty miles away and days later, Dominic Zamora rages at his father, who suspects he bought a house in someone else's name. You're not my father, Dominic screams. You just want my money. When the 36-year-old finally calls his parents three weeks later, he is drunk and angry at the world — and most especially, at them.



Full story

Iraq Veteran and Advocate passed away after surgery

Obituary: Ryan Job was a spokesman for wounded veterans
Ryan Job, who grew up in Issaquah, died Thursday morning after major reconstructive surgery in Phoenix. He was 28.


Blinded by a sniper's bullet in Iraq, Ryan Job retained his characteristic determination and persistence. He climbed Mount Rainier, trained for a triathlon and became a spokesman for an organization that helps wounded veterans transition to civilian life.

"He didn't back down from any challenge," said a friend, Tyler Lein, of Scottsdale, Ariz.

Mr. Job, who grew up in Issaquah, died Thursday morning after major reconstructive surgery at Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix. He was 28.

Mr. Job's younger brother, Aaron, served three tours of duty in Iraq with the Marines. The Seattle Times profiled the Job family during Aaron Job's deployments in 2003 and 2004.
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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/obituaries/2009945844_ryanjob26m.html

One couple's health care story

You can try to pass off my feelings, my words, what I post, as just being about a Chaplain, but you'd be wrong. I felt this way long before I became one.

I felt this way when my brother was still alive and each time he lost his job, he had to worry about healthcare for his family. The last time he lost his job, it cost him his life. Less than a week after he was let go, he died of a massive heart attack. He was 56.

I felt this way when my Mom, after spending most of her life working and saving, ended up seeing most of what she earned gone to pay for the nursing home she would spend the last months of her life in.

I've felt this way all my life, that this is wrong when some people can get the medical care they need to stay as healthy as possible but others can't even afford to go to the emergency room when something minor turned into something deadly.

Here are some stories.

Maxed out: One couple's health care story
'Nothing's in my hands. Nothing.'

Helga Kenny and her husband John spent half a century planning for retirement. Now he's had a stroke, and she's left to figure out how to care for him — they had health insurance, but his benefits ran out. First in a series of three stories.
Special report: Maxed out — insured, but not covered
PolitiFact: Keeping the health care plan debate honest

Now we can all stay angry, then end up putting ourselves in someone's place. We can keep saying we have it and their on their own, until we end up turning into "them" suddenly and wondering how the hell we're supposed to pay for an operation we didn't expect or for pills we can't afford. We can all keep shouting but in the end, the people making the money off our suffering are the ones we end up taking care of instead of each other. They won't care if you're the one standing in line for help next year. Plus one more thing is that while we work hard for our pay, we end up seeing raises go to pay for heath insurance and not real healthcare. When you look at it the way it really is, defending companies against humans needing medical care, just doesn't really make a lot of sense.