Connecticut Guardsmen reflect on recovery mission at Hotel Montana
By Sgt. 1st Class Jon Soucy
National Guard Bureau
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (3/19/10) - The earthquake that rocked this city left many of its structures damaged or destroyed, including one landmark that many say represented a sense of stability within the city.
The Hotel Montana, a four-star hotel where diplomats, dignitaries and other world leaders often stayed, collapsed during the Jan. 12 earthquake trapping many of its guests in the rubble.
A few made it out alive, and the task of finding and identifying those who didn’t fell to a variety of organizations, including search and recovery teams from France, Mexico, Canada and members of the U.S. military.
As a member of the services flight for the Connecticut Air National Guard’s 103rd Airlift Wing, Tech. Sgt. Bambi Putinas said her job encompasses not only personnel issues, food services and lodging, but also mortuary affairs.
“We all volunteered to come here, but we had no idea what we would be doing,” she said. “In the back of our minds, we all thought possibly mortuary affairs.”
When a call for volunteers to assist at the Hotel Montana site was put out, Putinas was one of many from her unit to volunteer for the mission.
“We would help with the preliminary identification of remains and make sure they got back home safely and also any articles, luggage, personal effects,” she said. “We helped to document what we found, and those also would be shipped home.”
Putinas said it was an important job to do, but also a difficult one.
read more here
http://www.ng.mil/news/archives/2010/03/032310-Connecticut.aspx
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Behavior training ordered for servicemembers on Okinawa
Behavior training ordered for servicemembers on Okinawa
Mandate comes after string of off-base incidents
By David Allen, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, March 25, 2010
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — A recent rash of off-base incidents involving servicemembers on Okinawa has prompted commanders to call for mandatory behavioral training.
Marine Lt. Gen. Terry G. Robling, the senior commander on Okinawa, has ordered all servicemembers and civilian employees to take part in unit training “to review what is expected of them (in order) to ensure good order and discipline,” according to a news release issued Tuesday afternoon.
On Okinawa, even minor incidents involving U.S. troops are used as ammunition for opponents of the U.S. bases on the island. The latest incidents come at a time when the prefectural government and anti-base factions are stepping up their campaign to scrap a plan to build a new Marine air facility on Okinawa.
Robling met with senior commanders from all services Saturday to discuss measures “to reduce incidents and accidents to the greatest extent possible,” according to the release.
read more here
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=68864
Mandate comes after string of off-base incidents
By David Allen, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, March 25, 2010
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — A recent rash of off-base incidents involving servicemembers on Okinawa has prompted commanders to call for mandatory behavioral training.
Marine Lt. Gen. Terry G. Robling, the senior commander on Okinawa, has ordered all servicemembers and civilian employees to take part in unit training “to review what is expected of them (in order) to ensure good order and discipline,” according to a news release issued Tuesday afternoon.
On Okinawa, even minor incidents involving U.S. troops are used as ammunition for opponents of the U.S. bases on the island. The latest incidents come at a time when the prefectural government and anti-base factions are stepping up their campaign to scrap a plan to build a new Marine air facility on Okinawa.
Robling met with senior commanders from all services Saturday to discuss measures “to reduce incidents and accidents to the greatest extent possible,” according to the release.
read more here
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=68864
After Fort Hood, Muslim American soldier battles on friendly ground
After the Fort Hood shootings, a Muslim American soldier battles on friendly ground
By William Wan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
At 2 o'clock on a Monday morning, the sound of angry pounding sent Army Spec. Zachari Klawonn bolting out of bed.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
Someone was mule-kicking the door of his barracks room, leaving marks that weeks later -- long after Army investigators had come and gone -- would still be visible.
By the time Klawonn reached the door, the pounding had stopped. All that was left was a note, twice folded and wedged into the doorframe.
"F--- YOU RAGHEAD BURN IN HELL" read the words scrawled in black marker.
The slur itself was nothing new. Klawonn, 20, the son of an American father and a Moroccan mother, had been called worse in the military. But the fact that someone had tracked him down in the dead of night to deliver this specific message sent a chill through his body.
Before he enlisted, the recruiters in his home town of Bradenton, Fla., had told him that the Army desperately needed Muslim soldiers like him to help win the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Yet ever since, he had been filing complaint after complaint with his commanders. After he was ordered not to fast and pray. After his Koran was torn up. After other soldiers jeered and threw water bottles at him. After his platoon sergeant warned him to hide his faith to avoid getting a "beating" by fellow troops. But nothing changed.
Then came the November shootings at Fort Hood and the arrest of a Muslim soldier he'd never met: Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, who is charged with killing 13 people and injuring more than 30 in a massacre that stunned the nation. And with it, things only got worse.
read more here
Muslim American soldier battles on friendly ground
By William Wan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
At 2 o'clock on a Monday morning, the sound of angry pounding sent Army Spec. Zachari Klawonn bolting out of bed.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
Someone was mule-kicking the door of his barracks room, leaving marks that weeks later -- long after Army investigators had come and gone -- would still be visible.
By the time Klawonn reached the door, the pounding had stopped. All that was left was a note, twice folded and wedged into the doorframe.
"F--- YOU RAGHEAD BURN IN HELL" read the words scrawled in black marker.
The slur itself was nothing new. Klawonn, 20, the son of an American father and a Moroccan mother, had been called worse in the military. But the fact that someone had tracked him down in the dead of night to deliver this specific message sent a chill through his body.
Before he enlisted, the recruiters in his home town of Bradenton, Fla., had told him that the Army desperately needed Muslim soldiers like him to help win the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Yet ever since, he had been filing complaint after complaint with his commanders. After he was ordered not to fast and pray. After his Koran was torn up. After other soldiers jeered and threw water bottles at him. After his platoon sergeant warned him to hide his faith to avoid getting a "beating" by fellow troops. But nothing changed.
Then came the November shootings at Fort Hood and the arrest of a Muslim soldier he'd never met: Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, who is charged with killing 13 people and injuring more than 30 in a massacre that stunned the nation. And with it, things only got worse.
read more here
Muslim American soldier battles on friendly ground
Kentucky Senate passes bill to take care of combat veterans
Bill meant to help veterans passes Ky. Senate
A bill that has passed the Kentucky Senate would have pretrial officers ask people arrested whether they served in combat.
The measure's goal is to connect combat veterans with services to help deal with problems stemming from post-traumatic stress disorder.
The bill cleared the Senate on a 35-0 vote Tuesday. The measure now returns to the House, which will decide whether to accept a change made by the Senate.
Under the bill, as part of a pretrial release investigation, a pretrial officer would ask someone arrested if they had been in combat. If the suspect is a combat veteran, that person would be given contact information for assistance programs.
The legislation is House Bill 377.
http://www.fox41.com/Global/story.asp?S=12192683
A bill that has passed the Kentucky Senate would have pretrial officers ask people arrested whether they served in combat.
The measure's goal is to connect combat veterans with services to help deal with problems stemming from post-traumatic stress disorder.
The bill cleared the Senate on a 35-0 vote Tuesday. The measure now returns to the House, which will decide whether to accept a change made by the Senate.
Under the bill, as part of a pretrial release investigation, a pretrial officer would ask someone arrested if they had been in combat. If the suspect is a combat veteran, that person would be given contact information for assistance programs.
The legislation is House Bill 377.
http://www.fox41.com/Global/story.asp?S=12192683
Oregon Law enforcement agencies prepare for return of National Guards
Across the nation things like this are happening and it's a good thing. The problem is there will always be some part of society treating the combat veterans like criminals instead. If they commit crimes, then they need to be arrested but more often than not, they should receive help instead of incarceration. The reason is simple. These are not self-centered, selfish people with no regard for others. They proved that when they decided to enlist in the National Guards, become Reservists or enter into the regular military. They knew their lives would be on the line on these dangerous jobs. They put other people first.
The same men and women we cheer as we send them off to fight our battles return home with all the burdens of what they went through. Coming home is often harder than leaving because they expect more out of themselves as the people they love wait for the day they "just get over it" and get back to normal. The problem is while everyone is waiting for that day to come PTSD is getting a stronger hold on them. The veteran then tries anything and everything to kill off what PTSD is doing to them. In the process, the family falls apart and the veteran sinks deeper into PTSD along with making bad choices they would normally not have allowed to enter into their minds.
It would be really supporting the troops if this type of program was repeated in every city, in every state since the numbers of PTSD veterans will only rise.
The same men and women we cheer as we send them off to fight our battles return home with all the burdens of what they went through. Coming home is often harder than leaving because they expect more out of themselves as the people they love wait for the day they "just get over it" and get back to normal. The problem is while everyone is waiting for that day to come PTSD is getting a stronger hold on them. The veteran then tries anything and everything to kill off what PTSD is doing to them. In the process, the family falls apart and the veteran sinks deeper into PTSD along with making bad choices they would normally not have allowed to enter into their minds.
It would be really supporting the troops if this type of program was repeated in every city, in every state since the numbers of PTSD veterans will only rise.
Law enforcement agencies prepare for return of deployed ONG soldiers
By Tove Tupper
March 23, 2010
MEDFORD, Ore. - Law enforcement agencies are teaming up to welcome home National Guard soldiers.
Troops deployed in Iraq are set to return to Oregon in a little over a month.
When 23-year-old Veteran Shane Hornbeck arrived home from his 15-month tour in Iraq, he had a rough time. He suffered PTSD, abused drugs, ruined relationships with his family and was eventually convicted of two felony charges.
"You feel like you're being forced into poverty. And you know that basically when you're in the criminal system that's what happens," Purple Heart Veteran Shane Hornbeck said... "They need to know that these soldiers are coming back with plaguing issues and they don't necessarily know how to deal with them or cope with them."
The Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs says 10-percent of those behind bars in Oregon are veterans.
read more here
http://kdrv.com/news/local/167300
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Vietnam Veterans of America Decries Health Care Reform “Scare Tactics”
Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) Decries Health Care Reform “Scare Tactics”
March 23, 2010 by Robert L. Hanafin
Despite the media spin and scare tactics of opponents of health care reform as reported in previous articles on Veterans Today, Sec Def Gates Knocks Down Fox/VFW Report on Tricare, AND American Legion Says Health Care Reform Won’t Harm VA, DoD
Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) has joined in chorus with the American Legion, Pentagon officials, and Congressional Veterans Affairs Committees to reassure Veterans, our troops, and military retirees that health care reform will have no impact on Veterans benefits or TRICARE the health care plan covering active duty and military retirees.
Robert L. Hanafin, Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired, Veterans Today News
Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) Applauds Passage of Skelton Bill Ensuring Protection of TRICARE, VA health care, and CHAMPUS; Decries “Scare Tactics”
“We thank and applaud passage of H.R. 4887 yesterday in the House of Representative, by a vote of 403-0. Passage of this bill ensures that health care programs for veterans, active duty military, retired military, and their families/survivors will not be affected negatively by the pending health care reform legislation.” said John Rowan , National President of Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA). .
“It is unfortunate that some continue to raise what is now even more clearly a false alarm that is apparently meant to frighten veterans and their families in order to prompt them to oppose the pending legislation. While there is legitimate debate as to whether or not the pending health care measures should become law, VVA does not appreciate spreading rumors that are not accurate by any political partisan from any point of the political spectrum.” continued Rowan
“Last summer there was a similar incident, also involving partisans in the health care reform debate that VVA soundly condemned. We said then: “It is our hope that sane minds reject fear-mongering, and that veterans recognize these scare tactics for what they are.”
Rowan concluded by saying: “VVA has always worked hard for justice for veterans of all generations, and their families. We have always, and will continue to, work with public officials representing all political parties and points of view. Issues affecting veterans and their families are not, should not, and must not become partisan footballs to bat around. VVA decries any effort, by anyone, that would do just that.”
read more here
Health Care Reform Scare Tactics
VFW Lies for the GOP, Attempts to Kill Health Care
When I did this post earlier today, Officials Reassure Troops On TRICARE
I didn't think the answer would come so fast as to who is behind the lies being told. I'm heartsick. The VFW does great work for our veterans. The members of the VFW, at posts across the nation are dedicated. They are Republicans. They are Democrats. But above all, they are our American veterans of foreign wars. The political action committee however must be answering to an agenda that is not about veterans or taking care of them. Had this been the case, when the Bush Administration had two wars going on, producing more and more wounded, they would have been shouting as loudly as possible that the troops were not being taken care of.
Most of the members of the VFW were not told the truth about this. Most of the members of other service organizations had no clue the Gulf War had more doctors and nurses employed than were employed with Iraq and Afghanistan returning wounded at a higher rate than during any other war. We look at the fatalities, but while those numbers are lower than other wars, the casualties are higher. Battlefield medical advances have saved the lives of soldiers that would have died of their wounds before. This meant there would be a greater need for doctors and nurses working for the VA along with case workers, claims processors and mental health professionals. No one put the needs of the troops we sent into combat before paying contractors.
The lines grew and the claims piled up higher and higher as wounded, disabled veterans were forced to suffer while waiting. For the most part the PAC of the VFW was silent. When some in congress began to scream about the failings of the VA, others in congress were complaining there were two wars to pay for and they couldn't afford to increase funding for the VA. You'd think the VFW PAC would have been screaming about this, but the ones calling for increasing the VA budget were Democrats and the Republicans were saying there wasn't enough money to do it. It's doubtful the VFW PAC watched CSPAN.
While the members of the VFW expect to be told the truth their leadership has let them down. Having legitimate disagreements about what politicians do is part of what makes America work but when politics come before the truth, the veterans are the losers in the end. Once they discover their leadership has lied to them, they leave the VFW and other organizations. That's the greatest loss of all because these members are more interested in the troops and other veterans than anyone else in the country.
Posts have been taking the lead on helping combat veterans heal from PTSD and find the support they need. They have been doing great work but if they keep allowing some in their organization to betray the members with political games, the veterans they have been trying to help will lose.
I go to a lot of veterans functions and hear them talk about what they heard here and there or read in some kind of viral email. What they say is just repeating what they heard instead of knowing the facts. Their hearts are deeply committed to caring for the troops and other veterans but when they are mislead, when they are not told the truth, they feel betrayed by the people they trusted. All organizations need to be aware of what the truth is and what the spin is.
I didn't think the answer would come so fast as to who is behind the lies being told. I'm heartsick. The VFW does great work for our veterans. The members of the VFW, at posts across the nation are dedicated. They are Republicans. They are Democrats. But above all, they are our American veterans of foreign wars. The political action committee however must be answering to an agenda that is not about veterans or taking care of them. Had this been the case, when the Bush Administration had two wars going on, producing more and more wounded, they would have been shouting as loudly as possible that the troops were not being taken care of.
Most of the members of the VFW were not told the truth about this. Most of the members of other service organizations had no clue the Gulf War had more doctors and nurses employed than were employed with Iraq and Afghanistan returning wounded at a higher rate than during any other war. We look at the fatalities, but while those numbers are lower than other wars, the casualties are higher. Battlefield medical advances have saved the lives of soldiers that would have died of their wounds before. This meant there would be a greater need for doctors and nurses working for the VA along with case workers, claims processors and mental health professionals. No one put the needs of the troops we sent into combat before paying contractors.
The lines grew and the claims piled up higher and higher as wounded, disabled veterans were forced to suffer while waiting. For the most part the PAC of the VFW was silent. When some in congress began to scream about the failings of the VA, others in congress were complaining there were two wars to pay for and they couldn't afford to increase funding for the VA. You'd think the VFW PAC would have been screaming about this, but the ones calling for increasing the VA budget were Democrats and the Republicans were saying there wasn't enough money to do it. It's doubtful the VFW PAC watched CSPAN.
While the members of the VFW expect to be told the truth their leadership has let them down. Having legitimate disagreements about what politicians do is part of what makes America work but when politics come before the truth, the veterans are the losers in the end. Once they discover their leadership has lied to them, they leave the VFW and other organizations. That's the greatest loss of all because these members are more interested in the troops and other veterans than anyone else in the country.
Posts have been taking the lead on helping combat veterans heal from PTSD and find the support they need. They have been doing great work but if they keep allowing some in their organization to betray the members with political games, the veterans they have been trying to help will lose.
I go to a lot of veterans functions and hear them talk about what they heard here and there or read in some kind of viral email. What they say is just repeating what they heard instead of knowing the facts. Their hearts are deeply committed to caring for the troops and other veterans but when they are mislead, when they are not told the truth, they feel betrayed by the people they trusted. All organizations need to be aware of what the truth is and what the spin is.
VFW Lies for the GOP, Attempts to Kill Health Care
Richard Allen Smith
Editor of the VoteVets.org blog VetVoice
Posted: March 21, 2010 04:41 PM
Among all of the Congressional elections in 2006, there were two that were particularly interesting. In Virginia, an incumbent Republican Senator who received a deferment from service in Vietnam was endorsed by the VFW's political action committee over a former Navy Secretary who was awarded the Navy Cross while serving as a Marine Officer in the conflict. Also, in a House race that same PAC endorsed a Republican candidate with no service record over an Iraq Veteran who left two legs on the battlefield.
Surprising? Shouldn't be. VFW PAC operates as little more than a subsidiary of the Republican Party, as does the leadership of their parent organization.
Today, that organization issued a statement toeing the GOP line on the health care vote. Of course, in order toe to that line, the VFW had to make things up:
"The president and the Democratic leadership are betraying America's veterans," said Thomas J. Tradewell Sr., a combat-wounded Vietnam veteran from Sussex, Wis., who leads the 2.1 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. and its Auxiliaries.
click link above for more
Civil War hero from Delafield in line for Medal of Honor
Library of Congress
First Lt. Alonzo Cushing of Delafield (middle, standing) was among Union officers at Antietam in 1862. At Gettysburg the next year, a wounded Cushing refused to abandon his post and was killed. A group has been pushing to honor him.
Civil War hero from Delafield in line for Medal of Honor
By Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel
In the hell that was the battle of Gettysburg, in the hailstorm of shells and shrapnel that extinguished so many lives on a hot July day, one bullet struck a blue-clad soldier from Delafield, Wis., in the head.
A shell fragment already had pierced Alonzo Cushing's shoulder and shrapnel tore through his abdomen before the shot that felled the 1861 West Point graduate.
Cushing died July 3, 1863, during Pickett's Charge at Cemetery Ridge next to the artillery guns he refused to leave. It was the third and final day of the Gettysburg battle. Cushing was just 22.
The 1st lieutenant's body was returned to his family and buried at West Point beneath a headstone inscribed "Faithful until death." Cushing's name didn't fade away - it graces a park in Delafield, and a white obelisk monument was dedicated there in 1915.
However, a small but dedicated group wanted more for Cushing; they wanted his heroism recognized with the nation's highest military honor.
Now, it appears that Cushing will be awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on that Pennsylvania battlefield 147 years ago.
read more here
http://www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/88882607.html
Combat troops get 15 extra days for R and R
Combat troops get 15 extra days of leave
By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Mar 23, 2010 8:11:40 EDT
A new nonchargeable rest and recuperation leave policy for troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan announced by the Pentagon on Monday gives those deployed for 270 days or more 15 days of administrative absence on top of their regular annual leave.
“This designation provides an additional benefit specifically for those service members deployed to the most arduous combat areas,” Sam Retherford, the Pentagon’s director of officer ane enlisted personnel management, said in a statement. “Administrative absence days, in conjunction with government-funded transportation for R&R, allow service members to save and use their annual leave for reintegration with their families and communities when they return home.”
The benefits for Iraq and Afghanistan are effective Tuesday, March 23, the Pentagon said.
read more here
Combat troops get 15 extra days of leave
By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Mar 23, 2010 8:11:40 EDT
A new nonchargeable rest and recuperation leave policy for troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan announced by the Pentagon on Monday gives those deployed for 270 days or more 15 days of administrative absence on top of their regular annual leave.
“This designation provides an additional benefit specifically for those service members deployed to the most arduous combat areas,” Sam Retherford, the Pentagon’s director of officer ane enlisted personnel management, said in a statement. “Administrative absence days, in conjunction with government-funded transportation for R&R, allow service members to save and use their annual leave for reintegration with their families and communities when they return home.”
The benefits for Iraq and Afghanistan are effective Tuesday, March 23, the Pentagon said.
read more here
Combat troops get 15 extra days of leave
New policy on brain death has families in mind
New policy on brain death has families in mind
By Gregg Zoroya - USA TODAY
Posted : Monday Mar 22, 2010 21:47:41 EDT
WASHINGTON — Family members of combat troops declared brain-dead will have an opportunity for a final reunion with their loved ones before life support is removed, according to new guidelines provided to battlefield doctors.
The guidelines are aimed at helping doctors determine what to do when a combat casualty suffers brain death, a decision physicians were left to figure out before on a case-by-case basis.
Moving brain-dead troops to more advanced military hospitals, such as those in Europe or the United States, will also make it possible to harvest organs for transplants, the guidelines say.
The recommendations were issued last week by the military’s Joint Theater Trauma System, which provides medical research and guidance for battlefield care.
By Gregg Zoroya - USA TODAY
Posted : Monday Mar 22, 2010 21:47:41 EDT
WASHINGTON — Family members of combat troops declared brain-dead will have an opportunity for a final reunion with their loved ones before life support is removed, according to new guidelines provided to battlefield doctors.
The guidelines are aimed at helping doctors determine what to do when a combat casualty suffers brain death, a decision physicians were left to figure out before on a case-by-case basis.
Moving brain-dead troops to more advanced military hospitals, such as those in Europe or the United States, will also make it possible to harvest organs for transplants, the guidelines say.
The recommendations were issued last week by the military’s Joint Theater Trauma System, which provides medical research and guidance for battlefield care.
Since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began, about 175 troops with catastrophic head injuries have been evacuated from the war zones only to die later of their wounds, says Army Col. Brian Eastridge, director of the Joint Theater Trauma System. Doctors in combat operations are not required to obtain permission from next of kin before removing a brain-dead patient from life support, Eastridge says.
read more here
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