Vietnam veterans's dream comes true
By: Debbie Griffin, River Falls Journal
Vietnam War veteran and longtime teacher at Meyer Middle School Lanny Saumer worked for years to raise funds and build Trieu Trung Elementary in Vietnam, not far from where he served as a Marine near the Demilitarized Zone.
He worked with the non-profit organization DOVE Fund and engaged students at MMS students to support the project.
His wife, Karen Saumer, said construction on the $62,000 school finished in September last year -- just before Lanny died in November. He knew before he passed away that the school was finished and would be dedicated soon.
“It made him smile,” said his 34-year-old son Brandon.
read more here
http://www.riverfallsjournal.com/event/article/id/94914/
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Group wants Billy Graham's son off Pentagon's National Day of Prayer event
There are things I agree with Mikey Weinstein. When he makes sure that all soldiers get to practice their faith or lack of it according to their own beliefs, I think it's a wonderful thing. Yet when he wants the honorary chairman left off the event itself, that is really going way too far. It's a free speech thing on top of that. People can say whatever they want but no one is forced to listen. If they are forcing the troops to listen, then that would be wrong, but if they have a choice, there should be no problem at all.
Group wants evangelist off May Pentagon event
By Dan Elliott - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Apr 20, 2010 15:59:28 EDT
DENVER — A watchdog group on Tuesday objected to an evangelist’s invitation to speak at the Pentagon next month, saying his past description of Islam as “evil” offended Muslims who work for the Defense Department and the appearance should be canceled.
Mikey Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said inviting evangelist Franklin Graham to speak May 6, the National Day of Prayer, “would be like bringing someone in on national prayer day madly denigrating Christianity” or other religious groups.
It would also endanger American troops by stirring up Muslim extremists, Weinstein said.
Graham is the son of famed evangelist Billy Graham and president and CEO of both Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian international relief organization in Boone, N.C., and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, in Charlotte, N.C.
read more here
Group wants evangelist off May Pentagon event
Waging War on PTSD
When it comes to numbers, the going rate of PTSD is usually one out of three. Some say one out of five. The difference is between a fast change in the survivor or one that comes long after.
They can look back and see it through history but as much as they look back if they do not understand what opens the door to it, they will never really find what works for them to heal.
To "Know your enemy" finds a way to defeat them. This enemy invader will keep winning until the day comes when they understand what makes some changed so drastically while others walk away. The key to this is in their soul. How much they care, how deeply they feel, is the difference between grieving and healing.
US military wages war on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
After long campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, many US soldiers are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, prompting the US military to develop ways to help them, the BBC's Paul Adams in Washington reports.
Twelve soldiers sit on the floor, with eyes closed, focussing on their sacral chakra. They chant in unison.
An audience listens attentively to the words of a Greek tragedy, written 2,500 years ago.
And a young man, mentally scarred, trains a dog to open doors for an injured colleague.
These are surprising scenes from the US military's 21st Century war on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
It's been more than eight years since the US went to war in Afghanistan, and more than seven since it invaded Iraq.
In that time, almost two million American men and women have been sent to one or other battlefield. Many have been sent to both.
It's hard to know precisely how many have already suffered PTSD, or will do as a result of their traumatic experiences, but experts believe the number is high.
Family distress
Dr Charles Engel, director of the Pentagon's Deployment Health Clinical Center based at the Walter Reed military hospital in Washington, extrapolates on the basis of past experience.
The Theatre of War programme has a huge healing effect, medics say
"What we usually think of in terms of PTSD are numbers of the order of 10-15% of people who've been deployed to theatre being affected," he says.
That would be 200,000-300,000 people.
"I think it's safe to say we haven't grappled with it since Vietnam," says Dr Engel.
Recent surveys have all shown that PTSD is taking its toll on military men and women and their families, with symptoms including depression, substance abuse, domestic violence.
"We're looking at skyrocketing suicide rates," says Tim Embree, of the campaigning group, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, "and we recently hit the 30-year high."
read more here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8634277.stm
They can look back and see it through history but as much as they look back if they do not understand what opens the door to it, they will never really find what works for them to heal.
To "Know your enemy" finds a way to defeat them. This enemy invader will keep winning until the day comes when they understand what makes some changed so drastically while others walk away. The key to this is in their soul. How much they care, how deeply they feel, is the difference between grieving and healing.
Many US veterans have been mentally scarred by recent conflicts
US military wages war on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
After long campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, many US soldiers are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, prompting the US military to develop ways to help them, the BBC's Paul Adams in Washington reports.
Twelve soldiers sit on the floor, with eyes closed, focussing on their sacral chakra. They chant in unison.
An audience listens attentively to the words of a Greek tragedy, written 2,500 years ago.
And a young man, mentally scarred, trains a dog to open doors for an injured colleague.
These are surprising scenes from the US military's 21st Century war on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
We're looking at skyrocketing suicide rates, and we recently hit the 30-year high Tim Embree, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
It's been more than eight years since the US went to war in Afghanistan, and more than seven since it invaded Iraq.
In that time, almost two million American men and women have been sent to one or other battlefield. Many have been sent to both.
It's hard to know precisely how many have already suffered PTSD, or will do as a result of their traumatic experiences, but experts believe the number is high.
Family distress
Dr Charles Engel, director of the Pentagon's Deployment Health Clinical Center based at the Walter Reed military hospital in Washington, extrapolates on the basis of past experience.
The Theatre of War programme has a huge healing effect, medics say
"What we usually think of in terms of PTSD are numbers of the order of 10-15% of people who've been deployed to theatre being affected," he says.
That would be 200,000-300,000 people.
"I think it's safe to say we haven't grappled with it since Vietnam," says Dr Engel.
Recent surveys have all shown that PTSD is taking its toll on military men and women and their families, with symptoms including depression, substance abuse, domestic violence.
"We're looking at skyrocketing suicide rates," says Tim Embree, of the campaigning group, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, "and we recently hit the 30-year high."
read more here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8634277.stm
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Vietnam veterans honored for their service and sacrifice
Vietnam veterans honored for their service
By Malia Rulon - Gannett News Service
Posted : Monday Apr 19, 2010 20:43:28 EDT
WASHINGTON — Sisters, brothers, wives, daughters, sons, grandchildren, friends and volunteers took turns at a memorial service Monday reading the names of 97 members of the armed forces who died as a result of their service in Vietnam.
Among the names: William Howard Hegge of Cincinnati, who died six years ago of pancreatic cancer at the age of 54. Donald Dwight McCans of Gettysburg, Pa., also died of cancer. He was 60. So did William Black St. John of Hobe Sound, Fla., who was 67.
As family members read aloud the names of their loved ones, many noted the branch of service they were in, their rank and the dates served. Most also tacked on a too-common postscript: Agent Orange.
These service personnel, many of whom died of cancer decades after the war ended, don’t qualify to have their names etched onto the actual Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington.
Under Defense Department guidelines, only men and women who died from wounds suffered in combat zones are eligible. The wall contains 58,261 such names.
But the scars of war stretch far beyond those 58,261 deaths. Each year, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund honors men and women whose noncombat deaths are related to their service, through either emotional suffering caused by their service or complications associated with exposure to Agent Orange, a herbicide used by the U.S. military to remove plants and leaves from foliage that provided enemy cover.
Nearly 2,000 veterans have been honored since the annual memorial service began.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/04/ap_vietnamvets_041910/
By Malia Rulon - Gannett News Service
Posted : Monday Apr 19, 2010 20:43:28 EDT
WASHINGTON — Sisters, brothers, wives, daughters, sons, grandchildren, friends and volunteers took turns at a memorial service Monday reading the names of 97 members of the armed forces who died as a result of their service in Vietnam.
Among the names: William Howard Hegge of Cincinnati, who died six years ago of pancreatic cancer at the age of 54. Donald Dwight McCans of Gettysburg, Pa., also died of cancer. He was 60. So did William Black St. John of Hobe Sound, Fla., who was 67.
As family members read aloud the names of their loved ones, many noted the branch of service they were in, their rank and the dates served. Most also tacked on a too-common postscript: Agent Orange.
These service personnel, many of whom died of cancer decades after the war ended, don’t qualify to have their names etched onto the actual Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington.
Under Defense Department guidelines, only men and women who died from wounds suffered in combat zones are eligible. The wall contains 58,261 such names.
But the scars of war stretch far beyond those 58,261 deaths. Each year, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund honors men and women whose noncombat deaths are related to their service, through either emotional suffering caused by their service or complications associated with exposure to Agent Orange, a herbicide used by the U.S. military to remove plants and leaves from foliage that provided enemy cover.
Nearly 2,000 veterans have been honored since the annual memorial service began.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/04/ap_vietnamvets_041910/
Who more than self their country loved
And crown thy good with brotherhood
We all sing the lyrics to America the Beautiful with memorized verses but others live the lives we sing about.
Who more than self their country loved
by
Chaplain Kathie
The brotherhood they live is with the men and women they serve this nation with. They came from every part of this nation to join together as the defenders of this land. They serve to preserve our freedoms and rights. While they have been fighting on foreign shores for generations, they go where the nation sends them. Some may say, "I didn't want them to go." but circumstances and elected politicians, chosen by the majority, decided where they would go and for how long they would stay. This is why we as a nation must separate the politicians deciding from the men and women risking their lives because of their decisions.
Their brotherhood joins them together with others from cities, towns, political parties and faiths. They come together from broken homes and strong families, adopting each other as one of their own. This bond does not break. This bond is not forgotten. From the day they deploy into combat, they are no longer citizen thinking of themselves. They are warrior risking their lives for the sake of this nation and each other. When they return, they do not return to living among the rest of us as citizen once more. They return as veteran, the few among the many knowing what the price of our lives is. They retain it all in their soul.
America the Beautiful
Words by Katharine Lee Bates,
Melody by Samuel Ward
.......O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
Who more than self their country loved
They carry the burdens we will never know embedded in their soul and we move on. We see them march in parades as the years go by, yet once they are home, we feel our duty is done. Yet longing to return to our selfish lives we push memories of their sacrifices away until the next Memorial Day when we once again hang the flag from our homes and decorate the grave markers of our own family members. On Veterans Day, we may skip shopping and actually go to see them march down the street never once thinking that they are veterans every day of their lives.
We don't think of their wounds. We don't think of the memories they have to hold. We don't think of the nights they are haunted by dreams or the days when flashbacks take them back to danger. We don't think of how they grieve over the loss of brothers they shared their lives with no more than we think of the strangers they were sent to fight and defeat.
July 4th we watch the fireworks and stuff ourselves at cookouts. We feel oh so patriotic on a few days a year, but they know what it is like to have paid the price as patriots believing in this nation enough to be willing to lay down their lives for her.
No matter what they returned to, they would still find this nation worthy of doing it again. When asked, Vietnam veterans held this nation in that great of esteem, even after they were subjected to terrible treatment and betrayed, that they would still go back, still held onto their sense of pride they were among the few to know the price of freedom. They reached beyond themselves even then and made sure they would take care of each other as well as taking on the extra burden of other generations of veterans so that none of them would feel the sting of a national anger being taken out on the warriors sent or the ambivalence toward the wounded in need of care.
Today veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan carry on that brotherhood, that bond forged by service to this nation and they take care of each other. The rest of us move on, worry about what our own problems, become obsessed with the latest celebrity gossip and take political positions where we regard the other side as less patriotic without ever thinking that the men and women sent to fight our battles came from every political party, walk of life, faith and belief we now feel we have the right to treat with disgust. Oh, how we have managed to once again let politics remove us from gratitude.
Let the disagreements go on since they fought to defend that right to disagree. Let there be differences debated since our differences have as much to do with our strength as what binds us together. Let there be voices heard from different views. What we must stop is the slander and lies, the anger and hatred, the personal attacks against one party from another and begin to work with the knowledge the price of our right to speak freely has been paid from by the men and women serving together and risking their lives together first and foremost in their souls.
Let there be no veteran spending his/her days in need of help to survive with their wounds or neglected from our care. Let there never be one veteran left to regret they survived to the point where it becomes more acceptable to take their own lives than to live one more day in pain.
Let us never again send them into combat without preparing ahead of time to care for the wounded and the widows and let us never again allow any veteran we sent to wait for care that should have been waiting for them. "Crown they good" and let them know this nation is not going to forget the price they paid for the rest of us.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Sparta pastor’s spiritual journey leads to Iraq and back
Sparta pastor’s spiritual journey leads to Iraq and back
By STACEY KALAS skalas@lacrossetribune.com Posted: Sunday, April 18, 2010
The Rev. Deris L. Rice looks at life differently since returning in February after spending 10 months and 18 days in Iraq as a U.S. Army Reserve chaplain.
“I think I’m a lot closer to my family,” said the 30-year-old pastor of Congregational United Church of Christ in Sparta. “Family is the No. 1 priority for me now. Maintaining my physical health is important. That was one of the things I worked on a lot during my deployment.”
He’s also grown as a listener and gained an appreciation for beauty and the simple pleasures in life, said his wife, the Rev. Kristin Schmor Rice, an ordained Presbyterian minister and a student of supervisory education at Gundersen Lutheran Medical Association of Clinical Pastoral Education at Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center.
“He’s always been a reflective person,” she said. “But now he seems to appreciate the opportunity to do more of that out loud. He’s also become more of a ‘systems thinker,’ paying careful attention to how systemic issues or events in our world impact different people, and he’s been more willing to engage some of these issues as an advocate.”
By STACEY KALAS skalas@lacrossetribune.com Posted: Sunday, April 18, 2010
The Rev. Deris L. Rice looks at life differently since returning in February after spending 10 months and 18 days in Iraq as a U.S. Army Reserve chaplain.
“I think I’m a lot closer to my family,” said the 30-year-old pastor of Congregational United Church of Christ in Sparta. “Family is the No. 1 priority for me now. Maintaining my physical health is important. That was one of the things I worked on a lot during my deployment.”
He’s also grown as a listener and gained an appreciation for beauty and the simple pleasures in life, said his wife, the Rev. Kristin Schmor Rice, an ordained Presbyterian minister and a student of supervisory education at Gundersen Lutheran Medical Association of Clinical Pastoral Education at Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center.
“He’s always been a reflective person,” she said. “But now he seems to appreciate the opportunity to do more of that out loud. He’s also become more of a ‘systems thinker,’ paying careful attention to how systemic issues or events in our world impact different people, and he’s been more willing to engage some of these issues as an advocate.”
As chaplain of the 55th Medical Company combat stress control unit, made up of mental health professionals, Rice’s job was to “go along and support missions spiritually and religiously,” he said, regardless of his own political or social views.
“I’m not there to judge people based on what they believe. I’m there to provide for their needs,” said Rice, who described himself as being more on the “conservative, evangelical end” of the UCC spectrum, but open minded.read more here
Sparta pastor spiritual journey leads to Iraq and back
Operation Safety 91 brings wounded warrior to students
Saturday, April 17, 2010
OS91 brings US hero, William Castillo to New Hope Christian Academy in Minneola, FL
Friday, April 16, 2010, Operation Safety 91 (OS91) www.OS91.com founded to honor and protect America's 1st Responders, brought wounded Iraq/Afghan war hero, William Castillo to New Hope Christian Academy (NHCA) in Minneola, FL, to speak with the students. OS91 surprised William with a grand welcome from Mayor Pat Kelley, and Ladder 86 with Fire Chief Derryl O’Neal, Lt. Jim Simon, Vance Flummer, George (Sam) Smith and Josh Smith. Assistant Chief David Kilbury of Clermont Fire Department also attended. Representing Lake County Sheriff's Department were Captain Stevin Moss (Tavares) and Lt. Gregory Link (Minneola).
read more here
http://operationsafety91.blogspot.com/
OS91 brings US hero, William Castillo to New Hope Christian Academy in Minneola, FL
Friday, April 16, 2010, Operation Safety 91 (OS91) www.OS91.com founded to honor and protect America's 1st Responders, brought wounded Iraq/Afghan war hero, William Castillo to New Hope Christian Academy (NHCA) in Minneola, FL, to speak with the students. OS91 surprised William with a grand welcome from Mayor Pat Kelley, and Ladder 86 with Fire Chief Derryl O’Neal, Lt. Jim Simon, Vance Flummer, George (Sam) Smith and Josh Smith. Assistant Chief David Kilbury of Clermont Fire Department also attended. Representing Lake County Sheriff's Department were Captain Stevin Moss (Tavares) and Lt. Gregory Link (Minneola).
read more here
http://operationsafety91.blogspot.com/
Iceland volcano delays evac for U.S. wounded in Afghanistan
Iceland volcano delays evac for U.S. wounded in Afghanistan
By Nancy A. Youssef McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — The volcanic ash cloud hanging over Europe is slowing down U.S. military transport of soldiers injured in Afghanistan back to U.S. hospitals by eight hours, Pentagon officials said Monday.
Rather than flying from Germany’s Ramstein Air Force base, which has been grounded by the ash cloud, soldiers are now being transported to the naval base in Rota, Spain. The resulting re-routing to get troops to Rota means an additional eight hours of flight back to the United States, the Pentagon said.
When a soldier is seriously injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, doctors stabilize them there, and then get them to Ramstein where medical teams conduct emergency surgeries and stabilize them for the trip home. Troops then come home to the United States for long-term treatment.
Ramstein is a large mega-base that has been the home for such efforts to save soldiers since 2001; Rota is much smaller and not nearly as engaged in the wars. That said, there are far fewer injuries in Iraq and so far this month in Afghanistan troop deaths at 10, far fewer than the peak of scores of dead that came through Ramstein at the height of violence in Iraq.
Read more: Iceland volcano delays evac for U.S. wounded in Afghanistan
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/19/92451/iceland-volcano-delays-evac-for.html#ixzz0lah3QVlL
By Nancy A. Youssef McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — The volcanic ash cloud hanging over Europe is slowing down U.S. military transport of soldiers injured in Afghanistan back to U.S. hospitals by eight hours, Pentagon officials said Monday.
Rather than flying from Germany’s Ramstein Air Force base, which has been grounded by the ash cloud, soldiers are now being transported to the naval base in Rota, Spain. The resulting re-routing to get troops to Rota means an additional eight hours of flight back to the United States, the Pentagon said.
When a soldier is seriously injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, doctors stabilize them there, and then get them to Ramstein where medical teams conduct emergency surgeries and stabilize them for the trip home. Troops then come home to the United States for long-term treatment.
Ramstein is a large mega-base that has been the home for such efforts to save soldiers since 2001; Rota is much smaller and not nearly as engaged in the wars. That said, there are far fewer injuries in Iraq and so far this month in Afghanistan troop deaths at 10, far fewer than the peak of scores of dead that came through Ramstein at the height of violence in Iraq.
Read more: Iceland volcano delays evac for U.S. wounded in Afghanistan
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/19/92451/iceland-volcano-delays-evac-for.html#ixzz0lah3QVlL
Navy looks for answers after Seabee dies from malaria
Navy looks for answers after Seabee dies from malaria
By Nancy Montgomery, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Monday, April 19, 2010
HEIDELBERG, Germany — By the time he got to Landstuhl, Joshua Dae Ho Carrell was more dead than alive.
The Seabee was unconscious, with a tube stuck down his throat to help him breathe. His kidneys, liver and lungs were failing, and he was in shock, with his blood pressure falling.
Carrell, 23, was suffering from severe falciparum malaria, an infection of red blood cells acquired from mosquito bites that had sent parasites coursing through his bloodstream, sticking to capillaries, obstructing blood flow, damaging organs and, worst of all, causing his brain to swell.
It was three days before last Christmas. Carrell had been infected during a deployment to Liberia. He and 24 other Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3 were in the fourth month of a goodwill mission to renovate a hospital.
read more here
Navy looks for answers after Seabee dies from malaria
By Nancy Montgomery, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Monday, April 19, 2010
HEIDELBERG, Germany — By the time he got to Landstuhl, Joshua Dae Ho Carrell was more dead than alive.
The Seabee was unconscious, with a tube stuck down his throat to help him breathe. His kidneys, liver and lungs were failing, and he was in shock, with his blood pressure falling.
Carrell, 23, was suffering from severe falciparum malaria, an infection of red blood cells acquired from mosquito bites that had sent parasites coursing through his bloodstream, sticking to capillaries, obstructing blood flow, damaging organs and, worst of all, causing his brain to swell.
It was three days before last Christmas. Carrell had been infected during a deployment to Liberia. He and 24 other Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3 were in the fourth month of a goodwill mission to renovate a hospital.
read more here
Navy looks for answers after Seabee dies from malaria
VA GI BIll students underpaid living stipends
VA underpaying on GI Bill living stipends
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Apr 19, 2010 13:50:19 EDT
In a sign of continuing problems with the Post-9/11 GI Bill, Veterans Affairs Department officials acknowledged Monday that living stipends being paid to students for the spring term are outdated because of problems with computing the payments.
On average, this means students are receiving about $63 less a month than they should. In some cases, especially in high-cost areas, the losses could be significantly higher.
The problem came to light just days before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee will hold a hearing about implementation problems for the new and problem-plagued education program, which launched Aug. 1.
read more here
VA underpaying on GI Bill living stipends
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Apr 19, 2010 13:50:19 EDT
In a sign of continuing problems with the Post-9/11 GI Bill, Veterans Affairs Department officials acknowledged Monday that living stipends being paid to students for the spring term are outdated because of problems with computing the payments.
On average, this means students are receiving about $63 less a month than they should. In some cases, especially in high-cost areas, the losses could be significantly higher.
The problem came to light just days before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee will hold a hearing about implementation problems for the new and problem-plagued education program, which launched Aug. 1.
read more here
VA underpaying on GI Bill living stipends
Deal reached on family caregiver VA benefits
Deal reached on family caregiver benefits
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Apr 19, 2010 16:36:46 EDT
People caring for severely disabled veterans would be eligible for a host of new benefits — including payment for some — under a compromise reached between key congressional committees, the Veterans Affairs Department and the White House.
The agreement, supported by major military and veterans groups, proposes training, education, counseling and mental health services for the primary caregivers of veterans whose disabilities are so great that they likely would be institutionalized if a friend or family member was not providing daily care.
It also proposes full-day in-home respite care for veterans so caregivers can take a break.
For the live-in caregivers of severely disabled Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, the agreement provides VA health care for those who do not have other health insurance and a monthly living stipend to compensate them for what it would cost VA to provide similar care by contract.
read more here
Deal reached on family caregiver benefits
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Apr 19, 2010 16:36:46 EDT
People caring for severely disabled veterans would be eligible for a host of new benefits — including payment for some — under a compromise reached between key congressional committees, the Veterans Affairs Department and the White House.
The agreement, supported by major military and veterans groups, proposes training, education, counseling and mental health services for the primary caregivers of veterans whose disabilities are so great that they likely would be institutionalized if a friend or family member was not providing daily care.
It also proposes full-day in-home respite care for veterans so caregivers can take a break.
For the live-in caregivers of severely disabled Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, the agreement provides VA health care for those who do not have other health insurance and a monthly living stipend to compensate them for what it would cost VA to provide similar care by contract.
read more here
Deal reached on family caregiver benefits
Suspect shoots 3 at Parkwest Medical Center in Knoxville, kills self
Suspect shoots 3 at Parkwest Medical Center in Knoxville, kills self
Posted: Apr 19, 2010 4:49 PM EDT
Updated: Apr 19, 2010 6:06 PM EDT
The incident was first reported around 4:30 p.m. at the hospital at 9352 Park West Boulevard.
(WATE) - Officials say a suspect shot three people at Parkwest Medical Center in West Knoxville Monday afternoon, then died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
go here for more
http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=12337008&hpt=T2
Posted: Apr 19, 2010 4:49 PM EDT
Updated: Apr 19, 2010 6:06 PM EDT
The incident was first reported around 4:30 p.m. at the hospital at 9352 Park West Boulevard.
(WATE) - Officials say a suspect shot three people at Parkwest Medical Center in West Knoxville Monday afternoon, then died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
go here for more
http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=12337008&hpt=T2
15 years later, victims, residents remember Oklahoma City bombing
15 years later, victims, residents remember Oklahoma City bombing
By Ed Payne, CNN
April 19, 2010 3:16 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Homeland security chief joins survivors, local officials, others at memorial ceremony
"It felt like I'd hit a car," said Daniel Gordon, 37, who was about 7 miles from the blast
Teen, injured by bomb at 18 months old, goes on with life, rarely asks, "Why me?"
Two other victims share sense of destiny, aim to make a difference with their lives
Today is the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. Tonight, hear from the survivors and the people who lived through it. How has life changed, and what are the unanswered questions from that day? Tune in tonight for prime-time coverage beginning at 8 ET on CNN.
(CNN) -- Fifteen years ago, a bomb ripped through a federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in the worst homegrown terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
The April 19, 1995, attack killed 168 people, shattering the notion that America was largely immune to domestic terrorism.
On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano traveled to to Oklahoma City to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the bombing. She joined survivors, local officials and others at a memorial ceremony, standing in silence for 168 seconds representing the number of dead.
In a poignant moment, the names of each of the victims were later read aloud by relatives and colleagues, with speakers referring to their mothers, grandparents and others who died in the bombing.
read more here
15 years later, victims, residents remember Oklahoma City bombing
By Ed Payne, CNN
April 19, 2010 3:16 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Homeland security chief joins survivors, local officials, others at memorial ceremony
"It felt like I'd hit a car," said Daniel Gordon, 37, who was about 7 miles from the blast
Teen, injured by bomb at 18 months old, goes on with life, rarely asks, "Why me?"
Two other victims share sense of destiny, aim to make a difference with their lives
Today is the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. Tonight, hear from the survivors and the people who lived through it. How has life changed, and what are the unanswered questions from that day? Tune in tonight for prime-time coverage beginning at 8 ET on CNN.
(CNN) -- Fifteen years ago, a bomb ripped through a federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in the worst homegrown terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
The April 19, 1995, attack killed 168 people, shattering the notion that America was largely immune to domestic terrorism.
On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano traveled to to Oklahoma City to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the bombing. She joined survivors, local officials and others at a memorial ceremony, standing in silence for 168 seconds representing the number of dead.
In a poignant moment, the names of each of the victims were later read aloud by relatives and colleagues, with speakers referring to their mothers, grandparents and others who died in the bombing.
read more here
15 years later, victims, residents remember Oklahoma City bombing
Andrew Pogany called "coward" courageously fights for other PTSD veterans
Once branded a coward, he fights for PTSD victims
By PAULINE ARRILLAGA
The Associated Press
Monday, April 19, 2010; 12:00 AM
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- They call him the angry guy now. Even his friends. And at this moment, on a snowy evening when he should be home, putting his son to bed, Andrew Pogany is, in fact, ticked off.
He sits with a soldier in a law office. The man has brought with him a pile of medical files, and another desperate story: Sent off to war to fight for his country. Diagnosed, now, with post-traumatic stress disorder. Yet the Army, the soldier tells Pogany, is drawing up papers to discharge him in a way that could mean no medical benefits.
The soldier confides he thinks about killing himself. All the time, he says.
Pogany makes sure he has his cell number. Then he copies the medical records, and recommends a book by a Vietnam veteran turned Zen monk. The man once helped Pogany through his own tough times. Maybe the monk's words will help this guy hang on.
Two hours behind closed doors, then a handshake and the soldier leaves. Pogany seethes.
"Disgusting," he fumes. "This is so disgusting."
read more here
Once branded a coward, he fights for PTSD victims
By PAULINE ARRILLAGA
The Associated Press
Monday, April 19, 2010; 12:00 AM
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- They call him the angry guy now. Even his friends. And at this moment, on a snowy evening when he should be home, putting his son to bed, Andrew Pogany is, in fact, ticked off.
He sits with a soldier in a law office. The man has brought with him a pile of medical files, and another desperate story: Sent off to war to fight for his country. Diagnosed, now, with post-traumatic stress disorder. Yet the Army, the soldier tells Pogany, is drawing up papers to discharge him in a way that could mean no medical benefits.
The soldier confides he thinks about killing himself. All the time, he says.
Pogany makes sure he has his cell number. Then he copies the medical records, and recommends a book by a Vietnam veteran turned Zen monk. The man once helped Pogany through his own tough times. Maybe the monk's words will help this guy hang on.
Two hours behind closed doors, then a handshake and the soldier leaves. Pogany seethes.
"Disgusting," he fumes. "This is so disgusting."
read more here
Once branded a coward, he fights for PTSD victims
Camp Lejeune ignored water warnings
Report: Lejeune ignored water warnings
Published: April 18, 2010 at 9:37 PM
WASHINGTON, April 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. Marine Corps denies officials disregarded warnings about contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, N.C., for years.
Thousands of Marines and their families drank, cooked and bathed in water laced with dangerous chemicals, The (Charlotte, N.C.) Observer said Sunday in an exclusive report. Citing documents, the newspaper said when outside contractors raised concerns base officials ignored their warnings or ordered more tests.
The most contaminated wells shut down in 1984, more than four years after the first of repeated warnings, the newspaper said.
"The kind part of me wants to say (the Marines) took a while to figure it out," said Mike Hargett, a contractor who had raised questions about the water in 1982 and 1983. "The unkind part says somebody was sloppy and negligent."
read more here
Lejeune ignored water warnings
Published: April 18, 2010 at 9:37 PM
WASHINGTON, April 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. Marine Corps denies officials disregarded warnings about contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, N.C., for years.
Thousands of Marines and their families drank, cooked and bathed in water laced with dangerous chemicals, The (Charlotte, N.C.) Observer said Sunday in an exclusive report. Citing documents, the newspaper said when outside contractors raised concerns base officials ignored their warnings or ordered more tests.
The most contaminated wells shut down in 1984, more than four years after the first of repeated warnings, the newspaper said.
"The kind part of me wants to say (the Marines) took a while to figure it out," said Mike Hargett, a contractor who had raised questions about the water in 1982 and 1983. "The unkind part says somebody was sloppy and negligent."
read more here
Lejeune ignored water warnings
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)