Nevada deputy sheriff shot and killed in domestic dispute 60 miles west of Las Vegas
By Associated Press
April 26, 2010 11:53 p.m.
PAHRUMP, Nev. (AP) — A deputy sheriff who was shot Monday while responding to a domestic disturbance report about 60 miles west of Las Vegas has died.
The Nye County Sheriff’s Office says when deputies arrived at Terrible's Lakeside RV Resort in Pahrump, the suspect pulled a rifle out of his vehicle and opened fire without warning. The officers returned fire and killed the suspect.
The sheriff's office says one of the deputies was shot several times and was taken to a Las Vegas hospital, where he underwent surgery but died.
His name and that of the suspect were not released.
Nye County Sheriff Anthony DeMeo told KLAS-TV that the deputy was 27 years old, had recently returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan and it was his second day back.
Nevada deputy sheriff shot and killed
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Yankees call wounded at Walter Reed "real heroes"
Yankees moved by Walter Reed visit
By BRIAN COSTELLO
WASHINGTON -- For many Yankees, the highlight of today came hours before meeting President Obama or touring the White House.
The players, coaches, executives and Joe Girardi visited Walter Reed Army Hospital in the morning, spending time with wounded soldiers.
"For them coming up to us and saying thank you for winning a championship that's mind boggling to us because we were there to thank them," shortstop Derek Jeter said. "I think it really puts things in perspective. People always look at us and say that we're heroes but when you take a look at it these are the real heroes."
The Yankees met with a group of veterans as a team before breaking off into smaller groups and visiting individual rooms. A group of players also went to Malone House, a long-term rehabilitation center for injured veterans.
read more here
Yankees moved by Walter Reed visit
By BRIAN COSTELLO
WASHINGTON -- For many Yankees, the highlight of today came hours before meeting President Obama or touring the White House.
The players, coaches, executives and Joe Girardi visited Walter Reed Army Hospital in the morning, spending time with wounded soldiers.
"For them coming up to us and saying thank you for winning a championship that's mind boggling to us because we were there to thank them," shortstop Derek Jeter said. "I think it really puts things in perspective. People always look at us and say that we're heroes but when you take a look at it these are the real heroes."
The Yankees met with a group of veterans as a team before breaking off into smaller groups and visiting individual rooms. A group of players also went to Malone House, a long-term rehabilitation center for injured veterans.
read more here
Yankees moved by Walter Reed visit
Troops' care facility listed critical
Troops' care facility listed critical
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon effort to consolidate two premier hospitals for treating wounded troops has more than doubled in price and is so rudderless that an independent review and a bipartisan group of legislators say the care could suffer.
The cost of closing Walter Reed Army Medical Center, replacing it with a larger complex at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and building a hospital at Fort Belvoir, Va., has risen from $1 billion to $2.6 billion, Pentagon records show.
Correcting the problems raised by Congress will cost another $781 million, according to a Pentagon report released Monday. And improvements must wait until after the new Bethesda facility — named the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center — is finished in September 2011, the report says.
go here for more
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2010-04-26-hospitals_N.htm
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon effort to consolidate two premier hospitals for treating wounded troops has more than doubled in price and is so rudderless that an independent review and a bipartisan group of legislators say the care could suffer.
The cost of closing Walter Reed Army Medical Center, replacing it with a larger complex at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and building a hospital at Fort Belvoir, Va., has risen from $1 billion to $2.6 billion, Pentagon records show.
Correcting the problems raised by Congress will cost another $781 million, according to a Pentagon report released Monday. And improvements must wait until after the new Bethesda facility — named the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center — is finished in September 2011, the report says.
go here for more
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2010-04-26-hospitals_N.htm
"Crawdad" ex-Marine faces Giants
Giants give 33-year-old, ex-Marine Crawford shot
Giants Blog
By PAUL SCHWARTZ
Last Updated: 6:47 AM, April 27, 2010
As far as he has come, there’s still a long way to go for Brandon Crawford until he evolves from the oldest player in college to the oldest rookie in the NFL.
Giants Blog
By PAUL SCHWARTZ
Last Updated: 6:47 AM, April 27, 2010
As far as he has come, there’s still a long way to go for Brandon Crawford until he evolves from the oldest player in college to the oldest rookie in the NFL.
“I look at it as a chance, an opportunity to prove people wrong,” Crawford yesterday told The Post. “There’s a lot of doubters out there, a lot of people say ‘There’s no way that can happen.’ I guess in America you shouldn’t dream, that’s what you should tell kids. Don’t be inspired, don’t push for what you want to do.
“Everybody’s path is different. Everybody doesn’t take the same road to get to where they want to go and to where they desire to go. If that was the case, I think life would be boring. My path is different, that’s how I’ve always approached it and how I will continue to approach it.”
It’s not the path less traveled; it’s the path never traveled.
“A great story,” said Marc Ross, the Giants’ director of college scouting.
The story begins in 1996 when Crawford, a defensive end, graduated from high school. He received a handful of offers to play small-college football, but there wasn’t enough money to pay for school so he went to work in a variety of jobs, the last at an automotive assembly line. At 23 years old he needed something new and joined the Marine Corps, spending four years in the Corps — first in San Diego, then at a base in North Carolina — before receiving an honorable discharge in 2003.
“You have to be a tough-minded individual, be able to give a lot of effort,” Crawford said of his Marines experience. “You have to be unselfish, be able to get your bearings and be able to retain knowledge. The main thing that comes into my mind is team.”
Read more: Giants give 33 year-old ex Marine Crawford shot
Monday, April 26, 2010
Vet plans more Westboro Baptist protests
Vet plans more Westboro Baptist protests
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Apr 26, 2010 16:09:07 EDT
LaSALLE, Ill. — An Illinois veteran who was turned away from a Kansas church known for picketing service members’ funerals says he hopes to lead future protests against the congregation and perhaps push for legislative measures to stop it.
Jerry Bacidore of LaSalle is a veteran of the Persian Gulf War and the Iraq war. Bacidore, who served in the Marine Corps and Army, said he and 15 supporters from central Illinois were turned away from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., on Sunday.
Bacidore said he picketed outside.
Church members picket at service members’ funerals and claim troops were killed because the United States is accepting of homosexuality.
Westboro Baptist Church spokeswoman Shirley Phelps-Roper says Bacidore could have attended if he hadn’t publicized his visit in a local newspaper.
Vet plans more Westboro Baptist protests
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Apr 26, 2010 16:09:07 EDT
LaSALLE, Ill. — An Illinois veteran who was turned away from a Kansas church known for picketing service members’ funerals says he hopes to lead future protests against the congregation and perhaps push for legislative measures to stop it.
Jerry Bacidore of LaSalle is a veteran of the Persian Gulf War and the Iraq war. Bacidore, who served in the Marine Corps and Army, said he and 15 supporters from central Illinois were turned away from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., on Sunday.
Bacidore said he picketed outside.
Church members picket at service members’ funerals and claim troops were killed because the United States is accepting of homosexuality.
Westboro Baptist Church spokeswoman Shirley Phelps-Roper says Bacidore could have attended if he hadn’t publicized his visit in a local newspaper.
Vet plans more Westboro Baptist protests
Still Dying Under the Army's Care
Medicine is great to reduce pain when you are hurting but medicine for the rest of your life is not a good thing when you are in pain and no one is stopping the cause of the pain. If you have a bullet wound, you wouldn't want someone to tell you to pop a pill while they plan on leaving the bullet in and let the wound just bleed. So how is killing off pain but not going after the cause of it doing anyone any good? This is what a lot of veterans complain about. Medication is easy to give but therapy is harder to provide, so it is not done nearly as much as they need to. Numb them up with pills and then complain because they are using them more than they should seems idiotic just as complaining about them using street drugs to feel better when medications they are given make them feel worse.
But as a refresher so that we all remember this has been going on for a long time, here's a story from 2008 and what happened to a medicated solider instead of a treated one.
Army downplays story on WTU at Fort Carson
Survey: 90 percent 'satisfied' with level of care
By Jeff Schogol, Stars and StripesStars and Stripes online edition, Monday, April 26, 2010
RELATED STORY: Pentagon Wounded Warrior care official forced out
ARLINGTON, Va. — The Army on Monday played down a New York Times story that found problems with a Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Carson, Colo., saying it wasn’t an accurate reflection of overall care there.
The story, published Saturday, painted a bleak picture of troops receiving little therapy, being prescribed various medications that leave them disoriented or addicted, and enduring harsh treatment from noncommissioned officers.
Some of the soldiers swap medications with their comrades and others try heroin, which is readily available, according to the newspaper.
Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker said the Times’ story focused on a “select number of soldiers and families that were encountering problems,” and does not reflect the majority of soldiers in care.
read more here
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=69619
But as a refresher so that we all remember this has been going on for a long time, here's a story from 2008 and what happened to a medicated solider instead of a treated one.
Dying Under the Army's Care
By MARK THOMPSON Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008
Iraqi insurgents wounded Gerald Cassidy in the deafening blast of a roadside bomb just outside Baghdad on Aug. 28, 2006. But it took more than a year for him to die from neglect by the Army that had sent him off to war. When Cassidy returned to the U.S. last April, the Army shipped him to a hospital in Fort Knox, Ky., to get treatment for the excruciating headaches that had accompanied him home. For five months, he made the rounds of Army medical personnel, who couldn't cure a pain that grew steadily worse. Unable to make room for him in a pain-management clinic, the Army increasingly plied him with drugs to dull the torment.
At summer's end, the headaches had grown so intense that Cassidy pleaded once more for help, and his doctor prescribed methadone, a powerful narcotic. The next day, calls to Cassidy's cell phone from his wife Melissa went unanswered. After two more days without word from her husband, she frantically called the Army and urged that someone check on him. Nine hours later, two soldiers finally unlocked the door to his room. They found Cassidy slumped in his chair, dead, his laptop and cold takeout chicken wings on his desk.
The "manner of death" was summed up at the end of the 12-page autopsy: "Accident." But when he died, Cassidy had the contents of a locked medicine cabinet coursing through his body, powerful narcotics and other drugs like citalopram, hydromorphine, morphine and oxycodone, as well as methadone. The drugs--both the levels that Cassidy took and "their combined, synergistic actions," in the medical examiner's words--killed him.
Read more: Dying Under the Army's Care
State's new immigration law worries Arizona soldier
I'm here because this is something that's close to my heart," said Army PFC Jose Medina. "I went off to protect this country, to protect my family. That's what hurts."
State's new immigration law worries Arizona soldier
By Paul Vercammen and Thelma Gutierrez, CNN
April 26, 2010 4:01 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Pfc. Jose Medina expressed his concern over Arizona's new immigration law
Medina's friends and family talked about new law during his farewell feast
Medina wondered if some of his undocumented friends, family would leave the area
Phoenix, Arizona (CNN) -- At a vigil protesting the passage of Arizona's tough new illegal immigration law, a young man in Army fatigues and a beret lit a candle at a makeshift shrine.
Pfc. Jose Medina, an Army medic, came to the Arizona capitol while on leave, to express his sadness over the law, signed by Arizona's governor on Friday.
"I'm here because this is something that's close to my heart," said Medina. "I went off to protect this country, to protect my family. That's what hurts."
The new law, signed by the Arizona governor on Friday, requires police to determine whether a person is in the United States legally. It also requires immigrants to carry their registration documents at all times and requires police to question people if there is reason to suspect that they're in the country illegally. Some fear the law will result in racial profiling.
go here for more
Sgt. Coleman Bean, 2 Iraq tours, a tailspin and a tragic end
AP COURTESY OF GREGORY BEAN In this 2007 photo provided by Gregory Bean, Coleman Bean, left, his younger brother Padraic Bean, center, and his older brother Nick Strickland pose at Fort Dix, weeks before Coleman's second deployment for Iraq. Coleman shot himself dead at his New Jersey home on Sept. 6, 2008 at age 25.
2 Iraq tours, a tailspin and a tragic end
By Sharon Cohen - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Apr 26, 2010 7:09:22 EDT
Coleman Bean went to Iraq twice, but his father remembers a stark difference in his son’s two parting messages.
Before his first tour, his father recalls, his son said if anything happened to him, he wanted to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Before his second, four years later, he said he didn’t want that any longer.
“He still was very patriotic, he believed in duty,” Greg Bean says. “But he had sort of lost his commitment to what we were doing over there. His first tour ... had changed him.”
Bean enlisted in the Army six days before the 9/11 attacks. He parachuted into Iraq in the first chaotic weeks of the war. When he returned a year later, he offered PG-rated, sanitized versions of his experiences.
“We got glimpses,” the elder Bean says. “He didn’t give us a lot of details.”
Only later on, the elder Bean says, did he learn from Coleman’s friends and Army buddies that his son was among those who’d witnessed a horrifying bus explosion across the street from a safe house in Iraq where he and other soldiers had holed up. Several Iraqis, including children, burned to death before their eyes.
go here for more
2 Iraq tours, a tailspin and a tragic end
Marines get support from the homeland
Marines get support from the homeland
At Lake Mission Viejo, grateful civilians who've 'adopted' a Camp Pendleton battalion give the Marines a day of fun to remember before they deploy.
By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times
April 26, 2010
When she deploys to the violence of Afghanistan, Marine Lance Cpl. Sarah Hogg, 20, of Fort Worth, Texas, will remember a sunny day of food and friendship on the shore of Lake Mission Viejo.
So will hundreds of other Marines from the headquarters battalion of the 1st Marine Division who attended a festive gathering Saturday hosted by a Mission Viejo group that "adopted" the battalion seven years ago.
Although support groups for military units are common near bases throughout the U.S., some of the most active are those in Orange County that sponsor activities for the Marines and sailors of Camp Pendleton.
The Mission Viejo group arranges farewell parties before the troops deploy and welcome-home parties when they return. Volunteers visit Marines at the Wounded Warrior barracks.
read more here
Marines get support from the homeland
At Lake Mission Viejo, grateful civilians who've 'adopted' a Camp Pendleton battalion give the Marines a day of fun to remember before they deploy.
By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times
April 26, 2010
When she deploys to the violence of Afghanistan, Marine Lance Cpl. Sarah Hogg, 20, of Fort Worth, Texas, will remember a sunny day of food and friendship on the shore of Lake Mission Viejo.
So will hundreds of other Marines from the headquarters battalion of the 1st Marine Division who attended a festive gathering Saturday hosted by a Mission Viejo group that "adopted" the battalion seven years ago.
Although support groups for military units are common near bases throughout the U.S., some of the most active are those in Orange County that sponsor activities for the Marines and sailors of Camp Pendleton.
The Mission Viejo group arranges farewell parties before the troops deploy and welcome-home parties when they return. Volunteers visit Marines at the Wounded Warrior barracks.
read more here
Marines get support from the homeland
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Veterans prepare memorial for 5,434 servicemembers killed OIF and OEF
Veterans prepare memorial for 5,434 servicemembers killed in Afghanistan, Iraq
By Rosalio Ahumada, McClatchy Newspapers
Stars and Stripes online edition, Sunday, April 25, 2010
RIVERBANK, Calif. — National Guard Staff Sgt. Mike Gamino didn't think twice when he was asked to help paint more than 5,000 crosses to honor those who have died while serving in the U.S. military in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Along with 17 other war veterans, Gamino, 41, grabbed a paint brush and got to work building a ceremonial display for next month's Memorial Day activities.
"It's a form of remembrance," said Gamino, a Salida, Calif., man who has served in Afghanistan and Iraq. "It's also a way for us to come together and bond; like a brotherhood."
About 10 other volunteers joined the veterans Saturday at Bruce Gordo's Riverbank, Calif., home to paint the crosses. Each one is meant to represent a soldier, Marine or sailor who died in Afghanistan and Iraq.
While the crosses offer a tribute to sacrifice, the display will also provide a stark reminder of the number of lives lost, said Gordo, who served in the Marines in Vietnam.
read more here
Veterans prepare memorial for 5,434 servicemembers killed
By Rosalio Ahumada, McClatchy Newspapers
Stars and Stripes online edition, Sunday, April 25, 2010
RIVERBANK, Calif. — National Guard Staff Sgt. Mike Gamino didn't think twice when he was asked to help paint more than 5,000 crosses to honor those who have died while serving in the U.S. military in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Along with 17 other war veterans, Gamino, 41, grabbed a paint brush and got to work building a ceremonial display for next month's Memorial Day activities.
"It's a form of remembrance," said Gamino, a Salida, Calif., man who has served in Afghanistan and Iraq. "It's also a way for us to come together and bond; like a brotherhood."
About 10 other volunteers joined the veterans Saturday at Bruce Gordo's Riverbank, Calif., home to paint the crosses. Each one is meant to represent a soldier, Marine or sailor who died in Afghanistan and Iraq.
While the crosses offer a tribute to sacrifice, the display will also provide a stark reminder of the number of lives lost, said Gordo, who served in the Marines in Vietnam.
read more here
Veterans prepare memorial for 5,434 servicemembers killed
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