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
Oregon National Guard soldiers welcomed home from a year in Iraq
Oregon National Guard soldiers welcomed home from a year in Iraq
Eugene (KMTR) Husbands and wives, fathers and mothers all reunited. The men and women of the Oregon National Guard’s 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team are home after serving a year in Iraq.
Thousands showed up for the demobilization ceremony at the Lane County Fairgrounds. Based in Springfield these soldiers spent about ten months in Iraq protecting convoys from road-side bombs and more.
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Oregon National Guard soldiers welcomed home
Eugene (KMTR) Husbands and wives, fathers and mothers all reunited. The men and women of the Oregon National Guard’s 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team are home after serving a year in Iraq.
Thousands showed up for the demobilization ceremony at the Lane County Fairgrounds. Based in Springfield these soldiers spent about ten months in Iraq protecting convoys from road-side bombs and more.
go here for more
Oregon National Guard soldiers welcomed home
Silver Stars for 4 for actions at COP Keating
Silver Stars for 4 for actions at COP Keating
At least 4 more nominations pending approval
By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Apr 25, 2010 10:01:05 EDT
The fighting began at 6 a.m. Enemy fighters occupying high ground fired a recoilless rifle, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, machine guns and rifles into all four sides of Combat Outpost Keating.
The soldiers at the small American and Afghan post in the mountains of Afghanistan’s Nuristan province were outnumbered by an enemy force of almost 400.
Almost immediately, the Americans’ mortars were pinned down and could not fire.
At least 4 more nominations pending approval
By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Apr 25, 2010 10:01:05 EDT
The fighting began at 6 a.m. Enemy fighters occupying high ground fired a recoilless rifle, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, machine guns and rifles into all four sides of Combat Outpost Keating.
The soldiers at the small American and Afghan post in the mountains of Afghanistan’s Nuristan province were outnumbered by an enemy force of almost 400.
Almost immediately, the Americans’ mortars were pinned down and could not fire.
The Silver Stars were awarded to
Capt. Christopher Cordova,
1st Lt. Andrew Bundermann,
Sgt. 1st Class Jonathan Hill and
Sgt. Thomas Rasmussen.
Details from the narratives that accompany the awards paint a harrowing picture of what happened that day in northeast Afghanistan.
go here for more
Jodi Owen "adopted veteran" at Melbourne Veterans Reunion
Lending a hand to those who served
Owen's work has made a difference to numerous veterans
BY R. NORMAN MOODY • FLORIDA TODAY • April 24, 2010
MELBOURNE — Wearing a sleeveless reunion T-shirt, Jodi Owen mingled among veterans at the 23rd annual Vietnam and All Veterans Reunion. Her green pop-up tent sits in the midst of their campsite.
Owen is not a veteran but is very much a part of the brotherhood that comes together at the reunion, sharing war stories, friendship and camaraderie.
She came to know many of these veterans as a volunteer at the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall. She counseled those who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder while working on her doctorate at Florida Institute of Technology.
Since graduating in 2000 with a doctorate in psychology, Owen has attended all but one of the annual reunions.
"These are some of my best friends," she said, motioning to a section of the campground at Wickham Park in Melbourne. "I know all the people along here."
read more here
Lending a hand to those who served
Owen's work has made a difference to numerous veterans
BY R. NORMAN MOODY • FLORIDA TODAY • April 24, 2010
MELBOURNE — Wearing a sleeveless reunion T-shirt, Jodi Owen mingled among veterans at the 23rd annual Vietnam and All Veterans Reunion. Her green pop-up tent sits in the midst of their campsite.
Owen is not a veteran but is very much a part of the brotherhood that comes together at the reunion, sharing war stories, friendship and camaraderie.
She came to know many of these veterans as a volunteer at the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall. She counseled those who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder while working on her doctorate at Florida Institute of Technology.
Since graduating in 2000 with a doctorate in psychology, Owen has attended all but one of the annual reunions.
"These are some of my best friends," she said, motioning to a section of the campground at Wickham Park in Melbourne. "I know all the people along here."
read more here
Lending a hand to those who served
Vet who committed suicide fought depression, PTSD
Vet who committed suicide fought depression, PTSD
Jesse Huff ‘was truly depressed because he wanted nothing more than to be in the military.’
Staff Writers
Updated 2:13 AM Sunday, April 25, 2010
DAYTON — In the three years since his discharge from the Army, Jesse Huff never fully revealed the furies of his demons as storm cloud after storm cloud gathered over his life.
In 2008, his mother, Sharon Nales, died from an accidental drug overdose. His father, Charles Huff Sr., has had several convictions for cocaine possession. He rarely got to see his adored young daughter, Gabriella. He suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and his injuries from a roadside bomb in Iraq left him with chronic, severe pain in his lower back and legs.
“He was truly depressed,” said his sister, Heather Lake, “because he wanted nothing more than to be in the military.”
The 27-year-old soldier arrived at the emergency room at the Dayton Veterans Affairs Medical Center about 1 a.m., April 16, seeking immediate help because he was “paranoid someone was after him” according to Scott Labensky, the father of Jesse’s half-brother Dalton.
At 2:45 a.m., Huff walked out of the ER “against medical advice,” investigators wrote in a Montgomery County coroner’s report.
Not even those closest to him know what happened during the next three hours. But at 5:45 a.m. Huff walked to the front steps outside the VA’s Patient Tower dressed in full Army fatigues, toting a backpack and an M-1 rifle racked with nine additional bullets in the magazine.
He rested the M-1 rifle under his chin and pulled the trigger. When that didn’t kill him he pointed the gun near his temple and pulled the trigger again.
go here for the rest
Vet who committed suicide fought depression, PTSD
Jesse Huff ‘was truly depressed because he wanted nothing more than to be in the military.’
Staff Writers
Updated 2:13 AM Sunday, April 25, 2010
DAYTON — In the three years since his discharge from the Army, Jesse Huff never fully revealed the furies of his demons as storm cloud after storm cloud gathered over his life.
In 2008, his mother, Sharon Nales, died from an accidental drug overdose. His father, Charles Huff Sr., has had several convictions for cocaine possession. He rarely got to see his adored young daughter, Gabriella. He suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and his injuries from a roadside bomb in Iraq left him with chronic, severe pain in his lower back and legs.
“He was truly depressed,” said his sister, Heather Lake, “because he wanted nothing more than to be in the military.”
The 27-year-old soldier arrived at the emergency room at the Dayton Veterans Affairs Medical Center about 1 a.m., April 16, seeking immediate help because he was “paranoid someone was after him” according to Scott Labensky, the father of Jesse’s half-brother Dalton.
At 2:45 a.m., Huff walked out of the ER “against medical advice,” investigators wrote in a Montgomery County coroner’s report.
Not even those closest to him know what happened during the next three hours. But at 5:45 a.m. Huff walked to the front steps outside the VA’s Patient Tower dressed in full Army fatigues, toting a backpack and an M-1 rifle racked with nine additional bullets in the magazine.
He rested the M-1 rifle under his chin and pulled the trigger. When that didn’t kill him he pointed the gun near his temple and pulled the trigger again.
The journals’ recurring themes included his love for the Army and the brotherhood he found in the infantry. “He really felt like he belonged,” his brother said.
go here for the rest
Vet who committed suicide fought depression, PTSD
Disabled Vietnam War veteran worries about newer veterans
200 new VA patients put on wait list
By Gretel C. Kovach, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Saturday, April 24, 2010 at 12:02 a.m.
The San Diego VA Healthcare System has placed about 200 new patients on a wait list for appointments after being overwhelmed by an ongoing surge of veterans needing care and the administration’s difficulty hiring medical providers, the network’s staff said Friday.
The system is struggling with more patients because of the nation’s economic troubles and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It expects to resolve its scheduling backlog in about a week after adding three primary-care physicians and one nurse practitioner, said Dr. Robert M. Smith, chief of staff for the San Diego VA Healthcare System.
Although acute-care needs, including mental health and urgent-care visits, were not wait-listed when the staffing problem arose a few weeks ago, this is the worst scheduling bottleneck the San Diego VA system has had in years, he said.
“Our capacity to absorb new patients into some of our primary-care panels fell behind. But we are already hiring doctors to address the deficiency,” Smith said. “It was the perfect storm of the workload increasing and difficulty getting some of the primary-care people in place.”
VA officials also plan to temporarily assign 50 to 100 extra patients to some primary-care physicians, who normally handle about 1,200 patients each, Smith said.
Donn Dunlap, 63, of El Cajon, a partially disabled Vietnam War veteran and retired Marine first sergeant, had alerted the staff for Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, to the problem. Dunlap was unable to schedule a new-patient appointment after moving back to San Diego County.
read more here
200 new VA patients put on wait list
By Gretel C. Kovach, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Saturday, April 24, 2010 at 12:02 a.m.
The San Diego VA Healthcare System has placed about 200 new patients on a wait list for appointments after being overwhelmed by an ongoing surge of veterans needing care and the administration’s difficulty hiring medical providers, the network’s staff said Friday.
The system is struggling with more patients because of the nation’s economic troubles and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It expects to resolve its scheduling backlog in about a week after adding three primary-care physicians and one nurse practitioner, said Dr. Robert M. Smith, chief of staff for the San Diego VA Healthcare System.
Although acute-care needs, including mental health and urgent-care visits, were not wait-listed when the staffing problem arose a few weeks ago, this is the worst scheduling bottleneck the San Diego VA system has had in years, he said.
“Our capacity to absorb new patients into some of our primary-care panels fell behind. But we are already hiring doctors to address the deficiency,” Smith said. “It was the perfect storm of the workload increasing and difficulty getting some of the primary-care people in place.”
VA officials also plan to temporarily assign 50 to 100 extra patients to some primary-care physicians, who normally handle about 1,200 patients each, Smith said.
Donn Dunlap, 63, of El Cajon, a partially disabled Vietnam War veteran and retired Marine first sergeant, had alerted the staff for Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, to the problem. Dunlap was unable to schedule a new-patient appointment after moving back to San Diego County.
read more here
200 new VA patients put on wait list
Two words mean so much to veterans from a grateful nation
Thank You: Two words mean so much to veterans from a grateful nation
Honor Flight sends 81 World War II veterans to nation's capital
By John Staed
Posted April 24, 2010 at 7:38 p.m.
WASHINGTON — It could have been the man playing patriotic songs on a French horn at the Washington, D.C., airport lobby, or maybe the raucous welcome home they received from family and friends Tuesday night at Greenville-Spartanburg Airport
Perhaps it was the first look at the World War II Memorial dedicated to their sacrifice 65 years ago. Or just a quiet “thank you” delivered by a stranger as they toured the nation’s capital.
Wherever they found it, the 81 WWII veterans from Upstate South Carolina learned that their nation hasn’t forgotten them, that despite the span of time, what they did so many years ago was critical to its future.
After the war, many said, they had put away those memories to move on with their lives, but in this atmosphere, they opened up a bit to talk about their experiences. Some family members said it was more than they have heard about the war in years.
read more here
Two words mean so much to veterans from a grateful nation
Honor Flight sends 81 World War II veterans to nation's capital
By John Staed
Posted April 24, 2010 at 7:38 p.m.
WASHINGTON — It could have been the man playing patriotic songs on a French horn at the Washington, D.C., airport lobby, or maybe the raucous welcome home they received from family and friends Tuesday night at Greenville-Spartanburg Airport
Perhaps it was the first look at the World War II Memorial dedicated to their sacrifice 65 years ago. Or just a quiet “thank you” delivered by a stranger as they toured the nation’s capital.
Wherever they found it, the 81 WWII veterans from Upstate South Carolina learned that their nation hasn’t forgotten them, that despite the span of time, what they did so many years ago was critical to its future.
After the war, many said, they had put away those memories to move on with their lives, but in this atmosphere, they opened up a bit to talk about their experiences. Some family members said it was more than they have heard about the war in years.
read more here
Two words mean so much to veterans from a grateful nation
Fort Campbell tries to stop soldier suicides
Fort Campbell tries to stop soldier suicides
By KRISTIN M. HALL (AP)
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — Thousands of soldiers, their bald eagle shoulder patches lined up row upon row across the grassy field, stood at rigid attention to hear a stern message from their commander.
Brig. Gen. Stephen Townsend addressed the 101st Airborne Division with military brusqueness: Suicides at the post had spiked after soldiers started returning home from war, and this was unacceptable.
"It's bad for soldiers, it's bad for families, bad for your units, bad for this division and our Army and our country and it's got to stop now," he insisted. "Suicides on Fort Campbell have to stop now."
It sounded like a typical, military response to a complicated and tragic situation. Authorities believe that 21 soldiers from Fort Campbell killed themselves in 2009, the same year that the Army reported 160 potential suicides, the most since 1980, when it started recording those deaths.
But Townsend's martial response is not the only one. Behind the scenes, there has been a concerted effort at Fort Campbell over the past year to change the hard-charging military mindset to show no weakness, complete the mission.
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Fort Campbell tries to stop soldier suicides
By KRISTIN M. HALL (AP)
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — Thousands of soldiers, their bald eagle shoulder patches lined up row upon row across the grassy field, stood at rigid attention to hear a stern message from their commander.
Brig. Gen. Stephen Townsend addressed the 101st Airborne Division with military brusqueness: Suicides at the post had spiked after soldiers started returning home from war, and this was unacceptable.
"It's bad for soldiers, it's bad for families, bad for your units, bad for this division and our Army and our country and it's got to stop now," he insisted. "Suicides on Fort Campbell have to stop now."
It sounded like a typical, military response to a complicated and tragic situation. Authorities believe that 21 soldiers from Fort Campbell killed themselves in 2009, the same year that the Army reported 160 potential suicides, the most since 1980, when it started recording those deaths.
But Townsend's martial response is not the only one. Behind the scenes, there has been a concerted effort at Fort Campbell over the past year to change the hard-charging military mindset to show no weakness, complete the mission.
go here for more
Fort Campbell tries to stop soldier suicides
Families are on the front line of PTSD
This is the line that says it all.
This is the most frustrating thing of all. Getting through to the families the fact that how they react and act is either part of the healing or part of the hell. If they don't know what the veterans are going through, they actually make PTSD worse. Yet if they know where it is all coming from, they not only help the veteran heal, they help themselves heal.
I know because aside from everything else I do with PTSD, I've been married for over 25 years now and with my own veteran since 1982. The more I learned, the more I learned what I needed to stop doing. I learned to stop getting angry when he woke up in the middle of the night and to stop feeling dismissed when I wanted to talk but he was having a flashback. I learned to not force him to do things he just couldn't bring himself to do and I learned to forgive him when PTSD was at it's worse and he was mean to me and our daughter. I learned to see him with different eyes and then, eventually, he was able to see himself through my eyes. He finally understood that the "good man" he always was still lived inside of him under all the pain. He learned to forgive himself and then he started to heal.
We can either help them or hurt them but if we hurt them, we hurt our own families and our own futures. We wouldn't walk away if they had cancer but it is all so easy for so many to walk away when they have been wounded by PTSD.
I don’t know why I do it, but would feel more comfortable if she would have done research or went (to therapy) with me. At least now I know this is something we are all doing. It doesn’t make it right, but I know other people do this.
This is the most frustrating thing of all. Getting through to the families the fact that how they react and act is either part of the healing or part of the hell. If they don't know what the veterans are going through, they actually make PTSD worse. Yet if they know where it is all coming from, they not only help the veteran heal, they help themselves heal.
I know because aside from everything else I do with PTSD, I've been married for over 25 years now and with my own veteran since 1982. The more I learned, the more I learned what I needed to stop doing. I learned to stop getting angry when he woke up in the middle of the night and to stop feeling dismissed when I wanted to talk but he was having a flashback. I learned to not force him to do things he just couldn't bring himself to do and I learned to forgive him when PTSD was at it's worse and he was mean to me and our daughter. I learned to see him with different eyes and then, eventually, he was able to see himself through my eyes. He finally understood that the "good man" he always was still lived inside of him under all the pain. He learned to forgive himself and then he started to heal.
We can either help them or hurt them but if we hurt them, we hurt our own families and our own futures. We wouldn't walk away if they had cancer but it is all so easy for so many to walk away when they have been wounded by PTSD.
Both sides of PTSD
By Terry Barnes, Special to Stars and Stripes
Scene, Sunday, April 25, 2010
Military spouses have been connecting on the Spouse Calls blog since it began three years ago. During that time, the most active discussions have been about post-traumatic stress disorder.
Most comments are from women seeking answers about a husband’s PTSD. Sometimes they are looking for advice or treatment options, but often these women just want to know they are not alone.
This month, for the first time, a veteran with PTSD posted an entry, revealing how the disorder looks from the inside. His questions were addressed by another blogger. Here is their exchange:
I was reading trying to figure out what I’m doing to my wife of 11 years, who is great.
I think I do all the things (other bloggers describe) except cheat or hit my wife. I have finally went to therapy but I think I am a little late because I have been hurtful. Same stuff: Saying it’s my money; wanting a divorce one day and wanting her the next; not interested in anything, including my kids’ functions.
I can zone out on the TV or computer and not talk to anyone, but if my friends come over, who I was deployed with, I feel comfortable and will become the old me.
I guess I thought (my wife) would care and want to help me, but I think I’ve hurt her so much she doesn’t care anymore and maybe doesn’t understand. She even told me I just want attention. I will try my best but it will bottle up until I explode into a three-year-old.
I don’t know why I do it, but would feel more comfortable if she would have done research or went (to therapy) with me. At least now I know this is something we are all doing. It doesn’t make it right, but I know other people do this.
read more here
Both sides of PTSD
Marine wives bond at baby shower
Marine wives bond at baby shower
By BRITTANY LEVINE
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
SAN CLEMENTE – The first time Heather Schuhlein found out she was pregnant, she had to break the news to her husband, while the camp Pendleton Marine was deployed in the Middle East. Now she's on baby number four and though her husband has made it back for every pregnancy, he might not make this one because he's training for an October deployment to Afghanistan.
Schulhein and about 20 other Marine wives attended a baby shower thrown by a San Clemente church on Saturday for women preparing to raise their newborns alone after their Camp Pendleton-based husbands head to Afghanistan this fall.
The women played baby shower games and received new car seats, strollers and baskets filled with baby clothes and diaper bags – one had a camouflage pattern. Each basket was made specifically for an individual family. Schuhlein's basket said "Baby Boy Schuhlein" on a blue tag. After three girls, she's finally having a son.
But the women who attended the shower said they came to meet other expectant mothers. The gifts were much needed for many who struggle financially, but weren't expected. Some Marines also attended.
"I thought we'd maybe get a little gift bag, but there are all these great, brand-new things for us and they don't even know us," said Caitlin Richmond, who is about six months pregnant with her first child. In addition to getting gifts, the women played games such as baby bingo.
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http://www.ocregister.com/news/shower-245738-baby-one.html
By BRITTANY LEVINE
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
SAN CLEMENTE – The first time Heather Schuhlein found out she was pregnant, she had to break the news to her husband, while the camp Pendleton Marine was deployed in the Middle East. Now she's on baby number four and though her husband has made it back for every pregnancy, he might not make this one because he's training for an October deployment to Afghanistan.
Schulhein and about 20 other Marine wives attended a baby shower thrown by a San Clemente church on Saturday for women preparing to raise their newborns alone after their Camp Pendleton-based husbands head to Afghanistan this fall.
The women played baby shower games and received new car seats, strollers and baskets filled with baby clothes and diaper bags – one had a camouflage pattern. Each basket was made specifically for an individual family. Schuhlein's basket said "Baby Boy Schuhlein" on a blue tag. After three girls, she's finally having a son.
But the women who attended the shower said they came to meet other expectant mothers. The gifts were much needed for many who struggle financially, but weren't expected. Some Marines also attended.
"I thought we'd maybe get a little gift bag, but there are all these great, brand-new things for us and they don't even know us," said Caitlin Richmond, who is about six months pregnant with her first child. In addition to getting gifts, the women played games such as baby bingo.
go here for more
http://www.ocregister.com/news/shower-245738-baby-one.html
What about soldier's rights?
We know they have the right to a military funeral and a flag over their coffin but what about the men and women coming home alive?
Think of what they give up before they go. They give up seeing their families, birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, and some soldiers even missed their own wedding days. They miss the birth of their children, first steps, first words, just as the miss the last words of people they loved passing away while they were gone. They give up the right to decide everything from where they go, when they go, how long they'll be gone and face the fact returning home wounded is a possibility out of their control just as dying in combat is. They also give up the right to free speech, are prevented from participating in political gatherings and in some cases, prevented from even posting online how they feel.
While they are gone they face all the same "normal" problems with messages from home, letters, emails and phone calls. This topped off with the reality of combat, putting someone else's life ahead of their own and mission above wanting to "call in sick" when they are too tired to get dressed. They do it over and over again no matter how they feel that day because it's their job. A job they were willing to do because they believed in something greater than themselves. It is one of the most dangerous jobs there are in this country.
We see police officers and firefighters putting their lives on the line everyday but once we send off a Soldier, a Marine, an Airman or a Sailor, we manage to forget all about the risks they take everyday doing their jobs. Out of our sight, out of our mind because we are not reminded of any of it as we watch the news or read the paper.
All of this and more, and it goes on until they come home again. Some come home on their own two feet and families breathe a sigh of relief never knowing if there could be wounds they cannot see yet. Some come home on stretchers facing months in the hospital and countless operations. Their families end up giving up their own lives to be by their side in military hospitals trying to put them back together again.
We're all oblivious to everything they go through. We talk about civil rights but we forget about a soldier's rights. Shouldn't it be their right to receive medical care as soon as they need it? Shouldn't it be their right to receive compensation to replace the income they can no longer make when they are wounded on their jobs? Shouldn't they receive all we expect for ourselves without endless lines, excuses and denials?
We've read for many years how the military is taking PTSD seriously but we see the suicide rate go up every year at the same time the suicide prevention hotline reports increased numbers of veterans seeking emergency help. If the military had it right, if the VA had it right, those numbers would be going down instead of up. If they had it right the numbers of successful suicides would be going down. The numbers of divorces would go down, just as the numbers of homeless veterans and incarcerated veterans would go down. The point is, none of it has been "gotten right" for a very, very long time.
I would love to see congress debate the rights of soldiers for a change. They manage to fight over everything but you'd think this one thing would unite all of them if they really do care about the men and women risking their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan, just as they had risked their lives in Kuwait, Bosnia, Somalia, Vietnam, Korea and other nations. Common sense should tell us that if congress really cared about the men and women putting this nation first above their own lives, above all they have to give up in order to do their jobs, they would be really taking care of all of them. If they really felt the way they say, I'd have very little to post about, less veterans to talk off the ledge and less families to comfort when they've found me too late.
Let's make sure that no veteran has to wait for a funeral like this WWI veteran. There are ashes of veterans in most funeral homes because no one claimed them and no one helped them receive the military honor they thought they had the right to.
Iowa military funeral planned to bury ashes of World War I veteran
WQAD
By AP DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The ashes of a World War I veteran are to be buried in Iowa. The Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs plans a military funeral
Let's make sure that something this stupid does not happen again because it is not the first time soldiers have been orded to stop killing themselves.
Army Officer Orders Troops Not To Commit Suicide
Blog All Over ...
By The Huffington Post News Editors
It's bad for soldiers, it's bad for families, bad for your units, bad for this division and our Army and our country and it's got to stop now, he insisted. Suicides on Fort Campbell have to stop now.
But this is the one that has my anger this morning the most.
Army Unit in Colo. Called Dark Place, Worse Than Iraq-
Soldiers returning from battle trauma say they're warehoused with too many drugs.
By JAMES DAO
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: Saturday, April 24, 2010 at 9:42 p.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, April 24, 2010 at 9:42 p.m.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. A year ago, Spc. Michael Crawford wanted nothing more than to get into Fort Carson's Warrior Transition Battalion, a special unit created to provide closely manage care for soldiers with physical wounds and severe psychological trauma.
A strapping Army sniper who once brimmed with confidence, he had returned emotionally broken from Iraq, where he suffered two concussions from roadside bombs and watched several platoon mates burn to death. The transition unit at Fort Carson, outside Colorado Springs, seemed the surest way to keep suicidal thoughts at bay, his mother thought.
It did not work. He was prescribed a laundry list of medications for anxiety, nightmares, depression and headaches that made him feel listless and disoriented. His once-a-week session with a nurse case manager seemed grossly inadequate to him. And noncommissioned officers - soldiers supervising the unit - harangued or disciplined him when he arrived late to formation or violated rules.
Last August, Crawford attempted suicide with a bottle of whiskey and an overdose of painkillers. By the end of last year, he was begging to get out of the unit.
"It is just a dark place," said the soldier, who is waiting to be medically discharged from the Army. "Being in the WTU is worse than being in Iraq."There are currently about 7,200 soldiers at 32 transition units across the Army, with about 465 soldiers at Fort Carson's unit.click links above for more
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