"Crazy Nam Vets" vindicated by today's wars

"Crazy Nam Vets" vindicated by today's wars

If you ever judged Vietnam veterans, protested against them, called them names or regarded them as "crazy Nam Vet" here's your chance to apologize to them. When they came home, no one cared. No one was talking about treating the traumatized veterans differently than the general population that never once did anything like they did, went where they went, risked their lives facing what they faced, but now we know better. We see the men and women we send into combat as different from the rest of us for a reason. We know that justice demands their tours of duty be taken into consideration in deciding prison time or therapy. This is good but the fact remains in a perfect nation, they would never come home without the help they need waiting for them.

Incarcerated Veterans

In January 2000, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released a special report on incarcerated veterans. The following are highlights of the report, "Veterans in Prison or Jail":

Over 225,000 veterans were held in U.S. prisons or jails in 1998.

Among adult males in 1998, there were 937 incarcerated veterans per 100,000 veteran residents.
1 in every 6 incarcerated veterans was not honorably discharged from the military.
About 20% of veterans in prison reported seeing combat duty during their military service.
In 1998, an estimated 56,500 Vietnam War-era veterans and 18,500 Persian Gulf War veterans were held in state and federal prisons.
Nearly 60% of incarcerated veterans had served in the Army.
Among state prisoners, over half (53%) of veterans were white non-hispanics, compared to nearly a third (31%) of non-veterans; among federal prisoners, the percentage of veterans who were white (50%) was nearly double that of non-veterans (26%).
Among state prisoners, the median age of veterans was 10 years older than that of other prison and jail inmates.
Among state prisoners, veterans (32%) were about 3 times more likely than non-veterans (11%) to have attended college.
Veterans are more likely than others to be in prison for a violent offense but less likely to be serving a sentence for drugs.

About 35% of veterans in state prison, compared to 20% of non-veterans, were convicted of homicide or sexual assault.
Veterans (30%) were more likely than other state prisoners (23%) to be first-time offenders.
Among violent state prisoners, the average sentence of veterans was 50 months longer than the average of non-veterans.
At year-end in 1997, sex offenders accounted for 1 in 3 prisoners held in military correctional facilities.
Combat veterans were no more likely to be violent offenders than other veterans.
Veterans in state prison reported higher levels of alcohol abuse and lower levels of drug abuse than other prisoners.

Veterans in state prison were less likely (26%) than other state prisoners (34%) to report having used drugs at the time of their offense.
Nearly 60% of veterans in state prison had driven drunk in the past, compared to 45% of other inmates.
About 70% of veterans, compared to 54% of other state prisoners, had been working full-time before arrest.
Incarcerated veterans were as likely as non-veterans to have been homeless when arrested.
http://www.nchv.org/background.cfm#incarcerated

We locked them up, let them end up homeless, let them be brought to the point where after surviving combat they didn't want to live longer back here in the states and then we topped that off with not wanting to give them jobs. History is repeating itself but at least more people in this country know about what is going on.

But we also let them end up homeless too.

Veteran-specific highlights from the USICH report include:

23% of the homeless population are veterans
33% of the male homeless population are veterans
47% served Vietnam-era
17% served post-Vietnam
15% served pre-Vietnam
67% served three or more years
33% were stationed in war zone
25% have used VA homeless services
85% completed high school/GED, compared to 56% of non-veterans
89% received an honorable discharge
79% reside in central cities
16% reside in suburban areas
5% reside in rural areas
76% experience alcohol, drug or mental health problems
46% are white males, compared to 34% of non-veterans
46% are age 45 or older, compared to 20% non-veterans

Service needs cited include:

45% need help finding a job
37% need help finding housing

How many homeless veterans are there?

Accurate numbers community-by-community are not available. Some communities do annual counts; others do an estimate based on a variety of factors. Contact the closest VA medical center's homeless coordinator, the office of your mayor, or another presiding official to get local information.

PTSD is finally becoming a common term. When you think of how far we've come when it comes to OEF and OIF veterans, we have to acknowledge that we owe the debt to the Vietnam veterans who came home and fought for all there is today for PTSD. We still have a very long way to go. Now there are Veterans Courts but they are not all over the country. This is one more example of what the need is.

From War to Prison: Veterans Caught in the Criminal Justice System
Tim King Salem-News.com
Documentary highlights conflicts between returning PTSD Combat Vets and a criminal justice system that often fails to consider their unique situation.


(LOS ANGELES) - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and the impact this complex and misunderstood problem had on a young American's life is the subject of a hard driving documentary debuting online today called From War to Prison: Veterans Caught in the Criminal Justice System.

Nathan Keyes served two tours in Iraq during his 8 years in the U.S. Army. But when he came home from the war suffering from PTSD, everything went terribly wrong, and now this soldier is serving three years in prison.

His mom Jamie Keyes, says in his military service, her son followed in the footsteps of his grandfather and uncle; they both served in the military.

When Nathan came home from the war suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Jamie says didn’t know what to do for him.

"These boys don’t come home with an instruction booklet – how to deal with them, how to respond to them, and I knew almost nothing about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," Keyes said in a report published by C. Peterson with Barrow County News in Georgia.
read more here
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/april282010/in-their-boots.php

Soldier suspected in double homicide of wife, baby

Soldier suspected in double homicide of wife, baby

By DAN JOLING
The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 27, 2010; 6:39 PM

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Alaska police say the person responsible for killing a 19-year-old woman and her 8-month-old daughter likely was the woman's husband, a military policeman who returned from Afghanistan two months ago.

The bodies of Racquell Lynch and Kyirsta Lynch were found Monday morning in their Anchorage apartment.

Military police had gone there looking for 21-year-old Spc. Kip Lynch, who had not shown up for duties at Fort Richardson Army Post.
go here for more
Soldier suspected in double homicide of wife, baby

Ian Deutch survived a recent tour of duty in Afghanistan but killed as a cop in Nevada

National guard commander sees tragic irony in Nevada deputy's slaying after Afghanistan tour


KEN RITTER

Associated Press Writer

April 27, 2010 5:35 p.m.


LAS VEGAS (AP) — Ian Deutch survived a recent tour of duty in Afghanistan, identifying Taliban targets for artillery strikes. But he didn't make it through his second day back on the job as a rural Nevada sheriff's deputy.

Deutch was gunned down Monday by a man wielding an assault rifle in a casino parking lot about 60 miles west of Las Vegas. The death of the decorated Nevada Army National Guardsman and law enforcement veteran left those who knew him stunned Tuesday.

"The irony of spending a year overseas in a combat zone and then to come back and have this happen is, you know, tragic," said Lt. Col. Scott Cunningham, a Las Vegas resident and commanding officer of Deutch's guard unit.

Deutch, 27, a staff sergeant, and his older brother, Richard Deutch, a master sergeant, were among 752 soldiers with the 1st Squadron, 221st Calvary who returned home in March. Some members of the Wildhorse squadron suffered casualties but none was killed during their assignment in Afghanistan's Laghman province.



Ian Deutch was a meritorious service medal winner, a squad leader and a forward artillery observer who identified Taliban targets for artillery strikes outside combat outpost Nagil, Cunningham said.

"He's one of those guys, his full-time job is a police officer and his part-time job is a soldier," Cunningham told The Associated Press. "He's always been out there trying to help people and make a contribution to society.
go here for more
National guard commander sees tragic irony

PTSD I Grieve

Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on September 11, 2009

Click to Play View Details

Seroquel fine to be paid but what about the rest of the story?

AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals took advantage of the government and has agreed to pay a fine. The problem is, the FDA, another branch of the government, did not approve Seroquel for "uses that were not approved by the FDA as safe and effective (including aggression, Alzheimer’s disease, anger management, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar maintenance, dementia, depression, mood disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and sleeplessness)." Why isn't anyone asking the VA why they used them without checking to see if the company was telling them the truth or not? It's great to hold the companies accountable, but who is holding the VA and other agencies accountable?

Pharmaceutical Giant AstraZeneca to Pay $520 Million for Off-label Drug Marketing

AstraZeneca LP and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP will pay $520 million to resolve allegations that AstraZeneca illegally marketed the anti-psychotic drug Seroquel for uses not approved as safe and effective by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services’ Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) announced today. Such unapproved uses are also known as "off-label" uses because they are not included in the drug’s FDA approved product label.

The Wilmington, Del.-based company signed a civil settlement to resolve allegations that by marketing Seroquel for unapproved uses, the company caused false claims for payment to be submitted to federal insurance programs including Medicaid, Medicare and TRICARE programs, and to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program and the Bureau of Prisons.

The United States alleges that AstraZeneca illegally marketed Seroquel for uses never approved by the FDA. Specifically, between January 2001 through December 2006, AstraZeneca promoted Seroquel to psychiatrists and other physicians for certain uses that were not approved by the FDA as safe and effective (including aggression, Alzheimer’s disease, anger management, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar maintenance, dementia, depression, mood disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and sleeplessness). These unapproved uses were not medically accepted indications for which the United States and the state Medicaid programs provided coverage for Seroquel.

read more here

AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals

More vets eligible for service dog benefits

More vets eligible for service dog benefits

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Apr 27, 2010 13:33:37 EDT

Disabled veterans with sight, hearing and mobility limitations who might benefit from having a service dog at their side are being encouraged by a major veterans service organization to apply for government reimbursement of some dog-related expenses.

While veterans will need help from a Veterans Affairs Department caseworker to complete the form to request a service-dog benefit, VA officials are promising to respond to every request within 10 days of receipt, said Christina Roof, national deputy legislative director of AmVets, a group with more than two decades of experience with service dog policies.

“If you were ever turned down for a service dog or if you filed a request before February and haven’t heard anything, you should apply or reapply,” Roof said, because new guidelines make it easier to qualify.
read more here
More vets eligible for service dog benefits

Mental health patients turn to each other

Mental health patients turn to each other
Mental health patients turn to each other for strength, advice

By John Keilman

Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — Jim Bina was feeling good. And that made him nervous.

The Naperville, Ill., man had struggled with depression for decades, and he had learned to distrust happiness as an illusion that masked an approaching crisis.

It might sound like an unusual problem, but when he mentioned it one recent night in a hospital conference room, most of those listening nodded in recognition.

Bina, 54, had come to a support group for people with mental illness, run by people with mental illness. It offered them a chance to discuss and maybe get help for problems that, all too often, their friends, families and even therapists didn't seem to understand.

How do you feel comfortable at social gatherings when everyone there knows you tried to kill yourself? Should you abandon your religious faith if you're prone to thinking that you're God? How do you handle your illness when your child has it, too?

"A doctor can read about it but he doesn't know it firsthand," Bina said later. "Here, they get it. You're preaching to the choir. They know exactly what you're talking about."
read more here
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2011706627_mental27.html

Vets still giving back and donate settlement money to charities

Vets donate settlement money to charities
Published: April 27, 2010 at 11:01 AM


NEW YORK, April 27 (UPI) -- Military veterans who settled an identity-theft lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs said they will donate $13 million to veterans' charities.

John Rowan, 64, of New York, a Vietnam veteran and plaintiff in the class-action suit, and about 20 million other veterans settled with the VA for $20 million, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.

The veterans sued the VA after an employee's laptop with veterans' personal data was stolen in 2006. The veterans said the VA didn't do enough to protect them after finding the sensitive information was missing, the newspaper reported.

The veterans said they will donate the money to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund and the Fisher House Foundation, New York charities that help families of killed and wounded soldiers.
read more here
Vets donate settlement money to charities

For Delilah Washburn, 'every day was Veterans Day'

For Washburn, 'every day was Veterans Day'
Retired sergeant helped to found local VA clinic
By Judith McGinnis
Posted April 27, 2010 at 12:01 a.m.
Delilah Washburn, who fought fearlessly for the rights of veterans, particularly women vets, lost her own battle with cancer Sunday.

Services will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at Floral Heights United Methodist Church. Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. at Hampton-Vaughn Funeral Home. Washburn will be buried at the Dallas National Cemetery.

Born Aug. 5, 1952 in Blue Ridge, Ga., Washburn’s mother, Geraldine McGee, says Delilah, an only child, began talking to military recruiters by the time she was 15.

“They told her to come back and see them when she came of age,” McGee said. “Six days after she turned 18 she was in the Air Force, headed for Lackland (Air Force Base).”
go here for more
For Washburn, every day was Veterans Day

Afghanistan veteran, deputy sheriff killed second day back on the job

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

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

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

"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.

“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

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

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.

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

State new immigration law worries Arizona soldier

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

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

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.


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.

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

Silver Stars for 4 for actions at COP Keating

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

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.

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

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

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.
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.

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.
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

Gen. Peter Chiarelli says mental health toughest battle of his 37-year career

General Chairelli is right. I've been in this since 1982 and never thought it would ever get this bad for them. We should never, ever lose more after war than during it, but we do during a time in their lives when they should be healing.

Army general is point man in Pentagon's push to improve soldiers' welfare
Seattle Times

Army general is point man in Pentagon's push to improve soldiers' welfare
Gen. Peter Chiarelli, a Seattle University graduate and the son of a Magnolia butcher, ascended the ranks to become the Army's No. 2 uniformed officer. He has emerged as an outspoken advocate in the push to improve the welfare of soldiers.

By Hal Bernton

Seattle Times staff reporter

STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Speaking to cadets at Seattle University, Gen. Peter Chiarelli rose from the same ROTC program to become the No. 2 officer in the Army and an outspoken point man trying to improve conditions for soldiers.
Earlier this winter, Gen. Peter Chiarelli, on a visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, learned a hotel for injured soldiers had a faulty hot-water system. The four-star general told his staff that if the problem should recur, he wanted to know right away.

A few weeks later, Chiarelli was awakened around 3:30 a.m. with word of another complaint about the hotel plumbing. He got dressed and drove to Walter Reed to demand the replacement of a troublesome valve system.

The Seattle-raised Chiarelli is an emotional man who has emerged as an unconventional and outspoken advocate in a Pentagon push to improve soldiers' welfare. The son of a Magnolia butcher, during the Vietnam War he attended the Reserve Officers' Training Corps at Seattle University, far from the West Point path, and then improbably ascended the ranks to become the Army's vice-chief of staff — its No. 2 uniformed officer.

In recent years, the Army has been battered by scandals about its outpatient care for the wounded. In addition, surging numbers of soldiers have returned home from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries.

Chiarelli, who served two tours of duty in Iraq, says the mental-health crisis in the military has been the toughest battle of his 37-year career.
read more here
Army general is point man in Pentagon

Veterans with PTSD need our attention

Veterans with PTSD need our attention
Alamogordo Daily NewsDaily News Posted: 04/25/2010 12:00:00 AM MDT

Wednesday has been proclaimed by Gov. Bill Richardson as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Day. Are you aware that more than 1 million Vietnam veterans suffer from PTSD and thousands more are or will be afflicted by our current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? PTSD is a major problem in New Mexico and our nation.

Medical practioners define PTSD as a normal reaction to an abnormal traumatic event. The disorder results in such symptoms as anxiety, depression, sleep disorder and isolationism. It severely affects a person's quality of life and the lives of their family, friends and neighbors. It often leads to violence, breaking of laws, illegal drug use, an overuse of alcohol, and often results in homelessness.

Because of the stigma attached to mental illness, those afflicted may go underground and not seek treatment.
go here for more
Veterans with PTSD need our attention

Multiple Pedestrians Ignore Dying New York Hero

This homeless man showed more courage and compassion for someone else than everyone on the street that night. A man with nothing ended up having more than the others can ever imagine. He knew what it was like to care about a stranger and be willing to sacrifice his life to save someone else.

May God have mercy on the people walking by him as his life slipped away when they could have saved him.

Multiple Pedestrians Ignore Dying New York Hero

(April 24) -- A homeless man who was stabbed while saving a woman from a knife-wielding attacker lay dying in a pool of his own blood for more than an hour while several New Yorkers walked past without calling for help.

Surveillance video obtained by the New York Post shows that some passers-by paused to gawk at Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax early Sunday morning and yet kept on walking.

One man came out of a nearby building and took a cellphone photo of the victim before leaving. Another leaned over and vigorously shook the dead man before walking away. But most people never stopped.

Firefighters arrived more than an hour and 20 minutes after Tale-Yax collapsed. By that time, the 31-year-old was dead.

"They needed to help and call the police. I don't get it," resident Ramon Bellasco, 46, told the Post.
go here for more
Multiple Pedestrians Ignore Dying New York Hero

Lewis-McChord soldier says he killed wife

Lewis-McChord soldier says he killed wife

The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Apr 23, 2010 20:55:21 EDT

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Thurston County sheriff’s detectives found the body of a soldier’s wife after he confessed to killing her and told them to look in the garage of their home near Lacey.

Lt. Chris Mealy says detectives began questioning 28-year-old Sheldon T. Plummer this week after they received a tip that he had asked a friend how to dispose of a body.
read more here
Lewis-McChord soldier says he killed wife

Trading military uniforms for prison attire

From combat to lockdown: Vets in trouble
Trading military uniforms for prison attire
By Matthew D. LaPlante

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 04/24/2010 01:24:39 PM MDT


Click photo to enlarge«1234»Ray Lara, an Army veteran from the first Gulf War, attends a veteran support group that meets once a week at the Utah State Prison in Gunnison. (Al Hartmann / The Salt Lake Tribune)Related
Vets behind bars
Apr 24:
Sex offenses common among troubled vetsJohn Pace stumbled to his car, slipped Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" into the compact disc player and turned the key.

From half a century away, one Air Force veteran crooned to another:

When I was just a baby, my mama told me, 'Son,

Always be a good boy, don't ever play with guns.'

Five years as a military police officer, including a stint in South Korea, a tour of duty in Afghanistan and multiple deployments in Iraq, had all come to this: a drunken 23-year-old combat vet behind the wheel, determined to find another bottle to empty onto his pain.

Pace pulled into the dark parking lot of a TGI Friday's restaurant in Riverdale, broke a window and crawled inside. He took one bottle, then

another. Then he decided to empty out the entire bar.

More than 2 million American military members have served in the nation's ongoing conflicts, and many are returning home deeply troubled by their experiences. About a third suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury, depression or other mental illness. At least a fifth struggle with drug or alcohol dependency.

Mental illness and substance abuse are the greatest predictive factors for incarceration in America. And that has put thousands of veterans on a collision course with the nation's criminal justice system.

But no one has a handle on the extent of the problem because most police agencies, prosecutors and prisons aren't tracking who, among the accused and the convicted, has served in the military.
read more here
Trading military uniforms for prison attire

At least 7 dead in Mississippi tornado

At least 7 dead in Mississippi tornado
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 24, 2010 7:03 p.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: At least 7 killed in massive tornado; 2 of the dead are children
NEW: Governor calls the storm "devastating," says people have been trapped in wreckage
NEW: Worst damage is in Yazoo City and Eagle Lake, near Louisiana border
Forecaster says spotters reported the twister's path as up to a mile wide

(CNN) -- At least seven people are dead, including two children, after a tornado almost a mile wide tore through Mississippi on Saturday, the state emergency management agency said.

The tornado raked cities on the central western border with Louisiana northeastward to Alabama, the National Weather Service reported.

At least two people were killed and 15 injured in Yazoo City, one of the hardest-hit areas, where the massive twister flattened homes and downed trees.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who was in Yazoo City where his home is located, called the twister "enormous" and "devastating," adding that some residents were trapped in badly damaged homes.

"They're working to get to the people and rescue as many as they can," said Dan Turner, a spokesman for the governor, reporting "significant injuries" in at least three counties.
read more here
At least 7 dead in Mississippi tornado

Feels like home to me

Vietnam Veterans Reunion


Last Sunday the Nam Knights along with every other motorcycle group escorted the Vietnam Memorial Traveling Wall through the streets of Melbourne FL. The annual Vietnam and All Veterans Reunion began.



It gets harder and harder for me to overcome my heartache when so many people avoid one of the most important minorities in this country. We hear about the rights of African Americans and argue about Spanish immigrants in this country legally and illegally all the time. We seem to know more about them along with the latest scandal involving politicians, another minority, just as we hear abundant news regarding the celebrity scandals and their personal lives. What some people find important stories to know about astounds me.

When I am with people with no connection to the veterans or anyone serving today, I feel like I have very little to talk to them about. My Dad and all my uncles served in WWII and Korea. My husband's Dad and three uncles served in WWII, with one of them killed in action and another being so traumatized by his ship sinking that he had what was then called "shell shock" spending the rest of his life living on a farm. My husband, a disabled Vietnam Veteran and his nephew ended up with PTSD. My husband receives help to stay stabilized but his nephew ended up committing suicide. Veterans are a huge part of my life but few seem to understand or even care.

This blog alone is a great indication of the lack of attention the general public delivers. The most read post I've done on this blog or my older ones was about a Marine tossing a puppy off a cliff. The stories of heroism were passed over. The stories about suicides were passed over. Very little is read. When my videos were on YouTube, they were watched thousands of times while other videos were watched millions of times on various topics from comedy, to music, to people behaving like idiots looking for laughs.

Some people say they can't understand because they didn't serve. I didn't serve either but because I am personally involved, I'm personally committed to them.

23rd Annual Florida Vietnam and All Veterans Reunion
April 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 , 2010 at Wickham Park Melbourne, Florida
Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall®, April 18th - 25th, 2010

AGENDA FOR SATURDAY 4/24

10:00 AM - Line up for Massing of the Colors, back of Amphitheater
11:00 AM - Opening Ceremonies/Massing of the Colors
12:00 PM - LZ Helicopter Landing
1:00 PM - Two of Diamonds
2:00 PM - Doc Holiday
2:30 PM - Sweetwater Junction Band
3:30 PM - Patience Mason, at the Wall, Recovering from War - PTSD
4:00 PM - Doc Holiday
4:30 PM - Catlin Wehrly
5:30 PM - Suncoast Vietnam Vets "The Last Patrol"
6:00 PM - John Steer
6:45 PM - Doc Holiday
7:00 PM - Michael J Martin
8:30 PM - Doc Holiday
9:00 PM - Viva Rock Band
http://floridaveteransreunion.com/

This soldier was touched by the Wall and we talked for a little while. I thanked him for serving, which to some seems like a very small thing to do but considering that it is a certainty he enlisted, it was the least I could do. Vietnam veterans came home and no one thanked them.

But just as with years before the crowds came to see old friends and to honor the friends left behind. They came together to share stories and to remember that while few others will understand and even less will appreciate what they did, there is a bond that has yet to be broken.

Being with them feels like home to me so that I am able to help other generations and I never forget that the knowledge I have, the training I've taken, was all possible because of what they did when they came home and no one cared about them. They fought to have PTSD treated and compensated for. They made all the trauma related services possible, but again, few understand this. Yet another minority taken care of because veterans cared enough to make a difference. Not just for themselves, but for all generations. Not just for people with military histories to tell, but for all civilians affected by traumatic events.

So Monday I go back to work after a few hours of posting and talk to people without the slightest clue what it is like to be with these men and women, to talk to them and go beyond showing up for parades or to honor a coffin coming home. In my deepest prayers are prayers that everyone will embrace the chance to get to know them and really understand that for all we have, we owe most of it to them. No one likes war but we forget they would rather not have to go into combat either. No one wants war but we have them to thank when they are willing to go. If the subject comes up, it will be quickly changed by someone and I'll go with the flow until I come home and catch up on the emails and reports few others will ever read.

It's not like I have any real choice in the matter. Once you know them, once you understand them, once you really pay attention to all they go through, there is no way of going back to being oblivious. They make this all feel like home to me.

U.S. soldier who was killed trying to help others honored at memorial service

Soldier killed by car honored at memorial
By Dan Blottenberger, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Friday, April 23, 2010

SCHWEINFURT, Germany — Hundreds of friends and family packed Ledward Barracks chapel in Schweinfurt on Thursday to remember a U.S. soldier who was killed trying to help others.

Staff Sgt. Thomas H. Oakley, 33, of Coventry, R.I., was struck and killed by a car April 14 near Bamberg after he stopped to help some motorists involved in a car accident. To those attending the memorial, it was no surprise that Oakley died trying to help others.

"He left this world the same way he lived in it — in the service of others," said Capt. Lee Gray, Oakley’s company commander, during the service. "Staff Sergeant Oakley didn’t have to stop late at night — to help others involved in the accident on the autobahn — he knew that his family was waiting for him at home, but [helping others] was programmed in his DNA."
read more here
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=69535

Ungrateful employers won't hire veterans?

We do a great job of talking about supporting the troops and being a grateful nation but when it comes to proving it, we do a lousy job. If a company won't hire a man or woman after they sacrificed and risked their lives, then maybe they should pay hire taxes to cover the pay these veterans will not be receiving as an employee.

Stigma of service may hurt vets’ job search
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, April 23, 2010
WASHINGTON — When Joe Tryon left the Army in early 2009 he assumed his six years as an officer and command experience in Iraq would make him an attractive employee. More than a year later, he still hasn’t found a job.

“I thought my combat leadership would outweigh boardroom experience,” the 32-year-old said. “But apparently it does not.”

At least part of the reason for that, say veterans groups, is a lingering stigma among some employers who worry what else combat troops carry with them: post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, or similar mental health problems. Tryon said he heard that concern in several job interviews.

Earlier this week a group of lawmakers led by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., pushed once again to undo that stereotype, proposing legislation to help veterans better showcase their skills to potential employers through job training programs, expanded GI Bill benefits and career counseling advice.
read more here
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=69531

Great Vietnam veteran story turned into crap by bad editor

This could have been a really great story on this Vietnam veteran had it not been for terrible editing topping off bad reporting. This is exactly the way it appeared. Believe me I know how easy it is to make mistakes typing but that's what editors are for. I don't have one and that's why you see mistakes on my posts, but this is a "news station".......they can afford an editor!

Veteran receives long-overdue honor
Updated: Tuesday, 20 Apr 2010, 8:10 AM EDT
Published : Tuesday, 20 Apr 2010, 8:10 AM EDT

Joe Arena
Posted by: Emily Lenihan
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WIVB) - A Dunkirk native has received a long-overdue honor.

It comes more than a decade after her died from complications her suffered while serving in Vietnam.

They may not have died in action, but they passed away as a result of the action they endured during the Vietnam conflict. Dunkirk native Michael Gregoreski is one of those men. Monday in our nation's capitol, Michael and several men just like him were honored for their service.

"This memorial is for veterans who died because of causes from in injuries or because of agent orange while they served in Vietnam," said Michael's cousin Pam.

Michael's name, along with almost a hundred more, will be etched on another wall adjacent to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. The former Army private passed away in 1999 as a result of combat injuries. He didn't fight for the awards, but Pam says he earned every one them.

"Mike received four purple hearts, he had a silver star and there were multiple other awards as well," Pam said.
read more here
http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/local/Veteran-receives-long-overdue-honor

Army Withdraws Evangelist Speech Invite

Army Withdraws Evangelist Speech Invite

April 23, 2010
Stars and Stripesby Jeff Schogol

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Army has disinvited Franklin Graham to speak at the Pentagon on National Prayer Day after a military advocacy group objected because Graham has reportedly described Islam as “evil” and “wicked.”

“I regret that the Army felt it was necessary to rescind their invitation to the National Day of Prayer Task Force to participate in the Pentagon’s special prayer service,” Graham said in a statement on Thursday.

I want to express my strong support for the United States military and all our troops. I will continue to pray that God will give them guidance, wisdom and protection as they serve this great country.”
read more here
Army Withdraws Evangelist Speech Invite

Marine's Murder Conviction Overturned

Marine's Murder Conviction Overturned
It was the only murder conviction the government had gotten in one of the highest-profile criminal cases against U.S. troops to arise out of the war in Iraq. A military appeals court on Thursday overturned the murder conviction of Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, who led troops charged in the April 2006 murder of an Iraqi in the village of Hamdania. Full Story

Healing Power of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial for some but pain for others

There needs to be something said right here and right now. While it's true there is great healing for most at the Wall, there is also another part of this story. There are some veterans unprepared for the power of the Wall. There are some that find their PTSD awakened because of a journey to this magnificent expression of their grief and loss.

I've had a few over the years stunned by thinking they came home ok from Vietnam only to find that once they stand in front of the Wall, they walk away in pain. Pain that had been sleeping inside of them since the 60's or 70's, fully taking control over their lives after. For them, seeing the Wall is their secondary stressor.

If you know a Vietnam veteran, do not push them to go to see the Wall. Take them to see some of the traveling walls touring the country. Make sure you stay by their side and are there, ready to listen if they need to talk. If they react badly, it's not a good idea to take them to Washington. If they seem fine with the traveling wall or say they feel better after seeing it, then they are ready for the monument in Washington. Again, stay by their side and be ready for what they need from you.

The majority find it healing and that is very true but we cannot dismiss that for some it's more painful than they were prepared for.

The Healing Power of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
New research finds visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial helps vets suffering from PTSD. But a single visit isn’t enough.
April 23, 2010

By Tom Jacobs

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., occupies a “remarkable place in America’s collective heart,” as Colin Powell noted during a 2007 ceremony marking its 25th anniversary. But does visiting the famous wall, in which the names of the more than 58,000 American casualties are etched in highly polished black granite, help psychologically wounded survivors cope with their loss?

A newly published study suggests it does, although multiple visits are apparently required for the positive effect to take hold. The paper, in the journal Environment and Behavior, looks at the way veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder respond to the memorial’s various design features, which combine to facilitate the process of mourning.
read more here
Healing Power of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

American Legion Post 293 gives a night out to wounded warriors

Thanking those who serve
Post 293 gives a night out to wounded warriors
Friday, April 23, 2010
By SARA K. TAYLOR

Staff writer


For members of American Legion Edwin Adams Post 293 in Waldorf, giving back is a way of life.

So when the National American Legion Headquarters, the largest veterans organization in the country, introduced a wounded warrior program designed to support injured servicemen and women returning stateside, Legion members were all for it.

Every few months the post calls on Joey Stretch, a White Plains limousine service, to head to Washington, D.C., to pick up recuperating soldiers and their spouses for a dinner at the Legion.

The ride to Waldorf is escorted by the Legion Riders, motorcyclists who are Legion members, who are devoted to various charity ventures.

For Ken Lake, 30-year Legion member and its vice commander, organizing the night out is just a way of saying "thanks" to those who serve in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"We're just trying to do our part," said Lake, a Vietnam veteran. "When I got back from Vietnam, nobody treated me like this."
read more here
Post 293 gives a night out to wounded warriors

Two teenagers arrested for killing Vietnam Vet

2 Arrested In Vietnam Vet's Murder At Carryout

Apr 23, 2010 10:35 am US/Eastern

Many Shocked By Carryout Murder Of 72-Year-Old Man(4/9/2010)
Man Killed In Carryout Shooting(4/9/2010)

Reporting
Kelly McPherson BALTIMORE (WJZ)
Police make two arrests in the shocking murder of an elderly Vietnam veteran gunned down in a robbery at a carryout.
CBS

Two teenagers are behind bars, accused of gunning down a Vietnam veteran in a robbery at a local carryout.

Kelly McPherson reports police announced two arrests in the crime Thursday evening and credit community outrage in helping to lead to the arrests.

Charles Bowman, 72, was not only a Vietnam veteran but also a security guard at a local paper.

His murder rocked the community more than any other murder, so much so that the police say his reputation is what motivated the public to come forward to help identify witnesses and ultimately two suspects.

"There's a lot of very upset people that this 72-year-old man, who everyone liked, on his way to work was senselessly murdered. So I think in this case, the victim's reputation helped," said Maj. Terrence McLarney, Homicide Division.
read more here
http://wjz.com/local/carryout.shooting.man.2.1650998.html

Fort Campbell tries to stop soldier suicides

Fort Campbell tries to stop soldier suicides
BY: KRISTIN M. HALL, The Associated Press Writer Thursday, April 22, 2010

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) — 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.

Adam wrote a note telling his dad, "Sorry to be a disappointment." Then he shot himself inside a bathroom stall with his rifle.

Spc. Adam Kuligowski's problems began because he couldn't sleep.

Last year, the 21-year-old soldier was working six days a week, analyzing intelligence that the military gathered while he was serving in Afghanistan. He was gifted at his job and loved being a part of the 101st Airborne Division, just like his father and his great uncle.

But Adam was tired and often late for work. His eyes were glassy and he was falling asleep while on duty. His room was messy and his uniform was dirty.

His father, Mike Kuligowski, attributes his son's sleeplessness and depression to an anti-malarial medication called mefloquine that was found in his system. In rare cases, it can cause psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety, paranoia, depression, hallucination and psychotic behavior.

go here for more
Fort Campbell tries to stop soldier suicides

Fort Carson soldier died of gunshot wound, brother says

Fort Carson soldier died of gunshot wound, brother says

LANCE BENZEL
THE GAZETTE
A 28-year-old Fort Carson soldier who became his unit's first casualty after its recent deployment to Iraq died of a gunshot wound, the Army told family members without providing specifics.

Pfc. Charlie Antonio, of Kahului, Hawaii, was reportedly found dead Sunday on his post in southern Iraq. The Defense Department said Antonio died in a “non-combat related incident.”

“They’re still in the process of investigating,” said Marlon Antonio of Kahului, who spoke with Army casualty officers Monday.

Antonio served in the 4th Infantry Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team, which deployed to southern Iraq in March. Its mission is to help train Iraqi security forces in preparation for the eventual U.S. withdrawal.

Marlon Antonio described his brother as a “good and kind” man who worked two hotel jobs in Maui before joining the Army a year ago.
read more here
http://www.gazette.com/articles/soldier-97577-fort-carson.html

PTSD On Trial:Judge to rule on whether psychiatrist can testify

Judge to rule on whether psychiatrist can testify about capital murder defendant's PTSD


By MARTHA DELLER

mdeller@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH -- State District Judge Scott Wisch is expected to decide today whether a defense psychologist can testify that Marine Corps veteran Eric Acevedo had post-traumatic stress disorder when he fatally stabbed his former girlfriend two years ago.

Tarrant County prosecutors say that on March 22, 2008, Acevedo, 23, broke into a Saginaw town house he had once shared with Mollieann Worden and fatally stabbed her. Because he broke in, what would have been a murder charge was elevated to capital murder.

Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty, so if convicted, Acevedo will automatically be sentenced to life without parole.

Acevedo's attorneys, Jim Lane -- a former Army captain and military lawyer -- and David Richards, do not dispute that Acevedo killed Worden but say that because he was diagnosed with PTSD after returning from his third tour of Iraq in four years, he should not be convicted of capital murder.



Read more: Judge to rule on whether psychiatrist can testify

National Guard renews suicide prevention campaign

National Guard renews suicide prevention campaign

In response to a rising number of Soldier suicides last year within the Army, the Missouri National Guard is reemphasizing its suicide prevention program.

Brig. Gen. Stephen Danner, Missouri Adjutant General, said no topic is more important.

“Every Guard and family member is equally important and an extremely valuable asset to our organization,” Danner said. “As such, we must take the necessary steps to care for the greatest resource this nation has to offer: our people.”

Danner’s remarks come in the wake of the highest number of suicides within the active duty Army in 28 years. According to the Department of Defense, there were 12 potential suicides among active duty soldiers in January and 14 in February. And there have been two potential suicides among Missouri National Guardsmen in the last six weeks.

With large numbers of National Guard troops being deployed for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, Danner’s message to the troops is simple. Help is available.

To that end, soldiers of the Missouri National Guard are participating in suicide prevention and awareness classes. Sgt. 1st Class Robert Meyers recently presented the course to Soldiers of the 1038th Medium Truck Company at Jefferson Barracks.

“The message I want these soldiers to get is that we must help each other,” Meyers said. “Soldier suicide hits pretty close to home and we’ve got be able to look for identifying factors and get these Soldiers some help.”
read more here
National Guard renews suicide prevention campaign

War will change your soul

Eventually no matter who you are, war will affect you. War will change your soul.

A US medic's tale of traumatic war stress treatment
BBC News

Specialist William B Allen is a US Army combat medic who served two tours in Iraq, spending 27 months there. He recently completed a three-week treatment programme for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at the Warrior Combat Stress Reset Center at Fort Hood, the largest US military base in the world.

Being a combat medic, we're on 24 hours a day. We had mass casualty events, female suicide bombers blowing up hospitals three times in a row. We'd be the ones to respond to that. I was always responding to these IED (improvised explosive device) blasts. I was blown up several times.

When you're back in America you never stop being hyper-vigilant. Insomnia set in for about four months. I was going bananas, I was going crazy.

I started drinking, substance abuse, I had suicidal ideas, even acted on those. I was tired of having the nightmares, I wanted to go see my dead friends.
read more here

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8634488.stm