He struggled with demons — and lost

He struggled with demons — and lost
By Rubén Rosario



Duy Ngo, the veteran Minneapolis cop who apparently killed himself Monday, left a message on my cell phone May 28.

"This is Duy Ngo, officer Ngo,'' the message started.

I remember distinctly the "officer" mention.

He called me after I dropped off my contact information and a copy of a story that week in the New York Times on a national study of police-on-police shootings. I left it on the doorstep of his immaculately manicured Mendota Heights home when no one answered the bell. I remember the American flag planted near the mailbox, flapping in the wind.

Not knowing he had remained on the police force, I reached out to him because there was no other cop in the Twin Cities or Minnesota who could provide the proper insight or perspective about the results of this study.

"This is my cell phone," Ngo said on the message I still have. "Feel free to call me, and I'll see what I can do for you."

That was the last time I heard from or about Ngo. He never returned my calls before I wrote my piece. Then came Monday's shocking development.

Seven years ago, Ngo, then an undercover Minneapolis cop assigned to the scandalized and now-defunct Metro Gang Strike Force, was wounded by a robbery suspect he was chasing one wintry night. The still-unknown suspect fired a shot from a .40-caliber weapon that struck Ngo on the side of his bulletproof vest.
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He struggled with demons and lost

Minneapolis police officer Duy Ngo's death: Some wounds never heal
Some wounds never heal

Minneapolis police officer Duy Ngo had always said the lawsuit he filed against a fellow officer who shot him six times was not about the money but about justice. He got the money — $4.5 million in a record settlement with the city — but more elusive were justice and the ability to make it through a day without pain.

On Monday, Ngo was found dead at his home in Mendota Heights. He was 37.

16-year-old boy accused of shooting Sanford cop

16-year-old boy accused of shooting Sanford cop
A police detective said the suspect 'didn't care of the seriousness of the crime.'
By Walter Pacheco, Orlando Sentinel

7:49 a.m. EDT, June 8, 2010
A 16-year-old is at a juvenile detention center in Seminole County after officers arrested him this morning for allegedly shooting a Sanford police officer last week.

Officers arrested the suspect in the Pine Hills neighborhood of Orange County at 1 a.m.

Investigators said tips led them to a home on Mercy Drive, where he had been staying with his two sisters.

Detectives said more than a dozen U.S. Marshals, Orlando police and Orange County deputies surrounded the home before arresting the suspect.

The Orlando Sentinel is not identifying the suspect because he is a minor.

He faces charges of attempted murder of a law-enforcement officer in the shooting of Sanford Officer Brandon Worrall. He is being held without bond at the Seminole Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Sanford.

"It's a little disheartening, you know," Sanford police Chief Brian Tooley said at a news conference this morning. "You got 16-year-old kids out there shooting a police officer."
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16 year-old boy accused of shooting Sanford cop

VA Has $80 Million Available for Private Sector Innovations

VA Announces Industry Innovation Competition
$80 Million Available for Private Sector Innovations

WASHINGTON (June 7, 2010) - Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K.
Shinseki announced today the opening of the Industry Innovation
Competition by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the most recent
effort under the VA Innovation Initiative. With this competition, VA
seeks the best ideas from the private sector to address the department's
most important challenges.

"At VA, we are continually looking for new ways to improve the care and
services we deliver," said Secretary Shinseki. "Engaging the private
sector to tap its expertise and find ways to leverage private-sector
innovations, we can improve the quality, access and transparency in
service to our Nation's Veterans."

The VA Innovation Initiative (VAi2) is a department-wide program that
brings the most promising innovations to VA's most important challenges
by involving employees and the private sector in the creation of
visionary solutions in service to Veterans.

"Innovation is more than simply a collection of ideas," said Jared
Cohon, president of Carnegie Mellon University. "It requires close
collaboration between academia, industry and government to produce
solutions that make a meaningful impact on society. VAi2's programs
bring about exactly that kind of fruitful collaboration."

"Creativity in the private sector generates a wealth of technology
capability that can help drive VA forward," said Dr. Peter Levin, senior
advisor to the secretary and VA's chief technology officer. "By
targeting innovations that are nearing commercialization, the Industry
Innovation Competition provides a bridge between creative ideas in the
private sector and real-world deployments that improve the services we
deliver."

Public and private companies, entrepreneurs, universities and
non-profits are encouraged to participate in the competition, which
targets advancements in:

* Innovative Housing Technology to Address Veteran Homelessness:
Eliminating Veteran homelessness is a top VA priority. New design and
construction techniques, materials and building technology can enable VA
to use existing buildings and unused space to rapidly create highly
functional, energy efficient and affordable housing.

* Telehealth: VA is a leader in telehealth implementation and
currently serves many thousands of Veterans with solutions such as home
health monitoring. Potential applications for telehealth solutions are
broad and varied and department officials are interested in pursuing
integrated solutions that improve their ability to provide the right
treatment at the right place and at the right time.

* New Models of Dialysis and Renal Disease Prevention: VA
currently provides dialysis for more than 10,000 Veterans annually, at
both VA and community-based medical facilities. Alternative treatment
strategies and dialysis technology can extend and improve our ability to
provide quality care in a patient-preferred setting.

* Improvement of Polytrauma Care: VA provides comprehensive,
inter-disciplinary rehabilitation care to Veterans and returning Service
members with multiple injuries, or polytrauma. Solutions in areas such
as the application of dynamic treatment algorithms, home monitoring of
diverse and complex symptoms and assistive technologies can help the
broad advancement of polytrauma care.

* Reduction of Adverse Drug Events: The development and deployment
of strategies to prevent patient harm from adverse drug events is an
on-going priority at VA. Tools that can integrate with VA records and
systems and provide an increased ability to continuously monitor for
at-risk situations can enhance dramatically the quality and safety of
care provided by VA.

* Integrated Business Accelerator: A wide array of services and
benefits are available to assist Veterans, and Service Disabled Veterans
in particular, in starting and sustaining new businesses. However, an
integrated, long-term approach that assists Veterans in accessing
existing resources and provides services that aid in the launch and
maintenance of startup businesses can help insure the long-term success
of Veteran-owned businesses.

VAi2 identifies, funds, tests and deploys new efforts that significantly
improve the access, quality, performance and cost of VA services. For
more about VAi2 please visit www.va.gov/vai2 .
Please go to
www.FedBizOpps.gov to learn more about
federal opportunities for businesses.

Reporters wrong on Vietnam-Afghanistan length

Today there was news Afghanistan has now replaced the Vietnam War as being the longest. That is news to Vietnam Veterans since they started to die in 1956 and did not stop dying there until 1975. Last time I used my math skills that would mean Vietnam lasted 19 years and Afghanistan has not even begun it's tenth year. That would take place in October when the first troops were sent. There is one distinction that Afghanistan has in fact earned and that is the most underreported on in recent times. Especially when you consider there are now 24 hour news stations ignoring it.

THE FIRST KNOWN CASUALTY


Richard B. Fitzgibbon, of North Weymouth, Mass. is listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having a casualty date of June 8, 1956.
His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who has a casualty date of Sept. 7, 1965.
http://thewall-usa.com/information.asp

The Vietnam War, which lasted longer than any other military conflict in American history, grew out of the U.S. government’s Cold War-era policy to prevent the spread of communism at home and abroad. The United States began sending financial aid and military advisors to South Vietnam in the 1950s, hoping to thwart a takeover by the communist North Vietnamese, led by Ho Chi Minh. As troop levels and casualties escalated throughout the 1960s, the war became increasingly unpopular at home, inciting large-scale protests, profoundly affecting popular culture and fomenting mutual distrust between the public and its leaders. The United States began withdrawing its troops in 1973, and in 1975 the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon fell to North Vietnamese forces. More than 58,000 American soldiers had perished.
http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war

Yet since the official start of the Vietnam war was 1964 and the offical end was 1975, it is easy to get that wrong.


UPDATE 6-09-10
Looks like someone else agrees. This was posted yesterday on CNN Blog

Can Afghanistan be compared to the Vietnam war?
Post by: CNN's Tim Lister
Much has been made in recent media reports about the conflict in Afghanistan surpassing the length of the Vietnam War, becoming the United States’ longest war. Some would dispute that, and few would suggest the two wars are comparable.

But the Afghan War can’t really be compared to the conflict in Vietnam, which claimed some 58,000 American lives and involved more conventional warfare, including pitched battles for major cities, as well as guerrilla combat. The Tet offensive in 1968 involved some 80,000 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers in a series of coordinated attacks on cities in South Vietnam.

Whether or not Afghanistan is now the longest war that America has fought is a contentious issue. The Department of Defense officially lists deaths in Vietnam beginning November 1, 1955 as related to the war; that’s the date when the Military Assistance Advisory Group began in Vietnam. Others insist that 1964 represents the year when the United States rapidly escalated its military presence in Southeast Asia, and moved from a support role to front-line engagement.

The start of the Vietnam War is also dated from the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964, something that diplomat Richard Holbrooke has rejected.

read more here

Can Afghanistan be compared to the Vietnam war

But there is so much more of the history of Vietnam that has been forgotten.

United States in Vietnam 1945-1975
Comprehensive Timelines with Quotes and Analysis
Seeds of Conflict
America Committs 1961-1964

Looking at the totals of Vietnam, we need to remember that as some want to try to make headlines suggesting Afghanistan lasted longer than Vietnam, when they do, they end up dismissing the lives lost and the wounded who would never be the same. Imagine being one of the veterans sent into Vietnam watching friends die and then read according to the media, it was all forgotten.

Reason (Cause of Casualty)
Number of Records
Gun, Small Arms Fire 18,518
Multiple Fragmentary Wounds 8,456
Air Loss, Crash on Land 7,992
Other Explosive Devices 7,450
Artillery, Rocket or Mortar 4,914
Other Accident 1,371
Misadventure 1,326
Drowned, Suffocated 1,207
Vehicle Loss, Crash 1,187
Accidental Homicide 944
Accidental Self Destruction 842
Other Causes 754
Air Loss, Crash in Sea 577
Burns 530
Illness, Disease 482
Suicide 382
Heart Attack 273
Intentional Homicide 234
Malaria 118
Bomb Explosion 52
Stroke 42
Hepatitis 22
Unknown, Not Reported 520
Total 58,193

According to media reports, that would mean all the deaths before 1964 and after 1973 did not happen.

Year of Death or Declaration of Death Number of Records
1956-1960 9
1961 16
1962 52
1963 118
1964 206
1965 1,863
1966 6,143
1967 11,153
1968 16,592
1969 11,616
1970 6,081
1971 2,357
1972 641
1973 168
1974 178
1975 161
1976 77
1977 96
1978 447
1979 148
1980 26
1981-1990 34
1991-1998 11
Total 58,193

Florida restaurant shooting leaves 4 women dead, 3 wounded

Florida restaurant shooting leaves 4 dead, 3 wounded
By Divina Mims, CNN
June 7, 2010 12:09 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Police: Shooting likely stemmed from domestic dispute
All 7 victims were women
Shooter killed himself a short distance away

(CNN) -- A gunman fatally shot four women and wounded three others in a metropolitan Miami restaurant Sunday night, before turning the gun on himself, police said.

Mark Overton, the police chief of Hialeah -- where the shooting took place -- said the incident most likely stemmed from a domestic dispute.
read more here
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/06/07/florida.shooting/index.html?hpt=T2

US military detains soldier linked to Iraq video

US military detains soldier linked to Iraq video
(AP) – 3 hours ago

BAGHDAD — The U.S. military in Iraq says it has detained a soldier who has been identified as the source of a leaked video showing Army helicopters killing two journalists in a 2007 shooting.

The military said Monday it is holding Army Specialist Bradley Manning of the 2nd Brigade 10th Mountain Division in pretrial confinement in Kuwait and that he is suspected of releasing classified information.
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US military detains soldier linked to Iraq video

Video captures soldiers coming home

Mike over at Point Man Ministries.org sent this

Veterans to be honored at Fourth of July baseball game

Vietnam veterans needed for local video

By Laura Eastes
Jun 7, 2010, 11:20



Veterans to be honored at Fourth of July baseball game

Army Veteran Ed Poley knows first-hand what it is like to never receive recognition for his service to the country during the Vietnam War.

He also knows other veterans who never received a "thank you" or a standing ovation for their service.

Poley, the executive director for the Whirlwind Career Counseling Center, said he will finally get the recognition he and fellow veterans deserve.

Area Vietnam veterans will be properly recognized and thanked for their service at the Fourth of July Bee Jay's baseball game. After the game, all Vietnam veterans will be asked to step down to the field for a presentation and crowd recognition.

"The stands will be full,” said Poley. “People will be sitting down on the sidelines. It is the best opportunity I know for saying to a group of guys and gals, 'thanks for a job well done.'”

Poley, like many Vietnam veterans, returned back to the United States being advised to change out of his uniform to avoid comments from anti-war protesters. Poley said he returned back to Kansas with no parades, no welcome home ceremonies and no recognition.

The presentation will feature a short video with music, photos and voice clips from area soldiers sharing experiences of coming back to the United States from Vietnam. Currently, Poley is interviewing as many Vietnam veterans as possible for the video presentation.
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Vietnam veterans needed for local video

Film crew covers Nam Knights Memorial Day ride to the Wall

Father and son team stayed with the Nam Knights all weekend and went on the rides Saturday and Sunday. Really nice guys.

wprior1 — June 06, 2010 — Interview with Al Molaf of the Nam Knights Motorcycle Club. Filmed Memorial Day Weekend at the Rolling Thunder R... wprior1 — June 06, 2010 — Interview with Al Molaf of the Nam Knights Motorcycle Club. Filmed Memorial Day Weekend at the Rolling Thunder Rally 5/30/2010 Washington D.C. Al talks about his service in the United States Army and his treatment he experienced after returning home from the war in Vietnam. The producers of the "WE REMEMBER" documentary will continue to post more interviews with the veterans from the Rolling Thunder Rally 2010. View more interviews on you-tube under the tag line Rolling Thunder 2010. Special thanks to all the members of the Nam Knights MC. -William M. Prior, William J. Prior.

Adm. Mike Mullen says "Vets need not suffer alone"

Mullen on D-Day: Vets need not suffer alone

By Robert Burns - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Jun 6, 2010 17:04:15 EDT

BEDFORD, Va. — In a stirring tribute to the D-Day sacrifices of American soldiers and their allies, the U.S. military’s top officer said Sunday that World War II’s defining moment should remind all that returning warriors need not “suffer in quiet desperation.”

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke in the peaceful setting of this small town, which is said to have born the heaviest share of American losses in the June 6, 1944, landings on the beaches of Normandy. The National D-Day Memorial was established here in 2001 as a tribute to those who died in the invasion of German-occupied Europe.

Mullen drew a parallel with the needs and aspirations of the men and women returning from today’s battlefields, many with the invisible psychological wounds of war.

“They, too, have seen and done things we cannot know,” he said. “Their lives, too, are forever changed. And just as previous generations of heroes did, they must likewise adjust themselves to peace.”
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/06/ap_d_day_anniversary_mullen_060610/

WWII vets, observers mark D-Day anniversary

WWII vets, observers mark D-Day anniversary

The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Jun 6, 2010 13:14:14 EDT

COLVILLE-SUR-MER, France — Veterans and those grateful for their sacrifices have marked the 66th anniversary of the D-Day landings, remembering the invasion that turned the tide of World War II.

U.S. Army veteran William Duane Bush, wearing a military jacket, raised the American flag at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, which overlooks Omaha Beach. It was the first time Bush, 93, of Lincoln, Neb., had returned to Europe since the war’s end.
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WWII vets, observers mark D-Day anniversary

VA sees sharp rise in sleep apnea cases

VA sees sharp rise in apnea cases

By Tom Vanden Brook - USA Today
Posted : Monday Jun 7, 2010 10:42:20 EDT

WASHINGTON — The number of veterans receiving disability benefits for a sleeping disorder has increased 61 percent in the past two years and now costs taxpayers more than $500 million per year, according to Veterans Affairs data released to USA Today.

More than 63,000 veterans receive benefits for sleep apnea, a disorder that causes a sleeping person to gasp for breath and awaken frequently. It is linked to problems ranging from daytime drowsiness to heart disease. The top risk factor for contracting the disorder appears to be obesity, though a sleep expert at the VA and a veteran’s advocacy organization cite troops’ exposure to dust and smoke in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq as contributing factors.

More claims are likely to be made in the future as Baby Boomers age and get heavier, says Max Hirshkowitz, director of the Sleep Disorder Center at the Houston Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Veterans are four times more likely than other Americans to suffer from sleep apnea, Hirshkowitz said.

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VA sees sharp rise in apnea cases/

Vietnam War veteran meets Iraq wounded soldier he helped save

Iraq veteran reunites with rescuer
By AUDREY PARENTE, Staff Writer
June 7, 2010 12:05 AM
Blood-splattered blue jeans -- worn two years ago by veteran photojournalist Jim Wade -- have never been washed.

Wade brought the well-preserved jeans with him from West Melbourne to show former Army corporal and Purple Heart recipient Walter "Matt" Bailey.

The recent reunion in a quiet gated Palm Coast condominium community was their first since an explosion in Iraq on March 30, 2008, wounded Bailey, then 19. He was driving the armored military vehicle in which Wade was a passenger.

Then a private, Bailey was injured by an improvised explosive device that sprayed molten-hot shrapnel.

"The last thing I remember seeing was Jim," said Bailey, 22. "He was wrapping up my foot."

In addition to losing part of his foot, Bailey suffered injuries to both legs, severe nerve damage to his right arm and serious emotional trauma.

The explosion left a crater, said Wade, a 60-plus-year-old Vietnam War veteran -- who leaped out of the back passenger door of the vehicle to help Bailey and others in the Humvee. A retired aircraft mechanic and Seabee, Wade was embedded with Wade's unit, and has been back and forth to the war zone capturing war footage.





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Iraq veteran reunites with rescuer

Accidental overdoses alarm military officials

Short term memory loss plays a big part in this. Often they can't remember if they took their medication or not. They need to use reminders, like pill separators, so they will not think they forgot to take their pills and then take double the amount.

Alcohol is a huge no-no! Drinking will change how the medications work on the brain. Take mind focused drugs, don't drink. Simple as that. Plus the other thing is that when you stop drinking, the medications work better. Is having a lot of beer with the guys worth the price your healing pays? You are trying to not be depressed but alcohol adds to it.

Added to these warnings is the one you cannot control and that is being given drugs that work against the others. Be pro-active and check the warning signs of all medications you are on and talk to your doctor. Do not adjust them on your own. You have to talk to your doctor first.

The Army deaths have shocked that service’s medical community and prompted an internal review. But despite a “safety stand down” in January 2009, the number of fatalities continued to rise last year — to 15 in 2009, up from 11 the year before. Meanwhile the total number of soldiers assigned to the 29 WTUs nationwide dropped from about 12,000 to about 9,000.

Accidental overdoses alarm military officials

By Andrew Tilghman and Brendan McGarry - Staff writers
Posted : Sunday Jun 6, 2010 18:22:42 EDT

Prescription drug cocktails have lead to at least 32 accidental overdoses among Marines and soldiers since 2007, bringing military medical practices for treating physical and psychiatric problems under scrutiny.

At least 30 soldiers and two Marines overdosed while under the care of Army Warrior Transition Units or the Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Regiment, created three years ago to tightly focus care and attention on troops suffering from injuries as a result of combat.

Most of the troops had been prescribed “drug cocktails,” combinations of drugs including painkillers, sleeping pills, antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs, interviews and records show. In all cases, suicide was ruled out.

Army officials say the deaths are often complicated by troops mixing medications with alcohol, taking their own medications incorrectly or without a prescription.
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Accidental overdoses alarm military officials

Search continues for soldier feared drowned in Taylorsville lake

Search continues for soldier feared drowned in Taylorsville lake

Posted by Charles Gazaway

TAYLORSVILLE, KY (WAVE) - Search crews continued patrolling Taylorsville Lake on Friday, hoping to find a Fort Knox soldier who disappeared while swimming on May 29.

High water and debris on the lake continued to hamper the search for 23-year old Specialist Anthony Carter, who was assigned to the Warrior Transition Battalion.
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http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=12597370