More contractors killed than military personnel since January
By Nick Wakeman
Sep 23, 2010
Since the beginning of 2010, more U.S. contractors have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan than military personnel, according to a study by a law student and procurement expert.
After analyzing data from the Defense and Labor departments, Steven Schooner, co-director of the Government Procurement Law Program at George Washington University, and Collin Swan, a law student at George Washington, estimated that 232 contractors have been killed in Afghanistan since January, compared to 195 U.S. troops. In Iraq, 204 contractors have been killed since January 2009, compared to 188 troops.
read more here
More contractors killed than military personnel since January
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Vietnam Vet inducted into Chapel of the Four Chaplains
St. Louisville man inducted into Chapel of the Four Chaplains
Sep 23, 2010
Written by
L.B. WHYDE
ST. LOUISVILLE -- It was more than 30 years after St. Louisville resident Gary Jones served in the Vietnam War that he started talking about his war experiences.
He attended his first Vietnam Veterans of America meeting in 2000, liked what he saw and became a member of Chapter 55.
Since then, he has made up for lost time discussing his experiences.
Jones has served on a number of local, district, national and even international committees. He has taken five trips back to Vietnam to assist in recovering people who were missing in action on both sides of the war.
In recognition of his efforts, he recently was inducted into the Chapel of the Four Chaplains.
Sep 23, 2010
Written by
L.B. WHYDE
ST. LOUISVILLE -- It was more than 30 years after St. Louisville resident Gary Jones served in the Vietnam War that he started talking about his war experiences.
He attended his first Vietnam Veterans of America meeting in 2000, liked what he saw and became a member of Chapter 55.
Since then, he has made up for lost time discussing his experiences.
Jones has served on a number of local, district, national and even international committees. He has taken five trips back to Vietnam to assist in recovering people who were missing in action on both sides of the war.
In recognition of his efforts, he recently was inducted into the Chapel of the Four Chaplains.
The four chaplains were four U.S. Army chaplains who died during the sinking of the troop ship USAT Dorchester off the coast of Newfoundland in 1942, during World War II.
After being torpedoed and left in the dark, the crew started to panic.
The four chaplains -- Methodist Rev. George Fox, Rabbi Alexander Goode, Roman Catholic Priest John Washington and Reformed Church in America Rev. Clark Poling -- calmed the men and organized an orderly evacuation of the ship.
As the lifejackets were passed out, the supply ran out. The four chaplains removed their own lifejackets and gave them to others. The chaplains last were seen, arms linked, praying and singing for the safety of the men, as they went down with the ship.
read more hereSt Louisville man inducted into Chapel of the Four Chaplains
VA defends Agent Orange, heart disease links
VA defends Agent Orange, heart disease links
By BEN EVANS (AP) – 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON — Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki on Thursday defended an expensive proposal to extend disability payments to Vietnam veterans who get heart disease, saying studies show a significant link between the ailment and the toxic defoliant Agent Orange.
Responding to concerns about the costs of a rapidly expanding program, Shinseki told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee that the law requires his agency to grant automatic benefits for diseases that are scientifically associated with Agent Orange. It leaves him no discretion to weigh costs or other considerations, he said, such as the fact that heart disease occurs commonly in men in their 60s and is strongly linked to smoking, poor diet and other factors.
Shinseki, a Vietnam veteran wounded in combat, said six of nine rigorous studies reviewed by the agency showed strong associations between the herbicide and heart disease. The evidence "more than satisfies" the law's requirements, he said.
read more here
VA defends Agent Orange, heart disease links
By BEN EVANS (AP) – 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON — Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki on Thursday defended an expensive proposal to extend disability payments to Vietnam veterans who get heart disease, saying studies show a significant link between the ailment and the toxic defoliant Agent Orange.
Responding to concerns about the costs of a rapidly expanding program, Shinseki told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee that the law requires his agency to grant automatic benefits for diseases that are scientifically associated with Agent Orange. It leaves him no discretion to weigh costs or other considerations, he said, such as the fact that heart disease occurs commonly in men in their 60s and is strongly linked to smoking, poor diet and other factors.
Shinseki, a Vietnam veteran wounded in combat, said six of nine rigorous studies reviewed by the agency showed strong associations between the herbicide and heart disease. The evidence "more than satisfies" the law's requirements, he said.
read more here
VA defends Agent Orange, heart disease links
President Obama, be not ashamed
President Obama, be not ashamed
by
Chaplain Kathie
There are a lot of people in this country you will never please. Some are just upset a Democrat is in the White House while others are bothered by the color of your skin. There is nothing you can do to satisfy them. For them, all they care about is defeating you no matter what it is you are trying to do. This always happens in life. There will always be someone out there trying to take away what you have or make you feel as if you are nothing at all. Considering how you grew up, what you managed to do with your life because you had loving support from your family, you should be very proud of all you accomplished. The people who hate you say that you are a Muslim but they are also the same people who complained about your attending church with Rev. Wright without ever once noticing the word "church" instead of mosque. They are also the same group of people saying that you were not born in Hawaii ignoring the fact it would have taken a massive conspiracy over 40 years ago when the newspaper announced your birth in order to pull anything like what they are suggesting.
But for right now and tomorrow you need to pray for their souls since everything they are doing goes against what is in the Bible and everything Christ taught. So be not ashamed of them breaking the commandment of "thou shall not bear false witness" because the shame belongs to them.
When others attack you, they say that what you want to do and have done has hurt the country. You need to ask yourself where all these people were when what was being done to hurt this country, getting us into the trouble we're in were back then when they could have prevented most of this. Where were they when the tax cuts for the rich were not funded? Where were they when the attacks of 9-11 happened, all the defenses this nation had all failed at the very time they were needed?
These same people did not want to know what happened, who failed or why nothing worked. These same people were silent when troops were sent into Afghanistan and nothing was ready to take care of the widows and orphans of the fallen troops nor the wounded coming home needing the services of the DOD and the VA to take care of them. These same people did not care about sending troops into Iraq or the fact neither operation was funded in President Bush's budget. Both were paid for with borrowed money and provided from emergency supplemental requests. They just didn't care that two wars important enough to risk the lives of the troops was not important enough to plan for. In the process, thousands of the troops died and tens of thousands were wounded but left to be without services they needed due to their service to this country. Anyone asking for plans was told they were "againt the troops" because they did not support the President allowing President Bush to do what he wanted to as Commander-in-Chief.
Yet while all this was going on, this picture is one of the reasons why you proved how much you do care about our veterans.
You were running for the Presidency when this was taken at the Montana National Guards. You wanted to know about their efforts to stop military suicide. The cable news stations did not report on it, few other media people thought it was important. They didn't think it was important to report on the number of suicides or the fact that we had so many returning from where we sent them with the ghosts of war haunting them. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is tied to suicide as well as self-medicating, and you knew this. You knew this because you cared enough to find out and listen. What I found most remarkable about this was the fact you knew anything about what the Montana National Guard was doing at all. There were so many other programs beginning back then but this is the one you wanted to learn the most about. This happened to be the one I thought was important as well, but then again, I track all of this so while it is no big deal I knew about it, it was impressive that you knew with everything else you had to learn about running this country.
See Mr. President, it is very telling how much you do care about the troops and the veterans in this country because they are such a small percentage of the population. Doing things for them does not make national cable news shows. You showed how much you care because of the budget and all the advances that have happened since you took office. So be not ashamed you fought for the men and women in the military instead of defense contractors. Be not ashamed you fought for our veterans while the people who attack you want to slash funding for the VA and then turn around and put the care of veterans into the hands of profit making corporations. Be not ashamed you want to save their lives and put a roof over the heads of homeless veterans while other presidents ignored them. Be not ashamed you wanted to increase the pay for those who serve and be not ashamed you want to take care of them when they need help to care for themselves. Be not ashamed you wanted them to be able to get a good education when their service was done while people like John McCain said it was "just too generous" and would cause troops to leave the military.
When others fought against health insurance reform, they were actually fighting for the insurance companies and health conglomerations. Be not ashamed you fought for families, fought for people who were not able to receive healthcare and driven into bankruptcy just because someone got sick. Be not ashamed you wanted to help young adults be able to be covered under their parents plans so they had time to get on their own two feet. Be not ashamed that people will not longer have to face having their insurance canceled because they got sick.
When others fought to stop financial reform they were in turn fighting for banks and credit card companies. Be not ashamed you fought for people who have to use credit cards and deal with banks for everything they need to survive. Be not ashamed you saw what was being done to us and wanted to stop it from happening.
When others say they want to cut the deficit while these same people were responsible for it happening in the first place, they are in fact fighting for the rich, corporations who see it as their duty to stockholders to create jobs in other countries while we lost jobs here. They are fighting for them while they are destroying us. They had their years of creating all these problems but now they attack you for trying to do something about it. They created all this hardship in eight years but complain because the few bills they allowed to be voted on in the Senate, were passed and have addressed what people need in this country. They twist and manipulate what good work you have done and make it look evil. We know better and see how much you do care.
Be not ashamed that you want to preserve social security while they want to privatize it.
Be not ashamed that you cut waste in Medicare while they say that the cuts were against the elderly. Not one senior lost anything but they want them to think it happened. The cut was done against waste and fraud but they want to turn it into something evil to put fear into the elderly.
Be not ashamed that you care about the education of our kids while they want to eliminate the Department of Education, cut teachers and twist history around to suit their own personal religious beliefs.
Be not ashamed you want to keep cops on the streets and put firefighters back to work. They say they don't to pay taxes to do it. These same people don't want to fund tax cuts but want to do them at the same time they complain about the deficit.
Be not ashamed you want to put people back to work fixing our roads and bridges for our future needs as much as you want to meet the needs of people who just want to get back to work for their living.
Be not ashamed you wanted to extend unemployment benefits while they didn't even want to allow it to come to a vote.
Be not ashamed you wanted to stop the policy that keeps people from serving, not matter how heroically, not matter how deeply committed they were to our national defense just because they were gay. Our coalition partners serving side by side with our troops in Afghanistan see this as a non-issue yet they want to portray gay servicemen and women as evil, thus insulting our coalition partners and inflicting religious beliefs on our own forces instead of providing for equal rights as honorable humans.
Mr. President I heard the woman say on TV she was tired of defending you. I am here to tell you that I am not tired of defending you at all. I will fight for you for as long as I see who you are trying to help and know we are your thoughts. I am not so lucky to have a job but I don't blame you. I lost it before you took office two and a half years ago. I didn't get unemployment because I worked for a church that didn't pay into the system. Do I blame you for this? No it isn't your fault. I can't find a job but again, had you not done anything, a lot more of my "neighbors" wouldn't have jobs either. I went back to college with student loans and VA education benefits because I am married to a disabled veteran. When I finish, I want to continue to help veterans and make better videos than I do now so that they understand what PTSD is along with helping their families help them heal.
Mr. President, there are many times I see you on TV and how much this is wearing on you but for all you've done, do not allow them to get the best of you while you are trying to give your best to us. Be not ashamed of how much you have done already and do not let them beat you down. You decided to fight for us when you became a Senator. Hang onto your passion and what you know is the right thing to do and stop letting them even suggest they know better than you do. They are the ones who sent us into the abyss in the first place. The sin and shame of what they did to good, honest and hard working people, along with those who serve the rest of us, belongs to them. God will judge them as they have treated us and as we hoped for mercy from them, they will not receive any from God.
You have fought for us, the people in need and forgotten about for far too long. They shall reap what they sow by fighting for greedy people against the needy.
by
Chaplain Kathie
There are a lot of people in this country you will never please. Some are just upset a Democrat is in the White House while others are bothered by the color of your skin. There is nothing you can do to satisfy them. For them, all they care about is defeating you no matter what it is you are trying to do. This always happens in life. There will always be someone out there trying to take away what you have or make you feel as if you are nothing at all. Considering how you grew up, what you managed to do with your life because you had loving support from your family, you should be very proud of all you accomplished. The people who hate you say that you are a Muslim but they are also the same people who complained about your attending church with Rev. Wright without ever once noticing the word "church" instead of mosque. They are also the same group of people saying that you were not born in Hawaii ignoring the fact it would have taken a massive conspiracy over 40 years ago when the newspaper announced your birth in order to pull anything like what they are suggesting.
But for right now and tomorrow you need to pray for their souls since everything they are doing goes against what is in the Bible and everything Christ taught. So be not ashamed of them breaking the commandment of "thou shall not bear false witness" because the shame belongs to them.
When others attack you, they say that what you want to do and have done has hurt the country. You need to ask yourself where all these people were when what was being done to hurt this country, getting us into the trouble we're in were back then when they could have prevented most of this. Where were they when the tax cuts for the rich were not funded? Where were they when the attacks of 9-11 happened, all the defenses this nation had all failed at the very time they were needed?
These same people did not want to know what happened, who failed or why nothing worked. These same people were silent when troops were sent into Afghanistan and nothing was ready to take care of the widows and orphans of the fallen troops nor the wounded coming home needing the services of the DOD and the VA to take care of them. These same people did not care about sending troops into Iraq or the fact neither operation was funded in President Bush's budget. Both were paid for with borrowed money and provided from emergency supplemental requests. They just didn't care that two wars important enough to risk the lives of the troops was not important enough to plan for. In the process, thousands of the troops died and tens of thousands were wounded but left to be without services they needed due to their service to this country. Anyone asking for plans was told they were "againt the troops" because they did not support the President allowing President Bush to do what he wanted to as Commander-in-Chief.
Yet while all this was going on, this picture is one of the reasons why you proved how much you do care about our veterans.
You were running for the Presidency when this was taken at the Montana National Guards. You wanted to know about their efforts to stop military suicide. The cable news stations did not report on it, few other media people thought it was important. They didn't think it was important to report on the number of suicides or the fact that we had so many returning from where we sent them with the ghosts of war haunting them. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is tied to suicide as well as self-medicating, and you knew this. You knew this because you cared enough to find out and listen. What I found most remarkable about this was the fact you knew anything about what the Montana National Guard was doing at all. There were so many other programs beginning back then but this is the one you wanted to learn the most about. This happened to be the one I thought was important as well, but then again, I track all of this so while it is no big deal I knew about it, it was impressive that you knew with everything else you had to learn about running this country.
See Mr. President, it is very telling how much you do care about the troops and the veterans in this country because they are such a small percentage of the population. Doing things for them does not make national cable news shows. You showed how much you care because of the budget and all the advances that have happened since you took office. So be not ashamed you fought for the men and women in the military instead of defense contractors. Be not ashamed you fought for our veterans while the people who attack you want to slash funding for the VA and then turn around and put the care of veterans into the hands of profit making corporations. Be not ashamed you want to save their lives and put a roof over the heads of homeless veterans while other presidents ignored them. Be not ashamed you wanted to increase the pay for those who serve and be not ashamed you want to take care of them when they need help to care for themselves. Be not ashamed you wanted them to be able to get a good education when their service was done while people like John McCain said it was "just too generous" and would cause troops to leave the military.
When others fought against health insurance reform, they were actually fighting for the insurance companies and health conglomerations. Be not ashamed you fought for families, fought for people who were not able to receive healthcare and driven into bankruptcy just because someone got sick. Be not ashamed you wanted to help young adults be able to be covered under their parents plans so they had time to get on their own two feet. Be not ashamed that people will not longer have to face having their insurance canceled because they got sick.
When others fought to stop financial reform they were in turn fighting for banks and credit card companies. Be not ashamed you fought for people who have to use credit cards and deal with banks for everything they need to survive. Be not ashamed you saw what was being done to us and wanted to stop it from happening.
When others say they want to cut the deficit while these same people were responsible for it happening in the first place, they are in fact fighting for the rich, corporations who see it as their duty to stockholders to create jobs in other countries while we lost jobs here. They are fighting for them while they are destroying us. They had their years of creating all these problems but now they attack you for trying to do something about it. They created all this hardship in eight years but complain because the few bills they allowed to be voted on in the Senate, were passed and have addressed what people need in this country. They twist and manipulate what good work you have done and make it look evil. We know better and see how much you do care.
Be not ashamed that you want to preserve social security while they want to privatize it.
Be not ashamed that you cut waste in Medicare while they say that the cuts were against the elderly. Not one senior lost anything but they want them to think it happened. The cut was done against waste and fraud but they want to turn it into something evil to put fear into the elderly.
Be not ashamed that you care about the education of our kids while they want to eliminate the Department of Education, cut teachers and twist history around to suit their own personal religious beliefs.
Be not ashamed you want to keep cops on the streets and put firefighters back to work. They say they don't to pay taxes to do it. These same people don't want to fund tax cuts but want to do them at the same time they complain about the deficit.
Be not ashamed you want to put people back to work fixing our roads and bridges for our future needs as much as you want to meet the needs of people who just want to get back to work for their living.
Be not ashamed you wanted to extend unemployment benefits while they didn't even want to allow it to come to a vote.
Be not ashamed you wanted to stop the policy that keeps people from serving, not matter how heroically, not matter how deeply committed they were to our national defense just because they were gay. Our coalition partners serving side by side with our troops in Afghanistan see this as a non-issue yet they want to portray gay servicemen and women as evil, thus insulting our coalition partners and inflicting religious beliefs on our own forces instead of providing for equal rights as honorable humans.
Mr. President I heard the woman say on TV she was tired of defending you. I am here to tell you that I am not tired of defending you at all. I will fight for you for as long as I see who you are trying to help and know we are your thoughts. I am not so lucky to have a job but I don't blame you. I lost it before you took office two and a half years ago. I didn't get unemployment because I worked for a church that didn't pay into the system. Do I blame you for this? No it isn't your fault. I can't find a job but again, had you not done anything, a lot more of my "neighbors" wouldn't have jobs either. I went back to college with student loans and VA education benefits because I am married to a disabled veteran. When I finish, I want to continue to help veterans and make better videos than I do now so that they understand what PTSD is along with helping their families help them heal.
Mr. President, there are many times I see you on TV and how much this is wearing on you but for all you've done, do not allow them to get the best of you while you are trying to give your best to us. Be not ashamed of how much you have done already and do not let them beat you down. You decided to fight for us when you became a Senator. Hang onto your passion and what you know is the right thing to do and stop letting them even suggest they know better than you do. They are the ones who sent us into the abyss in the first place. The sin and shame of what they did to good, honest and hard working people, along with those who serve the rest of us, belongs to them. God will judge them as they have treated us and as we hoped for mercy from them, they will not receive any from God.
(New International Version)
Galatians 6
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
You have fought for us, the people in need and forgotten about for far too long. They shall reap what they sow by fighting for greedy people against the needy.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
9 troops killed in Afghanistan helo crash
9 troops killed in Afghanistan helo crash
By Deb Riechmann - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Sep 22, 2010 6:03:30 EDT
KABUL, Afghanistan — A NATO helicopter crashed Tuesday in southern Afghanistan, killing nine international troops in a region where forces are ramping up pressure on Taliban insurgents. It was the deadliest chopper crash for the coalition in four years.
A “large number” of Americans were among those who died, according to a senior military official in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity because not all relatives had been notified. He said it remained unclear whether troops of other nationalities were among the fatalities.
The cause was not immediately clear. The Taliban claimed to have shot down the helicopter, but NATO said there were no reports of hostile fire.
It happened in Zabul province — rugged terrain where helicopters are heavily used to transport military troops spread over mountainous areas with few roads.
read more here
9 troops killed in Afghanistan helo crash
By Deb Riechmann - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Sep 22, 2010 6:03:30 EDT
KABUL, Afghanistan — A NATO helicopter crashed Tuesday in southern Afghanistan, killing nine international troops in a region where forces are ramping up pressure on Taliban insurgents. It was the deadliest chopper crash for the coalition in four years.
A “large number” of Americans were among those who died, according to a senior military official in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity because not all relatives had been notified. He said it remained unclear whether troops of other nationalities were among the fatalities.
The cause was not immediately clear. The Taliban claimed to have shot down the helicopter, but NATO said there were no reports of hostile fire.
It happened in Zabul province — rugged terrain where helicopters are heavily used to transport military troops spread over mountainous areas with few roads.
read more here
9 troops killed in Afghanistan helo crash
U.S. Army battling a silent enemy: Soldier suicides
U.S. Army battling a silent enemy: Soldier suicides
by Wendy Rigby
KENS 5
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 12:02 PM
SAN ANTONIO -- The U.S. military is fighting against a killer: suicide. The suicide rate in all four branches is now higher than the national average.
The problem of soldiers killing themselves is on the rise. Now military leaders in San Antonio and across the country are working aggressively to reverse this disturbing trend.
With war fronts in both Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s an extremely stressful time to be in the service. Even those soldiers here at home who haven’t been deployed are busy with military expectations and personal relationships fraught with the pressure of home, family and finances.
All of that has led to a growing problem. Since 2006, the number of Army suicides is up by 37%. Already in 2010, 196 soldiers have killed themselves.
read more here
US Army battling a silent enemy
by Wendy Rigby
KENS 5
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 12:02 PM
At Ft. Sam Houston Monday, leaders took time out from a busy schedule to talk about the problem and share information about the wide variety of resources to help.
Police officers often face stresses similar to soldiers. “Both our military personnel and our police officer see unspeakable acts of violence and uses of deadly force,” commented S.A.P.D. chief William McManus.
SAN ANTONIO -- The U.S. military is fighting against a killer: suicide. The suicide rate in all four branches is now higher than the national average.
The problem of soldiers killing themselves is on the rise. Now military leaders in San Antonio and across the country are working aggressively to reverse this disturbing trend.
With war fronts in both Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s an extremely stressful time to be in the service. Even those soldiers here at home who haven’t been deployed are busy with military expectations and personal relationships fraught with the pressure of home, family and finances.
All of that has led to a growing problem. Since 2006, the number of Army suicides is up by 37%. Already in 2010, 196 soldiers have killed themselves.
read more here
US Army battling a silent enemy
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Police: One Kern Iraq vet murdered by another
Police: One Kern Iraq vet murdered by another
An Air Force staff sergeant fatally shot in front of his California City home Saturday was killed by another Iraq War veteran, police said.
Police believe the two had never met before the deadly shooting. "And why he made that choice to kill him we don't know," California City Police Chief Steve Colerick said.
Brian Carragher, 29, was shot to death in front of his home Saturday evening.
Police arrested Timothy Atkins, 26, on murder charges.
Atkins is also a military man, who police said recently returned home to California City to live with his parents. "Former Army. I believe did a couple of tours in Iraq," Colerick said.
read more here
One Kern Iraq vet murdered by another
An Air Force staff sergeant fatally shot in front of his California City home Saturday was killed by another Iraq War veteran, police said.
Police believe the two had never met before the deadly shooting. "And why he made that choice to kill him we don't know," California City Police Chief Steve Colerick said.
Brian Carragher, 29, was shot to death in front of his home Saturday evening.
Police arrested Timothy Atkins, 26, on murder charges.
Atkins is also a military man, who police said recently returned home to California City to live with his parents. "Former Army. I believe did a couple of tours in Iraq," Colerick said.
read more here
One Kern Iraq vet murdered by another
Transition center meant to help stem Air Force suicide
The airman resiliency program was unveiled earlier this year as the Air Force, like the other services, looks for ways to combat rising suicide numbers. As of Sept. 10, 37 active-duty airmen had committed suicide in 2010, showing little improvement from last year’s 41 suicides, which was the highest annual total in three years.
Transition center meant to help stem Air Force suicide, PTSD rates
By Jennifer H. Svan
Stars and Stripes
Published: September 21, 2010
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — The Air Force has opened a $5 million Deployment Transition Center at Ramstein as part of a new “airman resiliency” program launched by the service to stem rising suicide and post-traumatic stress disorder numbers.
Since it opened this summer, more than 450 airmen from across the Air Force have passed through the center on their way back from Iraq or Afghanistan. The Air Force believes the airmen who spend time “outside the wire” in a combat zone need time to decompress before returning to their assigned units and families.
Mandatory for security forces, explosive ordnance disposal and convoy operations, the program gives airmen who have deployed together one last time to talk about their shared combat experiences and the challenges they may face as they transition back to Air Force life.
read more here
Transition center meant to help stem Air Force suicide
Vietnam veteran owes his life to soon-to-be Medal of Honor recipient
Veteran owes his life to soon-to-be Medal of Honor recipient
By Jeff Schogol
Stars and Stripes
Published: September 20, 2010
ARLINGTON, Va. — John Daniel owes his life to Chief Master Sgt. Richard L. Etchberger, who will be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on Tuesday, more than 42 years after he saved Daniel and two other airmen during an attack on their base in Laos.
Etchberger and Daniel were part of a secret mission in Laos to call in airstrikes on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. On March 11, 1968, the enemy overran their mountaintop base.
He and Etchberger were with three other airmen perched on the ledge of a cliff that dropped off about 3,000 feet.
The enemy was firing and dropping grenades on them from above.
As the shooting progressed, Daniel was hit twice in the legs and two airmen were killed. Another was hit and presumed dead but was just unconscious. At one point, Daniel used the body of one his fallen comrades to absorb the blast from a grenade.
read more here and watch the video account of this veteran's story
Medal of Honor recipient
By Jeff Schogol
Stars and Stripes
Published: September 20, 2010
ARLINGTON, Va. — John Daniel owes his life to Chief Master Sgt. Richard L. Etchberger, who will be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on Tuesday, more than 42 years after he saved Daniel and two other airmen during an attack on their base in Laos.
Etchberger and Daniel were part of a secret mission in Laos to call in airstrikes on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. On March 11, 1968, the enemy overran their mountaintop base.
He and Etchberger were with three other airmen perched on the ledge of a cliff that dropped off about 3,000 feet.
The enemy was firing and dropping grenades on them from above.
As the shooting progressed, Daniel was hit twice in the legs and two airmen were killed. Another was hit and presumed dead but was just unconscious. At one point, Daniel used the body of one his fallen comrades to absorb the blast from a grenade.
read more here and watch the video account of this veteran's story
Medal of Honor recipient
National News Shows, the idiot's guide
National News Shows, the idiot's guide
Lately I have lead to understand why so many Americans would rather watch reality TV instead of news. While most do tune into local news at least once a day, they avoid the cable news shows like FOX, CNN and MSNBC. With FOX you get Republican talking points. With MSNBC you get Democratic talking points that miss most of what we really need to know and letting the other side lead the discussion. With CNN it all depends on the day which way they will go.
I spend most of my days reading news reports from around the country, none of them are deemed important enough to replace the political discussions on any of these stations. Reality we live with everyday is not considered a hot topic.
Right now what's hot is the Tea Party, a group so small that Wiki's response when I Googled how many members in the Tea Party, is a band out of Canada and not the political storm that the media makes them out to be.
The Tea Party.
Over 80,000 showed up for Glenn Beck's rally in Washington but we cannot assume they were all members of the Tea Party since Beck draws from all Republican audiences. What they got was a lesson on what Beck thinks makes a Christian. To this day I am wondering what is in the Mormon Bible that causes him to think that Christ was for the rich, against taking care of the sick and "rendering unto Caesar that which is Caesar's" along with everything else Christ preached about. Beck had told his audience on his radio show that if they heard a preacher say that they should do anything along the lines of what is in the Bible the rest of us read, they should walk out the door. Yet Beck never mentions the fact that what the Tea Party wants is the destruction of everything else this country needs to function.
He avoids talking about the fact that while the GOP borrowed money to supply rich people with tax cuts at the same time they said they would end up creating jobs, we lost jobs and drove up the debt while they did manage to create jobs in other countries. He avoids talking about the Tea Party agenda being adopted by the GOP is to eliminate Social Security, Medicare, the VA, the Department of Education along with ignoring the problems with our roads and bridges, de-funding the National Parks department while allowing our national treasures like the memorials in Washington to fall apart. He avoids telling his audience anything that does not fit in with the message he wants to deliver.
All of this is ok since he does not claim to be a news reporter but the problem is when the people who do in fact claim to be reporters end up repeating what he says. They just follow the flow. The national media ends up turning us into a bunch of idiots and all three are guilty. All of them focus more on politics than anything else so that stories about what is really happening across the country are not even considered worthy of their attention.
When we started to lose jobs, they were silent. When wars were not paid for or even made part of the budget they were silent. Imagine that! War in Afghanistan and Iraq were not considered important enough to pay for or even include in the budget during the Bush administration. The tax cuts for the wealthy (making over $250k) were not funded, yet none of the people in the Tea Party seemed to have noticed any of this when it was happening taking us down the road to damnation. Now, well, all that changed because there is a Democrat in the White House named Obama.
If the media has their way, succeeds in making stars out of rocks we lose. On their agenda we lose the following.
Veterans lose healthcare because they want to privatize the VA and have publicly said that they want to balance the budget by cutting VA funding.
Troops lose because they have been against the GI Bill, pay increases and most denied the reality of PTSD along with TBI, so that most of the advances we've seen in addressing these two "signature wounds" of Iraq and Afghanistan will end up suffering.
Teachers will suffer because they want to de-fund the Department of Education.
Police, firefighters and emergency responders will end up being cut in a time when we need more of them on the job.
The FDA will go away and our food supply will end up giving us more contaminated food products along with dangerous drugs.
Health insurance will win but the rest of us will not be able to get it if we cannot afford to pay for huge premiums. What part of everyone should be able to see a doctor no matter what income bracket they live in do they not understand?
Banks and credit card companies will win and the rest of us will end up in bankruptcy because no one will keep them under control and limit what they can do to us.
I have been listening to the commercials down here in Florida with politicians slamming politicians without ever facing the fact they became a politician as soon as they decided to run. This practice has been carried over onto the national news shows and no reporter wants to confront then on this point. They are just too busy making stars to draw ratings but what they end up doing is making thinking people change the channel to Pawn Stars and Swamp People instead. They live the rest of their lives never knowing that our veterans are suffering around the country right now and the people trying to replace Democrats in office are the biggest part of the problem determined to make it worse. We lost 18 veterans to suicide alone yesterday, just as we did the day before and will lose today.
Think about that. In 18 homes this very day, a family member will discover the body of someone they love, dead by suicide after serving this country and managing to survive the war we sent them to fight. 18 families and friends are hearing word of funeral plans from the ones who died yesterday. In tiny towns and huge cities, this is repeated every single day but do you hear about them being interviewed on CNN? MSNBC? FOX? Do any of them talk about something like this?
13 Veterans in one day for Veterans Court in Spokane Washington
There are veterans' courts all over the country because the problem is so bad for our veterans that the local law enforcement departments had to do something to treat them fairly instead of locking them up when most of what they are doing can be tied back to combat. 13 veterans in one day in a courtroom in Spokane? That was not a huge story on the national news? Excuse me but these men and yes, women, served this nation and were not sent into combat to defend Spokane alone! Veterans are a national issue and there are more and more of them added to their numbers everyday growing a lot faster than population of the Tea Party folks determined to take away what they need to recover from combat.
When the GOP was in charge veterans were last on their list of things to take care of. Right at the top was tax cuts for the rich. Then came defense contractors. Ever watch CSPAN when they cover the debates from the floor? They said they couldn't increase funding for the VA because they had two wars to pay for but this was right after they were screaming about giving Bush all he asked for to pay to keep the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan along with equal numbers of contractors. Now there are some in congress who want to cut funding of the VA so they can reduce the deficit they created in the first place. Does CNN tell veterans about this? Does MSNBC tell them? Does FOX tell them?
John McCain managed to pull off being a friend to veterans for years simply because the media allowed him to. They never once challenged him as a Vietnam Vet/POW on what he actually voted against and the rest of the country was left in the dark about what he was doing when the camera was on someone else. His voting record on veterans is terrible. He fought against the GI Bill because he said it was too generous and would end up getting more troops to leave the military. Did the media report on this?
FOX does a great job saying they support the troops with a lot of their stars taking off to go to Iraq for a show but then when they got back home what the troops were suffering from including having to dig through trash from metal to take care of their Humvees, FOX ignored it. When the reports came out on the deplorable treatment at Walter Reed, FOX stars attacked the reporters. O'Reilly denied there were homeless veterans. I mean the list just goes on and on but it isn't just FOX. It's all of the national news shows. They used to keep us informed but over the last ten years or so, they have been following the ratings instead of the news and have left this nation filled with idiots. To this day, no matter where I go or who I talk to people are still unaware of what PTSD is. How is this possible? None of them know what else is going on and they look at me stunned because they didn't hear it on CNN, MSNBC or FOX. If it isn't there then they think there is no need to care. It must be a tiny story or the news they trust would cover it. That's how bad things are in this country.
Now we face yet another election. It seems as if the national news shows just finished covering the Presidential election. Still they are not really informing voters what is going on, what the candidates really want to do or how they really think. They expect the viewers to actually spend time looking up facts online? Isn't it their job to let us all know what the facts are and confront these people when they lie?
They vilify the Dems for what? Thinking people show be able to go to a doctor when they are sick without having to declare bankruptcy to do it? That is what health insurance reform was all about. So if people were against it then they were actually fighting for the insurance companies and not humans. They wanted to protect consumers from banks and credit card companies from ripping us off. How is that a bad thing? They fought to give the troops pay raises. Is that a wrong thing to do considering how many times they've been sent into combat in Iraq and Afghanistan? They wanted to take care of the wounded neglected over the last 10 years. Is that an expense the GOP does not want to pay? Then they shouldn't have sent any of them into combat in the first place.
There is so much we're missing when we trust national news shows. We may take a couple of minutes out of our busy day and our own problems to see what's going on in the nation but end up with a bunch of people talking about what the news station determines we should know. The next time you turn on CNN, FOX or MSNBC, ask yourself why they are telling you what they are telling you then ask yourself why they are focused on it. The chances are, they have an agenda all their own and informing you has nothing to do with any of it. They want to manipulate how you think with what they tell you is important and we are all guided to be idiots in the process.
I was one of you but hardly ever tune into these shows now. I'd rather read news from across the country and at night, when I want to relax, I put on Pawn Stars to know that the economy is so bad that people have to sell things that have been important to them and Swamp People so that I know how other people live ready to risk their lives to catch gators. At least when it comes to real events, these shows come closer than the news.
Here's a few links to let you know that not only do they plan on cutting the VA they are proud of it. The VA has the best care for our veterans but they want to turn it over to companies that want to make money instead of fixing the VA problems?
Tea Party Candidate Ken Buck Called For Privatizing Veterans’ Health Care
Reid out with new ad attacking Angle on veterans’ issues
They don't think there is anything wrong with this at all. Then again, they may even believe that turning the DOD over to contractors is a good thing too. After all their attitude was paying the contractors was a good thing but taking care of the troops just cost too much. Taking care of veterans, well, that's something they say but never seem to get around to it.
Lately I have lead to understand why so many Americans would rather watch reality TV instead of news. While most do tune into local news at least once a day, they avoid the cable news shows like FOX, CNN and MSNBC. With FOX you get Republican talking points. With MSNBC you get Democratic talking points that miss most of what we really need to know and letting the other side lead the discussion. With CNN it all depends on the day which way they will go.
I spend most of my days reading news reports from around the country, none of them are deemed important enough to replace the political discussions on any of these stations. Reality we live with everyday is not considered a hot topic.
Right now what's hot is the Tea Party, a group so small that Wiki's response when I Googled how many members in the Tea Party, is a band out of Canada and not the political storm that the media makes them out to be.
The Tea Party.
The Tea Party was a Canadian rock band with blues, progressive rock, Indian and Middle Eastern influences, dubbed "Moroccan roll" by the media. Active throughout the 1990s up until 2005 when the band broke up, The Tea Party released eight albums on EMI Music Canada, selling 1.6 million records worldwide, and achieving a #1 Canadian single "Heaven Coming Down" in 1999.
Over 80,000 showed up for Glenn Beck's rally in Washington but we cannot assume they were all members of the Tea Party since Beck draws from all Republican audiences. What they got was a lesson on what Beck thinks makes a Christian. To this day I am wondering what is in the Mormon Bible that causes him to think that Christ was for the rich, against taking care of the sick and "rendering unto Caesar that which is Caesar's" along with everything else Christ preached about. Beck had told his audience on his radio show that if they heard a preacher say that they should do anything along the lines of what is in the Bible the rest of us read, they should walk out the door. Yet Beck never mentions the fact that what the Tea Party wants is the destruction of everything else this country needs to function.
He avoids talking about the fact that while the GOP borrowed money to supply rich people with tax cuts at the same time they said they would end up creating jobs, we lost jobs and drove up the debt while they did manage to create jobs in other countries. He avoids talking about the Tea Party agenda being adopted by the GOP is to eliminate Social Security, Medicare, the VA, the Department of Education along with ignoring the problems with our roads and bridges, de-funding the National Parks department while allowing our national treasures like the memorials in Washington to fall apart. He avoids telling his audience anything that does not fit in with the message he wants to deliver.
All of this is ok since he does not claim to be a news reporter but the problem is when the people who do in fact claim to be reporters end up repeating what he says. They just follow the flow. The national media ends up turning us into a bunch of idiots and all three are guilty. All of them focus more on politics than anything else so that stories about what is really happening across the country are not even considered worthy of their attention.
When we started to lose jobs, they were silent. When wars were not paid for or even made part of the budget they were silent. Imagine that! War in Afghanistan and Iraq were not considered important enough to pay for or even include in the budget during the Bush administration. The tax cuts for the wealthy (making over $250k) were not funded, yet none of the people in the Tea Party seemed to have noticed any of this when it was happening taking us down the road to damnation. Now, well, all that changed because there is a Democrat in the White House named Obama.
If the media has their way, succeeds in making stars out of rocks we lose. On their agenda we lose the following.
Veterans lose healthcare because they want to privatize the VA and have publicly said that they want to balance the budget by cutting VA funding.
Troops lose because they have been against the GI Bill, pay increases and most denied the reality of PTSD along with TBI, so that most of the advances we've seen in addressing these two "signature wounds" of Iraq and Afghanistan will end up suffering.
Teachers will suffer because they want to de-fund the Department of Education.
Police, firefighters and emergency responders will end up being cut in a time when we need more of them on the job.
The FDA will go away and our food supply will end up giving us more contaminated food products along with dangerous drugs.
Health insurance will win but the rest of us will not be able to get it if we cannot afford to pay for huge premiums. What part of everyone should be able to see a doctor no matter what income bracket they live in do they not understand?
Banks and credit card companies will win and the rest of us will end up in bankruptcy because no one will keep them under control and limit what they can do to us.
I have been listening to the commercials down here in Florida with politicians slamming politicians without ever facing the fact they became a politician as soon as they decided to run. This practice has been carried over onto the national news shows and no reporter wants to confront then on this point. They are just too busy making stars to draw ratings but what they end up doing is making thinking people change the channel to Pawn Stars and Swamp People instead. They live the rest of their lives never knowing that our veterans are suffering around the country right now and the people trying to replace Democrats in office are the biggest part of the problem determined to make it worse. We lost 18 veterans to suicide alone yesterday, just as we did the day before and will lose today.
Think about that. In 18 homes this very day, a family member will discover the body of someone they love, dead by suicide after serving this country and managing to survive the war we sent them to fight. 18 families and friends are hearing word of funeral plans from the ones who died yesterday. In tiny towns and huge cities, this is repeated every single day but do you hear about them being interviewed on CNN? MSNBC? FOX? Do any of them talk about something like this?
13 Veterans in one day for Veterans Court in Spokane Washington
There are veterans' courts all over the country because the problem is so bad for our veterans that the local law enforcement departments had to do something to treat them fairly instead of locking them up when most of what they are doing can be tied back to combat. 13 veterans in one day in a courtroom in Spokane? That was not a huge story on the national news? Excuse me but these men and yes, women, served this nation and were not sent into combat to defend Spokane alone! Veterans are a national issue and there are more and more of them added to their numbers everyday growing a lot faster than population of the Tea Party folks determined to take away what they need to recover from combat.
When the GOP was in charge veterans were last on their list of things to take care of. Right at the top was tax cuts for the rich. Then came defense contractors. Ever watch CSPAN when they cover the debates from the floor? They said they couldn't increase funding for the VA because they had two wars to pay for but this was right after they were screaming about giving Bush all he asked for to pay to keep the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan along with equal numbers of contractors. Now there are some in congress who want to cut funding of the VA so they can reduce the deficit they created in the first place. Does CNN tell veterans about this? Does MSNBC tell them? Does FOX tell them?
John McCain managed to pull off being a friend to veterans for years simply because the media allowed him to. They never once challenged him as a Vietnam Vet/POW on what he actually voted against and the rest of the country was left in the dark about what he was doing when the camera was on someone else. His voting record on veterans is terrible. He fought against the GI Bill because he said it was too generous and would end up getting more troops to leave the military. Did the media report on this?
FOX does a great job saying they support the troops with a lot of their stars taking off to go to Iraq for a show but then when they got back home what the troops were suffering from including having to dig through trash from metal to take care of their Humvees, FOX ignored it. When the reports came out on the deplorable treatment at Walter Reed, FOX stars attacked the reporters. O'Reilly denied there were homeless veterans. I mean the list just goes on and on but it isn't just FOX. It's all of the national news shows. They used to keep us informed but over the last ten years or so, they have been following the ratings instead of the news and have left this nation filled with idiots. To this day, no matter where I go or who I talk to people are still unaware of what PTSD is. How is this possible? None of them know what else is going on and they look at me stunned because they didn't hear it on CNN, MSNBC or FOX. If it isn't there then they think there is no need to care. It must be a tiny story or the news they trust would cover it. That's how bad things are in this country.
Now we face yet another election. It seems as if the national news shows just finished covering the Presidential election. Still they are not really informing voters what is going on, what the candidates really want to do or how they really think. They expect the viewers to actually spend time looking up facts online? Isn't it their job to let us all know what the facts are and confront these people when they lie?
They vilify the Dems for what? Thinking people show be able to go to a doctor when they are sick without having to declare bankruptcy to do it? That is what health insurance reform was all about. So if people were against it then they were actually fighting for the insurance companies and not humans. They wanted to protect consumers from banks and credit card companies from ripping us off. How is that a bad thing? They fought to give the troops pay raises. Is that a wrong thing to do considering how many times they've been sent into combat in Iraq and Afghanistan? They wanted to take care of the wounded neglected over the last 10 years. Is that an expense the GOP does not want to pay? Then they shouldn't have sent any of them into combat in the first place.
There is so much we're missing when we trust national news shows. We may take a couple of minutes out of our busy day and our own problems to see what's going on in the nation but end up with a bunch of people talking about what the news station determines we should know. The next time you turn on CNN, FOX or MSNBC, ask yourself why they are telling you what they are telling you then ask yourself why they are focused on it. The chances are, they have an agenda all their own and informing you has nothing to do with any of it. They want to manipulate how you think with what they tell you is important and we are all guided to be idiots in the process.
I was one of you but hardly ever tune into these shows now. I'd rather read news from across the country and at night, when I want to relax, I put on Pawn Stars to know that the economy is so bad that people have to sell things that have been important to them and Swamp People so that I know how other people live ready to risk their lives to catch gators. At least when it comes to real events, these shows come closer than the news.
Here's a few links to let you know that not only do they plan on cutting the VA they are proud of it. The VA has the best care for our veterans but they want to turn it over to companies that want to make money instead of fixing the VA problems?
Tea Party Candidate Ken Buck Called For Privatizing Veterans’ Health Care
Reid out with new ad attacking Angle on veterans’ issues
They don't think there is anything wrong with this at all. Then again, they may even believe that turning the DOD over to contractors is a good thing too. After all their attitude was paying the contractors was a good thing but taking care of the troops just cost too much. Taking care of veterans, well, that's something they say but never seem to get around to it.
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