Letter from Iraq:
When you’re the 'battle buddy' unexpectedly in trouble
Posted By Thomas E. Ricks Friday, October 1, 2010
Here's a sad comment from Capt. Tim Mills, who is now serving in Iraq.
By Capt. Tim Mills
Best Defense guest columnist
On April 23, I submitted an opinion editorial to the local paper. It ran with a picture of my kids and expressed sincere appreciation to my family for supporting my military service. In that editorial I said, "I don't know the total 'cost' this deployment will have on my family." Unfortunately, the editorial was outdated before it ever went to print.
I arrived at the airport on R&R leave April 29 and struggled to understand the awkwardness and inability to reconnect with my wife. On May 11 I discovered the security of a fourteen-year marriage had been compromised and the life my family had enjoyed seemed headed for destruction.
Boarding an airplane at 5:15 a.m. on May 15 was one of the hardest things I've done. Struggling to breathe and unable to sleep I weathered the endless hours of travel from the U.S. to Iraq. How does a Soldier board an airplane for another six months of deployment fearing his family being torn apart? The same way soldiers going through similar adversity boarded the plane at the beginning of the deployment.
"Take a walk in someone else's shoes. Step out of your own and try to view situations from a different set of shoes," these were my words of challenge to the unit before we deployed. I viewed this as an "elective" not a "core" requirement and didn't know I would involuntarily experience the pain some of them had already endured.
I have joined them. I've struggled to survive the injuries from a different battlefield -- the mind. The wounds my unit has sustained have largely been fought on this hidden battlefield. The fear of losing someone they love or someone who loves them can be consuming. Relationship struggles, newborn complications, back-to-back mobilizations, fearing the loss or losing a family member and fears resulting from deployment experiences have threatened the stability of my unit.
read more here
When you’re the 'battle buddy' unexpectedly in trouble
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Visitor to SeaWorld water park in Florida found dead
Visitor to SeaWorld water park in
Florida found dead
October 4, 2010
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Unresponsive man was pulled from a pool, pronounced dead at a hospital
Sheriff's Office is investigating the death by interviewing witnesses, victim's family
Autopsy to be performed on 68-year-old man, sheriff says
(CNN) -- A guest at SeaWorld's water park Aquatica in Orlando, Florida, was pulled from a pool and later pronounced dead over the weekend, park officials said.
A lifeguard found a 68-year-old international visitor unresponsive Saturday morning in the park's Roa's Rapids, a SeaWorld spokesman said.
Visitor to SeaWorld water park in Florida found dead
Tucson news focus on military family and veterans in need
Instead of spending time on nonsense, this news station is doing something really important. Once a week on Mondays, they will be reporting on a family in need connected to the military. The fact is, once you are in the military, you are part of the military family for the rest of your life. They are unique among the rest of the population because they were willing to risk their lives for the rest.
A veteran with post traumatic stress disorder can use your help
Posted: Oct 4, 2010 4:51 PMTUCSON - Every Monday, through the holidays, we'll be showing you a local military family in need.This week, a retired U.S Marine is back from Afghanistan.Tony Garcia joined the military when he was 17-years-old.Almost 4 years ago, Tony came home, but with complications. Then, his Mon and Dad passed away within the same year.Tony felt guilty, suffered from chronic migraines, and he was losing sleep.Garcia said, "I was over medicating myself, it felt like I was a stranger in my own home."
Monday, October 4, 2010
Hundreds show support for wounded Marine
Hundreds show support for wounded Marine
By Matt Stephens
Updated: 10.03.10
When asked if they support their troops, more than a hundred bikers outside T’s Bar in Conroe responded with a deafening positive response.
As many as 300 bikers showed up at the bar Sunday to participate in a benefit for an injured Marine, 21-year-old Lance Cpl. Jordan McBryde. McBryde, from the Spring Branch area, was serving his first tour in Afghanistan when he was hit by an improvised explosive device on Aug. 10.
His mother, Sheri McBryde, said her son suffered lacerations on both legs and fractured his forearm. Despite the injuries, she said he son is in high spirits as he undergoes therapy.
“He’s come a long way in six weeks,” she said. “I just found out he can actually walk with a cane now.”
Lisa Hamlet, McBryde’s aunt, said the event was a surprise to Sheri McBryde, who works with the bar’s owner at a Harley Davidson dealership.
Paul Lance, Jr. Vice Commandant for the Eastex Detachment No. 779 of the Marine Corps League in Conroe, said the benefit was a partnership between the bar and the Marine Corps League.
Lance said they hold about six or seven similar benefits a year for wounded Marines to provide them support and monetary help.
read more here
Hundreds show support for wounded Marine
By Matt Stephens
Updated: 10.03.10
When asked if they support their troops, more than a hundred bikers outside T’s Bar in Conroe responded with a deafening positive response.
As many as 300 bikers showed up at the bar Sunday to participate in a benefit for an injured Marine, 21-year-old Lance Cpl. Jordan McBryde. McBryde, from the Spring Branch area, was serving his first tour in Afghanistan when he was hit by an improvised explosive device on Aug. 10.
His mother, Sheri McBryde, said her son suffered lacerations on both legs and fractured his forearm. Despite the injuries, she said he son is in high spirits as he undergoes therapy.
“He’s come a long way in six weeks,” she said. “I just found out he can actually walk with a cane now.”
Lisa Hamlet, McBryde’s aunt, said the event was a surprise to Sheri McBryde, who works with the bar’s owner at a Harley Davidson dealership.
Paul Lance, Jr. Vice Commandant for the Eastex Detachment No. 779 of the Marine Corps League in Conroe, said the benefit was a partnership between the bar and the Marine Corps League.
Lance said they hold about six or seven similar benefits a year for wounded Marines to provide them support and monetary help.
read more here
Hundreds show support for wounded Marine
The country he fought for failed him
This happens all the time. Justice should never depend upon where a veteran lives. Some cities and towns are well ahead of this, setting up Veterans Courts, and that's a good thing but it does not happen everywhere. Who is doing anything for the veterans in jail because they were arrested before courts started to address this? Who is making sure that if a veteran lives in an area without a veterans court receives the same kind of justice? You may want to write them off as criminals but keep in mind, they were not committing crimes before they deployed into combat, risking their lives for the sake of other people, and it is very unlikely they would have committed any crime had they not gone. Sometimes combat does things to a human just as any traumatic event will change the way people think and feel about everything.
'THE COUNTRY HE FOUGHT FOR HAS FAILED HIM'
Iraq war veteran in jail two years after Pahrump shootout
Wife waits for answers
By KEITH ROGERS
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Two years after her husband, an Iraq war veteran, snapped and engaged Nye County sheriff's deputies in a pre-dawn shootout on the outskirts of Pahrump, Sue Lamoureux wants some answers.
She wonders why he's still in jail and why it took 18 months to remove a bullet from his leg after the gunbattle at Terrible's Lakeside RV Park and Casino on Sept. 19, 2008.
She also wants authorities to explain why Joseph Patrick "Pat" Lamoureux, a former Army Reserve sergeant with no previous criminal history, would do such a thing.
"There is not an answer for that except he went to war and he came home broken," Sue Lamoureux said Friday. "The country he fought for has failed him, and most certainly, Nye County, Nevada is trying to crucify him."
read more here
The country he fought for failed him
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Hazelden and Navy team up to help sailors online
Navy offers online addiction help
By STEVE SZKOTAKAssociated Press Writer
The Navy is teaming up with a highly regarded addiction treatment center to provide Web-based support for thousands of sailors, their families and retired personnel struggling with alcohol and drug abuse. The $3.25 million program is intended to keep sailors with addiction problems on the road to recovery and links them to support programs anywhere in the world, at anytime, even when they're deployed. It is tailored primarily to younger sailors, who are at greater risk and are comfortable navigating the Internet and social programs.
click link for more
linked from Stars and Stripes
Coward Afghan men hide behind children to take on female Marines
For female Marines, tea comes with bullets in Afghanistan
By ELISABETH BUMILLERPublished: October 2, 2010
They expected tea, not firefights. But the female Marines and their patrol were shot at one day, a burst of Kalashnikov rifle fire from a nearby compound. The group hit the ground, crawled into a ditch and aimed its guns across the fields of cotton and corn. In their sights they saw the source of the blast: an Afghan man who had shot aimlessly from behind a mud wall, shielded by a half-dozen children.
click link for more
link from Stars and Stripes
UK soldier defused bomb with broken hand
Medal for soldier who defused bombs with broken hand
Trapped in a minefield, under heavy attack from the Taleban and with daylight running out, Staff Sergeant Gareth Wood knew he had to work fast.
By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
Published: 1:10AM BST 03 Oct 2010
But as the bomb disposal expert removed one of five explosive devices that stood between a stranded British patrol and safety, he felt an excuciating pain.
SSgt Wood had broken two fingers in his right hand - the one he used to seacrh for the Improvised explosive Device, making it almost impossible to continue.
His fellow soldiers urged him to return to base for treatment but SSgt Wood persisted, defusing the bomb and neutralising a further three IEDs even though his right arm in a sling.
SSgt Wood's bravery has now been recognised with the Military Cross and the admiration of his fellow bomb disposal experts.
The head of Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal has described his actions as "truly humbling" and in the "highest traditions of the Army".
read more here
Medal for soldier who defused bombs
Trapped in a minefield, under heavy attack from the Taleban and with daylight running out, Staff Sergeant Gareth Wood knew he had to work fast.
By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
Published: 1:10AM BST 03 Oct 2010
But as the bomb disposal expert removed one of five explosive devices that stood between a stranded British patrol and safety, he felt an excuciating pain.
SSgt Wood had broken two fingers in his right hand - the one he used to seacrh for the Improvised explosive Device, making it almost impossible to continue.
His fellow soldiers urged him to return to base for treatment but SSgt Wood persisted, defusing the bomb and neutralising a further three IEDs even though his right arm in a sling.
SSgt Wood's bravery has now been recognised with the Military Cross and the admiration of his fellow bomb disposal experts.
The head of Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal has described his actions as "truly humbling" and in the "highest traditions of the Army".
read more here
Medal for soldier who defused bombs
Tennessee National Guard families find Iraq war's wounds are slow to heal
TN families find Iraq war's wounds are slow to heal
By Brandon Gee and Chris Echegaray
THE TENNESSEAN
October 3, 2010
The Iraq war is officially over, but it continues in the heart of Patricia Shaw, who lost her only son.
Photographs of Steven Cates fill his mother's Wilson County living room six years after the 22-year-old Marine was shot by a sniper in Anbar province.
"There comes a point in time when you wonder if you should put them away," Shaw said. "I can't. I just can't. It's like he's still here. In my heart, he still is."
Although Aug. 19 marked the official end of combat operations in Iraq, the war's toll is still being tallied in Tennessee. Nearly 100 Tennesseans were killed, and more than 600 were wounded. Nationwide, about 4,400 servicemen and servicewomen died in the war, and 32,000 were wounded. Those numbers are easily tabulated, but the impact on families and communities is immeasurable.
And casualty numbers fail to capture the 30 percent of troops who are estimated to develop serious mental health problems upon returning home.
"When you have a war, you automatically affect several generations," said Dr. Paul Ragan, associate professor of psychiatry at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and a former Navy psychiatrist stationed with the Marines during Operation Desert Storm. "I think we're very concerned about a ripple effect."
read more here
TN families
About a year ago I was contacted by the Mom of a National Guard soldier from Tennessee. Her son had already tried to commit suicide twice and she was feeling lost, afraid he'd try it again. Her son had also gone through a divorce, was one of the countless homeless sleeping on the sofa of friends. He had gone to the VA. They put him on medication but that didn't help. It made him feel worse plus added to the meds for his mind, they had him on pain pills for the wounds to his body.
When we read stories like the one above, keep in mind that while we read about some, there are many more you'll never hear about. The one out of three rate in this article from The Tennessean, is right on the mark. That is the common rate used no matter what the cause of the trauma is. The problem comes in when there are countless traumas hitting people over and over again that throws the figures all out of whack.
The Army stated repeat deployments increase the risk by 50% but there have been so many on a growing series of deployments it is hard to come up with the right figure. By the looks of it and data from Vietnam, we're already in the million range for PTSD.
Here's a video I did that may help you to understand that when it comes to the men and women we deploy the Guard and Reservists have it worse when they come home because many of them return to jobs as emergency responders putting their lives at risk back home as well.
By Brandon Gee and Chris Echegaray
THE TENNESSEAN
October 3, 2010
More than 20,000 members of the Tennessee National Guard have been deployed since Sept. 11, 2001, with about 17,800 going to Iraq, where 20 members died. The number of Tennessee National Guard members deployed to the Middle East has been reduced substantially to 434.
The Iraq war is officially over, but it continues in the heart of Patricia Shaw, who lost her only son.
Photographs of Steven Cates fill his mother's Wilson County living room six years after the 22-year-old Marine was shot by a sniper in Anbar province.
"There comes a point in time when you wonder if you should put them away," Shaw said. "I can't. I just can't. It's like he's still here. In my heart, he still is."
Although Aug. 19 marked the official end of combat operations in Iraq, the war's toll is still being tallied in Tennessee. Nearly 100 Tennesseans were killed, and more than 600 were wounded. Nationwide, about 4,400 servicemen and servicewomen died in the war, and 32,000 were wounded. Those numbers are easily tabulated, but the impact on families and communities is immeasurable.
And casualty numbers fail to capture the 30 percent of troops who are estimated to develop serious mental health problems upon returning home.
"When you have a war, you automatically affect several generations," said Dr. Paul Ragan, associate professor of psychiatry at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and a former Navy psychiatrist stationed with the Marines during Operation Desert Storm. "I think we're very concerned about a ripple effect."
read more here
TN families
About a year ago I was contacted by the Mom of a National Guard soldier from Tennessee. Her son had already tried to commit suicide twice and she was feeling lost, afraid he'd try it again. Her son had also gone through a divorce, was one of the countless homeless sleeping on the sofa of friends. He had gone to the VA. They put him on medication but that didn't help. It made him feel worse plus added to the meds for his mind, they had him on pain pills for the wounds to his body.
When we read stories like the one above, keep in mind that while we read about some, there are many more you'll never hear about. The one out of three rate in this article from The Tennessean, is right on the mark. That is the common rate used no matter what the cause of the trauma is. The problem comes in when there are countless traumas hitting people over and over again that throws the figures all out of whack.
The Army stated repeat deployments increase the risk by 50% but there have been so many on a growing series of deployments it is hard to come up with the right figure. By the looks of it and data from Vietnam, we're already in the million range for PTSD.
Here's a video I did that may help you to understand that when it comes to the men and women we deploy the Guard and Reservists have it worse when they come home because many of them return to jobs as emergency responders putting their lives at risk back home as well.
Marine Found Dead on Base in Yuma Arizona
MCAS Yuma Marine Found Dead on Base
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION YUMA, Ariz. -- United States Marine Corps Air Station Yuma officials confirmed a marine died on base early Friday morning.
MCAS public affairs officials said Sgt. Martin Servando Cienfuegos, originally from Phoenix, was found dead at 5:13 a.m. Friday in base housing. He was just 24 years old. He is survived by a wife and two children.
Few details have been released about how Cienfuegos died, because the cause of his death is still under investigation.
read more here
MCAS Yuma Marine Found Dead on Base
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION YUMA, Ariz. -- United States Marine Corps Air Station Yuma officials confirmed a marine died on base early Friday morning.
MCAS public affairs officials said Sgt. Martin Servando Cienfuegos, originally from Phoenix, was found dead at 5:13 a.m. Friday in base housing. He was just 24 years old. He is survived by a wife and two children.
Few details have been released about how Cienfuegos died, because the cause of his death is still under investigation.
read more here
MCAS Yuma Marine Found Dead on Base
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