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.

(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.

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.
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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

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

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

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

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.

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.

2 injured, 1 dead in Fort Bliss shooting

2 injured, 1 dead in Fort Bliss shooting
By Maggie Ybarra and Chris Roberts El Paso Times
Posted: 09/20/2010 11:54:09 PM MDT


Click photo to enlargeA military police vehicle blocked traffic on Cassidy Road on... (Victor Calzada / El Paso Times)123 FORT BLISS -- A man shot two women in the head at a Fort Bliss convenience store before he was killed by military police Monday.
Garrison Commander Col. Joseph Simonelli said military police received reports of several shots fired at one of the Army post's convenience stores about 3 p.m. The military police responded to the shooting in less than three minutes, he said.
read more here
2 injured, 1 dead in Fort Bliss shooting

Lady Gaga fights for 14,000 discharged over don't ask don't tell

Lady Gaga's Rally To Feature Testimonial From Discharged Marine
'I got the chance to meet her in D.C., and she genuinely cared about the issue,' former Marine Danny Hernandez says of Gaga.
By Kyle Anderson


Since she first broke into the mainstream two years ago, Lady Gaga has used her fame to bring gay rights issues to the forefront. In the past few weeks, she has focused squarely on the repeal of the U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, including bringing several casualties of the law to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles and recording a video that encourages her fans to contact their senators to oppose the policy. On Monday (September 20), Gaga will host a rally in Portland, Maine, organized by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), in an effort to get the two senators from the state — Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins — to vote to break a filibuster and repeal the DADT policy in Tuesday's procedural vote in Washington, D.C.

Those gathered at the rally will also hear testimonial from Danny Hernandez, a former Marine who was discharged from the military for "don't ask, don't tell" violations. "I was in the Marine Corps and was under investigation for violating 'don't ask, don't tell,' and I ended up working with SLDN in Washington," Hernandez explained to MTV News in a Skype interview from Portland.

Though Hernandez was a victim of a "don't ask, don't tell" discharge — one among 14,000 similar cases — he hasn't let that get in the way of his dream of service. "I've been wanting to serve in the military for as long as I can remember," he said. "My brother, my cousins — everybody is in the Marine Corps. It's a family thing.
read more here
Lady Gaga Rally

Searching for Stolen Marine's Truck

Searching for Stolen Marine's Truck
Reported by: Polo Sandoval
Last Update: 12:24 am


WESLACO - A Valley Marine's mother is making a plea to whomever stole her son's truck.

Sylvia Salazar borrowed her son's truck and parked it in a lot on east frontage road yesterday morning.

When she came out of the store, the truck was gone. Salazar is upset and angry that someone would steal the truck of a United States Marine deployed overseas.

Salazar says, "That truck means a lot to him. [It] means a lot to us because he left it under our care, and I lost it. So that hurts, that hurts a lot."

The truck is a dark grey four-door Dodge Ram.

It has Texas license plates ANO-5210.

If you’ve seen it, you’re asked to call Weslaco CRIMESTOPPERS at 968-8477.
KRGV.com

Florida has 18,000 homeless veterans

"Where they live many times is in the woods or on the street. In the state of Florida, there are 18,000 homeless veterans, 4,500 in Central Florida and about 1,000 Brevard County alone." George Taylor

Homeless veterans get some much needed help
By Margaret Kavanagh, Reporter
Last Updated: Saturday, September 18, 2010 10:25 PM
TITUSVILLE
They put their lives on the line, served our country and now don't have a place to live.

The problem of homeless veterans plagues our state. News 13 attended an event run by the National Veterans Homeless Support Group in Titusville called Stand Down. The group is working to teach other veteran groups around the state how to organize similar events.

Veteran Philip Campbell received a brand new motorized bike. It will help him get to classes at Brevard County Community. The veteran is homeless and living in a tent in the woods.

"Such a shock, the honor that they gave me, the bike, it's a, I'm amazed, I'm amazed," Campbell said.

He was one of 350 veterans that attended the Stand Down event run by the group National Veterans Homeless Support. They received clothes, food, toiletries, medical and legal advice.

The founder of the organization, George Taylor, once lived in the woods himself. He understands what it's like to be a homeless veteran, but said now-a-days it's tougher for the soldiers coming home.
read more here
Homeless veterans get some much needed help

Bronx Church prays for comfort after deadly crash that claimed Bishop, his wife and others

Bronx Church Looks to Prayer After Deadly Crash
By
Mara Gay
(Sept. 20) -- Even after a horrible accident took the lives of their bishop, his wife and four other congregants, the members of a devastated Bronx church trust that God has a plan.

"We know God knows best and doesn't make mistakes, but it's still hard," church member Delores Tulloch told the New York Daily News. But, she said, "I'm still trying to figure out how this is part of his plan."

Bishop Simon White, 55, his wife, Zelda, 52, and four other members of Joy Fellowship Christian Assemblies were killed Saturday when their van blew a tire and rolled across a New York State highway, sending eight people flying out of the vehicle. Sunday, worshippers at the church looked to music and praise to push through their grief.

Members of the evangelical church sang "Such a good God" and gave thanks. "We take life and death for granted, but this is a wake-up call," Associate Pastor Recardo Millwood told grieving church members Sunday, according to The Wall Street Journal. "It's serious, serious business. No one knows when your number is going to come up."

Fourteen church members were traveling to a sister church in upstate New York when the van flipped at least three times. Police said the aftermath was horrific.
read more here
Bronx Church Looks to Prayer After Deadly Crash

13 Veterans in one day for Veterans Court in Spokane Washington

This is the way to show support of the troops in a real way!

Special courts in Wash. designed for veterans

By Kevin Graman - The Spokesman-Review
Posted : Monday Sep 20, 2010 8:29:30 EDT

SPOKANE, Wash. — After surviving 15 months in one of the most dangerous places on Earth, Iraq war veteran Carl Jacobson thought he could cope with just about anything civilian life had to throw at him.

Jacobson realized he was wrong the day he learned that his beloved former platoon leader had been gravely wounded by an enemy sniper.

"It broke me down," Jacobson said. "No matter what comes your way, it's crucial to any soldier to avoid losing control. You can't lash out."

Jacobson was arrested in July on a domestic violence charge after breaking the door of the north Spokane apartment he shares with his girlfriend and her two young children.

The former Army sergeant could have been convicted of third-degree malicious mischief last week, but instead he received a "stipulated order of continuance" from Spokane County District Judge Vance Peterson on the first day of Veterans Court.

If Jacobson completes a two-year counseling program under the terms of his continuance, the charge will be dismissed.

He was one of 13 veterans and active-duty soldiers answering misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor charges in Peterson's courtroom on Thursday.

read more here

Special courts in Wash. designed for veterans

Montana National Guard gets support from Austalia

Here are just a few stories covered over the years on the Montana National Guard. This is something the cable news does not cover but is very important in the fight to save their lives. There are over 30 posts on the Montana National Guard's efforts to save the men and women we sent into combat.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Why Montana National Guard is taking PTSD head on


Monday, December 1, 2008

The death of Chris Dana changed Montana National Guard

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Obama win also means PTSD work gets new hero

Yellow ribbon program supports Montana National Guard
By Louisa Barber

Sidney Herald
Published on Sunday, September 19, 2010 7:09 AM MDT
They served this country, and they won’t be forgotten for it. Not through the Montana Yellow Ribbon Program, a year-old program dedicated to assisting the state’s Army National Guard soldiers through deployment.

On tour throughout the state, representatives of the National Guard visited Sidney for a luncheon and meeting in an attempt to reach out to the public to earn its support of its members. “Ultimately, this is the way to see success,” Ryan Luchau, outreach and marketing coordinator, said.

The Montana Yellow Ribbon Program, created in January 2009, is geared to assist service members and families going through deployment or those recently returned from a deployment. The program stemmed from reintegration issues and includes a three-step process. First is the pre-deployment academy in which soldiers and their families go through a workshop to discuss what to expect during and after deployment.

The second phase takes place during deployment. Families left behind are offered support through activities and training for when their loved one returns. It also includes monthly morale checks with returning soldiers and identifying at-risk service members. Being prepared and aware of who families can call to get assistance is a great asset.

The third phase is conducted once the service member returns and includes two steps: the 30-day post-deployment, which is re-establishing connection with family, the employer and the community, and the 60-day post-deployment which focuses on discussing problems, going through anger and stress management as well as suicide prevention.
read more here
Yellow ribbon program supports Montana National Guard

Helping vets stop cycle of crime

Helping vets stop cycle of crime
Monday, September 20, 2010
BY KIBRET MARKOS
The Record
STAFF WRITER

Police in North Jersey now have a new question for those who end up handcuffed in the back of a patrol car: "Are you a war veteran?"

The answer may determine if the offender will be sent to the Veterans Assistance Project, a new program that offers counseling, addiction services and other help to veterans charged with crimes.

More than 350 veterans in 11 counties — including 34 in Bergen and 12 in Passaic — have participated in the program since it was launched in phases starting in December 2008. The state is gradually expanding the program to all counties, following a similar trend nationwide.

Officials point to studies finding that more than 20 percent of war veterans show signs of mental illness, and many of those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are returning home with some form of mental disorder.

The new thinking taking hold in courts nationwide is that veterans should be offered treatment rather than being pushed through a system that was designed primarily to penalize.
read more here
Helping vets stop cycle of crime

A hero of Vietnam finds victory in defeat

A hero of Vietnam finds victory in defeat
By Eugene Patterson, Times Editor Emeritus
In Print: Monday, September 20, 2010
MAYPORT — If one healer can splint the American fracture left by the Vietnam War, a Vietnamese named Harry looked the part in a ceremony over the weekend at this U.S. Navy base.

"We won the war," said the former South Vietnamese army colonel, five times wounded and 13 years imprisoned by North Vietnam. "The Hanoi government knows China is going to attack Vietnam. So it must democratize and unify the country and be friends with America because the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

His name is Tran Ngoc Hue. U.S. Marines nicknamed him Harry nearly a half-century ago. It stuck to this day when he was honored aboard the Navy warship USS Hue City in a memorial of the 1968 Tet battle for Hue.

Harry was a hero there. But he was no victor in the war. As a South Vietnamese, he lost along with his departing American allies. Like Pickett's charge at Gettysburg, though, his transcendent gallantry in a lost cause offered both sides in a polarized America a unifying symbol of their kinship in courage.
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A hero of Vietnam finds victory in defeat

New Hampshire works with VA to aid vets in jail

New Hampshire works with VA to aid vets in jail

The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Sep 19, 2010 12:35:01 EDT

CONCORD, N.H. — Veterans who are serving time in New Hampshire’s prisons will get more help when they’re released under an agreement reached between the state Department of Corrections and the federal Department of Veterans Affairs.

The agencies recently signed an agreement that calls for the corrections department to notify the VA six months before a veteran is scheduled to be released. VA officials will then meet with the offender and make appropriate referrals for housing, substance abuse, employment, medical and mental health services.

Corrections Commissioner William Wrenn says he is optimistic the arrangement will lead to a more successful re-entry for the offenders.

There are 270 inmates incarcerated in the state prison system who report that they are veterans.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/09/ap-veterans-new-hampshire-works-to-help-vets-in-prison-091910/

Soldiers help replace vet’s stolen medals

Far more than just a lesson about what our soldiers do for veterans, this goes a long way to explain why Stolen Valor rules mean so much to these real heroes. A disabled veteran has his medals taken away from him but soldiers decided to step up knowing how much they really do mean to those who earned them. Great story all the way around.

Soldiers help replace vet’s stolen medals

By Evan Belanger - Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser
Posted : Sunday Sep 19, 2010 9:22:05 EDT

DECATUR, Ala. — With tears forming in his eyes, disabled war veteran Scott Sharbutt said he was thankful and proud after a medal repatriation ceremony Thursday at Decatur City Hall.

The ceremony, arranged by members of Redstone Arsenal’s 2nd Medical Recruiting Battalion, replaced the Gulf War veteran’s service medals, which were stolen from his Decatur home in a burglary this month.

“I’m about to cry,” Sharbutt said after the ceremony. “I didn’t think the response was going to be this great.”

Army civilian employee Stephen Hogan, who organized the ceremony, said he and other veterans in his battalion were touched when they read Sharbutt’s story last week.

“Being a prior veteran, it caught my eye, and I saw these medals that I actually have, too, and the first thing I thought was ‘How can I assist this veteran?’ ” Hogan said. “Because once a veteran, always a veteran. It’s a brotherhood that you’re always helping and assisting as much as you can.”
read more here
Soldiers help replace vet stolen medals

What’s happening at Joint Base Lewis-McChord?

What’s happening at Joint Base Lewis-McChord?
Base scrutinized over war crime allegations, mental breakdowns and post-combat treatment

By Megan McCloskey
Stars and Stripes
Published: September 17, 2010

JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. — First the medical center at this sprawling joint military base was alleged to have turned away National Guard soldiers seeking help for war wounds on the grounds that they were merely “weekend warriors” who were feigning injuries.

Then a dozen soldiers based here were accused of involvement in one of the worst war crimes allegedly committed by U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

And then three soldiers associated with the base suffered dangerous public mental breakdowns after returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, leading to confrontations with police and the deaths of two of them.

Now multiple criminal and military investigations are under way into the conduct of Lewis-McChord troops and the adequacy of the medical and mental health care they are receiving when they come home from war.
read more here
What’s happening at Joint Base Lewis-McChord

VA Honors Veterans on POW/MIA National Recognition Day

VA Honors Veterans on POW/MIA National Recognition Day

Special Benefits Available to Former POWs



WASHINGTON (September 20, 2010)- Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K.
Shinseki wants former American prisoners of war (POWs) to be aware of
the benefits and services available to them as Americans across the
nation show respect and appreciation for this special group of men and
women during POW/MIA National Recognition Day.

"These Veterans made great sacrifices for their country in time of war,
and it is our Nation's turn to honor them by reinforcing to them the
full range of compensation, health care and benefits they have earned,"
said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has expanded policies to cover
increasing numbers of former prisoners of war.

Special benefits for former POWs include enrollment in medical care for
treatment at VA hospitals and clinics without copayments, as well as
disability compensation for injuries and diseases that are associated
with internment.

Former POWs are also generally entitled to a presumption of
service-connection for certain diseases, based on the length of
captivity and the severity of their conditions.

Free dental treatment for any dental condition is also available to
former POWs. These benefits are in addition to regular Veterans'
benefits and services to which they are already entitled.

A major benefit for survivors of former POWs include Dependency and
Indemnity Compensation (DIC), which is a monthly benefit which may be
payable to the surviving spouse, children and, in some cases, parents.

Currently, more than 15,000 POWs are receiving VA benefits for
service-connected injuries, diseases, or illnesses. VA is asking former
POWs not currently utilizing VA benefits to contact the agency at
1-800-827-1000 to find out if they may be eligible for disability
compensation and other services.

Veterans can also apply online at
http://vabenefits.vba.va.gov/vonapp/main.asp or contact their
coordinator for former POWs located at each VA regional office.

More information about VA services for former POWs is available at
http://www.vba.va.gov/VBA/benefits/factsheets/misc/formerpow.doc

Army not sure about 13 potential suicides

Army Releases August Suicide Data
The Army released suicide data today for the month of August 2010. Among active-duty soldiers, there were 13 potential suicides: none have been confirmed as suicides, and all 13 remain under investigation. For July, the Army reported 12 potential suicides among active-duty soldiers. Since the release of that report, five have been confirmed as suicides, and seven remain under investigation.

During August, among reserve component soldiers who were not on active duty, there were 10 potential suicides. For July, among that same group, there were 16 total suicides. Of those, eight were confirmed as suicides and eight are pending determination of the manner of death.

“With the release of the Army Health Promotion, Risk Reduction and Suicide Prevention Report in July, the Army has transitioned suicide prevention efforts to the Health Promotion, Risk Reduction Council and Task Force. These two elements will help analyze, shape and implement the more than 240 additional changes to Army policy, procedure and processes recommended in the report,” said Col. Chris Philbrick, deputy director of the Army Health Promotion, Risk Reduction Council and Task Force.

“Our efforts continue to evolve as we learn more about the multiple factors contributing to suicides and high-risk behavior within our Army family. The end state remains the ability to provide our soldiers, civilians and families with the quality care and support they need and deserve,” Philbrick said.

Soldiers and families in need of crisis assistance can contact Military OneSource or the Defense Center of Excellence (DCoE) for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury Outreach Center. Trained consultants are available from both organizations 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year.

The Military OneSource toll-free number for those residing in the continental United States is 1-800-342-9647; their Web site address is Military OneSource. Overseas personnel should refer to the Military OneSource Web site for dialing instructions for their specific location.
The Army's comprehensive list of is located at Suicide Prevention Program information .
Army leaders can access current health promotion guidance in newly revised Army Regulation 600-63 (Health Promotion) at: Health Promotion and Army Pamphlet 600-24 (Health Promotion, Risk Reduction and Suicide Prevention) at Suicide Prevention.
Suicide prevention training resources for Army families can be accessed at Suicide prevention training
(requires Army Knowledge Online access to download materials).

The DCoE Outreach Center can be contacted at 1-866-966-1020, via electronic mail at Resources@DCoEOutreach.org and at DCoE Outreach Center.

Information about the Army’s is located at Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program .

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Suicide Prevention Resource Councilsp.

Combat trauma afflicts women, men alike

In all these years I have met a lot of wonderful people trying to make a difference, offer someone a helping hand and perhaps the most important gift of all is offering hope. Lily has done all of them. She cares about them and wants to help them so she reports on the problems they face like a veteran reporter but Lily has never been satisfied to tell people what is wrong. She wants to tell them what helps so they don't feel as if this is the way the rest of their life has to be. It can change. Because of people like Lily, there is a whole new world opened up for our veterans no matter what age. Read about Healing Combat Trauma and what she has been doing.

Combat trauma afflicts women, men alike
Lily Casura Napa Valley Register
Posted: Sunday, September 19, 2010
A few months ago, I attended the week-long clinical training program in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at the National Center for PTSD in Menlo Park (Veterans Administration) as well as the “Brain at War” conference in San Francisco, put on by the Department of Defense. Both made clear how much money is being spent on research ($500 million), but success stories can be hard to find. PTSD affects veterans, their families and communities; it can also lead to suicide.

Current statistics show an active-duty suicide every 36 hours, and that 18 veterans a day die by their own hand. Suicides are on the rise in every branch of the military that’s seen heavy combat in the current wars — Marines, Army, National Guard — and so far this year, there have been more suicides than combat deaths.

The problem extends to women veterans as well. According to the American Psychiatric Association, “Women veterans are two to three times more likely to commit suicide than nonveteran women” — and also die at a younger age, “between 18 and 34.”

Clearly, the problem is serious and troubling. Suicide is the final step on a journey of misery, pain and despair that can potentially be halted earlier, by intervention that increases a veteran’s chances of survival and success.

Five years ago, after writing about integrative medicine for years, I created the nonprofit Healing Combat Trauma, a website devoted to therapeutic resources for veterans with combat-based PTSD. Today, that’s becoming an actual program to lead combat vets with PTSD through, using integrative medicine — “the best of East and West” — to help them recover from the scars of war.
read more here
Combat trauma afflicts women, men alike

Veterans, tiny fish in big pond back home

Veterans, tiny fish in big pond back home
by
Chaplain Kathie

They walk by us everyday. A shaved head, a unit tattoo, a determined walk and once in a while you catch a flash of light as the sun hits a metal leg, but most of the time they show no signs of having been in the places we occasionally read about in newspapers. You know the stories well. As you flip through the pages of your local newspaper, they are the stories you stay away from while searching for movie listings and the latest gossip on your favorite celebrity. You may spend more time on a report if it is in the obituary section but honestly, you may have only read it to see when the funeral will be so you know when to stay away from the area. You may be a very busy, important person with places to go and things to do so your time is precious to you. You may want to disregard what is happening so far away from here because in your mind, if it really mattered, it would be all over the news and there would be no escaping it. With so little reported on Iraq and Afghanistan, you may rationalize it as being something involving less than one percent of the population eliminating the possibility it involves anyone you know. The problem is, you may know them already but have no clue where they’ve been.

They are in your local movie theater. They go to your favorite bar and restaurant. They shop at the same grocery store you do. They go to your church but unless your pastor mentions they are home from a tour of duty, you’d never know it especially with some of the mega size churches around the country. They are on your college campus but they blend right in. They are the few, the proud, the veteran. Tiny fish in a big pond the rest of us live in pursuing our own happiness, worrying about our own lives and what we perceive as problems in them.

We have bills to pay, so do they. We have problems at work, home, in our studies, so do they. We have to put up with jerks driving cars talking on cell phones, so do they. They are just like us. For the most part, they look just like us. We assume they are no more special than we are but we miss the fact that while the rest of us guppies are swimming in the pond they are the ones ready to swim into the mouth of the big fish trying to eat us.

They are the people who join the military and the National Guards because while they want to live with the rest of us they know we need someone to be unselfish for our sake. We want someone else to step up when a storm comes, floods wash away roads, downs power lines, or when a fire threatens to wipe out everything. We want to have them show up but that never seems to translate into us showing up for them.

So here’s our chance. For the homeless veterans there is a Stand Down next weekend in Orlando. Sign up, show up and stand up for them. The information is on the sidebar of this blog. I can’t go. I’ll be in Buffalo with Point Man Ministries. What you’ll see there is not about sadness but about what is possible. You’ll see all kinds of people helping these homeless veterans simply because they care. Other tiny fish stepping up to take care of them for a change will warm your heart and you may even decide to do what you can for them after that. Go and meet these people, find out what happened to them and what you can do to help them.

If you are in one of the colleges here in Central Florida and you think you may see a veteran in one of your classes, ask them. If they are not a veteran then you just put the idea to ask into the head of another tiny fish classmate to wonder if someone he knows is. If they are a veteran then get to know them. Don’t be afraid. You won’t hear any gory stories. As a matter of fact you will hear very little about what they went through because none of them really talk that much to people they know well about any of it. Just know one thing. They were willing to die for you since you live in this country and they wanted to serve for the sake of this country doing what they were told was needed to be done. The politics didn’t matter. All they needed to know was it was what other men and women were being sent to do and they wanted to go too. They risked their lives for the sake of the people they served with but would a friend of yours do the same for you? These people are just like the rest of the tiny fish on the outside but on the inside they are committed, driven and a hell of a lot more compassionate than the rest of us.

If you work for a living, then do the same. Find out if someone is a veteran or not and spend some time getting to know them. If they go to your church, find out if they need any kind of spiritual help and then get the pastor involved. Put a section in your bulletin so that veterans can contact someone for help if they need it or if a National Guards/Reservist family needs some help while their spouse is deployed.

Think of it this way. While you are a tiny fish in this really big pond, wouldn't you want someone else in the pond to care about you? Now top that off with the fact they cared so much they set their lives aside to serve and now they are trying to play catch up.

Friends gather to remember fallen Marine "Pretty Boy Floyd"

When we read stories about their Memorials, we are touched for a time but then we get to go back to our lives as if nothing happened. The family and friends have to go back to living their lives with a piece of their hearts missing. Moms bury sons and daughters. A lifetime of praying and worrying about them, being proud and worried, being hugged and hearing those sweet words, "I'm home" will not be repeated again in over 5,000 homes. Such a small percentage of the population of this country and easy to ignore if we choose to, yet if we do, we miss knowing about men and women who died for our sake.

Friends gather to remember fallen Marine

By Eloísa Ruano González, Orlando Sentinel

4:52 p.m. EDT, September 18, 2010

Memorial service for Marine Gunnery Sgt. Floyd Holley
(Copied by Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda, Orlando Sentinel / September 18, 2010)
A photo shows Marine Gunnery Sgt. Floyd Holley, who was killed in Afghanistan on Aug. 29, on display during a celebration of his life, on Saturday, September 18, 2010, in the auditorium of Lyman High School, where he attended. Holley, a roadside explosives specialist, died after he was hit by a blast from an improvised explosive device.

LONGWOOD — For some of the former Lyman High School students, it was their first time back on campus since their graduation almost two decades ago. They were there on Saturday to honor a classmate who could not join them.

Gunnery Sgt. Floyd Holley never made it home from his third tour of duty in the Middle East. The Marine, who grew up in Casselberry, died Aug. 29 after he was hit by a blast from a homemade bomb in Afghanistan's Helmand province.

Hundreds of friends and relatives gathered in the school's auditorium to pay tribute to their hometown hero. Although somber at times, the memorial was a way for people to relive the happy memories. They shared pictures of Holley, an outgoing, yet, kind-spirited man. In most of the pictures, he wore a big grin on his face, held a beer in his hand or flashed a shaka, a common greeting among surfers. While in the service, he taught an Afghani man and boy to flash shakas. The photo was displayed on a table at the entrance of the auditorium.
read more here
Friends gather to remember fallen Marine

Wife of N.C. Marine copes with husband's suicide

Wife of N.C. Marine copes with husband's suicide

By LINDELL KAY, The Daily News of Jacksonville

Jacksonville, N.C. — Katie Bagosy had been a Marine wife long enough to know when two men in uniform showed up at her front door it meant her husband wasn’t coming home again.

But she expected the visit while he was on one of his deployments, not after he went for a mental health session.

Sgt. Tom Bagosy, 25, died May 10 after shooting himself during a confrontation with base police on McHugh Boulevard.

His wife saw it coming a long time before it happened, she said, but felt helpless to stop the self-destruction of the man she loved.

Bagosy joined the Marine Corps in 2004 and married Katie in 2005. They have two children.

He was deployed to Iraq in 2006 and promoted to sergeant in 2007. He joined Marine Corps Force Special Operations Command in October 2008 and was deployed to Afghanistan. During his tours, he earned several medals, including two Combat Action Ribbons and a Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, according to information from MarSOC.
read more here
Wife of NC Marine copes with husband suicide

Chester County judge voids prison time for Iraq War veteran

Chester County judge voids prison time for Iraq War veteran
Published: Saturday, September 18, 2010
By Michael P. Rellahan, Special to The Mercury

WEST CHESTER — A Chester County Court judge erased a proposed prison term for an Iraq War veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after the man's attorney argued that the combat horrors he survived in that country justified a reduced sentence.

"I figure this country owes him," attorney John Duffy of West Chester told Common Pleas Court Judge William P. Mahon, who was set to sentence Robert Allen Delaney to 20 days in Chester County Prison as part of Delaney's acceptance into the county's Recovery Court program for repeat offenders with substance abuse and psychological problems.

Mahon, in forgoing the jail term in favor of an increased amount of time Delaney will spend on electronic home monitoring, recalled the way that some veterans were treated when they returned from the Vietnam War. No one said, "Welcome, home," he remarked.
read more here
Chester County judge voids prison time for Iraq War veteran

Illness kills soldier from Fort Gordon

Sergeant dies in Iraq
Illness kills soldier from Fort Gordon

By Adam Folk
Staff Writer
Friday, Sept. 17, 2010

The Fort Gordon soldier who died Thursday in Iskandariya, Iraq, of an illness had spent most of his career in Augusta.

Sgt. John Franklin Burner III, 32, was deployed with the 63rd Expeditionary Signal Battalion, which is part of the 35th Signal Brigade, according to Buz Yarnell, a Fort Gordon spokesman.

Burner, who was originally from Baltimore, left Fort Gordon with his unit Aug. 21 to work as a satellite systems team chief.
read more here
Illness kills soldier from Fort Gordon

Confessions of an over 50 college student

Confessions of an over 50 college student
by
Chaplain Kathie

Hard to believe I'm heading into the 4Th week of college. Not that it is so hard the time has gone by so fast but that I survived this long! One thing wrong at a time, feeling totally lost learning how to use a MAC while trying to keep my PC from doing the death rattle, topped off with a heavy dose of tech programs that would make anyone my age want to run away. It hasn't been all bad. Some of these programs have me all excited about the potential these challenges will provide in the long run if my professors don't kill me first. I am attending Valencia Community College and going for a certificate in Digital Media and Post Production. It would be great to be able to find a job that pays after all of this but that was not the goal when I decided to go. I wanted to make videos a lot better than I have been. Teaching myself how to make them was one thing but these programs are amazing! They are also complicated but I am in a learning curve since I've been out of school so long.

Two years ago I trained with other people my age or older to be a Chaplain. Since then it's been one training after another, again with people in my age group. We all had the same problems along with a lot in common. Twelve years ago I went back to college for a certificate in Microsoft Office programs. That grouping was a blend of all ages and most of us were there because of our jobs. The "new" programs back then were required for most of the jobs people like me had been doing since high school. Speaking of high school, when I went nothing was done on a computer! We were lucky to have a typing class on electric typewriters. (It is like just having a keyboard attached to a printer and it is all powered by your brain connected to your fingers. No spell check!)

So now I am in class with a bunch of great kids my daughter's age and I feel like a proud Mom astounded by what they are able to do along with a heavy dose of possibilities as they think about what they want to do in life. They were flying through the lessons while I was still trying to keep my files off the desktop and put into the "docking" station at the bottom of the MAC. Once I finally figured out where all the minimized files I had went to, it was too late to figure out where the professor had jumped too. Thank God there is a great kid next to me to help me find what I thought was lost. I have an online class I totally blew and I'll be lucky if I can ever make up for giving that professor gray hair. Then I have an art class when for whatever reason, I'm doing well even though I used to have trouble connecting the dots. What really has me nervous is as hard as these three classes are, there is another one starting next month! Lord have mercy on me.

That leads me to the next point of all of this. I spent the last 15 years or so online trying to reach out to the younger generation almost as hard as I had been trying to reach the veterans from Vietnam. To be able to do it right, I had to learn how to use things from the world they live in and then run with them. People are still people no matter how old they are and something like PTSD does not change. The way we help them has to change or it will do little good. There are organizations all over the country, established and with plenty of knowledge along with power but what they don't have is someone to catch them up to speed on how people communicate now.

They don't want to read a book. They want to read a Facebook post or a Tweet. They don't want to watch a documentary, they want to watch a movie. They don't play bingo or board games, they play video games. While all the other things are find and dandy depending on the generation you are trying to deal with, all you do has to be geared to where they are. We can put our foot down and say they have a lot to learn from us. While that is absolutely true, we cannot forget that we have a lot to learn from them. Too tell you the truth, I learn a lot more from watching a report than reading one. I read way too many emails and then follow the links to a fraction of the posts you read here. Honestly, I am bored with the vast majority of them. I especially don't like the reports that have no emotion tied to them as if reporters are holding their noses having to report on a soldier's death just offering his name, age, maybe if you're lucky they'll toss in where he went to school but for the most part it is a blend of the DOD release and an obituary. Anything personal is just too much for them to pay attention to. I pass those right by because I won't glorify some hack that can't give a fallen solider a little bit of interest. Anyway, all that aside, since I am used to reading these reports, if I get bored, than don't you think someone not used to reading them would zone out and quit reading?

We have to keep up with them or we will be letting them all down.

If you happen to be in college with more life experience than most of your classmates have been alive, reach out a hand to them and don't you dare be ashamed you have to ask them for help. After all, think of it this way. They have no clue how to change the channel on the TV if they can't find the remote! We know what hardship is because we had to get up and do it all the time.

Solution for an Army epidemic at Fort Gordon

Solution for an Army epidemic Feedback...
Why is it important to give to Combined Federal Campaign?
Staff Sgt. E. Douglas Blair III
Special to The Signal
By Bonnie Heater Feedback...


When I started studying journalism in college I asked my professor what was in a great journalistic piece. He said that the trick was to take a subject and try to answer the questions that the normal person might have by the end of the article. This is no easy task with a subject like suicides in the Army and how to prevent them. The suicide rate has become an epidemic and if that word isn’t scary enough, then numbers like one Soldier every three days commits suicide should mortify you. In fact, according to the Department of Defense, the rate of suicides has increased from a record high of 128 in 2008 to a whopping 147 reported suicides in 2009 and over 170 this fiscal year. Nearly everyone has been touched in some form or fashion by suicide. Soldiers, like myself, are required to attend a class every six months or so and told how to deal with a fellow Soldier that is feeling depressed. Ask, Care and Escort have been the mantra of recent years and each Soldier is required to have an ACE card with them at all times. But what do we ask and how do we care and what if there is no one readily available to deal with a Soldier, friend, loved one, co-worker, etc. that has real feelings of suicide? The ACE card is like putting a bandage on a sucking chest wound (by the way, all chest wounds suck).

read more here

Solution for an Army epidemic

Fort Bragg reassures homes OK after baby deaths

Bragg reassures homes OK after baby deaths

Chief of staff for 82nd Airborne says he’s confident housing is safe
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Sep 17, 2010 17:22:06 EDT

SPOUT SPRINGS, N.C. — Fort Bragg officials are telling military families they don't need to fear for their children's health while living in housing on the sprawling Army post.

The Fayetteville Observer reported military leaders held a community meeting Thursday at an elementary school in Spout Springs. They wanted to answer questions about an Army investigation of the unexplained deaths of 10 infants in Fort Bragg housing in recent years.

About 70 people attended the meeting.
read more here
Bragg reassures homes OK after baby deaths

also on this story

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

10 infant deaths investigated at Fort Bragg

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer on President's Advisory Committee

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release September 15, 2010
President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts
WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key administration posts:

Jill Appell, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Pamela G. Bailey, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
C. Fred Bergsten, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Bobbi Brown, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Michael E. Campbell, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Lisa Carty, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Governor Chris Christie, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Michael Ducker, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Mayor Buddy Dyer, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations John B. Emerson, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Bill Frenzel, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Dean Garfield, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Leo W. Gerard, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Joseph T. Hansen, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
James P. Hoffa, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Robert Holleyman, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Sandra Kennedy, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Jim Kolbe, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Fred Krupp, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
David Lane, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Kase Lawal, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Robert A. McDonald, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Harold McGraw III, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Wade Randlett, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Robert W. Roche, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Matthew Rubel, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
David H. Segura, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Bob Stallman, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
John Surma, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Luis Ubiñas, Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
President Obama said, “I am grateful that these highly qualified men and women have agreed to lend their talents to this administration as we work to boost our nation’s exports over the next five years. When ninety-five percent of the world’s customers are beyond our borders, it is crucial that we compete for that business and those jobs. And we need to do so in a way that is responsible and fair, and that levels the playing field for American workers. I look forward to the wise counsel these individuals will provide on these issues as we work together in the coming months and years.”

The Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations is tasked with providing policy advice on trade matters, and is made up of members who broadly represent key sectors and groups of the economy. The President will announce additional members to this Committee at a later date.
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President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

When Stubborn Pride Takes Control, time to sort out excuses from issues

This was sent from Lily Casura over at Healing Combat Trauma and it is a wonderful piece written by a Vietnam vet trying to come to terms with life in this "new normal" world.

When Is PTSD NOT PTSD? When Stubborn Pride Takes Control

Editor's note: We're not giving you medical or psychological advice here; consult with your own health care practitioner for that. What we are doing is sharing a longtime PTSD sufferer's opinion with you about his own situation, on the off-chance that it may instruct or enlighten. We have the feeling, now that he's outed himself, others may quite enjoy learning the distinctions he shares from his own life. And when we say "others," we mean spouses, significant others and family members...

From the subject of "Eyewitness to Combat," a Vietnam vet, Marine, with 40 years of "experience" on the subject:

"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder has many faces and it sometimes masquerades as a behavioral problem; conversely, there are times when behavioral abnormalities masquerade as PTSD. In other words, sometimes PTSD is mistaken for just stubborn Pride; and sometimes stubborn Pride is excused as PTSD. There is also a third face, the one in which we appear completely “Normal.” So the “trick” becomes knowing which one is in control – the PTSD one; the PRIDEFUL one; or the NORMAL one.

One of the most frustrating and difficult problems in sorting this out with traumatized MST or PTSD combat vets is that by their very nature, MST and PTSD sufferers are very complicated individuals, to say the least. It’s almost as if we are different people at different times. And in fact we are. My wife used to say she “never knew which one” of me “was coming home.” In other words: “PTSD really screws us up: mentally, emotionally, socially, personally, professionally and physically”. However on many of the occasions that get blamed on PTSD, it is in fact our own personality “quirks” that have intervened, kidnapped and magnified the suffering from PTSD. And in the healing process, this habitual behavior must be sorted out before any true healing can “stick.” It’s true that we can be healed from our PTSD “disorder” but also allow our pride, habitual bad habits and negative attitude to completely mask any real improvement.

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When Stubborn Pride Takes Control

Michigan airman killed while disposing explosives in Iraq

Michigan airman killed while disposing explosives in Iraq
BY MATT HELMS
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
An airman from west Michigan has died in Iraq, killed while disposing of undetonated explosives.

Military officials on Wednesday notified the family of Senior Airman Jimmy Hansen, 25, that he was killed while on duty at Joint Base Balad, an air base about 42 miles north of Baghdad.

The Defense Department issued an official news release Thursday, saying Hansen died Wednesday of wounds from a controlled detonation.

"He went down to help a fellow Air Force member dispose of some undetonated explosives, and something went wrong," Hansen's brother, Rich Hansen Jr., told the Free Press on Thursday. "That's all we've got right now."



Read more: Michigan airman killed while disposing explosives in Iraq freep.com Detroit Free Press Michigan airman killed while disposing explosives in Iraq

Arlington officials broke their word to Marine's Dad on disinterment

Marine's father: Arlington officials broke their word on disinterment
Scott Warner just wanted to make sure his son's remains were properly buried, but officials wouldn't cooperate
Scott Warner traveled to Washington from Canton, Ohio, this week for the disinterment of his son’s remains at Arlington National Cemetery. Warner wanted to be sure his son Heath, a Marine killed in Iraq in 2006, was buried in the right spot. He was worried because the Arlington National Cemetery scandal, uncovered by Salon in a yearlong investigation, had unnerved him, and some of his son’s burial paperwork contained disturbing discrepancies.

The media covered Heath’s disinterment Wednesday closely, including the conclusion that Heath was buried correctly. But that's far from the whole story.

"This thing has been portrayed as some big success story," Warner told Salon during a telephone interview Thursday as he drove back to Ohio. "It was a disaster. It was a desecration of honor."

It was also macabre. Warner says what really happened that day shows just how far the public trust in Arlington has evaporated and that the Army should be stripped of oversight of the cemetery. "Did I expect to be digging through my son’s casket looking for an arm? No," he said.

"For a family to go through what my family went through yesterday is beyond reproach."
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Arlington officials broke their word on disinterment

Camp Lejeune cancer link is not a rumor

To this day, after all these years, many ex-Marines have no clue about any of this. Some think it's just a rumor and they don't think it is real. How could anyone easily understand that serving this country would put them in danger on US soil on their own base? They simply haven't been paying attention to what has been released about toxic bases around the country any more than they have been told by the broadcast media about any of this. When they hear reports from friends or by email, they think is has to be a rumor or they would have heard about it watching the news.

Marines with cancer decry Corps' silence about tainted water
They tell Congress of their struggle to get full disclosure about contamination at Camp Lejeune.

By Kim Geiger, Tribune Washington Bureau

September 16, 2010


Reporting from Washington — When Peter Devereaux arrived at Camp Lejeune in December 1980, he had no idea that officials were looking into unsafe levels of toxic chemicals in the drinking water.

As a Marine stationed at the sprawling military base along the North Carolina shore, Devereaux said, he led a healthy lifestyle. When he was diagnosed in early 2008 with a rare disease — male breast cancer — Devereaux did not connect his illness to Camp Lejeune.

But six months after he'd had his left breast and 22 cancerous lymph nodes removed, he received a letter from the Department of the Navy informing him that in the 1980s, "unregulated chemicals were discovered" in the drinking water at the camp's Hadnot Point water distribution system.

Drinking water in various areas of the camp had been contaminated with trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene — chemicals used to clean metals and dry-clean clothes — and benzene, a chemical found in fuel. All are believed to cause cancer.
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Marines with cancer decry Corps silence

Murder-suicide at Johns Hopkins Hospital

Hospital Gunman Kills Mother, Self After Shooting Doctor
Mara Gay
Contributor
(Sept. 16) -- A gunman wounded a doctor inside Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital today, then fatally shot his mother and himself, police said.

Police had partially evacuated the building while pursuing the suspect.

The gunman, Warren Davis, 50, shot the doctor after receiving some upsetting news about his mother's condition, Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld told reporters.

"Mr. Davis was receiving some news about the care and condition of his mother just outside the doorway to that room when he became emotionally distraught," Bealefeld said.
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Hospital Gunman Kills Mother Self After Shooting Doctor

3 bodies found in wrong graves at Arlington

3 bodies found in wrong graves at Arlington

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Sep 15, 2010 15:44:59 EDT

WASHINGTON — Arlington National Cemetery has discovered three people buried in the wrong graves.

The Army said Wednesday that officials opened three burial sites last month and found that the remains in each had been interred in mismarked graves.
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3 bodies found in wrong graves at Arlington

As you can read here, there have been problems with Arlington for a very long time.

STATEMENT OF MR BRIAN E BURKE
PRINCIPAL DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE ARMY
(CIVIL WORKS)
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS
COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ON THE ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
MAY 20, 1999

We as a nation do a lot of talking about how much they mean to us. We have these elaborate ceremonies with honor guards, folding of the flags followed by presenting it to the families of the fallen with the words, "On behalf of a grateful nation" and then that is all we need to know. But our professed devotion to them should go so much deeper than that.

We should care enough to know all the facts before we send them into combat. We need to make damn sure the risk to their lives is worth it or not. We need to make sure they have the best plans, equipment and training possible. We also need to know if the medical end of the Department of Defense along with the Veterans Administration are prepared to care for the wounded for however long they need it. This and so much more need to be known before they are even sent.

When they are deployed, we need to hold the President and the Congress accountable for what is happening to them. If they tell us it will be quick, then we need to start to ask what is going wrong if it is taking much longer than they expected. We should ask if anyone is being held accountable for the planning failing and then ask what other plans are being implemented to finish the combat operations.

Some in this country are focused on spending cuts today but they were no where to be found when contractors were billing for things they didn't deliver on, paid for work done that caused the troops more harm and actions that may have even prolonged combat operations in Iraq. This was our obligation to the men and women we sent into Iraq and Afghanistan. It is our obligation all the time but we ignore it.

Some in this country did not want the troops to receive a pay raise but they wouldn't trade jobs with them. Some didn't want the educational bill to provide them with educations that would sustain the rest of their lives, the same lives they were willing to risk in service to this nation. Some in this country want to see the VA privatized, view it as a welfare program that should be cut and use it as a tool to cut the deficit so they can provide the wealthy 2% tax cuts funding their lives off the service of our men and women risking their's.

Yes, if you listen to some of the politicians, this is exactly what they say their goal is. These are the same people who claim they "support the troops" and are the patriots of the country but when all is said and done, they are the first ones to turn their backs on the veterans and the wounded.

We have a beautiful cemetery at Arlington but the beauty is only what you can see. To discover that headstones were used as drainage, burials were botched and what we cannot see was a cluster of disgrace, it is a reflection of the way we treat all of them. What we cannot see doesn't matter because it is easy to hide.

Heroes Awards of Valor for 39 police officers and firefighters

39 area police officers and firefighters receive Heroes Awards of Valor
By Michael Brocker

Inquirer Staff Writer

There were moments when Upper Darby Police Officer Raymond Blohm thought about quitting his dream job and never returning to the streets again.
"I had doubts and, yes, a lot of sleepless nights at first," he said of a shooting this year that left him injured and struggling with questions about his career.

Blohm was among 39 police officers and firefighters from Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania suburbs, and Delaware who received Heroes Awards of Valor at the National Liberty Museum on Wednesday night. It was the fifth year that the Center City museum had honored these men and women - and an occasional canine - for their courage and service.

"What these guys do is just extraordinary heroism," said Doug Tozour, president of the National Liberty Museum. "The policemen and firefighters risk their lives without a thought. That's what heroism is all about. This award will help to get them a little more recognition."

The honorees are traditionally chosen by the heads of the Fire and Police Departments.

"We could have named hundreds more," Philadelphia Fire Capt. Kevin O'Mally said.

Diablo, a specially trained Belgian Malinois who supports the patrol and narcotic units of the New Castle County Police Department, received the K-9 Hero Award.

Read more: Heroes Awards of Valor


Watch sports videos you won't find anywhere else

Portraits of the Fallen

Portraits of the Fallen
An artist named Kaziah Hancock paints portraits of fallen soldiers free of charge for their families as part of Project Compassion. Video by KARE 11/ Minneapolis/ St. Paul.

She painted almost 250 so far. Why? Kaziah says "I don't get into the political crap. I just love freedom." and she loves them.

70 years on, Battle of Britain pilots remember

70 years on, Battle of Britain pilots remember
By JILL LAWLESS (AP) – 5 hours ago

LONDON — Owen Burns remembers the cold, the howling wind, and the silk underwear he wore to protect him from the bitter cold. Ken Wilkinson recalls the solitude of combat, Nigel Rose the perverse disappointment of coming back from a mission unscathed.

They are a dwindling band, these men with firsthand memories of the Battle of Britain, an aerial fight for survival that came to a head 70 years ago Wednesday — and marked a turning point of World War II. They are modest icons, happy to reminisce and keep the past alive, but reluctant to dwell on either their bravery or their fear.

"There were times when you were really frightened, without a doubt," said Rose, a former Spitfire fighter pilot who is still dapper at 92. "But there wasn't much time to be really scared in the air."

Between July 10 and Oct. 31, 1940, German bombers pounded Britain's ports, airfields and cities in a bid to destroy its defenses in preparation for either invasion or surrender. France had already fallen to Adolf Hitler and the British army had been evacuated in disarray from Dunkirk.

The fate of Britain lay in the hands of men, barely out of their teens, sent up in Spitfires and Hurricanes to confront waves of Luftwaffe bombers. They are known as "The Few," from Prime Minister Winston Churchill's tribute: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

Sept. 15 was the symbolic climax to the battle, a day of heavy fighting in which British pilots shot down 60 German planes — though British propaganda at the time claimed three times as many. It is now commemorated as Battle of Britain Day, and veterans are gathering in London Wednesday for the unveiling of a bronze statue of Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park, the Royal Air Force commander in charge of defending the capital and southeast England.

Of almost 3,000 British and Allied airmen who flew in the battle, more than 544 were killed. Almost 800 more died before the end of the war.
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70 years on Battle of Britain pilots remember

Fourmile Canyon Firefighters at Risk for PTSD

If you are a firefighter, no matter where you are or how long you've been one, if you have a hard time "getting over it" then go for help to talk things over and get it all out. You need professional help for one simple reason. People are not trained to listen to what you may need to say anymore than they are trained to know what to say to you in return. Talking about the event and how you feel about it helps you to heal. Don't put it off. The sooner you get help for what you went through, the better.

September 15, 2010
Fourmile Canyon Firefighters at Risk
BOULDER, Colo. - Many of the firefighters at the Fourmile Canyon Fire lived in the mountain canyons outside of Boulder, where the flames scorched more than 6,000 acres. Experts say that close personal connection to the fire could put them at risk for post traumatic stress disorder - PTSD. Dr. Neil Weiner, director of Clinical Services at the University of Colorado Depression Center explains.

"I think loss of those kinds of personal affects, of memories, potential financial losses all can congeal and really increase the risk of post traumatic stress disorder."

Weiner says some depression or stress for a few weeks after this sort of event is normal, including flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety, or insomnia. He notes if symptoms linger for more than three months that can be a sign that PTSD has developed, and the individual should seek help.
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Fourmile Canyon Firefighters at Risk

Mom pleads guilty to stabbing soldier daughter

Mom pleads guilty to stabbing soldier daughter


Posted : Tuesday Sep 14, 2010 11:09:30 EDT

GREENVILLE, N.C. — A South Carolina woman has pleaded guilty in the February stabbing death of her daughter, a soldier based in North Carolina.

Multiple media outlets report that Linda Shannon of Bethune, S.C., pleaded guilty Monday to second-degree murder in federal court in Greenville.

The 50-year-old told investigators she snapped after her daughter, 32-year-old Autumn Shannon, called her a bad mother.

The active duty soldier stationed at Fort Bragg was found with multiple stab wounds and a large knife in her neck when military police arrived at her home on the post.

Court documents say Linda Shannon was staying with her daughter while the younger woman recovered from a car accident.

Linda Shannon is scheduled to be sentenced in New Bern in December.
Mom pleads guilty to stabbing soldier daughter

Moving Wall comes to Sebring

John Vawter, commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4300 in Sebring, is organizing a fundraising effort to bring The Moving Wall, a half-sized replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, to Sebring in November. To bring the memorial to Sebring, Vawter needs to raise another $4,600.

Moving Wall comes to Sebring


By AIYANA BAIDA

Highlands Today

Published: September 14, 2010

SEBRING - The Moving Wall - a traveling half size replica of the Washington, D.C. Vietnam Veterans Memorial - is stopping in Sebring in November.

That's if John E. Vawter Sr., commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4300, can raise the remaining $4,600 to bring the wall here.

His mission to raise $10,000 to bring the Moving Wall to Sebring began last October. So far the organization has received $5,400 in donations from organizations like the Veterans Council of Highlands County.

With less than two months left, they need community support to help them raise the remaining money.

Raising the funds has been their biggest challenge.

"Money is scarce," Vawter said.

But Vawter has no doubts they will succeed.
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Moving Wall comes to Sebring

Soldier admits killing two soldiers from Florida

Soldier admits killing 2 roommates in northern NY
(AP) – 5 hours ago

WATERTOWN, N.Y. — A Fort Drum military policeman admitted stabbing to death two Army buddies at their apartment near the northern New York military post and will be sentenced to 45 years to life in prison.

Spc. Joshua Hunter, who was raised in Ona, W.Va., repeatedly stabbed Waide James, 20, of Cocoa, Fla., and Diego Valbuena, 20, of Port Saint Lucie, Fla., last November in a duplex the three men shared near Fort Drum's main entrance.

The three friends had returned in spring 2009 from a yearlong tour in Iraq with the 10th Mountain Division, Hunter as a military policeman and the other specialists as drivers. Hunter's wife and parents say he returned from Iraq a changed man plagued by flashbacks.
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Soldier admits killing 2 roommates in northern NY