by
Chaplain Kathie
My husband was married before we met. He was married soon after he came back from Vietnam. During their six years together, she didn't want to know about Vietnam, had no tolerance for his nightmares, flashbacks or short term memory loss. She didn't want to hear anything about Vietnam and they separated so many times he lost count. She just couldn't take it and this, this was when his PTSD was mild.
His Dad, a WWII veteran with a Purple Heart and Bronze Star, didn't want to talk to him about war at all other than a few stories about some of his friends. His Mom didn't want to talk to him about anything other than what she wanted him to do for her.
Friends didn't want to listen and he never felt he could talk to any of them even if they were willing to listen. A few of them were also Vietnam veterans but they didn't talk about much either. There was no communication and no support. They had nothing to really connect. No emails with buddies back home in the states. No news reports from around the country. No books on PTSD with personal stories were written. There were only clinical books for me to read when we met and I wanted to find out why this veteran was so much different than everyone else in my family.
My Dad was a disabled Korean Vet and my uncles served in WWII. My husband was totally different.
Today there is the Internet, books, videos, media attention, sites like this one putting together news reports from around the country and more programs than I can remember, yet today there are still high numbers of divorce, suicides and attempted suicides with more and more veterans ending up homeless from Iraq and Afghanistan. Their families and friends are not perfect. Most of them have the same attitude my husband's inner circle did when they could have been trying to be supportive instead of telling him to "get over it" and stop.
Today wives like me are no longer left in the abyss trying to claw their way out alone because they have a lifeline to reach for, but too many never take hold of it. Their families, spouse and kids, suffer just as much as they do but they have the power to end the suffering and begin the healing. They have the power within their reach but they just won't take it.
Do they love their veteran enough to learn? Do they care enough to find out what they can do to help instead of judge and blame?
My husband's ex-wife didn't care enough to find out what she was facing and their marriage ended after six years. We've been married for 26 years and with all the heartache and struggles, I wouldn't have missed a day of it because in the process of learning what I could do for him, I discovered a more marvelous man under all the pain he carried.
All of us can discover the people they really are under all the pain when we care enough to learn and help them heal. In the process, we heal ourselves, forgive what caused us pain because we understand what is behind it and know how to respond to help them see the person they are under all of it.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
College Hosts PTSD Seminar
College Hosts PTSD Seminar
One Of Five Soldiers Return With Disorder
By: Fred Halstied
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- A recent study shows that one out of five soldiers returns from Iraq or Afghanistan with post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
On Saturday, the University of Phoenix held a workshop teaching counseling professionals how to diagnose and treat local soldiers who have this condition.
"Military personnel are returning to Colorado Springs with their families, and they're abusing drugs," said Jody Tomberlin, licensed clinical social worker. "When soldiers return from the Middle East, they often have angry outburst, resulting in bar fights, domestic violence, and difficulty holding jobs."
read more here
College Hosts PTSD Seminar
One Of Five Soldiers Return With Disorder
By: Fred Halstied
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- A recent study shows that one out of five soldiers returns from Iraq or Afghanistan with post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
On Saturday, the University of Phoenix held a workshop teaching counseling professionals how to diagnose and treat local soldiers who have this condition.
"Military personnel are returning to Colorado Springs with their families, and they're abusing drugs," said Jody Tomberlin, licensed clinical social worker. "When soldiers return from the Middle East, they often have angry outburst, resulting in bar fights, domestic violence, and difficulty holding jobs."
read more here
College Hosts PTSD Seminar
Resilience training won't work tomorrow if yesterday is an example
It doesn't have to be as bad as it has been but as long as they take this kind of approach, it is unlikely to get better any time soon. "Resilience training" has not worked up until now and that is reflected by the ever increasing suicides along with attempted suicides. Drug and alcohol abuse are up, arrests are up so much so many states have rightly set up Veterans Courts, mental health claims are up, divorces are up and the list goes on.
I've been married 26 years but other couples have lasted 30 to 40 years while sharing a home with PTSD. We raised our kids to understand why their Dad acts the way he does and they didn't end up blaming themselves. We got our emotions out of the way and reacted with our intelligence using the view of a wounded combat veteran standing in front of us instead of some kind of jerk out to cause a fight. We helped them see all the good within them because we were able to forgive and we were able to forgive because we understood there was a reason behind what they did.
Above all, we helped them forgive themselves.
PTSD comes after trauma. From an outside force attacking them. It hits the emotional part of their brain. Under 25, this part is not fully developed. In other words, their character is not carved in stone yet. Exposure to traumatic events in combat weighs heavily on them and the number of times they are exposed to it, crushes them. Our job is to take the weight off their souls brick by brick. It was that way for wives of Vietnam Vets and will be that way for today's veterans.
It doesn't matter if the people in their lives are a spouse, sibling or parent or even a friend. We are the ones on the front lines of this. While they fight the battles in combat, we must fight the battles for their lives but we must do so fully armed with understanding, love, forgiveness and patience with them. "Resilience training" should not be geared toward them but should be geared toward us so that we have the ability to help them heal. From what I've seen, this attempt falls flat because the people running this type of program have little understanding what it is like to be in their boots 24-7 or live with them.
None of what we see has to happen but much we have done should happen. It won't as long as the powers that be will not listen to what has worked because they are too busy asking what has failed. If the people in their lives get emotionally hurt, then they turn away from them. Most of this comes from lack of understanding and looking at them as if they were the way they used to be. Homeless veterans, for the most part, can be tracked back to coming back with PTSD and families that were destroyed by it because no one understood why any of the damage done was happening to them. Want to really make a difference, then start what what already has. The track record of aware Vietnam veterans' families proves nothing is impossible.
None of what we're seeing has to happen as long as they start to look at what has worked instead of what has failed.
Comprehensive Soldier Fitness
Resilience training and post traumatic stress disorder
Resilience training reflects a strength-based, positive psychology approach to Warrior behavioral health. It is designed for Warriors, Leaders, Spouses, Families and behavioral health providers. Training and information is targeted to all phases of the Warrior deployment cycle, Warrior life cycle and Warrior support system.
Do you believe this training will prepare you to cope with deployment and the effects of deployment, to include post traumatic stress disorder?
For more information on Resilience Training, visit https://www.resilience.army.mil/.
I've been married 26 years but other couples have lasted 30 to 40 years while sharing a home with PTSD. We raised our kids to understand why their Dad acts the way he does and they didn't end up blaming themselves. We got our emotions out of the way and reacted with our intelligence using the view of a wounded combat veteran standing in front of us instead of some kind of jerk out to cause a fight. We helped them see all the good within them because we were able to forgive and we were able to forgive because we understood there was a reason behind what they did.
Above all, we helped them forgive themselves.
PTSD comes after trauma. From an outside force attacking them. It hits the emotional part of their brain. Under 25, this part is not fully developed. In other words, their character is not carved in stone yet. Exposure to traumatic events in combat weighs heavily on them and the number of times they are exposed to it, crushes them. Our job is to take the weight off their souls brick by brick. It was that way for wives of Vietnam Vets and will be that way for today's veterans.
It doesn't matter if the people in their lives are a spouse, sibling or parent or even a friend. We are the ones on the front lines of this. While they fight the battles in combat, we must fight the battles for their lives but we must do so fully armed with understanding, love, forgiveness and patience with them. "Resilience training" should not be geared toward them but should be geared toward us so that we have the ability to help them heal. From what I've seen, this attempt falls flat because the people running this type of program have little understanding what it is like to be in their boots 24-7 or live with them.
None of what we see has to happen but much we have done should happen. It won't as long as the powers that be will not listen to what has worked because they are too busy asking what has failed. If the people in their lives get emotionally hurt, then they turn away from them. Most of this comes from lack of understanding and looking at them as if they were the way they used to be. Homeless veterans, for the most part, can be tracked back to coming back with PTSD and families that were destroyed by it because no one understood why any of the damage done was happening to them. Want to really make a difference, then start what what already has. The track record of aware Vietnam veterans' families proves nothing is impossible.
Free Meals for Veterans
News from Military Connection
Free Meals for Military and Veterans
McCormick & Schmick's. For the 11th year in a row, the 87 locations in 25 states are offering free entrees to veterans on Sunday, Nov. 7th. The chain also requests military ID and highly recommends reservations. The promotion is on Sunday instead of Veterans Day, "because it allows vets to bring their families who might not be available during the week," CEO Bill Freeman says.
Golden Corral is offering free buffet meals - including beverage and dessert - to current military and veterans on Monday, Nov. 16, from 5 to 9 p.m. No military ID is required for its ninth annual Military Appreciation Monday, according to Dolly Mercer, national events manager. The event is held on this date, she says, "so we don't interfere with Veterans Day activities."
Applebee's is offering a free entree on Wednesday to veterans and all active-duty military from 11 a.m. to midnight at all 1,900 locations. Although Applebee's requests some kind of military ID, "We're not going to argue with folks who might forget to bring it," says Sam Rothschild, senior vice president of operations.
Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation is offering free doughnuts to all Veterans and active military personnel. Just visit any participating Krispy Kreme to redeem your free doughnuts. No identification required but keep it available anyway.
Outback Steakhouse - Free Blooming Onion and beverage.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
GOP Trick or threat?
I don't know what has happened to the people of this country but if I get into one more conversation with a smart person spouting off nonsense, I think I may just stop trying to set them straight and let them go off believing whatever they want so they can look totally stupid to someone without any patience at all.
It has been my job to know what the truth is and I can tell you that this is true. I listened to them talk for far too long to understand the difference between talk and real action. They say they support the troops and the veterans but on their agenda, their actual plans, they want to hand over the VA to private corporations, along with Social Security and Medicare while getting rid of the Department of Education. This is how they plan to knock down the deficit plus making sure we go back to the days when people ended up without medical care because they didn't have insurance. That is exactly what all the fighting has been about but they twist and snare words from fact so suit themselves on a daily basis.
Take down here in Florida for example. Grayson and Kosmos have been accused of cutting Medicare along with Nancy Pelosi. This accusation was by GOP contributors. The same people always talking about the deficit and how government doesn't work. These three people did in fact cut Medicare but they did it from cutting waste, fraud and abuse, while the commercial wants people to think someone lost benefits. How dumb is that? The very people wanting to cut it are accusing watchdogs of doing it? Where were will these people be when our parents are elderly and need medical care along with a social security check to be able to live after working all their lives? It's bad enough these same people stopped an increase in Social Security and Veterans cost of living raises last year and plan to do the same this year.
I've heard enough and read enough to know that when it comes to really caring about the people this country was built by and sustained by, they couldn't care less.
I heard them say there wasn't enough money to take care of our veterans because, if you can believe their own words, "there are two wars to pay for" at the same time Iraq and Afghanistan were never included in the budgets until Obama, the man they love to hate, decided they were important enough to include in the budget and pay for. They complain about so many things needing to be paid for when it matters to us but when it comes to the rich people in this country, nothing is too good for them.
The simple truth is if you read and check their voting record, notice all the bills they stopped in the Senate including how they voted against the GI Bill, pay raises for the troops and cost of living raises for our disabled veterans, then you will know that if you still think they deserve your vote, you should be prepared to have people laugh because your fly is down or your dress is stuck in your underwear, because you'll not only look that dumb, you'll be to blame for us going back to the days when no one cared about anyone but themselves.
They just didn't care about us when they blocked so many bills because power trumped all else. They figured if Obama fails then we'll be suffering so much we'd want them back but they didn't count on how bright we all are and we figured out that in the end, none of us matter to them but we do matter to the people who have been fighting for us since 2007 when the Democrats took back control of the committees and things began to work for common folk like us. Don't let the GOP trick you into not knowing when you are being threatened with what they want to do to us so you forget who has been trying to do things for us!
Rant for the week concluded.
Support For Veterans Shows Sharp Partisan Divide
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on October 23rd, 2010 4:39 am by HL
Support For Veterans Shows Sharp Partisan Divide
According to an analysis by the nonpartisan Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America Action Fund, Republicans in Congress have dramatically failed to support our troops after they come home. IAVA’s 2010 Veteran Report Card, based on the key veterans’ legislation that came to a vote during the 111th Congress, exposed a sharp partisan divide on […]
According to an analysis by the nonpartisan Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America Action Fund, Republicans in Congress have dramatically failed to support our troops after they come home. IAVA’s 2010 Veteran Report Card, based on the key veterans’ legislation that came to a vote during the 111th Congress, exposed a sharp partisan divide on the level of support for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, as MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow tabulated yesterday. Of the 94 elected officials that earned an A or A+ rating from IAVA, 91 were Democrats. Of the 154 officials who received a D or F, 142 were Republicans:
read the rest here
Support For Veterans Shows Sharp Partisan Divide
It has been my job to know what the truth is and I can tell you that this is true. I listened to them talk for far too long to understand the difference between talk and real action. They say they support the troops and the veterans but on their agenda, their actual plans, they want to hand over the VA to private corporations, along with Social Security and Medicare while getting rid of the Department of Education. This is how they plan to knock down the deficit plus making sure we go back to the days when people ended up without medical care because they didn't have insurance. That is exactly what all the fighting has been about but they twist and snare words from fact so suit themselves on a daily basis.
Take down here in Florida for example. Grayson and Kosmos have been accused of cutting Medicare along with Nancy Pelosi. This accusation was by GOP contributors. The same people always talking about the deficit and how government doesn't work. These three people did in fact cut Medicare but they did it from cutting waste, fraud and abuse, while the commercial wants people to think someone lost benefits. How dumb is that? The very people wanting to cut it are accusing watchdogs of doing it? Where were will these people be when our parents are elderly and need medical care along with a social security check to be able to live after working all their lives? It's bad enough these same people stopped an increase in Social Security and Veterans cost of living raises last year and plan to do the same this year.
I've heard enough and read enough to know that when it comes to really caring about the people this country was built by and sustained by, they couldn't care less.
I heard them say there wasn't enough money to take care of our veterans because, if you can believe their own words, "there are two wars to pay for" at the same time Iraq and Afghanistan were never included in the budgets until Obama, the man they love to hate, decided they were important enough to include in the budget and pay for. They complain about so many things needing to be paid for when it matters to us but when it comes to the rich people in this country, nothing is too good for them.
The simple truth is if you read and check their voting record, notice all the bills they stopped in the Senate including how they voted against the GI Bill, pay raises for the troops and cost of living raises for our disabled veterans, then you will know that if you still think they deserve your vote, you should be prepared to have people laugh because your fly is down or your dress is stuck in your underwear, because you'll not only look that dumb, you'll be to blame for us going back to the days when no one cared about anyone but themselves.
They just didn't care about us when they blocked so many bills because power trumped all else. They figured if Obama fails then we'll be suffering so much we'd want them back but they didn't count on how bright we all are and we figured out that in the end, none of us matter to them but we do matter to the people who have been fighting for us since 2007 when the Democrats took back control of the committees and things began to work for common folk like us. Don't let the GOP trick you into not knowing when you are being threatened with what they want to do to us so you forget who has been trying to do things for us!
Rant for the week concluded.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Senator Doran says "Pentagon dropped the ball on chemical exposure of US Troops in Iraq"
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Friday CONTACT: Barry E. Piatt
October 22, 2010 PHONE: 202-224-0577
Follow up report is delayed:
DORGAN: DOD IG REPORT CONFIRMS PENTAGON DROPPED THE BALL ON CHEMICAL EXPOSURE OF U.S. TROOPS IN IRAQ
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) --- U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) said Friday a preliminary report of an investigation by the Department of Defense Inspector General confirms that the Pentagon dropped the ball in responding to the exposure of hundreds of U.S. troops to a deadly chemical in Iraq. Those failures left some exposed soldiers unaware that they had been exposed to the deadly chemical and without follow up health monitoring and treatment. Monitoring tests performed on other soldiers who were informed of their exposure were so inadequate that the agency that performed them now admits they have a “low level of confidence” in those tests.
A second and more detailed Inspector General’s report, originally scheduled to be released this month, has now been moved back to the end of the year, a development Dorgan said he finds “disappointing.”
The Senate Armed Services Committee and Dorgan requested IG investigations after he chaired hearings by the Senate Democratic Policy Committee (DPC), in June 2008 and August 2009. The hearings revealed that troops from Indiana, Oregon, South Carolina, and West Virginia were exposed to sodium dichromate, a known and highly potent carcinogen at the Qarmat Ali water treatment facility in Iraq. The DPC hearings revealed multiple failures by the contractor, KBR, and the Army’s failure to adequately monitor, test, and notify soldiers who may have been exposed of the health risks they may now face.
The IG is releasing two reports on its investigation, The first report was released in September. The second, expected to be a more detailed response to specific DPC concerns, was originally slated for release by late October. But the Department of Defense Inspector General now states a draft of that report won’t be available until the end of the year.
The first report provides no indication -- seven years after the exposure – that the Army ever notified seven soldiers from the Army’s Third Infantry Division who secured the Qarmat Ali facility during hostilities that they had been exposed. It also confirms that the Army’s assessment of the health risks associated with exposure to sodium dichromate for soldiers at Qarmat Ali are not very reliable. In fact, the organization that performed these assessments, the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventative Medicine (CHPPM), now says it has a “low level of confidence” in its test results for the overwhelming majority of those exposed.
Equally troubling, Dorgan said, is the report’s finding that the Department of Defense is refusing to provide information to Congress about the incident, because of a lawsuit to which it is not a party.
“I am very concerned about the findings we now have, and I am disappointed in the delayed release of Part II of this report. The IG’s investigation and its findings are very important to the lives of U.S. soldiers and workers who were at the site. Details and definitive findings will help us ensure accountability for this exposure and flawed follow up, but even more importantly, they will help ensure that all exposed soldiers receive appropriate notice and medical attention,” Dorgan said.
Friday CONTACT: Barry E. Piatt
October 22, 2010 PHONE: 202-224-0577
Follow up report is delayed:
DORGAN: DOD IG REPORT CONFIRMS PENTAGON DROPPED THE BALL ON CHEMICAL EXPOSURE OF U.S. TROOPS IN IRAQ
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) --- U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) said Friday a preliminary report of an investigation by the Department of Defense Inspector General confirms that the Pentagon dropped the ball in responding to the exposure of hundreds of U.S. troops to a deadly chemical in Iraq. Those failures left some exposed soldiers unaware that they had been exposed to the deadly chemical and without follow up health monitoring and treatment. Monitoring tests performed on other soldiers who were informed of their exposure were so inadequate that the agency that performed them now admits they have a “low level of confidence” in those tests.
A second and more detailed Inspector General’s report, originally scheduled to be released this month, has now been moved back to the end of the year, a development Dorgan said he finds “disappointing.”
The Senate Armed Services Committee and Dorgan requested IG investigations after he chaired hearings by the Senate Democratic Policy Committee (DPC), in June 2008 and August 2009. The hearings revealed that troops from Indiana, Oregon, South Carolina, and West Virginia were exposed to sodium dichromate, a known and highly potent carcinogen at the Qarmat Ali water treatment facility in Iraq. The DPC hearings revealed multiple failures by the contractor, KBR, and the Army’s failure to adequately monitor, test, and notify soldiers who may have been exposed of the health risks they may now face.
The IG is releasing two reports on its investigation, The first report was released in September. The second, expected to be a more detailed response to specific DPC concerns, was originally slated for release by late October. But the Department of Defense Inspector General now states a draft of that report won’t be available until the end of the year.
The first report provides no indication -- seven years after the exposure – that the Army ever notified seven soldiers from the Army’s Third Infantry Division who secured the Qarmat Ali facility during hostilities that they had been exposed. It also confirms that the Army’s assessment of the health risks associated with exposure to sodium dichromate for soldiers at Qarmat Ali are not very reliable. In fact, the organization that performed these assessments, the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventative Medicine (CHPPM), now says it has a “low level of confidence” in its test results for the overwhelming majority of those exposed.
Equally troubling, Dorgan said, is the report’s finding that the Department of Defense is refusing to provide information to Congress about the incident, because of a lawsuit to which it is not a party.
“I am very concerned about the findings we now have, and I am disappointed in the delayed release of Part II of this report. The IG’s investigation and its findings are very important to the lives of U.S. soldiers and workers who were at the site. Details and definitive findings will help us ensure accountability for this exposure and flawed follow up, but even more importantly, they will help ensure that all exposed soldiers receive appropriate notice and medical attention,” Dorgan said.
As a death notification team "It wasn't supposed to be like this."
It wasn't supposed to be like this
Posted 10/18/2010
Commentary by Lt. Col. Jonathan Tamblyn
54th Air Refueling Squadron commander
10/18/2010 - ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. (AFNS) -- After parking the Air Force staff car beside the yard, the chaplain, the nurse and I got out of the car and took a moment to look over each other's service dress. We had been steeling ourselves for this moment most of the afternoon.
As a death notification team, it was our job to inform a newly bereaved father about the tragic death of his Air Force son.
In a very rare Air Force Personnel Center decision, the signed letter I would read to the father stated the suspected cause of death was suicide.
Many of you can't read the word "suicide" without feeling the pangs of a tragic loss you have already experienced in your life due to someone else's decision to prematurely end his or her own life. Although the pain of suicide is staggering, the risk of suicide may be more pervasive than previously thought.
In a 2008 study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, it was found that "nearly 8.3 million adults (age 18 and older) in the U.S. had serious thoughts of suicide in the past year."
The study also showed that 2.3 million adult Americans made a suicide plan within the past year and that 1.1 million adults actually attempted suicide within the past year."
Hidden within these staggering statistics, you find too many servicemembers who have also been suicidal.
Lately, military suicides have been on the rise.
The Houston Chronicle did an analysis and found suicides of "Texans younger than 35 who served in the military jumped from 47 in 2006 to 66 in 2009 -- an increase of 40 percent."
As sobering as the statistics can be, there are some things we can do to help reduce the risk of losing an Airman, coworker, friend or family member to suicide.
read more here
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123226803
Posted 10/18/2010
Commentary by Lt. Col. Jonathan Tamblyn
54th Air Refueling Squadron commander
10/18/2010 - ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. (AFNS) -- After parking the Air Force staff car beside the yard, the chaplain, the nurse and I got out of the car and took a moment to look over each other's service dress. We had been steeling ourselves for this moment most of the afternoon.
As a death notification team, it was our job to inform a newly bereaved father about the tragic death of his Air Force son.
In a very rare Air Force Personnel Center decision, the signed letter I would read to the father stated the suspected cause of death was suicide.
Many of you can't read the word "suicide" without feeling the pangs of a tragic loss you have already experienced in your life due to someone else's decision to prematurely end his or her own life. Although the pain of suicide is staggering, the risk of suicide may be more pervasive than previously thought.
In a 2008 study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, it was found that "nearly 8.3 million adults (age 18 and older) in the U.S. had serious thoughts of suicide in the past year."
The study also showed that 2.3 million adult Americans made a suicide plan within the past year and that 1.1 million adults actually attempted suicide within the past year."
Hidden within these staggering statistics, you find too many servicemembers who have also been suicidal.
Lately, military suicides have been on the rise.
The Houston Chronicle did an analysis and found suicides of "Texans younger than 35 who served in the military jumped from 47 in 2006 to 66 in 2009 -- an increase of 40 percent."
As sobering as the statistics can be, there are some things we can do to help reduce the risk of losing an Airman, coworker, friend or family member to suicide.
read more here
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123226803
Kentucky family sues over shooting death at Fort Bliss
Ky. family sues over shooting death at Fort Bliss
By BRETT BARROUQUERE Associated Press Writer © 2010 The Associated Press
Oct. 20, 2010, 4:10PM
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The family of a teenager killed during a shooting at a post in Texas is suing the U.S. government for $8.75 million, claiming the military was negligent in diagnosing and treating the alleged shooter.
Renee Richardson of Louisville, whose 18-year-old son, Ezra Gerald Smith, died in the April 24, 2009 shootings at Fort Bliss in Texas, claims the U.S. Army missed multiple warning signs that Spc. Gerald Polanco was suffering from numerous psychiatric disorders, including post traumatic stress disorder.
"This could have been prevented and that's what she's mad about," attorney Sheila Hiestand said of her client.
Richardson filed suit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Louisville.
Polanco was charged with murder, but ruled incompetent to stand trial by a military judge a few months later. Polanco's current condition was not immediately available. His attorney, John Convery of San Antonio, Texas, did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Army Maj. Myles Caggins III, a spokesman for Fort Bliss, told The Associated Press that Polanco's court martial proceedings are ongoing and declined to comment.
"Our heart goes out to the family of Gerald Smith," Caggins said. "We are committed to fair and thorough legal proceedings in accordance with the Uniform Code of Military Justice."
In letters to Smith's family, the military denied liability for the shooting, saying Polanco's actions could not have been foreseen.
Smith was at Fort Bliss, where his stepfather was based at the time of the shooting.
read more here
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7256084.html
By BRETT BARROUQUERE Associated Press Writer © 2010 The Associated Press
Oct. 20, 2010, 4:10PM
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The family of a teenager killed during a shooting at a post in Texas is suing the U.S. government for $8.75 million, claiming the military was negligent in diagnosing and treating the alleged shooter.
Renee Richardson of Louisville, whose 18-year-old son, Ezra Gerald Smith, died in the April 24, 2009 shootings at Fort Bliss in Texas, claims the U.S. Army missed multiple warning signs that Spc. Gerald Polanco was suffering from numerous psychiatric disorders, including post traumatic stress disorder.
"This could have been prevented and that's what she's mad about," attorney Sheila Hiestand said of her client.
Richardson filed suit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Louisville.
Polanco was charged with murder, but ruled incompetent to stand trial by a military judge a few months later. Polanco's current condition was not immediately available. His attorney, John Convery of San Antonio, Texas, did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Army Maj. Myles Caggins III, a spokesman for Fort Bliss, told The Associated Press that Polanco's court martial proceedings are ongoing and declined to comment.
"Our heart goes out to the family of Gerald Smith," Caggins said. "We are committed to fair and thorough legal proceedings in accordance with the Uniform Code of Military Justice."
In letters to Smith's family, the military denied liability for the shooting, saying Polanco's actions could not have been foreseen.
Smith was at Fort Bliss, where his stepfather was based at the time of the shooting.
read more here
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7256084.html
Huron police searching for missing Iraq War veteran
Huron police searching for missing Iraq War veteran
Published: Thursday, October 21, 2010
By JAMILA T. WILLIAMS
jwilliams@MorningJournal.com
HURON — A 21-year-old Iraq War veteran is still missing and divers searched the Huron River yesterday but didn’t find anything, Huron police Chief John Majoy said.
Nathan Dickey was reported missing after he did not return home Sunday evening following a night out with friends, according to the Huron Police Department.
go here for more
Huron police searching for missing Iraq War veteran
Friends of missing Iraq war veteran wait, hope, pray
HEATHER CHAPIN-FOWLER
It’s a grueling wait for Nathan Dickey’s family and friends as they look to police to solve the Iraq war veteran’s mysterious disappearance.
Dickey’s friends gathered Wednesday evening outside the Brass Pelican near the Huron River, where earlier this week the missing man’s shoe was found in the river.
“He’s an excellent guy,” said Casey Gonzalez, Dickey’s friend from Columbus. “We’re all a tight bunch and we’re just waiting, hoping for the best.”
Gonzalez recalled the last time he saw Dickey — just weeks ago at Cedar Point — and he’s hoping it’s not the last time he’d see his friend alive.
Dickey’s friends reported him missing Sunday evening after a night of drinking at i5’s Bar and Grill in downtown Huron. Dickey was with the group Saturday night, but at 2 a.m. Sunday he wandered off into the early morning darkness.
He was drunk and upset about problems within the group, a police report said.
It’s the last time anyone saw him alive.
read more of this here
Friends of missing Iraq war veteran wait
Published: Thursday, October 21, 2010
By JAMILA T. WILLIAMS
jwilliams@MorningJournal.com
HURON — A 21-year-old Iraq War veteran is still missing and divers searched the Huron River yesterday but didn’t find anything, Huron police Chief John Majoy said.
Nathan Dickey was reported missing after he did not return home Sunday evening following a night out with friends, according to the Huron Police Department.
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Huron police searching for missing Iraq War veteran
Friends of missing Iraq war veteran wait, hope, pray
HEATHER CHAPIN-FOWLER
It’s a grueling wait for Nathan Dickey’s family and friends as they look to police to solve the Iraq war veteran’s mysterious disappearance.
Dickey’s friends gathered Wednesday evening outside the Brass Pelican near the Huron River, where earlier this week the missing man’s shoe was found in the river.
“He’s an excellent guy,” said Casey Gonzalez, Dickey’s friend from Columbus. “We’re all a tight bunch and we’re just waiting, hoping for the best.”
Gonzalez recalled the last time he saw Dickey — just weeks ago at Cedar Point — and he’s hoping it’s not the last time he’d see his friend alive.
Dickey’s friends reported him missing Sunday evening after a night of drinking at i5’s Bar and Grill in downtown Huron. Dickey was with the group Saturday night, but at 2 a.m. Sunday he wandered off into the early morning darkness.
He was drunk and upset about problems within the group, a police report said.
It’s the last time anyone saw him alive.
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Friends of missing Iraq war veteran wait
Veteran Guards Christian Flag At City's Memorial
Since this is a memorial, there should be no problem with the "Christian" flag flying at all. There doesn't seem to be any rule about preventing other faiths from flying a flag there too so there should really be no problem. What's next? Removing the headstones with crosses on them from cemeteries?
Veteran Guards Christian Flag At City's Memorial
by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
October 21, 2010
The Christian flag is everywhere in the small city of King, N.C.: flying in front of barbecue joints and hair salons, stuck to the bumpers of trucks, hanging in windows and emblazoned on T-shirts.
The relatively obscure emblem has become omnipresent because of one place it can't appear: flying above a war memorial in a public park.
The city council decided last month to remove the flag from above the monument in Central Park after a resident complained, and after city leaders got letters from the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State urging them to remove it.
That decision incensed veterans groups, churches and others in King, a city of about 6,000 people 15 miles north of Winston-Salem. Ray Martini, 63, an Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam, launched a round-the-clock vigil to guard a replica Christian flag hanging on a wooden pole in front of the war memorial.
Since Sept. 22, the vigil has been bolstered by home-cooked food delivered by supporters, sleeping bags and blankets donated by a West Virginia man and offers of support from New York to Louisiana.
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Veteran Guards Christian Flag
Lynn Hey/AP
Ray Martini, an Air Force veteran, stands beside a Christian flag flying in front of the Veterans Memorial at Central Park in King, N.C., on Saturday. Martini launched a round-the-clock vigil to guard the new flag after it was taken down because of complaints.
Veteran Guards Christian Flag At City's Memorial
by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
October 21, 2010
The Christian flag is everywhere in the small city of King, N.C.: flying in front of barbecue joints and hair salons, stuck to the bumpers of trucks, hanging in windows and emblazoned on T-shirts.
The relatively obscure emblem has become omnipresent because of one place it can't appear: flying above a war memorial in a public park.
The city council decided last month to remove the flag from above the monument in Central Park after a resident complained, and after city leaders got letters from the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State urging them to remove it.
That decision incensed veterans groups, churches and others in King, a city of about 6,000 people 15 miles north of Winston-Salem. Ray Martini, 63, an Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam, launched a round-the-clock vigil to guard a replica Christian flag hanging on a wooden pole in front of the war memorial.
Since Sept. 22, the vigil has been bolstered by home-cooked food delivered by supporters, sleeping bags and blankets donated by a West Virginia man and offers of support from New York to Louisiana.
read more here
Veteran Guards Christian Flag
Faith healing or foul play on cliff
Faith healing or foul play on cliff?
By Ryan Sabalow
Posted October 21, 2010
Rather than call police when their drinking partner fell — or was pushed — off a nearly 200-foot cliff, two students at a Redding Bible school tried first to reach the severely wounded man and pray him back to life, a lawsuit alleges.
In a lawsuit filed this month in Shasta County Superior Court exactly two years to the day after he was pulled by search-and-rescue crews from the banks of the Sacramento River, Jason Michael Carlsen alleges that when Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry students Sarah Elisabeth Koivumaki and Zachary Gudelunas couldn’t reach him to heal him with their prayers, they spent hours debating whether to call the police.
Bethel’s members purport to have the ability to heal people through prayer and bring the dead back to life.
The two later told police they thought Carlsen was killed in the fall.
Worried that they would be exiled from the church, the two Bethel students also went so far as to try to cover up evidence they’d even been at the top of the cliff, the lawsuit alleges.
read more here
Faith healing or foul play on cliff
By Ryan Sabalow
Posted October 21, 2010
Rather than call police when their drinking partner fell — or was pushed — off a nearly 200-foot cliff, two students at a Redding Bible school tried first to reach the severely wounded man and pray him back to life, a lawsuit alleges.
In a lawsuit filed this month in Shasta County Superior Court exactly two years to the day after he was pulled by search-and-rescue crews from the banks of the Sacramento River, Jason Michael Carlsen alleges that when Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry students Sarah Elisabeth Koivumaki and Zachary Gudelunas couldn’t reach him to heal him with their prayers, they spent hours debating whether to call the police.
Bethel’s members purport to have the ability to heal people through prayer and bring the dead back to life.
The two later told police they thought Carlsen was killed in the fall.
Worried that they would be exiled from the church, the two Bethel students also went so far as to try to cover up evidence they’d even been at the top of the cliff, the lawsuit alleges.
read more here
Faith healing or foul play on cliff
Feds: Mentally Ill Targeted in $200M Medicare Fraud in Florida
There is an ad here in Florida attacking Grayson and Kosmos along with Nancy Pelosi. The problem with the ad is that while it is true they were part of the millions cut from Medicare, it was against waste, fraud and abuse, just as this report how bad the problem is. No one lost benefits and tax payers were well served by going after this kind of fraud. Whoever is behind the ad, just doesn't care about the elderly or the tax payers when they use an ad doing good but paint it as bad for attempted political gain.
This kind of thing happens way too often and it needs to be stopped for the sake of everyone.
This kind of thing happens way too often and it needs to be stopped for the sake of everyone.
Feds: Mentally Ill Targeted in $200M Medicare Fraud
Hugh Collins
Contributor
(Oct. 21 ) -- Two Miami health care companies and four owners and senior managers were indicted today in a $200 million fraud scheme that targeted mentally ill patients, federal authorities said.
American Therapeutic Corp. and Medlink Professional Management Group allegedly paid kickbacks to Florida assisted-living facilities to deliver their patients to ATC.
The companies would then bill Medicare therapy sessions that were unnecessary or never performed at all, the indictment said.
Agents with the FBI and Investigations Division of the Office of the Inspector General are seen outside the American Therapeutic Corp. building on Thursday in Miami. Federal agents raided the building during an operation that resulted in the arrest of four in what is being called one of the nation's biggest Medicare fraud cases.
Some of these patients were suffering from Alzheimer's and dementia, and were not aware of what was going on.
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Feds: Mentally Ill Targeted in $200M Medicare Fraud
Feds: Mentally Ill Targeted in $200M Medicare Fraud
60 Minutes shines light on local homeless Marine vet
60 Minutes shines light on local homeless Marine vet
BY JEANETTE STEELE
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2010 AT 8:02 P.M.
What a difference three months made in the life of former enlisted Marine Charles Worley.
In July, Worley was one of a handful of young veterans living on the streets of San Diego . Worley, then 31, had been bouncing among friends’ couches after he lost his job and unemployment ran out.
To get a break from that routine, he showed up at the annual three-day Stand Down for the Homeless event held by Veterans Village of San Diego at San Diego High School.
That’s where the cameras of 60 Minutes discovered him. Worley was prominently profiled in a report aired Sunday night. He was also featured in this story in the San Diego Union-Tribune on July 16.
The 60 Minutes piece leaves off with the viewer wondering about Worley’s destiny.
60 Minutes shines light on local homeless Marine vet
BY JEANETTE STEELE
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2010 AT 8:02 P.M.
What a difference three months made in the life of former enlisted Marine Charles Worley.
In July, Worley was one of a handful of young veterans living on the streets of San Diego . Worley, then 31, had been bouncing among friends’ couches after he lost his job and unemployment ran out.
To get a break from that routine, he showed up at the annual three-day Stand Down for the Homeless event held by Veterans Village of San Diego at San Diego High School.
That’s where the cameras of 60 Minutes discovered him. Worley was prominently profiled in a report aired Sunday night. He was also featured in this story in the San Diego Union-Tribune on July 16.
The 60 Minutes piece leaves off with the viewer wondering about Worley’s destiny.
60 Minutes shines light on local homeless Marine vet
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Vet who attempted suicide facing sentencing?
‘I’m scared’
Local Army vet, struggling with PTSD, worried over upcoming sentencing for incident following suicidal episode
By WARREN HOWELER
Times Editor
Published:
Thursday, October 21, 2010 9:10 AM EDT
SAYRE — Rebecca Amey has two significant scars on her body.
One is on her left shoulder, the reminder that she survived an IED explosion while serving in Iraq as a U.S. Army intelligence analyst back in 2005-2006.
The other is on her left wrist — leftover from when her nightmares and flashbacks triggered a suicide attempt this summer.
Amey suffers from post traumatic stress disorder. She is currently on five medications to combat her anxiety, lingering pain from her injury and to help her sleep without the nightmares of that incident flowing back into her mind.
Dealing with the PTSD is a daily struggle for the 24-year-old mother of two. But it was the aftermath of her recent suicide attempt that may have lasting repercussions on her life and her family’s.
It was on July 23 when Amey left her house and attempted to commit suicide following her most recent flashbacks and nightmares. However, in her haste, Amey left her 3-year-old son Tristan and her 10-month-old son Andrew home — alone.
read more here
Local Army vet, struggling with PTSD
Local Army vet, struggling with PTSD, worried over upcoming sentencing for incident following suicidal episode
By WARREN HOWELER
Times Editor
Published:
Thursday, October 21, 2010 9:10 AM EDT
SAYRE — Rebecca Amey has two significant scars on her body.
One is on her left shoulder, the reminder that she survived an IED explosion while serving in Iraq as a U.S. Army intelligence analyst back in 2005-2006.
The other is on her left wrist — leftover from when her nightmares and flashbacks triggered a suicide attempt this summer.
Amey suffers from post traumatic stress disorder. She is currently on five medications to combat her anxiety, lingering pain from her injury and to help her sleep without the nightmares of that incident flowing back into her mind.
Dealing with the PTSD is a daily struggle for the 24-year-old mother of two. But it was the aftermath of her recent suicide attempt that may have lasting repercussions on her life and her family’s.
It was on July 23 when Amey left her house and attempted to commit suicide following her most recent flashbacks and nightmares. However, in her haste, Amey left her 3-year-old son Tristan and her 10-month-old son Andrew home — alone.
read more here
Local Army vet, struggling with PTSD
600 people met the eight Westboro pickets at Gonzaga University
October 21, 2010 in City
Ferris to release students early as protesters gather
The Spokesman-Review
Ferris High School officials have decided to release students at 1:45 today as hundreds of protestors gather nearby to demonstrate against a planned appearance by pickets from Westboro Baptist Church.
Hundreds of people have turned out at each of the stops scheduled by the radical group to counter its message of hate and intolerance.
An estimated 600 people met the eight Westboro pickets at Gonzaga University, with another 200 to 300 at both the Moody Bible Institute and Whitworth University. Currently, about 200 people are gathering near Ferris High School.
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Ferris to release students early
Ferris to release students early as protesters gather
The Spokesman-Review
Ferris High School officials have decided to release students at 1:45 today as hundreds of protestors gather nearby to demonstrate against a planned appearance by pickets from Westboro Baptist Church.
Hundreds of people have turned out at each of the stops scheduled by the radical group to counter its message of hate and intolerance.
An estimated 600 people met the eight Westboro pickets at Gonzaga University, with another 200 to 300 at both the Moody Bible Institute and Whitworth University. Currently, about 200 people are gathering near Ferris High School.
read more here
Ferris to release students early
Iraq contractor seeks appeal from Oregon veterans
Iraq contractor seeks appeal from Oregon veterans
PORTLAND, Ore. — A Texas-based military contractor is seeking an appeal before trial begins in a lawsuit filed by Oregon veterans who claim they were exposed to a toxic chemical in Iraq. Attorneys for Kellogg, Brown and Root claim that suing a military contractor raises “unprecedented” legal questions that first should be decided by a higher court. Other federal judges have ruled in KBR’s favor in lawsuits in Indiana and West Virginia, saying their courts lack jurisdiction. But U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Papak in Portland told attorneys Wednesday to prepare for trial while he considers the KBR request to have the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals review his rulings. Oregon Army National Guard veterans sued KBR last year, claiming the company downplayed or disregarded their exposure to hexavalent chromium in Iraq.
Iraq contractor seeks appeal from Oregon veterans
PORTLAND, Ore. — A Texas-based military contractor is seeking an appeal before trial begins in a lawsuit filed by Oregon veterans who claim they were exposed to a toxic chemical in Iraq. Attorneys for Kellogg, Brown and Root claim that suing a military contractor raises “unprecedented” legal questions that first should be decided by a higher court. Other federal judges have ruled in KBR’s favor in lawsuits in Indiana and West Virginia, saying their courts lack jurisdiction. But U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Papak in Portland told attorneys Wednesday to prepare for trial while he considers the KBR request to have the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals review his rulings. Oregon Army National Guard veterans sued KBR last year, claiming the company downplayed or disregarded their exposure to hexavalent chromium in Iraq.
Iraq contractor seeks appeal from Oregon veterans
Facebook behind Vietnam Vet finding daughter after 39 years
Danielle Petratos holds a photo of her and her father 42 years ago. (Photo/Mona Rivera/1010 WINS)
Dad, Daughter Reunite Via Facebook After 39 Years
October 21, 2010 2:31 PM
Reporting Mike Xirinachs
MANHASSET, NY (WCBS 880/ 1010 WINS) – All her life, the only thing Danielle Petratos had of her father was a single photograph.
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Dad Daughter Reunite Via Facebook After 39 Years
Marine Charged With Killing Friend
Marine Charged With Killing Friend During Drunken Brawl
“We have two families each who has lost a son," said Miami-Dade police
By JEFF BURNSIDE
Kevin Toledo, a Miami-Dade College student studying nursing and working as a security guard, was considering joining the military.
Wednesday night, his stunned friends and family mourned his death by gathering in the darkness outside his family's home in Little Havana, calling him "a good man" and "a brother." Tears were everywhere. His friend Ken Shika is now charged with first degree murder in his death. Police say they got into a drunken brawl. Shika, a Marine Reserve Sergeant who did two tours in Iraq, shot his friend in the back, according to police.
"This is, in fact, a tragedy all the way around,” says Roy Rutland, spokesperson for the usually tight-lipped Miami-Dade police. “We have two families each who has lost a son. And we have lost an American soldier who is now being charged with first degree murder and is looking at spending the rest of his life in prison.”
read more here
Marine Charged With Killing Friend During Drunken Brawl
“We have two families each who has lost a son," said Miami-Dade police
By JEFF BURNSIDE
Kevin Toledo, a Miami-Dade College student studying nursing and working as a security guard, was considering joining the military.
Wednesday night, his stunned friends and family mourned his death by gathering in the darkness outside his family's home in Little Havana, calling him "a good man" and "a brother." Tears were everywhere. His friend Ken Shika is now charged with first degree murder in his death. Police say they got into a drunken brawl. Shika, a Marine Reserve Sergeant who did two tours in Iraq, shot his friend in the back, according to police.
"This is, in fact, a tragedy all the way around,” says Roy Rutland, spokesperson for the usually tight-lipped Miami-Dade police. “We have two families each who has lost a son. And we have lost an American soldier who is now being charged with first degree murder and is looking at spending the rest of his life in prison.”
read more here
Marine Charged With Killing Friend During Drunken Brawl
Should pictures of bodies be published?
There was a great debate about media covering the return of flag draped caskets coming home. In the end after the ban was lifted, it was left up to the family members if the media would be allowed to cover the return or not and how much they would cover.
The same rule needs to be applied here as well. It shouldn't matter if you can see the face of the fallen or not. It should be up to the family if they want the picture shown.
This is a heartbreaking picture of a group of Marines standing by the body of one of their brothers. A tenderness we do not get to see showing that this Marine's life mattered. Maybe we need to be reminded of what they are going through, that war is real and they die, they get wounded and for far too many they cannot escape the carnage even though they leave the country. It comes back with them as they try to get back into society where things like they see are not supposed to happen. They come back to oblivious communities so out of touch with what they are going through, most of them have no idea how many died. They were not reminded of what was happening in Iraq or Afghanistan, so they forget all about them as they deal with their own problems. Maybe they need to be reminded but just as the public has a right to know, the families have a right to be private if that is what they want. We may honor the life gone for our sake but they did not belong to us. They belonged to the families who prayed for them everyday, missed them, worried about them but above all, will be the people visiting their graves instead of holding them in their arms. Let them decide.
Go here for the picture and to read more. I decided to remove the picture.
The same rule needs to be applied here as well. It shouldn't matter if you can see the face of the fallen or not. It should be up to the family if they want the picture shown.
This is a heartbreaking picture of a group of Marines standing by the body of one of their brothers. A tenderness we do not get to see showing that this Marine's life mattered. Maybe we need to be reminded of what they are going through, that war is real and they die, they get wounded and for far too many they cannot escape the carnage even though they leave the country. It comes back with them as they try to get back into society where things like they see are not supposed to happen. They come back to oblivious communities so out of touch with what they are going through, most of them have no idea how many died. They were not reminded of what was happening in Iraq or Afghanistan, so they forget all about them as they deal with their own problems. Maybe they need to be reminded but just as the public has a right to know, the families have a right to be private if that is what they want. We may honor the life gone for our sake but they did not belong to us. They belonged to the families who prayed for them everyday, missed them, worried about them but above all, will be the people visiting their graves instead of holding them in their arms. Let them decide.
Go here for the picture and to read more. I decided to remove the picture.
Two views of photo of a fallen Marine
October 20, 2010
The photo on Wednesday’s front page of Marines in Afghanistan waiting with the body of a fallen battalion member drew strong, and opposing, responses from readers. Cpl. Jorge Villarreal, who was based at Camp Pendleton, was killed by an improvised bomb while on patrol. In the photo, above, three fellow Marines await a helicopter that will evacuate Villarreal's body.
read more here
Two views of photo of a fallen Marine
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Discharged gay troops try to re-enlist
Imagine serving your country, being willing to die for it, then be told that your service is not wanted because you are gay. Then imagine most of the other countries in NATO have no problem with gays serving in the military. Then think that even though you wanted to serve despite all of this, you were kicked out anyway. Well if that wasn't enough to turn these men and women against the military, some of them are showing exactly how much they do care by enlisting back into the military that tossed them out for being what they are. Says a lot about the kind of people the military has been getting rid of instead of appreciate.
Discharged gay troops try to re-enlist
By Anne Flaherty and Julie Watson - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Oct 20, 2010 8:18:43 EDT
SAN DIEGO — At least three service members discharged for being gay have begun the process to re-enlist after the Pentagon directed the military to accept openly gay recruits for the first time in the nation's history.
The top-level guidance issued to recruiting commands Tuesday marked a significant change in an institution long resistant and sometimes hostile to gays.
"Gay people have been fighting for equality in the military since the 1960s," said Aaron Belkin, executive director of the Palm Center, a think tank on gays and the military at the University of California Santa Barbara. "It took a lot to get to this day."
read more here
Discharged gay troops try to re enlist
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