Saturday, November 6, 2010

Camp Pendleton, 19 year old Marine loses leg after freeway crash

Marine loses leg after freeway crash
By ALEJANDRA MOLINA
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

A 19-year-old Marine lost his left leg after he crashed into a guardrail Thursday on the southbound I-5 as he was headed to Camp Pendleton for his morning assignment.

It was about 5:07 a.m. on Thursday when Lance Cpl. Jordon Sickinger veered to the right, crashed into a metal guardrail and rolled over near El Toro Road, the California Highway Patrol said.

A passenger, who is also a Marine, pulled Sickinger out of the car and administered first aid to his wounds, said Donya Larson, who is Sickinger's mom.
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Marine loses leg after freeway crash

Friday, November 5, 2010

AWOL Soldier Refusing Deployment Because of Severe PTSD

AWOL Soldier Refusing Deployment Because of Severe PTSD
Friday 05 November 2010
by: Sarah Lazare, t r u t h o u t | Report


(Photo: RDECOM / Flickr)
"I am just trying to get help," insisted Jeff Hanks, active duty US Army infantryman, who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan. "My goal in this situation is to simply heal. And they wonder why there are so many suicides." Jeff spoke rapidly over the phone from Virginia, where he, his wife and his two young daughters are staying while he is AWOL from the military. Days earlier, Jeff had walked out of an airport, refusing to board a plane headed for Kuwait, which was to be his first stop on his way back to Afghanistan.

During his mid-September leave from his second combat tour with the 101st Airborne Division, Jeff sought help from Fort Bragg and Fort Campbell military doctors for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and physical wounds sustained in battle. Yet, just as his treatment was getting started, his command interfered, insisting that his military health care providers grant him clearance for immediate deployment. His providers acquiesced, even though they had not completed preliminary testing.

Jeff, who has trouble being in large crowds of people and difficulty controlling his anger, says he is in no state to deploy back to the war from which he is still struggling to heal. The 30 year-old soldier decided that his only choice was to go AWOL. Jeff plans to turn himself into his command at Fort Campbell on Veterans Day, November 11.

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AWOL Soldier Refusing Deployment Because of Severe PTSD

Another Adversary To Defeat

This is my first post as a staff writer for Veteran's Today. When I think that having PTSD does not make anything hopeless, it is vital that we dedicate everything we have into defeating it with just as much dedication as we do going after enemies we can see.


Another Adversary To Defeat
by Chaplain Kathie



Coming Home Returning from Hell Military Men and Women Just Want to Get Back to Their Normal Lives



When the men and women leave their bases, they head into combat with weapons they were trained to use. Imagine if they were sent without weapons. Imagine if they were sent with weapons but left alone to figure out how to use them. The military is great at drilling, training and even manipulating the thinking process of the soldiers they send, but not so good on the returning process. They've never been trained with as much sense of urgency on how to come home.


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Another Adversary To Defeat

National Guard Try To Stop Suicides Among Veterans

National Guard Try To Stop Suicides Among Veterans
Military Suicide Rates Double National Average

By MIKE BOWERSOCK
Published: November 04, 2010

COLUMBUS, Ohio --
Inside a classroom near Beightler Armory Thursday, a group of mostly Ohio National guardsmen learned how to better diagnose their fellow soldiers who may be on the brink of committing suicide.

"Historically the suicide rate in the military, in the Army has been lower than the national average. But about two years ago, we started to go above the national average," said Ohio National Guard Capt. Nick Chou.

The suicide rate in the general public is about 11 people per 100,000, but among veterans it's 20 per 100,000.

The reason? It seems veterans, reserve, guard, and active military have come into a perfect storm of stress




Suicides Among Veterans

Soldier's mother says military let her son down

Soldier's mother says military let her son down
Goldstream Gazette

Two and a half years after her son’s suicide, a Victoria woman’s struggles with the Department of National Defence have finally been acknowledged at the highest level.

A long-awaited apology came only after Sheila Fynes made a trip to Ottawa to share her story with the national media.

Backed by Victoria MP Denise Savoie, Fynes spoke out about the military’s handling of her son’s post-traumatic stress disorder (a psychological condition sometimes seen in soldiers who have served in a battle zone) and subsequent mistreatment of the family.

“We believe that there has been a concerted effort on the part of the Department (of National Defence) to tarnish our son’s reputation and memory to absolve it of any responsibility,” Fynes said. “Our hope is that never again should a soldier or soldier’s family suffer as ours has.”

On March 15, 2008, Cpl. Stuart Langridge, then 28, hanged himself in his barracks at CFB Edmonton.

He had served tours of duty in Bosnia and Afghanistan starting in 2002 and had an outstanding military record until 2006.

Troubles started in 2007.

According to files compiled by Savoie’s office, Langridge was medicated for an anxiety-related issue in March. Until his death a year later, he struggled with substance abuse and attempted suicide six times.

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Soldier's mother says military let her son down

Shreveport soldier Sgt. Derrick Smith to get Soldier's Medal for Fort Hood action

Local soldier tapped for heroic actions
BY JOHN ANDREW PRIME • JPRIME@GANNETT.COM • NOVEMBER 5, 2010

One year ago, Shreveport soldier Sgt. Derrick Smith waited to get paperwork done in the Soldier Readiness Processing Center on the sprawling Army city of Fort Hood, Texas, when hell broke loose.

An officer whose motivations are the subject of Army court hearings started firing rounds from two guns at fellow soldiers and civilians, killing 13 people and wounding 32 others. Smith and his commanding officer rendered aid to the wounded and advanced on the officer accused of the rampage, Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Halik Hasan.

Hasan was finally felled by shots fired by civilian police officers Kimberly Munley, who was wounded several times, and Mark Todd.

One of the four heroic actions Smith performed was to save Munley's life.

For that and other actions, the now-retired Louisiana Army National Guard soldier will be among 70 soldiers and civilians honored in a ceremony today at Fort Hood, with Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey and Army Secretary John McHugh presiding.

Smith will receive the Soldier's Medal, the highest award given for heroism not involving combat with an armed enemy.
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Local soldier tapped for heroic actions

House Dems See Defense Experts Tossed Aside

House Dems See Defense Experts Tossed Aside
November 04, 2010
Stars and Stripes|by Leo Shane III
WASHINGTON -- The Republican takeover of the House on Tuesday was largely led by voters’ unhappiness over the economy, but Democrats in the chamber saw major losses in their defense voices as a result.

At least 10 Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee were ousted, including Chairman Ike Skelton, a fixture in the chamber for 33 years.

Their less-experienced replacements will be left to fight against the defense priorities of a Republican majority: an increase in military spending, more emphasis on missile defense, changes to the planned Afghanistan withdrawal timelines, and scuttling plans to close prison facilities at Guantanamo Bay.

The change in power also means that if a “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal isn’t passed this year, it likely won’t find any real legislative support in the House next year.

California Rep. Buck McKeon, in line to take over as chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said Wednesday that Republicans in both the House and Senate chambers are “committed to passing a [bill] that is not weighed down by the current majority’s social agenda items.” And Iraq veteran Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania, the Democrats’ leading advocate for repealing the ban on gays serving openly, lost his re-election race, much to the dismay of House Democrats and gay rights groups.

Republicans in the Senate blocked the annual defense authorization bill in September because it included a repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who was re-elected in Nevada, has promised another vote later this year but will need to find at least one Republican ally to move the legislation ahead. House Republicans would get another shot at that bill during reconciliation between the chambers.

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House Dems See Defense Experts Tossed Aside
Some more of his votes and you can find the rest of his votes on VoteSmart


08/02/2007 Mandatory Troop Rest Periods Between Deployments to Iraq
HR 3159 N Bill Passed - House
(229 - 194)

and then there was this one too


Key Votes:
HR 2206
H Amdt 2: Replacing Titles I and II of House Amdt 1 to HR 2206
H Amdt 1: Departmental Appropriations for Defense, Security, and Hurricane Recovery

Issues: Budget, Spending and Taxes, Business and Consumers, Defense, Foreign Aid and Policy Issues, Labor, Military Issues
Date: 05/10/2007
Sponsor: Rep. Obey, David Ross (D-WI)

Representative McKeon voted NO
Read statements Representative McKeon made in this general time period.


Project Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to appropriate $118.73 billion to certain departments for various purposes, including the war on terror and Hurricane Katrina efforts, and to raise the minimum wage and reduce business taxes.

Highlights:

-Appropriates $101.93 billion for the Department of Defense.

-Appropriates $6.86 billion for the Department of Homeland Security.

-Appropriates $5.24 billion for the Department of State.

-Appropriates $1.79 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

-Appropriates $1.56 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services.

-Appropriates $909.5 million for the Department of Agriculture.

-Appropriates $717.94 million for the Department of Transportation.

-Expresses the sense of the Congress that U.S. troops should be redeployed from Iraq as battalions of Iraqi security forces become able to conduct security operations on their own (Sec. 1326).

-Increases the federal minimum wage to $5.85 per hour 60 days after the enactment of this bill, $6.55 per hour 12 months after that 60th day, and $7.25 per hour 24 months after that 60th day (Sec. 7102).

-Addresses business tax modifications, including such adjustments as extending the work opportunity tax credit, extending and increasing expensing for small business, extending and expanding the low-income housing credit rules under the Gulf Opportunity Zone Tax for buildings in the GO zones, and other adjustments (Secs. 7211, 7212, 7222).

Fort Hood Marks One Year Since Deadly Rampage

Hood Marks One Year Since Deadly Rampage

November 05, 2010
Agence France-Presse
FORT HOOD, Texas -- When the first shots rang out in a deployment center here, Soldiers thought it was a drill. They were stunned to discover they were in a middle of a massacre, by one of their own.

By the time it was over, 13 people were dead and dozens more wounded in an attack that brought home the war to this sprawling military base in the heart of Texas, and raised the specter of homegrown Islamic extremism.

A year after the shootings, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 40, sits paralyzed from the chest down in a jail cell facing 13 counts of premeditated murder -- charges that could bring the death penalty.

The Nov. 5, 2009, shooting shocked the nation. Military officials have faced intense criticism for overlooking warning signs about Hasan, an army psychiatrist who corresponded by e-mail with a radical cleric now in Yemen.

The cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, has since been accused of links to a string of other plots originating from Yemen, most recently the discovery of explosive devices on U.S. cargo planes.

The Army's top civilian, John McHugh, and chief of staff, Gen. George Casey, will speak here Friday at a ceremony in memory of the victims. A 6-foot-tall granite memorial etched with the names of the 13 people killed in last year's shooting rampage was to be unveiled at the ceremony.

Survivors have searing memories of the day.

read more here
Hood Marks One Year Since Deadly Rampage