More than 1,000 mourn 1st Lt. Scott Milley

Hundreds line streets to mourn humble soldier, 23

By Marie Szaniszlo
Sunday, December 12, 2010

More than 1,000 people turned out yesterday to pay tribute to a 23-year-old Sudbury soldier who was killed during his first month of deployment in Afghanistan.

Army 1st Lt. Scott Milley “was afraid of spiders, but he had no fear of any man,” his father said to a crowd so large that it spilled over from the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School auditorium into the gym.

Milley had his orders changed so that he could go to Afghanistan sooner, but he “wanted no praise for what he did,” Steven Milley Sr. said, noting that he was still finding awards his son had tucked away in drawers, never mentioning them.

In his brief time in Afghanistan, Scott managed to win over a local governor, who held a memorial service after learning of his death, his father said.
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Hundreds line streets to mourn humble soldier

Stunning report on enlistments and mental health

It seems as if the military is still playing games with discharges by hiding behind "anxiety" disorders when PTSD is an anxiety disorder!

Stunning report on enlistments and mental health
December 11, 2010 posted by Chaplain Kathie
Waivers do not match the number of discharges so there is a clear problem still going on in the military. While “personality disorder” discharges dropped, it looks like they are still trying to get rid of “problems” instead of taking care of them. We would have to believe that the mental health tests are all flawed to have allowed men and women into the military when they had mental health problems already, training them to use weapons to kill and sending them into combat. This would also mean they didn’t care about the rest of the troops enough to prevent mentally ill recruits from entering into the service.

Troops booted for pre-existing mental issues
By Kelly Kennedy – Staff writer
Posted : Friday Dec 10, 2010 15:26:26 EST
From 2003 to 2008, more people were separated from the military within their first year of service for “pre-existing” psychiatric conditions than for any other reason, according to a military report.
Those discharges do not qualify a service member for medical benefits or medical retirement pay after leaving.
Twenty-two percent of soldiers who were given “existed prior to service,” or EPTS, discharges had psychiatric conditions, while 42 percent of Marine Corps EPTS discharges fell under that category. The figures for the Navy and Air Force were 24 percent and less than 1 percent, respectively.
Whether the Marine Corps is not screening its new recruits for mental health issues as well as the other services, or whether other factors are at work, is not clear.
“I guess that means the services have knowingly been enlisting and sending to war individuals who have significant mental health disorders,” said Andreas-Georg Pogany, a Colorado-based veterans advocate who has tried to help combat veterans fight military efforts to discharge them for pre-existing mental conditions.
According to the 2010 Accession Medical Standards Analysis & Research Activity Report, the Army approved 1,231 waivers for anxiety, dissociative and somatoform disorders from 2004 until 2009, and another 522 for depressive disorder.

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Stunning report on enlistments and mental health

Silver Star soldier: Belated medal marks Vietnam valor

Silver Star soldier: Belated medal marks Vietnam valor
Sgt. Ernie Slavik III spent the night of June 19, 1967, under enemy fire, dragging seven wounded soldiers from a bloody battlefield in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta to a successful medical evacuation.

Slavik, a longtime Antioch resident, will be honored for his valor that night on Sunday, when U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean, D-Barrington, is scheduled to present him with a Silver Star for gallantry in action during a ceremony at the VFW hall in Addison.

It won’t be Slavik’s first such honor. He has already been awarded a Purple Heart and a Silver Star for “exceptionally valorous actions” on July 11, 1967, when he took out two enemy bunkers and several insurgents during a firefight in which he fought in the open under heavy enemy fire and was credited with turning the tide of that battle. He was wounded in three places by grenade shrapnel.

Slavik, 65, who now likes to spend his time duck hunting and fishing near his Channel Lake home, hasn’t spoken often of his heroic actions in the 43 years since they occurred.

“I didn’t do what I did in Vietnam to be a hero or get awards,” he said in an interview Friday. “I did it to keep my comrades and myself alive and do my share to show the world the extremes that Americans (will go to) to keep the freedom that we have in America.”

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Belated medal marks Vietnam valor

Westboro group is ready to stalk another family as they lay to rest a Marine

Westboro group is ready to stalk another family as they lay to rest a Marine killed in Afghanistan. They will show up at the church were prayers will be said and tears will be shed. They will then follow the family and friends to the grave where Sgt. Matthew Abbate's coffin will rest as they take off the American flag, fold it tenderly and hand it over to the family on behalf of a grateful nation. We can talk all we want about freedom in this country including the right to say what we want but unless we talk about the rights of families to not be forced to listen, this nation is far from free for all. Who protects the families right to grieve in peace? Who protects them from being stalked by a group dedicated to hatred hiding behind their claim to be serving God? Does the law no longer take an interest in protecting peaceful people as they attend a funeral?

Westboro church members plan to protest at Marine's funeral in Fresno

By MARC BENJAMIN
McClatchy Newspapers

Published: Saturday, Dec. 11, 2010 - 12:00 am
FRESNO, Calif -- FRESNO, Calif. - Members of a controversial Kansas church group who protest at funerals of America's war dead say they'll be in Fresno Saturday to picket the funeral of a Clovis Marine.

A group of "not more than six" members of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., will be protesting outside Peoples Church in northeast Fresno - where funeral services are scheduled for Marine Sgt. Matthew Abbate - and then follow the procession to the burial in Merced County, church spokeswoman Shirley Phelps-Roper said Friday.

Abbate, 26, died Dec. 2 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.



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Westboro church members plan to protest at Marine's funeral in Fresno

Marine stabbing arrests attributed to 'gumshoe police work'

Marine stabbing arrests attributed to 'gumshoe police work'
Published: Friday, December 10, 2010
Kari Dequine, Times Picayune

Two suspects were arrested late Thursday in connection to the brutal stabbing death of 23-year-old Marine Corps sergeant Ryan Lekosky, who was killed in the French Quarter following a fight with a man who made derogatory comments about Lekosky's wife.

The murder dates back to Oct. 31. After leaving the Marine Corps Ball with his wife around 3:30 a.m., Lekosky was stabbed several times when he allegedly got into an altercation with Clay, who police say was yelling inappropriate comments from his vehicle at Lekosky's wife Kristen.

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Marine stabbing arrests attributed to gumshoe police work

Operation Proper Exit Brings Injured Service Members Back to Iraq

This could help some, just as a trip back to Vietnam has helped some. As long as they are prepared for it not going so well, then it is a good thing to do. What does happen is sometimes the awakening of emotions is just too overwhelming. Some Vietnam veterans have found healing at the Wall but for others, seeing the names caused a deep pain and shock over not being able to "get over it" as well as they thought they had.

Operation Proper Exit Brings Injured Service Members Back to Iraq
109th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
Story by Sgt. Shawn Miller




CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, Iraq – Carlos Ortiz looked out over the blast walls into the desert surrounding Contingency Operating Location Gaine’s Mills, recalling his deployment before he was wounded and had to leave Iraq.

Ortiz, an infantryman, who deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004, serving as a specialist assigned to 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, “Wolfhounds” of the 25th Infantry Division, accompanied five wounded comrades on a special trip back to Iraq, Dec. 8.

The Troops First Foundation runs Operation Proper Exit, a program bringing former warriors back to Iraq to provide wounded veterans an opportunity to gain closure, allowing the former soldiers to leave Iraq – this time on their own terms.

Maj. Gen. David G. Perkins, commanding general of the 4th Infantry Division and U.S. Division-North, invited the service members to the division headquarters located at Contingency Operating Base Speicher for a small ceremony before their tour.

“When you go around today, hopefully you see huge progress from when you were last here,” said Perkins, noting that the progress made in Iraq was due in large part to America’s veterans.

“Our goal here in U.S. Division-North is to make sure that your legacy is not lost,” he continued. “One of my goals and my main vision is that we leave this in a manner that makes sure your sacrifice was worth it.”

After meeting with troops from Task Force Ironhorse’s 4th Inf. Div., the former service members flew to COL Gaine’s Mills to see firsthand the changes in Iraq.

For Ortiz and former Spc. Derek Bradshaw, also a wounded veteran of 1st Bn., 27th Inf. Regt., it was a reunion with friends and leaders and a chance to see their old base again.

As the veterans walked the grounds at COL Gaine’s Mills, Ortiz and Bradshaw met fellow comrades from the Wolfhound Battalion, which is currently deployed as part of 2nd Advise and Assist Brigade, 25th Inf. Div.

“I was a little apprehensive at first,” noted Bradshaw, not knowing what to expect upon his return. “I’m handling it a lot better than I was expecting.”

It was the first visit back to the area for Ortiz and Bradshaw since a vehicle rollover during a combat patrol six years ago took them out of the fight.

“It’s a lot of déjà vu,” said Ortiz, who now lives in Phoenix, Ariz.

Much of the base was the same, he noted, although smaller than he remembered.

Since Ortiz’s last deployment to Iraq, U.S. forces’ mission changed from Operation Iraqi Freedom to Operation New Dawn; the forward operating base where Ortiz once conducted combat operations, now a smaller partnered base housing U.S. forces and Iraqi Security Forces.

For the wounded warriors, the trip to Iraq marked another step in the healing process allowing the veterans to come to terms with their experiences.

Rick Kell, executive director of the Troops First Foundation, said the idea for Operation Proper Exit came while he was visiting recovering troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Md.

Kell said many of the wounded warriors he met during this time expressed interest in returning to Iraq.

So far, Kell has brought 49 veterans back to Iraq.

“All 49 have experienced something differently – something very personal,” Kell explained. “I will tell you that all 49, in some way, are a little bit better.”

Kell added support for the mission has been outstanding, from the United Service Organizations contributing airfare funding, to the reception that the groups get from military commands serving in Iraq.

“We appreciate the support that we get along the way from all the different commands, because it’s just amazing the welcoming that we get from everyone,” he remarked. “It’s reassuring and it lets you know that you’re doing the right thing, and we want to try to bring more warriors back.”

Crowds of soldiers, including enlisted ranks, sergeants major, unit commanders and generals alike, greeted the veterans with standing ovations at each stop on the tour and took the time to shake hands with them and thank the five soldiers, one airman and one Marine for serving honorably.

“It’s been amazing,” exclaimed Ortiz, who said that the celebrity welcome left him speechless.

Operation Proper Exit achieved its goal, said Bradshaw, in the fact that it let he and the other veterans obtain a little bit of the closure they needed.

“It’s a chance to leave on their own two feet instead of on a stretcher,” he said.

Beyond having those still serving in Iraq expressing their appreciation, Bradshaw said the trip was also a chance for him and his fellow returning troops to give a little back to their friends still here.

For the soldiers that may be battling stress or coping with wounds, Bradshaw offered them a bit of insight from a lesson he has learned well.

“It does take some time,” he explained, “but it does get better.”
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Operation Proper Exit Brings Injured Service Members Back to Iraq

Soldier stabbed 18 hours after return from Iraq

Soldier found fatally stabbed at Fort Stewart, Ga.
By RUSS BYNUM
The Associated Press
Thursday, December 9, 2010; 2:23 PM
SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Army officials say the fatal stabbing of a soldier found bleeding outside his barracks less than a day after he returned from Iraq may have resulted from a domestic fight.

Authorities said a delivery driver found the soldier bleeding late Wednesday at Georgia's Fort Stewart.
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Soldier found fatally stabbed at Fort Stewart

PTSD Dents in the Soul, Australian Army gets it right

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder initiative launched
10 December 2010

Dents in the Soul - DVD
The Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie launched the new Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) DVD “Dents in the Soul” at Lavarack Barracks in Townsville on December 8.

The wellbeing of our soldiers is top priority for the Australian Army.

Joined by soldiers and their families, General Gillespie spoke candidly of Army’s experience with PTSD.

“Early recognition and intervention in PTSD is our goal – seek help and seek it early. I am personally committed to the health, wellbeing and welfare of all our soldiers and their families.
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http://www.defence.gov.au/defencenews/stories/2010/Dec/1210.htm

Congressman Jeff Miller taking lead on House Veterans Affairs Committee

Congressman Filner did a great job for our veterans and now in January Rep. Jeff Miller, from Florida, will take leadership of the Veterans Affairs Committee. His voting record seems pretty good on veterans.

Two Florida Republicans Chosen to Lead Congressional Committees
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen to chair Foreign Affairs Committee, Jeff Miller will head up Veterans Affairs Committee
BY: KEVIN DERBY | POSTED: DECEMBER 9, 2010


Two Florida Republicans were selected to lead committees in the U.S. House Wednesday, as U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen was chosen to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee and U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller was named to lead the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

First elected to Congress in 2001, Miller represents the Panhandle -- Escambia, Holmes, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton and Washington counties. He was chosen to chair the Veterans Affairs Committee.

“It is certainly a great honor to have the opportunity to serve as chairman of an important committee that is so critical to our country,” said Miller. “I’m eager to work hard in this new capacity for our veterans and retirees.”

“I can’t think of anyone in the House more capable to serve as the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs than Jeff Miller,” said incoming U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. “Jeff’s efforts for veterans are well-documented and his credentials as a conservative leader are without question. Jeff will continue to work to ensure that all of our nation’s heroes receive the proper respect and care that they earned.”

“I am humbled by the opportunity to serve the more than 22 million veterans who have so proudly served this great nation,” added Miller. “I will work to ensure that we meet our veterans’ needs.”

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Two Florida Republicans Chosen to Lead Congressional Committees

He has courage and stood up for what he believed so there is hope for veterans as well.

GOP Rep. Jeff Miller calls for Barton to step down from top committee spot over BP comments.
Earlier this morning, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) called the $20 billion escrow fund BP agreed to set up yesterday to pay for oil spill damages a “slush fund” resulting from a “shakedown” by the White House. Though many conservatives agree with Barton, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) refused to endorse Barton’s position. Now, Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL) has called for Barton to step down as the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee because of his comments:

Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), whose Pensacola district is among the most-impacted areas in the Gulf by the oil spill, condemned Barton for apologizing to BP CEO Tony Hayward during a committee meeting on Thursday.

“I condemn Mr. Barton’s statement. Mr. Barton’s remarks are out of touch with this tragedy and I feel his comments call into question his judgment and ability to serve in a leadership on the Energy and Commerce Committee,” Miller said in a statement. “He should step down as Ranking Member of the Committee.”
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http://thinkprogress.org/2010/06/17/miller-barton-step-down/

Senate Republicans Block 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Repeal

This is why nothing gets done in the Senate. 57 is trumped by 40?

Senate Republicans Block 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Repeal
DAVID WOOD
Chief Military Correspondent

Senate Republicans blocked repeal of "Don't ask, Don't tell" Thursday, significantly dimming prospects that the ban on gays serving openly in the military will be lifted during this lame-duck session of Congress.
The 57-40 vote came on a motion to bring the giant defense budget bill, which included repeal of "Don't ask, Don't tell" (DADT), to the floor, with Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid unable to muster the 60 votes to launch debate.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates had pinned his hopes on the Senate for an orderly implementation of the change in military policy. The House voted this fall to repeal the 17-year-old law, and a positive Senate vote would have allowed the Pentagon to begin a lengthy process to actually lift the ban.
Unless the Senate acts this month, it is likely the courts will order an immediate repeal, an outcome Gates has said would lead to chaos and precisely the kind of disruption of morale and combat readiness many critics of repeal have feared.
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Senate Republicans Block 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Repeal