2 firefighters dead, 14 hurt in extra-alarm blaze 10:01 AM

2 firefighters dead, 14 hurt in extra-alarm blaze
December 22, 2010 10:01 AM
Two firefighters died after a wall collapsed during a 3-11 alarm fire at an abandoned South Side commercial building this morning, authorities said. Fourteen other firefighters were injured, including two who were trapped with the ones who died.

Police squad cars escorted two ambulances north on Lake Shore Drive to Northwestern as ramps were closed to clear it of traffic, according to fire communications. One of the firefighters taken there has died, sources said. The condition of the other one was not known.

A third trapped firefighter was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died.

The fourth firefighter buried in the rubble, and as many as 12 other firefighters with undisclosed injuries, were also taken to hospitals. Fire officials and sources said 10 were stable and six were taken to hospitals in serious to critical condition, including the two who later died.

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2 firefighters dead, 14 hurt in extra-alarm blaze

Five veteran suicide rescues in a two-hour period—so John McCain blocks suicide prevention

December 22, 2010 posted by Chaplain Kathie

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) Blocks suicide prevention measure
A small crisis group gets calls all the time from veterans in crisis. Considering these men and women know what it is like to face death on a daily basis, reaching the point where all seems hopeless indicates a crisis itself, we fail to grasp how serious this is. Yet on one night this same small crisis group had to rescue 5 suicidal veterans!

Suicide Prevention Workers See Spike In Calls
Oregon Partnership Reports Five Suicide Rescues In Two Hours
PORTLAND, Ore. — Workers with Oregon Partnership are calling on the public to get educated on the warning signs of suicide following an increase in the need for suicide rescues.
A suicide rescue is when crisis line workers have to intervene in a suicide attempt by sending police to the person’s house, said Leslie Storm, Crisis Line Supervisor.
Last Wednesday, Storm said they had five suicide rescues in a two-hour period; an amount she calls unprecedented.
“We’ve never done five in one evening. I’ve been here four years, we don’t do five a week generally so this is very alarming to us,” Storm said.
Oregon Partnership is a non-profit organization that provides drug and alcohol awareness, drug prevention programs and a 24-hour crisis lines for suicide intervention. The organization also operates a crisis line for military members and their families, as well as a treatment referral line.
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Five veteran suicide rescues in a two-hour period—so John McCain blocks suicide prevention

Fallen soldier's Mom needs help taking care of other "kids"

UPDATE Huffington Post and CNN get Jacob's Light and Dorine Kenney attention.

What I do has no tangible value.

tangible
adjective
1.
capable of being touched; discernible by the touch; materialor substantial.
2.
real or actual, rather than imaginary or visionary: thetangible benefits of sunshine.
3.
definite; not vague or elusive: no tangible grounds forsuspicion.
4.
(of an asset) having actual physical existence, as real estateor chattels, and therefore capable of being assigned a valuein monetary terms.

No matter how many hours I work helping veterans, covering their stories and doing videos, many people wonder why on earth I would need money to help me do this. I get "but you're a volunteer" all the time as if what I do has no value at all. It has been a struggle to find reasons to do this anymore when no one seems to find any value in it at all until I get an email telling me it has done some good. That said, understand how I know people doing good stop doing it if they are not supported. It is not that they stop caring. They care even more if they are forced to stop because perhaps for the first time in their lives they feel they are powerless. While most people just take care of themselves, worry about their own problems and their own families, there are people across this country doing good for total strangers. While they expect nothing back from the people they help they need someone to financially back them up so they can do the work. After all, the time spent helping others is worth something since they are not getting a paycheck for the hours gone.

So the following is about a Mom after her son was killed, taking care of troops not getting mail from home and letting them know someone does care about them. She has to not only give up her time to make their lives better, her heart is tugged by each and everyone of them, but she also has to buy what she sends to them. She needs help to do it. 285 soldiers are counting on her to send something to comfort them and open a package because she cared. Will you let all these troops down? Will you let this lady end up not being able to do good in this world because she ran out of money? Will you support someone who dedicates time and money topped off with a boat load of love? Don't let this woman wake up one morning with the regret she can't help anyone because no one helped her. I know what that feels like and believe me, it sucks the life right out of you. We keep complaining about what is wrong, wondering when someone will step up and fix the problem but we don't support them. Then we dare to wonder why no one does anything anymore unless there is something in it for them. Wonder no more and kick in a few bucks for the Mom in this story and let her know, her work is important enough to support. Donate to Jacob's Light Foundation so that we don't have to wonder why no one is doing this anymore.

A well of care packages to troops is about to run dry
Since Dorine Kenney lost her son in Iraq, she's sent thousands of boxes to service members overseas. This year's Christmas shipment was her biggest yet. But she's running short on funds.

By Faye Fiore, Los Angeles Times
December 21, 2010

Reporting from Middletown, N.Y. —
When Dorine Kenney learned that her son, Jacob, was going to Iraq, she looked for a way to take care of him even if she couldn't keep him safe.

She started sending a box of goodies every week — chocolate chip cookies, beef jerky, AA batteries and macaroni and cheese deluxe, his favorite.

The shopping and packing kept her from thinking about the worst. When the worst happened on Nov. 14, 2003, eight months after he parachuted into northern Iraq with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, she sat in her apartment wanting to die. She couldn't work. She couldn't eat. The only thing she could think to do was send another box.

So she packed one up for his unit and mailed it, 11 days after a roadside bomb killed Pfc. Jacob Fletcher, a paratrooper and her only child. It went out on what would have been his 29th birthday.

Every month since, Dorine Kenney has been sending care packages to Afghanistan and Iraq. This month she will send 285 13-inch cardboard cubes — a personal record. They go first to the troops who don't get mail from home, then to forward operating bases in the remote reaches of the war zones that have no access to amenities as basic as toothpaste. Really, though, she'll send a box to anyone in uniform who asks for one; more than 90% of requests for packages come from the troops themselves.

Now her funding is running out. Grant money from a Newport Beach philanthropist runs out next year and there is no new sponsor in the wings.

"It's time to put the sirens on and figure out how we're going to continue. Our troops have come to count on us," Dorine says from her two-bedroom rental where she lives and runs Jacob's Light Foundation, a military support group that grew from one mother's unbearable grief.
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A well of care packages to troops is about to run dry

VA Urges Veterans to Sign Up for Direct Deposits

VA Urges Veterans to Sign Up for Direct Deposits

Treasury Publishes Final Regulation to Phase Out Paper Checks by 2013

WASHINGTON (Dec. 21, 2010)- The Department of the Treasury announced a
new rule that will extend the safety and convenience of electronic
payments to millions of Americans and phase out paper checks for federal
benefits by March 1, 2013. Officials at the Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) urge Veterans to sign up for electronic payment of their
benefits.

"Receiving VA benefits electronically will increase the security,
convenience and reliability of these vital payments," said Secretary of
Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. "VA encourages Veterans who are now
receiving their benefits in paper checks to set up direct deposits
before the deadline."

On March 1, 2013, VA will stop issuing paper checks. People who do not
have electronic payments for their federal benefits by that time will
receive their funds via a pre-paid debit card. Called the Direct
Express card, it is issued by Comerica Bank as the financial agent of
the U.S. Treasury.

Another deadline affects people receiving VA's compensation or pensions
for the first time after May 1, 2011. Those people will automatically
receive the benefits electronically.

Anyone already receiving federal benefit payments electronically will be
unaffected by the changes. To learn more about the federal government's
switch to direct deposit - or to change VA benefits to direct deposit --
visit www.GoDirect.org. Information about the federal government's "Go
Direct" campaign is also available at 1-800-333-1795.

Along with payments for VA benefit, the change will also affect
recipients of payments from Social Security, Supplemental Security
Income, Railroad Retirement Board,or Office of Personnel Management.

For more information about VA benefits and programs, go to www.va.gov
or call toll free 1-800-827-1000.

Orlando Sentinel Report Scott Maxwell explains why veterans deserve special attention

I don't make a practice of emailing reporters but in this case I had to. Scott listed all the reasons we should pay special attention to veterans. We are great at saying we support them but lousy at really doing it.

I do a lot of posts on homeless veterans. What I end up getting are emails on not caring about all homeless people equally. The fact is, veterans are equal to no one. They risked their lives serving this country and the last two words that should ever be put together are "homeless veteran" but few want to acknowledge that. My heart goes out to all our homeless but it is the veterans tugging it more. I donate to charities serving all in need but I donate more to the veterans. I cleaned out my closet the other day because it was full of clothes I hardly ever wear. Today the Vietnam Veterans of America driver will pick up the two bags I filled with warm clothes and a couple of coats. A couple of days ago I delivered bags of clothes, a blanket and comforter my daughter left behind when she moved because she didn't want them anymore. That donation went to general use for anyone in need. Why? Because these men and women would probably not be homeless had they not served the rest of us in the first place.

PTSD, self-medicating, unemployment and divorce all contribute to the homeless veterans' population. In most cases these issues can be directly tied back to their military life. They face the same problems everyone else in the country does but they have a harder time as veterans after combat yet few want to acknowledge this.

Read Scott's article on why he feels the same way and then maybe you'll understand it too.

Special attention for veterans? Yes, and here's why

Scott Maxwell
TAKING NAMES
10:23 p.m. EST, December 18, 2010
Every now and then, I get a note from a reader who wants to know why I often highlight veterans when writing about homeless people and the downtrodden.

One reader recently suggested that I must think "veteran homeless are superior to other homeless people."

Another asked why I think veterans are special.

Well, let me tell you why.

Because this country has a shoddy record of taking care of the men and women whom it sends off to war.

Because veterans constitute a disproportionately large segment of the homeless population — one out of every three people on the street, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Because when I stood outside the Orlando Rescue Mission one day last month, I couldn't even count the number of men and women wearing jackets and hats that indicated they had served our country.

Because many of the chicken-hawk politicians so eager to send men and women off to war have never served themselves.

Because the number of cases of post-traumatic stress disorder among veterans in this country can now be counted in the tens of thousands.

Because about 150 soldiers took their own lives last year, marking a record high.
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Special attention for veterans

US National Guard helicopter crashes in Puerto Rico, 6 feared dead

US National Guard helicopter crashes in Puerto Rico, 6 feared dead

DANICA COTO
Associated Press
8:56 a.m. EST, December 21, 2010
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A Puerto Rico National Guard helicopter has crashed in the ocean after returning from a drug raid, with all six people aboard feared dead, officials said Tuesday.

Two of the passengers are prosecutors with the local justice department and the other four are officials with the National Guard, three of them crew members, said U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Ricardo Castrodad.

Crews are searching for those aboard, and Police Chief Jose Figueroa Sancha told NotiUno radio station that officials found the fuselage of the UH-72 helicopter just north of the island.

The helicopter was returning from the neighboring island of Vieques when it disappeared late Monday just north of the coastal city of Rio Grande. One pilot had 10 years of experience and the other had at least six years, and neither reported any problems during the flight, said National Guard Gen. Antonio Vicens.
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US National Guard helicopter crashes in Puerto Rico

New Hampshire policeman pulls soldier from burning car

Policeman pulls soldier from burning car
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Dec 20, 2010 17:09:13 EST
RAYMOND, N.H. — A Raymond police officer is being credited with saving the life of a soldier home from overseas deployment by pulling him out of a burning car.

Police say Officer Ryan Lehman was nearby when he heard the report of a crash on a Route 101 off-ramp early Sunday morning. He could see the car in the woods, so instead of driving, he ran toward it, arriving just as the vehicle became engulfed in flames.
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Policeman pulls soldier from burning car

Army didn't want family of fallen Major saying he was gay

How bad has it been for gay soldiers serving this country when a family is asked to keep it to themselves that a Major, killed serving his country, was gay? That is something that is never really discussed.  There are men and women buried in graves at Arlington but you'd never know it.  It is not as if they have rainbow colored headstones popping up amid the sea of white stones.  At Arlington, they all look the same.  You can't tell what race they were but you can remember a time in the history of this nation when only white soldiers were allowed to serve.  You can't tell if the grave belongs to a male or female unless you are close enough to read the name, but you can remember a time when females were not allowed to serve.  When you see the graves at Arlington, you don't know if they were married, single, straight or gay.  The only thing you can be sure of is they all died serving this country.

Did the Major have an honor guard and full military funeral just like everyone else?  An honor, a true honor, would be they honored the life of his man who died for it but the Army only wanted to pretend to honor his life when they asked the family to keep his personal lifestyle quiet.  They must have forgotten that the military only borrows these men and women from their families while they live and when they die, it is the family returning to the grave to mourn the loss of the person they loved for who he or she was and all they were.

Friends honor gay soldier Maj. Alan Rogers, killed in Iraq, after repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

BY BILL HUTCHINSON
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Monday, December 20th 2010, 9:53 AM

A gay Bronx soldier who fought for the repeal of the military's Don't Ask Don't Tell policy and died serving in Iraq was honored by friends at his snow-covered grave site.

Pals decorated Maj. Alan Rogers' grave at Arlington National Cemetery Saturday with flowers, a rainbow-colored lei, a Christmas wreath and congratulatory notes.

"Alan, we did it," one note read.

Tony Smith, 40, of Alexandra, Va., said he was one of the first friends to reach Rogers grave after the historic vote.

Daly wrote that the folded flag from Rogers' coffin was presented to a cousin and that his relatives were asked by the Army to refrain openly discussing his sexual orientation.

Read more: Friends honor gay soldier Maj. Alan Rogers

A dear friend of mine is also buried at Arlington. The fact she was gay is not something I focus on because I focus on her laugh and how much she cared about the others serving this country. When her military life was over, it really wasn't over as a veteran fighting for other veterans. She testified before congress on Agent Orange and PTSD many times as a veteran. No one in congress cared about anything other than she was suffering from Agent Orange and PTSD as they listened to her talk.

When she decided to tell me that she was gay, it was years after we had spent many hours communicating with emails and phone calls. It was not until after we had a discussion about a news report that came out about a gay soldier and I voiced my opinion that she felt safe in telling me. She said it was a relief knowing she didn't have to hide her personal life from me anymore.

We talked about my husband and daughter, her family and the work we did. She was a wonderful woman, dear friend and true champion for veterans. That is what mattered to me and still stands out in my mind.

This talk about gays serving open being a distraction in battle seems more like a made up excuse when you consider if a soldier or Marine is so poorly trained they would be hitting on another soldier or Marine during a battle, that would indicated a larger problem with the preparedness of them than anything else. They must have used the same excuse when women were entering into the military without having to disguise themselves as males. When they are facing guns and bombs, the last thing on their mind is sex. They are too busy worrying about the lives of the others they are with and dying that day to think about anything else.

With all the talk about this sexual issue no one seems to be talking about all the sexual assaults that should be a more important issue to focus on since it is a crime. Where are these same commanders on this issue? Are they raising warnings about females being sexually assaulted by "straight" soldiers and Marines? Do they talk about how it is a distraction in battle? It seems more like rape has been one more "don't ask don't tell" practice for them.

Does it bother soldiers when they know someone in their unit has raped a female soldier? Does it harm the unity they are supposed to have when one of their own has been assaulted?

Rape is a crime because it is forced on someone else. Being "gay" is not a crime unless they force themselves on someone else. The issue here is that it is considered a "sin" and often people will quote from the Old Testament or letters from Paul but never once did Christ speak of it. He did talk about adultery because it hurts other people. He talked about judging someone but His issue was loving God and loving other people. This nation is supposed to be about freedom to worship as we want and equality as humans so how can we treat other humans as worth less because they are in the minority? When you consider that the men and women wiling to serve this nation are a minority as it is, gay people in the military should be the least of their issues and true crimes against them should be a lot more important. If commanders really cared about morality, they should be stopping rapes and treating it like the crime it is or they have no real moral ground to stand on.

But now we have an elected official fighting to dishonor yet again by forcing them to keep silent on their personal lives. He wants to keep "don't ask, don't tell" which only served to keep them hiding, much like the Army wanted to keep Major Roger's family silent.

Virginian: Bar gays from National Guard
After Hill move, Marshall says it's state prerogative
By Seth McLaughlin-The Washington Times
Responding to the federal repeal of the military policy banning open gays from serving in the armed forces, a state lawmaker in Virginia plans to fight back with legislation that bars "active homosexuals" from serving in the Virginia National Guard.

Delegate Robert G. Marshall said the Constitution reserves states with the authority to do so and that he'll introduce a bill in the state General Assembly next year that ensures the "the effect of the 1994 federal law banning active homosexuals from America's military forces will apply to the Virginia National Guard."

"With the repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell,' President Obama seeks to pay back his homosexual political supporters," the Prince William County Republican said, echoing a sentiment shared by many of the repeal's most ardent opponents. "This policy will weaken military recruitment and retention, and will increase pressure for a military draft."

"The Constitution never would have been ratified if states were not [guaranteed] unqualified control of the militia, now called the National Guard," he said.

But Claire Gastanaga, legislative counsel for Equality Virginia, a gay-rights group, said the National Guard is a federal military unit subject to the same rules as other federal military units and that "any state statute seeking to set different standards for the Virginia National Guard would be a nullity with no effect."
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Bar gays from National Guard

Soldier jumps from Tacoma Narrows bridge, swims away

This soldier pulled over to the side of the bridge. According to the officer, he was drunk. Did he pull over to sleep it off so that no one got hurt? What he was thinking, we may never know but somewhere there is a soldier who vanished after jumping off a bridge. Somewhere there is a family terrified the worst happened to someone they love.

Soldier jumps from Tacoma Narrows bridge
POSTED BY MIKE ARCHBOLD ON DECEMBER 20, 2010 AT 12:17 PM

A 25-year-old soldier from jumped off the eastbound Narrows bridge early this morning after talking briefly with a Washington State Patrol trooper who responded to a report of car stopped on the bridge.

Patrol spokeswoman Trooper Brandy Kessler said the trooper watched the man suddenly rush toward the railing and jump over. He saw the man face down in the water and then the man, who apparently survived the initial jump, started to swim away, she said.

“Then the trooper couldn’t see him anymore,” she said. She said th eman's name won't be released to te public.

The Tacoma Fire Department's fire boat searched the water south of the bridge where he was last seen without success. They turned the search over to the U.S. Coast Guard about 8 a.m. A Coast Guard helicopter and a 25-foot boat took up the search south of the bridge. It was suspended about 10:30 a.m., a Coast Guard spokesman said.

Kessler said they don’t know if the man, who was intoxicated, was trying to commit suicide. In his condition, she said the man might not have known where he was or even thought he could survive the jump.



Read more: Soldier jumps from Tacoma Narrows bridge

PTSD veteran calls 911 and ends up facing charges?

Zac Hershley was a veteran in trouble and did what advocates keep saying veterans like him need to do. He reached out for help before he hurt someone or himself. What else was he supposed to do? He called 911 in crisis and now he faces charges for doing it?

Lawyer for Ex-Soldier with PTSD Says Client is Target of Vindictive Prosecution

Rob Low,edited by Jason Vaughn
6:09 p.m. CST, December 20, 2010

PLATTE CITY, MO — An attorney for a former soldier who says that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder when he called 9-1-1 and allegedly held a gun when police arrived are firing back against the felony charges filed against Zac Hershley, saying that he is the target of prosecutorial vindictiveness.

On Monday, a Platte County judge found probable cause to put Hershley on trial for felony charges of placing officers in fear for their lives. But Hershley and his attorneys say that the only person in danger on that night last spring was Hershley himself.

Early on the morning of April 23rd, Hershley was standing in his front yard with a military assault rifle, talking to 9-1-1 operators. According to transcripts of the 9-1-1 call, Hershley at times seems to think that he's in Iraq, and he informed the operator that he called 9-1-1, and that he had PTSD.

"I called for help and now I'm charged with a felony," said Hershley.
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Lawyer for Ex-Soldier with PTSD