Indiana joining list of states with Veterans' Court

Porter County court system to offer aid to combat vets


By JEFF SCHULTZ
Porter County Superior Court Judge Julia Jent says plans are in motion to make a veterans treatment court available in the county to provide troubled veterans with assistance instead of jail time.
Legislation was passed by the state last year that would allow the Indiana Judicial Center to certify veterans treatments court in any eligible county. The program falls under the umbrella of the Problem Solving Courts which includes drug court programs.
Jent, who is also a member of the state’s Problem Solving Courts committee, said the veterans treatment court will apply to combat veterans who have pleaded guilty to non-violent crimes or misdemeanors. The program also includes family members of the veterans.
Case managers will counsel defendants or participants in the program for alcohol and drug abuse, anger management and depression, similar to that of drug court. Many of the issues can be attributed to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder commonly experienced in some form by combat.
Those who work with the program until completion will be able to keep out of jail and some may even see their original criminal charges dropped from their record.
Jent said the program will also allow the judicial system to consult with the Army National Guard and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on the personal history of an individual vet to help determine what their needs are.
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Porter County court system to offer aid to combat vets

Lance Cpl. Ezequiel Freire got out of Afghanistan alive but died of overdose at Portsmouth Naval

A 20 year old Marine faces combat, survives, returns home with PTSD and cancer, then dies of an overdose while in the hospital. There is not much this story lacks. Feres Doctrine will keep the family from filling a malpractice suit. There won't really be accountability for the fact he was in the hospital when this happened. Cancer in a 20 year old Marine and the fact that there are toxic exposures reported for years leading to cancer including the burn pits. Contaminated water and soil add to this. Their stories have been told but more are hidden. Their families suffer without justice, without answers but above all, without change for the sake of those who come after their loved one. They have prepared for the fact a bullet or bomb could end their lives but who can prepare for the government to finish what the enemy could not do?

Family angered by Marine's overdose death at naval hospital

By Bill Sizemore
The Virginian-Pilot
© December 29, 2010
PORTSMOUTH

Lance Cpl. Ezequiel Freire got out of Afghanistan alive, but a stateside hospital stay proved fatal.

The 20-year-old Marine's death from a prescription drug overdose at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center has left his family reeling, outraged and frustrated by what they see as an absence of accountability for those charged with his care.

Freire died of a toxic cocktail of powerful narcotics and sedatives as he was awaiting chemotherapy treatment for cancer. The case underscores the dangers inherent in the many potent painkillers on the market today, which have helped drive an alarming rise in overdoses.

Overdose deaths from prescription drugs now exceed those from illegal drugs.

The Freire case also leaves unanswered the question of what, if any, consequences there were for the doctors involved in his care.

There were ample warnings available on the drug labels and in the medical literature about the risks of the multidrug therapy that was used in Freire's case.

But there is no record of any public disciplinary action against any of the doctors by the Virginia Board of Medicine.

A hospital official said the case has prompted several ongoing investigations that have resulted in corrective actions.

The final insult, in the eyes of Freire's family members, is that they have no legal recourse against his caregivers. That's because of a 60-year-old legal precedent known as the Feres Doctrine, which prohibits lawsuits when military service members are injured or killed by negligence.

"We trusted them, and they killed him," said Federico Freire, the dead man's older brother and a fellow Marine. "It just sickens me."

The Freire family moved to Bradenton, Fla., from their native Argentina when Federico was 10 and Ezequiel was 4.

Back at Camp Lejeune, N.C., he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

There was something else wrong, too. Increasingly, he was troubled by chest pains.

His sister had noticed it over Christmas. When she joked with him, he'd say "Julie, stop making me laugh. My heart hurts."

X-rays at the base clinic revealed a large mass in his chest. He was taken by ambulance to the Portsmouth naval hospital, where a biopsy led doctors to suspect Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of cancer.
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Family angered by Marine's overdose death at naval hospital

Jacob's Light will shine bright for deployed soldiers

Fallen soldiers Mom needs help taking care of other "kids" CNN gave this Mom some much needed publicity for the work she is doing not just at Christmas time but all year long.
Added On December 27, 2010
Dorine Kenney started sending boxes to soldiers 11 days after her son was killed. Now she runs Jacob's Light Foundation.
Jacob's Light


Huffington Post picked up on it too. Spread the word so that Jacob's Light can shine even brighter for our deployed soldiers!
WATCH: Mother Of Killed Soldier Sends Thousands Of Care Packages To Troops
Mother Of Killed Soldier Sends Thousands Of Care Packages To Troops

Government does not get that soldiers are on loan from families

It is not a 9-5 job. It is not a job where you get to decide where you are transferred to or when. It is not a job where you get to decide when you want vacation or even when you get to see your family. They belonged to their family first and then they loaned their son/daughter/husband/wife/Dad/Mom to the government for the safe keeping of the rest of us.  They don't get to go home for the birth of their children or for any happy occasions they want to be a part of.  These things do on without them.  When it comes to a crisis in the family, they are supposed to get them home. This point the government fails to remember on a constant basis.

John Lidster is one of example of this. He was serving in South Korea when his Mom was put on life support. The Red Cross managed to get him leave put now he owes the government for the cost of getting him home.

Soldier helped by Red Cross, indebt to government
by Brody O'Connell
TRAVERSE CITY, MI -- Monday on 7/4 News, we told you about a U.S. soldier who rushed home on Christmas day to see his sick mother.

John Lidster is currently serving in South Korea. His mother is on life support at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City. It cost Lidster $2,800 to get back to home to visit his mom.
read more here
Soldier helped by Red Cross, indebt to governmen

As you can see here, he didn't make it all the way without the help of the State Troopers and the Patriot Guard Riders.

Soldier rushed home to see ill mother
by Brody O'Connell
TRAVERSE CITY, MI -- John Lidster is a soldier in the United States army. He is serving in South Korea.

Halfway around the world, his mother is on life support at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City.

On Christmas day, he was flown into Los Angeles, California from South Korea. He was going home to see his mother.

Lidster was supposed to catch a connector flight to Chicago, but after a mix-up in customs, he missed his flight. That’s when the Patriot Guard was contacted. They arranged for Lidster to get on a later flight to Chicago. He landed just before 9 p.m. Saturday night.

From Chicago, a Patriot Guard member drove him to the Indiana state line, where he was met by an Indiana State Trooper.

Lidster was then rushed to the Michigan state line and a Patriot Guard member drove him back to Traverse City.

John Lidster arrived at Munson Medical Center at 3:45 Sunday morning. There were 13 Patriot Guard members waiting for him in a sea of American flags.
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Soldier rushed home to see ill mother

The questions this report leaves could go on forever without answers and sadly without changes. Where was the military "family" the DOD has? Where were the National Guards? Where were all the service organizations that have been operating across the country for generations? Why did it take the Patriot Guard Riders and the State Troopers to step up and get this soldier home to see his dying Mom?

There are always stories about heroes and villains. Not hard to guess which is which in this story.

PTSD veteran won't face prosecution after "meltdown" at mall

DA: Prosecuting this young man would be a waste of time

By KVAL.com staff

EUGENE, Ore. - A man shot by police after firing shots at cars in a mall parking lot will not face criminal charges because he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder at the time of the incident, according to the district attorney.

Michael Thomas Mason, 27, was in the midst of a PTSD-related meltdown when he fired a gun at cars in the Valley River Center mall parking lot, District Attorney Alex Gardner said Tuesday.

"There's no reason to believe that he was even directly threatening other people," Gardner said.

Bullets hit one and possibly two cars, Gardner said. Mason or his family will pay to repair the damages, he said.

"Obviously firing a gun inside city limits puts people at risk," he added. "Obviously there has to be immediate law enforcement response to that. Obviously law enforcement has to prevent him from that.

"When he had this meltdown, it was just that," Gardner said. "It's a meltdown, and he's not recognizing family members, he's not responsive to their conversations."

Mason served in Iraq and witnessed the deaths of dozens of his fellow soldiers, his family said in a prepared statement.

"We hear a lot about post-traumatic stress, and a lot of people make claims about it and in some cases where it doesn't seem to be merited," Gardner said. "There is no question but that this was a real episode."
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Prosecuting this young man would be a waste of time

Marine home on leave, wife attacked by teens after showing of "Little Fockers"

UPDATE to this story

Attack on Marine at Florida Theater Comes Months After Brother's Death at Navy Hospital
By Cristina Corbin
Published December 30, 2010
FoxNews.com


The recent attack on a Marine and his wife outside a Florida movie theater is the latest indignity suffered by a family still reeling over the accidental death this year of a brother at a U.S. naval hospital.

Federico Freire, a 28-year-old Marine, and his wife, Kalyn, were attacked Saturday by a mob of unruly teenagers after the couple asked the group to be quiet during a movie at a Bradenton, Fla., cinema, as FoxNews.com reported Wednesday.

Police found Freire and his wife "battered" in the theater parking lot, and they arrested four juveniles and one adult in the violent altercation.

For Freire, who had just returned from Iraq, the melee that knocked his wife to the ground was the latest woe for a family still devastated by the death of his brother, Lance Cpl. Ezequiel Freire.

Ezequiel Freire, a 20-year-old Marine who spent eight months in Afghanistan, died Feb. 13 after doctors served him a deadly cocktail of narcotics and sedatives as he awaited cancer treatment at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center in Virginia, his family said.

"I was the one who found him dead," Federico Freire said in an interview Thursday. "He was my brother, my best friend."

Read more: Attack on Marine at Florida Theater




Marine, wife attacked by teens after showing of "Little Fockers"
MANATEE, Fla. (AP) — A group of unruly teenagers attacked a 27-year-old Marine and his wife who had asked them to be quiet during a Christmas night showing of "Little Fockers."

The attack happened as the couple left the theater near Bradenton Saturday night. Authorities say the fight attracted about 300 bystanders.

Federico Freire, home on leave from Afghanistan, says they left the theater shortly after the teens were asked to leave.
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Marine, wife attacked by teens

Grandparents killed in accident after mobile home fire killed 3 grandchildren

Couple killed on way to plan funerals for three grandchildren
Tragedy added to tragedy Tuesday when an Ohio couple died in an accident on their way to help make funeral arrangements for their three grandchildren.

Marc and Misty Royce of Circleville were killed in a crash on a snowy road on their way to help Marc Royce's daughter, Kacey Stacey, plan funerals for her three children, who died in a mobile home fire over the weekend, CNN affiliate WBNS-TV reported.
Couple killed on way to plan funerals for three grandchildren

5 teenagers celebrating a birthday die in Florida motel room

5 found dead in Florida motel room
By the CNN Wire Staff
December 28, 2010 10:39 a.m. EST


5 teens mysteriously die in hotel
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Police say the teens were celebrating a birthday
Investigators believe carbon monoxide poisoning is to blame
The teens' car was running in a garage below the room
(CNN) -- Five teenagers who died of apparent carbon monoxide poisoning in a Hialeah, Florida, motel room had gathered to celebrate a birthday, police said Tuesday.
Although an official cause of death won't be released until autopsies are completed, the investigation so far shows the teenagers apparently died because they left a car with a troublesome starter running in a closed garage beneath their room, police spokesman Carl Zogby said.
"Unfortunately, whoever could tell us what the intent of leaving the car on (was) is dead," Zogby said. "But we are being told by some friends that it probably had starter engine trouble."
"All the evidence indicates clearly a carbon monoxide poisoning," he said, noting no alcohol or drugs were found in the room the five had rented at the Hotel Presidente.
Zogby identified the dead as Juchen C. Marctial, 19; Peterson Nazon, 17; Jonas Antenor, 17; Jean Pierre Ferdinand, 16; and Evans Charles, 19. All were from the same neighborhood north of Miami, according to police.
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5 found dead in Florida motel room2

17,000 101st Airborne soldiers coming home

17,000 101st Airborne soldiers coming home
By Jake Lowary - The (Clarksville, Tenn.) Leaf-Chronicle via Gannett
Posted : Monday Dec 27, 2010 8:43:33 EST
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — Messages are already appearing on the facades and marquees of local businesses. Many in the community are excited.

About 17,000 soldiers — most of the 101st Airborne Division — are about to come home from war.

Clarksville is ready to offer a warm welcome. "I'm excited for Clarksville," says Mayor-elect Kim McMillan. "They're a part of our community, and we want to do what we can."

The 3rd Brigade Combat Team "Rakkasans" begin their return from Afghanistan in January. The 1st and 2nd BCTs, the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade and the 101st headquarters will be home in the spring, the 4th BCT in the summer.

This return will be the largest since 2003, when most of the division returned from the initial invasion of Iraq. Before that, the largest return came after Desert Storm and Desert Shield in the Gulf War of 1990-91, when the entire division returned, according to John O'Brien, historian for the 101st.

The summer of 2010 was a lethal one for the 101st, which lost 41 soldiers in Afghanistan between March and August. Nearly 400 were wounded during that time. Overall this year, the Army division known as the Screaming Eagles, formed ahead of the 1944 Allied invasion of Normandy, has lost 104 soldiers — or about 1 in 5 American deaths in Afghanistan. That is close to a toll of 105 deaths in Iraq during a 2005-06 deployment that was its deadliest year in combat since the Vietnam War.

By the time the 4th Brigade Combat Team deployed in August, the division's nearly 20,000 soldiers represented 20 percent of U.S. servicemembers in Afghanistan, who are battling Taliban and insurgent strongholds in advance of the planned withdrawal.
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17,000 101st Airborne soldiers coming home

Bullet to back of head ruled suicide?

How does someone decide to commit suicide by putting a bullet into the back of their head?

Army says it was suicide; family of soldier not so sure
Amy Tirador: Work, life weren't easy, report says
ADAM ASHTON; Staff writer

First Sgt. Mickey Tirador’s assignment at the base meant they could share living quarters and spend the holidays together – an arrangement that most military couples would envy.

But Mickey Tirador’s arrival coincided with a decline in Amy Tirador’s temperament.

She started going to work late and leaving early, falling behind on her job of processing intelligence reports for Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division on its last assignment in Iraq. She seemed “different and defeated,” a major who knew her later told Army investigators.

Amy Tirador, 29, was found dead from a gunshot to the back of her head Nov. 4, 2009, in a small room that housed a power generator at the base. More than a year later, the cause of death – suicide or something else – is still the source of dispute between officials and her family.


Read more: Army says it was suicide