Fall River soldier dies at Fort Bragg
By Dan McDonald
Sunday, January 30, 201
FALL RIVER — Another city soldier has died, the fifth active serviceman hailing from Fall River to die in the last year.
Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Jason T. Pool, 51, died while undergoing a medical evaluation at Fort Bragg, N.C., his family was told early Saturday.
Pool was serving in the 101st Field Artillery unit. The Fall River native leaves behind his wife, Linda, his daughter, Elizabeth, and two grandchildren.
Manuel DaPonte, director of veterans services in Fall River, said the exact cause of death had yet to be determined. DaPonte said he did not know the specific date of Pool’s death. He said Pool was at Fort Bragg for a medical evaluation, but did not indicate what exactly Pool was being evaluated for.
DaPonte alluded to an ongoing military investigation into the death.
Pool served in the National Guard for more than 20 years, said DaPonte and most recently was deployed to Afghanistan from January 2010 to July 2010.
read more here
Fall River soldier dies at Fort Bragg
Monday, January 31, 2011
Thousands of soldiers return to long search for 'normal'
When I wrote my book For the Love of Jack self published in 2002, I wrote how our lives took on a "new normal" because living with PTSD is not part of the "normal" world most live in. Then again, most people are not combat veterans. What is "normal" for most people is not normal for veterans. How could it ever be? These men and women lived in a world few of others will ever know. Civilians do not know what it is like to have bombs blowing up, bullets being fired at them or what it is like to see a friend killed. We don't know what it is like even when we are married to a veteran but we know what all they went through does to them.
The fact PTSD is a normal reaction to the abnormal world of combat makes living with the aftermath normal for us. No matter if they return with full blown PTSD, mild PTSD or not, they come home changed. Every event in a person's life will change them to some degree. No one returns from combat unchanged.
Read the book and then see that while Iraq and Afghanistan are different from Vietnam, what the veterans and their families go through is not different. What is available is new and wonderful. The media reports open up a window to what was once a deep secret. As more and more veterans talk about the aftermath of combat, more and more will seek help to heal as well. As families like mine talk about successful marriages and what can be done to help, more will stay together and stop feeling hopeless. We celebrated our 26th anniversary last September. I can assure you that none of this is hopeless.
The fact PTSD is a normal reaction to the abnormal world of combat makes living with the aftermath normal for us. No matter if they return with full blown PTSD, mild PTSD or not, they come home changed. Every event in a person's life will change them to some degree. No one returns from combat unchanged.
Read the book and then see that while Iraq and Afghanistan are different from Vietnam, what the veterans and their families go through is not different. What is available is new and wonderful. The media reports open up a window to what was once a deep secret. As more and more veterans talk about the aftermath of combat, more and more will seek help to heal as well. As families like mine talk about successful marriages and what can be done to help, more will stay together and stop feeling hopeless. We celebrated our 26th anniversary last September. I can assure you that none of this is hopeless.
Thousands of soldiers return to long search for 'normal'
BACH upgrades staff, services for 101st Airborne
BY JAKE LOWARY • THE LEAF-CHRONICLE • JANUARY 30, 2011
For the last year, more than 15,000 soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division have been fighting hard on the front lines in Afghanistan.
Many have been involved in heavy combat, witnessing death and injury firsthand.
Soon they will come home, where life is relatively normal by the standards of American masses. They will be thrust back into the lives they left behind as fast as they were thrust into combat.
Kym Owens, a Fort Campbell spouse of more than eight years who now lives at Fort Hood, is well attuned to the reintegration process. Especially after the first time.
"I didn't honestly know what reintegration looked like," she said, and equated the distance she felt from her husband to the quality of their relationship.
"He wasn't ready to snuggle yet. ... I also took (his attitude and behavior) personal," she said.
Knowing that many soldiers and their families face similar struggles, Blanchfield Army Community Hospital has ramped up its services to prepare, and has given its new reintegration program a dry run with some 600 soldiers already back from Afghanistan. But it will be truly tested in the next few weeks as thousands more come home.
More services have been added, along with more people and a more comprehensive way to identify and track the soldiers who might be experiencing problems.
read more here
Thousands of soldiers return to long search for normal
Police search for gunman after Fort Bragg soldier shot on post
Fort Bragg soldier shot on post
FORT BRAGG (WTVD) -- A Fort Bragg solider was shot on post Sunday morning.
The shooting happened near Yadkin Road and Stabo Loop in Fayetteville around 3:00 am.
Authorities say a 23-year-old soldier, was traveling on Yadkin Rd, when someone in a silver Impala fired numerous rounds into his vehicle. The solider was struck in the arm and taken to Womack Army Medical Center for treatment.
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Fort Bragg soldier shot on post
FORT BRAGG (WTVD) -- A Fort Bragg solider was shot on post Sunday morning.
The shooting happened near Yadkin Road and Stabo Loop in Fayetteville around 3:00 am.
Authorities say a 23-year-old soldier, was traveling on Yadkin Rd, when someone in a silver Impala fired numerous rounds into his vehicle. The solider was struck in the arm and taken to Womack Army Medical Center for treatment.
read more here
Fort Bragg soldier shot on post
Slain Tampa Palms children remembered fondly
Slain Tampa Palms children remembered fondly by neighbors, in schools
By Jessica Vander Velde, Robbyn Mitchell and Ileana Morales, Times Staff Writers
In Print: Saturday, January 29, 2011
TAMPA — Julie Schenecker was sick of her teenage children talking back to her, police say, so last week she bought a .38-caliber pistol and planned their murder and her suicide.
She shot her 13-year-old son Thursday evening after driving him home from soccer practice. Then she walked upstairs and shot her 16-year-old daughter in the back of the head as she did homework, an arrest affidavit states.
With their blood on her clothing, the 50-year-old mother remained at the Tampa Palms house all night. Police didn't arrive until the next morning, after Schenecker's mother called them from Texas, worried because she couldn't reach her daughter, whom she believed was depressed.
Schenecker admitted to killing her children, Calyx Schenecker, 16, and Powers Beau Schenecker, 13, police said. She showed no remorse.
Though Schenecker cooperated Friday, police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said no explanation could help people truly understand why it happened.
"She did tell us that they talked back and they were mouthy," she said.
The children's father, Army Col. Parker Schenecker, 48, was informed Friday that his wife killed their children, McElroy said. He is stationed at Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base and was in the Middle East.
read more here
Slain Tampa Palms children remembered fondly
By Jessica Vander Velde, Robbyn Mitchell and Ileana Morales, Times Staff Writers
In Print: Saturday, January 29, 2011
TAMPA — Julie Schenecker was sick of her teenage children talking back to her, police say, so last week she bought a .38-caliber pistol and planned their murder and her suicide.
She shot her 13-year-old son Thursday evening after driving him home from soccer practice. Then she walked upstairs and shot her 16-year-old daughter in the back of the head as she did homework, an arrest affidavit states.
With their blood on her clothing, the 50-year-old mother remained at the Tampa Palms house all night. Police didn't arrive until the next morning, after Schenecker's mother called them from Texas, worried because she couldn't reach her daughter, whom she believed was depressed.
Schenecker admitted to killing her children, Calyx Schenecker, 16, and Powers Beau Schenecker, 13, police said. She showed no remorse.
Though Schenecker cooperated Friday, police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said no explanation could help people truly understand why it happened.
"She did tell us that they talked back and they were mouthy," she said.
The children's father, Army Col. Parker Schenecker, 48, was informed Friday that his wife killed their children, McElroy said. He is stationed at Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base and was in the Middle East.
read more here
Slain Tampa Palms children remembered fondly
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Wanted: vintage war photographs circa Vietnam era
If you are like my husband you have a couple of albums somewhere. Would be great to contribute some to this effort.
Vietnam War: A picture's worth a thousand words
By Michael Futch
Staff writer
Wanted: vintage war photographs from home and abroad, circa Vietnam era.
Cape Fear Studios has put out a call to Vietnam veterans and their families for wartime photography. As envisioned, select pictures from those submitted will be presented as a series of exhibits in conjunction with the Heroes Homecoming celebration in November.
Fayetteville leaders are planning the Heroes Homecoming over the 10 days leading up to Veterans Day. The celebration, which will include an agenda of community observances, will honor the Vietnam War veterans.
read more here
A picture's worth a thousand words
Father and son Iraq veterans help each other after brain injuries
Father, son help each other after brain injuries
By JULIE WATSON
The Associated Press
Sunday, January 30, 2011; 1:00 PM
MOORPARK, Calif. -- The crisply ironed uniforms of the father and son hang side by side in what they have dubbed the "Marine Corps closet," a dark space filled with vestiges of their tours of duty.
Two Purple Hearts. A backpack full of medical records.
The father is David R. Franco; the son is David W. Aside from the name, they share so much: proud service in Iraq, and a haunting, painful aftermath.
Both survived blasts by improvised explosive devices, and both have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder. They fight pain daily. They are jittery in crowds at the mall. They have memory lapses. The father has struggled to spell "the" or "to," while his son searches for words in a conversation.
Their injuries came three years apart. The elder Franco was still struggling to come to grips with his own suffering when he learned that his son had been injured in the same way.
"My heart dropped," said the father. "As a parent you want your kids to be safe. You don't want them to go through the same things you've been through."
read more here
Father and son help each other after brain injuries
By JULIE WATSON
The Associated Press
Sunday, January 30, 2011; 1:00 PM
MOORPARK, Calif. -- The crisply ironed uniforms of the father and son hang side by side in what they have dubbed the "Marine Corps closet," a dark space filled with vestiges of their tours of duty.
Two Purple Hearts. A backpack full of medical records.
The father is David R. Franco; the son is David W. Aside from the name, they share so much: proud service in Iraq, and a haunting, painful aftermath.
Both survived blasts by improvised explosive devices, and both have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder. They fight pain daily. They are jittery in crowds at the mall. They have memory lapses. The father has struggled to spell "the" or "to," while his son searches for words in a conversation.
Their injuries came three years apart. The elder Franco was still struggling to come to grips with his own suffering when he learned that his son had been injured in the same way.
"My heart dropped," said the father. "As a parent you want your kids to be safe. You don't want them to go through the same things you've been through."
read more here
Father and son help each other after brain injuries
Bachmann discovers targeting veterans not a good idea
In a lame attempt to defend Bachmann, Doug Sachtleben, (Bachmann's spokesman) said "Congresswoman Bachmann is not advocating for veterans' benefits to be abolished. She has always said that our nation must properly care for its heroes," but she was not saying she wanted to abolish the VA. She may say it but never proves it. She was saying the veterans are not worth what they are getting. The same thing the rest of us have. Get hurt on the job and you get Workman's Comp plus Social Security Disability. Instead of Workman's Comp veterans get VA Comp. This statement was not defending what she wanted to do. What does she think proper care of our heroes is? Is it telling them their benefits are open to be slashed because she doesn't feel like paying them? Is it telling them that tax cuts for the rich should be funded off their backs? Maybe now people will finally see that when a politician says one thing but does another, it's what they do that really matters. Talk of supporting the troops and veterans is cheap and when they pull something like this, they show how little they really do value the "heroes" they say they care about. Her own spokesman couldn't even defend her properly. If she really thought this was the right thing to do, her spokesman should have defended her reasons to do it instead of twisting it around. Not that it would have made this right but it would have at least shown she believes in what she says.
House of RepresentativesFor more on this
Bachmann Takes Heat From Veterans' Group for Proposing Benefits Cuts
Published January 29, 2011
FoxNews.com
Conservative Rep. Michele Bachmann is taking heat from the nation's largest combat veterans' organization for proposing, as part of a broad list of spending cuts, a combination of reductions and caps in veterans' benefits.
"No way, no how, will we let this proposal get any traction in Congress," Richard Eubank, head of Veterans of Foreign Wars, said in a written statement released Friday.
The Minnesota Republican congresswoman, who is positioning herself as a leading critic of the Obama administration in the wake of the midterm elections, earlier this week outlined $400 billion worth of possible spending cuts. The plan projected huge savings from drastic measures like abolishing the Department of Education, overhauling farm subsidies and eliminating a host of Justice Department grants and programs.
Tucked into the outline was $4.5 billion in cuts targeting veterans. She proposed capping increases for health care spending at the Department of Veterans Affairs and cutting disability payments "to account for (Social Security) disability payments."
Reached for comment, Bachmann spokesman Doug Sachtleben told FoxNews.com in an e-mail that Bachmann is not pushing a "budget plan" and "has not introduced legislation to cut veterans benefits."
"Congresswoman Bachmann is not advocating for veterans' benefits to be abolished. She has always said that our nation must properly care for its heroes," he said.
Rather, Sachtleben described the proposal as a "list of suggested cuts to open things up for discussion" on how to reduce the nation's $14 trillion debt.
Mission accomplished.
Eubank called the pitch for veterans' payment cuts "totally out of step with America's commitment to our veterans."
"There are certain things you do not do when our nation is at war, and at the top of that list is not caring for our wounded and disabled servicemen and women when they return home," he said in a statement, urging Bachmann to tour a Minneapolis VA medical center and trauma center.
"The day this nation can't afford to take care of her veterans is the day this nation should quit creating them," he said.
Read more: Bachmann Takes Heat From Veterans' Group
Bachmann tells veterans you aren't worth it
Disabled veterans decry wrongheaded, heartless cuts
Saturday, January 29, 2011
5 Student Chaplains make the news on PTSD?
While this sounds like it could be a good idea, there is a problem with this. Why is a program that graduated ONE student last year and only has four more making so much news? Is this a PR move by the Air Force or by Iliff School? This has already been covered on this blog but has been picked up by many more as if it is a huge story but when we're talking about a total of 5 students, it shouldn't be getting nearly as much attention as it is. Even the Huffington Post picked this up from AP
Air Force chaplains enlist theology school in effort to help service members with PTSD
DAN ELLIOTT
Associated Press
January 29, 2011, 4:06 p.m.
"If they were leading worship where people have come to a Christian service of worship, of course they would lead out of their own tradition," she said of the chaplains. "Or if they're leading a prayer before troops go on a mission and the troops have volunteered to come to that prayer, they would use their own traditions."DENVER (AP) — A Colorado theology school is teaching Air Force chaplains to consider the religious beliefs of servicemen and women to better help them cope with post-traumatic stress.
But when people go to a chaplain for help with post-traumatic stress or other issues, they want someone who respects their views and won't try to impose other beliefs on them, she said. (Chaplain Matt Boarts)
The goal is to build trust so a chaplain can encourage service members to draw on their individual concepts of God and spirituality, said Carrie Doehring, an associate professor of pastoral care at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver.
Doehring helped develop the one-year program for the Air Force, which wanted another way for its chaplains to respond to the stress of deployments amid two protracted wars.
Doehring said she believes it's the only program of its kind in the country.
One student graduated last year and four are enrolled this year.
read more here
Air Force chaplains enlist theology school
FBI Arrests Alleged Phony SF Colonel
FBI Arrests Alleged Phony SF Colonel
January 25, 2011
Military.com|by Bryant Jordan
A man who claimed to be a retired Green Beret colonel and an expert in the international sex-slave trade has been arrested in Maryland by the FBI.
An FBI spokeswoman said William G. "Bill" Hillar was charged with mail fraud in connection with a scheme to use bogus military and academic credentials toward teaching and training employment.
For years Hillar allegedly scammed universities, non-profit groups and law enforcement organizations by claiming his daughter was kidnapped by human traffickers in Asia and that he spent months in a failed effort to rescue her. He parlayed his “expertise” and faux Army Special Forces career into thousands of dollars in teaching and lecture fees.
read more here
FBI Arrests Alleged Phony SF Colonel
January 25, 2011
Military.com|by Bryant Jordan
A man who claimed to be a retired Green Beret colonel and an expert in the international sex-slave trade has been arrested in Maryland by the FBI.
An FBI spokeswoman said William G. "Bill" Hillar was charged with mail fraud in connection with a scheme to use bogus military and academic credentials toward teaching and training employment.
For years Hillar allegedly scammed universities, non-profit groups and law enforcement organizations by claiming his daughter was kidnapped by human traffickers in Asia and that he spent months in a failed effort to rescue her. He parlayed his “expertise” and faux Army Special Forces career into thousands of dollars in teaching and lecture fees.
read more here
FBI Arrests Alleged Phony SF Colonel
Deployed Colonel’s wife killed son and daughter in Tampa FL hospitalized
O-6’s wife hospitalized after arrest for deaths
By Tamara Lush - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Jan 29, 2011 11:59:44 EST
TAMPA, Fla. — The woman who authorities say killed her teenage daughter and son because she was fed up with them talking back and being mouthy will not appear in court Saturday because she’s being treated at a hospital for an unknown condition.
Authorities say Julie Powers Schenecker was taken to Tampa General Hospital shortly after midnight Saturday to be treated for a medical condition that existed before she was taken to jail. Hillsborough Sheriff’s deputies — who oversee jail inmates — said they could not reveal Schenecker’s medical condition, citing health care privacy laws.
An arrest affidavit said Schenecker shot her son twice in the head in the family car “for talking back” as she drove him to soccer practice. The report said Schenecker then drove to their upscale home and shot her daughter in the face inside the home.
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Illegal Immigrant Sentenced For Using Deployed Marine's ID
Illegal Immigrant Sentenced For Using Deployed Marine's ID
By Metro Source News
Fri 07:53 AM 01/28/2011
A Mexican national who was in the country illegally has been sentenced to one year in prison for using the stolen identity of a U.S. Marine deployed to the Middle East.
read more here
Illegal Immigrant Sentenced For Using Deployed Marine's ID
By Metro Source News
Fri 07:53 AM 01/28/2011
A Mexican national who was in the country illegally has been sentenced to one year in prison for using the stolen identity of a U.S. Marine deployed to the Middle East.
read more here
Illegal Immigrant Sentenced For Using Deployed Marine's ID
Gay Marine’s husband surprised at respect shown by Naval Academy
Gay Marine’s husband surprised at respect shown by Naval Academy
Neil steinberg nsteinberg@suntimes.com Jan 29, 2011
John Fliszar had a heart attack in 2006 and was rushed to Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
“When I was in the emergency room with him, he asked me to promise him, if he died, to make sure his ashes were interred in the Naval Academy,” said Mark Ketterson. “He loved that place. He very much wanted to be there.”
Fliszar, a Marine aviator who served two tours in Vietnam, survived that heart attack. But last July the Albany Park resident suffered another one that killed him at age 61.
Hoping to fulfill Fliszar’s wishes, Ketterson contacted the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis and told them that Fliszar, Class of ’71, had wanted to have his ashes interred at the USNA’s Columbarium, a serene white marble waterside crypt next to the school’s cemetery.
The memorial coordinator asked about his relationship to the deceased. Ketterson said that John Fliszar was his husband.
“They were always polite, but there was this moment of hesitation,” Ketterson recalled. “They said they’re going to need something in writing from a blood relative. They asked, ‘Are you listed on the death certificate?’ ‘Do you have a marriage license?’ ”
He was and they did, the couple having been married in Des Moines when gay marriage became legal in Iowa two years ago.
Ketterson sent a copy of the marriage license. That changed everything.
“I was respected,” he said. “From that moment on, I was next of kin. They were amazing.”
read more here
Gay Marine’s husband surprised at respect shown by Naval Academy
Neil steinberg nsteinberg@suntimes.com Jan 29, 2011
John Fliszar had a heart attack in 2006 and was rushed to Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
“When I was in the emergency room with him, he asked me to promise him, if he died, to make sure his ashes were interred in the Naval Academy,” said Mark Ketterson. “He loved that place. He very much wanted to be there.”
Fliszar, a Marine aviator who served two tours in Vietnam, survived that heart attack. But last July the Albany Park resident suffered another one that killed him at age 61.
Hoping to fulfill Fliszar’s wishes, Ketterson contacted the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis and told them that Fliszar, Class of ’71, had wanted to have his ashes interred at the USNA’s Columbarium, a serene white marble waterside crypt next to the school’s cemetery.
The memorial coordinator asked about his relationship to the deceased. Ketterson said that John Fliszar was his husband.
“They were always polite, but there was this moment of hesitation,” Ketterson recalled. “They said they’re going to need something in writing from a blood relative. They asked, ‘Are you listed on the death certificate?’ ‘Do you have a marriage license?’ ”
He was and they did, the couple having been married in Des Moines when gay marriage became legal in Iowa two years ago.
Ketterson sent a copy of the marriage license. That changed everything.
“I was respected,” he said. “From that moment on, I was next of kin. They were amazing.”
read more here
Gay Marine’s husband surprised at respect shown by Naval Academy
Michelle Obama honors military families on Oprah
Michelle Obama honors military families on Oprah
CARYN ROUSSEAU
Associated Press
January 27, 2011
CHICAGO (AP) — First lady Michelle Obama urged Americans during an episode of the "The Oprah Winfrey Show" that aired on Thursday to offer more support for the country's military families.
"There are things as a nation we can do big and small," Obama said during the episode, which was taped on Jan. 21. "And it's not a difficult thing to do."
The first lady has become an advocate for military families has traveled to military installations to talk with service members about their needs and concerns and has urged Americans to volunteer time to help them. On Thursday, she visited the Army's largest training post at Fort Jackson outside Columbia, S.C., and said the military's new exercise regimen and healthier foods could be a model for others across the U.S.
Her appearance on Winfrey's show comes after President Barack Obama announced new government-wide initiatives to support military families, including programs aimed at preventing suicide and homelessness.
read more here
Michelle Obama honors military families on Oprah
For other stories from this program and more on Oprah go here
The Bravest Families in America
Friday, January 28, 2011
Vietnam Vet John Wheeler died from "blunt force trauma
Official: Pentagon official died from blunt force trauma after assault
January 28th, 2011
From CNN's Allan Chernoff
Former Pentagon official John Wheeler died from "blunt force trauma after being assaulted," according to the Delaware medical examiner.
Pentagon official died from blunt force trauma after assault
January 28th, 2011
From CNN's Allan Chernoff
Former Pentagon official John Wheeler died from "blunt force trauma after being assaulted," according to the Delaware medical examiner.
Pentagon official died from blunt force trauma after assault
Deployed Colonel’s wife killed son and daughter in Tampa FL
Police: Colonel’s wife killed son and daughter
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jan 28, 2011 17:04:13 EST
TAMPA, Fla. — The wife of an Army colonel was charged Friday with fatally shooting her teenage son and daughter after police found the mother covered in blood on the back porch of her home in an upscale Tampa suburb, police said.
Julie Powers Schenecker admitted to the slayings after police came to the home Friday morning, police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said. Schenecker's mother had called police from Texas because she was unable to reach the 50-year-old woman, whom she said was depressed.
Colonel’s wife killed son and daughter
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jan 28, 2011 17:04:13 EST
TAMPA, Fla. — The wife of an Army colonel was charged Friday with fatally shooting her teenage son and daughter after police found the mother covered in blood on the back porch of her home in an upscale Tampa suburb, police said.
Julie Powers Schenecker admitted to the slayings after police came to the home Friday morning, police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said. Schenecker's mother had called police from Texas because she was unable to reach the 50-year-old woman, whom she said was depressed.
Schenecker's husband, Parker Schenecker, is an Army colonel serving in Qatar and was notified of his children's deaths Friday, McElroy said.read more here
Colonel’s wife killed son and daughter
Unmarked graves found at veteran cemetery in Miss
Unmarked graves found at veteran cemetery in Miss.
(AP)
VICKSBURG, Miss. (AP) — Authorities said Thursday they fear dozens of veterans could lie in unmarked graves at a Mississippi military cemetery after they found two unidentified coffins and used radar to detect other possible plots.
The two coffins and other potential graves were found in sections of Vicksburg National Military Cemetery that were opened in the 1940s for World War I, World War II and Korean War veterans, National Park Service officials said at a news conference. The sprawling cemetery is the final resting place for more than 18,000 veterans, mostly Union soldiers from the Civil War.
The problems were discovered after workers preparing a burial site for a World War II veteran found a coffin in August. Another coffin was found nearby. The veteran was buried elsewhere in the cemetery and the graves were left alone, authorities said.
The cemetery stopped offering burials in 1961, except for veterans who had prior arrangements. There have been 109 burials since then.
The park service asked for help from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which used ground-penetrating radar devices to search for graves. Those sites were then checked by pushing metal rods into the ground, which in several cases hit solid objects that could be coffins.
The National Park Service's Southeast Archaeological Center has also been helping. Officials said a preliminary analysis of their research identified "eight probable and 48 possible unmarked graves."
read more here
Unmarked graves found at veteran cemetery in Miss
(AP)
VICKSBURG, Miss. (AP) — Authorities said Thursday they fear dozens of veterans could lie in unmarked graves at a Mississippi military cemetery after they found two unidentified coffins and used radar to detect other possible plots.
The two coffins and other potential graves were found in sections of Vicksburg National Military Cemetery that were opened in the 1940s for World War I, World War II and Korean War veterans, National Park Service officials said at a news conference. The sprawling cemetery is the final resting place for more than 18,000 veterans, mostly Union soldiers from the Civil War.
The problems were discovered after workers preparing a burial site for a World War II veteran found a coffin in August. Another coffin was found nearby. The veteran was buried elsewhere in the cemetery and the graves were left alone, authorities said.
The cemetery stopped offering burials in 1961, except for veterans who had prior arrangements. There have been 109 burials since then.
The park service asked for help from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which used ground-penetrating radar devices to search for graves. Those sites were then checked by pushing metal rods into the ground, which in several cases hit solid objects that could be coffins.
The National Park Service's Southeast Archaeological Center has also been helping. Officials said a preliminary analysis of their research identified "eight probable and 48 possible unmarked graves."
read more here
Unmarked graves found at veteran cemetery in Miss
Disabled Veterans Decry Wrongheaded, 'Heartless' Budget Cuts
News Release - Disabled Veterans Decry Wrongheaded, 'Heartless' Budget Cuts
If Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) wanted to make a name for herself by proposing to cut funding for veterans health care and disability compensation, she has succeeded. "Such an ill-advised proposal is nothing short of heartless," according to Disabled American Veterans Washington Headquarters Executive Director David W. Gorman.
"It is unconscionable that while our nation is at war someone would even think of forcing our wounded warriors to sacrifice even more than they already have," Gorman said. "Their injuries and disabilities were the result of their service to the nation, and our nation must not shirk its responsibilities toward them. How do you tell a veteran who has lost a limb that he or she has not sacrificed enough? Yet Rep. Bachmann wants to do just that."
The third-term member of Congress has called on Congress to freeze Department of Veterans Affairs health care spending and reduce disability compensation. Her proposal would cut $4.5 billion from veterans health care and disability benefits.
"Freezing VA health care funding will not only freeze out sick and disabled veterans seeking care, it will also end up costing the federal government even more money," said Gorman. "With the number of veterans seeking health care rising, the effect of a freeze would be to either block enrollment of veterans, many of them just returning from battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan, or to ration care to currently enrolled veterans, including disabled veterans who have relied on VA dating back to World War II," Gorman said.
Independent studies have shown the VA system provides safe, high quality health care at an average cost that is less than Medicare, Medicaid or the private sector. "This ill-conceived and misguided proposal by Rep. Bachmann would actually increase the budget deficit while lowering the quality of health care to our nation's veterans," he said.
"America's sick and disabled veterans will not sit idly by while their earned health care and disability benefits are threatened," Gorman warned. "We will raise our voices above the din and call on every member of Congress to reject Rep. Bachmann's heartless proposal."
If Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) wanted to make a name for herself by proposing to cut funding for veterans health care and disability compensation, she has succeeded. "Such an ill-advised proposal is nothing short of heartless," according to Disabled American Veterans Washington Headquarters Executive Director David W. Gorman.
"It is unconscionable that while our nation is at war someone would even think of forcing our wounded warriors to sacrifice even more than they already have," Gorman said. "Their injuries and disabilities were the result of their service to the nation, and our nation must not shirk its responsibilities toward them. How do you tell a veteran who has lost a limb that he or she has not sacrificed enough? Yet Rep. Bachmann wants to do just that."
The third-term member of Congress has called on Congress to freeze Department of Veterans Affairs health care spending and reduce disability compensation. Her proposal would cut $4.5 billion from veterans health care and disability benefits.
"Freezing VA health care funding will not only freeze out sick and disabled veterans seeking care, it will also end up costing the federal government even more money," said Gorman. "With the number of veterans seeking health care rising, the effect of a freeze would be to either block enrollment of veterans, many of them just returning from battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan, or to ration care to currently enrolled veterans, including disabled veterans who have relied on VA dating back to World War II," Gorman said.
Independent studies have shown the VA system provides safe, high quality health care at an average cost that is less than Medicare, Medicaid or the private sector. "This ill-conceived and misguided proposal by Rep. Bachmann would actually increase the budget deficit while lowering the quality of health care to our nation's veterans," he said.
"America's sick and disabled veterans will not sit idly by while their earned health care and disability benefits are threatened," Gorman warned. "We will raise our voices above the din and call on every member of Congress to reject Rep. Bachmann's heartless proposal."
Rep. Michele Bachmann tells veterans you are not worth the money
UPDATE 7:03 est
The more I think about this the more angry I get.
Let Bachmann tell him that he doesn't deserve the funds from Social Security he paid into while he recovers along with losing both his legs in service to this country.
Or tell Carmelo Rodriquez who died of cancer after exposures in combat that he didn't earn the funds.
Or to Joshua Cope
Tell that to the men and women in this video that while the rest of us pay into the system with our money and expect to get help when we need it, they don't have the same right. Tell them that while we do a lot of talking about how much we love this country, these men and women loved it so much they were willing to die for it.
This is from Social Security
How Workers’ Compensation And Other Disability Payments May Affect Your Benefits
http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10018.html
SSA Publication No. 05-10018, March 2010, ICN 454500 (En Español) [View .pdf] [Audio.mp3]
Disability payments from private sources, such as private pension or insurance benefits, do not affect your Social Security disability benefits.
However, workers’ compensation and other public disability benefits may reduce your Social Security benefits. Workers’ compensation benefits are paid to a worker because of a job-related injury or illness. They may be paid by federal or state workers’ compensation agencies, employers or by insurance companies on behalf of employers.
Other public disability payments that may affect your Social Security benefit are those paid by a federal, state or local government and are for disabling medical conditions that are not job-related. Examples are civil service disability benefits, state temporary disability benefits and state or local government retirement benefits that are based on disability.
If you receive workers’ compensation or other public disability benefits and Social Security disability benefits, the total amount of these benefits cannot exceed 80 percent of your average current earnings before you became disabled.
Some public benefits do not affect your Social Security disability benefits
If you receive Social Security disability benefits and one of the following types of public benefits,
your Social Security benefit will not be reduced:
Veterans Administration benefits;
State and local government benefits, if Social Security taxes were deducted from your earnings; or
Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
Thank you Veterans For Common Sense!
An email from them came with news from Michele Bachmann's site saying the plan is to cut off veterans and turn them over to Social Security. This at the same time the Republican folks are talking about wanting to make Social Security cuts and privatize it.
What Bachmann doesn't seem to understand is that troops are sent to war by politicians and act on behalf of the nation. THEY ARE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THIS NATION no matter if she likes it or not. If she doesn't think they are worth taking care of, then this woman shouldn't be where she is. How do the people of Minnesota feel about having her in congress when they have had so many serving in Iraq and Afghanistan while she wants to deny them care?
From the Disabled American Veterans
News Release - Disabled Veterans Decry Wrongheaded, 'Heartless' Budget Cuts
From Army Times
The more I think about this the more angry I get.
Let Bachmann tell him that he doesn't deserve the funds from Social Security he paid into while he recovers along with losing both his legs in service to this country.
This is from Social Security
How Workers’ Compensation And Other Disability Payments May Affect Your Benefits
http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10018.html
SSA Publication No. 05-10018, March 2010, ICN 454500 (En Español) [View .pdf] [Audio.mp3]
Disability payments from private sources, such as private pension or insurance benefits, do not affect your Social Security disability benefits.
However, workers’ compensation and other public disability benefits may reduce your Social Security benefits. Workers’ compensation benefits are paid to a worker because of a job-related injury or illness. They may be paid by federal or state workers’ compensation agencies, employers or by insurance companies on behalf of employers.
Other public disability payments that may affect your Social Security benefit are those paid by a federal, state or local government and are for disabling medical conditions that are not job-related. Examples are civil service disability benefits, state temporary disability benefits and state or local government retirement benefits that are based on disability.
If you receive workers’ compensation or other public disability benefits and Social Security disability benefits, the total amount of these benefits cannot exceed 80 percent of your average current earnings before you became disabled.
Some public benefits do not affect your Social Security disability benefits
If you receive Social Security disability benefits and one of the following types of public benefits,
your Social Security benefit will not be reduced:
Veterans Administration benefits;
State and local government benefits, if Social Security taxes were deducted from your earnings; or
Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
Thank you Veterans For Common Sense!
An email from them came with news from Michele Bachmann's site saying the plan is to cut off veterans and turn them over to Social Security. This at the same time the Republican folks are talking about wanting to make Social Security cuts and privatize it.
Bachmann
Cap increases in Department of Veterans Affairs health care spending, and reduce disability compensation to account for SS disability payments. Reduce Veterans’ Disability Compensation to account for Social Security Disability Insurance payments. $4.5 Billion
What Bachmann doesn't seem to understand is that troops are sent to war by politicians and act on behalf of the nation. THEY ARE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THIS NATION no matter if she likes it or not. If she doesn't think they are worth taking care of, then this woman shouldn't be where she is. How do the people of Minnesota feel about having her in congress when they have had so many serving in Iraq and Afghanistan while she wants to deny them care?
From the Disabled American Veterans
News Release - Disabled Veterans Decry Wrongheaded, 'Heartless' Budget Cuts
From Army Times
Bachmann plan would cut veterans benefits
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jan 28, 2011 5:30:31 EST
Tea party favorite Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., has unveiled a plan for cutting $400 billion in federal spending that includes freezing Veterans Affairs Department health care spending and cutting veterans’ disability benefits.
Her proposed VA budget cuts would account for $4.5 billion of the savings included in the plan, posted on her official House of Representatives website.
Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, said cutting veterans’ health care spending is an ill-advised move at a time when the number of veterans continues to grow as troops return from Iraq and Afghanistan. Sullivan said he finds it difficult to see how VA could freeze health care costs without hurting veterans.
“It is really astonishing to see this,” he said.
In a statement, Bachmann said her plan is intended for discussion purposes as an example of ways to cut federal spending to make it unnecessary to increase the current $14.3 trillion limit on the amount the U.S. government can borrow.
The debt ceiling will be reached sometime in March, according to economic forecasts, but many lawmakers — especially members of the tea party movement — have been talking about cutting federal spending either instead of, or as part of, a move to increase the debt limit.
Her list of cuts doesn’t explain the impact of freezing veterans’ health care funding, but the Congressional Budget Office said in a report issued in October that health care costs have been quickly increasing. VA’s health care budget was $44 billion in 2009, $48 billion in 2010 and is at $52 billion this year. The report forecasts a health care budget of $69 billion or higher by 2020 if trends continue, the report estimates.
Bachmann’s idea of cutting costs by reducing veterans’ disability compensation by the amount received in Social Security Disability Income is not new. The proposal, which would affect more than 150,000 veterans, has long been on a list of possible budget options prepared by the Congressional Budget Office, which describes the option as a way to “eliminate duplicate payment of public compensation for a single disability.”
Thursday, January 27, 2011
10th Mountain Division 1st Lt. David Provencher Earns Silver Star
Ellenville High School grad earns Silver Star for heroism in Afghanistan
Published: Thursday, January 27, 2011
By PATRICIA DOXSEY
Freeman staff
An Ellenville man fighting in the war in Afghanistan has been awarded the Silver Star, the nation’s third-highest award for valor in combat.
U.S. Army 1st Lt. David Provencher of the 10th Mountain Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team received the medal Wednesday during a ceremony at Forward Operating Base Kunduz in northern Afghanistan. He is an infantry platoon leader with 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment.
Provencher, a 1999 graduate of Ellenville High School, has been credited with saving the lives of three wounded soldiers and refusing to leave two others who were mortally wounded during heavy combat on June 16, 2010.
read more here
Ellenville High School grad earns Silver Star for heroism in Afghanistan
Published: Thursday, January 27, 2011
By PATRICIA DOXSEY
Freeman staff
An Ellenville man fighting in the war in Afghanistan has been awarded the Silver Star, the nation’s third-highest award for valor in combat.
U.S. Army 1st Lt. David Provencher of the 10th Mountain Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team received the medal Wednesday during a ceremony at Forward Operating Base Kunduz in northern Afghanistan. He is an infantry platoon leader with 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment.
Provencher, a 1999 graduate of Ellenville High School, has been credited with saving the lives of three wounded soldiers and refusing to leave two others who were mortally wounded during heavy combat on June 16, 2010.
read more here
Ellenville High School grad earns Silver Star for heroism in Afghanistan
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