Battlefield angels are military's saving grace
Elkton National Guardsman and medic is among 10 honorees
By Mary Gail Hare, The Baltimore Sun
2:39 p.m. EDT, April 2, 2011
Sgt. Antoine A. King, 41, lives in Elkton, works for the City of Havre de Grace and has spent much of the past decade serving as a medic with the Army National Guard.
He was one of 10 medical personnel, representing all branches of the military, honored as Angels of the Battlefield at the fifth annual Armed Services YMCA gala Wednesday in Washington.
"I really was quite surprised to receive the award and honored to represent the Army National Guard medics at this event," King said.
Each year, the ASYMCA, which has offered support and relief to soldiers and their families since the Civil War, asks the various branches to nominate their most outstanding corpsmen for the award.
"These are medics who are putting their own lives on the line to bring home their comrades," said Michael J. Landers, chief operations officer for the nonprofit organization based in Alexandria, Va. "Every year, we hear incredible instances of recovery because a wounded soldier was found in the field on time. It is amazing how quickly these medics react."
King, the only Maryland honoree, has served more than 14 years and completed three deployments, including tours in Nicaragua and Iraq.
"I joined later in life at 28," he said. "I just looked around and decided it was time for me to give back. The Guard is a great way to know you are helping others. As medics, you almost feel you are bringing people back to life."
In the late 1990s, few guardsmen ever expected to leave home on long deployments, he said. Many joined for the extra pay and benefits as much as the experience, but "that all changed after 9/11," he said. "Now nearly every Guard unit in the country has gone on deployment."
read more here
Battlefield angels are military's saving grace
linked from Stars and Stripes
Monday, April 4, 2011
A fake Medal of Honor or Purple Heart: Is it free speech?
A fake Medal of Honor or Purple Heart: Is it free speech?
Federal appeals court rules that the "Stolen Valor Act" curbs free speech: You don't have to actually have a Medal of Honor or Purple Heart to say you have one.
By Lee Lawrence, Correspondent / April 3, 2011
New York
Manners, decency, even morality are one thing – free speech is another. So the federal court of appeals March 21 ruling that lying about one's military record is protected free speech, rankles many who respect the special currency of a military medal, badge, or honor.
At issue is the Stolen Valor Act (SVA). Until it was enacted in 2006, you could hold up a medal, say you were a war hero and, as long as you didn't actually pin it on, no law was broken. The SVA closed that loophole by making it a crime for anyone to falsely state – "verbally or in writing" – that they hold such honors.
In two of the 60 or so cases brought exclusively under the SVA, courts in Colorado and California challenged the act's constitutionality on free speech grounds. The California case – involving Xavier Alvarez, of Pomona, Calif., a public official who said at a public meeting in 2007 that he was a retired marine who had received the Medal of Honor, even though he never served in the military – went on to the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which last month upheld the initial ruling: Despicable, yes. Criminal, no.
More than a quarter of the 26 active judges dissented, paving the way for federal prosecutors to take it to the Supreme Court.
Decorated Vietnam veteran Doug Sterner, who was instrumental in getting the SVA enacted, maintains it is not only just, but useful: "Over the last five years, I would estimate that Stolen Valor investigations have uncovered somewhere between 5 and 10 million dollars in fraud against the Veterans Administration. And that's just the cases that I'm aware of."
read more here
A fake Medal of Honor or Purple Heart: Is it free speech?
linked from Stars and Stripes
Federal appeals court rules that the "Stolen Valor Act" curbs free speech: You don't have to actually have a Medal of Honor or Purple Heart to say you have one.
By Lee Lawrence, Correspondent / April 3, 2011
New York
Manners, decency, even morality are one thing – free speech is another. So the federal court of appeals March 21 ruling that lying about one's military record is protected free speech, rankles many who respect the special currency of a military medal, badge, or honor.
At issue is the Stolen Valor Act (SVA). Until it was enacted in 2006, you could hold up a medal, say you were a war hero and, as long as you didn't actually pin it on, no law was broken. The SVA closed that loophole by making it a crime for anyone to falsely state – "verbally or in writing" – that they hold such honors.
In two of the 60 or so cases brought exclusively under the SVA, courts in Colorado and California challenged the act's constitutionality on free speech grounds. The California case – involving Xavier Alvarez, of Pomona, Calif., a public official who said at a public meeting in 2007 that he was a retired marine who had received the Medal of Honor, even though he never served in the military – went on to the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which last month upheld the initial ruling: Despicable, yes. Criminal, no.
More than a quarter of the 26 active judges dissented, paving the way for federal prosecutors to take it to the Supreme Court.
Decorated Vietnam veteran Doug Sterner, who was instrumental in getting the SVA enacted, maintains it is not only just, but useful: "Over the last five years, I would estimate that Stolen Valor investigations have uncovered somewhere between 5 and 10 million dollars in fraud against the Veterans Administration. And that's just the cases that I'm aware of."
read more here
A fake Medal of Honor or Purple Heart: Is it free speech?
linked from Stars and Stripes
The Military's Secret Shame, rape
The Military's Secret ShameVictims speak out: (from left) Greg Jeloudov has debilitating PTSD; Blake Stephens twice attempted suicide; Jamey Michael Harding saw a drill sergeant go on to rape underage cadets.
by Jesse Ellison
April 03, 2011
When men in the military rape other men in the ranks, no one wants to talk about it. Why the sexual assault of males in the service is finally being confronted.
Like in prisons and other predominantly male environments, male-on-male assault in the military, experts say, is motivated not by homosexuality, but power, intimidation, and domination. Assault victims, both male and female, are typically young and low-ranking; they are targeted for their vulnerability. Often, in male-on-male cases, assailants go after those they assume are gay, even if they are not. “One of the reasons people commit sexual assault is to put people in their place, to drive them out,” says Mic Hunter, author of Honor Betrayed: Sexual Abuse in America’s Military. “Sexual assault isn’t about sex, it’s about violence.”Greg Jeloudov was 35 and new to America when he decided to join the Army. Like most soldiers, he was driven by both patriotism for his adopted homeland and the pragmatic notion that the military could be a first step in a career that would enable him to provide for his new family.
Instead, Jeloudov arrived at Fort Benning, Ga., for basic training in May 2009, in the middle of the economic crisis and rising xenophobia. The soldiers in his unit, responding to his Russian accent and New York City address, called him a “champagne socialist” and a “commie faggot.” He was, he told NEWSWEEK, “in the middle of the viper’s pit.” Less than two weeks after arriving on base, he was gang-raped in the barracks by men who said they were showing him who was in charge of the United States. When he reported the attack to unit commanders, he says they told him, “It must have been your fault. You must have provoked them.”
What happened to Jeloudov is a part of life in the armed forces that hardly anyone talks about: male-on-male sexual assault. In the staunchly traditional military culture, it’s an ugly secret, kept hidden by layers of personal shame and official denial. Last year nearly 50,000 male veterans screened positive for “military sexual trauma” at the Department of Veterans Affairs, up from just over 30,000 in 2003. For the victims, the experience is a special kind of hell—a soldier can’t just quit his job to get away from his abusers. But now, as the Pentagon has begun to acknowledge the rampant problem of sexual violence for both genders, men are coming forward in unprecedented numbers, telling their stories and hoping that speaking up will help them, and others, put their lives back together. “We don’t like to think that our men can be victims,” says Kathleen Chard, chief of the posttraumatic-stress unit at the Cincinnati VA. “We don’t want to think that it could happen to us. If a man standing in front of me who is my size, my skill level, who has been raped—what does that mean about me? I can be raped, too.”
read more here
The Military's Secret Shame
Canada failing soldiers with PTSD
Soldiers paying a heavy price
BY KRIS KOTARSKI, FOR THE CALGARY HERALD APRIL 4, 2011 2:22 AM
In one of the most heartbreaking stories of the 2011 election season, the CBC reported domestic violence on Canadian military bases has climbed steadily in recent years as soldiers who carry physical and psychological battle wounds return home.
This sad piece of news did not come from a stumping parliamentarian or the Department of National Defence. Instead, it came from a freedom-of-information request that revealed a military police report that was shelved and later downplayed by Canada's military bureaucracy.
According to the report, military police noted a five-fold jump in reported cases of domestic violence after troops returned from a heavy combat tour in Afghanistan to Ontario's CFB Petawawa in 2007.
Although this should serve as yet another reminder that too many of Canada's soldiers (and families) look to be suffering from the effects of posttraumatic stress disorder, Canada's military is keen to make this issue go away.
Col. Jean-Robert Bernier, deputy surgeon general with the Canadian Forces, dismissed the report, noting "some methodological flaws in the way some of that military police data was collected and analyzed."
If you find such a dismissal a little odd considering the gravity of the statistics unearthed by the investigation, you may wish to call your local federal election candidate to ask what he or she thinks about how Canada is handling post-traumatic stress disorder and its veterans.
Read more:
Soldiers paying a heavy price
BY KRIS KOTARSKI, FOR THE CALGARY HERALD APRIL 4, 2011 2:22 AM
In one of the most heartbreaking stories of the 2011 election season, the CBC reported domestic violence on Canadian military bases has climbed steadily in recent years as soldiers who carry physical and psychological battle wounds return home.
This sad piece of news did not come from a stumping parliamentarian or the Department of National Defence. Instead, it came from a freedom-of-information request that revealed a military police report that was shelved and later downplayed by Canada's military bureaucracy.
According to the report, military police noted a five-fold jump in reported cases of domestic violence after troops returned from a heavy combat tour in Afghanistan to Ontario's CFB Petawawa in 2007.
Although this should serve as yet another reminder that too many of Canada's soldiers (and families) look to be suffering from the effects of posttraumatic stress disorder, Canada's military is keen to make this issue go away.
Col. Jean-Robert Bernier, deputy surgeon general with the Canadian Forces, dismissed the report, noting "some methodological flaws in the way some of that military police data was collected and analyzed."
If you find such a dismissal a little odd considering the gravity of the statistics unearthed by the investigation, you may wish to call your local federal election candidate to ask what he or she thinks about how Canada is handling post-traumatic stress disorder and its veterans.
Is suicide interesting enough for our public debate? In 2008, the CBC cited research by Laval University doctoral student Maj. Michel Sartori, who obtained military police records that showed the suicide rate among Canada's regular forces and reserves doubled from 2006 to 2007, rising to a rate triple that of the general population.
Read more:
Soldiers paying a heavy price
Wyoming veteran helps others cope with combat PTSD
Wyoming veteran helps others cope with post-traumatic stress disorder
By KRISTY GRAY
Star-Tribune staff writer
Posted: Monday, April 4, 2011
On April 1, one year ago, Spc. Jason Billiot bypassed the homecoming ceremonies for the 700 Wyoming Army National Guard soldiers returning from a yearlong deployment to Kuwait.
He got off the plane in Casper and drove straight to the Wyoming Medical Center. His family’s Jeep had rolled over as they were driving from Cheyenne to meet him, and his wife and three children all needed considerable care when they finally made it back to Cheyenne.
Billiot had no time to decompress, to readjust to the family or let the family readjust to him.
“The things that guys dealt with right after they got back, I’ve dealt with here in the last few months, almost a year later,” said Billiot, a budget analyst with the Wyoming National Guard.
This winter, he attended a presentation by retired Wyoming National Guard major and former Laramie firefighter D.C. Faber. It was called, “How and Why We Are Different After War and Trauma: A Veteran’s Perspective.”
The presentation wasn’t about war stories, the telling of what Faber saw in Afghanistan. It was about coming home, struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and readjusting to a concept of time that isn’t hyper-focused on the present.
“It really kind of hit home for me,” Billiot said. “The family I knew was the family from 2009. You reintegrate yourself, but at the same time, you are reintegrating them to you.”
read more here
Wyoming veteran helps others cope
By KRISTY GRAY
Star-Tribune staff writer
Posted: Monday, April 4, 2011
On April 1, one year ago, Spc. Jason Billiot bypassed the homecoming ceremonies for the 700 Wyoming Army National Guard soldiers returning from a yearlong deployment to Kuwait.
He got off the plane in Casper and drove straight to the Wyoming Medical Center. His family’s Jeep had rolled over as they were driving from Cheyenne to meet him, and his wife and three children all needed considerable care when they finally made it back to Cheyenne.
Billiot had no time to decompress, to readjust to the family or let the family readjust to him.
“The things that guys dealt with right after they got back, I’ve dealt with here in the last few months, almost a year later,” said Billiot, a budget analyst with the Wyoming National Guard.
This winter, he attended a presentation by retired Wyoming National Guard major and former Laramie firefighter D.C. Faber. It was called, “How and Why We Are Different After War and Trauma: A Veteran’s Perspective.”
The presentation wasn’t about war stories, the telling of what Faber saw in Afghanistan. It was about coming home, struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and readjusting to a concept of time that isn’t hyper-focused on the present.
“It really kind of hit home for me,” Billiot said. “The family I knew was the family from 2009. You reintegrate yourself, but at the same time, you are reintegrating them to you.”
read more here
Wyoming veteran helps others cope
Arizona Veterans Center on wheels for combat veterans
Bringing services to combat veterans
LARRY HENDRICKS News Team Leader
Posted: Sunday, April 3, 2011
The brunt of the counseling services Erik Adams, a veteran and counselor, offers is for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Combat veterans come to him to speak of their experiences in combat zones and their difficulties in readjusting to civilian life.
In Arizona, combat veterans living in rural communities typically had to drive long distances to receive services from a Veterans Center set up by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
But no longer.
"We have the ability to bring a mobile Vet Center into areas where there is no fixed site," said Bobby Fields, readjustment counseling tech for the Veterans Center in Prescott.
In late 2009, the Prescott Veterans Center received a $286,000 mobile Vet Center to take mental health services to vets throughout northern Arizona. And since 2010, the mobile unit comes to Flagstaff twice a month.
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Vet Centers provide readjustment counseling to help combat veterans and their families successfully transition back to civilian life.
read more here
Bringing services to combat veterans
LARRY HENDRICKS News Team Leader
Posted: Sunday, April 3, 2011
The brunt of the counseling services Erik Adams, a veteran and counselor, offers is for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Combat veterans come to him to speak of their experiences in combat zones and their difficulties in readjusting to civilian life.
In Arizona, combat veterans living in rural communities typically had to drive long distances to receive services from a Veterans Center set up by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
But no longer.
"We have the ability to bring a mobile Vet Center into areas where there is no fixed site," said Bobby Fields, readjustment counseling tech for the Veterans Center in Prescott.
In late 2009, the Prescott Veterans Center received a $286,000 mobile Vet Center to take mental health services to vets throughout northern Arizona. And since 2010, the mobile unit comes to Flagstaff twice a month.
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Vet Centers provide readjustment counseling to help combat veterans and their families successfully transition back to civilian life.
read more here
Bringing services to combat veterans
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Tea Party Seniors got their wish, Medicare cuts coming
UPDATE 4-6-11
Budget Would Affect Elderly, Poor
The Republican budget proposal presents a dramatically different vision of the role of government in America.
Say a big thank you to the Tea Party folks since this is what they voted for. Yes, that's right. You get the shaft because they didn't care if you could afford to live or not. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are government run programs, but people like the ones below didn't understand that. This is just the beginning of the senior slaughter of programs we need.
House budget chairman to propose Medicare, Medicaid changes
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 3, 2011 11:54 a.m. EDT
House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan's spending plan is to be unveiled Tuesday.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Democratic Sen. Warner challenges Ryan's plan
Instead of Medicare, seniors would get help paying insurance premiums
Medicaid would be cut by up to $1 trillion
Ryan offers few details, but says his plan would balance the budget and pay down debt
Washington (CNN) -- House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan said Sunday he will unveil a Republican budget for 2012 this week that proposes dramatic changes to Medicare, Medicaid and other political lightning rods.
The plan, to be released Tuesday, calls for a controversial overhaul of Medicare, the health care program for seniors, and would impose deep cuts in Medicaid, which provides health benefits to low-income Americans, Ryan told "Fox News Sunday."
Starting 10 years from now, in 2021, elderly Americans would receive government help in paying health insurance premiums instead of enrolling in the government-run Medicare program, Ryan said. He rejected the label of "vouchers" for the payments, calling them "premium assistance" payments instead.
The plan is modeled after one Ryan proposed last year with Alice Rivlin, budget director under President Bill Clinton. The Ryan-Rivlin plan said the amount of assistance would be calculated in part by taking the average federal cost per Medicare enrollee.
read more here
House budget chairman to propose Medicare, Medicaid changes
Budget Would Affect Elderly, Poor
The Republican budget proposal presents a dramatically different vision of the role of government in America.
Say a big thank you to the Tea Party folks since this is what they voted for. Yes, that's right. You get the shaft because they didn't care if you could afford to live or not. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are government run programs, but people like the ones below didn't understand that. This is just the beginning of the senior slaughter of programs we need.
House budget chairman to propose Medicare, Medicaid changes
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 3, 2011 11:54 a.m. EDT
House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan's spending plan is to be unveiled Tuesday.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Democratic Sen. Warner challenges Ryan's plan
Instead of Medicare, seniors would get help paying insurance premiums
Medicaid would be cut by up to $1 trillion
Ryan offers few details, but says his plan would balance the budget and pay down debt
Washington (CNN) -- House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan said Sunday he will unveil a Republican budget for 2012 this week that proposes dramatic changes to Medicare, Medicaid and other political lightning rods.
The plan, to be released Tuesday, calls for a controversial overhaul of Medicare, the health care program for seniors, and would impose deep cuts in Medicaid, which provides health benefits to low-income Americans, Ryan told "Fox News Sunday."
Starting 10 years from now, in 2021, elderly Americans would receive government help in paying health insurance premiums instead of enrolling in the government-run Medicare program, Ryan said. He rejected the label of "vouchers" for the payments, calling them "premium assistance" payments instead.
The plan is modeled after one Ryan proposed last year with Alice Rivlin, budget director under President Bill Clinton. The Ryan-Rivlin plan said the amount of assistance would be calculated in part by taking the average federal cost per Medicare enrollee.
read more here
House budget chairman to propose Medicare, Medicaid changes
Patriot Guard adds 10,000 additional members within weeks of the decision
Add me to the list now. I just joined. Considering how many posts I do for them along with rides we have done with them, it only made sense to join. After all, I adore them and what they do. Why haven't you joined yet?
Patriot Guard Riders expand mission
Group isn’t just antidote to Westboro Baptists anymore
By Philip Grey - The Leaf Chronicle
Posted : Saturday Apr 2, 2011 16:22:46 EDT
Mario Chavez is adamant about a lot of things. One is that he and his fellow members of the Patriot Guard Riders do not want to be forever defined strictly in the context of their opposition to the Westboro Baptists.
However, at the present time, trying to tell the story of one without the other is like trying to talk about World War II without mentioning Germany. A recent film by noted documentary maker Ellen Frick showed why.
Last Monday, Chavez and other PGR members — including Ward 2 Councilwoman Deanna McLaughlin and Deb Saunders of the Fort Campbell Casualty Affairs office — were gathered at the home of Pam Wynn, assistant state captain for the PGR, to screen the documentary, “Patriot Guard Riders.” Though the film was largely centered on the PGR, its motivations, and its appeal to veterans and current military members, the Westboro Baptist group was also an integral part of the story.
After the screening, Frick, along with PGR members and supporters of the group, stayed to talk about the film, but mostly to talk about the PGR. Also present was Kari Upchurch, the wife of Spc. Clinton Robert Upchurch, a 101st Airborne Division soldier killed by an improvised explosive device in Iraq in 2006.
Situations like the one Kari Upchurch experienced are one reason that the PGR and the Westboro Baptists are so firmly fixed together in the public mind.
As for Westboro, many PGR members feel that the PGR has won the war, even as Westboro has prevailed time after time in the courts. Following the recent Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Westboro Baptists, the PGR picked up 10,000 additional members within weeks of the decision, according to Annette Robeck, Tennessee PGR state captain.
read more here
Patriot Guard Riders expand mission
Hunting season prompts warning signs at Fort Bragg after soldier shot
Warning signs posted on trail after Bragg death
The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Apr 2, 2011 11:17:05 EDT
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — The apparent accidental shooting death of a soldier on a jog on a 21-mile trail just outside of Fort Bragg has prompted officials to install permanent signs reminding runners and bikers the path is closed for three months during hunting season.
The new, brightly colored metal signs were installed at each entry point to the All American Trail and on some roads leading to the path. The signs are green when the trail is open, but can folded down to show a red warning sign telling people the trail is closed during hunting season from Oct. 1 to Jan. 3, Fort Bragg range officer Bill Edwards told The Fayetteville Observer.
Officials at the Army base reviewed safety on the trail after 33-year-old Capt. Jeremiah Sipes, Belgrade, Mont., was shot and killed Jan. 1. A man calling 911 said his friend accidentally shot the soldier while they were hunting. The Army’s Criminal Investigation Command is still investigating the shooting.
read more here
Warning signs posted on trail after Bragg death
The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Apr 2, 2011 11:17:05 EDT
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — The apparent accidental shooting death of a soldier on a jog on a 21-mile trail just outside of Fort Bragg has prompted officials to install permanent signs reminding runners and bikers the path is closed for three months during hunting season.
The new, brightly colored metal signs were installed at each entry point to the All American Trail and on some roads leading to the path. The signs are green when the trail is open, but can folded down to show a red warning sign telling people the trail is closed during hunting season from Oct. 1 to Jan. 3, Fort Bragg range officer Bill Edwards told The Fayetteville Observer.
Officials at the Army base reviewed safety on the trail after 33-year-old Capt. Jeremiah Sipes, Belgrade, Mont., was shot and killed Jan. 1. A man calling 911 said his friend accidentally shot the soldier while they were hunting. The Army’s Criminal Investigation Command is still investigating the shooting.
read more here
Warning signs posted on trail after Bragg death
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Veterans, less than 10% of population, 16% of the homeless
Report Finds Veterans Make Up High Number of Homeless
By Janelle Benham
Published April 01, 2011
FoxNews.com
It is being called the most authoritative analysis of homelessness among military veterans, and the numbers are disturbing.
The joint report, conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs along with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, says that while veterans make up only 10 percent of the population, they account for 16 percent of all homeless adults.
Veterans advocates say the reasons vary from person to person and what kinds of trauma they experienced during their time in the military.
“There's as many reasons as there are vets you know. You can categorize this guy as he has PTSD so he can't deal with people ... this guy became an alcoholic when he became a vet and he's still an alcoholic,” says Richard Rudnick spokesman with the National Veterans Foundation.
Read more: Report Finds Veterans Make Up High Number of Homeless
By Janelle Benham
Published April 01, 2011
FoxNews.com
It is being called the most authoritative analysis of homelessness among military veterans, and the numbers are disturbing.
The joint report, conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs along with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, says that while veterans make up only 10 percent of the population, they account for 16 percent of all homeless adults.
Veterans advocates say the reasons vary from person to person and what kinds of trauma they experienced during their time in the military.
“There's as many reasons as there are vets you know. You can categorize this guy as he has PTSD so he can't deal with people ... this guy became an alcoholic when he became a vet and he's still an alcoholic,” says Richard Rudnick spokesman with the National Veterans Foundation.
Read more: Report Finds Veterans Make Up High Number of Homeless
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)