PTSD Iraq veteran getting "quiet" house from community

This story shows how far we've come on PTSD. Staff Sgt. Hill went through a year long PTSD program. That's great and it shows that the government is trying to do something about it. What is the most remarkable in all of this is the fact people understand the need to help him and his family. He lived in a noisy area fueling his PTSD so the community stepped up to build him a home where he does not have to hear so much noise it haunts him. Glenn Close nominated him for this Extreme Makeover. Gov. Brownback put on a hardhat and got to work. This is about a community getting together to help a veteran.

Gov. Brownback and Topeka business go to the "Extreme"



Governor Sam Brownback has set his sights on building up; from the economy to private sector jobs.

Now he is taking the term literal by actually building and putting hammer to nail for the hit show "Extreme Makover: Home Edition."

A Topeka lighting store is also a bright spot in the process. Long Lighting Studio is supplying the lighting fixtures for the home.

It''s all for Staff Sargeant Allen Hill, who sacrificed for his state and country. While in Iraq, a roadside bomb nearly killed him and left him with a severe case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Now, Gov. Brownback and others are recognizing that sacrifice by helping him build his life back.
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Gov. Brownback and Topeka business go to the "Extreme"

Homeless ex-POW 4 tour Vietnam vet says he’s tired of fighting-was lying?

UPDATE
What was he thinking?

Jerry Davich: Hobart man’s P.O.W. claims refuted, paperwork fraudulent
August 2, 2011

The ‘Obama slam’

“If Barack Obama was standing right here, I’d bust him in the mouth for forgetting people like me.”

This inflammatory quote from now-disgraced “Vietnam era vet” Jerome Pagell was used as the front-page headline for my Tuesday column. And, although I had nothing to do with its placement on the front page, I heard repeated complaints about it.

It hasn’t helped that the quote came from a guy who is a lying, deceptive fraud. Then again, I heard several complaints well before anyone knew that new info. But are those readers upset because Obama is our president or because Obama is, well, Obama?

Meaning, I wonder if those readers would have been just as upset if, say, George Bush, was named instead? Or would I (and Post-Tribune editors) be hearing from only Bush supporters, equally upset about slamming their man in print?

Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t note that the majority of complaints have been from the black community, seemingly more upset about the “Obama slam” on the front page than the vet’s lies about being a P.O.W.

Connie Utley was duped. I was duped. And possibly so were many of you, thanks to me. For that, I sincerely apologize.

My Tuesday column on Jerome Pagell turned out to be only partly accurate in its tragic depiction of the disabled Vietnam era veteran.

In truth, the 69-year-old Hobart man showed me forged paperwork claiming he was a prisoner of war. He was not, according to multiple sources familiar with his “stolen valor” scam.

“He’s a fraud,” said Earl McDowell, district one commander for the state’s Veterans of Foreign Wars.

On Tuesday morning, McDowell went to Pagell’s home to confront him about his P.O.W. claims alongside Utley, the hair salon owner who first contacted me about Pagell. She has been helping Pagell for weeks and she called me Tuesday morning bawling from shame, disappointment, and anger toward Pagell.

“I have to know the truth,” she told Pagell face to face, with McDowell standing nearby. “I loved you, and I helped you with anything you needed. Why would you lie to me?”

Pagell refuted McDowell’s claims that he is a fraud, yet refused to provide him with the same paperwork he showed me when I visited his home. That paperwork confirmed that Pagell was a P.O.W. who was held captive more than two years in Vietnam.
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Hobart man’s P.O.W. claims refuted, paperwork fraudulent

Jerry Davich: Homeless POW vet says he’s tired of fighting
JERRY DAVICH jdavich@post-trib.com
August 1, 2011 5:56PM

Jerome Pagell of Hobart talks about Vietnam at A Lil' Off The Top Monday, Aug. 1, 2011, in Hobart. Pagell was a POW in Vietnam for 26 months, 12 days, 14 hours, and 23 minutes. | Scott M. Bort~Sun-Times Media

Disobedient tears ran down the proud but tired face of Jerome Pagell.

“Sir, I served honorably for this country. I gave blood for this country. And I lived in a hell hole as a prisoner of war for this country,” he told me, fighting back emotions. “But my government doesn’t care about me, and I’m tired of getting crapped on and forgotten about.”

Pagell, who turns 69 next week, served four tours in Vietnam as a U.S. Army cardiovascular nurse, first arriving in 1961.

On June 6, 1964, he was captured by the Viet Cong and imprisoned in a cage that was 3 feet by 3 feet by 3 feet. There, for “26 months, 12 days, 14 hours and 23 minutes,” Pagell lived, cried, urinated, defecated, yelled, laughed and questioned God’s existence.

“I cried out to God for his angel of death to come take me home,” he recalled in vivid detail.

But the angel of death never came. He finally was discovered and released by the Swiss in August 1966.

During another tour of duty, his unit was hit by Agent Orange, the code name for a cancer-causing herbicide used by the U.S. military. He developed ocular blastoma, a cancer behind the eyes, causing him to slowly lose his eyesight.

He has since developed diabetes, high blood pressure and post-traumatic stress disorder, and he’s legally blind. His feet are dark purple from poor circulation.
read more here
Homeless POW vet says he’s tired of fighting

Grant to allow veteran screenings to continue

Grant to allow veteran screenings to continue

By Tram Whitehurst, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
August 2, 2011

St. John’s Medical Center has been awarded a $375,000 grant to continue providing cognitive health screenings and care to veterans in Wyoming and eastern Idaho.

Funded by the Rural Health Office of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the grant calls on the hospital’s Institute for Cognitive Health to offer free memory care to veterans enrolled in the VA health care system.

The goal of the program, which runs through May, is to identify U.S. veterans suffering from memory loss and to provide care and referral assistance.
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Grant to allow veteran screenings to continue

Fort Wainwright soldier shot by troopers at campground

Fort Wainwright soldier shot by troopers at Delta Junction campground
by Sam Friedman / sfriedman@newsminer.com
Aug 01, 2011
Updated 12:35 a.m.

FAIRBANKS - A Fort Wainwright soldier was shot by an Alaska State Trooper at a Delta Junction campground early this morning.

At 12:09 a.m., Alaska State Troopers were called to Delta State Recreation Site Campground across from the Delta Junction airport in response to the report of an intoxicated man firing a gun.

At the campground, someone pointed out Spc. Timothy J. Fitzgerald to a trooper as he was getting out of a patrol car, troopers said.

Fitzgerald, 28, was reportedly lying on the ground and pointing a gun at them. The trooper shot and hit him.


Read more: Fort Wainwright soldier shot by troopers

Police: Lejeune Marine punched, threatened to kill taxi driver

Police: Lejeune Marine punched, threatened to kill taxi driver

RALEIGH, N.C. — Raleigh police arrested a Marine based at Camp Lejeune Saturday night after he allegedly punched a taxi driver in the face and threatened to kill him, arrest warrants state.
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Lejeune Marine punched threatened to kill taxi driver

Three year old girl, taken from Mom's arms, raped, beaten and killed

3-Year-Old Girl Raped And Killed
Isaac Paul Vasquez - KFOX News Producer
Posted: 6:45 pm MDT July 30, 2011
Updated: 4:13 pm MDT July 31, 2011

CUAUHTEMOC, Mexico -- Police in Cuauhtemoc arrested two men they said raped and killed a 3-year-old.

The town sits about 60 miles west of Chihuahua City, Mexico.

KFOX media partners at the El Paso Times report that's where investigators said the men snatched the girl from her mother's arms.
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3-Year-Old Girl Raped And Killed

26 Assault sniper rifles stolen from Fort Irwin

Assault, sniper rifles stolen from Irwin
The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Jul 30, 2011 8:14:09 EDT
FORT IRWIN, Calif. — More than two dozen assault rifles have been stolen from this base, and investigators sought the public’s help as they looked to arrest suspects and recover the weapons, federal officials said Friday.

Twenty-six AK74 assault rifles and one Dragunov sniper rifle were stolen from a supply warehouse at Fort Irwin on July 15, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says in a statement.

Some arrests have been made and one rifle has been recovered, but the agency is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to further arrests, the statement said.

“Community participation is necessary to improve the likelihood that ATF and our law enforcement partners will track down the firearms as well as the criminals who have sought to destabilize our community through illegal activity,” ATF Special Agent in Charge John A. Torres said in the statement.
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Assault sniper rifles stolen from Irwin

Huey added to Warhawk Air Museum

A group of Vietnam Veterans get long overdue recognition
By Eric Fink
CREATED JUL. 30, 2011

On this summer weekend the Warhawk Air Musueum in Nampa played host to a group of men who so proudly served on the Vietnam battlefields.

More than 40 years after returning home, the pilots and fighters who captioned the "Mustang Gunship Huey Helicopter," in Southeast Asia, were recognized for their service. The "Huey" was unveiled at the Air Museum and veterans from across the country attended the ceremony.

"It brings back memories, what we saw what we did, what our job was. I can't help but get emotional, it's a very emotional thing," Sid King, a former fighter pilot said. "Too many memories, too many good times. Too many hard times."
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A group of Vietnam Veterans get long overdue recognition

Former Marine Corps commanding officer fined

Former Marine Corps commanding officer fined
By: The Associated Press
The Associated Press
07/30/11 3:58 PM

The former commanding officer at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point has been fined $10,000 after pleading guilty in military court to driving while impaired, having an open container of alcohol in his car and dereliction of duty.


Read more at the Washington Examiner: Former Marine Corps commanding officer fined

Las Vegas police sergeant's book explores depression, suicide

Las Vegas police sergeant's book explores depression, suicide

BY MIKE BLASKY
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Posted: Jul. 31, 2011
More than 20 years into Sgt. Clarke Paris' career at the Metropolitan Police Department, he made a terrifying realization.

He was depressed.

Two decades of bad memories -- which Paris calls "cop stew" -- boiled in his brain: Dead babies, teen suicides, fights, car crashes, rape victims, police shootings, murders.

Paris tried to ignore the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. He had never killed anyone. His partner never died in his arms. He had no right to feel this way, he thought.

As the stress worsened, Paris decided he had to tell his wife, Tracie. He picked a day when his kids were out of the house and she lounged in the pool.

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Police sergeant book explores depression suicide

Defending discounts to debutantes while ditching defenders

Just can't take it anymore right now. Screaming at the TV doesn't do much good so here's a rant to let me blow off some steam.

Defending discounts to debutantes while ditching defenders is sickening but some folks in congress are damn proud of it. Isn't that what all of the fighting about the debt has been about? They say let everyone suffer because paying down the debt is so all fired important all of a sudden but you better not touch the tax cuts the wealthy have. The troops? Veterans? Security with police and firefighters? Well, guess average people in this country no longer matter and security is now just a memory of a buzz word they used for years to frighten people. That words has been replaced by the boogyman of "debt" but they forget about the debts we already owed.

Some in congress are no longer ashamed they want to cut spending on veterans after years of struggling to begin to be able to have wounds treated, like Agent Orange and PTSD. Some go after retirement as if they shouldn't be able to collect military retirement and social security even though they paid for it.

Orlando just sent off reservists heading into Afghanistan to risk their lives stopping bombs from blowing up more of our soldiers. Instead of just worrying about doing what they have to do, we sent them off worrying about getting their paychecks to pay their bills. Such a sorry comment on how little some in congress really think about them.

We used to hear a lot of talk about how the President had to be supported if we supported the troops but that was a different President back then. Now this President doesn't even deserve a tiny bit of respect from them and supporting the troops means nothing. Didn't they think we'd notice any of this?

The rest of the world has been watching and there is more than just our credit rating at stake here. We're losing our honor. We are showing the world that in this country the American dream has become a nightmare for the many so that dreams can come true for the wealthy as they ship our jobs overseas and then get tax cuts for doing it. Our troops come home with no jobs to go to if they are lucky enough to be able to work and if not, they have to wait for a year or more to be able to see an approved claim with a disability check.

There was a report a couple of years ago saying that more and more military folks were leaving the Republican party to become Independent. I bet after all this, there won't be any more military families in the Republican party. That party has been hijacked and they are just too greedy to notice the difference they are trying to make in this county will destroy it.

McConnell toned it down a bit in this but it pretty much sums it up.



The Dems used it in this video and from what we've all seen the last year, they are doing whatever it takes no matter how many of us have to suffer.


Now the Dems have shown some backbone, which is good but it's too little to late for the people who switched over to being Independents. Maybe someday the folks in Washington on both sides will remember that while the wealthy do fund their retirement, if we didn't vote for them, they would be just another rich debutante wanting to hang out with people just like them and ignore the rest of us.

Two veterans from different generations discover how much they share

JARDINE: Despite fighting in wars apart, two veterans find they're brothers in arms
By Jeff Jardine

Two weeks ago, when The Bee invited Vietnam War veterans to share their experiences in Southeast Asia, we knew we'd get some compelling responses and moving stories.

We have. None, though, may be more moving and compelling than this one:
Four years ago, Army vet Ronn Cossey of Turlock was invited to ride in the parade and speak at the annual Veterans Car Show at Pismo Beach. The event raises money to aid veterans.

There he met Zeb Lane of Ohio, who had served in the Marines' Lima Company in Iraq. Lane's unit lost 23 men — 14 in a single explosion — in 2005. Lane was among the 40 survivors wounded in the fighting around Haditha.

He had come to Pismo Beach to auction artwork to benefit the Lima Company Memorial to be built in Columbus.

These men, who fought in different wars in different decades, spent hours talking that weekend. They compared battle notes and what has happened to them since leaving the military. They became friends. They formed a bond.

In Lane, the 63-year-old Cossey saw a younger version of himself — a veteran who experienced the horrors of war and will deal with them for the rest of his life.

In Cossey, the 30-year-old Lane found someone who understands combat, fought the internal war that followed, and who can help him navigate the emotional no-man's land of post-traumatic stress disorder.

War does horrible things to good people, and many simply cannot turn in their demons when they muster out and return to civilian life.


Read more:Despite fighting in wars apart

Defense tries to blame PTSD on what the Ohio serial killer did

A serial killer is not "normal" no matter what they use to excuse what they do. No one in their right mind would be able to do such horrible things and then wake up the next morning as if it was just part of an average day unless there was truly something wrong with their mind but while Sowell very well may have PTSD, it is very unlikely that's all that's wrong with him.

Serial killers show signs growing up. They don't just "snap" or decide, "hey, I need something to do today so I'll go out and butcher someone" to break up the day. How about this guy is evil? How about he has no soul? He's a sex offender, killer and then topped all that off with abusing the corpse. Not convicted of killing one woman but in killing 11 of them.

For all the compassion and understanding we have for veterans with PTSD, to excuse all of this as a byproduct of PTSD, is a lawyer so desperate to save this man's life, he'll try to blame everything but the man himself for what he did. He must have not noticed there are millions of veterans with PTSD but not millions of serial killers.

Defense tries to depict Ohio serial killer as mentally ill in bid to avoid death penalty

By Associated Press, Updated: Sunday, July 31, 2:53 PM

CLEVELAND — Defense attorneys are trying to spare the life of an ex-Marine convicted of killing 11 women by painting him as someone who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses.

The sentencing phase of trial begins on Monday for Anthony Sowell, a sex offender who was found guilty July 22 of murdering the women and abusing their corpses, which were hidden in his home and buried in his backyard.

The jury, which sat through weeks of disturbing and emotional testimony, saw photographs of the victims’ blackened, skeletal corpses lying on autopsy tables and listened to police describe how their bodies had been left to rot in a home that smelled so bad neighbors complained — believing the source of the stench was rotting meat from a nearby sausage shop.

Now the defense wants to convince jurors that Sowell, who exhibited little emotion during the trial, was mentally ill and doesn’t deserve to die. If the jurors don’t decide on the death penalty, Sowell faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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Defense tries to depict Ohio serial killer as mentally ill

Stars and Stripes wants to know: Did you join the military because of 9-11?

Did you join the military in response to the 9/11 attacks?
Stars and Stripes
Published: July 25, 2011

Stars and Stripes: Servicemembers of 9/11
Did you join the U.S. military because of the September 11 attacks?

If so, Stars and Stripes wants to know your story.
go here to fill out form
Did you join the military in response to the 9/11 attacks

Camp Pendleton Marines counter nudist beach invasion

Marines counter nudist beach invasion
Published: July 30, 2011

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., July 30 (UPI) -- The Marines say the beach at Camp Pendleton in San Diego is off limits to civilians whether they are wearing clothes or not.

The Los Angeles Times said the Corps has found itself in the middle of a beef between civilian nude sunbathers who say California state park rangers have crossed on to federal land to order them to cover up.

Read more:
Marines counter nudist beach invasion

Canadian inquest calls for 24 hour police link with mental health access

Inquest jury calls for mental-health link for police
By Danielle Bell, Postmedia News July 31, 2011


Following the death of a 48-yearold Nanaimo man - shot and killed by police in October 2009 - a jury has recommended setting up a 24-hour link for police to access mental-health information.

In a special inquest looking into the shooting of Jeff Hughes, the jury also recommended that officers be held accountable faster to reduce inconsistencies. It suggested video and audio recording equipment be provided to police and called for having a emergency response team and negotiators available at all times.

Read more:
Inquest jury calls for mental health link

Army wants to rid top ranks of toxic leaders

Army wants to rid top ranks of toxic leaders
By Michelle Tan and Joe Gould - Staff writers
Posted : Sunday Jul 31, 2011 8:25:09 EDT

The Army is working to flush toxic leaders from its ranks. A survey of more than 22,630 soldiers from the rank of E-5 through O-6 and Army civilians showed that roughly one in five sees his or her superior as “toxic and unethical,” while only 27 percent believe that their organization allows the frank and free flow of ideas.

“You could look at this and say 82 percent of Army leaders are doing good and great things, but our nature isn’t going to be congratulatory,” said Col. Thomas Guthrie, director of the Center for Army Leadership, which has conducted the Annual Survey of Army Leadership since 2005. “Eighteen percent is too high even if it is perceived. It’s trying to change those climates out there, those individual behaviors, that’s taking some time. We do have to invoke some change, and we have to look internally for that.”

“I’m not surprised that some leaders have figured out how to balance the demands on their time better than others,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey said in a statement to Army Times. “We’ll address the concerns described in the report.”
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Army wants to rid top ranks of toxic leaders

Army has had a shortage of counselors since 2008

Army eyes hiring 130 substance abuse counselors
The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Jul 30, 2011 16:04:12 EDT

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Army officials say they want to hire 130 substance abuse counselors for 54 military installations, including Fort Bragg.

The Army hopes to hire the counselors by October, according to The Fayetteville Observer.

The Army has had a shortage of counselors since 2008, according to Dr. Les McFarling, director of the Army Substance Abuse Program, adding that the Army wants to have 562 counselors, but has struggled to fill jobs.
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Army eyes hiring 130 substance abuse counselors

Manager of Homeless Veterans' Shelter, living high on the VA's money

Living high on the VA's money
Nancy Cook spent freely on meals, clothes, rent; official audit under way

BY RENEE DUDLEY
rdudley@postandcourier.com
Sunday, July 31, 2011

When Nancy Cook dined out, she used a debit card to cover the tab.

When she paid her personal cell phone bill, she used the same card.

When she withdrew cash, she used it again.

The only problem is that the card wasn't hers. It drew from a taxpayer-funded account used to pay bills for homeless veterans at the North Charleston shelter Cook then managed as its executive director.

Some expenses were for the legitimate benefit of the center and the veterans.

Others -- clothing and antiques at high-end King Street boutiques, pricey meals at fine restaurants, rent at her private-practice office -- were questionable. Cook even used the Good Neighbor Center's account to pay her personal federal withholding tax.

For more than 15 years, Cook had managed the 32-bed Spruill Avenue shelter where homeless veterans sought help finding work, obtaining permanent housing and overcoming alcohol and drug addiction.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the primary source of the grant money that bankrolled Cook's lifestyle, did nothing to stop her spending. VA officials conducted annual inspections at the nonprofit shelter, but rarely reported more than minor health or safety violations.

VA inspectors' financial reviews were perfunctory and relied on Cook's documentation.

Cook's management went unchallenged until last fall when The Post and Courier published its first reports detailing problems at the shelter.

Now Cook, a former Charleston County School Board chairwoman, is at the center of a federal investigation.

Auditors said this year that the shelter owes the government more than $122,000 in grant funds that were spent inappropriately. Now they are probing whether Cook broke federal laws.

Cook was fired in May and her access to the shelter's funds has been suspended.

read more here

Living high on the VA money

Combat hospital at Kandahar Airfield, a daily fight for life

Near Afghanistan’s front lines, a daily fight for life

THE COMBAT HOSPITAL at Kandahar Airfield is among the most advanced treatment facilities to ever operate in a war zone. Roughly 70 percent of its patients come straight from the battlefield. In addition to U.S. and coalition service members, the hospital treats Afghans. For the staff, every day is spent working to keep death at bay.


PART ONE | The NATO hospital at Kandahar is among the most advanced treatment facilities to ever operate in a war zone. Their job is to save the war's worst casualties.

By Corinne Reilly
The Virginian Pilot
© July 31, 2011

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN

The doctors can hear the wailing before their patient is even in sight.

A second later, a flight medic bursts through the trauma department doors. His face is serious. He’s short of breath. Outside, corpsmen rush to unload a soldier from a military ambulance that carried him here from a Black Hawk. Two dozen doctors, nurses and surgeons have been awaiting their arrival.

“Who am I talking to?” the medic shouts.

“Here!” blurts Lt. Cmdr. Ron Bolen, the head of the hospital’s trauma department. He points to the Navy doctor leading the team that will examine the soldier first.

“OK, you’ve got tourniquets on both legs,” the medic gulps. “The right one is totally gone to at least the knee. He lost a lot of blood.”

The doctor hurriedly inquires about vital signs, fluids administered in the field, and the weapon that caused the explosion that did all this.

The next question would usually be whether the patient is conscious, but this time no one has to ask.

Outside, the wailing is getting louder.
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Near Afghanistan front lines