Fort Drum soldier being treated for rabies
Associated Press
FORT DRUM, N.Y. — Officials at Fort Drum say they are treating a soldier believed to have contracted rabies during an overseas deployment.
Officials at the northern New York Army post say the unidentified 10th Mountain Division soldier was diagnosed Friday.
read more here
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Atheists in military want their own Chaplains?
This makes no sense at all. We all know how I feel about Chaplains forgetting they are supposed to help everyone and not convert anyone, especially in the military. This article addresses how some Chaplains "view atheists as people to be converted or dismissed" as well as talking about how Chaplains have responsibility in a lot of aspects of a soldier's life. That said, how on earth would they ever come up with the requirements to have an Atheist Chaplain?
Many consider themselves spiritual with a belief in God or a "higher power" while not having any religious ties. At least they can pray to God but who or what does an atheist pray to?
Many consider themselves spiritual with a belief in God or a "higher power" while not having any religious ties. At least they can pray to God but who or what does an atheist pray to?
Military Atheists Seek Benefits Given to Religious Groups
August 24, 2011
Stars and Stripes
by Chris Carroll
The ultimate goal would be the appointment of atheists as military chaplains in each service.
WASHINGTON -- In early August, a small group of soldiers, airmen and their spouses gathered at a Panera Bread restaurant near Fort Meade, Md., to talk about the meaning of faith and how to share their convictions about life's deepest questions.
As they sipped coffee and nibbled pastries, the scene might have passed for a low-key Wednesday night Bible study except for one thing -- the members of the newly formed ATOM, or Atheists of Meade group, didn't have any Bibles. Their belief system, they say, stops at the boundaries of the natural world.
It's this rejection of supernatural belief that pushes the group off base instead of having the dedicated meeting space that religious groups get, said Army Capt. Ryan Jean, one of group's organizers. That's not fair, he said, because ATOM mostly does what religions do -- provide fellowship and a chance for ethical and moral development.
"If there's a reason to support religion in the military, it's the ethics and values that come out of it, not the supernatural claims," he said. "We also have constructive ethics and values, but we rally around humanism rather than the supernatural."
read more here
The Burn Pits of Iraq and Afghanistan Killing Soldiers
Toxic Trash: The Burn Pits of Iraq and Afghanistan
Published on August 24 2011
Billy McKenna and Kevin Wilkins survived Iraq—and died at home. The Oxford American sent filmmaker Dave Anderson and journalist J. Malcolm Garcia to Florida to investigate this deadly threat to American soldiers.
"Smoke Signals," by J. Malcolm Garcia
Published in the Fall 2011 Issue of The Oxford American.
Strange to think about it, the black smoke.
As it turns out, the eventual killer of Billy McKenna was lurking in the photographs he snapped in Iraq. Billy wrote captions beneath some of his photographs: typical day on patrol reads one. The photo is partially obscured by the blurred image of a soldier’s upraised hand. Brown desert unfurls away from a vehicle toward an empty horizon, and a wavering sky scorched white hovers above. Off to one side: Balad Air Base and the spreading umbrella of rising dank smoke from a burn pit.
Billy told his wife, Dina, in e-mails from Iraq that the stench was killing him. The air so dirty it rained mud. He didn’t call them burn pits. She can’t recall what he called them. He didn’t mean killing him literally. Just that the overwhelming odor was god-awful and tearing up his sinuses. He didn’t wear a mask. It would not have been practical. In heat that soared above a hundred degrees, what soldier would wear one?
Dina doesn’t know when she first heard the words “burn pit.” A Veterans Affairs doctor may have said it. The doctors were telling her a lot of things when Billy was on a ventilator. All she could think was, How can he have cancer? He’s indestructible. He’s been to hell and back. He can build houses, race cars, fish, camp. He was an Eagle Scout as a kid. He doesn’t smoke cigarettes.
But Billy had been exposed to something much more harmful than cigarettes. Since 2003, defense contractors have used burn pits at a majority of U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan as a method of destroying military waste. The pits incinerate discarded human body parts, plastics, hazardous medical material, lithium batteries, tires, hydraulic fluids, and vehicles. Jet fuel keeps pits burning twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
read more here
Published on August 24 2011
Billy McKenna and Kevin Wilkins survived Iraq—and died at home. The Oxford American sent filmmaker Dave Anderson and journalist J. Malcolm Garcia to Florida to investigate this deadly threat to American soldiers.
"Smoke Signals," by J. Malcolm Garcia
Published in the Fall 2011 Issue of The Oxford American.
Strange to think about it, the black smoke.
As it turns out, the eventual killer of Billy McKenna was lurking in the photographs he snapped in Iraq. Billy wrote captions beneath some of his photographs: typical day on patrol reads one. The photo is partially obscured by the blurred image of a soldier’s upraised hand. Brown desert unfurls away from a vehicle toward an empty horizon, and a wavering sky scorched white hovers above. Off to one side: Balad Air Base and the spreading umbrella of rising dank smoke from a burn pit.
Billy told his wife, Dina, in e-mails from Iraq that the stench was killing him. The air so dirty it rained mud. He didn’t call them burn pits. She can’t recall what he called them. He didn’t mean killing him literally. Just that the overwhelming odor was god-awful and tearing up his sinuses. He didn’t wear a mask. It would not have been practical. In heat that soared above a hundred degrees, what soldier would wear one?
Dina doesn’t know when she first heard the words “burn pit.” A Veterans Affairs doctor may have said it. The doctors were telling her a lot of things when Billy was on a ventilator. All she could think was, How can he have cancer? He’s indestructible. He’s been to hell and back. He can build houses, race cars, fish, camp. He was an Eagle Scout as a kid. He doesn’t smoke cigarettes.
But Billy had been exposed to something much more harmful than cigarettes. Since 2003, defense contractors have used burn pits at a majority of U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan as a method of destroying military waste. The pits incinerate discarded human body parts, plastics, hazardous medical material, lithium batteries, tires, hydraulic fluids, and vehicles. Jet fuel keeps pits burning twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
read more here
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Army silence and censors bring agony to families of fallen by suicide
Army silence and censors bring agony
Article by: MARK BRUNSWICK , Star Tribune Updated: August 24, 2011 - 3:52 PM
The aftermath of soldier suicides can entail a frustrating search for answers and endless anguish for the families.
What frequently follows, survivors say, is a string of slights, stonewalling and misinformation that conveys a disturbing message: Their loved ones remain government property, even after their deaths.
Military authorities routinely promise that they will do all they can to help, but some families are left feeling that the military's real goal is to protect itself.
The Campbell family of Cloquet, Minn., came to that conclusion after Corinne Campbell, still grieving after the funeral of her son, Jeremy, her mind reduced to "scrambled eggs,'' started up his laptop. The Army, she discovered, had wiped its hard drive clean. Even his personal pictures from a trip to Germany were gone.
Jan Fairbanks of St. Paul spent months of frustration searching for answers about the death of her son, Jacob. Then one day, a thick stack of investigative files was left unannounced by military officials at her front door -- documents that only raised new questions.
Meanwhile, the Hervas family of Coon Rapids contends that the Army so zealously protected information about their son, Tad, a high-ranking intelligence officer who killed himself, that more than half of the documents the family asked for were edited to the point of being largely indecipherable. Even his parents' names were blacked out.
read more here
For Maj. Tad Hervas, discipline, despair and death
Article by: MARK BRUNSWICK , Star Tribune Updated: June 27, 2011 - 1:01 PM
Was punishment appropriate or excessive for a high-ranking officer who was called on the carpet?
In the fall of 2009, Maj. Tad Hervas was a 17-year military veteran on his third combat deployment, an intelligence officer with top secret security clearance who was in almost daily contact with the CIA.
And his Army career was effectively over.
Hervas, 48, from Coon Rapids, was being forced out of the Army because the National Guard had determined that he'd had an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate.
On Oct. 6, Hervas was scheduled to fly to Baghdad to begin his legal defense. The day before, he prepared four notes, hiding one of them in his roommate's pillowcase. That morning, Hervas found an isolated room, unholstered his 9-millimeter service pistol and shot himself in the head.
"This was a cold and calculated act. I spoke to nor hinted of this to anyone," Hervas wrote in the letters marked for his commanders. "Do not blame anyone for my death."
Hervas became the highest-ranking member of the Minnesota National Guard -- and one of the most senior officers in the entire Army -- to take his own life.
read more here
Article by: MARK BRUNSWICK , Star Tribune Updated: August 24, 2011 - 3:52 PM
The aftermath of soldier suicides can entail a frustrating search for answers and endless anguish for the families.
Corinne Campbell discovered the Army had wiped clean the hard drive of her son Jeremy’s laptop.
Jim Gehrz, Star Tribune
When family members asked for the document, they say the Army referred them to the National Guard. When they went to the Guard, they say they were told to talk to the Army.For the families of soldiers who kill themselves, the anguish that accompanies the initial news is often only the beginning of their ordeal.
What frequently follows, survivors say, is a string of slights, stonewalling and misinformation that conveys a disturbing message: Their loved ones remain government property, even after their deaths.
Military authorities routinely promise that they will do all they can to help, but some families are left feeling that the military's real goal is to protect itself.
The Campbell family of Cloquet, Minn., came to that conclusion after Corinne Campbell, still grieving after the funeral of her son, Jeremy, her mind reduced to "scrambled eggs,'' started up his laptop. The Army, she discovered, had wiped its hard drive clean. Even his personal pictures from a trip to Germany were gone.
Jan Fairbanks of St. Paul spent months of frustration searching for answers about the death of her son, Jacob. Then one day, a thick stack of investigative files was left unannounced by military officials at her front door -- documents that only raised new questions.
Meanwhile, the Hervas family of Coon Rapids contends that the Army so zealously protected information about their son, Tad, a high-ranking intelligence officer who killed himself, that more than half of the documents the family asked for were edited to the point of being largely indecipherable. Even his parents' names were blacked out.
read more here
For Maj. Tad Hervas, discipline, despair and death
Article by: MARK BRUNSWICK , Star Tribune Updated: June 27, 2011 - 1:01 PM
Was punishment appropriate or excessive for a high-ranking officer who was called on the carpet?
In the fall of 2009, Maj. Tad Hervas was a 17-year military veteran on his third combat deployment, an intelligence officer with top secret security clearance who was in almost daily contact with the CIA.
And his Army career was effectively over.
Hervas, 48, from Coon Rapids, was being forced out of the Army because the National Guard had determined that he'd had an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate.
On Oct. 6, Hervas was scheduled to fly to Baghdad to begin his legal defense. The day before, he prepared four notes, hiding one of them in his roommate's pillowcase. That morning, Hervas found an isolated room, unholstered his 9-millimeter service pistol and shot himself in the head.
"This was a cold and calculated act. I spoke to nor hinted of this to anyone," Hervas wrote in the letters marked for his commanders. "Do not blame anyone for my death."
Hervas became the highest-ranking member of the Minnesota National Guard -- and one of the most senior officers in the entire Army -- to take his own life.
read more here
Utah National Guard scrambling now that Iraq deployment is called off
Guard members scrambling now that Iraq deployment is called off
Published: Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011 10:59 a.m. MDT
By Steve Fidel, Deseret News
WEST JORDAN — Members of the Utah National Guard's 1-211 Attack Recon Battalion have been preparing for as long as a year to deploy to Iraq in September.
The Apache attack helicopter battalion's deployment was scrubbed at the last minute, leaving about 400 Guard members in a scramble to reconnect with their lives at home while also having a "warning order" they will instead go to Afghanistan in about 13 months.
"What am I going to do now?" was the first thing to go through Spc. Angela Christiansen's mind when members got word on Thursday the deployment had been scrubbed. "I have no idea since I was focused completely (on deploying) since June."
As unnerving as deploying to Iraq might have been, unhitching from deployment plans "is more frightening because it's more uncertain," she said. "I quit my job. I was renting an apartment. I left that. I was staying with a friend temporarily, so now I have nowhere to live."
Sgt. David Driscoll has a house he can't live in because he leased it for the time he expected to be gone. Now he's trying to find something else near where his children are going to school. Spc. William Price, an Apache crew chief, took a year off school to get ready for the deployment. He has been out of school long enough that he will soon have student loans coming due without the combat-zone-enhanced full-time military paycheck to cover those costs.
read more here
Published: Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011 10:59 a.m. MDT
By Steve Fidel, Deseret News
WEST JORDAN — Members of the Utah National Guard's 1-211 Attack Recon Battalion have been preparing for as long as a year to deploy to Iraq in September.
The Apache attack helicopter battalion's deployment was scrubbed at the last minute, leaving about 400 Guard members in a scramble to reconnect with their lives at home while also having a "warning order" they will instead go to Afghanistan in about 13 months.
"What am I going to do now?" was the first thing to go through Spc. Angela Christiansen's mind when members got word on Thursday the deployment had been scrubbed. "I have no idea since I was focused completely (on deploying) since June."
As unnerving as deploying to Iraq might have been, unhitching from deployment plans "is more frightening because it's more uncertain," she said. "I quit my job. I was renting an apartment. I left that. I was staying with a friend temporarily, so now I have nowhere to live."
Sgt. David Driscoll has a house he can't live in because he leased it for the time he expected to be gone. Now he's trying to find something else near where his children are going to school. Spc. William Price, an Apache crew chief, took a year off school to get ready for the deployment. He has been out of school long enough that he will soon have student loans coming due without the combat-zone-enhanced full-time military paycheck to cover those costs.
read more here
Would you wait 4 years for Workman's Comp? Why should veterans?
If you get hurt on the job, you get Workman's Comp and can pay most of your bills. If you happen to work for Uncle Sam in the military, get wounded on your job, you get discharged, sent home but no money to pay your bills. Disabled veterans should not be second class citizens. Isn't that what we're talking about here?
The news has been bleak for active duty military folks with suicides going up just as the reports of 18 veterans a day commit suicide, but the truth is, they are not all counted. Once they are discharged the DOD does not track them. Until they are in the VA system, they are not counted by the VA. How many more are committing suicide without anyone counting them? How many commit suicide because they cannot live with the extra stress of being wounded serving their country then having the country deny any responsibility?
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, is directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated"
-- George Washington
The news has been bleak for active duty military folks with suicides going up just as the reports of 18 veterans a day commit suicide, but the truth is, they are not all counted. Once they are discharged the DOD does not track them. Until they are in the VA system, they are not counted by the VA. How many more are committing suicide without anyone counting them? How many commit suicide because they cannot live with the extra stress of being wounded serving their country then having the country deny any responsibility?
VCS / VUFT Lawsuit in San Francisco Chronicle
Written by Bob Egelko
Wednesday, 24 August 2011 09:01
VA appeals ruling on veterans' health care
August 24, 2011, San Francisco, California (San Francisco Chronicle) - The Obama administration is challenging a court ruling that would open the door to changes in a veterans' health care system beset by long delays and a high suicide rate.
The ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco would allow veterans' groups to go to court to seek an overhaul of the Department of Veterans Affairs' procedures and timetables to speed health care to veterans.
The appellate judges "ignored basic limits on judicial authority," Justice Department lawyers said in a new appeal to the court.
They said the ruling violated Congress' decision "to prevent the courts from second-guessing the VA's performance of these critical functions."
The administration requested a new hearing before a larger appellate panel.
The court's 2-1 ruling in May followed a 2008 trial in San Francisco that revealed a health care system plagued by delays and gaps in care, particularly for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with severe mental trauma.
The average waiting time for health benefit claims was 4.4 years, and more than 1,400 veterans who had been denied coverage died in one six-month period while their appeals were pending, the court said.
read more here
Marines based in Okinawa forced to listen to insurance sales pitch
Report: Private firms still selling unsuitable insurance to troops
By Charley Keyes, CNN Senior National Security Producer
August 23, 2011 7:58 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Pentagon says junior enlisted members not protected
Officers don't enforce existing rules, report says
Troops solicited to buy policies they don't need, can't afford
Washington (CNN) -- Five years after a law to protect U.S. military personnel from salespeople selling life insurance, a new Pentagon report finds problems continue.
The Inspector General found that insurance agents used prohibited sales practices both on and off U.S. military bases to persuade personnel to buy insurance they may not need or be able to afford.
And the report also found that military personnel failed to enforce existing policies that limits solicitation of military personnel. In addition, the report said, companies used misleading marketing techniques and misused the Defense Department myPAY internal payment system.
"Although DoD (Department of Defense) has taken some corrective actions and some States have initiated actions against insurance agents and companies, junior enlisted Service members continue to purchase high-cost life insurance products considered unsuitable for most military personnel and which may threaten their financial stability," the Pentagon Inspector General wrote in a report released Tuesday.
All military personnel are automatically enrolled in a life insurance policy administered by the Veterans Administration from their first day of training or active duty.
The report found that as an example of improper actions by private insurance agents, Marines based in Okinawa were introduced to an insurance agent during a financial class taught by a Defense Department civilian and were later told by a noncommissioned officer to attend a sales solicitation event. Another Marine told Inspector General investigators he was not allowed to leave formation before agreeing to provide contact information to insurance salesmen.
red more here
By Charley Keyes, CNN Senior National Security Producer
August 23, 2011 7:58 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Pentagon says junior enlisted members not protected
Officers don't enforce existing rules, report says
Troops solicited to buy policies they don't need, can't afford
Washington (CNN) -- Five years after a law to protect U.S. military personnel from salespeople selling life insurance, a new Pentagon report finds problems continue.
The Inspector General found that insurance agents used prohibited sales practices both on and off U.S. military bases to persuade personnel to buy insurance they may not need or be able to afford.
And the report also found that military personnel failed to enforce existing policies that limits solicitation of military personnel. In addition, the report said, companies used misleading marketing techniques and misused the Defense Department myPAY internal payment system.
"Although DoD (Department of Defense) has taken some corrective actions and some States have initiated actions against insurance agents and companies, junior enlisted Service members continue to purchase high-cost life insurance products considered unsuitable for most military personnel and which may threaten their financial stability," the Pentagon Inspector General wrote in a report released Tuesday.
All military personnel are automatically enrolled in a life insurance policy administered by the Veterans Administration from their first day of training or active duty.
The report found that as an example of improper actions by private insurance agents, Marines based in Okinawa were introduced to an insurance agent during a financial class taught by a Defense Department civilian and were later told by a noncommissioned officer to attend a sales solicitation event. Another Marine told Inspector General investigators he was not allowed to leave formation before agreeing to provide contact information to insurance salesmen.
red more here
Justice Department to brief 9/11 families on hacking probe
Justice Department to brief 9/11 families on hacking probe
From Susan Candiotti, CNN
August 24, 2011 6:26 a.m. EDT
News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch said he had seen "no evidence" that 9/11 families' phones had been hacked.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The FBI has been probing whether 9/11 victims' phones and voice mail were hacked
The scandal has led to several arrests and resignations in Britain
New York (CNN) -- Families of victims of the 9/11 attacks are expected to meet with top Justice Department officials Wednesday to discuss whether any of their relatives' phone messages were hacked by employees of News Corp.
The FBI began investigating that claim amid a widespread scandal in Britain over the use of phone hacking by employees or associates of News Corp. papers there. The Wednesday meeting with Justice officials will update the families on the progress of the investigation, retired New York firefighter Jim Riches told CNN last month.
"We hope to find out results of the investigation and find out who was tapped, and whether they will hold any anyone accountable if it happened," said Riches, whose son died in the al Qaeda attack on New York's World Trade Center.
Norman Siegel, an attorney representing 9/11 families' organizations, said Attorney General Eric Holder has agreed to take part in the meeting.
read more here
From Susan Candiotti, CNN
August 24, 2011 6:26 a.m. EDT
News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch said he had seen "no evidence" that 9/11 families' phones had been hacked.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The FBI has been probing whether 9/11 victims' phones and voice mail were hacked
The scandal has led to several arrests and resignations in Britain
New York (CNN) -- Families of victims of the 9/11 attacks are expected to meet with top Justice Department officials Wednesday to discuss whether any of their relatives' phone messages were hacked by employees of News Corp.
The FBI began investigating that claim amid a widespread scandal in Britain over the use of phone hacking by employees or associates of News Corp. papers there. The Wednesday meeting with Justice officials will update the families on the progress of the investigation, retired New York firefighter Jim Riches told CNN last month.
"We hope to find out results of the investigation and find out who was tapped, and whether they will hold any anyone accountable if it happened," said Riches, whose son died in the al Qaeda attack on New York's World Trade Center.
Norman Siegel, an attorney representing 9/11 families' organizations, said Attorney General Eric Holder has agreed to take part in the meeting.
read more here
Funeral service set for soldier of Oklahoma National Guard
Funeral service set for soldier
By Michael Pineda, Staff Writer
The Ardmoreite
Posted Aug 23, 2011
Kingston —
Family and friends of 2nd Lt. Joe Cunningham are still trying to come to grips with his death, which occurred on Aug. 13 at the Laghman province of Afghanistan.
A Department of Defense press release said Cunningham died of injuries sustained in a non-combat related incident while assigned to the 1st Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Oklahoma Army National Guard.
red more here
The Ardmoreite
Posted Aug 23, 2011
Kingston —
Family and friends of 2nd Lt. Joe Cunningham are still trying to come to grips with his death, which occurred on Aug. 13 at the Laghman province of Afghanistan.
A Department of Defense press release said Cunningham died of injuries sustained in a non-combat related incident while assigned to the 1st Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Oklahoma Army National Guard.
red more here
Psychiatrist wins medal for fighting stress
Psychiatrist wins medal for fighting stress
Army lieutenant colonel earned Bronze Star for work in Iraq
By Madeline Will
When Rebecca Tomsyck was 53, she joined the Army. Now, six years later, she has been awarded a Bronze Star.
A Charlotte psychiatrist who is board certified in pediatrics, psychiatry and child psychiatry, Tomsyck had a successful practice in the Arboretum area, where her home is, but wanted something more.
When Army recruiters started expressing an interest in her son, Jay, she saw an opportunity. Her son didn't join the Army, but Tomsyck did.
"I wanted to serve and I wanted a change, and I wanted an adventure before I died," said Tomsyck, now 59.
When Tomsyck was in medical school, she had thought about serving in the military after she finished her residency; but her parents had strong objections. She married before her residency was over, and the idea was laid to rest.
Her goal was realized decades later when she was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the Army in July 2005. She went on active duty that September, stationed in Heidelberg, Germany, as Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Services, where she served soldiers' children.
read more here
Army lieutenant colonel earned Bronze Star for work in Iraq
By Madeline Will
When Rebecca Tomsyck was 53, she joined the Army. Now, six years later, she has been awarded a Bronze Star.
A Charlotte psychiatrist who is board certified in pediatrics, psychiatry and child psychiatry, Tomsyck had a successful practice in the Arboretum area, where her home is, but wanted something more.
When Army recruiters started expressing an interest in her son, Jay, she saw an opportunity. Her son didn't join the Army, but Tomsyck did.
"I wanted to serve and I wanted a change, and I wanted an adventure before I died," said Tomsyck, now 59.
When Tomsyck was in medical school, she had thought about serving in the military after she finished her residency; but her parents had strong objections. She married before her residency was over, and the idea was laid to rest.
Her goal was realized decades later when she was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the Army in July 2005. She went on active duty that September, stationed in Heidelberg, Germany, as Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Services, where she served soldiers' children.
read more here
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)