VCS Releases Updated War Statistics
Written by VCS
Thursday, 29 September 2011 16:43
VCS Releases "Iraq and Afghanistan War Impact Report," VA Confirms Nearly 712,000 Iraq and Afghanistan War Veteran Patients
October 1, 2011 (VCS Exclusive) - In an effort to document the severe and escalating human and financial consequences of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Veterans for Common Sense (VCS) summarizes several government reports about U.S. military service members and veterans who deployed to the Iraq - Afghanistan war zone since September 11, 2011.
When sharing our VCS quarterly report, please cite how VCS uses reports from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense (DoD) obtained by VCS under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The report serves as a reminder our nation remains at war.
read it here
Monday, October 3, 2011
Three Iraq veterans share their stories with big smiles
I had the pleasure of meeting some terrific veterans of the Iraq War. Christopher O'Connor, Andrew Berry and Joshua Cope, all suffered wounds from IEDs in Iraq.
Mayor Scott Vanderfrift of Ocoee showed up with his usual big smile. Anytime there is an event for the troops or our veterans, he is usually there to show support.
Cathy Haynes a military Mom took some time out of her day after going to another event to also show support. As busy as I am, she is twice as busy and does it with her heart sunk into everything she does.
Section 8 played some great tunes on their guitars.
Reporters from 13 News and FOX came to film this event and I am grateful they did. Too many times our veterans are heartsick over the lack of attention they receive from the media, so thank you very much for showing up to let them know they are really valued. Both reporters showed a great interest in our new veterans as well as the older ones.
Second swing at life
Andrew Berry passes the lessons he’s learned at Fairways for Warriors clinics onto his son, Gionni, 8.
By Megan Stokes
May 4, 2011
“It’s all in the hips, just like in the Adam Sandler movie,” Sgt. Andrew Berry told his son, Gionni, 8, who laughed at the joke before swinging his golf club in their backyard.
Berry spends many afternoons standing behind his two sons, the oldest of four, making sure they are bending their knees and keeping their eyes on the ball.
Even though he starred in all three at Colonial High School, Berry can’t play football, basketball or baseball anymore.
But he can golf.
His sacrifice
The former Army sniper was shot twice and was hit by eight IED explosions during several tours in Iraq.
The explosions caused traumatic brain injury, which has progressed to deafness in his right ear, blindness in his right eye, massive headaches and prescriptions to 15 medications, which Berry avoids taking when possible.
“I’ll be screaming in pain before I take a pain pill,” he said swigging bottled water. His meds give him dry mouth but make soda taste horrible. “I have four boys who I’m a role model for.”
He wears a brace up to his right thigh, a lingering reminder of a leg that was crushed at the ankle after he fell 14 feet, saving himself and another soldier from a burning tank that had rolled over an IED during his last tour in Iraq in 2009—10 days after he reenlisted with a goal to become an Army Ranger. Some days he needs a wheelchair, other days his walking stick – a hand-carved gift from his wife, Rebecca – will suffice.
When he got home to East Orlando, the deaths of so many of his friends overseas stirred so much anger inside him that it boiled over onto his wife and kids.
“I felt useless. I didn’t think I was smart enough to go to school and I didn’t want to do paperwork (in the Army). I was in a bad place,” he said. “But I finally manned up and got help.”
read more here
Joshua Cope
Christopher O'Connor Orlando, FL
Military Branch: Marine Corps
Fellowship Location: Orlando VA Medical Center
Christopher O’Connor grew up bouncing around the boroughs of New York City. His family later moved into the Pocono Mountains. After graduating high school, Christopher had no place to go. Eager to find some stability in his life, and motivated by the events of 9/11, Christopher enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. Within six months of joining, Christopher was deployed to Fallujah, Iraq as a Machine Gun Team Leader.
He provided security for convoys and bases, patrolled the streets daily, raided homes of suspected insurgents and provided aid to locals. The day before his twentieth birthday he was hit by a remote detonated IED while patrolling on foot. The blast vaulted him ten feet in the air and left him unconscious for nearly two minutes. He was medically evacuated out of Iraq to Landstuhl, Germany and eventually Bethesda Naval Hospital in Washington, D.C. The IED explosion left him with a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), other minor physical injuries and has led to the onset of PTSD. Christopher received the Purple Heart because of his injuries and was medically retired from the Marine Corps the following year.
After his discharge from the service, Christopher was left feeling confused, anxious, disappointed and lost. He missed serving his country, being with his unit and the sense of purpose the Marine Corps had provided him. Christopher’s TBI and PTSD have hindered his adjustment to civilian life, presenting legal and financial issues and withdrawal from his family and friends.
Facing homelessness, he committed himself to finding a way to overcome his injuries and continue his service at home. His immediate goals are to finish his Master’s Degree in Social Work, become a licensed clinical social worker and start a career helping veterans who have struggled with TBI and PTSD. The Mission Continues Fellowship exemplified exactly what he wanted to do for his community. He will serve with the Orlando VA Medical Center with post-9/11 veterans.
Mayor Scott Vanderfrift of Ocoee showed up with his usual big smile. Anytime there is an event for the troops or our veterans, he is usually there to show support.
Cathy Haynes a military Mom took some time out of her day after going to another event to also show support. As busy as I am, she is twice as busy and does it with her heart sunk into everything she does.
Section 8 played some great tunes on their guitars.
Reporters from 13 News and FOX came to film this event and I am grateful they did. Too many times our veterans are heartsick over the lack of attention they receive from the media, so thank you very much for showing up to let them know they are really valued. Both reporters showed a great interest in our new veterans as well as the older ones.
Anti-suicide program for Minnesota military running out of funds
Anti-suicide program for Minnesota military nears depletion
The Minnesota National Guard leads the country in the number of soldiers who have committed suicide, and a program that has been shown to successfully prevent suicides in the state's military now faces the prospect of running out of money by the end of the year.
By: Mark Brunswick, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) / MCT
MINNEAPOLIS
The Minnesota National Guard leads the country in the number of soldiers who have committed suicide, and a program that has been shown to successfully prevent suicides in the state's military now faces the prospect of running out of money by the end of the year.
With demand increasing, the program from Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota is burning through money at a rate of $50,000 to $70,000 a month, and a $500,000 appropriation from the Legislature is likely to be depleted by December or January. With funding capped and its contract not up until June, local services are likely to be stopped for anyone who doesn't have a way to pay for them, or they will be directed to a federal military call-in program answered by a phone bank from another state.
"We run a real risk of being victims of our own success," said Mary Beth Galey, senior director of counseling and adoption for Lutheran Social Service, the state's largest nonprofit social service organization. "To a great extent, we'll probably be stuck."
read more here
The Minnesota National Guard leads the country in the number of soldiers who have committed suicide, and a program that has been shown to successfully prevent suicides in the state's military now faces the prospect of running out of money by the end of the year.
By: Mark Brunswick, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) / MCT
MINNEAPOLIS
The Minnesota National Guard leads the country in the number of soldiers who have committed suicide, and a program that has been shown to successfully prevent suicides in the state's military now faces the prospect of running out of money by the end of the year.
With demand increasing, the program from Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota is burning through money at a rate of $50,000 to $70,000 a month, and a $500,000 appropriation from the Legislature is likely to be depleted by December or January. With funding capped and its contract not up until June, local services are likely to be stopped for anyone who doesn't have a way to pay for them, or they will be directed to a federal military call-in program answered by a phone bank from another state.
"We run a real risk of being victims of our own success," said Mary Beth Galey, senior director of counseling and adoption for Lutheran Social Service, the state's largest nonprofit social service organization. "To a great extent, we'll probably be stuck."
read more here
Sleeping in alley no way for a soldier to end up
Sleeping in alley no way for a soldier to end up
By Jeff Ward For The Courier-News October 2, 2011
If you haven’t already, ya gotta start reading Dave Gathman’s regular Courier-News reports. His latest on the senseless murder of homeless Elgin veteran Richard Gibbons is the kind of writing that really gets you thinking.
On the evening of Aug. 10, Gibbons, who’d most likely been drinking, was sleeping it off in the alley between the Fulton Street parking garage and the former Prairie Rock restaurant. Shelters won’t take you if you reek of alcohol.
At about 1:40 a.m., a group of men, also suspected of being inebriated, started partying on the upper deck of the parking garage, making it difficult for Gibbons to sleep. After words were exchanged, 23 year-old Chicago resident Yancarlo Garcia allegedly grabbed a 2-foot-long fire extinguisher and dropped it on the defenseless man lying 40 feet below. The blow ruptured multiple organs and broke Gibbons’ pelvis.
The injured man dialed 911 using a government-provided cellphone, but despite the best efforts of Provena Saint Joseph and Lutheran General hospitals, Gibbons died of those injuries on Sept. 4. Garcia, now charged with first-degree murder, sits in jail cell on $1 million bail.
It certainly makes you want to give up drinking, doesn’t it?
But Richard Gibbons wasn’t always homeless. By the accounts of his former common-law wife and his children, he was a talented carpenter, a charismatic man and, even though he was homeless, he worked with the Elgin Salvation Army to prevent other people from suffering a similar fate.
It was after he was drafted into the Army during the final stage of the Vietnam War that his drinking became a problem. Though she was hesitant to blame the alcoholism on the Army, Gibbons’ daughter Melissa told Gathman, “But the service really messed him up. He wouldn’t talk about it much, but the service was a time in his life that he just wanted to forget.”
read more here
By Jeff Ward For The Courier-News October 2, 2011
If you haven’t already, ya gotta start reading Dave Gathman’s regular Courier-News reports. His latest on the senseless murder of homeless Elgin veteran Richard Gibbons is the kind of writing that really gets you thinking.
On the evening of Aug. 10, Gibbons, who’d most likely been drinking, was sleeping it off in the alley between the Fulton Street parking garage and the former Prairie Rock restaurant. Shelters won’t take you if you reek of alcohol.
At about 1:40 a.m., a group of men, also suspected of being inebriated, started partying on the upper deck of the parking garage, making it difficult for Gibbons to sleep. After words were exchanged, 23 year-old Chicago resident Yancarlo Garcia allegedly grabbed a 2-foot-long fire extinguisher and dropped it on the defenseless man lying 40 feet below. The blow ruptured multiple organs and broke Gibbons’ pelvis.
The injured man dialed 911 using a government-provided cellphone, but despite the best efforts of Provena Saint Joseph and Lutheran General hospitals, Gibbons died of those injuries on Sept. 4. Garcia, now charged with first-degree murder, sits in jail cell on $1 million bail.
It certainly makes you want to give up drinking, doesn’t it?
But Richard Gibbons wasn’t always homeless. By the accounts of his former common-law wife and his children, he was a talented carpenter, a charismatic man and, even though he was homeless, he worked with the Elgin Salvation Army to prevent other people from suffering a similar fate.
It was after he was drafted into the Army during the final stage of the Vietnam War that his drinking became a problem. Though she was hesitant to blame the alcoholism on the Army, Gibbons’ daughter Melissa told Gathman, “But the service really messed him up. He wouldn’t talk about it much, but the service was a time in his life that he just wanted to forget.”
read more here
Cain: I Should've Defended Gay Soldier From Boos at Debate
To anyone still getting emails denying a soldier was booed from the audience, send them this.
Cain: I Should've Defended Gay Soldier From Boos at Debate
Published October 02, 2011
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Sunday that he should not have stayed silent after the audience at a GOP debate booed a gay soldier serving in Iraq.
The Georgia businessman told ABC's "This Week" that it would have been "appropriate" for him to have defended the soldier. None of the candidates on stage at the Sept. 22 forum responded to the boos.
"In retrospect, because of the controversy it has created and because of the different interpretations that it could have had, yes, that probably -- that would have been appropriate," Cain said, when asked if he should have asked the audience to respect the soldier.
Cain said it wasn't immediately clear to him what had drawn the audience's scorn, adding, "I happen to think that maybe they were booing the whole 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal more so than booing that soldier."
The so-called don't ask, don't tell policy barring gays from serving openly in the military was officially lifted last month.
read more here
From combat to charges, PTSD veteran faces judge
Still fighting: After combatting insurgents in Iraq, veteran struggles with stress disorder, alcoholism
By MARK KEIERLEBER
IDS
OCT. 2, 2011
Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran Anthony Ray Halliday stood at the front of the courtroom with a straight back.
His black suit and light blue Oxford shirt were clean and wrinkle-free. His shaved head towered above his attorney, who stood to his right.
Halliday, 41, pleaded guilty in the Monroe County Circuit Court on Sept. 27 before
Judge Marc R. Kellams for driving while under the influence of alcohol on two separate
accounts.
Halliday was almost motionless, occasionally rocking forward onto the toes of his polished black dress shoes.
Halliday joined the Army in May 2003 at the age of 32. In 2007 and 2008, he served in Iraq as a sergeant of the Military Police Unit. While in Iraq, Halliday watched as fellow soldiers were killed around him. His time in combat was traumatic and life-altering, he said.
“I was a very good soldier, and I was coded to be a very good soldier,” Halliday said.
After returning from combat to the United States, Halliday said he suffered from several medical problems, including a hernia and tinnitus.
But he also suffered mentally.
After a visit to the Richard L. Roudebush Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Indianapolis, Halliday was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in late 2009, nearly a year after he returned from Iraq.
read more here
By MARK KEIERLEBER
IDS
OCT. 2, 2011
Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran Anthony Ray Halliday stood at the front of the courtroom with a straight back.
His black suit and light blue Oxford shirt were clean and wrinkle-free. His shaved head towered above his attorney, who stood to his right.
Halliday, 41, pleaded guilty in the Monroe County Circuit Court on Sept. 27 before
Judge Marc R. Kellams for driving while under the influence of alcohol on two separate
accounts.
Halliday was almost motionless, occasionally rocking forward onto the toes of his polished black dress shoes.
Halliday joined the Army in May 2003 at the age of 32. In 2007 and 2008, he served in Iraq as a sergeant of the Military Police Unit. While in Iraq, Halliday watched as fellow soldiers were killed around him. His time in combat was traumatic and life-altering, he said.
“I was a very good soldier, and I was coded to be a very good soldier,” Halliday said.
After returning from combat to the United States, Halliday said he suffered from several medical problems, including a hernia and tinnitus.
But he also suffered mentally.
After a visit to the Richard L. Roudebush Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Indianapolis, Halliday was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in late 2009, nearly a year after he returned from Iraq.
read more here
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Group offers barbecue, help to disabled vets
There were two reporters out there with us today. FOX was there too and the reporter was wonderful. Looking for his video but haven't seen it yet. Tomorrow I should have mine up.
Today was a really wonderful day. I had the chance to talk to Joshua Cope, a double amputee Iraq vet with a one week old baby and two other young children. I talked to Andrew Berry and Christopher O'Conner, both Iraq veterans wounded by IEDs. All of them have such great attitudes it makes you feel as if you shouldn't have a care in the world.
Ocoee Mayor Scott Vandergrift was there, as usual whenever there is anything going on for Veterans, he's sure to be there with his big smile and warmth. Cathy Haynes was there too. If you are involved with veterans in the area at all, you know who Cathy Haynes is. I think the woman works twice as hard as I do without a nap. (I need them daily)
It was wonderful to see so many young veterans spending time with, as Andrew Berry put it, older veterans with a lot to share. They understand that the DAV is there for them just as it had been for the "older" veterans when they came home around the same age as these new veterans. They also prove that one you're a veteran, you are for life and it is an outstanding family to belong to.
Today was a really wonderful day. I had the chance to talk to Joshua Cope, a double amputee Iraq vet with a one week old baby and two other young children. I talked to Andrew Berry and Christopher O'Conner, both Iraq veterans wounded by IEDs. All of them have such great attitudes it makes you feel as if you shouldn't have a care in the world.
Ocoee Mayor Scott Vandergrift was there, as usual whenever there is anything going on for Veterans, he's sure to be there with his big smile and warmth. Cathy Haynes was there too. If you are involved with veterans in the area at all, you know who Cathy Haynes is. I think the woman works twice as hard as I do without a nap. (I need them daily)
It was wonderful to see so many young veterans spending time with, as Andrew Berry put it, older veterans with a lot to share. They understand that the DAV is there for them just as it had been for the "older" veterans when they came home around the same age as these new veterans. They also prove that one you're a veteran, you are for life and it is an outstanding family to belong to.
Group offers barbecue, help to disabled vets
Jim Sursely converses with another disabled veteran at a barbecue Sunday. Sursely lost both legs and an arm in Vietnam.
By Mark Jenkins, Reporter
Last Updated: Sunday, October 02, 2011 5:55 PM
ORLANDO --
Jim Sursely has spent the last 40 years confined to a wheel chair. He lost both his legs and an arm in a land mine explosion in Vietnam.
However, that doesn't slow him down.
"What's in my heart now is my willingness to want to come out and help and welcome these young guys coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan," Sursely said.
He's helping guys like Andrew Berry and Chris O'Conner. Both of them were injured in IED explosions.
"It blasted me 10 feet in the air, knocked me unconscious for like a minute," O'Conner said.
Berry suffered damage to his leg, lower back and head. O'Conner received a traumatic brain injury and multiple shrapnel wounds throughout his body. Even after being removed from the war zone, returning home isn't easy.
read more here
Soldier Says PTSD Cost Him His Job On SWAT Team
Soldier Says PTSD Cost Him His Job
by Marcus Washington
SPRINGFIELD, Tenn. - He risked his life for our country, and even watched his friends die in combat. Now a soldier said he is without a job because of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and he said he was fired without merit.
A life as a soldier or someone protecting others from the "bad guys" has always been a dream for Chad Clinard.
"As a kid I was always playing G.I. Joe," said Clinard.
So between two deployments to Iraq, Clinard applied to work for the Robertson County Sheriff's Office.
"I got a call asking if I wanted to be a correctional officer, so I immediately jumped on that and started at the beginning of January 2006," said Clinard.
Clinard did well at the Robertson County Sheriff's Office. In the five years he was there he went from correctional officer to a member of the SWAT team.
"In trying to keep the crime rate down, trying to keep the drugs off the streets, that's where I wanted to be. I wanted to be that guy," he said.
Clinard admitted what happened in Iraq is not always easy to deal with after three of his closest friends were killed in combat.
read more here
by Marcus Washington
SPRINGFIELD, Tenn. - He risked his life for our country, and even watched his friends die in combat. Now a soldier said he is without a job because of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and he said he was fired without merit.
A life as a soldier or someone protecting others from the "bad guys" has always been a dream for Chad Clinard.
"As a kid I was always playing G.I. Joe," said Clinard.
So between two deployments to Iraq, Clinard applied to work for the Robertson County Sheriff's Office.
"I got a call asking if I wanted to be a correctional officer, so I immediately jumped on that and started at the beginning of January 2006," said Clinard.
Clinard did well at the Robertson County Sheriff's Office. In the five years he was there he went from correctional officer to a member of the SWAT team.
"In trying to keep the crime rate down, trying to keep the drugs off the streets, that's where I wanted to be. I wanted to be that guy," he said.
Clinard admitted what happened in Iraq is not always easy to deal with after three of his closest friends were killed in combat.
read more here
Ex-homeless Air Force mom backs Federal Way women's shelter
Ex-homeless Air Force mom backs Federal Way women's shelter
By ANDY HOBBS
Federal Way Mirror Editor
Oct 01 2011
A brain injury from a Mack Truck accident led to Sheila Sebron becoming a homeless single mother of two children.
Sebron had an eight-year career in the U.S. Air Force before her medical discharge. Long an advocate for the homeless, she suddenly saw things from the other side.
“I went from hospital bed to homeless,” said Sebron, a Seattle resident. “Even though I never slept on the street, I had no control of my housing.”
Homelessness affects women in a deeper way than it affects men, she said.
read more here
By ANDY HOBBS
Federal Way Mirror Editor
Oct 01 2011
A brain injury from a Mack Truck accident led to Sheila Sebron becoming a homeless single mother of two children.
Sebron had an eight-year career in the U.S. Air Force before her medical discharge. Long an advocate for the homeless, she suddenly saw things from the other side.
“I went from hospital bed to homeless,” said Sebron, a Seattle resident. “Even though I never slept on the street, I had no control of my housing.”
Homelessness affects women in a deeper way than it affects men, she said.
read more here
Hero combat medic "unqualified to be an emergency medical technician"
Ex-soldier is a hero abroad, but unemployed at home
By Drew Brooks
Staff writer
In Afghanistan, Nick Colgin was a hero.
In America, he's unemployed.
Colgin, who earned a Bronze Star as a member of Fort Bragg's 82nd Airborne Division, has become one of the faces of the unemployed veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
His efforts in finding employment became part of history when President Obama referred to him during a speech in August that focused on the need to better prepare veterans for the workforce.
When he was with the Army, then Spc. Colgin was recognized for saving the life of a French soldier who had been shot in the head and for working with other soldiers to rescue more than 40 civilians from a flood. Colgin assumed that a stellar military career would transfer to his civilian life when he left Fort Bragg and the Army in June 2008.
But reality was much crueler for Colgin once the Army rank was dropped from his last name.
A combat medic as a soldier, Colgin found himself unqualified to be an emergency medical technician in Wyoming, where he had hoped to start a new, adventurous life.
read more here
By Drew Brooks
Staff writer
In Afghanistan, Nick Colgin was a hero.
In America, he's unemployed.
Colgin, who earned a Bronze Star as a member of Fort Bragg's 82nd Airborne Division, has become one of the faces of the unemployed veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
His efforts in finding employment became part of history when President Obama referred to him during a speech in August that focused on the need to better prepare veterans for the workforce.
When he was with the Army, then Spc. Colgin was recognized for saving the life of a French soldier who had been shot in the head and for working with other soldiers to rescue more than 40 civilians from a flood. Colgin assumed that a stellar military career would transfer to his civilian life when he left Fort Bragg and the Army in June 2008.
But reality was much crueler for Colgin once the Army rank was dropped from his last name.
A combat medic as a soldier, Colgin found himself unqualified to be an emergency medical technician in Wyoming, where he had hoped to start a new, adventurous life.
read more here
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