Recently Married Fort Bliss Soldier Dies In Car Crash

Recently Married Soldier Dies In Car Crash
Pregnant Wife Is In Hospital
October 5, 2011

EL PASO, Texas -- A soldier dies in a car crash and his pregnant wife is in the hospital.

Tyon Smith, 21, was a Fort Bliss Soldier. Smith recently married Destiny Evans Smith who is 7 months pregnant.

Tuesday night Tyon Smith died after losing control of his pickup truck. The accident happened at Leigh Fisher Boulevard and Founders Boulevard. Police were called out around 8:20 p.m.

Smith’s Dodge Ram was flipped onto its side and Smith had been ejected over 50 feet from the truck. He was taken to University Medical Center where he died.
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Mom takes down robber at ATM

Mother Takes Down Robbery Suspect

John Meekin Wrestled To Ground While Fleeing

POSTED: 5:06 pm EDT October 5, 2011
OCALA, Fla. -- An Ocala mother wrestled and held a robbery suspect who was trying to flee from police.

It started Monday evening with Warren Kinsella, 55, who was withdrawing money from an automated teller machine near Ocala.

Investigators with the Marion County Sheriff's Office said John Meekin, 35, approached Kinsella on his bike, drew a gun and demanded money.

"I said no," Kinsella said. "I've got to pay bills with my money."

Kinsella retired from the Army and was a former military policeman. He said he shoved the bike out of the way and fled before following Meekin in his truck Kinsella said the gunman even shot at him but missed.

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Colonial State Road 50 open after standoff ends

S.R. 50 standoff over, man in custody

By Jeff Weiner, Orlando Sentinel
4:37 p.m. EDT, October 5, 2011

A man armed with a gun sparked a standoff with Orange County deputies near the Brevard County line on Wednesday afternoon, blocking State Road 50 for several hours.

The situation shut down the roadway at the St. Johns River, where the man was threatening to harm himself inside a pickup truck, officials said.

He surrendered without violence just after 2 p.m., about three hours after the standoff was initially reported.
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Florida Vets to See Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Bill?

Vets to See Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Bill?
Florida's home to more than 1-point-6 million military veterans. Many of them have served multiple tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan
Reporter: Troy Kinsey
Email Address: news@wctv.tv

Tallahassee, FL -- October 4, 2011 --

Florida's home to more than 1-point-6 million military veterans. Many of them have served multiple tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. And all too often, the difficult process of adjusting to life back home can lead to a life of crime. Now, state lawmakers have a plan to prevent that from happening.

Home from the battlefield...And life should be easier for veterans of of the war on terror. But for thousands... The war rages on in the form of post traumatic stress. Having served back-to-back tours of duty in iraq, state representative Jeff Brandes knows all too well. Post-traumatic stress disorder can take a heavy toll.

"Even within the same unit, you might have soldiers who have experienced the exact same things, but are having much more challenging situations in dealing with it when they return back home," said, Republican representative, Jeff Brandes.

That's why Brandes is taking a hard look at a bill that would let veterans with combat-related psychological disorders avoid going to prison.
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Criminal Minds show with PTSD as topic Dorado Falls

Tonight on Criminal Minds: 7.03 "Dorado Falls"

Written By emma fraser
October 5th, 2011
The BAU team head to Charlottesville, Virginia tonight to investigate a mass murder at an Internet-security company. They find that the clues lead them to a suspect who is not a typical serial killer. In the sneak peek for "Dorado Falls" that can be seen below, Emily (Paget Brewster) has to complete recertification training with a familiar face as her trainer. Warning light spoilers ahead.

So what is it about this unsub that makes him different from a typical serial killer? It would appear that Navy Veteran Luke Dolan (guest star Max Martini: Revenge, The Unit) may be suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder which not only results in him killing his own parents but believing that he is on some kind of bigger mission. This sounds somewhat reminiscent of the season 2 episode "Distress" which featured a Veteran who also suffered from PTSD from his time in Somalia, and who also went on a seemingly random killing spree. Not that I think that this new episode will be a carbon copy of this previous one and I'm sure it will explore other factors about PTSD.
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Combat Veteran Back Home, and Homeless

October 5, 2011, 12:48 PM
Back Home, and Homeless
By MATT FARWELL

Not too long after that, when my friends in my old unit were rotating back, I started to crack a bit. That year the Taliban killed two of my friends, Staff Sgt. Esau I. DeLaPena-Hernandez, 25, and Sgt. Carlie M. Lee III, 23. The next year a helicopter crash killed my brother, Chief Warrant Officer Gary Marc Farwell. As my last real duty in the Army, I escorted his body home from Germany, wearing a dress uniform and saluting his casket in Atlanta and Salt Lake City as it was loaded and unloaded from the commercial airliner.

Mid-June, 2011: I find myself alone in a dark wooded park tucked between million-dollar houses south of Stanford University, looking for a spot in the bushes to stash my bags. Until that morning I’d been living in a cheap weekly-rate motel in Palo Alto. Before checkout, knowing I couldn’t afford the $48 fee for another night, I laid out my stuff on the bed. Over the cigarette burns on threadbare sheets, I scrounged for quarters, dimes and nickels. There was enough for an extra value meal at Taco Bell. I divided everything else I had between three bags; an olive-drab backpack my brother used in the Army Rangers, a black duffel I bought at Goodwill and a satchel for my laptop.

This was my life. I was two weeks shy of my 28th birthday, unemployed, broke, thousands of miles from my family, watching the weather forecast to see how uncomfortable sleeping outside would be that night. Whatever the prediction, I could handle it. Four and a half years in the Army, including 16 months as an infantryman in eastern Afghanistan, provided plenty of skills with no legal application in the civilian world. It was, however, wonderful preparation for being homeless.
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Congress debt fights hold up Hiring Heroes Act of 2011

Veterans employment legislation faces delays
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Oct 4, 2011 16:55:03 EDT
Congress is finding it hard to pass jobs-creating legislation for veterans by Veterans’ Day.

There is bipartisan support for a veterans employment package — with details to be determined — but passage has not been a top priority in Congress, making it difficult for a compromise to be signed into law by Nov. 11, the nominal deadline set by supporters of the legislation.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, which has increasingly complained that the Obama administration and Congress are not doing enough to help unemployed veterans, announced in March that it viewed Nov. 11 as a deadline for the government to reduce the number of jobless veterans.

Lawmakers interpreted this as a deadline for passage of legislation that would reduce the jobless rate in the future, not by Veterans Day — and even that deadline may not be met.

The Democratic-controlled Senate has been sitting since July 18 on the Hiring Heroes Act of 2011, a comprehensive package of employment and training provisions passed by the Senate Veterans’ Committee on July 7. The bill, S 951, was set aside during fights involving the debt ceiling and deficit reduction, overhaul of patent laws and an effort to prevent shutdown of the entire federal government at the start of the fiscal year.
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"War Vet Village," where battled scarred vets can heal

Oct 4, 2011
"War Vet Village," where battled scarred vets can heal
"Once a Marine, always a Marine." It's not just a slogan. For most of our vets, war is with them forever. But there's a farm in Scott County where vets are helping vets find peace.
Posted: 8:37 PM Oct 4, 2011
Reporter: Kate Burgess

ONEIDA, Tenn. (WVLT)--"Once a Marine, always a Marine." It's not just a slogan. For most of our vets, war is with them forever. Battered and broke, many suffer from depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and have trouble transitioning to life at home. But there's a farm in Scott County where vets are helping vets heal wounds and find peace.

That's where you'll find Shawn Welch, who fought in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

He remembered the war as "a mixture of excitement, terror, and fun."

A mixture, a rush, he craved after he got home.

"First things I got involved with were things that sped me up. Got me the excitement of war, such as cocaine. It progressed and I realized I was in a lot of pain as well, so I started to get involved in pain killers and heroin."

Adding to the grief he already felt.

"I have really bad back pain. I suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. And I have some kind of unknown stomach condition."
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PTSD a very real concern for Boise doctors as troops come home

PTSD a very real concern for Boise doctors as troops come home
By Eric Fink
CREATED OCT. 4, 2011

As hundreds of soldiers from Idaho's Army National Guard's 116th Calvary Brigade Combat team share an emotional homecoming with their families, some soldeirs are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan only to start more personal battle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

According to doctors and mental health professionals at the Boise VA medical center, PTSD is more prevalent in men and women who have completed multiple tours of duty.

"With more deployments, you're exposed to more trauma, more combat stressors," Sue Hicks, a Treasure Valley licensed clinical soccial worker said. "PTSD is a normal reaction to abnormal events. People are being exposed to combat which are very serious, extreme situations.
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More OEF OIF have no religious affiliation

This is stunning. At a time in our history when combat veterans need to heal spiritually and emotionally, fewer of them have ties to a faith base. This is a sad commentary on how the churches have failed to reach out to them to let them know they are forgiven, for whatever they believe they need forgiveness for and above all, they are loved.

The best healing comes from addressing the spiritual issues of combat. Considering families are fractured, dealing with a lot of stress from repeated deployments and financial stress, this is the worst time to leave them with no spiritual help.

One in three view the wars as a waste according to the poll from Pew research. They also say they are proud of their service, as they should be because when they were in combat, they were fighting for each other. They also say that the general public has little understanding adding to their hurt. Considering how little coverage they receive it is hard to imagine they would feel otherwise. The rest you can read for yourself, but unless we focus on these factors, we will see more and more heartaches in more and more families that did not need to happen.

Poll: 1 in 3 Vets Sees Iraq, Afghan Wars as Wastes

October 05, 2011
Associated Press
by Robert Burns

WASHINGTON -- One in three U.S. veterans of the post-9/11 military believes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not worth fighting, and a majority think that after 10 years of combat America should be focusing less on foreign affairs and more on its own problems, according to an opinion survey released Wednesday.

The findings highlight a dilemma for the Obama administration and Congress as they struggle to shrink the government's huge budget deficits and reconsider defense priorities while trying to keep public support for remaining involved in Iraq and Afghanistan for the longer term.

Nearly 4,500 U.S. troops have died in Iraq and about 1,700 in Afghanistan. Combined war costs since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have topped $1 trillion.

The poll results presented by the Pew Research Center portray post-9/11 veterans as proud of their work, scarred by warfare and convinced that the American public has little understanding of the problems that wartime service has created for military members and their families.

The survey also showed that post-9/11 veterans are more likely than Americans as a whole to call themselves Republicans and to disapprove of President Obama's performance as commander in chief.

They also are more likely than earlier generations of veterans to have no religious affiliation.
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This is from CNN

Poll finds pride in military, but not for Afghanistan, Iraq wars
By Moni Basu, CNN
updated 9:26 AM EST, Wed October 5, 2011
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Only one-third of post-9/11 veterans say the wars have been worth the costs
Four in 10 vets say they had a hard time adjusting back to life after war
Veterans say civilians don't understand their problems; the public agrees
Both military and nonmilitary respondents oppose a return of the draft

A U.S. soldier secures a landing zone for a Blackhawk helicopter in the Shigal district center in Kunar province, Afghanistan.

(CNN) -- America marks the 10th anniversary this week of the Afghanistan conflict, the longest running war in the nation's history. And since the first U.S. troops headed to the mountains and valleys of the Hindu Kush in October 2001, the United States entered yet another war in Iraq.
"These wars, this time period has been unique in our history," said Paul Taylor, one of the authors of a study published Wednesday by the Pew Research Center. "This has been the longest period of sustained conflict in our history and the fight has been carried by the smallest share."
While Americans remain supportive of their all-volunteer military (only one half of 1% of the population has been on active duty service in the past decade), the length of the conflicts has reshaped attitudes toward war and sacrifice, the survey found.

"The ambivalence that many post-9/11 veterans feel about their military mission has a parallel in the mixture of benefits and burdens they report having experienced since their return to civilian life," the report said.

On top of that, veterans -- 84% -- said most Americans do not understand the myriad problems they and their families have had to face including long separations, physical and psychological injuries and stress. Some 71% of the public agreed.

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Unfriendly skies to disabled veteran at Virginia Airport

Disabled Veteran Reportedly Claims Discrimination at Virginia Airport
Published October 03, 2011
FoxNews.com

A disabled Army veteran was reportedly not allowed to be aboard a plane last week in Virginia because she uses a walker.

Kathleen Wood told MyFoxBoston.com she was not allowed to board a shuttle at Reagan National Airport in Virginia last week as she returned to Walpole, Mass., from a vacation in Florida. Wood and her husband had to change flights in Virginia and had just 30 minutes to do so.

Wood, who suffers from lupus, also has a permanent back injury from a fall she took 12 years ago while serving in the Army. She tried to change gates along with the rest of the passengers, but a U.S. Airways employee refused to let her do so because of her walker.
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'Dancing With The Stars': J.R. Martinez Brings The Tears

'Dancing With The Stars': J.R. Martinez Brings The Tears
Ricki Lake nabs the season's highest score so far with emotional rumba.
By Kelley L. Carter
J.R. Martinez and Karina Smirnoff
War hero Martinez picked the year he was injured in Iraq when he drove over a landmine. He shared the story of when he first looked at his face after his accident and talked about how he started to blame himself and question how his life had turned upside down. He said it was a tough time in his life and didn't think there was anyone who could understand the pain he was going through. He picked Tim McGraw's "If You're Reading This" for his rumba and said there are a lot of families that don't get a second chance. His dance was in tribute to the men and women who didn't make it home. The judges and the audience (judging by the long applause) found the dance to be beautiful and moving. "Heroes are normal people. Tonight, you did something extraordinary: You touched us all. That was one of the most profound, honest dances I've ever seen," Inaba said. 26/30
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Combat veteran hospitalized after pulling knife on grandfather at breakfast

Man hospitalized after pulling knife on grandfather at breakfast

Filed by Chronicle-Telegram Staff October 4th, 2011 in Top Stories.

LORAIN — The breakfast shift at a West Erie Avenue restaurant was interrupted Sunday morning when a patron pulled a knife on his grandfather, according to a police report.

The family of the patron blamed the episode on post-traumatic stress disorder, which the family said he has suffered from since recently returning from combat in Afghanistan and Iraq with the Marines.

When officers arrived at Pete’s Family Restaurant, 2405 W. Erie Ave., they discovered the grandfather lying on top of his 25-year-old grandson underneath a table.
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Man Accused of Impersonating Marine Refuses Plea Deal

Man Accused of Impersonating Marine Refuses Plea Deal
October 03, 2011
Press Democrat|by Paul Payne
A Santa Rosa man charged with impersonating a Marine Corps combat veteran and defrauding his wife's 97-year-old grandfather rejected a plea bargain Friday and appears headed to trial.

Paul Alexander Tart, 29, was promised a five-year county jail sentence for his plea to a single count of elder financial abuse with an enhancement for taking more than $65,000, prosecutors said.
But he would not accept the deal, said his lawyer, Amy Chapman.
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Remains of 3 GIs missing since 1969 identified

Remains of 3 GIs missing since 1969 identified
Staff report
Posted : Monday Oct 3, 2011 14:37:03 EDT
The Pentagon on Monday said it had identified the remains of three soldiers who had been missing in action for more than 40 years. The remains will be buried later this week at Arlington National Cemetery.

The soldiers were identified as:

• Master Sgt. Charles V. Newton of Canadian, Texas.

• Sgt. 1st Class Douglas E. Dahill of Lima, Ohio.

• Sgt. 1st Class Charles F. Prevedel of St. Louis.

The soldiers went missing April 17, 1969, after being ambushed while on a reconnaissance patrol in Quang Nam province, Vietnam, near the Laos border.
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