Combat troops out of Iraq back at Fort Hood

Combat troops out of Iraq back at Fort Hood
December 24, 2011 4:16 PM

"Fort Hood has about 46,500 active-duty soldiers. Since 2003, more than 565 have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to officials at the Army post."

(AP) FORT HOOD, Texas - 1st Sgt. Scott Dawson has spent several Christmases overseas during four deployments to Iraq, but he arrived home for this holiday Saturday — and he and his family hope it's for good.

Dawson was among the very last U.S. combat soldiers to leave Iraq a week ago. Members of his brigade having been arriving Fort Hood in Texas over the past week, and he was in a group of nearly 200 that landed Saturday. Only about a dozen are still overseas, along with members of another brigade that was in the final convoy to cross the border into Kuwait.

The soldiers' families waited for two hours in drizzling rain and chilling wind on Christmas Eve morning, some wrapped in blankets and holding signs decorated with ornaments and candy canes. They screamed upon seeing the troops from the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division arrive in buses and march onto a field at the Army post.

Troops home from Iraq in time for Christmas

When the announcer yelled "Charge!" at the end of the brief welcome-home ceremony, wives, children and parents ran to the soldiers, hugging and kissing them.
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Vietnam Vet and retired Chicago Cop denied his service dog?

Man denied 'service dog' seeks legal action

Friday, December 23, 2011
Cherokee Chronicle Times

AURELIA - According to information submitted to the Chronicle Times, James Sak, 65, a disabled Vietnam Veteran and retired Chicago police officer, was forced to relinquish his service dog after the Aurelia City Council voted December 14 to prohibit the dog, identified as a "pit bull," from residing within Aurelia city limits.

Although the City of Aurelia has breed-discriminatory laws prohibiting residents from owning "pit bulls," the Council's decision may possibly violate a 2010 regulation from the United States Department of Justice on breed limitations for service dogs ("Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in State and Local Government Services.")

Sak and his wife, Peggy Leifer, moved to Aurelia in November to live near Leifer's ailing mother, Heddy Engdahl, an 87-year-old long time resident of Aurelia. Sak was accompanied by his service dog, Snickers, who is certified with the National Service Animal Registry.

In 2008, Sak suffered a debilitating stroke that left him permanently disabled and unable to use the right side of his body, and he has been confined to a wheelchair. For two years, Saks worked with Aileen Eviota, a physical therapist with the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago, to improve his functional capabilities and live more independently through the use of a service dog.
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Wounded Marine inspires AP photographer's search

If you want to see a group of pictures that you haven't seen on the news, go to the link and see these pictures.

Wounded Marine inspires AP photographer's search

By ANJA NIEDRINGHAUS

12/23/2011
Anja Niedringhaus / AP

In this Saturday, June 4, 2011 photo, injured United States Marine Cpl. Burness Britt reacts after being lifted onto a medevac helicopter from the U.S. Army's Task Force Lift "Dust Off," Charlie Company 1-214 Aviation Regiment. Britt was wounded in an IED strike near Sangin, in the Helmand Province of southern Afghanistan. At the Hunter Holmes Medical Center in Richmond, Va., Britt is facing a long recovery after a large piece of shrapnel cut a major artery on his neck. During his first operation in Afghanistan he suffered a stroke and became partially paralyzed. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus) PART OF A 14-PICTURE PACKAGE BY ANJA NIEDRINGHAUS; ITALY OUT

RICHMOND, Virginia — Inside the medevac helicopter in Afghanistan, U.S. Marine Cpl. Burness Britt bleeds profusely from his neck. He and two other Marines have just been hit by shrapnel, with Britt's injuries the most serious. The medevac crew chief clutches one of Britt's blood-covered hands as he is given oxygen. I take hold of the other.

With my free hand, I lift my camera and take some pictures. I squeeze Britt's hand and he returns the gesture, gripping my palm tighter and tighter until he slips into unconsciousness. His shirt is ripped, but I notice a piece of wheat stuck to it. I pluck it off and tuck it away in the pocket of my body armor.

In my 20 years as a photographer, covering conflicts from Bosnia to Gaza to Iraq to Afghanistan, injured civilians and soldiers have passed through my life many times. None has left a greater impression on me than Britt.
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Iraq Veteran's Mom says "A furry angel saved my son."

A furry angel saved my son

Jeff Mitchell of Braselton, Georgia, was 26 years old when he went to war in 2003. In 2007, he was forced to leave the Army through medical retirement after being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. After years of futile attempts at treatment, Jeff’s condition began to improve a few months ago after a group called Paws4Vets paired him with a service dog who had undergone her own traumas. Jeff’s mother, Carol, tells what it was like to watch her son struggle.

First, you bargain with God.

Just please let him survive. Please let us see him again. Oh, please surround our son with your protection.

Prayers are answered. He's back. He has survived - he's still at Fort Carson thousands of miles from home, but he's back in the United States and he is no longer being targeted by insurgents.

Little did we know then that an even more insidious enemy was trying to take our son.

We had heard of combat vets who were unable to re-enter the "real" world – those who locked themselves away and self-medicated with drugs or alcohol or even worse, the unthinkable, ultimate escape of suicide. But not our smart, strong, handsome son - never our Jeff.
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Six year old son of Oklahoma National Guard Soldier run over at airport

Soldier's son, 6, leaves hospital a week after being run over at airport
By Andy Greder
agreder@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 12/23/2011 09:56:39 PM CST

Zachary Drew was released from a St. Paul hospital Friday, a week after the 6-year-old Coon Rapids boy was hit by a vehicle as he walked to an airport homecoming with his soldier father.

Zachary had "successful treatment" for a broken leg and facial injuries and "will continue his recovery at home," Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare said in a statement.

Last Friday, Zachary was walking hand in hand with his mother and three younger siblings as they crossed a parking lot at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Richard Drew, a member of the Oklahoma National Guard, awaited his family in the terminal.

But before the family was reunited, a driver hit Zachary and dragged him 15 feet before crashing into a concrete wall.
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Soldier dressed up as Santa surprises family

Soldier dressed up as Santa surprises family
Updated: Saturday, 24 Dec 2011

Megan Reust
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) -- The Christmas wish of a military family in Columbia City came true Friday. Their soldier walked off a plane in Fort Wayne dressed as Santa.

Soldier Wes Jackson had told his two young sons he wouldn't be home for the holidays this year. Instead, he surprised them in a way he hopes they'll never forget.

"That's all Kaleb's been asking for is for Daddy to be home so we thought this was the best way," wife of soldier Beth Jackson said.

The Jackson family thought they were at the Fort Wayne Airport to meet Santa. Instead they were there to welcome home their husband, son, dad, brother.

Soldier Wes Jackson was in Afghanistan for 12 months.

He says he couldn't wait to see the look on his two sons faces.
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Soldier dressed up as Santa surprises family: wane.com

Iraq War Mom Surprises Sons at Mall

Iraq War Mom Surprises Sons at Mall

Uploaded by ABCNews on Dec 23, 2011
Capt. Dawn McCracken-Bruce reunites with young sons in time for Christmas.

In death, a life gains perspective

In death, a life gains perspective
December 24, 2011 09:02:52 AM
Valerie Garman / Florida Freedom Newspapers
PORT ST. JOE — They never talked about the war much. They didn’t need to.

“(My brother) and I didn’t get into conversation too much about the war,” said Vietnam veteran Nick Fernicola. “We both knew what each other went through without talking about it; and that was enough.”

He and his brother, Joe Fernicola, saw hard combat in Vietnam, where they both served in the Marine Corps.

Like many Vietnam veterans both suffered from the nightmares and flashbacks brought on by post-traumatic stress disorder upon arriving home, and for years following.

“They say time heals all wounds, and (the PTSD) wears off after some time,” Fernicola said. “I know Joe had a harder time than me because he was there twice as long.”

Time may have helped, but for Joe time ran out far too soon, and with many accomplishments unrecognized.

In 2008, Joe was found dead in his condo in St. Joe Beach, days before his 57th birthday.


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Invisible Wound: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

This is an excellent video! So many coming forward, talking about PTSD will save a lot of lives and prevent needless suffering. These young men and women are finally understanding there is nothing to be ashamed of and there is help to heal.

Invisible Wound: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder


Uploaded by militaryminds82 on Dec 19, 2011
Cpl. Chris Dupee gives us insight into the troubling silence that many sufferers of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder endure.

Having served in Afghanistan Chris knows from first hand experience the whirlwind of emotions one deals with upon returning home. The statistics are staggering and the code of silence needs to be broken. The stigma from coming forward and seeking help must be abolished and it begins with closely examining yourself and identifying your needs. There is help out there.

A movie for this Christmas

A movie for this Christmas
By Nicolaus Mills, Special to CNN
updated 7:54 AM EST, Fri December 23, 2011

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Many will watch "It's a Wonderful Life" this Christmas season, Nicolaus Mills says
Mills: But the movie we should watch is another 1946 classic, "The Best Years of Our Lives"
Oscar-winning film shows peacetime difficulties faced by three World War II vets, he says
Today, veterans aged 20-24 have an unemployment rate of nearly 30%, Mills says

Editor's note: Nicolaus Mills is professor of American studies at Sarah Lawrence College and author of "Winning the Peace: The Marshall Plan and America's Coming of Age as a Superpower."

(CNN) -- This Christmas season the classic film most of us will watch on our televisions is Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life." With good reason: It's the perfect feel-good Christmas movie. In celebrating the quiet good works that Jimmy Stewart's George Bailey has done in running his family's savings and loan bank for the benefit of the residents of Bedford Falls, "It's a Wonderful Life" tells the story of American modesty at its best.

But the movie we ought to be watching this Christmas season is another 1946 classic, William Wyler's "The Best Years of Our Lives." With a script by playwright Robert E. Sherwood, who also was a speechwriter for President Franklin Roosevelt, "The Best Years of Our Lives" tells the story of the difficulties three World War II veterans overcome on returning to their peacetime lives in the fictional Midwestern town of Boone City.

What makes the Academy Award-winning "Best Years of Our Lives" so relevant are the problems today's veterans -- now coming home in increased numbers with the end of the Iraq war -- are having finding a place in civilian life.

Veterans in the 20-24 age bracket have an unemployment rate of nearly 30%, more than double the 14.5% unemployment rate of nonveterans in the same age group, and veterans of all ages have an unemployment rate of 11.8% compared with the civilian unemployment rate of nearly 9%.
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