Disabled Vietnam Veteran will live in car to help homeless veterans

Mesa man to live in car for 3 days to raise awareness of homeless vets
By Mike Sakal, Tribune

A Mesa man soon will begin an "on the street" experience aimed at bringing awareness to the plight of homeless veterans while accepting donations of cash and blue jeans for a nonprofit organization that helps them.

From 9 a.m. Thursday until 6 p.m. Sunday, Tom Steinhagen, a disabled Vietnam War veteran, will start fasting and living in his car outside of Berge Ford, 460 E. Auto Center Drive, near Mesa Drive and the U.S. 60, for the Stand Up and Stand Proud organization, giving the community an around-the-clock opportunity to stop by and see how he's living - rain or shine.

Steinhagen, the founder of Stand Up and Stand Proud, is a member of Legion Riders and the Arizona Patriot Guard Riders, and is also active with local American Legion groups. He has set a goal of filling the trunk of his car with new or slightly used blue jeans that will be passed on to homeless veterans within those 80 hours.
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Dignity Memorial provides 1,000th military funeral for homeless veteran

Dignity Memorial® Network to Provide Military Burial for Homeless Portland Veteran
Homeless Veterans Burial Program provides 1,000th military funeral service


By Dignity Memorial network
Published: Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012 - 9:50 am
PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 24, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Lincoln Memorial Park, a member of the Dignity Memorial network, will provide a funeral with full military honors on Jan. 25 at the Willamette National Cemetery for a homeless Portland veteran, the 1,000th burial provided through the Dignity Memorial Homeless Veterans Burial Program.

Naval Petty Officer 2nd Class Stevenson L. Roy, a recently deceased homeless Vietnam veteran, will be buried at the Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, Ore., on Wednesday, Jan. 25, at 1:30 p.m.

"We are humbled to help provide the military honors that Mr. Roy deserves," said Jean-Christophe Aubry, market director for the Portland area Dignity Memorial providers. "It is a great privilege to show our community's deep gratitude for veterans like him who have given so much to our country."
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US Spec-ops raid in Somalia frees American, Dane

Spec-ops raid in Somalia frees American, Dane
By Abdi Guled and Katharine Houreld - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jan 25, 2012 6:02:34 EST

MOGADISHU, Somalia — U.S. military forces flew into Somalia in a nighttime helicopter raid Wednesday, freed an American and a Danish hostage, and killed nine pirates in a mission President Obama appeared to reference before his State of the Union speech, officials and a pirate source said.

The Danish Refugee Council confirmed that the two aid workers, American Jessica Buchanan and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, were freed "during an operation in Somalia." Buchanan, 32, and Thisted, 60, had been working with a de-mining unit of the Danish Refugee Council when they were kidnapped in October.

Obama seemed to refer to the mission before his State of the Union address in Washington on Tuesday night. As he entered the House chamber in the U.S. Capitol, he pointed at Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in the crowd and said, "Good job tonight."
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Last military shipment from Iraq

Beaumont receives last military shipment from Iraq


By Courtney Francisco - email
The end of the war in Iraq has brought the end of an era here in Beaumont, for the Port that is.

Military service personnel and port workers unloaded the last ship returning military equipment to the U.S. from Iraq Tuesday.

Lt. Col. Michael Arnold is Commander of the 842nd Transportation Battalion stations at the Port of Beaumont and says the ship more than just another job to unload.

Nearly 400 ships have traveled from Iraq to Beaumont since 2002 stocked full of supplies ranging from helicopters to military equipment.

However, now that troops have been withdrawn from Iraq the equipment is no longer needed there, and Lt. Col. Arnold says unloading it marks a milestone.
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U.S. Marine spared from jail time in Iraq killings

If you read about any war, civilians died. It is an ugly part of what happens that "polite" civilians never want to think about. Most of the time it is because of the type of warfare being waged where enemy forces are part of the population, dressed like everyone else and attacking from the crowds of innocent people. That is what happened in Iraq as well as Afghanistan, just as it happened in Vietnam.

The men and women we send to fight these wars never know who is a simple bystander and who wants to kill them until it is too late for second guesses.

Did these Marines snap or was it more a case of everything else that happened in Iraq? None of of us really know because we weren't there. These memories will be with them for the rest of their lives.

U.S. Marine spared from jail time in Iraq killings


By Mary Slosson
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif
Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:13am EST
(Reuters) - A U.S. Marine accused of leading a 2005 massacre of 24 civilians in the Iraqi city of Haditha was spared jail time when he was sentenced on Tuesday for his role in killings that brought international condemnation on U.S. troops.

The harshest penalty Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, 31, now faces for his guilty plea on Monday to a single count of dereliction of duty is a demotion to the rank of private, the lowest rank in the service, as recommended by a military judge.

As part of his guilty plea, Wuterich accepted responsibility for giving negligent verbal instructions to the Marines under his command when he told them to "shoot first and ask questions later," orders that resulted in the deaths of civilians.

In his court statement on Tuesday, Wuterich added that when he gave that order, "the intent wasn't that they should shoot civilians. It was that they would not hesitate in the face of the enemy."

He said that he and his fellow Marines behaved honorably under extreme circumstances, and that he "never fired my weapon at any women or children that day."
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State of the Union

State of the Union

President Obama brought up how the men and women in the military don't do anything "political" but for the nation and for each other. "This nation is great because we work together as a team." Great way to end his address.

Dr. Bernice King was at Valencia College today and I was part of the film crew streaming her speech. She talked about how people working together can do so much more than when they watch out for themselves.

If you read this blog then you know how I feel about the divide this nation has been suffering from for far too long. It seems like everything is political and nothing is "us" anymore. It is always, "them" with one party against another, one class against another but few noticing the times when even the wealthy push aside their "own" for the sake of someone else in need. They don't notice the ex-homeless veteran doing everything he can to make sure other veterans don't suffer the way he did any more than they notice all the good stories out there.

There is a saying in the media that "if it bleeds, it leads" because someone thought that was all people wanted to read about or see in a news report. I can tell you that is simply not true. The number one story on this blog has nothing to do with politics. It has to do with a soldier and a tattoo along with combat medics in Afghanistan. For Those I Love I Will Sacrifice and the other is about a wounded Marine Lance Cpl. William Carpenter These two stories tell me that it matters more what people do with their lives than how they vote. It matters more how they can about strangers as much as they care about their friends and neighbors. I read about them all the time. That is what makes this nation great. Regular men and women thinking more about someone else than they do about themselves and becoming far from regular.

Iraq War Veteran's husband accused of stabbing her and holding her hostage

Charges: Man Stabbed Wife, A Veteran, Held Her Hostage
January 24, 2012

ST. PAUL (WCCO) — A St. Paul man is accused of assaulting his wife, who is an Iraq war veteran, threatening to kill her and holding her hostage for five days, according to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office.

Charlie Pearman Blackwell, 30, was charged with felony counts of kidnapping, second-degree assault, terroristic threats and domestic assault by strangulation.

According to the criminal complaint, police responded to the 1000 block of Hatch Avenue in St. Paul Saturday on the report of a woman stabbed and being held against her will. When they arrived, several attempts to announce their presence went ignored, so they gained entrance to the residence through the back patio door. They then located Blackwell and a 21-year-old woman on the floor of the living room.
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Wife arrested in Camp Shelby MP’s shooting

Wife arrested in Shelby MP’s shooting
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jan 24, 2012 9:55:05 EST
HATTIESBURG, Miss. — The wife of a Camp Shelby soldier has been charged with shooting him.

Forrest County Sheriff Billy McGee says 30-year-old Tiffany Wright was arrested Monday and charged with aggravated assault.

McGee says the shooting appeared to stem from a domestic issue.
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Hell and Back Again

UPDATE
Film about area Marine gets Academy nod
January 25, 2012 7:06 AM
HOPE HODGE - DAILY NEWS STAFF
A feature documentary about a Camp Lejeune Marine returning wounded from war was nominated for an Academy Award on Tuesday.

“Hell and Back Again,” directed by filmmaker Danfung Dennis, follows 26-year-old Marine Sgt. Nathan Harris as he deploys to Afghanistan in 2009 with Camp Lejeune’s Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines; sustains combat wounds; and returns to Jacksonville to recover and rebuild his life.

Dennis traveled with the unit as an embedded reporter during the deployment, observing firefights and missions from outside the wire. After Harris’ deployment was cut short by a machine gun bullet that tore through his midthigh and up to the center of his back, Dennis obtained permission to spend extended time with the Marine and his wife, Ashley, as they readjusted to life back home.

Harris told The Daily News when the film premiered last October that Dennis had become a part of the couple’s day-to-day life as a background presence for months, observing doctors’ appointments, rehabilitation and, at times, the tension and imbalance caused by combat wounds and post-traumatic stress.

Dennis told The Daily News Tuesday that his film was intended not to communicate a specific message, but to acquaint Americans with the unvarnished realities of war.

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**2012 ACADEMY AWARD®-NOMINATED DOCUMENTARY**

HELL AND BACK AGAIN– Releasing on Cable VOD, Digital, Blu-ray and DVD. An unprecedented exploration of the moving image and a film of uncommon intimacy, Danfung Dennis’s critically acclaimed, award-winning documentary, HELL AND BACK AGAIN, comes full circle as it lays bare the true cost of war. HELL AND BACK AGAIN premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and won Grand Jury and Cinematography prizes. The film premiered theatrically in October 2011 and continues to tour nationwide. HELL AND BACK AGAIN was nominated for Film Independent’s “Truer Than Fiction” Spirit Award and a Gotham Award for Best Documentary. Nominated for four Cinema Eye Awards, the film won Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography. Danfung Dennis is the recipient of International Documentary Association’s Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Filmmaker Award and the prestigious Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award. (Docurama Films).

"A tour de force...HELL AND BACK AGAIN stacks one astonishing shot atop the next: perfectly composed tracking sequences in the heat of battle; saturated moody low-light compositions in rainy North Carolina parking lots; gorgeous rich soundscapes." - The New York Times

"An astonishing technical achievement in war journalism and documentary filmmaking that may very possibly change the way conflicts are reported forever.” – CNN

Top 10 Films of 2011 - Associated Press, NPR Fresh Air, New York

2012 ACADEMY AWARD®-NOMINATED DOCUMENTARY, “HELL AND BACK AGAIN,” RELEASES TODAY ON CABLE VOD, BLU-RAY, DVD AND DIGITAL

Winner of 2011 Sundance Film Festival Prizes; IDA Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Filmmaker Award

In 2009, U.S. Marines launched a major helicopter assault on a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan. Within hours of being dropped deep behind enemy lines, 25-year-old Sergeant Nathan Harris’s unit (US Marines Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment) is attacked from all sides. Cut off and surrounded, the Marines fight a ghostlike enemy and experience immense hostility from displaced villagers caught in the middle.

Director Danfung Dennis, embedded as a photojournalist in Echo Company during the assault, captures the frontline action with visceral immediacy. When Sergeant Harris returns home to North Carolina after a life-threatening injury in battle, HELL AND BACK AGAIN evolves from a war exposé to the story of one man’s personal apocalypse.

Nominated for a 2012 Academy Award® for Best Documentary, HELL AND BACK AGAIN is available today via Cable VOD, digital download and streaming platforms, Blu-ray and DVD. The film will air on the PBS television series “Independent Lens” in May 2012 through a partnership with the producers and ITVS.

The “stars” of the film are Nathan Harris and his wife, Ashley (now 29 years old). They are self-aware, articulate, funny and generous. They have shared their most intimate and painful moments with the world in order to help us understand what they and hundreds of thousands like them are going through. Ashley's role in Nathan's rehabilitation is a great testimony to what thousands of women are going through, trying to maintain intimacy and normalcy while picking up the pieces of the lives of their husbands, sons, fathers or brothers.
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Florida Senate honors Veterans, passes Vet assistance package

Senate honors Veterans, passes Vet assistance package

By Kathleen Haughney January 24, 2012 10:03 AM
TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Senate passed a large Veterans' bill that combined several bills that had been put forth by various members of the Legislature.

The bill passed 40-0 with all members of the Senate serving as a co-sponsor.

* It allows individual judicial circuits to create court diversion programs for veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder or a traumatic brain injury

* Creates the Florida Veterans Hall of Fame Council within the Department of Veterans Affairs to take nominations for the Veterans Hall of Fame

* Create a vendor preference provision for veterans applying for state contracts

* Creates several specialty military license plates

* Designates Aug. 7 each year as Purple Heart Day

* Allows veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces who want to attend a public college or university to be considered a resident for tuition purposes
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Helping heroes: Brain scan for PTSD

Helping heroes: Brain scan for PTSD
Jan. 23, 2012
BACKGROUND: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event. Symptoms typically start within three months of a traumatic event. In a small number of cases, though, PTSD symptoms may not appear until years after the event. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event. Many people who go through traumatic events have difficulty adjusting and coping for a while. But with time and taking care of yourself, such traumatic reactions usually get better. In some cases, though, the symptoms can get worse or last for months or even years. Sometimes they may completely shake up your life. In a case such as this, you may have post-traumatic stress disorder. Getting treatment as soon as possible after post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms develop may prevent long-term post-traumatic stress disorder. (www.mayoclinic.com)
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China-based Cyber Attack Targets Department of Defense Access Cards

China-based Cyber Attack Targets DoD Access Cards

January 24, 2012
Military.com|by Mike Hoffman
Cyber security firms have discovered a computer virus that uses servicemembers’ network security cards to hack into government networks.

How does it work? servicemembers receive an email with an official-looking PDF file connected to the virus that allows it to record keystrokes, said Jaime Blasco, lab manager for Alien Vault, a California-based cyber security firm. The virus then collects a service member’s personal identification number associated with a Common Access Card when he logs into a government computer.
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4 Ft. Carson Soldiers Hurt In Rollover Accident After Driver Falls Asleep

4 Ft. Carson Soldiers Hurt In Rollover Accident
Four Fort Carson soldiers were injured early Sunday morning when their car hit a guardrail on I-25 south of Garden of the Gods road.
Posted: 5:26 AM Jan 22, 2012
Reporter: KKTV

Four Fort Carson soldiers were injured early Sunday morning when their car hit a guardrail on I-25 south of Garden of the Gods Road.

The soldiers were heading back to the Mountain Post when the driver dozed off at the wheel just after 3 a.m. Their car drifted off the road, hit a guardrail and flipped.
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Gay service members in Afghanistan post ‘It Gets Better’ for youths being bullied

LGBT service members in Afghanistan post ‘It Gets Better’ video to encourage youth bullied because of sexuality
Organized by OutServe, the military's association of active LGBT members

BY RHEANA MURRAY / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Monday, January 23 2012,

OUTSERVE
Three of the military's OutServe members who posted an "It Gets Better" video from Bagram, Afghanistan.

A group of military service members are the latest to use the Internet to send a viral message to LGBT youth - "It gets better."

Four LGBT service members in Bagram, Afghanistan posted the video as part of a campaign to combat suicide against teens bullied because of their sexuality, Military Times reported.

In the two-and-a-half minute clip, the four Air Force service members urge kids to stay strong and true to who they are, regardless of their sexual orientation.

"Whether you're gay, straight, bisexual, transgender, genderqueer - whatever, no one should be put down because of who they are," one female service member says.

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A Returning Marine’s Struggle with PTSD

A Returning Marine’s Struggle with PTSD
COW Blogs : Bob Gillen's Blog :

Writer/director Nick Brennan’s latest film, A Marine’s Guide to Fishing, focuses on a Marine veteran struggling with both physical wounds and PTSD when he returns to his former life. “I was drawn to the story first and foremost by the realization that I couldn’t count a single close friend of mine that had served in Iraq or Afghanistan. It was a pretty sad realization given how long the wars had been going on.”

Brennan also thought this wasn’t unusual for many civilians today. His insight led him to use his senior thesis film (he attended NYU’s Tisch program) to explore the stories of young veterans.

“I was also interning with the investigative unit at ABC News at the time,” Brennan says, “and ended up covering a few big stories on Afghanistan, which gave me another insight into the war.” After a lot of time spent talking with vets, and with considerable research, Brennan zeroed in on the issues of PTSD and the process of reintegration into society.
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