Rudy Eugene Victim Ronald Poppo's Family Didn't Know He Was Alive
(PHOTOS, VIDEO)
Posted: 05/31/2012
The family of the Miami homeless man whose face was chewed off by a naked assailant Saturday thought he was dead for years, CBS Miami reports.
"I tried to reach him, but I just thought he killed himself,” said Ronald Poppo's sister, Antoinette.
“And we really thought he was no longer on this earth.”
Antoinette Poppo said the family hasn't heard from Ronald, 65, in 30 years. Details of his life after he attended New York's prestigious Stuyvesant High School in the 1960s remain scarce, traced in a string of mostly petty arrests, hospital records, and a call to the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust last week from the Jungle Island zoo, where Poppo had been sleeping on the roof of the parking garage.
read more here
Thursday, May 31, 2012
50 Years Later, Honoring Vietnam Veterans
50 Years Later, Honoring Vietnam Veterans
by ALLISON KEYES
May 28, 2012
Vietnam veterans never got the homecoming many feel they deserved. On Monday, a group of veterans, the Department of Defense and others will begin the first of many ceremonies to honor those who served and commemorate the 50th anniversary of the start of the Vietnam War. Events will be planned over the next 13 years, concluding with the fall of Saigon. Many will gather Monday at the Vietnam Memorial Wall for a wreath ceremony, including President Obama.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Today, Memorial Day, the government is beginning 13 years of events commemorating the 50th anniversary of America's involvement in the Vietnam War, from the early combat operations of 1962 to the fall of Saigon in 1975. Today is the first event. President Obama is joining the secretary of defense and other dignitaries at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. They're expected to call on organizations ranging from veterans groups to corporations to help create events expressing gratitude to those who served in Vietnam. NPR's Allison Keyes reports.
ALLISON KEYES, BYLINE: Air Force Master Sergeant Lloyd Chuning(ph) was nearly speechless as he stood in front of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial for the first time.
MASTER SERGEANT LLOYD CHUNING: It comes home when you see all the names.
KEYES: Chuning and his wife Valerie stood at the midpoint of the reflective black granite wall as workers set up for today's ceremony. He thinks it'll be a good public acknowledgement for his service in Vietnam in 1970 and '71.
CHUNING: It's enough. It's a lot more than what was done in the past.
to listen and read more click here
by ALLISON KEYES
May 28, 2012
Vietnam veterans never got the homecoming many feel they deserved. On Monday, a group of veterans, the Department of Defense and others will begin the first of many ceremonies to honor those who served and commemorate the 50th anniversary of the start of the Vietnam War. Events will be planned over the next 13 years, concluding with the fall of Saigon. Many will gather Monday at the Vietnam Memorial Wall for a wreath ceremony, including President Obama.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Today, Memorial Day, the government is beginning 13 years of events commemorating the 50th anniversary of America's involvement in the Vietnam War, from the early combat operations of 1962 to the fall of Saigon in 1975. Today is the first event. President Obama is joining the secretary of defense and other dignitaries at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. They're expected to call on organizations ranging from veterans groups to corporations to help create events expressing gratitude to those who served in Vietnam. NPR's Allison Keyes reports.
ALLISON KEYES, BYLINE: Air Force Master Sergeant Lloyd Chuning(ph) was nearly speechless as he stood in front of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial for the first time.
MASTER SERGEANT LLOYD CHUNING: It comes home when you see all the names.
KEYES: Chuning and his wife Valerie stood at the midpoint of the reflective black granite wall as workers set up for today's ceremony. He thinks it'll be a good public acknowledgement for his service in Vietnam in 1970 and '71.
CHUNING: It's enough. It's a lot more than what was done in the past.
to listen and read more click here
Nam Knights Washington DC 2012
Crystal City Hilton Hotel was taken over again by the Nam Knights!
My husband and I missed it again this year so we were really happy to see this video. I hope we make it there next year because we sure do miss this huge gathering.
My husband and I missed it again this year so we were really happy to see this video. I hope we make it there next year because we sure do miss this huge gathering.
Veteran with four tours of duty dies after flu-like symptoms
Stow Army veteran with four tours of duty dies after flu-like symptoms
By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published: May 31, 2012
STOW: The scene played out as if it were written in Hollywood.
Sarah Razzaia was inside a restaurant near Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Tacoma, Wash. Jason Joseph Vargo, a soldier, was just home from his second tour in Iraq.
They wound up at the same table. They started talking.
That night, Vargo took her for a ride in his new VW GLI and while driving, it started to rain. The song For a Dancer by Jackson Browne came on his CD player. He asked her to dance — right there in the rain.
A year later, in 2007, they were married.
“Fate brought us together,” Sarah Vargo said Wednesday in her Stow apartment, surrounded by family, pictures of her husband, his medals and his uniform.
A week ago, Jason Vargo, only 29, died of a heart attack.
read more here Linked from Stars and Stripes
By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published: May 31, 2012
STOW: The scene played out as if it were written in Hollywood.
Sarah Razzaia was inside a restaurant near Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Tacoma, Wash. Jason Joseph Vargo, a soldier, was just home from his second tour in Iraq.
They wound up at the same table. They started talking.
That night, Vargo took her for a ride in his new VW GLI and while driving, it started to rain. The song For a Dancer by Jackson Browne came on his CD player. He asked her to dance — right there in the rain.
A year later, in 2007, they were married.
“Fate brought us together,” Sarah Vargo said Wednesday in her Stow apartment, surrounded by family, pictures of her husband, his medals and his uniform.
A week ago, Jason Vargo, only 29, died of a heart attack.
read more here Linked from Stars and Stripes
210 jobs veterans can get with year of training
210 jobs veterans can get with year of training
By Rick Maze
Staff writer
Posted : Thursday May 31, 2012
The Labor Department has identified 210 occupations in which unemployed veterans could find work after as little as one year of education and training through the new Veterans Retraining Assistance Program.
But House staffers say there is reason to believe the list is not complete.
The 210 occupations will be covered by a $1.6 billion program that gives veterans age 35 to 60 one year of additional education benefits to retrain into a field where they can get work. The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee staff, however, noticed that long-distance truck driving was not mentioned.
“There is a shortage of 300,000 qualified truck drivers in this country right now,” said Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. “Yet truck driving is nowhere in the Department of Labor’s list of in-demand jobs.”
read more here and get list
By Rick Maze
Staff writer
Posted : Thursday May 31, 2012
The Labor Department has identified 210 occupations in which unemployed veterans could find work after as little as one year of education and training through the new Veterans Retraining Assistance Program.
But House staffers say there is reason to believe the list is not complete.
The 210 occupations will be covered by a $1.6 billion program that gives veterans age 35 to 60 one year of additional education benefits to retrain into a field where they can get work. The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee staff, however, noticed that long-distance truck driving was not mentioned.
“There is a shortage of 300,000 qualified truck drivers in this country right now,” said Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. “Yet truck driving is nowhere in the Department of Labor’s list of in-demand jobs.”
read more here and get list
Winter Park FL Glen Haven Memorial Day Service
Memorial Day service at Glen Haven Memorial Park, Winter Park Florida on May 28, 2012
Every year Baldwin Fairchild sponsors the Memorial Day Service at Glen Haven Memorial Park. This is one of the best things around for Memorial Day. The fallen from all wars are honored and so are the veterans.
Winter Springs Jr. ROTC does a wonderful job with everything they participate in but it is easy to tell this service is very special to them.
This is a video with the highlights of the service. Two singers stood out. One part of the Orlando Three sang God Bless The USA and Arnold Grace had delivered heart tugging Hero For Today.
Every year Baldwin Fairchild sponsors the Memorial Day Service at Glen Haven Memorial Park. This is one of the best things around for Memorial Day. The fallen from all wars are honored and so are the veterans.
Winter Springs Jr. ROTC does a wonderful job with everything they participate in but it is easy to tell this service is very special to them.
This is a video with the highlights of the service. Two singers stood out. One part of the Orlando Three sang God Bless The USA and Arnold Grace had delivered heart tugging Hero For Today.
Alabama closing Veterans Service Offices
Ala. veterans' services offices closing
Updated: Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Bob Johnson
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Seventeen veterans' service offices will close around the state, meaning ex-soldiers in some counties will have to travel to receive benefits or other assistance. The Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs says it closed the offices because of severe funding cuts to agencies funded by the state General Fund budget.
Spokesman Robert Horton said Tuesday that no employees will lose jobs because manpower will be consolidated in the other offices. The purpose of the offices is to help eligible veterans apply for and receive claims, Horton said. He said if the outlook of the General Fund improves, some offices may reopen. Horton said the workload facing the veterans' offices is increasing because of so many soldiers retuning from Iraq and Afghanistan and the aging population of those who served in Vietnam, Korea and World War II.
The offices will be closed effective June 1. Republican State Rep. Duwayne Bridges of Valley is a U.S Marine veteran. One of the offices scheduled to close is in Lanett in Chambers County in his district. "I hope as the economy turns around we'll be able to reopen that office," Bridges said. read more here
Updated: Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Bob Johnson
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Seventeen veterans' service offices will close around the state, meaning ex-soldiers in some counties will have to travel to receive benefits or other assistance. The Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs says it closed the offices because of severe funding cuts to agencies funded by the state General Fund budget.
Spokesman Robert Horton said Tuesday that no employees will lose jobs because manpower will be consolidated in the other offices. The purpose of the offices is to help eligible veterans apply for and receive claims, Horton said. He said if the outlook of the General Fund improves, some offices may reopen. Horton said the workload facing the veterans' offices is increasing because of so many soldiers retuning from Iraq and Afghanistan and the aging population of those who served in Vietnam, Korea and World War II.
The offices will be closed effective June 1. Republican State Rep. Duwayne Bridges of Valley is a U.S Marine veteran. One of the offices scheduled to close is in Lanett in Chambers County in his district. "I hope as the economy turns around we'll be able to reopen that office," Bridges said. read more here
WWII veteran with PTSD says "We were taught to be quiet"
If you have watched Ken Burns documentary The War you understand that when veterans came home before Vietnam, this is what they were all told. "We were taught to be quiet." and that is exactly what they did.
Vietnam veterans decided to do something about Combat PTSD. It is because of them we now have psychologists, mental health clinics, crisis responders along with over 40 years of research in trauma. It is not that they were the first to experience the residual effects of war, but they were the first to take a stand and have it acknowledged as a price they paid.
Here's a story about a WWII veteran and what he has lived with all these years in silence.
Vietnam veterans decided to do something about Combat PTSD. It is because of them we now have psychologists, mental health clinics, crisis responders along with over 40 years of research in trauma. It is not that they were the first to experience the residual effects of war, but they were the first to take a stand and have it acknowledged as a price they paid.
Here's a story about a WWII veteran and what he has lived with all these years in silence.
War leaves PTSD scars on Native American vets
By David Freed
CHCF Center for Health Reporting
May 30, 2012
Ruben Ramirez earned a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts as a World War II infantryman fighting Nazi troops in North Africa and Italy. The physical wounds he sustained in combat eventually healed. Not so his emotional injuries.
To this day, Ramirez, 86, a retired diesel mechanic and American Indian who traces his roots to the Apache nation, is tormented by recurrent nightmares of having witnessed his buddies being blown apart. He gets out of bed every few hours to patrol the perimeter of his house in Fresno.
However, it was not until 2008, after a broken marriage, a spotty employment record and more than 60 years of suffering, that Ramirez, one of an estimated 2,000 American Indian military veterans living in the Central Valley, finally sought treatment. Ultimately, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and received disability from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
"We were taught to be quiet," Ramirez said when asked to explain why it took him so long to seek counseling, which he continues to undergo weekly.
red more here
Missouri National Guard accused of looting after Joplin tornado?
When I read the headline, I could feel my blood pressure go up. I thought about how this would look when National Guards showed up to help but a few decided to help themselves. But,"One man's trash, another man's treasure" seems to apply here. They were told the items would be destroyed anyway. I changed my mind as soon as I read the rest of the article.
Do you think they should have been punished for this?
Do you think they should have been punished for this?
4 Guard Troops Looted Store After Joplin Tornado
May 31, 2012
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
by Matthew Hathaway
ST. LOUIS - The Missouri National Guard, after initially refusing to divulge reports about suspected looting by soldiers after the Joplin tornado, publicly released them this week under orders from Gov. Jay Nixon.
The investigative memos show that one day after a devastating tornado struck Joplin last year, four soldiers assigned to look for survivors pocketed video game equipment and a digital camera they found at a ruined Wal-Mart.
The heavily redacted documents do not identify the soldiers involved in what the documents refer to as incidents of "theft," but the memos give the soldiers' ranks: one sergeant and three specialists.
All the soldiers were demoted and had letters of reprimand placed in their personnel files, said Major Tammy Spicer, a spokeswoman for the Guard.
The soldiers believed that the merchandise was going to be destroyed, according to a memo written by Captain Matthew J. Brown, who investigated the matter.
read more here
Push continues for Lejeune toxic water victims
Push continues for Lejeune toxic water victims
May 30, 2012
JD News
AMANDA WILCOX
DAILY NEWS STAFF
A retired U.S. Marine drill sergeant has started a petition asking the Department of Veterans Affairs and Congress to provide medical care to the Camp Lejeune veterans poisoned by cancer-causing chemicals from 1957 to 1987.
Sgt. Jerry Ensminger started a petition on Change.org asking Congress and the VA to provide necessary medical care to the 200,000 people who lived on Camp Lejeune during the thirty-year period in which the water was contaminated with cancer-causing human carcinogens. The petition currently has over 76,000 signatures.
“We've made progress over the years,” said Ensminger in a press release, “but the measures we need now are being held up by politics. I hear from people who are suffering from the water every day. We need action, and we can't wait any longer.”
Ensminger lost his daughter, Janey, from childhood leukemia when she nine years old. He suspects the Camp Lejeune contaminated water is to blame.
Ensminger isn't the only one.
William Price, a former Marine who spent six years stationed on Camp Lejeune in the 1970s, filed a class action suit against the VA in December 2010. He currently suffers from liver and kidney disease.
read more here
May 30, 2012
JD News
AMANDA WILCOX
DAILY NEWS STAFF
A retired U.S. Marine drill sergeant has started a petition asking the Department of Veterans Affairs and Congress to provide medical care to the Camp Lejeune veterans poisoned by cancer-causing chemicals from 1957 to 1987.
Sgt. Jerry Ensminger started a petition on Change.org asking Congress and the VA to provide necessary medical care to the 200,000 people who lived on Camp Lejeune during the thirty-year period in which the water was contaminated with cancer-causing human carcinogens. The petition currently has over 76,000 signatures.
“We've made progress over the years,” said Ensminger in a press release, “but the measures we need now are being held up by politics. I hear from people who are suffering from the water every day. We need action, and we can't wait any longer.”
Ensminger lost his daughter, Janey, from childhood leukemia when she nine years old. He suspects the Camp Lejeune contaminated water is to blame.
Ensminger isn't the only one.
William Price, a former Marine who spent six years stationed on Camp Lejeune in the 1970s, filed a class action suit against the VA in December 2010. He currently suffers from liver and kidney disease.
read more here
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)