Monday, November 26, 2012

US Marine's murder in Bel-Air caught on cam

US Marine's murder in Bel-Air caught on cam
report from Maan Macapagal ABS-CBN News
Posted at 11/26/2012

MANILA, Philippines - A closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera recorded the mauling and stabbing of a member of the US Mission to the Philippines by 4 men in Makati on November 24.

The CCTV footage from the corner of Rockwell Drive and Kalayaan Avenue in Bel-Air, Makati City at around 4 a.m. Saturday shows the victim, George Anikow, walking home to Bel-Air Subdivision.

He asked the guard how he could get in.

The guard answered that the gate is always closed between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.

A Volvo car then arrived with 4 men on board.

The guard asked where they were going and checked their IDs.

Anikow suddenly joined the conversation and hit the side of the car with his hand.
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Marine's Dad surround by love and more Marines

Yesterday I posted this story. Dad of Marine killed in accident wants stolen memories back I couldn't imagine how this Dad felt. By the response around the country, it looks like it really pulled at our hearts.

Marine's dad gets nationwide support
Photos of late Marine Gregory Courtney stolen
Monday, 26 Nov 2012
By Ken Kolker

GOBLES, Mich. (WOOD) - A Marine dad who made a desperate plea to burglars to return the memories they stole of his son said he has received support from around the country since telling 24 Hour News 8 his story.

Many of his son's Marine buddies have offered to gather up their videos and photographs and send him those.
read more of this great story here

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Finding Peace With Combat PTSD

In 2002 I self published For the Love of Jack so that families like mine would not have to learn the hard way how to find peace living with Combat PTSD. Everything I was afraid of happened.

Suicides and attempted suicides went up. Families fell apart. Older veterans realized they did not escape Vietnam as much as they thought they did. Newer veterans came home to the same issues all generations faced before them but as millions of dollars were spent every year, charity after charity collected more and more money, they went without the help they needed.

The book is no online again after being provided for free on my old website.

If you want an inside look at what was known so long ago, read my book and then you'll know that nothing is impossible. They can heal and so can their families if they are finally told what they needed to know.

You can also watch my videos on the above link to Great Americans to help you understand what it took 30 years for me to learn.

For the Love of Jack His War/My Battle: Finding Peace With Combat PTSD
Authored by Kathie Costos
List Price: $10.00
6" x 9" (15.24 x 22.86 cm)
Black & White on Cream paper
268 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1481082570 (CreateSpace-Assigned)
ISBN-10: 1481082574
BISAC: Biography and Autobiography / Military

The battle to save the lives of combat veterans is not lost and it is not new. 18 veterans and more than one active duty service member take their own lives each day. More attempt it.

Kathie Costos is not just a Chaplain helping veterans and their families, not just a researcher, she lives with it everyday. Combat came home with her Vietnam veteran husband and they have been married for 28 years.

She remembers what it was like to feel lost and alone.

Everything you read in the news today about PTSD is in this book originally published in 2002 to serve as a guide to healing as well as a warning of what was coming for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

If you see a link this book with a different cover, it is not a legal copy. It was pulled from the original publisher years ago.

Deputies had no warning man had history of mental health crisis

Baldwin sheriff: Deputies had no warning before man with mental health history started shooting AL.com
By Brendan Kirby
November 24, 2012

Baldwin County Deputy Scott Ward, left, died on Friday, Nov. 23, 2012, during a violent confrontation with Michael J. Jansen, right, according to law enforcement officials
MARLOW, Alabama – Deputy Scott Ward and two other law enforcement officials had no warning before a man with a history of mental health problems started firing shots from a 9mm handgun, Baldwin County Sheriff Huey “Hoss” Mack said today.

The Friday evening shooting in this community east of Fairhope resulted in the deaths of both Ward and Michael J. Jansen, and left a second deputy critically wounded.

“A number of gunshots were fired by Mr. Jansen and the deputies. Both deputies were shot numerous times. I don’t have the number of gunshots,” Mack said. “We’re still working the scene even today.”

Mack said autopsies had been performed on both Ward and Jansen, but he added that he has not seen the report.

Ward, 47, was a 15-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office and previously served as a Prichard police officer. He also was a Coast Guard Reserve officer who had served in Afghanistan.

Citing an ongoing internal affairs investigation, Mack would not release the names of the other deputies involved. He said the wounded deputy is a sergeant who was the shift supervisor. The sheriff said that the third deputy, who was not hurt, has been with the Sheriff’s Office for about a year.
read more here

Baldwin County Deputy Killed Served In Afghanistan

Military family start charity to help other just like them

Couple pay it forward with charity
MIKE DUNHAM
Anchorage Daily News
Posted : Saturday Nov 24, 2012

ANCHORAGE, Alaska— Rich and Tonya Watson are looking for a few good gifts. The couple’s nonprofit enterprise, Christmas for Heroes, is collecting Christmas presents for wounded soldiers and their families attached to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

The holidays can be particularly difficult for injured military personnel, the Watsons say — and they speak from experience.

Rich, a 1993 graduate of Service High School in Anchorage, was seriously wounded in Iraq in 2007.

“A grenade launcher blew up behind me in a crossfire,” he said.

He suffered traumatic brain injuries and was sent back to Fort Lewis, Wash., the home base of his outfit, the 2nd Infantry Division, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

Tonya, who had been working as a substitute teacher and nurse’s assistant, quit work to take care of him.

“Most of his appointments were at the Seattle Veterans Administration Hospital because the military hospital on base was overloaded with other wounded,” she said.

The cost of driving him back and forth to Seattle three or four times a week, the loss of her paycheck and the end of the additional pay he received while in a combat zone combined to create what Tonya described as “a financial disaster.”

It looked like the Watsons and their three children would miss out on Christmas.

“We didn’t have anything,” Rich said. “We didn’t have a tree. We were thinking of skipping a car payment to buy a few presents.”

Then a Seattle law firm stepped in to help.

“To this day we still don’t know the name of the firm,” said Tonya. “But they gave us the Christmas we would have been missing if not for them.”

Other groups helped the Watsons buy food and pay bills.

“After that, we wanted to find a way to show our gratitude and pay it forward,” she said.
read more here