Bragg soldier killed in N.C. hunting incident
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Dec 31, 2012
SANFORD, N.C. — Authorities say a hunter who died after being shot in Lee County was a Fort Bragg soldier.
Staff Sgt. Robert Devitto, 26, joined the Army in 2005 after graduating from high school in Pennsylvania, according to The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer. He served tours in Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Friends found Devitto on Dec. 18 with buckshot wounds to his face and chest after he didn’t return home from duck hunting alone on state wildlife game lands. He died three days later. His death is being investigated as a homicide.
read more here
Monday, December 31, 2012
Two tour Iraq veteran lost everything in fire
At 21 Steven Stack has now survived two deployments into Iraq and now, a fire.
Iraq War Vet Loses Everything In Condo Fire
CBS
Edward Moody
December 28, 2012
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A large fire ripped through more than a half-dozen condos in Uptown Minneapolis Friday morning, sending huge clouds of smoke into the air and one resident to the hospital.
The flames quickly chewed through three floors at the 100-year-old building on Lake Street and Irving.
The fire burned for hours before dozens of firefighters could finally get the upper hand. The culprit was found to be unattended candles.
The people who lived in the eight-unit building lost everything. Among them was a young Iraq War veteran who says he’s been trying to get back on his feet.
Steven Stack says he heard about the fire while riding the bus on his way home from work.
“I did not expect that it was the building I’ve been staying in,” he said. “You go to work, you get off and you just plan on going about your day.”
Stack says he served two tours of duty in Iraq. The 21-year-old army specialist says he’s been working through post-traumatic stress disorder. He says seeing flames shooting out of his building didn’t help his condition.
read more here
God and family helped homecoming soldier
Soldier Adjusts to Life at Home After Afghanistan
By BRENNAN LINSLEY
Associated Press
FOUNTAIN, Colo.
December 31, 2012 (AP)
First Lt. Aaron Dunn deployed to Afghanistan in early March 2012. His 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, was charged with engaging Taliban fighters in Kunar Province and mentoring Afghan government soldiers. Upon returning, here are some of his views.
Coming home:
By BRENNAN LINSLEY
Associated Press
FOUNTAIN, Colo.
December 31, 2012 (AP)
First Lt. Aaron Dunn deployed to Afghanistan in early March 2012. His 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, was charged with engaging Taliban fighters in Kunar Province and mentoring Afghan government soldiers. Upon returning, here are some of his views.
Coming home:
"War and coming home are going to mean different things to each soldier. For me it was God and family. I get my security in life from my hope in God, and my companionship and support from my family. I really didn't worry too much during deployment, because of that faith."
read more here
Soldier from Ocala Florida killed in Afghanistan
Update
Miami Herald
Relatives tell the Ocala Star-Banner that Sims got married in October, and his wife is pregnant.
Miami Herald
Relatives tell the Ocala Star-Banner that Sims got married in October, and his wife is pregnant.
North Florida private killed in Afghanistan
December 31, 2012
HERALD STAFF REPORT
A Florida soldier who was on his first deployment to Afghanistan was killed this weekend in an explosion, the Pentagon said Monday.
Army Pfc. Markie T. Sims, 20, of Citra, north of Ocala, died Saturday in Panjwal, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device, according to a Defense Department statement.
Read more here
17 Year old prank called suicide prevention hotline
Suicide hot line prank call highlights mental health services available to area families
By Kathryn Brenzel
The Express-Times
December 30, 2012
A call confessing suicidal thoughts sent swarms of law enforcement descending on a house where they expected to possibly find a slain teenage girl and her father, who’d confessed to shooting her.
What they found was a 17-year-old Mansfield Township boy who’d invented the plot as a prank, police say.
The teen, later charged with creating false public alarm, allegedly called a Warren County suicide prevention hot line and said he’d shot his daughter and was thinking of turning the gun on himself. Several agencies responded, ultimately wasting resources and incurring overtime costs, said Mansfield Township police Lt. Michael Reilly.
The threshold of anonymity on suicide hot lines is crossed when the caller threatens harm to others or themselves. At that point, law enforcement is contacted, Reilly said.
“It puts everyone at risk because we don’t know what we’re responding to,” he said of the prank. “Everybody’s short on resources. Any major event, we all help each other out.”
The alleged joke highlighted the severity of making false reports, but it also showed how a county network can react to crises involving children and their families.
Communication between crisis intervention, law enforcement and other mental health agencies is key to quickly and accurately responding to situations, said Warren County Prosecutor Richard Burke.
read more here
By Kathryn Brenzel
The Express-Times
December 30, 2012
A call confessing suicidal thoughts sent swarms of law enforcement descending on a house where they expected to possibly find a slain teenage girl and her father, who’d confessed to shooting her.
What they found was a 17-year-old Mansfield Township boy who’d invented the plot as a prank, police say.
The teen, later charged with creating false public alarm, allegedly called a Warren County suicide prevention hot line and said he’d shot his daughter and was thinking of turning the gun on himself. Several agencies responded, ultimately wasting resources and incurring overtime costs, said Mansfield Township police Lt. Michael Reilly.
The threshold of anonymity on suicide hot lines is crossed when the caller threatens harm to others or themselves. At that point, law enforcement is contacted, Reilly said.
“It puts everyone at risk because we don’t know what we’re responding to,” he said of the prank. “Everybody’s short on resources. Any major event, we all help each other out.”
The alleged joke highlighted the severity of making false reports, but it also showed how a county network can react to crises involving children and their families.
Communication between crisis intervention, law enforcement and other mental health agencies is key to quickly and accurately responding to situations, said Warren County Prosecutor Richard Burke.
read more here
How Badly Will Budget Cuts Hurt Troops?
How Badly Will Budget Cuts Hurt Troops?
Dec 31, 2012
Stars and Stripes
by Joyce Tsai
WASHINGTON -- In the final presidential debate, President Barack Obama declared to the American people with unflinching certainty that sequestration “will not happen.”
Two months later, the Jan. 1 deadline is looming, with no debt reduction deal in sight.
Now what?
How quickly and deeply will these automatic defense budget cuts totaling about $500 billion over the next decade hit troops, Defense Department civilians and contractors?
And how much will they hurt?
Many experts agree: “The sky is not going to suddenly fall on Jan. 2,” said Todd Harrison, a defense budget expert at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington think tank. “In fact, we are likely to see hardly any impacts in that first week.”
But in the weeks that follow, the D0D could begin implementing the furlough plan for civilian employees that was announced before Christmas by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.
The Defense Department could hit the entire civilian workforce -- about 700,900 full-time employees -- with furloughs. In that instance, offices would not be shuttered.
Furloughs would come in waves and in a rolling manner, so only a handful of civilian employees from each department would stay home without pay each month.
read more here
Dec 31, 2012
Stars and Stripes
by Joyce Tsai
WASHINGTON -- In the final presidential debate, President Barack Obama declared to the American people with unflinching certainty that sequestration “will not happen.”
Two months later, the Jan. 1 deadline is looming, with no debt reduction deal in sight.
Now what?
How quickly and deeply will these automatic defense budget cuts totaling about $500 billion over the next decade hit troops, Defense Department civilians and contractors?
And how much will they hurt?
Many experts agree: “The sky is not going to suddenly fall on Jan. 2,” said Todd Harrison, a defense budget expert at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington think tank. “In fact, we are likely to see hardly any impacts in that first week.”
But in the weeks that follow, the D0D could begin implementing the furlough plan for civilian employees that was announced before Christmas by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.
The Defense Department could hit the entire civilian workforce -- about 700,900 full-time employees -- with furloughs. In that instance, offices would not be shuttered.
Furloughs would come in waves and in a rolling manner, so only a handful of civilian employees from each department would stay home without pay each month.
read more here
Wounded Times Year End Thank You
Wounded Times Year End Thank You
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
December 31, 2012
It has been a crazy, busy, year. In May I finished Valencia College Digital Media Certification. Not bad, ended up with a 3.1 GPA.
The top post this year as well as last year was For Those I Love I will Sacrifice with a total of 35,038 views.
In November I re-released For the Love of Jack, His War/My Battle the book I self published in 2002 trying to warn families about what they were facing with combat and PTSD.
Last month I started a new book, The Warrior SAW, Suicides After War, because of requests from families needing help when someone they love committed suicide. I hope to have it finished next month.
I need your prayers while I get through this because it is emotionally draining.
Up until I was done with college, I didn't want to ask for donations because it just didn't seem right.
In August, I finally received my tax exempt from the State of Florida and was able to start getting donations. Up until then, all the work I did, the travel, equipment, food, phone and everything else was coming out of my husband's pocket. Usually it runs between $1,000 and $2,000 a month depending on how much traveling I have to do. While this is really low for a charity, what I do does not cost much at all, but when you are talking about taking the money out of your personal budget, it hurts!
Donations for 2012
This is what your money helped me do and I thank you very much for your support. You helped all of these groups get some attention for the work they are doing.
Stunt Show Motorcycle Crash
Orlando Bikers Against Child Abuse
February 3
Memorial Service for John Michael Barrett
February 7
WWII Four Chaplains Service
February 12
WWII Montford Point Marine
February 22
Veterans Walk of Honor
March 8
Memorial Service for Daniel Hurley
March 10
DAV Dinner for Wounded Warriors
March 10
Nam Knights Bike Week Party
Dannis Bish
April 12
Three Wounded Veterans
April 15
Orlando Marines Come Home
April 18
Dannis Bish Memorial Service
April 19
MOMS
April 22
Vietnam Wall Escort
April 29
Guitarists Plays With One Hand
April 29
Veterans Reunion
May 7
Medal of Honor Sammy Davis
Combat? Talk About It
Nam Knights Homes For Our Troops Fundraiser
MOH Sammy Davis Shenandoah
May 27
Ocoee Memorial Day
May 28
Vietnam War Museum Memorial Day
May 31
Glen Haven Memorial Day
June 17
Orlando DAV Volunteers
DAV Convention Candy Man
Member of the Year Award I ended up filming myself getting the Auxiliary Award
June 23
Home Depot Helps DAV
June 28
VFW Military Awards
July 18
Orlando DAV New Officers
July 22
Rebel Rider Magazine Anniversary
July 28
Funeral for Capt. Bruce MacFarlane
August 7
Purple Heart Day
August 18
Lukas Nursery Butterfly Encounter about Spiritual Healing
August 29
DAV Van Dedication
September 15
Orlando Marines Fundraiser
Orlando US Navy Chief Petty Officers
September 23
Renewal of Vows Ambush
October 18
Nam Knights Memorial Dannis Bish
Nam Knights Memorial Eternal Chapter
November 11
Healing PTSD with Horse Power
November 18
Giving Thanks for Veterans
December 8
Coast Guard Fill the Boat
December 16
Coast Guard Fill the Boat Wrap Up
December 22
Brothers in Bras
Videos created for 2012
All of these videos from this year, as well as videos done going back to 2006, were all done for free! The donations above, while deeply appreciated, were not enough to cover the cost of going to these events during the year. The editing program to turn footage into videos is $2,500. Camera equipment along with everything else is very expensive. My car is getting old on top of everything else, so if you want to see more veterans events covered next year, I'm counting on you to carry me through!
Remember, your donations are tax deductible and also cover spiritual counseling I do with veterans and their families.
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
December 31, 2012
It has been a crazy, busy, year. In May I finished Valencia College Digital Media Certification. Not bad, ended up with a 3.1 GPA.
The top post this year as well as last year was For Those I Love I will Sacrifice with a total of 35,038 views.
In November I re-released For the Love of Jack, His War/My Battle the book I self published in 2002 trying to warn families about what they were facing with combat and PTSD.
Last month I started a new book, The Warrior SAW, Suicides After War, because of requests from families needing help when someone they love committed suicide. I hope to have it finished next month.
I need your prayers while I get through this because it is emotionally draining.
Up until I was done with college, I didn't want to ask for donations because it just didn't seem right.
In August, I finally received my tax exempt from the State of Florida and was able to start getting donations. Up until then, all the work I did, the travel, equipment, food, phone and everything else was coming out of my husband's pocket. Usually it runs between $1,000 and $2,000 a month depending on how much traveling I have to do. While this is really low for a charity, what I do does not cost much at all, but when you are talking about taking the money out of your personal budget, it hurts!
Donations for 2012
August 24, 2012Lenny $25.00
August 25, 2012Rofkens $20.00August 26, 2012Fearless $10.00Theresa $50.00August 27, 2012John $10.00August 28, 2012Ed and Sue $50.00Veterans Multi-purpose Center $100.00Thomas $25.00September 4, 2012Ivy $25.00Aaron $50.00September 18, 2012VFW $1,000October 13, 2012Judith, $10.00November 2, 2012Richard $50.00November 12, 2012Kim $20.00November 13, 2012Steve $100.00November 14, 2012Michael and Patricia $200.00November 27, 3012Brian $20.00December 6, 2012Lenny $20.00December 16, 2012Nam Knights $200.00
This is what your money helped me do and I thank you very much for your support. You helped all of these groups get some attention for the work they are doing.
Videos filmed for veterans around Central Florida for 2012
January 22Stunt Show Motorcycle Crash
Orlando Bikers Against Child Abuse
February 3
Memorial Service for John Michael Barrett
February 7
WWII Four Chaplains Service
February 12
WWII Montford Point Marine
February 22
Veterans Walk of Honor
March 8
Memorial Service for Daniel Hurley
March 10
DAV Dinner for Wounded Warriors
March 10
Nam Knights Bike Week Party
Dannis Bish
April 12
Three Wounded Veterans
April 15
Orlando Marines Come Home
April 18
Dannis Bish Memorial Service
April 19
MOMS
April 22
Vietnam Wall Escort
April 29
Guitarists Plays With One Hand
April 29
Veterans Reunion
May 7
Medal of Honor Sammy Davis
Combat? Talk About It
Nam Knights Homes For Our Troops Fundraiser
MOH Sammy Davis Shenandoah
May 27
Ocoee Memorial Day
May 28
Vietnam War Museum Memorial Day
May 31
Glen Haven Memorial Day
June 17
Orlando DAV Volunteers
DAV Convention Candy Man
Member of the Year Award I ended up filming myself getting the Auxiliary Award
June 23
Home Depot Helps DAV
June 28
VFW Military Awards
July 18
Orlando DAV New Officers
July 22
Rebel Rider Magazine Anniversary
July 28
Funeral for Capt. Bruce MacFarlane
August 7
Purple Heart Day
August 18
Lukas Nursery Butterfly Encounter about Spiritual Healing
August 29
DAV Van Dedication
September 15
Orlando Marines Fundraiser
Orlando US Navy Chief Petty Officers
September 23
Renewal of Vows Ambush
October 18
Nam Knights Memorial Dannis Bish
Nam Knights Memorial Eternal Chapter
November 11
Healing PTSD with Horse Power
November 18
Giving Thanks for Veterans
December 8
Coast Guard Fill the Boat
December 16
Coast Guard Fill the Boat Wrap Up
December 22
Brothers in Bras
Videos created for 2012
All of these videos from this year, as well as videos done going back to 2006, were all done for free! The donations above, while deeply appreciated, were not enough to cover the cost of going to these events during the year. The editing program to turn footage into videos is $2,500. Camera equipment along with everything else is very expensive. My car is getting old on top of everything else, so if you want to see more veterans events covered next year, I'm counting on you to carry me through!
Remember, your donations are tax deductible and also cover spiritual counseling I do with veterans and their families.
New Hampshire Nam Knights welcome home Jose Pequeno
If you know the Nam Knights, they do this kind of thing all the time and I do mean "kind" so it is great to see the New Hampshire Nam Knights get some recognition for how much they really do care about the men and women risking their lives everyday. Jose Pequeno was a police chief and was wounded in Iraq. The Nam Knights are members of law enforcement, firefighters and veterans.
Former police chief Jose Pequeno, injured in Iraq, comes home
By RAY DUCKLER Monitor staff
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Iron Mike and Rhino never saw it coming.
They never figured Jose Pequeno, the former Sugar Hill police chief, would react as he did Friday at the Concord airport. Hadn’t that brain injury Pequeno suffered in Iraq pushed him into a world of darkness? Hadn’t that grenade tossed into his humvee nearly seven years ago wiped clean his memories, his emotions, his very identity?
That’s what people like Iron Mike and Rhino, along with the others with the rugged nicknames and the biker jackets and the barrel chests, thought when they greeted Pequeno on his trip home for Christmas.
Instead, Pequeno cried.
So the tough guys did, too.
“I saw him shortly after he came home from Iraq, and he was still in and out of surgery back then, in real rough shape,” said Iron Mike, whose real name is Mike Dempsey. “It’s very personal, but I feel as if he recognizes who we are now. When we talked to him, you could see his eyes light up and his face light up. To me, that tells me that he recognizes the voice, that he gets excited and makes it known through his own way.”
Dempsey is a 51-year-old former Marine with a gravely voice and a passion for motorcycles. He rode with Pequeno’s father in the Nam Knights of America, a philanthropic organization of retired law enforcement officers and military veterans.
They raise money, and they roll out the red carpet for people like Pequeno.
Four Nam Knights joined hands to lower Pequeno down the stairs, off a plane flown by a volunteer pilot from Land O’ Lakes, Fla., where Pequeno is now being cared for by his mother and sister. His wife and three kids still live here, in the small North Country town of Lisbon.
read more here
Sunday, December 30, 2012
'Spiritual Triage' Training for Military Chaplains in Orlando
'Spiritual Triage' Training for Military Chaplains
Dec 25, 2012
Orlando Sentinel
by Richard Burnett
During more than a decade of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. military chaplains often found themselves caught between heaven and hell: one moment leading a prayer service, the next dodging enemy fire to be at the side of a dying soldier.
From loss, grief and post-traumatic stress to plain old holiday blues, combat chaplains have seen it all in responding to calls for help from soldiers struggling with issues of faith and doubt, life and death.
Now, with the U.S. out of Iraq, operations winding down in Afghanistan and military spending under budget-cutting pressure, the Army is calling on Central Florida's computer-simulation training industry to create new "virtual" exercises for chaplains -- at a bargain price.
By all accounts, it is the first time the local training-simulation industry has tackled the sometimes thorny issue of war and faith. Considered the country's largest cluster of military-training contractors, the local industry is known more for high-tech weapons simulators than for counseling simulations -- much less religious ones.
Yet training-simulation engineers in Orlando are now crafting "serious-game" software to lead chaplains through a "virtual battlefield" in which they respond to injured and dying soldiers. Dubbed the "Spiritual Triage Trainer," it is based on a combat-medic training simulator that the Army has been using for the past several years.
"The Army's chaplain school really doesn't have a budget for these kinds of things, so we were looking for something we already have that we could reuse," said Beth Pettit, chief of medical-simulation training at the U.S. Army Research Lab's simulation-technology center in Orlando. "We saw this as low-hanging fruit: a low-cost system that could be turned around relatively quickly."
read more here
Dec 25, 2012
Orlando Sentinel
by Richard Burnett
During more than a decade of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. military chaplains often found themselves caught between heaven and hell: one moment leading a prayer service, the next dodging enemy fire to be at the side of a dying soldier.
From loss, grief and post-traumatic stress to plain old holiday blues, combat chaplains have seen it all in responding to calls for help from soldiers struggling with issues of faith and doubt, life and death.
Now, with the U.S. out of Iraq, operations winding down in Afghanistan and military spending under budget-cutting pressure, the Army is calling on Central Florida's computer-simulation training industry to create new "virtual" exercises for chaplains -- at a bargain price.
By all accounts, it is the first time the local training-simulation industry has tackled the sometimes thorny issue of war and faith. Considered the country's largest cluster of military-training contractors, the local industry is known more for high-tech weapons simulators than for counseling simulations -- much less religious ones.
Yet training-simulation engineers in Orlando are now crafting "serious-game" software to lead chaplains through a "virtual battlefield" in which they respond to injured and dying soldiers. Dubbed the "Spiritual Triage Trainer," it is based on a combat-medic training simulator that the Army has been using for the past several years.
"The Army's chaplain school really doesn't have a budget for these kinds of things, so we were looking for something we already have that we could reuse," said Beth Pettit, chief of medical-simulation training at the U.S. Army Research Lab's simulation-technology center in Orlando. "We saw this as low-hanging fruit: a low-cost system that could be turned around relatively quickly."
read more here
Formerly homeless vet finds a place in a widow's heart and home
Ken Reusser obituary in the LA Times brings a lot more meaning to this already wonderful story about his widow Trudy.
Now that you know the backstory on this, read what Trudy Reusser did.
He received 59 medals during his career, and his 253 combat missions are considered the most ever by a Marine pilot.
After his retirement, he worked for Lockheed Aircraft, where he helped develop the U-2 spy plane, and then the Piasecki Helicopter Co. Retiring to his native Oregon, he was active in veterans groups.
He and his wife, Trudy, made headlines in 2004 when they defiantly refused to leave their home after it went into foreclosure. The couple had lost much of their retirement savings in a high-risk investment and then a swindle by a bookkeeper. Ultimately they were forced to obey a court order.
Now that you know the backstory on this, read what Trudy Reusser did.
Formerly homeless vet finds a place in a widow's heart and home
Published: Tuesday, December 25, 2012
By Mike Francis
The Oregonian
If there's one thing on which everyone -- activists, columnists, elected officials, cabinet secretaries, even the president of the United States -- seems to agree, it's that Americans should support military veterans.
Bind their wounds. Give them jobs. Provide them counseling. Welcome them home. Easy to say, harder to do.
This is the story of one welcoming. It involves a 73-year-old Milwaukie widow and her housemate, a 67-year-old Vietnam veteran.
She was married for almost 35 years to a legendary military aviator, living in a place she and her husband built before he died three years ago.
And he is her helper, sleeping in a warm bed in her spare bedroom, out of the cold and the rain since she invited him in.
If Trudy Reusser and Norm Gotovac seem an unlikely pair, that's because you don't know Reusser.
"She is a wonderful lady," says her friend, Kay Saddler of Hemlock, Ore. "She would give the shirt off her back and the shoes and socks off her feet if it would help a veteran."
Reusser. Why is that name familiar?
Military history buffs will know instantly: Ken Reusser is the most decorated Marine pilot in history. He displayed extraordinary bravery in combat not once, but repeatedly, across decades. He is, it is believed, the only pilot to have survived being downed in World War II, the Korean War and in Vietnam. He was awarded the Navy Cross twice, the Legion of Merit with V twice, the Distinguished Flying Cross five times, four Purple Hearts and numerous other commendations.
read more here
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