Security Forces Airmen Add Tasers to Patrol Units
Jan 23, 2013
Air Force News
by TSgt. Dan Heaton
SELFRIDGE AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Mich.
Security Forces Airmen at Selfridge Air National Guard Base have begun using a new tool to protect the base.
Security Airmen are now being issued Taser electroshock weapons as part of their gear for use while on patrol around the base. In addition to providing overall base security, Security Forces personnel serve as law enforcement officers on the base and provide additional layers of security to sensitive areas, such as the base flight line.
Security Airmen said the Taser weapon will help them to "bridge the gap" between the use of verbal orders to an individual and the use of deadly force.
To prepare for the use of the weapon, security Airmen have been undergoing a series of classroom sessions, which includes a demonstration of the use of the weapon on several volunteers. During the January drill weekend, eight volunteers were tased as part of a training session, attended by several dozen Security Forces personnel.
"There's no doubt it works," said Senior Airman William Lizenby, shortly after he was on the receiving end of a five-second jolt of electricity from the Taser. "I couldn't move. It felt like it went on for far longer than the five seconds."
read more here
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Family of PTSD veteran, shot by police, pleads for help for others
Grieving family pushes for help for Veterans
Tucson News
Jan 23, 2013
By Paige Hansen
TUCSON, AZ
A tragedy for one local family is resulting in a push for more awareness for veterans who have post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Thirty-year-old Dustin Wernli was laid to rest over the weekend after he died last week after calling 911 saying he was a combat veteran with PTSD and was feeling suicidal.
Officers responded to the scene, speaking with Wernli for about 15 minutes before shooting him when Police say he reached for a gun. The veteran died at the hospital.
Hundreds of thousands of veterans are treated each year for PTSD nationwide. The VA in Tucson says last year alone, about 2,600 veterans came in for treatment. Wernli's family says their son was being treated for PTSD at the VA and getting private help. While there are lots of services available for veterans, the VA says they are very under-used.
"'Doc' (Dustin's nickname) and I talked a lot about how we prepared for the military," explained Michael Kase a friend of Dustin's and a fellow veteran. "Everything was physical because we knew all these physical hardships we'd encounter but neither of us did anything mentally or emotionally to prepare for those emotional hardships we were going to encounter."
Dustin's parents didn't want to talk on camera but want people to know their son was a good person, a field medic who during his nine months in Iraq, saw the worst of it and was responsible for trying to save lives.
read more here
Original news report
Navy Medic Iraq veteran with PTSD shot by police in Arizona
Related recent reports
Police shooting of PTSD soldier captured on video
Marine from Davie takes own life after battling demons of war
Army psychologist couldn't heal himself, lost battle to PTSD
Tucson News
Jan 23, 2013
By Paige Hansen
TUCSON, AZ
A tragedy for one local family is resulting in a push for more awareness for veterans who have post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Thirty-year-old Dustin Wernli was laid to rest over the weekend after he died last week after calling 911 saying he was a combat veteran with PTSD and was feeling suicidal.
Officers responded to the scene, speaking with Wernli for about 15 minutes before shooting him when Police say he reached for a gun. The veteran died at the hospital.
Hundreds of thousands of veterans are treated each year for PTSD nationwide. The VA in Tucson says last year alone, about 2,600 veterans came in for treatment. Wernli's family says their son was being treated for PTSD at the VA and getting private help. While there are lots of services available for veterans, the VA says they are very under-used.
"'Doc' (Dustin's nickname) and I talked a lot about how we prepared for the military," explained Michael Kase a friend of Dustin's and a fellow veteran. "Everything was physical because we knew all these physical hardships we'd encounter but neither of us did anything mentally or emotionally to prepare for those emotional hardships we were going to encounter."
Dustin's parents didn't want to talk on camera but want people to know their son was a good person, a field medic who during his nine months in Iraq, saw the worst of it and was responsible for trying to save lives.
read more here
Original news report
Navy Medic Iraq veteran with PTSD shot by police in Arizona
Related recent reports
Police shooting of PTSD soldier captured on video
Marine from Davie takes own life after battling demons of war
Army psychologist couldn't heal himself, lost battle to PTSD
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
No Excuse to vote against Violence Against Women Act
Let me make this perfectly clear as a survivor of domestic violence by two perpetrators. This country needs to stand up against criminals no matter what household title they have.
My Dad was a violent alcoholic until I was 13. He beat up my oldest brother most of the time, threatened my Mom and verbally abused all of us. He should have be arrested many times. By the grace of God all of us survived and my Dad stopped drinking then spent the rest of his life trying to make up for it. Still nothing could reverse the damage done to all of us. I forgave him but the rest of my family never really did.
My ex-husband was another story. We were not even married two years. 18 months after the day we got married, he came home one night and decided I should die. He started punching me and chasing me around the apartment while I fought back. Finally he got be on the floor, got on top of me punched me some more and then his hands were on my throat. Our landlady banged on the door screaming she had already called the police.
The officers took him to jail and he was out the next day. After all, it was just domestic violence. I got a restraining order but that did no good. That was over 30 years ago and things have changed but not by much. He was allowed to stalk me, and ruin my life but what got me was that when the judge order me to pay his healthcare coverage he topped that off with granting my ex-husband a divorce under cruelty because I fought back when he was trying to kill me.
Women are getting more and more equal treatment in this country and that is a wonderful thing but equality is not happening in too many houses. Don't let women go back to the dark days of what I went through. Home is the one place where we are supposed to feel safe.
To the women out there, my second marriage has lasted over 28 years now and I can tell you that just because one person treated you so badly, that person was a criminal and needed to face the punishment for his actions. You are worth of love but while it is hard to believe it, you are. My husband proved that to me and still does now.
My Dad was a violent alcoholic until I was 13. He beat up my oldest brother most of the time, threatened my Mom and verbally abused all of us. He should have be arrested many times. By the grace of God all of us survived and my Dad stopped drinking then spent the rest of his life trying to make up for it. Still nothing could reverse the damage done to all of us. I forgave him but the rest of my family never really did.
My ex-husband was another story. We were not even married two years. 18 months after the day we got married, he came home one night and decided I should die. He started punching me and chasing me around the apartment while I fought back. Finally he got be on the floor, got on top of me punched me some more and then his hands were on my throat. Our landlady banged on the door screaming she had already called the police.
The officers took him to jail and he was out the next day. After all, it was just domestic violence. I got a restraining order but that did no good. That was over 30 years ago and things have changed but not by much. He was allowed to stalk me, and ruin my life but what got me was that when the judge order me to pay his healthcare coverage he topped that off with granting my ex-husband a divorce under cruelty because I fought back when he was trying to kill me.
Senate gives Violence Against Women Act another try
A new version of the bill dropped a provision that helped House Republicans block it last year [UPDATED]
BY JILLIAN RAYFIELD
JAN 23, 2013
Though House Republicans blocked the Violence Against Women Act last year, the Senate is not giving up. A new version of the bill, co-authored by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, seeks to add pressure to House Republican leadership to reauthorize the law, which stalled and expired in September 2011, for the first time ever.
“This lifesaving legislation should be a top priority of the new 113th Congress,” Leahy said in a statement. “It is our hope that the Senate will act quickly to pass this strong, bipartisan bill to help all victims of domestic and sexual violence.”
“The Violence Against Women Act has helped countless victims of domestic and relationship violence for nearly 20 years,” Crapo said. “The path to reauthorization in the 113th Congress begins with reintroduction, and I look forward to working with Senator Leahy and my colleagues on compromise language that can garner the necessary support in both the Senate and House to pass this critical legislation.”
read more here
Women are getting more and more equal treatment in this country and that is a wonderful thing but equality is not happening in too many houses. Don't let women go back to the dark days of what I went through. Home is the one place where we are supposed to feel safe.
To the women out there, my second marriage has lasted over 28 years now and I can tell you that just because one person treated you so badly, that person was a criminal and needed to face the punishment for his actions. You are worth of love but while it is hard to believe it, you are. My husband proved that to me and still does now.
President Obama reunited with Vietnam veteran who inspired him
President Obama reunited with veteran who inspired him
Washington Post
By Karen Tumulty
Published: January 22
Five years ago, there had been a chance encounter in an Austin elevator between a Vietnam veteran and a future commander in chief. For the rest of the campaign, the candidate would carry the military patch that the stranger gave him that day.
On Tuesday, Earl Smith met Barack Obama again — this time, in the Oval Office.
The 68-year-old former infantryman gave the president a salute, and Obama returned it.
Over the years, the gift of that military patch had taken on an almost mythic significance among the Obama inner circle.
Obama carried it among about a dozen similar tokens that people had pressed upon him during the 2008 campaign, and he told aides that it was a reminder of why he had run for president in the first place.
Fri Jan 18 2013
When Earl Smith first met then Senator Obama in an elevator in February 2008 at the Hyatt Regency in Austin, his time with the future President was short. But Smith gave Obama something that he would carry with him for the rest of the campaign.
The Washington Post
Washington Post
By Karen Tumulty
Published: January 22
Five years ago, there had been a chance encounter in an Austin elevator between a Vietnam veteran and a future commander in chief. For the rest of the campaign, the candidate would carry the military patch that the stranger gave him that day.
On Tuesday, Earl Smith met Barack Obama again — this time, in the Oval Office.
The 68-year-old former infantryman gave the president a salute, and Obama returned it.
Over the years, the gift of that military patch had taken on an almost mythic significance among the Obama inner circle.
Obama carried it among about a dozen similar tokens that people had pressed upon him during the 2008 campaign, and he told aides that it was a reminder of why he had run for president in the first place.
He had served in Vietnam in a unit that suffered 10,041 casualties over the course of the war. From the time he had come home, the patch — which was the only shred he kept of his uniform — had been Smith’s lucky charm. Smith had survived the war, and endured three years in prison in the 1970s on charges for which he was later pardoned. He then built a successful career in the hotel industry, which took him and his patch halfway around the world again.
read more here
Fri Jan 18 2013
When Earl Smith first met then Senator Obama in an elevator in February 2008 at the Hyatt Regency in Austin, his time with the future President was short. But Smith gave Obama something that he would carry with him for the rest of the campaign.
The Washington Post
Military Divorce Rate Down Slightly in 2012
Military Divorce Rate Down Slightly in 2012
Jan 23, 2013
Military.com
by Amy Bushatz
The military divorce rate went down slightly in 2012, settling at 3.5 percent, according to Pentagon statistics released to Military.com on Tuesday.
Military officials and divorce experts are hopeful that the overall rate, which had crept slowly up from 2.6 percent in 2001 to 3.7 percent in 2011, is starting to move downward. Still, researchers are hesitant to call the decrease a real trend until they see it continue for a longer period.
“The sense is that things are possibly drifting down,” said Benjamin Karney, a researcher with the RAND Corp. who has studied military divorce. “Interpreting it is a challenge. As much as it would be terrific to say ‘Oh great, we’ve turned a corner,’ it’s really hard to do that in one year.”
The divorce rate is measured by comparing the number of married military members at the beginning to the end of the fiscal year while taking into account attrition, new recruits, and new marriages.
Between 2011 and 2012, the divorce rate went down slightly in every service among male and female servicemembers of all ranks.
Enlisted female soldiers and Marines, however, continue to experience the highest rate of divorce -- 9.4 percent and 9.3 percent respectively. In the Army, the female enlisted divorce rate is more than triple that of enlisted males. Still, those rates are down from the 2011 rates of 9.6 percent in Army and 9.8 percent in the Marine Corps.
Jan 23, 2013
Military.com
by Amy Bushatz
The military divorce rate went down slightly in 2012, settling at 3.5 percent, according to Pentagon statistics released to Military.com on Tuesday.
Military officials and divorce experts are hopeful that the overall rate, which had crept slowly up from 2.6 percent in 2001 to 3.7 percent in 2011, is starting to move downward. Still, researchers are hesitant to call the decrease a real trend until they see it continue for a longer period.
“The sense is that things are possibly drifting down,” said Benjamin Karney, a researcher with the RAND Corp. who has studied military divorce. “Interpreting it is a challenge. As much as it would be terrific to say ‘Oh great, we’ve turned a corner,’ it’s really hard to do that in one year.”
The divorce rate is measured by comparing the number of married military members at the beginning to the end of the fiscal year while taking into account attrition, new recruits, and new marriages.
Between 2011 and 2012, the divorce rate went down slightly in every service among male and female servicemembers of all ranks.
Enlisted female soldiers and Marines, however, continue to experience the highest rate of divorce -- 9.4 percent and 9.3 percent respectively. In the Army, the female enlisted divorce rate is more than triple that of enlisted males. Still, those rates are down from the 2011 rates of 9.6 percent in Army and 9.8 percent in the Marine Corps.
“The divorce rates are perhaps trickling down because the pace of deployment is getting slower,” he said. “Another possibility is that the economy is kind of bouncing back and military families are absolutely affected by the broader national economy, so maybe their lives are gradually getting easier.”
read more here
"Dirty Dozen" World War II hero James "Jake" McNiece passed away
WWII Hero, Inspiration for 'The Dirty Dozen,' Dies
Jan 23, 2013
UPI
World War II hero James "Jake" McNiece, whose behind-the-lines exploits helped inspire the film "The Dirty Dozen," has died, family members said. He was 93.
McNiece, a retired postal worker who spent most of his adult life in Ponca City, Okla., but lived his last years near family in Springfield, Ill., passed away Monday, The (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman reported.
McNiece led a group of soldiers nicknamed "The Filthy 13" on a paratroop mission behind German lines in the hours before the June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion by Allied forces.
Their mission was to destroy bridges and prevent German reinforcements from moving into Normandy and retreating forces from leaving.
read more here
Jan 23, 2013
UPI
World War II hero James "Jake" McNiece, whose behind-the-lines exploits helped inspire the film "The Dirty Dozen," has died, family members said. He was 93.
McNiece, a retired postal worker who spent most of his adult life in Ponca City, Okla., but lived his last years near family in Springfield, Ill., passed away Monday, The (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman reported.
McNiece led a group of soldiers nicknamed "The Filthy 13" on a paratroop mission behind German lines in the hours before the June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion by Allied forces.
Their mission was to destroy bridges and prevent German reinforcements from moving into Normandy and retreating forces from leaving.
read more here
Why do non-deployed soldiers commit suicide?
Why do non-deployed soldiers commit suicide?
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
January 23, 2013
The military points out that civilian suicides are up when defending the rise in military suicides pointing to financial problems, relationship issues and a long list of what all humans go through but they don't seem to accept the fact that the men and women entering into the military are not the same as the rest of the civilians or everyone would join.
Not every high school student takes ROTC to have college costs covered and prepare them for military careers. Not every student spends their lives thinking of doing nothing else with the rest of their lives. With less than 1% of the population of this country serving in the military, that is the best example of how rare it is for an 18 year to think of serving the country. If it is their life's mission then they have been fully educated on what comes with the hardest job in this country. If they join for the wrong reasons, then there are many issues to overcome for a young man or woman to be able to fulfill their commitment. Faced with the reality of not being cut out to be a soldier, they cannot just quit and get on with their lives. There are repercussions for quitting.
Army basic training is the time in which these young men and women really discover what they got themselves into. Some adjust easily, some need help but for a few of them there is no way to last. The discussion surrounding military suicides of non-deployed soldiers needs to include this before the reasons are understood and more can be rescued before it is too late to save their lives.
It is not just the physical training they have to complete, or bullets and bombs exposing them to what they will face in real combat or even the images of amputees coming home. This comes with part of the training some receive.
For a teen growing up hunting and killing animals, this is usually not a problem but for a city kid who only saw meat in the grocery store, this can be horrific. It is not just an animal that was wounded or killed. To them, it very well could be a symbol of what can happen to them and a harsh reality of what they got themselves into.
We can accept the fact that civilians get PTSD after a traumatic event but we can't seem to understand why a non-deployed soldier can end up with it because we do not consider military training as being traumatic. There is a huge difference between civilian PTSD and military PTSD because while civilians are under no real threat of the trauma happening more than once, in the military the treat is never ending. There is a difference between someone living with an abuser with the threat of being abused everyday and being the victim of a stranger crime. There is a difference between being the victim of a gun crime and being a member of law enforcement facing that risk everyday.
In the last 40 years, experts have done little to distinguish the differences between causes of the trauma and how the survivor spends the rest of their lives adjusting treatment according to their threat of more exposures to traumatic events. As of today, there are not enough psychologists specializing in trauma and even fewer in the military with this specialized training. If they really want to stop the suicides and stop using civilian suicides as an excuse, they need to start thinking about the realities of what they are asking compared to what they are giving.
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
January 23, 2013
The military points out that civilian suicides are up when defending the rise in military suicides pointing to financial problems, relationship issues and a long list of what all humans go through but they don't seem to accept the fact that the men and women entering into the military are not the same as the rest of the civilians or everyone would join.
Not every high school student takes ROTC to have college costs covered and prepare them for military careers. Not every student spends their lives thinking of doing nothing else with the rest of their lives. With less than 1% of the population of this country serving in the military, that is the best example of how rare it is for an 18 year to think of serving the country. If it is their life's mission then they have been fully educated on what comes with the hardest job in this country. If they join for the wrong reasons, then there are many issues to overcome for a young man or woman to be able to fulfill their commitment. Faced with the reality of not being cut out to be a soldier, they cannot just quit and get on with their lives. There are repercussions for quitting.
Army basic training is the time in which these young men and women really discover what they got themselves into. Some adjust easily, some need help but for a few of them there is no way to last. The discussion surrounding military suicides of non-deployed soldiers needs to include this before the reasons are understood and more can be rescued before it is too late to save their lives.
It is not just the physical training they have to complete, or bullets and bombs exposing them to what they will face in real combat or even the images of amputees coming home. This comes with part of the training some receive.
Medics can't stop the bleating at Fort Carson
While the military explores other approaches, our local post continues killing animals for training purposes
Colorado Springs Independent
by J. Adrian Stanley
January 23, 2013
'Live tissue training' at Fort Carson's Camp Red Devil claimed the lives of locally sourced goats last week.
The blood and guts are disturbing on their own, but what really churns the stomach are the sounds.
The sickening crunch of bones breaking under the pressure of hedge trimmers, the moans, and the joking and whistling of U.S. Coast Guard personnel as they spill the innards of still-breathing animals. This is documentation of a "live tissue training," an educational course for military medics that uses animals — usually goats and pigs — to simulate wounded soldiers.
The video was released by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in April 2012. Leaked by a concerned secret informant who filmed it in Virginia, it caused uproar among activists and government officials alike. It may have prompted the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act requirement that the military set a timeline by March to largely phase out the use of live animals in such training exercises.
Fort Carson spokesperson Maj. Earl Brown calls the PETA video "kind of horrifying." It's different when Fort Carson does LTT, he insists: "We do not torture or mutilate these animals in any way."
But Brown isn't going to apologize for the post using animals in its training, even as recently as last week at Camp Red Devil in Penrose. LTT is important preparation for the battlefield, he says, "because it allows the soldiers to deal with the stress of trying to stop the bleeding."
read more here
For a teen growing up hunting and killing animals, this is usually not a problem but for a city kid who only saw meat in the grocery store, this can be horrific. It is not just an animal that was wounded or killed. To them, it very well could be a symbol of what can happen to them and a harsh reality of what they got themselves into.
We can accept the fact that civilians get PTSD after a traumatic event but we can't seem to understand why a non-deployed soldier can end up with it because we do not consider military training as being traumatic. There is a huge difference between civilian PTSD and military PTSD because while civilians are under no real threat of the trauma happening more than once, in the military the treat is never ending. There is a difference between someone living with an abuser with the threat of being abused everyday and being the victim of a stranger crime. There is a difference between being the victim of a gun crime and being a member of law enforcement facing that risk everyday.
In the last 40 years, experts have done little to distinguish the differences between causes of the trauma and how the survivor spends the rest of their lives adjusting treatment according to their threat of more exposures to traumatic events. As of today, there are not enough psychologists specializing in trauma and even fewer in the military with this specialized training. If they really want to stop the suicides and stop using civilian suicides as an excuse, they need to start thinking about the realities of what they are asking compared to what they are giving.
CNN big news, not sure about Beyoncé singing anthem now
Marine Band says Beyoncé 'did not actually sing' during inaugural, then backpedals
January 22nd, 2013
Posted by CNN National Political Correspondent Jim Acosta
Washington (CNN) - Pop star Beyoncé opted to use a "pre-recording" of her rendition of the National Anthem during inaugural ceremonies in Washington Monday, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Marine Band told CNN Tuesday.
U.S. Marine Band spokeswoman Kristen DuBois said early Tuesday that "we know why the decision was made," adding that the pop star "did not actually sing," but instead lip-synched her own voice.
Later in the day, however, the Marine Corps said in a statement that no one in their organization "is in a position to assess whether [Beyoncé's vocal performance] was live or pre-recorded."
read more here
CNN seems to be lacking direction lately. This is from the Daily Show last night and as usual, Jon Stewart got it right.
January 22nd, 2013
Posted by CNN National Political Correspondent Jim Acosta
Washington (CNN) - Pop star Beyoncé opted to use a "pre-recording" of her rendition of the National Anthem during inaugural ceremonies in Washington Monday, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Marine Band told CNN Tuesday.
U.S. Marine Band spokeswoman Kristen DuBois said early Tuesday that "we know why the decision was made," adding that the pop star "did not actually sing," but instead lip-synched her own voice.
Later in the day, however, the Marine Corps said in a statement that no one in their organization "is in a position to assess whether [Beyoncé's vocal performance] was live or pre-recorded."
read more here
CNN seems to be lacking direction lately. This is from the Daily Show last night and as usual, Jon Stewart got it right.
Tuesday January 22, 2013
Inauguration 2013 - The First Black President 2 - Guns and God
In his inauguration speech, President Obama offers a progressive vision of America at odds with the boogieman Obama who lives only in the minds of his opponents. (03:29)
‘The Revenant,’ Horror Takes On Race And Military Suicide
Sometimes I read an article on Combat PTSD and decide to just move on because it is useless information or so wrong that no amount of countering it with cold-hard facts can fix it. This time, I am stunned by a reporter with a clear attempt of trying to understand Combat PTSD, yet getting it oh so wrong.
If you read the rest of this article, know this. This is about a horror movie and not about what is real for our veterans. Veterans with PTSD live with horror movies playing in the theater of their own minds with memories haunting them. To use them in a horror movie, especially one that has the subject being killed in combat coming back to life as zombie vampire.
This pretty much explains it. “The Revenant”: Zombies and vampires, via Tarantino
The fact this movie couldn't get a distributor for years should have been a good indication it should not have been done in the first place. When men and women killed in action are turned into this type of character it is sickening and fuels the image of PTSD veterans as some type of monster instead of what they truly are. As a wife of a Vietnam veteran with PTSD, I wish there were more movies about them in the real world and less movies like this using them to make money.
In ‘The Revenant,’ Horror Takes On Race And Military Suicide
Think Progress
By Betsy Phillips
Jan 22, 2013
This weekend I stumbled across The Revenant on Cinemax. According to Wikipedia, this film won a ton of awards, but I somehow missed it when it was in theaters (or maybe it never came to Nashville?) Either way, I was just looking for something cheesy to watch and there it was. It’s so good that I ended up watching it twice. (Fair warning: SPOILERS AHEAD.)
Not that it’s a perfect movie. It runs long and calls individual Wiccans “Wiccas.” But it’s really good.
The general premise of the movie is that Bart Gregory, played by David Anders, dies in the Iraq War and his body is shipped home for burial. He comes back from the dead, and his best friend, Joey, played by Chris Wylde, helps him cope, through murder, mayhem, and blood-drinking.
So, here, in The Revenant, when we’re watching a man come back from the dead and prowl through the streets for victims he’s not going to feel too bad about, we’re seeing a man come back from a war and find a society not set up for him to return to. I mean, not to put too fine a point on it, but he comes back from Iraq, scares the crap out of his friends with his behavior, becomes a criminal, accidentally kills his girlfriend, and then tries to kill himself, before being sent back into combat–as if being in combat has made him only good for killing.
It’s terrible to look straight at the fact that more people in the military died last year from suicide than in combat and that the military has an ongoing problem with people coming home and enacting violence on their loved ones. But, again, we see it on screen in The Revenant while we’re looking at something else.
read more here
If you read the rest of this article, know this. This is about a horror movie and not about what is real for our veterans. Veterans with PTSD live with horror movies playing in the theater of their own minds with memories haunting them. To use them in a horror movie, especially one that has the subject being killed in combat coming back to life as zombie vampire.
This pretty much explains it. “The Revenant”: Zombies and vampires, via Tarantino
Sure, I see what some of the issues are – an absence of recognizable stars, most notably – and for the first few minutes you’re not quite sure what kind of movie this is, or who the main character will be. We begin with Bart Gregory (David Anders), a young soldier from California, who gets killed in a mysterious roadside ambush in Iraq. (I told you this was made in 2009!) Back in L.A. at Bart’s funeral, his weepy girlfriend, Janet (Louise Griffiths), and his drug-addled best friend, Joey (Chris Wylde), allow their alcohol-fueled grief to push them into a passionate makeout session. Does that event have something to do with the fact that, later that night, Bart will force open his coffin and dig his way back to the surface?
The fact this movie couldn't get a distributor for years should have been a good indication it should not have been done in the first place. When men and women killed in action are turned into this type of character it is sickening and fuels the image of PTSD veterans as some type of monster instead of what they truly are. As a wife of a Vietnam veteran with PTSD, I wish there were more movies about them in the real world and less movies like this using them to make money.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
VA hospital shooter gets life in prison
VA hospital shooter gets life in prison
WTVR News
January 18, 2013
by Nick Dutton
RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – A judge has sentenced the man who pleaded guilty to shooting and killing a patient at McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center last year.
(the shooter) 55, of Blackstone, was sentenced to life in prison Friday morning.
Judge Henry Hudson said that Hayes was both calculating and ruthless. He also said Hayes presents a continuing threat to the Richmond community.
Hayes also had 22 other convictions including shooting into an occupied dwelling.
WTVR News
January 18, 2013
by Nick Dutton
RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – A judge has sentenced the man who pleaded guilty to shooting and killing a patient at McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center last year.
(the shooter) 55, of Blackstone, was sentenced to life in prison Friday morning.
Judge Henry Hudson said that Hayes was both calculating and ruthless. He also said Hayes presents a continuing threat to the Richmond community.
Hayes also had 22 other convictions including shooting into an occupied dwelling.
(The shooter) shot and killed James S. Lee, then tried to kill another person on hospital grounds during the February shooting.
Lee, an Army veteran receiving cancer treatments, was struck in the head and the eye during the morning shooting in the parking lot outside of the vast South Richmond facility. He was taken to VCU Medical Center, where his family said he was put on life support but showed no brain activity. Life support was removed. and Lee died.
read more here
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