Fallen soldier, Zack Shannon, honored by friends, strangers

Fallen soldier, Zack Shannon, honored by friends, strangers
Mar 25, 2013
Ashley Porter
WTSP.com

Dunedin, Florida-- From Tampa to Dunedin, crowds lined the streets with flags, signs, and sadness for a fallen soldier.

The reason behind their determination, waiting hours for the motorcade of Army Spc. Zack Shannon, could be summed up by the words of six-year-old Jacob Rooks: "Zack died for our freedom."

From the intersections of Clearwater to the sidewalks in front of Dunedin High School, one word resonated: hero.

Shannon was killed on March 11 in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. He was the first graduate of Dunedin High School and its JROTC program to ever be killed in action.

"Zack made a difference," says Commander Rick Schock, who taught Zack at Dunedin High School. "Zack was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was unfortunately killed in action. He wanted to fly helicopters, he wanted to be in the Army and when I last saw him, he was very, very happy."
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Final escort of Dunedin soldier comes through Tampa today
Times Staff
Monday, March 25, 2013
Go there for wonderful video.

Feds can’t keep up with ills from 2 wars

Study: Feds can’t keep up with ills from 2 wars
By Greg Zoroya and Greg Toppo
USA Today
Posted : Wednesday Mar 27, 2013

The federal government is failing to keep pace with a torrent of ailments and issues generated by two wars for the more than 2 million Americans who served overseas since 9/11, according to a sweeping assessment by a panel of leading scientists.

The nearly 800-page study, completed over four years by the Institute of Medicine and released Tuesday, portrays a nation struggling to anticipate and understand consequences of a decade of war and grueling demands placed on its military and unprecedented kinds of wounds troops have suffered.

The Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs are trying to help, but “the response does not match the magnitude of the problems, and many readjustment needs are unmet or unknown,” says the report by the institute, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences.

The nation waged war in Iraq and Afghanistan in unprecedented ways, the study found, using a limited-size, all-volunteer force; deploying troops repeatedly for up to 15 or 18 months at a time; allowing less than a year of rest between tours; and filling the military’s ranks with historically high numbers of women, parents, National Guard troops and reservists.
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my comment

The Washington Post reported in 2006 the Army found redeployments increased risk for PTSD by 50%, but did it anyway. RAND found resilience programs do not work and among the reasons are people cannot be "trained" to be resilient plus these programs do not work in military culture. There are so many reasons but no signs the DOD has learned from them. 900 Suicide Prevention programs and record level of suicides taught them nothing.

The most frightening thing of all is that I don't even have a degree but in 2009 I came right out and warned if they pushed the Resilience Programs, suicides would go up. How scary is that when hundreds of millions of dollars has been spent on "professionals" with degrees up the wahzoo haven't figured it out yet! But then again, this was on Army Times this morning too.

Army defends battlefield social science program
By Tom Vanden Brook
USA Today Posted : Wednesday Mar 27, 2013

WASHINGTON — Army Secretary John McHugh defended the use of military social scientists on battlefields despite some initial “command, training and personnel challenges” with the program in its early years

McHugh sent a letter recently to Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., a member of the Armed Services Committee who had raised concerns with McHugh about the Human Terrain System after USA Today reported that an internal Army report had found team members falsified time sheets to inflate their pay and had engaged in racial and sexual harassment. The program, launched in 2007 with civilian social scientists, was aimed at helping commanders understand local populations and avoid antagonizing them.

Army internal reviews, including a 2010 report obtained by USA Today under the Freedom of Information Act were used to “increase oversight, improve personnel selection and enhance effectiveness,” McHugh wrote to Hunter on March 15.

Hunter said he’s not convinced the program, which cost the military $58 million in 2013, is worth the investment.

“The problem here is that the Army’s take on things overlooks an investigation that raises some serious concerns and doesn’t account for program shortcomings and criticisms,” Hunter told USA Today.
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Human Terrain Systems CGI began in Canada with Serge Godin and Andre Imbeau revenue $1.4 billion and by 2012 it was $3.7 billion.

CGI Federal, Inc., Manassas, Va., was awarded a $42,485,968 firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. The award will provide for the procurement and development of the Human Terrain System. Work will be performed in Newport News, Va., with an estimated completion date of Sept. 27, 2016. The bid was solicited through the Internet, with four bids received. The U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command, Fort Eustis, Va., is the contracting activity (W911S0-11-D-0058).

Lockheed Martin MS2, Liverpool, N.Y., was awarded a $26,321,139 firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. The award will provide for the modification of an existing contract to support country field service representatives. Work will be performed in Liverpool, N.Y., with an estimated completion date of July 30, 2012. The bid was solicited through the Internet, with three bids received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., is the contracting activity (W15P7T-06-C-T004).

For dog lovers

K2 Solutions Corp.*, Southern Pines, N.C., is being awarded a $34,394,858 firm-fixed-priced contract for life cycle sustainment for the Marine Corps’ fleet of improvised explosive device detector dogs, including kenneling and daily care, operational training for Marine handlers, logistics support, transportation, support during overseas operations, and associated materials. The contract includes options, which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $91,022,617. Work will be performed in Southern Pines, N.C. (70 percent), Twentynine Palms, Calif. (20 percent), and overseas (10 percent), and is expected to be completed by September 2012. If all options are exercised, work will be completed March 2014. Contract funds in the amount of $34,394,858 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured as a total small business set-aside solicitation via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with two offers received in response to the solicitation. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity (M67854-11-C-3015).

This was from 2011

Jardon and Howard Technologies, Inc., Orlando, Fla., is being awarded a $3,700,178 modification, which brings the total of all prior modifications/increments to $7,656,178, under previously awarded contract (HQ0034-10-F-2094) to provide administrative support services to the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals. Work will be performed in Arlington, Va., Woodland Hills, Calif., and Fort Meade, Md., with an estimated completion date of Sept. 28, 2015. The bid was solicited through the Internet, with three bids received. Washington Headquarters Service is the contracting activity.

This was from 2005

Jardon and Howard Technologies Inc., Orlando, Fla., is being awarded a $7,568,727 ceiling amount firm-fixed-price, time and material contract for the Military Communities and Family Policy Services to provide the technical, training and administrative support required to implement programs on a national and international basis to provide innovative options for approaching the challenges that military members and their families encounter on a daily basis. Work will be performed in Orlando, Fla., and is expected to be completed in March 2006. Contract funds in the amount of $7,568,727 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, Orlando, Fla., is the contracting activity (N61339-05-C-0111).

along with this one

Jardon and Howard Technologies Inc., Orlando, Fla., is being awarded a $7,087,539 ceiling amount time and material contract for the Victim Advocates, Shelter and Seriously Disabled Veterans Services which are programs and initiatives offered by Military Communities and Family Policy Services to provide counseling for the seriously injured, victim and shelter services for victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault in the military services and provide the support necessary to manage and coordinate services and internships for seriously disabled veterans, as a result of their services on Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and the Global War on Terrorism. Work will be performed in Orlando, Fla., and is expected to be completed in March 2006. Contract funds in the amount of $7,087,539 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, Orlando, Fla., is the contracting activity (N61339-05-C-0109).

For more contracts go here

Veterans prefer face-to-face interaction to find jobs

Hiring Our Heroes 2013: Veterans prefer face-to-face interaction to find jobs
by Kristina Puga
03/27/2013

Today, more than 500 veterans attended the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring Our Heroes job fair in New York City. The program, which launched last year, is committed to hiring 500,000 veterans and military spouses by the end of 2014. So far, 108,000 have found jobs as part of the campaign in the last year.

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, there are currently 1.3 million Latino veterans — 308,000 of whom are from the Gulf War and have an 11.7 percent unemployment rate. This is almost two percentage points higher than non-veteran Latinos.

Ronal Arevalo, 30, was a specialist in the U.S. Army from 2003 until 2011 and has been looking for a stable job since 2012. He got to the fair bright and early and is feeling hopeful.

“I don’t have a college degree yet,” says Arevalo, who was born in Colombia, but is now a U.S. citizen residing in the Bronx, NY. “I learned leadership, discipline and can adapt to any environment thanks to the Army.”
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Ohio AG probe: Veteran service groups misused $10M

Ohio AG probe: Veteran service groups misused $10M
By LISA CORNWELL
Associated Press
March 27, 2013

CINCINNATI (AP) — A state investigation alleging more than $10 million in charitable funds held by veterans services organizations for job training and other services was misused also found that some veterans posts in Ohio set up fake career centers instead of using the money to help unemployed veterans.

The Ohio attorney general's office said an agreement between the state and the Columbus-based AMVETS Department of Ohio, Ohio AMVETS Career Center and AMVETS Department of Ohio Service Foundation requires reforms that include revamped accounting and reporting practices, written financial policies and the removal of personnel in various AMVETS offices and boards.

The probe found some of the 59 AMVETS posts in Ohio set up satellite career centers that were only "facades," amounting to little more than an "outdated computer in a corner," according to court documents filed Tuesday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court in Columbus. Some used the money intended for centers to reimburse themselves for items such as "rent" for the centers and to pay a member as a "career center coach," who often did little more than register veterans for an online course, the documents state.

Investigators who posed as veterans in need of job help said that they were often told a computer wasn't working or that a post had no career center.
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Disabled Vets at Walter Reed can't find parking?

"The lack of parking became a big issue in 2011, when 2,000 employees from the now closed Walter Reed hospital in northwest D.C. were reassigned to the Bethesda campus. There are plans to add more spaces over the next five-to-10 years."

Parking Crackdown at Walter Reed Patrols stop employees from taking spots away from patients
NBC Washington
Thursday, Mar 28, 2013

Parking at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda can be a challenge. Now, it's getting a little easier for veterans who go there for treatment but can't find a parking space. read more here

VA’s appalling failures not recent

VA’s appalling failures not recent
By Sid Salter/Syndicated columnist
The Picayune Item
March 27, 2013
STARKVILLE, Miss. — While recent national press attention to ongoing problems at Mississippi’s G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery Veterans Administration Medical Center in Jackson is welcome and needed, the failures of the overall VA service apparatus in Mississippi are not recent problems.

In short, former U.S. Rep. Sonny Montgomery — Mississippi’s “Mr. Veteran” and author of the modern G.I. Bill that bears his name — must be spinning in his grave. There have been significant failures and poor service to veterans documented by state and local media since 2008.

This month, the New York Times focused a national spotlight on complaints from five federal whistleblowers who accused the Jackson VA of missed diagnoses of fatal illnesses, improper sterilization of medical instruments and, in some cases, criminal conduct.

The newspaper article documented alleged abuses going back to 2009 and VA investigations and reports based on those allegations. In addition, the federal Office of the Special Counsel documented allegations that VA managers instructed public affairs employees to tell the press that “no violations were found to have occurred.”

On June 2, 2008, I wrote a lengthy news story for the Clarion-Ledger outlining the claims of a Mississippi whistleblower that brought to light improper benefit denials and poor service to veterans at the VA’s Jackson Regional Office.

In that report, I uncovered documents that showed that that claims for Mississippi’s then-233,888 military veterans — including Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans — weren’t being processed in a timely manner. Those claims led to a VA and congressional investigation.

The information documented that in April 2008, claims at the U.S. Veterans Affairs’ Jackson Regional Office were processed 53 percent slower than the national and regional average. That included claims from combat veterans seeking help for combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder.

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Sid Salter is right. It is not new and last night I was watching the Daily Show as Jon Stewart got angry about all of this but I left this comment about what had been happening.

VA assistant secretary blames others

I track all these reports and last night I was glad it was covered but wow are you wrong. The number of VA Service Reps was 1,516 in January of 2003 but in 2007 there were only 1,392. In 2000 the VA had 578,000 claims but went to 838,000 in 2008. That same year the VA was trying to do online claims. It was also later in the year of 879,291 in backlog including 148,000 Vietnam veterans who finally filed claims in 2007. That same year, the a defense contractor was given a contract for $2.7 million to make 555,000 phone calls to veterans to find out why they had not gone to the VA. Obama changed the rules for PTSD claims and Agent Orange Claims but with the mess that was there before, Congress didn't increase funding enough or hire enough staff to even catch up. Suicides are up and there are 900 DOD suicide prevention programs congress finds the money for but they are not working. RAND took a look among other researchers and found why they failed but DOD won't listen.

Marine, celebrating birthday hit by Gucci Mane for wanting picture

It was the Marine's birthday on top of everything else. He came back from Afghanistan in October. Now he has ten stitches in his head.

Gucci Mane Arrested After Allegedly Assaulting Soldier With Champagne Bottle
ABC News
By Kevin Dolak
Mar 27, 2013

Rapper and actor Gucci Mane had been arrested in Atlanta on assault charges after he allegedly hit a photo-seeking soldier in the head with a champagne bottle at a nightclub.

The rapper, whose real name is Radric Davis, turned himself in to police and was booked at the Fulton County Jail Tuesday. He was expected to go before a judge this morning. It’s unclear whether he has entered a plea.

Mane, 33, who plays a gang kingpin in the new movie “Spring Breakers,” was in the VIP area at the Harlem Nights club in Atlanta March 16 when a soldier approached the area to have a photo taken, according to ABC affiliate WSBTV.
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This is the report from before he was arrested.

Nearly 8 million U.S. residents have PTSD

More insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome with PTSD
By: SHERRY BOSCHERT
Clinical Psychiatry
News Digital Network

Nearly 8 million U.S. residents have PTSD, which is now recognized to be prevalent not only in veterans but in the broader population.

SAN FRANCISCO – Posttraumatic stress disorder independently increased the risk of insulin resistance by 80% and metabolic syndrome by 40% in a retrospective study of 207,954 veterans.

The incidence of insulin resistance was 14% higher and the incidence of metabolic syndrome was 12% higher in 11,420 veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), compared with 196,534 without PTSD, after adjusting for the effects of age, gender, ethnicity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, family history of premature coronary artery disease, and obesity, study coleader Dr. Ramin Ebrahimi reported at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology.

Insulin resistance is known to increase atherogenesis and atherosclerotic plaque instability, resulting in greater risk for MI. The cluster of conditions known as metabolic syndrome (hypertension, hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia, and abnormal cholesterol levels) has been associated with increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.
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Orlando officer shot at during struggle with suspect

Police: Orlando officer shot at during struggle with masked man on scooter
Suspect taken to hospital

Police: Orlando officer shot at during struggle with suspect

ORLANDO, Fla. —An Orlando Police officer was shot at by a suspect in the Baldwin Park neighborhood of Orlando on Wednesday afternoon, police said.

According to police, the officer was working in uniform and issued a citation to a driver during a traffic stop near the intersection of Fox Street and Juel Street.

A short time later, the driver of that vehicle returned to the scene on a scooter wearing a mask and intentionally ran a stop sign in front of the officer, police said. The officer tried to stop the suspect and he crashed his scooter, police said.
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Amputee Combat Medic relives it everyday on purpose

When I first posted this story all I could do was put WOW for the twitter feed. Now he is even more amazing than I thought he was. Watch the news report and know how incredible REdmond Ramos is.PTSD-Amputee-Combat Medic Afghanistan veteran helps troops train

Amputee veteran says reliving IED explosions in training exercises eases his PTSD
10 News
Michael Chen

SAN DIEGO - An amputee veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder is playing a major role in military training drills by reliving the trauma of his own injuries.

Through makeup and Hollywood special effects, the horrors of war are revealed in graphic detail and loud explosions during a training exercise at Stu Segall Productions.

Redmond Ramos is in the middle of the action and he is exactly where he wants to be.

"It's not necessarily a bad thing to relive it," he said.

Two years ago and three months into his first deployment to Afghanistan, Ramos – a Navy combat medic based at Camp Pendleton – stepped on an improvised explosive device, or IED.

"I just heard firecrackers and this big noise," said Ramos.

Months later, his leg had to be amputated.

He was medically retired and diagnosed with PTSD. Noises made him anxious, but he says the symptom subsided after a few months.

When he heard about the realistic training offered by Strategic Operations to help new Navy medics, he asked for a job.
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