Baseball thanks veterans for their service

Baseball thanks veterans for their service
Several programs throughout big leagues aid and pay tribute to soldiers
Major League Baseball
By Meggie Zahneis
5/25/2013

Baseball and veterans: two of the most American institutions in the country.

And, now more than ever, they're closely linked to one another.

Marine Corporal Chad Ohmer, a Purple Heart recipient, was recognized Friday as the Reds' Hometown Hero.(MLB.com)

Across Major League Baseball, players and coaches will don Marine Corps-licensed jerseys and caps on Memorial Day, along with participating in a moment of silence before all games on Memorial Day weekend.

And that's just the start.

"The league itself thinks veterans are very important," said MLB vice president of community affairs Tom Brasuell. "We have a program called Welcome Back Veterans which was a vision of one of the owners [Fred Wilpon] of the New York Mets to make sure that veterans who were returning from Iraq and Afghanistan had the services they needed when they returned. Initially, we were providing grants to a number of non-profits who were helping vets and their families return to civilian life with jobs and job training, mental health and housing issues."

In 2009, the Robert B. McCormick Foundation partnered with MLB on what is now known as the Welcome Back Veterans Initiative, chipping in 50 cents to the dollar on MLB's initial $10 million donation.

Now, the Welcome Back Veterans Initiative sponsors seven university hospitals nationwide for research and treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) to aid veterans.
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Atlanta VA hospital blamed for visitor delivering drugs?

If you read Wounded Times you know there are huge problems along with plenty of things that we should be angry about. This time the situations are not about what the VA did but about what patients did.

Deaths at Atlanta VA Hospital Prompt Scrutiny
By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY
Associated Press
ATLANTA May 25, 2013 (AP)

One patient with a history of substance abuse and suicidal thoughts was left alone in a waiting room inside the Atlanta VA Medical Center, where he obtained drugs from a hospital visitor and later died of an overdose.

Another patient wandered the 26-acre campus for hours, picking up his prescriptions from an outpatient pharmacy and injecting himself with testosterone before returning voluntarily to his room.

The cases at the Atlanta VA Medical Center are the latest in a string of problems at Veterans Affairs facilities nationwide, prompting outrage from elected officials and congressional scrutiny of what is the largest integrated health care system in the country with nearly 300,000 employees.
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Should the patients have been locked up? No and there is only so much monitoring they can do otherwise but when you consider how the Congress covered their eyes when two wars were being fought yet they refused to force any accountability, it is a bit too late to start blaming the VA for something they didn't do.

Highway bridge collapses after trains collide

Seven injured in Missouri as trains collide, trigger highway bridge collapse
By Patrick Garrity
NBC News
May 25, 2013

Two freight trains collided and derailed early Saturday in southeast Missouri, then triggered the collapse of a highway overpass when several rail cars struck a support pillar.

Seven people were injured, including two personnel on the trains and five individuals in cars on the overpass on Highway M near Scott City, about 120 miles south of St. Louis, NBC affiliate KSDK reported. All the injured were hospitalized and listed in fair condition. The collision occurred before dawn at a rail intersection.

"One train T-boned the other one and caused it to derail, and the derailed train hit a pillar which caused the overpass to collapse," Scott County Sheriff's dispatcher Clay Slipis told Reuters.
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Veteran losing home to tornado 3 weeks after it was paid off

The media pushes the political divide in this country but the truth is far from a divided nation. When tragedy strikes, people show up to help strangers. That is what this country is all about.

“Just when you think the country is divided, you look around at all these people — many of whom don’t even live here (in Moore) — helping with the cleanup efforts and it reminds you that people are patriotic,” Department of Oklahoma Adjutant Lance Rooms said.

Veteran family returns home to debris
American Legion
By Cameran Richardson
May 23, 2013

Army veteran Frank Froman and his wife, Gisela, were at a gas station when the deadly tornado ripped through Moore, Okla., late afternoon on May 20; their six-month pregnant granddaughter was at their house alone. They returned home to find their granddaughter safe but were faced with the tornado’s aftermath — a pile of debris. And it was just three weeks ago that the Froman’s paid off their entire home mortgage.

“People are the most important thing. Everything else can be replaced,” Gisela said.

The route home from the gas station was shocking. “We couldn’t even find what road we lived on,” said Chris Froman, son of Franklin and Gisela. “Yet, we came into the neighborhood and a few blocks away it was normal — there wasn’t any damage to homes.”
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PTSD Level Black

Special Report: One soldier's struggle with PTSD
(Pt.1)
Posted:May 20, 2013
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow)

They fight for our country, but the price they pay for protecting our freedoms is sometimes their peace of mind. According to the Army, 5 - 25% of all soldiers who have been deployed to combat zones develop post-traumatic stress disorder. But Army officials say only 8% of soldiers who were deployed between 2001 and 2011 have been diagnosed.

Studies have reported that perhaps as many as two-thirds of all soldiers suffering from PTSD are not getting any treatment.

One Schofield Barracks' soldier is breaking the silence, and hopefully stigma, of living with PTSD. Staff Sergeant Billy Caviness is a Purple Heart recipient, who has proudly served his country for 16 years and is now struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder. He shared his story with Army videographer Staff Sergeant Robert Ham in the documentary

"Level Black: PTSD and the War at Home".

This is their story behind the story:

SSgt Billy Caviness says he couldn't shake the feeling something horrible was going to happen.

"I knew. I knew that morning when I walked out on the battlefield, on the COP, I knew it was coming and I did what I had to do," described SSgt Caviness. "Bottom line, I had a job to do."

It was SSgt Caviness' fourth, and ultimately final, tour of duty.
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America's oldest veteran at 107 to spend quiet Memorial Day

America's oldest veteran to spend quiet Memorial Day at Texas home
By Joshua Rhett Miller
Published May 24, 2013
FoxNews.com

For his 107th Memorial Day, Richard Arvine Overton, who saw many of his fellow soldiers fall in the line of duty in World War II and even more die over the following decades, is planning a quiet day at the Texas home he built after returning home from World War II. He wouldn’t want it any other way.

Overton, who is believed to be the nation's oldest veteran, told FoxNews.com he’ll likely spend the day on the porch of his East Austin home with a cigar nestled in his right hand, perhaps with a cup of whiskey-stiffened coffee nearby.
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Hundreds of crosses honor Floridians Sacrifice for Memorial Day

This morning I was went to Oviedo for the Memorial Cross Tribute to the fallen members of the military from Florida. Seeing the rows of memorials for those we lost in Iraq and Afghanistan would cause anyone to shed tears. I had quite a few of them. This is on display until Memorial Day.

Oviedo Historical Society Historical Center
200 West Broadway
Oviedo, FL 32765
407-971-5612

Oviedo Florida Memorial for Fallen

Oviedo Historical Society

Floridians sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan

Created by Jim Vanderbleek

Memorial on display through Memorial Day

Oldest Floridian Lt. Col. Peter Winston

In memory of the service dogs

Youngest Floridian Pfc. Charles M. Sims

For those who lost their battles back home.

Medal of Honor Staff. Sgt. Robert J. Miller from Oviedo

For all of the men and women serving this country in their place.

Air Force Team Reaches Everest Summit

Air Force Team Reaches Everest Summit
May 23, 2013
Seattle Times
by Hal Bernton

SEATTLE _ Even after repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Maj. Robert Marshall, an Air Force Special Operations pilot from Mercer Island, Wash., has rarely been content to stay at home.

Instead, he has hungered to climb mountains.

On Monday, Marshall was one of four active-duty airmen to climb to the summit of Mount Everest.

The ascent was the final climb in the USAF 7 Summits Challenge, co-founded by Marshall in 2005, which has sent Air Force climbing teams to the top of the highest peaks on every continent to honor fallen comrades and raise money for military charities. Marshall climbed six of the peaks, forced to retreat from Mount McKinley when he was called back from leave because of an upcoming deployment.

Once on top of Everest, he took off his oxygen mask to repeat a ritual begun on earlier peaks he had summited.

"I dropped down and did 30 push-ups," Marshall said in a satellite-phone interview Wednesday evening. "Everyone else on the summit was giving me a strange look, like 'What's this guy on?'"
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WWII Medal of Honor Hero Vernon McGarity passed away at 91

Medal of Honor Recipient Vernon McGarity Dies
May 24, 2013
Associated Press

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Former World War II Army squad leader and Medal of Honor recipient Vernon McGarity has died at age 91, a funeral home said Thursday.

McGarity died of cancer on Tuesday night in Memphis, said Taylor Loeffel, a spokeswoman for Memorial Park Funeral Home and Cemetery. Funeral services were set for Saturday.

President Harry Truman awarded the Medal of Honor to McGarity in October 1945.

According to the U.S. Army Center of Military History, McGarity was a Technical Sergeant in the 393d Infantry, 99th Infantry Division, during World War II.
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Florida Veterans Foundation has new Deputy Director from Winter Park

Last week I drove out to Merritt Island for a meeting at Brevard Veterans Memorial Center. Dr. William Vagianos nominated me to be his Deputy Director of District 5 serving East Central Florida. I was astonished by the group gathered together to make Florida better for our veterans. Considering Florida and Texas are only behind California for having the most veterans, the work Florida Veterans Foundation does is in high demand.

Florida Veterans Foundation
In 2008, the Florida Legislature established the Florida Veterans Foundation as a Direct Support Organization to the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs (FDVA).

As a Direct Support Organization, the Foundation is incorporated as a not for profit corporation under chapter 617, Florida Statutes, to provide assistance, funding and support for the FDVA in carrying out its mission of veterans' advocacy.

The Foundation operates for the direct and indirect benefit of the veterans of Florida, the FDVA, and veteran service organizations. The Florida Veterans Foundation is also a non-profit organization operating for charitable and educational purposes under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code to:

Educate the public about the needs of veterans; and,
Promote and aid charitable activities for the support of the livelihood and general welfare of Florida-resident veterans.

Mission

The Florida Veterans Foundation serves, supports, and advocates for Florida veterans to improve their well being.

The Florida Veterans Foundation:
Serves Florida veterans and their families by providing direct services and partnering with state and local governments, veteran service organizations, and educational institutions to improve their physical, financial, mental, emotional, and social well being;
Supports the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs’ mission of advocacy; and,
Advocates for Florida veterans by educating the public and governmental entities to increase awareness on veteran-related issues.

This morning I accepted the nomination, humbly because when you go to the link and see the people involved in this work, you'll know why.