South Carolina community welcomes home soldier wounded in Afghanistan

Rock Hill welcomes home soldier wounded in Afghanistan
Herald Online.com
By Jie Jenny Zou
Published: August 4, 2013

Aliyah hangs onto the arm of her dad, Army Spc. Michael Millwood, as members of the community welcome him home from Walter Reed hospital Sunday.
STEPHANIE MARKS MARTELL — Special to the Herald

The road along Bonnybrook Circle in Rock Hill was studded with little American flags staked into lawns and mailboxes adorned with yellow ribbons. Star-shaped balloons wavered in the light breeze on a balmy Sunday afternoon.

Then came the sounds of a fire engine, followed by the rumbling of hundreds of motorcycles and a cheering crowd.

Army Spc. Michael Millwood had returned home.

More than 100 friends, family and community members waited anxiously for the arrival of Millwood, who was returning home for the first time since an injury in Afghanistan shattered the femur bone in his leg earlier this year.

“He’s a lucky boy,” said his grandfather, Mike Bailey, 69. Bailey and his wife welcomed their grandson, along with his wife and kids, into the yard of Baileys’ home, which had been set up with lawn chairs and tents.

Dressed in a collared shirt and slacks, the 24-year-old Millwood was escorted by an array of military groups and local emergency personnel, including the recently returned Rock Hill-based Army National Guard 178th Engineer battalion, Patriot Guard Riders of South Carolina, Rolling Thunder of York County and Fire and Iron of York County.
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More thoughts of suicide point to Department of Defense failures

Survey: 30 Percent of New Veterans Have Considered Suicide
WHSV News
By: Garrett Wymer
August 4, 2013

STAUNTON -- A survey of new veterans shows a continuing trend of suicide after returning home from service overseas.

The survey, from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) reports that 30 percent of members have considered taking their own life.

Mac McCauley, Vietnam veteran and commander of VFW Post 2216 in Staunton, calls the high number "disturbing" and "unacceptable."
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This followed up the article from USA Today's Gregg Zoroya released on July 30.

Moreover, the Department of Veterans Affairs has uncovered evidence that this self-destructive trend is following many young veterans after they leave the service, adding to an estimated tally of some 22 suicides per day among veterans of all ages.

Did they think of killing themselves before Iraq? Before Afghanistan? The Gulf War or Vietnam? Yes, that has not changed but the reported percentage is higher. If you are wondering why then you need to know the truth. The fact is that the programs the Department of Defense has been pushing are part of the problem and not part of the solution. Read all about it here. All the OEF and OIF veterans had this training since the "programs" go back to 2008.

Hospital was supposed to take care of female veterans

They were supposed to be taking care of female veterans. Since they didn't think about where they would come from, they turned around and opened the door to males. Did they actually think that would serve the female veterans?

Treatment center for military females needs men to up numbers
Courier Post
Written by
Carol Comegno
Courier-Post Staff Aug. 5, 2013

WILLINGBORO — An in-patient hospital program for female active military or veterans with emotional disorders or addiction has been expanded to include men.

Despite an aggressive marketing campaign to attract them, a shortage of women has led administrators at Lady of Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County to open the Living Springs behavioral program to active-duty males or veterans.

Alexander J. Hatala, Lourdes Health System president and CEO, said the newly-opened program has been modified in order to treat men and women in the 21-bed Willingboro unit. The first male was admitted last week.

“When we originally designed Living Springs, our intention was to create a comfortable, safe environment where servicewomen or the female family members of servicemen could relate to each other during the recovery process,” Hatala said.

He said since the program was launched in December, the hospital discovered a number of impediments for women to step forward and seek care, despite the need for behavioral health services geared toward them.

Joanne Gianndrea, Lourdes’ vice president for military affairs, said one problem is the reluctance of women to enter an in-patient program, especially if they have children or are caregivers for someone else.

Another obstacle is locating potential patients.
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Not expected to live, his buddy carried him to safety

When all the political chatter about the worth of a war this is what it all comes down to. "Not expected to live, his buddy carried him to safety, frantically trying to control the bleeding." They risk their lives for each other. Plain, simple and astonishing. Once you understand how much love that requires then maybe you can understand how they can grieve so much.

Ocean City Hair Salon, Studio 6, hosts fundraiser for Maryland Wounded Warrior Lance Cpl. Mark Fidler
For the County Times
Updated August 3, 2013

Mark Fidler is greeted by Prince Henry of Wales, better known as Prince Harry, during his visit to Walter Reed. (Photo/Facebook)

OCEAN CITY — During his first combat mission in Afghanistan, Lance Cpl. Mark Fidler’s life would take an unexpected and tragic turn. While on foot patrol in Sangin, Afghanistan on October 3, 2011, he stepped on an IED (improvised explosive device.) With a belt of live grenades strapped to his waist, the blast was so severe that it blew off both of his legs, and most of the rear of his body.

Not expected to live, his buddy carried him to safety, frantically trying to control the bleeding. When he arrived in the hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, surgeons removed what was left of his legs at the hip, using the tissue and muscle to repair what was left of his backside.

Following a lengthy in-patient stay at Walter Reed National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, he is now rehabilitating at their out-patient facility known as Building 62.
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Courage at Keating: Second MoH, 9 Silver Stars

Courage at Keating: Second MoH, 9 Silver Stars for standout B Troop
Army Times
By Michelle Tan
Staff writer
Aug. 4, 2013

The battle at Combat Outpost Keating remains one of the deadliest attacks on U.S. forces since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan — and it is the first battle to produce two Medal of Honor recipients since the Battle of Mogadishu almost 20 years ago.

On Oct. 3, 2009, a force of about 50 Americans faced down as many as 400 enemy fighters intent on overrunning COP Keating in eastern Afghanistan.

Outnumbered and outgunned, the soldiers fought for hours, successfully fending off the enemy attack. Eight soldiers were killed and about two dozen others were wounded.

In February, former Staff Sgt. Clinton L. Romesha received the nation’s highest award for valor for his actions throughout the 13-hour battle.

Romesha’s troop-mate, Staff Sgt. Ty M. Carter, will be awarded the Medal of Honor during a White House ceremony Aug. 26.

Carter, 33, will be the fifth living service member to receive the Medal of Honor for actions in Afghanistan or Iraq. Seven service members have posthumously been awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions in those wars.
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The Would-Be Chaplain Who Doesn't Believe in God

And just where do they think non-believers should go when they need spiritual help? I have a problem with atheists wanting their own chaplain but given the choice of that or no one to talk to, something has to be done. As for congress putting a ban in place, that is among the most stupid stunts they have pulled. Consider the fact that military suicides and attempted suicides are at an all time high, there isn't much these folks have gotten right.

The Would-Be Chaplain Who Doesn't Believe in God
Stars and Stripes
by Leo Shane III
Jul 29, 2013

WASHINGTON -- Jason Heap wants to be a Navy chaplain. But he doesn't believe in God.

Belief in a higher power, the 38-year-old humanist argues, has nothing to do with that work.

"I am aware there are many who would be reticent or militant against that," he said. "But at the end of the day, my job is not to inculcate my viewpoints onto other people. My job as a chaplain is to be a facilitator, someone who cares for people, someone who is a sounding board."

Heap submitted his application to the Armed Forces Chaplains Board earlier this month, in an effort to become the first humanist chaplain in military history.

He holds master's degrees from Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University and Oxford University, and has almost finished a doctorate too. He has been teaching religious studies to teenagers in Britain for the last five years and has been conducting scholarly research on 17th century Baptist literature for longer than that.

He passed his physical and is eager to become a sailor.

Supporters argue he would be a shoo-in to serve as a chaplain if he were a practicing Christian.

But Heap's application comes at a time when lawmakers on Capitol Hill are pushing to bar atheists from joining the chaplain corps, arguing that only "religious" officials should be able to fill those roles.

Last week, House lawmakers approved an amendment to the annual defense authorization bill designed to block the Pentagon from accepting chaplains who don't believe in a god.
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Wounded veterans bond during nighttime gator hunt

To my friends back in New England, I still love our seafood but I have to tell you that gator tail is fantastic as long as it is cooked right. Fried Gator at the Lone Cabbage is out of this world.

Wounded veterans bond during nighttime gator hunt

Wounded Warriors Derek Stephens, left and Joseph "Buck" Parker, right, show off their catch Friday night on the banks of the Ocklawaha Prairie Restoration Area. A total of ten soldiers from the Wounded Warriors program went on a gator hunt on the restoration area Friday night, August 2, 2013. FWC gave them 11 "tags" to take gators. The event was hosted by the Marion County Sportsmen's and Air Boaters Association along with the St. Johns Water Management District.
Doug Engle/Ocala Star-Banner

Combat wounded Marine gets new leash for life

At ease, Marine: Blinded K-9 finds forever family in Spanish Springs
Shreveport Times
Aug. 3, 2013

A Marine veteran who went blind while in service to his country has found a home in Spanish Springs.

Since the nine-hour drive from Camp Pendleton in Southern California the last week in June, he has been getting accustomed to his new digs, meeting the family, taking naps, chewing on tennis balls and begging for belly rubs.

It’s OK.

His name is Asur, and he’s a dog.

Bunnie and Ross Laflin sit with Asur, a former Marine explosives dog, in the yard at their Spanish Springs home. Asur was left blind because of acute glaucoma. The Laflins adopted him through their daughter's nonprofit, Hounds and Heroes.
Guy Clifton/RGJ

The 4-year-old German shepherd, a bomb-detection specialist during his time in the Marines, has been adopted by Ross and Bunnie Laflin, whose ranch home overlooking the Spanish Springs Valley includes seven other dogs, two cats, four goats and three chickens — all rescued.

“He’s part of the family,” said Ross Laflin, a retired San Francisco police officer. “He and Rookie (one of the rescued dogs) sleep on the bed with me. He’s going to be a good dog.”
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VA Grants up to One Year Retroactive Benefits for Veterans Filing Fully Developed Claims

VA Grants up to One Year Retroactive Benefits for Veterans Filing Fully Developed Claims to Help Reduce the Backlog
August 1, 2013
New Benefit Takes Effect August 6 for First-Time Filers

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs announced today that Veterans filing an original Fully Developed Claim (FDC) for service-connected disability compensation may be entitled to up to one-year of retroactive disability benefits. The retroactive benefits, which are in effect Aug. 6, 2013, through Aug. 5, 2015, are a result of a comprehensive legislative package passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama last year.

“VA strongly encourages Veterans to work with Veterans Service Organizations to file Fully Developed Claims and participate in this initiative, since it means more money in eligible Veterans’ pockets simply by providing VA the information it needs up front,” said Allison A. Hickey, Under Secretary for Benefits. “At the same time, it helps reduce the inventory of pending claims by speeding the process.”

Filing an FDC is typically the fastest way for Veterans to receive a decision on their claims because Fully Developed Claims require Veterans to provide all supporting evidence in their possession when they submit their claims. Often, this is evidence that VA legally must attempt to collect on the Veteran’s behalf, which is already in the Veteran’s possession, or is evidence the Veteran could easily obtain, like private treatment records.

When Veterans submit such evidence with their claims, it significantly reduces the amount of time VA spends gathering evidence from them or other sources -- often the longest part of the claims process.

While VA will still make efforts to obtain federal records on the Veterans’ behalf, the submittal of non-federal records (and any federal records the Veteran may have) with the claim allows VA to issue a decision to the Veteran more quickly.

Typically, VA processes FDCs in half the time it takes for a traditionally filed claim.

FDCs can be filed digitally through the joint, DoD-VA online portal, eBenefits (www.ebenefits.va.gov). VA encourages Veterans who cannot file online to work with an accredited Veterans Service Organization (VSO) who can file claims digitally on Veterans’ behalf.

While submitting an FDC provides a faster decision for any compensation or pension claim, only Veterans who are submitting their very first compensation claim as an FDC are potentially eligible for up to one-year of retroactive disability benefits under the newly implemented law.

FDCs help eliminate VA’s claims backlog because they increase production of claims decisions and decrease waiting times. Also, VA assigns FDCs a higher priority than other claims which means Veterans receive decisions to their claim faster than traditional claims.

VA continues to prioritize other specific categories of claims, including those of seriously wounded, terminally ill, Medal of Honor recipients, former Prisoners of War, the homeless and those experiencing extreme financial hardship. As part of its drive to eliminate the claims backlog in 2015, VA also gives a priority to claims more than a year old.

In May, VA announced a new partnership with Veterans Service Organizations and others known as the “Community of Practice,” an effort that seeks to reduce the compensation claims backlog for Veterans by increasing the number of FDCs filed by Veterans and their advocates.

VA is continuing to implement several initiatives to meet the Department’s goal to eliminate the claims backlog in 2015. In May, VA announced that it was mandating overtime for claims processors in its 56 regional benefits offices to increase production of compensation claims decisions through the end of FY 2013. In April, VA launched an initiative to expedite disability compensation claims decisions for Veterans who have a waited a year or longer

As a result of these initiatives, VA’s total claims inventory remains at lower levels not seen since August 2011. The number of claims in the VA backlog – claims pending over 125 days – has been reduced by 17 percent compared to the highest point in March 2013.

Veterans can learn more about disability benefits on the joint Department of Defense—VA web portal eBenefits at www.ebenefits.va.gov, and the FDC program at www.benefits.va.gov/fdc/.

Fort Hood and the rarity of military executions

Fort Hood and the rarity of military executions
Associated Press
By NOMAAN MERCHANT
August 3, 2013

The last man executed in the military system was Pvt. John Bennett, hanged in 1961 for raping an 11-year-old girl. Five men are on the military death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., but none are close to being executed.

An inmate was taken off death row just last year. Kenneth Parker was condemned for killing two fellow Marines in North Carolina, including Lance Cpl. Rodney Page. But Parker was given life without parole last September by an appeals court. The court found his trial judge should have not allowed him to be tried for both murders at the same time, nor should the judge have allowed testimony that the appeals court said was irrelevant to the crimes.

DALLAS (AP) - Hundreds of unarmed soldiers, some about to deploy to Afghanistan, were waiting inside a building for vaccines and routine checkups when a fellow soldier walked in with two handguns and enough ammunition to commit one of the worst mass shootings in American history.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan doesn't deny that he carried out the November 2009 attack at Fort Hood, Texas, which left 13 people dead and more than 30 others wounded. There are dozens of witnesses who saw it happen. Military law prohibits him from entering a guilty plea because authorities are seeking the death penalty. But if he is convicted and sentenced to death in a trial that starts Tuesday, there are likely years, if not decades, of appeals ahead.

He may never make it to the death chamber at all.

While the Hasan case is unusually complex, experts also say the military justice system is unaccustomed to dealing with death penalty cases and has struggled to avoid overturned sentences.

Eleven of the 16 death sentences handed down by military juries in the last 30 years have been overturned, according to an academic study and court records. No active-duty soldier has been executed since 1961.

A reversed verdict or sentence on appeal in the Hasan case would be a fiasco for prosecutors and the Army. That's one reason why prosecutors and the military judge have been deliberate leading up to trial, said Geoffrey Corn, a professor at the South Texas College of Law and former military lawyer.
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