Army paid $16M to deserters, AWOL soldiers

Audit: Army paid $16M to deserters, AWOL soldiers
The Associated Press
By BRETT BARROUQUERE
Published: September 27, 2013

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Even as the Army faces shrinking budgets, an audit shows it paid out $16 million in paychecks over a 2 1/2-year period to soldiers designated as AWOL or as deserters, the second time since 2006 the military has been dinged for the error.

A memo issued by Human Resources Command at Fort Knox, Ky., found that the Army lacked sufficient controls to enforce policies and procedures for reporting deserters and absentee soldiers to cut off their pay and benefits immediately. The oversight was blamed primarily on a failure by commanders to fill out paperwork in a timely manner.
read more here

Military practices CYA instead of saving lives

Today on the Huffington Post there is a great article on what an Army Captain thinks about what the Army is doing.

Army Captain Haunted By Recurring Nightmare From Afghanistan

Like many others, Adam shrugged it off as the "bureaucratic, cover-your-ass, in-processing" the Army requires for returning soldiers.

"I was given about 10 or 11 different surveys," he said. "'Do you feel like hurting yourself?' 'Did you see people die in combat?' Very raw questions I didn't even want to think about, and it's not a person asking me, it's a computer. It's 'here, lemme turn everyone into this data point.' Naturally, all of us, we just want to go home, right? I got very good at the tab, click, click, and filled everything in with the letter 'C' -- for average -- wherever they said, 'Rate this.'"

Cover your ass is right and that is what they have been doing all along. Amazing that the press has yet to catch onto this. You'd think they would have had plenty of time to actually do some investigating considering it has been going on since 2008.

Here are some basic headlines they could have used and then maybe, just maybe we could have saved thousands of lives every month. Thousands? Yes and you'll discover that in the list of missed headlines.
Less Deployed but More Suicides
Troops left Iraq in 2011. 2012 highest suicide rate on record.

U.S. troops have finally left Iraq - after nearly nine years, more than a trillion dollars and the loss of almost 4,500 American lives. The last soldiers moved across the border to neighbouring Kuwait in the early hours of Sunday morning, hugging each other in relief.

Associated Press had learned that suicides in the U.S. military surged to a record 349 for 2012 and almost every news site jumped on that number. While the press reported the totals, what they did not mention were the Army National Guards and Reservists suicides topped that high record off at over 492 suicides because there were 143 of them reported by the DOD in February of 2013.

Veterans committed suicide at a higher rate as well.

There were also over 30,000 calls to the suicide prevention hotline they managed to save among the hundreds of thousands of crisis calls.

The number of calls to the national Veterans Crisis Line in Canandaigua in the past six fiscal years:
2007: 9,379
2008: 67,350
2009: 118,984
2010: 134,528
2011: 164,101
2012: 193,507

So with everything being done, no one noticed that there were more veterans, less troops deployed into combat and even less troops in the military.

Army
Active duty force will decrease by about 75,000 soldiers to 490,000. (For perspective, there are about 565,000 soldiers on active duty today and there were about 480,000 soldiers on active duty on 9/11/01.)

Marine Corps
Active duty force will decrease by about 20,000 Marines to 182,000 total. (For perspective, there are about 202,000 Marines on active duty today, and there were about 173,000 on 9/11/01.)
Air Force

Eliminate six of the 60 Air Force tactical air squadrons, as well as one training squadron. The Pentagon will eliminate: 27 aging C-5As (leaving behind 52 C-5Ms and 222 C-17s); 65 oldest C-130s (leaving behind 318 C-130s) and they will divest 38 C-27s.
Navy

Retire seven cruisers that have not been updated with ballistic missile defense capabilities or that are in need of significant maintenance. Some fleet support ships will also be retired, and the building of several ships (1 large deck, 1 sub, 2 littoral combat ships, and 8 joint high speed vessels) will all delayed by one year or more.

So what do you think their next excuse will be considering the 2012 Suicide Event Report has still not been released? What is their excuse for the rise in attempted suicides this year? Any clue? I won't bring up all the other things that have come out in the last month because these questions have not been answered in all of these years, so it wouldn't do much good annoying active readers of Wounded Times. go here for Lesson one on CYA and letting them die

Wounded Soldiers ride 167 miles in two-day cycling trip

Wounded warrior bike trek ends with no one left behind
Soldiers ride 167 miles in two-day cycling trip
Leaf-Chronicle
Written by Philip Grey
Sep. 26, 2013

FORT CAMPBELL, KY. — The first Bluegrass Rendezvous – a two-day 167-mile bike ride from Fort Knox to Fort Campbell – came to a successful conclusion on Wednesday afternoon as a group of 40 cyclists hit the finish line at Fort Campbell with everyone who started the ride at Fort Knox.

Following a half-hour rest stop in Guthrie, Ky., the cyclists completed the last 17-mile leg strong and fast, actually getting back to Fort Campbell and the finish line at the Warrior Transition Battalion well ahead of schedule.

It would have been an amazing performance and a proud moment for anyone, but for the wounded, ill and injured soldiers of the Fort Knox and Fort Campbell Warrior Transition Units, who comprised over half of the group, it was a statement that they were far from out of the game of life, and actually more fit than many who have never endured the kind of adversity some of these warriors have faced.
read more here

Afghanistan veteran with TBI struggling after dog was shot

Is this something that should happen when they come home? Read about everything going on in his life and then as the reporter writes, get ready to have your heart broken.

Veteran with brain injury faces steep bills after his dog was shot
KATU News
By Erica Nochlin
KATU.com staff
Published: Sep 26, 2013

CLACKAMAS COUNTY, Ore. – Be prepared to have your heart broken.

Luke Hunt is an Army veteran who suffered a traumatic brain injury while fighting in Afghanistan in 2010.

He’s divorced, he’s unemployed and he doesn’t have a car.

The one thing he does have is his dog, Pepper.

Earlier this week, somebody shot Pepper. Now Hunt faces a choice: Come up with thousands of dollars to fix Pepper’s leg, or have the leg amputated.

“It’s weird to say this and I know my family understands this when I say this … but she can’t talk back, and she just lays there and listens to me,” Hunt said. “I have more conversations with the things that I struggle with. Any nightmares I have, I wake up to her. She knows when I’m having a nightmare - I open my eyes and she’s licking my face.”

Hunt was a medic in the 101st Airborne Division when it was involved in a nearly 20-hour firefight in Kunar Province in June 2010. He said a friendly-fire bomb was mistakenly dropped about 25 feet away, leaving him with injuries he didn’t immediately recognize.

Once he got back to safety, he found himself frequently lost, confused, disoriented and unable to remember conversations he’d had just few minutes before.

“The traumatic brain injury is the one I deal with the most,” he said. “But I maintained in country for the rest of my deployment because I did the same thing every single day, all day.

“I didn’t start seeing those issues until I got back. Until there was more than just a horn blowing telling you when to eat breakfast lunch and dinner.”

Life got worse for Hunt when he got home.

He had won two medals and a Purple Heart, but the losses kept mounting.

Heat or stress can cause him to black out. Divorce ruined his credit. His car was repossessed because he couldn’t remember to make the payments.
read more here

Wounded vet returns home to Florida from Afghanistan

Wounded vet returns home to Zephyrhills from Afghanistan
Tampa Tribune
By Eddie Daniels
Tribune Staff
Published: September 26, 2013

ZEPHYRHILLS — Life, today, is much different for Tyler “TJ” Jeffries.

Tyler Jeffries’ dog, Apollo, was trained for five months by Los Angeles-based animal trainer Brian McMillan. Jeffiries and McMillan were connected through a mutual friend, Clay Burwell. McMillan participated in Dicovery’s Shark Week and has a CBS show titled Lucky Dog. TYLER JEFFRIES

Walking doesn’t come easy. In fact, most days, it hurts. Sometimes the pain limits Jeffries, a 2007 Zephyrhills High School grad and former baseball player, to his wheelchair.

Eleven months ago, Jeffries stepped on an improvised explosive device during an explosive-clearing mission in Afghanistan.

The explosion took off a portion of his left leg above the knee as well as a part of his right leg below the knee. It’s also put him in a hospital operating room at least a dozen times.

As difficult as tasks are now, not much can compare to the moments just after the Oct. 6 blast.

“From the time I got blown up to the time I got in the helicopter, it took 50 minutes,” Jeffries said. “So I was waiting there, legless, for 50 minutes on the ground. I remember every single second of that.

“I was awake the whole time talking to my guys and they were taking care of me.”
read more here

Florida Vietnam Vet awarded $762K after losing job over PTSD

Jury awards $762K to veteran fired from Delray job due to post-traumatic stress disorder
The Palm Beach Post
By Jane Musgrave
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
September 26, 2013

WEST PALM BEACH — For the second time in a month, a jury has slapped a city in Palm Beach County for mistreating a veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

After deliberating for 45 minutes, a jury on Thursday ordered Delray Beach to pay decorated Vietnam veteran Robert Desisto $762,000 for forcing him to retire after he explained he couldn’t drive a 20-ton truck on the open road because he suffers from panic attacks.
read more here

What have we learned during Suicide Awareness Month?

What have we learned during Suicide Awareness Month?
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 26, 2013

Twenty-six days into this month when we were supposed to be made aware of what is going on has left many of us worse than feeling empty. It feels as if all these years were just a waste of time. It sure has been a waste of money since apparently the Army thinks "Some of it is just personal make-up. Intestinal fortitude. Mental toughness that ensures that people are able to deal with stressful situations." Topped off with they lack a loving family like Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno told David Wood of the Huffington Post in an interview.

If that is the case then Odierno should have alerted the Pentagon and Congress they didn't need all the funds to pay for stuff since it was the fault of the soldiers they died by their own hands. Bet the people responsible for the over 900 suicides prevention programs taking in billions a year got a big chuckle out of ripping off the treasury for something they didn't need to do. After all, they really got a kick out of it when they kept getting the money even after the suicides and attempted suicides went up.

I am not sure if it is more sickening than frightening right now.

Imagine being one of the survivors of military suicide and reading what Odierno thinks about them. Imagine being one of the family members already dealing with all the questions left behind while blaming themselves because someone they loved didn't want to stay alive anymore. After all, that happens more than 55 times a day without even counting the active duty forces or the Army National Guards and Army Reservists that keep being left out of the totals the press uses.

The Army has not released the August report for Army, Army National Guards and Army Reservists suicides as of today. What bothers most more is the fact the Department of Defense hasn't even bothered to release the full report for 2012 for all branches yet. We don't know how many committed suicide or how many attempted it. There were over 900 attempts in 2011.

While more and more people do care about this more and more are under some kind of grand delusion the military gets it. How could they? How could they even begin to understand what they have been claiming to fight against since 2008 when someone like Odierno comes out with that kind of crap they used to use during the Civil war when traumatized troops were shot for being cowards.

Where is common sense in all of this? Programs don't work so they push the programs that already failed. They tell the troops asking for help is not a sign of weakness but then Odierno says it is.

I hope all of this sinks in enough so all of us know when it comes to taking care of the men and women risking their lives for each other every day, the military really doesn't care. If they did, Odierno would be forced to resign and take all the others with him. His record sucks on paying attention but his record as a leader has been vandalized by his ignorance.

All the hacks out there pushing Comprehensive Soldier Fitness and what the military has been doing are also responsible for this deadly outcome.

Every time you read what one of them has to say, just look up the record of what they are getting away with claiming and know there is much more to what they say than the saving lives.

As for me, well, I am only more aware that one thing Odierno got right is the fact the suicides won't go down just because the war in Afghanistan will end. After all, the war on suicides was lost back when they started pushing a program still in research stages designed for school kids to give them more self esteem. Don't take my word for it but you can read at least this for yourself. The Dark Side of “Comprehensive Soldier Fitness”

Here is a taste of what experts I track have been talking about.

Also problematic, the CSF program is adapted primarily from the Penn Resiliency Program (PRP) where interventions were focused on dramatically different, non-military populations. Even with these groups, a 2009 meta-analysis of 17 controlled studies reveals that the PRP program has been only modestly and inconsistently effective. PRP produced small reductions in mild self-reported depressive symptoms, but it did so only in children already identified as at high risk for depression and not for those from the general population. Nor did PRP interventions reduce symptoms more than comparison prevention programs based on other principles, raising questions as to whether PRP's effects are related to the "resilience" theory undergirding the program. Further, like many experimental programs, PRP had better outcomes when administered by highly trained research staff than when given by staff recruited from the community. This raises doubts as to how effectively the CSF program will be administered by non-commissioned officers who are required to serve as "Master Resilience Trainers."

So they die because the military used a research project for school kids, inflicted it on our troops, and then blamed them for what the result was. That is what we learned this month.

PTSD On Trial: Ark. court asked to throw out veteran's conviction

Ark. court asked to throw out veteran's conviction
Associated Press
By JEANNIE NUSS
September 26, 2013

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Lawyers for an Iraq War veteran convicted of killing his girlfriend told Arkansas' highest court on Thursday that his case never should have gone to trial.

Steven Russell's attorneys told the state Supreme Court that their client suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and should have been found not guilty because of a mental disease or defect.

Russell, 34, was convicted of capital murder in the 2009 death of Joy Owens and was sentenced last year to life in prison without parole.
read more here

Family searching for missing Afghanistan veteran with PTSD

His body was found

Army vet Andrew Ackerman missing since Tuesday
11 Alive.com
Julie Wolfe
Sep 26, 2013

ATLANTA -- Friends of an Army veteran missing since Tuesday worry he may be in the middle of a PTSD episode.

Atlanta police tell 11Alive's Julie Wolfe they responded to a call for a missing person Tuesday morning at the Hangovers Bar in Buckhead. Jeanette Kunitz reported her friend, Randal Andrew Ackerman, was last seen there around 2 a.m. Tuesday. He lives in Sandy Springs and was in the city going out after attending a Braves game.

When he stopped answering his phone, she called mutual friends who also were unable to locate him.

Ackerman's roommate said he hasn't been home. Kunitz told police she was concerned because Ackerman suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and could be in the middle of an episode. He was recently honorably discharged from the Army after a tour in Afghanistan. He's served for more than ten years and had also been stationed in Iraq for multiple tours.
read more here

Military officials investigated over ‘lost’ Medal of Honor nomination

Military officials investigated over ‘lost’ Medal of Honor nomination
McClatchy Washington Bureau (MCT)
By Jonathan S. Landay
Published: September 25, 2013

WASHINGTON — A Pentagon investigation into how a Medal of Honor nomination was “lost” — possibly because of an improper effort to kill the award — is focused on its mishandling by members of the chain of command that included retired Army Gen. David Petraeus and other senior U.S. commanders.

The investigation is being conducted by the Directorate for Investigations of Senior Officials, a division of the Defense Department Office of Inspector General that handles cases involving top military and civilian defense officials.

“Specifically, officials within the Directorate for Investigations of Senior Officials are conducting an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the lost recommendation,” the inspector general’s office wrote in a Sept. 3 letter to Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who pressed for the probe.

The review is the latest turn in the convoluted history of the Medal of Honor nomination of former Army Capt. William Swenson, who was recommended for the nation’s highest military decoration for valor for his actions on Sept. 8, 2009, in one of the most extraordinary battles of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. The Seattle native is scheduled to receive the medal from President Barack Obama on Oct. 15, nearly four years after he was first nominated and more than a year after his papers reached the White House.
read more here

Army officer refused surrender, saved lives in ambush
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
USA TODAY
Jim Michaels
September 26, 2013

WASHINGTON — The insurgent ambush was well-planned and executed. About 60 Taliban fighters waited until the Americans and Afghan security forces got within small arms range before opening fire with AK-47s, rocket propelled grenades and machine guns.

The Taliban held the high ground and the Americans and Afghan security forces, including army and border police, were trapped at the end of a narrow valley, facing the enemy on three sides.

An hour into the fight communication with the lead elements was lost. The number of injured was piling up and the enemy was maneuvering against the Afghans and Americans, making it difficult to use artillery without risking friendly casualties.

At one point in the chaos, Capt. William Swenson was coordinating helicopter support, returning fire on the enemy and treating a critically wounded comrade, Sgt. 1st Class Kenneth Westbrook. All the while the enemy was drawing closer, close enough, in fact, that an insurgent signaled at the Americans to surrender.

"Outnumbered, flanked and facing enemy capture, Swenson put down his radio and halted his treatment of Westbrook long enough to reply to the enemy's demands for surrender," according to an Army account of Swenson's action. By way of reply he lobbed a grenade at the insurgent.

The fighting lasted for seven hours that September day in 2009 in Afghanistan's Ganjgal valley. For his actions the former Army officer will be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for bravery, from President Obama at the White House on Oct. 15.
read more here