Ohio veterans face Tuesday deadline for bonuses
WBNS News 10
Saturday December 28, 2013
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Military veterans who served during the Persian Gulf War era have until Tuesday to claim Ohio bonuses of up to $1,500.
Ohio voters in 2009 approved a $200 million bond issue to fund bonuses for veterans of the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq war eras. Iraq War veterans have another year, until Dec. 31, 2014, to apply. No deadline has been announced for Afghanistan War and all veterans who served after Oct. 7, 2001.
read more here
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Founded of Ruck for Warriors faces service and fraud claims
Michael Lattea, Founder Of Ruck For Warriors, Lies About Service And Commits Fraud
Guardian of Valor
bulldog1
December 27, 2013
We have been getting emails for a while about the legitimacy of the organization called “Ruck For Warriors”. People were concerned that donations they were giving, and money being spent on items they were selling, not being sent to any Veterans organizations.
Well the owner of Ruck For Warriors, Michael lattea, claimed he was a SSG who served two tours in Iraq. He also sported a CIB(Combat Infantryman’s Badge) with one star, meaning he had to have also seen combat somewhere other than Iraq/Afghanistan to earn his second CIB. He is also claiming Airborne and Air assault as well.
Some of you may have seen him and his Organization in some news articles, where they were covering his ruck’s. Below are some, where he has also been claiming two combat deployments to Iraq.
read more here
This was also on the site
Guardian of Valor
bulldog1
December 27, 2013
We have been getting emails for a while about the legitimacy of the organization called “Ruck For Warriors”. People were concerned that donations they were giving, and money being spent on items they were selling, not being sent to any Veterans organizations.
Well the owner of Ruck For Warriors, Michael lattea, claimed he was a SSG who served two tours in Iraq. He also sported a CIB(Combat Infantryman’s Badge) with one star, meaning he had to have also seen combat somewhere other than Iraq/Afghanistan to earn his second CIB. He is also claiming Airborne and Air assault as well.
Some of you may have seen him and his Organization in some news articles, where they were covering his ruck’s. Below are some, where he has also been claiming two combat deployments to Iraq.
read more here
This was also on the site
Army Spc. Shannon Chihuahua's family will accept a Silver Star in his honor.
Fallen soldier to receive Silver Star
WALB ABC News
By Troy Washington
Posted: Dec 27, 2013
OCHLOCKNEE, GA
A South Georgia soldier killed in action will be awarded one of the nation's highest military honors.
Army specialist Shannon Chihuahua's family will accept a Silver Star in his honor.
It's been three years since Kristen Chihuahua lost her husband and their two daughters lost their dad. Now, he's being honored for his bravery and sacrifice.
Six year old Sophia Chihuahua may not fully understand the sacrifice that her father made for her country, but she does know that daddy was a hero.
"Sometimes when I get scared in the dark at night, alone with my sister and I can't sleep I just snuggle with my bear and I just fall asleep," said Sophia.
The bear that Sophia and her three year old sister Annabelle are holding so closely is made from pieces of their father's uniform. Shannon Chihuahua was an army medic, who died in Afghanistan in 2010 after his unit was attacked by insurgents. He was fatally wounded while trying to help a fellow soldier.
"He had no regard for what might happen to him he was just trying to get to the person that needed help," said Kristen Chihuahua.
It's that kind of courage that earned him two Purple Hearts, numerous other awards, and most recently a Silver Star, the second highest military honor.
"He truly deserves it, if any soldier deserves it would be him, for not thinking about himself or what may happen to him, but instead thinking that someone else needed him," said Kristen.
On February 7th the entire family will travel to Fort Campbell in Kentucky to receive the soldier's award.
read more here
WALB ABC News
By Troy Washington
Posted: Dec 27, 2013
A South Georgia soldier killed in action will be awarded one of the nation's highest military honors.
Army specialist Shannon Chihuahua's family will accept a Silver Star in his honor.
It's been three years since Kristen Chihuahua lost her husband and their two daughters lost their dad. Now, he's being honored for his bravery and sacrifice.
Six year old Sophia Chihuahua may not fully understand the sacrifice that her father made for her country, but she does know that daddy was a hero.
"Sometimes when I get scared in the dark at night, alone with my sister and I can't sleep I just snuggle with my bear and I just fall asleep," said Sophia.
The bear that Sophia and her three year old sister Annabelle are holding so closely is made from pieces of their father's uniform. Shannon Chihuahua was an army medic, who died in Afghanistan in 2010 after his unit was attacked by insurgents. He was fatally wounded while trying to help a fellow soldier.
"He had no regard for what might happen to him he was just trying to get to the person that needed help," said Kristen Chihuahua.
It's that kind of courage that earned him two Purple Hearts, numerous other awards, and most recently a Silver Star, the second highest military honor.
"He truly deserves it, if any soldier deserves it would be him, for not thinking about himself or what may happen to him, but instead thinking that someone else needed him," said Kristen.
On February 7th the entire family will travel to Fort Campbell in Kentucky to receive the soldier's award.
read more here
Airman from Idaho killed in Afghanistan
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Release No: NR-098-13
December 28, 2013
The Department of Defense announced today the death of an airman who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Capt. David I. Lyon, 28, of Sandpoint, Idaho, died Dec. 27, 2013, from wounds suffered when his vehicle was attacked with an improvised explosive device in Kabul, Afghanistan.
He was assigned to the 21st Logistics Readiness Squadron, Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.
Going beyond PTSD to help soldiers who have suffered a 'moral injury'
The military is going beyond PTSD to help soldiers who have suffered a 'moral injury'
PRI's The World
Reporter Susan Kaplan
December 27, 2013
The trailer for the new Peter Berg movie “Lone Survivor” says it all: for soldiers, there are decisions that truly change your life.
In one scene, the small Navy SEAL team assigned to kill an al-Qaeda leader is surrounding a young Afghan goat-herder in the middle of the Hindu-Kush Mountains. Taylor Kitsch’s character says, “The way I see it, we got two options: one, let 'em go, roll the dice. The second that they run down there, we've got 200 on our backs. Two, we terminate the compromise.”
Mark Wahlberg’s character cuts in: “…Not killing kids, not feeling it. This is not a vote, we're gonna cut them loose and we're going home.”
Those choices often haunt veterans for the rest of their lives. Today, officials in the Department of Veterans Affairs say psychological damage from particularly egregious war violence — like killing children or seeing friends killed — can create an affliction of the soul. And they call it moral injury.
Serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004, Army Sergeant First Class Robin Johnson's platoon was running a routine checkpoint, hoping to nab people carrying car bombs or explosives in their vehicles. Suddenly, Johnson says, a car comes out of a side street and speeds up, heading straight towards them.
“The window [of time] of signaling shooting for a warning shot, shooting to disable and then engaging can be milliseconds,” he says. “You have to make that judgment call of ‘Is this a threat?’”
Johnson's platoon engages. He's one of the first to fire.
“Once it was done … it was just a family. You know, a mother, father and infant, in the mother's lap, and then two little girls in the back seat,” he says.
Johnson re-lives that day over and over again in his mind, and often finds himself angry at the father driving the car.
“You know, 'why didn't you just stop, like, why didn't you stop?'” he asks. “What was his logic? Was he trying to get down the next side street? Did we scare him? What was going on in his head at that moment? Now, this whole family is gone — they got up that morning and they ate breakfast together, they talked and they laughed and they planned out their day, and now, they're gone.”
Retired Navy psychiatrist William Nash says, “What makes a warrior a warrior is taking personal responsibility. And when they fail to live up to that enormously high ideal, that's moral injury.”
read more here
PRI's The World
Reporter Susan Kaplan
December 27, 2013
The trailer for the new Peter Berg movie “Lone Survivor” says it all: for soldiers, there are decisions that truly change your life.
In one scene, the small Navy SEAL team assigned to kill an al-Qaeda leader is surrounding a young Afghan goat-herder in the middle of the Hindu-Kush Mountains. Taylor Kitsch’s character says, “The way I see it, we got two options: one, let 'em go, roll the dice. The second that they run down there, we've got 200 on our backs. Two, we terminate the compromise.”
Mark Wahlberg’s character cuts in: “…Not killing kids, not feeling it. This is not a vote, we're gonna cut them loose and we're going home.”
Those choices often haunt veterans for the rest of their lives. Today, officials in the Department of Veterans Affairs say psychological damage from particularly egregious war violence — like killing children or seeing friends killed — can create an affliction of the soul. And they call it moral injury.
Serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004, Army Sergeant First Class Robin Johnson's platoon was running a routine checkpoint, hoping to nab people carrying car bombs or explosives in their vehicles. Suddenly, Johnson says, a car comes out of a side street and speeds up, heading straight towards them.
“The window [of time] of signaling shooting for a warning shot, shooting to disable and then engaging can be milliseconds,” he says. “You have to make that judgment call of ‘Is this a threat?’”
Johnson's platoon engages. He's one of the first to fire.
“Once it was done … it was just a family. You know, a mother, father and infant, in the mother's lap, and then two little girls in the back seat,” he says.
Johnson re-lives that day over and over again in his mind, and often finds himself angry at the father driving the car.
“You know, 'why didn't you just stop, like, why didn't you stop?'” he asks. “What was his logic? Was he trying to get down the next side street? Did we scare him? What was going on in his head at that moment? Now, this whole family is gone — they got up that morning and they ate breakfast together, they talked and they laughed and they planned out their day, and now, they're gone.”
Retired Navy psychiatrist William Nash says, “What makes a warrior a warrior is taking personal responsibility. And when they fail to live up to that enormously high ideal, that's moral injury.”
read more here
Sounds all too familiar. Almost the same thing happened to a young Iraq veteran I was helping a few years back. He was a member of the National Guards. All he could remember were the kids in the back seat of the car. He forgot what he tried to do to prevent it from happening. It took about 5 phone calls before he opened up on what was destroying him emotionally. Every time he looked at his own kids, he saw their haunting, lifeless faces.
Once he was able to remember everything that happened that horrible night, forgive the Dad for causing it to happen and forgive himself for having to make the choice of pulling the trigger, he began to heal.
This isn't magic. It isn't about pills as the answer to all. It isn't about fame or money or anything other than understanding human nature and what makes servicemen and women so different from the rest of us.
Veterans can get help instead of jail time but not in all states
Why should it matter where a veteran lives? They serve this one nation side by side. They come home to different states in this one nation. So why are veterans courts not in all states? There are 104 veterans courts. California has the most veterans and they have 11. Texas has the next highest veterans population. They also have 11. Florida has the third highest. We only have 3.Veterans can get help instead of jail time
MSNBC
By Erin Delmore
12/28/13
No one said coming home would be easy.
Nick Stefanovic, a Marine combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, had been warned by a Vietnam War veteran who let him know about the combat wounds that never heal.
“You made a sacrifice,” Stefanovic recalls being told. “This is something you have to live with.”
For Nick, that meant living out of his car, homeless and alienated, with a crippling addiction to the painkillers he popped to keep the demons away.
“I’m just going to take these pills until I die,” he remembers thinking.
Out of cash and pills, the former sergeant E-5 walked into a bank in 2009 with a stolen checkbook. He flashed his own ID and signed his name on the check at the counter.
Nick was busted. It saved his life, he says. “Being arrested is the first way of getting help.”
Rather than serve time jail, Stefanovic, along with the thousands of other veterans suffering from addiction and mental health problems, was offered a lifeline. Like the civilian drug and mental health courts that pull offenders with documented medical issues out of the traditional criminal court dockets, veterans treatment courts apply the same principles to former service members. Judges across the country are allowing the growing number of ex-military men and women to choose a treatment program instead of serving time.
“When you come home, what helped you survive on the battlefield doesn’t turn off immediately,” said Col. David Sutherland, co-founder of the Dixon Center and a former special assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury are “the signature wounds of these wars,” Sutherland told msnbc. Nearly a third of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans treated at V.A. hospitals have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and one in six suffers from a substance abuse disorder.
read more here
The History Justice for Vets
The first Veterans Treatment Court was founded by the Honorable Robert Russell in Buffalo, New York in January, 2008, after he noticed an increase in the number of veterans appearing on his Drug Court and Mental Health Court dockets. Judge Russell saw firsthand the transformative power of military camaraderie when veterans on his staff assisted a veteran in one of his treatment courts, but also recognized that more could be done to ensure veterans were connected to benefits and treatment earned through military service. In response, Judge Russell asked his local U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center and volunteer veterans in the community to join in creating a new court docket that would focus exclusively on justice-involved veterans.As of June 30, 2012 there are 104 Veterans Treatment Courts in our country with hundreds more in the planning stages. They involve cooperation and collaboration with traditional partners found in Drug Courts and Mental Health Courts, such as theprosecutor, defense counsel, treatment provider, probation, and law enforcement. Added to this interdisciplinary team are representatives of the Veterans Health Administration and the Veterans Benefit Administration– as well as State Departments of Veterans Affairs, Vet Centers, Veterans Service Organizations, Department of Labor, volunteerVeteran Mentors, and other veterans support groups. Veterans Treatment Courts admit only those veterans with a clinical diagnosis of a substance abuse and/or mental health disorder.
Judge Russell ensures veterans in court receive the treatment and services they have earned
Soldier in Afghanistan watches son's birth in Florida via SKYPE
Soldier Witnesses Child’s Birth via Skype
FOX 8 Cleveland
by Monica Volante
December 27, 2013
PORT ST. LUCIE, FL — A determined dad on the Treasure Coast vowed to be there when his new baby boy was born. The only problem, that father was currently serving our country on the other side of the world in Afghanistan, according to WPTV.
U.S. Army Sgt. Daniel Rasik was stationed in Afghanistan, but was not going to miss the birth of his son, Benjamin, last month at Martin Memorial in Stuart, Florida.
“It was the happiest moment of my life, followed by the saddest moment of my life when I found out he couldn’t be there,” said Genevieve Rasik, Benjamin’s mother.
Her husband is in the middle of a nine-month tour of duty in Afghanistan.
It was known that Mr. Rasik wouldn’t be able to be physically present for Benjamin’s arrival. That is where a strong internet connection and Skype came in.
“I was skeptical that it would even work,” said Genevieve.
But the couple gave it a shot anyway.
During Genevieve’s planned c-section, her husband’s voice and image were beamed into the hospital room — live via Skype.
read more here
FOX 8 Cleveland
by Monica Volante
December 27, 2013
PORT ST. LUCIE, FL — A determined dad on the Treasure Coast vowed to be there when his new baby boy was born. The only problem, that father was currently serving our country on the other side of the world in Afghanistan, according to WPTV.
U.S. Army Sgt. Daniel Rasik was stationed in Afghanistan, but was not going to miss the birth of his son, Benjamin, last month at Martin Memorial in Stuart, Florida.
“It was the happiest moment of my life, followed by the saddest moment of my life when I found out he couldn’t be there,” said Genevieve Rasik, Benjamin’s mother.
Her husband is in the middle of a nine-month tour of duty in Afghanistan.
It was known that Mr. Rasik wouldn’t be able to be physically present for Benjamin’s arrival. That is where a strong internet connection and Skype came in.
“I was skeptical that it would even work,” said Genevieve.
But the couple gave it a shot anyway.
During Genevieve’s planned c-section, her husband’s voice and image were beamed into the hospital room — live via Skype.
read more here
MeetMe man faces charges after toying with Marines
Second Marine claims to be victim in Jacksonville sex extortion case
WCTI 12 News
By WCTI Staff
Dec 27 2013
JACKSONVILLE, ONSLOW COUNTY
A second Camp Lejeune Marine is claiming to be a victim of a Jacksonville man already charged for allegedly coercing one Marine into performing a sex act.
The second Marine, who is 20 years old, called NewsChannel 12 Friday afternoon and said he was also a victim of 24-year-old Patrick Francois Georges.
Jacksonville Police have already charged Georges with extortion and crime against nature for allegedly pretending to be a woman on MeetMe.com to lure a young Marine into Georges' home on King Street Tuesday night. Georges then accused the Marine of breaking into the home, and threatened to call police if the Marine didn't perform a sex act with Georges, according to warrants. That Marine said he eventually complied.
The second Marine said he was targeted by Georges in the same way. The Marine said he was also on MeetMe.com when he got a message from someone who claimed to be a woman.
read more here
WCTI 12 News
By WCTI Staff
Dec 27 2013
A second Camp Lejeune Marine is claiming to be a victim of a Jacksonville man already charged for allegedly coercing one Marine into performing a sex act.
The second Marine, who is 20 years old, called NewsChannel 12 Friday afternoon and said he was also a victim of 24-year-old Patrick Francois Georges.
Jacksonville Police have already charged Georges with extortion and crime against nature for allegedly pretending to be a woman on MeetMe.com to lure a young Marine into Georges' home on King Street Tuesday night. Georges then accused the Marine of breaking into the home, and threatened to call police if the Marine didn't perform a sex act with Georges, according to warrants. That Marine said he eventually complied.
The second Marine said he was targeted by Georges in the same way. The Marine said he was also on MeetMe.com when he got a message from someone who claimed to be a woman.
read more here
Friday, December 27, 2013
Train to heal like you trained to go into combat
You had to be trained to listen
Train your body to do more than you thought you could
Trained to use the weapons
So why is it so hard for you to understand
you need to train to become a veteran?
Don't try to get over it. Make peace with it instead.
Don't try to fit back in because veterans are only 7% of the population.
Try to do what you can for others.
Don't shut down.
Don't lock people out.
Don't hide or try to drink your problems away.
Don't stop looking for what it is that will help you and not just numb you.
You survived combat so why is it so hard for you to fight just as hard now?
PTSD On Trial:Considering the Toll of War in a Death Penalty Debate
Considering the Toll of War in a Death Penalty Debate
Texas Tribune
by Brandi Grissom
Dec. 27, 2013
The car would not stop. Flares did not stop it. Shots fired into the engine didn't stop it. Exaggerated hand gestures and hollering surely didn't. As far as the four Marines stationed at a roadside checkpoint in Iraq knew, the sedan hurtling toward them was a bomb on wheels.
Tim Rojas flashed a thumbs-up at his fellow lance corporal, John Thuesen, 21, the quiet Texan manning the machine gun on the Humvee’s turret. Bullets ripped through the car. The driver slumped over the steering wheel as the sedan crawled to a stop.
There was no explosion. The Marines were alive, and in that moment, Rojas recalled, the four men felt like heroes.
Then, the car’s rear door opened, and a boy, covered in his family’s blood, terror all over his face, ran screaming toward them.
“It was a terrible feeling,” Rojas said, his eyes glassy with tears, recalling the day that he said forever changed their lives.
read more here
Texas Tribune
by Brandi Grissom
Dec. 27, 2013
The car would not stop. Flares did not stop it. Shots fired into the engine didn't stop it. Exaggerated hand gestures and hollering surely didn't. As far as the four Marines stationed at a roadside checkpoint in Iraq knew, the sedan hurtling toward them was a bomb on wheels.
Tim Rojas flashed a thumbs-up at his fellow lance corporal, John Thuesen, 21, the quiet Texan manning the machine gun on the Humvee’s turret. Bullets ripped through the car. The driver slumped over the steering wheel as the sedan crawled to a stop.
There was no explosion. The Marines were alive, and in that moment, Rojas recalled, the four men felt like heroes.
Then, the car’s rear door opened, and a boy, covered in his family’s blood, terror all over his face, ran screaming toward them.
“It was a terrible feeling,” Rojas said, his eyes glassy with tears, recalling the day that he said forever changed their lives.
read more here
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