Dental technicians inadvertently used unsterilized equipment on 45 Marines

Marines tested for infection after dental techs use unsterilized tools
Marine Corps Times
By Hope Hodge Seck
Staff Writer
January 24, 2014

Members of a Marine reserve unit were called in for an emergency blood draw in late January after officials discovered that some had undergone dental examinations with unsterilized instruments during a drill weekend.

A group of 101 Marines from the Headquarters and Service Company of 1st Battalion, 23rd Marines — a 4th Marine Division unit headquartered in Houston — underwent dental exams administered by technicians from the 4th Marine Logistics Group’s 4th Dental Battalion Jan. 10-11. A spokesman for Marine Forces Reserve, Col. Francis Piccoli, said officials believe dental technicians inadvertently used unsterilized equipment on 45 of the Marines.

Local news station KRGV reported that the exams happened at the unit’s Harlingen, Texas, depot on Jan. 11. Officials learned about the incident four days later, the station reported.

It’s unclear how the mistake involving the unsterilized equipment took place.

Since officials said they have no way of knowing which of the 101 Marines were examined with the unsterilized tools, the unit notified all of them, through their platoon commanders, about the incident and asked them to report for a blood draw Jan. 18.
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Bricks from Fort Hood Massacre building being sent to families

Fort Hood: Fund For Shooting Victims, Families, Dissolved
Our Town Texas

Fort Hood officials have indicated that the building where the shooting happened will be torn down.

Parry said that about $1,500 of the fund has been held back for shipping to send bricks from the building to family members of those who lost loved ones and to those who survived.

FORT HOOD (January 23, 2014) A fund established in the aftermath of the deadly Nov. 5 2009 shooting rampage on Fort Hood has been dissolved after distributing almost $1 million to families of the 13 who died as well as to survivors.

The fund administered by the Fort Hood Chapter of the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) totaled just more than $970,000.

AUSA Chairman Bill Parry said all of the 32 survivors and the next of kin for each of the 13 people killed were given assistance from the fund.
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Someone stole wheelchair from disabled Vietnam Vet

Pa. vet says wheelchair stolen from front of home
SF Gate
January 23, 2014

SHAMOKIN, Pa. (AP) — An ailing Vietnam veteran from northeastern Pennsylvania says he's shocked someone could do something so low.

Police in Coal Township are investigating the theft of 70-year-old Martin Glover's wheelchair from in front of his home on Monday.
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LCPL Janos V. Lutz PTSD Awareness Ride

Inaugural PTSD ride runs from Davie to Pembroke Pines
Forum Publishing Group
By Scott Fishman
January 24, 2014

A cavalcade of motorcycles recently pulled into C.B. Smith Park in Pembroke Pines after a 26-mile trek that started at Western High School in Davie.

The inaugural LCPL Janos V. Lutz PTSD Awareness Ride wasn't your typical bike rally, but a show of support to honor a fallen soldier. The event marked the first anniversary of the day organizer Janine Lutz's son committed suicide after suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Davie resident partnered with Stephanie Shorr of the Body Mechanics Wellness Foundation for the event. About 700 riders plus several hundred cars participated in the ride.

Shorr said they want to increase awareness and provide programs and services for veterans aimed at reducing anxiety and helping them get through bad times. Lutz gave an impassioned plea to the veterans in attendance to "buddy up" and create a dialogue with their fellow service members.

"I need all of our veterans to start talking about it," she said. "… So many of you are suffering with it and suffering in silence. You are the ones that need to help this get out."

Lutz spoke about her son, a lance corporal who served five years as a Marine with tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Lutz concluded by holding a statue of a white elephant with the letters PTSD painted on it. She dropped the ceramic piece, shattering it to symbolize that the disorder was no longer the elephant in the room.

"I didn't know any of the warning signs," she said. "… I was aware that he had post-traumatic stress, but I didn't know what exactly that meant. There were a lot of warning signs at that time that now I know, but then I didn't. I feel if I'd had those tools in my hand that probably my son would be alive today."
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Michigan Army National Guardsmen Welcomed Home

Families welcome home soldiers of Michigan National Guard 144th Military Police Company
MLive.com
by Molly Young
on January 23, 2014

Sgt. Tyler Vandeberghe, 22, of Clinton Township, leans in to kiss his girlfriend, Lindsay Rosenzweig, of Ann Arbor, as the two reunite in the bleachers as more than 150 Michigan Army National Guard soldiers of the 144th Military Police Company return home from Afghanistan on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2014 at Owosso High School in Owosso. The two calculated they had been apart 271 days. "I about lost it," Vandeberghe said of seeing his family and girlfriend with a 20-foot-wide welcome home poster in the gymnasium. "As soon as I could, I ran to her. It felt really good having her in my arms again. It was perfect." Jake May | MLive.com

OWOSSO, MI -- James VanDusen, 3, couldn't help but stare – and touch and grab and kiss – at the face that'd been missing from his life for the last nine months while his dad, Capt. John Van Dusen, talked to reporters Thursday, Jan. 23.

"When I left, he was barely talking," said VanDusen, who lives in L'Anse in the Upper Peninsula. "Now he talks all the time, so that'll be a big adjustment."

Families reunite with more than 150 Michigan soldiers at Owosso homecoming on Jan. 23, 2014 at Owosso High School.

Hundreds of Michigan families are complete again after 153 soldiers returned from Afghanistan Thursday morning. The Michigan Army National Guard soldiers from the Owosso-based 144th Military Police Company were deployed for more than nine months in Afghanistan. The unit has members from all over Michigan.

"(My son) gave me a big hug and a big kiss and said, 'I have my daddy back,'" VanDusen said of the moment he first saw his son after the ceremony.

James was well-dressed and ready for the occasion, wearing his army-green, military-style T-shirt that read "Major Hunk."
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Snowbirds plucked from VA Healthcare in Florida

Received an email from a friend living halftime in Florida and halftime in Massachusetts.

This is happening to me at Bay Pines. If I switch, I can lose all my Massachusetts veterans benefits. For over 10 years I have been seen by a Doctor at both Bay Pines and Bedford VA's. who both order blood tests that monitor drug treatment levels. I am not the only one. They are discouraging all snowbird disabled vets not to us the VA.

Bay pines says"

Service connection does not come into play when duel primary care provider is decided. It is based on medical necessasity. For your medical needs your are followed by coumadin clinic here as well as Mass. and your follow up appointments can be scheduled appropiatly timed when you are up in Mass.

You will be seen here for urgent matters.

You do not have to choose a different primary every time you go to a VA. You can only have 1 primary Doctor and 1 primary VA and you need to decide what facilty you want as your primary VA.

When you go to a different VA each VA has what is called an urgent care unit sort of like a walk in clinic. We have many Vets who get seen here but they have primary care providers at their main VA it is up to you who you want to stay with as your Primary care physician.

You can be seen here for the coumadin clinic like you have been but if you need to see a doctor when you are sick then you go to our MOD A
1: Choose what VA your want as permanant VA Bedford or Baypines
2: You will be seen here in the coumadin clinic
3: If you get sick you can go to MOD A
Vets are never refused care no matter where they go

Here is part of a news report from last year

Snowbird veteran denied VA clinic care
Highlands Today
March 11, 2013

A disabled veteran from Michigan said Tuesday that as a snowbird living in Sebring six months out of the year, he was recently denied care at the local VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic, when they had cared for him in years gone by.

Vietnam veteran Gary L. Johnson said he served 19 months in the U.S. Army and was honorably discharged as a sergeant with the 25th Infantry Command Group.

He earned two Bronze Stars, a National Defense Service Medal, a Vietnam Service Medal, a Combat Infantry Badge, a Good Conduct Medal and a Vietnam Campaign Medal.

He has a two-bedroom home in Whisper Lake.

Johnson is 100 percent disabled. Some of his illness is linked to exposure to Agent Orange, he said. He also suffers with post traumatic stress disorder.

"I've been coming down here for quite a few years," he said. "I started going to the Sebring VA clinic approximately five years ago. I've always been taken care of. This year I went there and they said they couldn't treat me, that I had to go over to Bay Pines (in St. Petersburg).

"So that's 100 miles each way, which is kind of asinine to me when they have a place this close where they can do it as they've done in the past. This is the first time that it's happened. They give fantastic care at the Sebring VA clinic. I even bought them pizza and pop last year before I went back home."

This whole situation has made him feel like he's just another number to the government he served.

"I served my country," he said. "I served it well. I'm paying for it now."
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PTSD on Trial: Tampa Green Beret with Bronze Star

Special forces sniper Gabriel Brown given short prison term after citing PTSD in series of robberies
ABC Action News
By: Carson Chambers
January 23, 2014

TAMPA - "He wasn't just a soldier. He was a super soldier - an elite fighter," said defense attorney Jose Baez.

Gabriel Brown is a highly decorated combat war veteran. He is a former Special Forces Green Beret awarded a bronze star for serving as a sniper in Afghanistan.

A hero until he came home.

"Because of his illness, he had a downward spiral," said Baez.

Brown pleaded guilty to robbing four Tampa Bay businesses while tossing military flash grenades and carrying a gun. He faced a maximum of 32 years in federal prison for his crimes.

"I do believe that veterans do need treatment. Instead of being incarcerated, they need mental health treatment and drug abuse treatment," said ex wife Maria Suarez.

Suarez says post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD and an addiction to adrenaline took over her ex husband's life. Brown failed out of nursing school, lost money at poker tables, cheated on his wife, abused drugs and became suicidal.

Still Suarez voice support on the steps of the federal courthouse.

"He's a loving man, very caring, great father, always involved with his childrens' life, very family oriented, just fell into some depression or PTSD," she said.
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Documentary focuses on military women

Service, the Film When Women come Marching Home
WFIT.com
By TERRI WRIGHT
January 23, 2014

SERVICE, the film, portrays the courage of several women veterans as they transition from active duty to their civilian lives. We see the horrific traumas they faced, their invisible as well as physical injuries and all their challenges in receiving benefits and care.


From the deserts of Afghanistan to rural Tennessee, from Iraq to New York City, we watch these women wrestle with prosthetics, homelessness, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Military Sexual Trauma.

The documentary is told through their voices as they speak from The documentary is told through their voices as they speak from their kitchens, bedrooms, grocery stores and therapy sessions. Their pictures and videos shot in Iraq and Afghanistan speak volumes.

If you go to the link and listen to the radio interview, you'll hear about a young soldier. Both legs lost and another soldier taking over the job of breathing for the wounded friend. The wounded friend was a female soldier.

With that new report consider this. A Congressman thinks that wives should submit to their husbands. Wonder if he'd say that same thing face to face with the female soldier above?

Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.), a Vietnam veteran, explains in his book that families, like the military command, need a leadership structure in which every person has a role. He says the wife's role, according to the Bible, is to be obedient to her husband.

A woman should submit to her husband? Hum. My husband and I do it a bit differently. Both of us work together, care about what the other wants, needs and even though we do not agree all the time, we've been married since 1982. His thoughts come from Ephesians 5:22-33 but that was during a time when they were still dealing with men being able to have more than one wife. The Bible also does not take into account many other cultures where women were trained to be fighters to protect the homeland while the men were out fighting other wars.

Police detail murder-suicide

Police detail murder-suicide in Jefferson County
9 News
Blair Shiff
January 22, 2014

He was deployed to Iraq for a month in 2011 and earned a number of awards and decorations.

JEFFERSON COUNTY - The man who killed his step mother and shot his dad was an Iraq War vet.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said 25-year-old Robert Leiman shot his dad and killed his stepmother, Margaret Leiman, 53, Monday night before turning the gun on himself.

Robert's father, Bruce, was shot and is still in the hospital in stable condition.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said Robert was involved in a disagreement with his parents before the shooting. Investigators cannot release the nature of the argument at this time, but have told 9NEWS Robert's response to what the argument was about "does not make sense."
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Fort Hood Soldier from Florida died after police chase

Fort Hood Soldier Dies After Police Chase
KWTX.com
Nick Delgado
January 22, 2014

DPS confirmed the driver was a Fort Hood soldier from Florida.

BELL COUNTY (January 22, 2014) Department of Public Safety troopers are investigating why a Fort Hood soldier led police on a high speed chase through Copperas Cove and Killeen just before midnight that ended in a deadly crash.

The chase started in Copperas Cove after Cove police got a call about a reckless driver, said Harpin Myers, DPS spokesman.

"They checked the vehicle on radar at 97 miles an hour," he said.

Cove and Killeen police partnered during the pursuit, as the driver of a gray 2013 Hyundai headed east on US Highway 190.

"One of our units checked the vehicle running at over 100 miles an hour out on Texas 201," Myers said.
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