Huffington Post did the right thing on murder-suicides report

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
April 13, 2014

Huffington Post did the right thing and pulled the reprehensible report on murder-suicides. They not only pulled it, they apologized.

Update from Huffington Post

Editor's Note A previously published article featuring a graphic that depicted data on violent crimes by veterans has been removed. The article was intended to call attention to the lack of evidence correlating post-traumatic stress disorder to violent behavior among veterans, and to highlight the insufficient mental health services available to them. It failed in these regards, and we regret that the data as presented in our graphic was incomplete and misleading.

PTSD is not the enemy no matter what reporters say but it seems as if too many others are simply stuck on stupid.

Huffington Post has done more to educate the public on the tribulations of our veterans than any other site. Time after time, especially during Suicide Prevention Month last year when they dedicated huge sections to the troops and veterans telling their stories and asking questions. Given the fact they screwed up on this one they turned around, admitted it and apologized, which far too many other news sites fail to do.

Take a good long look at the graphic supplied on the claim that murder-suicides are an issue.

It seems that the article on the Huffington Post ended up giving other reporters what they were searching for. Another headline to use to get attention while bringing the wrong attention to something that is not, repeat not, worthy of the veterans with PTSD. This was repeated on many sites last week and now it appears on PolicyMic but no one seems to actually look at the chart itself. They are actually lower than 2002.

I did a huge report in 2007 on military suicides and there was a rise in murder-suicides but most of them were tied to Lariam and other anti-malarial drugs.

The Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs will study the side effects of Lariam, a drug given to servicemen to prevent malaria, Pentagon spokesman Jim Turner said. The use of Lariam came up in investigations of murders and murder-suicides involving Fort Bragg soldiers in the summer of 2002, when four soldiers were accused of killing their wives. Two of those soldiers committed suicide immediately and a third killed himself in jail.

The three soldiers who killed themselves had served in Afghanistan, where Lariam is routinely used by U.S. troops. The fourth, who is still awaiting trial, did not serve there.

There was and still is a huge problem with Zoloft. In 1999 the FDA gave Pfizer approval for PTSD treatment. Many thought it was what veterans had waited for.

Of 187 patients in the study, 53 percent of those receiving Zoloft (the brand name of the generic sertraline) were much or very much improved at the end of 12 weeks, Brady said, and some patients showed benefits within two weeks.

But that good PR didn't last long,

Suicides and Homicides in Patients Taking Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft: Why They Keep Happening -- And Why They Will Continue

Underlying Causes That Continue to Be Ignored by Mainstream Medicine and the Media "From almost the day that they were introduced in the late 1980s and early 1990s, sudden, unexpected suicides and homicides have been reported in patients taking serotonin-enhancing antidepressants such as Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft. I'm not surprised this problem hasn't disappeared, nor will it unless we look deeper."

It seems that after the soldiers were murdered at Fort Hood, the press wanted to drag up everything possible to get their names in the spotlight.

How about the chart that shows suicides going up instead?

Marines
Navy, Marines suicides fell in 2013; attempted suicides by Marines jumped

TIME reported on the rise in military suicides as well up to 2012 in The Third Surge, Battleland by Mark Thompson.

But why pay attention to the real problem? Why pay attention to the fact that suicides and attempted suicides went up after the military started the bullshit of addressing deaths caused by war but not during it? Why bother to pay attention to the fact that while the number of enlisted military folks went down the suicide rate did not really go down? After all less to count means the number of suicides would have naturally gone down. They also didn't seem to concerned with the fact that attempted suicides went up.

Guess it is just easier to make soldiers look bad instead of the actually seeing what is right in front of their face. Considering how hard they are pushing this claim right now, it makes them all look really stupid while the site where it originated looks redeemed.

So the Iraq war goes on in Mike’s head

So the Iraq war goes on in Mike’s head
Wounded Times
Kathie Cotos
April 13, 2014

How do veterans go from doing everything possible to stay alive during combat, to not wanting to live anymore back home?

That is the question that has to be answered but no matter how many programs, research projects, charities and news reports come out, no one seems to explain it.

Before Iraq, Afghanistan and the Gulf War, there were decades of research on walking wounded. Vietnam veterans came home and pushed to have everything available today. Most of the work began in the 70's. By 1978 there were Veterans Centers to address the fact that while veterans needed help to heal what war did inside of them, they were reluctant to go to the VA hospitals.

Suicides tied to combat are not new. They were happening all the time across the country but other than local newspapers covering the deaths in the obituary sections, most families kept the tragedy secret.

It was pretty easy to figure out what happened when we were read "died suddenly" at a young age and the words Vietnam Veteran. Chuck Dean, a Vietnam veteran and one of the founders of Point Man International Ministries wrote many years ago that at least 150,000 Vietnam veterans committed suicide. Even now they are the majority of the suicides, attempted suicides, VA claims and the backlog, but they have been forgotten.

Why aren't they healing? Why are they still ending their own lives? How many more years will the public give the military and the Department of Veterans Affairs to deliver on their end of the deal? Soldiers surrender everything to serve in the military. They risk their lives for the sake of the others they serve with. Their own lives come after everyone else's. What they want comes after what they need to do. The fact they are tired because they only had a few hours of sleep doesn't matter in combat. They have jobs to do that lives depend on even to the point where their own lives may end. But they do it all. Then they come home and it all falls apart for too many.

The war in Afghanistan is fast approaching the 13th year. Some reporters say that it is the longest war in America's history but that is only because of the official years of Vietnam.

U.S. military advisers, present in small numbers throughout the 1950s, were introduced on a large scale beginning in 1961, and active combat units were introduced in 1965. By 1969 more than 500,000 U.S. military personnel were stationed in Vietnam. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union and China poured weapons, supplies, and advisers into the North, which in turn provided support, political direction, and regular combat troops for the campaign in the South. The costs and casualties of the growing war proved too much for the United States to bear, and U.S. combat units were withdrawn by 1973. In 1975 South Vietnam fell to a full-scale invasion by the North.

The Vietnam War is the longest, and arguably the most controversial, in U.S. history. Congress never officially declared war against North Vietnam, but the 88th Congress passed the "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution" which authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson "to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression." The resolution passed on August 7, 1964.

The first American ground combat troops landed in South Vietnam (specifically, the U.S. Third Marine Regiment, Third Marine Division, deployed to Vietnam from Okinawa to defend the Da Nang airfield) during March 1965. During the height of U.S. military involvement, December 31, 1968, the breakdown of allied forces were as follows: 536,100 U.S. military personnel, with 30,610 U.S. military having been killed to date; 65,000 Free World Forces personnel; 820,000 South Vietnam Armed Forces (SVNAF) with 88,343 having been killed to date. At the war's end there were approximately 2,200 U.S. missing in action (MIA) or prisoner of war (POW).

(SOURCE: Harry G. Summers, Jr. Vietnam War Almanac, Facts on File Publishing, 1985.
On May 7, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford officially ended US involvement in Vietnam.

A Loyal Soldier Doesn’t Deserve This on the New York Times by Nicholas Krisof tells the story of an Iraq veteran Mike Yurchison. There are so many things to point out about an Iraq veteran with PTSD and TBI including the fact his brother is no longer here. I could point out how hard it is for these young veterans to have relationships, but since most of you already know what that is like, no shocker there. No matter what the war was titled, it is hard to stay together. More marriages have failed because as hard as it is for anyone to have a successful relationship, it is almost impossible when PTSD tries to take control. "Almost" but not impossible. My husband and are are going on 30 years.

A few years ago a local young couple wanted to get married. They didn't have much money so friends were stepping up to donate what they could. I was asked to film the wedding. The groom was a National Guardsman. Their marriage only lasted a few months. The bride discovered that he had PTSD and was no longer able to deny it or hide it. She had no clue what to do or what PTSD was and didn't even want to try to learn.

Some people don't heal what PTSD does because they are not getting what they need to help them over the really rough parts. Too many don't even understand that as they heal they believe they are getting worse because they cry and feel really sad. All those feelings, trapped behind the emotional wall from the time PTSD hit to getting help, come flooding out. With the right help they heal.

"So the Iraq war goes on in Mike’s head"

He tried to get help from the VA but ended up with a private doctor he has to pay for out of his own pocket. The VA does NNPO, also known as Fee Basis, when they cannot deliver the needed care for veterans.

Unavailability of VA Medical Facilities or Services: Non-VA Care is used when VA medical facilities are not “feasibly available.” The local VA medical facility has criteria to determine whether Non-VA Care may be used. If a Veteran is eligible for certain medical care, the VA hospital or clinic should provide it as the first option. If they can’t -- due to a lack of available specialists, long wait times, or extraordinary distances from the Veteran’s home -- the VA may consider Non-VA Care in the Veteran’s community. Non-VA Care is not an entitlement program or a permanent treatment option.

The VA has to approve of this first. If not, the veteran has to pay. Forget private insurance picking up the bill because if the VA doctor diagnosis the disability or illness linked to military service, the insurance companies say it is the responsibility of the government to pay for the care. (That happened to us in the 90's before my husband's claim was approved.)

"Mike agreed to share his story and be photographed, despite embarrassment and innate reluctance, in hopes that the attention might help other veterans in need of assistance."

Mike is like all the others willing to talk about what happened to them and what they were going through so they could let other veterans know they are not alone. After all when you fight something like this, it can feel as if no one else understands especially when the help given if far from what it needed.

"Iraq is but a fading memory for most Americans, and Afghanistan may soon recede as well. But for countless others like Mike and Leigh Anna, the war continues and will for decades to come."

As most want to forget we sent young men and women into combat, they also want to forget that after all these years, we have not begun to fight for them equal to the battles they were fighting for us. Pretty sickening outcome considering how much time the government has had to get this right.

Florida Teen Among 5 Honored by Military

Five military teens honored for selfless service
Stars and Stripes
By Meredith Tibbetts
Published: April 12, 2014

All five recipients – representing each service branch – mug for the camera with Poison lead singer Bret Michaels, far left. From left to right, the teens and their branches are: Juanita Lindsay Collins, Coast Guard; Kenzi Hall, Army; Ryan Patrick Curtin, Navy; Gage Alan Dabin, Air Force; Michael-Logan Burke Jordan, Marine Corps.
MEREDITH TIBBETTS/STARS AND STRIPES

• Coast Guard: Juanita Lindsay Collins, 17, of Florida, with a 4.5 cumulative weighted GPA, has completed 300 hours of volunteer service and was president of her junior and senior class as well as the National Honor Society. She was also a 2013 Anne Frank Humanitarian Award winner.

Army: Kenzi Hall, 16, living in California
Marine Corps: Michael-Logan Burke Jordan, 15, of Hawaii
Navy: Ryan Patrick Curtin, 18, of Texas
Air Force: Gage Alan Dabin, 18, of Alaska

ARLINGTON, Va. — Despite being teenagers, despite moving more than any kid should be asked to, and despite facing the stress of a parent deployed, these five military children have shown what dedication and determination can accomplish.

On Thursday night, five teens, one representing each service branch, were honored as the Military Child of the Year by Operation Homefront, a nonprofit that provides financial aid and other assistance to the families of servicemembers.

These kids have different passions, but two things in common: a high GPA and a commitment to community.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Poison lead singer Bret Michaels — himself a military brat — spoke during the event of the sacrifices military children have to make and how each honoree not only rose to the occasion, but exemplified leadership and achievement.

This is the sixth year that Operation Homefront has presented the Military Child of the Year awards. Each honoree receives $5,000 and a trip to Washington. The teens are selected from a pool of a nearly 1,000 nominees.
read more here

Chaplain at Maine VA killed wife

Is this a case of redemption or example of a deeper problem? The VA would not hire a Chaplain like me even though I was trained, ordained, and at the time I was trying to work for the VA, insured. I gave up because I did not meet their requirements of training. While they seem to not want to break the rules, this Chaplain was allowed to work for them. It should depend more on the way he lives his life now. If he can find forgiveness for what he had done in the past, that can be a priceless message.

Convicted killer’s hire as chaplain at Togus concerns federal officials
The chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee said the hiring means the U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs must ‘look very closely at their hiring practices.’
By Michael Shepherd
Staff Writer
April 11, 2014

TOGUS — The chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee said Friday that the panel is concerned by a loophole that allowed VA Maine Healthcare Systems-Togus to hire a chaplain who killed his wife without Togus officials knowing of his conviction.

The remarks from U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., came after a tour of the hospital and surrounding buildings on its campus with U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud of Maine’s 2nd District, the top committee Democrat.

The comments were in response to a March story in the Kennebec Journal about the past of James T. Luoma, a Pentecostal minister and Vietnam veteran who is now the head chaplain at Togus.

In 1986, he was convicted of murdering his wife, Sherry, in Ohio, but an appeal led to a new trial, a guilty plea to manslaughter and a shorter sentence. A model inmate by all accounts, Luoma left prison in 2004 and became an ordained minister.

By 2011, he had a chaplain job with the federal Department of Veterans Affairs in Dayton, Ohio. In October, Luoma, now 63, was hired to lead Togus chaplains.
read more here

It took an Army of help to reunite Veteran from Arizona with Private Ellen

Saving Private Ellen: Extraordinary lengths injured soldier went to so he could be reunited with faithful bomb-detecting dog
Joshua Tucker lost track of his bomb dog while being treated in hospital
Pair finally reunited after three-year search that led to Germany
Daily Mail
By JESSICA JERREAT
PUBLISHED: 16:37 EST, 11 April 2014

When Joshua Tucker was taken to hospital after serving in Afghanistan the only thing keeping the Arizona soldier strong was knowing his military dog Ellen was waiting for him.

But just as the K9 MP finished his treatment for injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder, the Armed Forces called his wife, Sherie, to say the dog had been moved.

What followed was an extraordinary effort over three years, involving the Army, Air Force and Congress to reunite Tucker with the dog that meant so much to him.
read more here

Two Fort Hood slain soldiers return to Florida

Two fallen Fort Hood soldiers to be buried locally, honored as heroes
Bay News 9
By Jason Lanning/Josh Rojas, Team Coverage
Last Updated: Friday, April 11, 2014

Tampa International Airport firefighters held a water cannon salute for the plane that brought Lazaney-Rodriguez’ body to Tampa from Texas.

TAMPA
Two of the three soldiers killed in last week's Fort Hood shootings will be buried locally.

The body of Staff Sgt. Carlos A. Lazaney-Rodriguez arrived at Tampa International Airport Friday afternoon.

Lazaney-Rodriguez, 38, originally from Puerto Rico, was months away from retiring after 20 years of service.

Tampa International Airport firefighters held a water cannon salute for the plane that brought Lazaney-Rodriguez’ body to Tampa from Texas. His family held a private ceremony on the tarmac.

More than 100 Patriot Guard Riders also showed up at the airport to show their respects for the soldier.

"It's just an honor to be here for them. I'm sad that I do. I'd much rather me shaking their hand than saluting their coffin,” said Randall McNabb, Patriot Guard Riders.
read more here

UPDATE

Mourners gather for funeral of Ill. soldier killed at Fort Hood
Chicago Tribune
Tribune wire reports
April 12, 2014

ROLLA, Mo.— Mourners gathered in Rolla, Missouri on Saturday for the funeral of an Iraq war veteran killed in a shooting rampage at the Fort Hood Army base earlier this month. Friends and family of Timothy Owens, 37, a native of Effingham, Illinois, attended a private service at First Baptist Church.

Outside the church, several dozen motorcyclists, many of them veterans, prepared to escort the hearse to the cemetery.

Veteran Frank Reinhart said the mission of the Patriot Guard Riders was to ensure dignity at memorial services for fallen military, something his generation missed after returning from the Vietnam War.

"You go through little towns and see people with their hands over their hearts, it's very moving," Reinhart said, adding that the group aims "to see that the family gets support and a little bit of honor."

Two other soldiers died in the attack this month - Daniel Ferguson, 39, of Mulberry, Florida, and Carlos Lazaney Rodriguez, 38, of Puerto Rico. Their funerals will be held on Monday in Florida.
read more here

Military disability issues keep PTSD soldier trapped

Military disability issues keep PTSD soldier trapped
YouTube Video Report

Apr 11, 2014
Although Sgt. Chris Peden suffers from mood swings and insomnia due to post-traumatic stress disorder, the Tacoma resident has had to continue going to work in his infantry battalion for the past year and a half because of the military's complicated disability retirement system. "My brain literally just doesn't work the way it used to, " he said. In the background is his wife Karen.

In the report Sgt. Chris Peden mentioned soldiers going AWOL. (One more topic that does not merit attention from the press.) Here are a few stories about AWOL soldiers.

Brian Harkin for The New York Times 2007
Two soldiers in Texas, Ronnie and James, who did not want to be fully identified, are among the Army deserters who are facing courts-martial.

In the 2006 fiscal year, 3,196 soldiers deserted, the Army said, a figure that has been climbing since the 2004 fiscal year, when 2,357 soldiers absconded. In the first quarter of the current fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, 871 soldiers deserted, a rate that, if it stays on pace, would produce 3,484 desertions for the fiscal year, an 8 percent increase over 2006.

Sgt. Brad Gaskins, 25, of East Orange, N.J., said he left the northern New York post in August 2006 because the Army wasn’t providing effective treatment after he was diagnosed with PTSD and severe depression.

Spc. Justin Faulkner, 22, of Stanton in eastern Kentucky, returned to his unit Tuesday, Brandy Faulkner said. She said she talked to him on the phone and that officers in his 101st Airborne Division combat engineer outfit welcomed him back. “He’s back on base, they’re treating him with respect and getting him the help he needs,” Brandy Faulkner said.

Cindy Goforth knows about the problem first hand. She has two sons. One who's back from Iraq, 19-year-old David, and the other who's serving his third tour there. She said her younger son is in jail because of PTSD and she hopes the new study will help convince him he can be treated. "The night before he come home on R and R one of his best buddies was killed and he did not handle that well. He didn't handle that one well at all," said Goforth. That was in October. He was supposed to go back in November, but went AWOL at the airport. "Did he ever get mental health treatment when he came home? No, of course they teach them to be Army strong. Well, they're Army strong. The only problem is these kids don't realize they've got problems," said Goforth.

The Chicago Tribune tells the story of Spc. 4 Eugene “Doc” Cherry, an Army medic who served in Iraq with the 10th Mountain Division and returned home with severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Unfortunately, Cherry’s experiences are ones that VFA has seen many, many times. Cursory exposure to the psychiatrist in the field, long waits for appointments back in America, commanders making it next to impossible for servicemembers with mental injuries to receive help, going AWOL: this is a pattern that affects more and more servicemembers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Is this anyway to treat a soldier? One of the worst stories I've read

Dominic Meyer was on his way to Iraq. Soon he would be pulling another soldier out of a burning Humvee. The man was returned to his family a triple-amputee, blind and deaf.

Four times in the space of four months, the unit was jarred by the sound and the fury of a roadside bomb. Jangled nerves are evidently part of the bargain. Sometimes adrenaline is your only friend in Iraq.

Meyer was shot three times while he was there. His flak jacket may have saved his life. His buddy wasn't so lucky. He was killed by sniper fire.

There is no emotion in Meyer's voice. There's something in the way he looks at you, though. His eyes tell you they have seen far too much. "He has an old soul," says his mother, Dana Spencer. Dominic Meyer is 20.

The Army sent him home in July, 18-day leave. On the 17th day of his furlough he was hit by a car in Sayreville, late at night. The driver didn't stop. Six months later his knee still bothers him. He walks with a cane.

After the hit-and-run accident, there was some mix-up. "In the confusion of having him formally transferred back to Fort Hood (Texas) for treatment, he was designated AWOL," his mother wrote in a letter to the Press. It's complicated. The doctor at Fort Monmouth has to talk to the commanding officer at Fort Hood who has to talk to the commanding officer in Iraq. Lot of paperwork, maybe a letter doesn't get stamped somewhere along the line, who knows.

By Sept. 29, Meyer was ready to report for duty. He was anxious to rejoin his unit in Iraq. He packed up his gear and loaded it into his 2003 Ford F-150. He would drive through the night, less traffic.

But before he got on the road, he was pulled over by the police, around 11:15 p.m. Someone called complaining about a pickup truck and a motorcycle racing up and down the street.

Meyer's registration was expired and he had no insurance. Then the officer saw the butt of a bayonet sticking out of the defroster vent.

The next day there was a story in the local paper: "Man AWOL from Army found in Sayreville with cache of weapons." In addition to the bayonet, the story went on to say that police had found two handguns, several magazines of ammunition, several knives, a hatchet and an unspent hollow-point bullet.

Meyer spent the next 57 days in the Middlesex County Jail. His bail originally was set at $100,000, with no 10 percent option. Under New Jersey's tough new gun law, enacted last year as a means to combat gang violence, Meyer could be facing mandatory prison time.

There are a lot more stories like these. How many? Well AWOL has been such a huge ignored story that it appears even the military wasn't really paying attention. They arrested a Marine 5 years after he was discharged in California.

In 2007 the Army was discharging 10 a day for "personality disorder." By 2012 "more than 20,000 men and women who exited the Army and Marines during the past four years with other-than-honorable discharges that hamstring their access to VA health care and may strip them of disability benefits." But last year it was 11,000 from the Army.

$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.

But it gets worse considering "more than 100,000 other troops left the armed services with "bad paper" over the past decade of war."

All of this left this result. About 1,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan war era are diagnosed each week with post-traumatic stress disorder and more than 800 with depression, according to VA statistics.

Michigan PTSD group dis-honors soldier's memory after suicide

This is a quote of what a Mom was told. "not here where we don’t have any connection … where nobody knows Ryan Patrick Kennedy" and that quote came after her son's story touched someone so much, things started to change in Michigan. Saying there is "no connection" is not true and the story shows that. They may want to do something good in Michigan but this is a lousy way to start.

Soldier's mother 'devastated' by name change at PTSD site
Center planned to honor son's name
Associated Press
Apr. 10, 2014

TRAVERSE CITY — The mother of a soldier from Chicago said she is “devastated” at the decision to remove her late son’s name from a planned facility in Traverse City devoted to treating post-traumatic stress disorder.

The center once known as the Ryan Patrick Kennedy House is now being called Tranquility House. Kennedy suffered from PTSD and took his own life in 2012.

The project’s board members made the decision this week, saying they did so after seeing how much financial support was coming from Chicago.

“We determined that it would be better to allow them to reorganize, if you will, in Chicago and not here where we don’t have any connection … where nobody knows Ryan Patrick Kennedy,” board member Richard Edmonds said.

Kennedy’s mother, Linda, said the idea for the Traverse City facility began last year when she made an online connection with another soldier’s mother from northern Michigan.

They talked about creating a place where PTSD sufferers such as Ryan Kennedy could go to heal.

“It helped me to know that Ryan’s name was going to be used to help other young soldiers suffering with PTSD so they wouldn’t do what Ryan did,” Lisa Kennedy told WPBN-WTOM-TV.
read more here

Marine Sgt. Major wants less pay for troops?

Sgt. Maj. Of The Marine Corps Says Lower Pay For Marines “Will Raise Discipline”, Make Them Less Wasteful

The highest enlisted member of the United States Marine Corps said that lowering salary of Marines will “raise discipline” and make Marines less wasteful. The comments come as a debate in Washington talks about cutting active duty member pay in order to make sharp budget cuts at the Department of Defense. The comments came as he testified in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The base salary for the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps is $7,816.20 per month.

When you are done screaming, read more here Maybe they should start with his pay?

He doesn't seem to know that a lot of his Marines and Soldiers are living on food stamps.

Florida Bomb Sniffing Dog Retires with Full Honors

Fla. bomb-sniffing military dog that saved 13-person patron in Afghanistan retires with honors
Associated Press
April 11, 2014

TAMPA, Fla. – Staff Sgt. Shannon Hutto thought his bomb sniffing dog Eddie was just being lazy when he wouldn't move from a certain spot one hot day in Afghanistan in 2012.

But Hutto then saw what Eddie smelled: a homemade bomb, partially buried in the dirt. It was six inches from Hutto's foot.

"It was a high stress moment," Hutto said.

A short time later, Eddie sniffed out another improvised explosive placed on a bridge the patrol unit was about to cross.

Eddie saved Hutto's life, the lives of a dozen patrol members and countless people in the village.

For his service, Eddie retired Friday with full military honors. The ceremony was held at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, and a few dozen soldiers turned out to cheer Eddie on.
read more here

Delaware Missing Veteran Lee Riley is double amputee

Police seek help finding missing war vet
The News Journal
April 11, 2014

State police are asking the public's help in locating a 66-year-old war veteran who has not been seen since leaving the VA Hospital in Elsmere last week.

Lee Riley, of Townsend, is a double amputee who uses a wheelchair. He is African-American, about 6 feet tall, 150 pounds and bald.

When last seen April 3 about 10 a.m. leaving the VA Hospital, Riley was dressed in brown overalls and white sneakers and was wearing a Vietnam veterans hat, Cpl. John Day said.

He may be traveling to Washington, D.C. or to California.

Riley may be wearing one or both of his prosthetic legs. He uses a manually-propelled wheelchair and has no means of long-distances travel, Day said.

Anyone with information on Riley's whereabouts is asked to call Troop 9 at 378-5218 or use the state police Mobile Crime Tip App by downloading at: http://www.delaware.gov/apps/ or call Delaware Crime Stoppers at (800)TIP-3333.

More veterans with PTSD live near military bases

Large numbers of vets with PTSD live near military bases
McClatchy Washington Bureau
BY CHRIS ADAMS
April 10, 2014

Spc. Kristen Haley, right, the fiancee of Sgt. First Class Daniel Ferguson, who was killed in the Fort Hood shooting, is consoled at the memorial ceremony for the victims of the Fort Hood shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, on Wednesday, April 9, 2014.
JAY JANNER — Austin American-Statesman/MCT

WASHINGTON — The Army specialist who killed three soldiers at Fort Hood last week isn’t the only person from the neighborhoods that surround the massive military base near Killeen, Texas, who’s been evaluated or diagnosed with mental illness.

Data compiled by the Department of Veterans Affairs and analyzed by McClatchy show that hundreds of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and live near Fort Hood, while thousands more reside near the nation’s other military installations.

In fact, the communities adjacent to military bases have the highest number of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, a concentration that reflects the tendency of former soldiers to settle near bases once they leave the service but also raises concerns about base security.

Experts are quick to say that most veterans with PTSD or other service-connected mental ailments don’t engage in violence or other unlawful behavior, but there is an association between PTSD and elevated levels of violence.

To check for the prevalence of PTSD and associated mental disorders in and around the nation’s military bases, McClatchy analyzed a database of every disability claim in the VA system. The VA’s disability compensation database, released under a Freedom of Information Act request, includes 3.2 million records of every veteran receiving disability compensation on the rolls as of 2011, when McClatchy obtained it for stories tied to the first 10 years of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Of the more than 40,000 ZIP codes in the United States, ZIP code 76549, right next to Fort Hood in Killeen, has more recent veterans receiving disability compensation for PTSD than any other in the country: 288.

The second ZIP code on the list, with 273 cases, is next to Clarksville, Tenn., and Fort Campbell.

No. 3, No. 5 and No. 8 are also next to Fort Hood. Combined, those four ZIP codes next to Fort Hood represent more than 900 recent veterans already on the VA’s disability rolls for PTSD.

Other top ZIP codes are in or next to Fort Sill and Lawton, Okla.; Fort Carson and Fountain, Colo.; Fort Bragg and Fayetteville, N.C.; and Camp Lejeune and Jacksonville, N.C.
learn more here

Who Killed Cmdr. Alphonso Doss?

Family Haunted by Slaying of Navy Commander
The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, Fla.)
by Jim Schoettler
Apr 09, 2014

Alexis Doss turns 16 years old Wednesday without a father to celebrate with or answers about his killing.

Orange Park police haven't made an arrest in the Feb. 12 killing of decorated, yet troubled Cmdr. Alphonso Doss, 44. Doss was found in a room of the Astoria Hotel off U.S.17, where he'd been living after separating from his wife while struggling with alcohol and other problems.

Orange Park Police Chief Gary Goble continues to stand by his decision not to publicize Doss' death or that it was a murder for two weeks to protect the investigation.

Goble told the Times-Union Tuesday that investigators recently received some lab results from the crime scene and have at least two people of interest. Goble said he hopes to soon announce news in the 2-month-old case, but he wouldn't elaborate or discuss a motive.

Doss' family didn't learn that he was slain until after his Feb. 20 funeral in Jacksonville.

Doss' father, Tom Allen, said Tuesday that Doss' wife, Denise, called Allen's Mississippi home a few days after he attended the funeral to say she learned his son had been slain. He said she had found the body after not hearing from him for a day or two. Allen, 67, said he can't understand why police won't at least tell him the cause of death, although he said he supports how they have otherwise handled the case.
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Medal of Honor Capt. William Swenson Rejoins Army

Medal of Honor Recipient Rejoins Army as Officer
The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.
by Adam Ashton
Apr 10, 2014

Medal of Honor recipient Capt. William Swenson has rejoined the Army and been assigned to Joint Base Lewis-McChord's I Corps, the corps spokesman said Wednesday.

Swenson's appointment to the corps plans office means that three of the six living military service members who have received the Medal of Honor for actions of Afghanistan are now assigned to Lewis-McChord.

Swenson, Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Petry and Staff Sgt. Ty Carter are the only Medal of Honor recipients still on active-duty.

The three of them were recognized last week at a ceremony in Olympia in which their names were added to the state's Medal of Honor monument. Petry and Carter wore dress uniforms to the event while Swenson wore a civilian suit.

I Corps spokesman Col. Dave Johson said Swenson joined the Lewis-McChord headquarters on March 14 as a captain.

Swenson of Seattle left the Army in 2011, two years after he repeatedly risked his life to recover the bodies of ambushed Marines and Afghan soldiers in Kunar Province. Five U.S. military service members and nine of their Afghan partners lost their lives in the battle.
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