Camp Pendleton: Biker slides under big rig and lived

Motorcyclist crashes, slides under big rig on I-5
CBS 8 News
Posted: Jul 20, 2014 2

OCEANSIDE (CNS) - A 21-year-old motorcyclist from Camp Pendleton suffered major injuries when he struck the rear of a car, slid under a big rig and his legs became pinned under the trailer, California Highway Patrol sergeant said Sunday.

The crash was reported at 8 p.m. Saturday on the southbound San Diego (5) Freeway north of Cassidy Street, said Sgt. M. Kelley.

The crash occurred when the motorcyclist was southbound on the San Diego Freeway, "splitting traffic" between the two left lanes at 60 to 75 mph while traffic was congested and moving at 30 to 50 mph, Kelley said.

The driver of a 2005 Toyota Corolla checked her mirror and saw the center lane was clear so she began to move from the far left to the center lane and the motorcyclist collided into the rear of her car, the sergeant said.
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Congressman misses hearings on VA because he had other things to do?

Lamborn defends Veteran's Affairs committee attendance record
The Gazzette
By Megan Schrader
July 21, 2014

Halter, a retired Air Force two-star general, said that's unacceptable in a congressional district that has nearly 100,000 veterans.

DENVER - U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn says he must juggle his time sitting on three committees and six subcommittees at Capitol Hill, but his opponents are questioning why he's missed more than half of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs meetings in the past two years.

"Sometimes three will meet at the same time," Lamborn said. "There is a constant allocation of time."

Democrat Irv Halter, who is challenging Lamborn in November, says Lamborn's attendance record reflects the congressman's priorities.

"He claims he's the ranking member of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs and yet when there were hearings . he either wasn't there or he didn't have anything to say," Halter said.

"Everybody has to make choices. Congressman Lamborn has shown through his actions that veterans are not his top priority."
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U.S. taxpayer dollars going up in smoke in Afghanistan

U.S. troops in Afghanistan sent waste to open burn pits, report finds
LA Times
By DAVID ZUCCHINO
July 21, 2014

Although the U.S. has spent millions to build incinerators in Afghanistan to avoid exposing anyone to toxic smoke from open burning, American troops sent waste to an Afghan-operated open pit for five months last year, according to an inspector general’s report issued late Monday.

The Afghans continued to burn their own dangerous waste -- including batteries, tires and plastic -- in the pit because they didn’t want to spend money on fuel to run new, U.S.-provided incinerators, which stood unused behind a locked gate, the report found.

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction’s report said the incidents violate a 2010 Pentagon prohibition against using such pits except in extraordinary circumstances. U.S. forces did not notify Congress, as required, to seek an exemption from the ban, the report said.

“This is another case of U.S. taxpayer dollars going up in smoke,” said John F. Sopko, the inspector general. “Congress was never told about it -- and worst of all, the health of U.S. troops has been put needlessly at risk.”
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"I got my VA loan, I got my house"

Housing Buoyed by 20-Year High for Vet’s Loans: Mortgages
Bloomberg Business Week
By Prashant Gopal and Jody Shenn
July 22, 2014

During his third deployment in Afghanistan, Air Force Staff Sgt. Claude Hunter was so eager to return to the U.S. and buy a house that he signed a contract for a property that his agent showed him over Skype.

Hunter got back in time to close the deal, paying $219,000 in May for the four-bedroom Waldorf, Maryland, house that he financed with a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs mortgage. It didn’t require a down payment.

“On Facebook, my friends have started posting: ‘I got my VA loan, I got my house,’” said Hunter, 31. “Everybody is just ready. A lot of them have done their jobs overseas and are coming home.”

America’s fragile housing recovery is getting a boost from military buyers using VA mortgages as the U.S. draws down troops after more than a decade of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. About 4.7 million full-time troops and reservists served during the wars and many are now able to take advantage of one of the easiest and cheapest paths to homeownership. The program’s share of new mortgages, at a 20-year high, is also increasing as other types of government-backed loans have grown more costly.

“The reduction in uncertainty for the returning vets allows them the freedom to spend more, including buying housing,” said Sam Khater, deputy chief economist at CoreLogic Inc., an Irvine, California-based property-data firm. “VA buyers are coming into the market in higher and higher proportions and tend to be first-time buyers, one of the missing drivers in the recovery in housing demand.”
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Protestors put their bodies on the line for wheelchair bound veteran

Protestors lie under vehicle to stop war vet eviction
10 News


SEATTLE (KIRO) -- After a brief reprieve from an eviction, the King County Sheriff's Office removed a disabled Vietnam veteran and his family from their West Seattle home, but this time, activists staged what they called an "eviction blockade" and blocked an ambulance outside the home.

Activists from the organization Standing Against Foreclosure and Eviction stood on the porch and chanted when a deputy arrived to serve the court-ordered eviction notice to Jean and Byron Barton again on Friday.

The couple at first had chained themselves to the bed in another effort to stay in their foreclosed home.

But medics arrived and Byron Barton, who cannot walk and has had a stroke, was put into an ambulance to be transported to the VA hospital, but protesters lined up underneath it, lying down. Seattle police then arrived, along with multiple deputies, who worked to remove protesters from the yard and away from the ambulance. Some were dragged away, screaming.
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SWAT Team responds to Phoenix Arizona VA Chief's home

SWAT confronts VA executive in Mesa
FOX 10 News
By Nicole Garcia
Posted: Jul 21, 2014

MESA, Ariz. - We are learning new information about an incident involving the Mesa SWAT Team and a Phoenix VA Hospital executive.

Brad Curry is the Chief of Health Administration Services at the Phoenix VA Hospital.

He was put on administrative leave in May after reports that BA administrators created and hid secret waiting lists to cover up long wait times for sick veterans.

Curry was at the center of police activity earlier this month after a family member called 911 saying he was suicidal.

911 Caller: "My father is going through a difficult time. He's threatening suicide."

911 Operator: "Does he have any weapons?"

911 Caller: "He has multiple weapons, rifles and a gun."

911 Operator: "What does he have with him?"

911 Caller: "I have no idea. My mom came to my house. We live right across the street."

This 911 call by Curry's daughter sparked a SWAT Team response at his home on July 10.

According to the police report, Curry became upset while discussing finances with his wife, grabbed a pistol and then slammed his hand against the wall.
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Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Pitts Medal of Honor

Ex-paratrooper receives Medal of Honor for bravery
USA Today
Gregg Zoroya
July 21, 2014

WASHINGTON — A former paratrooper who became the sole survivor of an Afghanistan outpost under heavy attack in 2008, choosing to fight on to the death with the bodies of six U.S. soldiers around him, survived to receive the Medal of Honor Monday in a White House ceremony.

"Against this onslaught, one American held the line, bloody but unbowed," President Obama said Monday of former Army staff sergeant Ryan Pitts. The soldier, who was 22 at the time, exemplified the virtues of integrity, humility and courage, the president said.

"For me, this was a team effort," Pitts told the Army Times. "I'm going to receive it. But it's not going to be mine. We did it together. No one guy carried that day."

Pitts received a medical discharge from the Army in 2009 and lives with his wife, Amy, and 1-year-old son, Lucas, in Nashua, N.H., where he works for a computer software company.

His wife and son, with dozens of other current or former soldiers who fought with him, stood by in the East Room of the White House on Monday as Obama draped the medal around Pitts' neck. It was Pitts' second wedding anniversary.

He is the ninth living recipient of the award from either the Iraq or Afghanistan wars. Sixteen of the medals have been awarded in the conflicts for recipients living or dead.

Pitts is the second soldier from the small unit he served with in Afghanistan — Chosen Company — to receive the honor. A Medal of Honor went to Kyle White in April for heroism during an ambush Nov. 9, 2007, that left six Americans and three Afghan soldiers dead.

Pitts and his fellow paratroopers were only a few weeks or days away from going home after a 15-month deployment when they fought on July 13, 2008, to defend a partially completed combat base adjacent to the village of Wanat in northeastern Afghanistan.
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Full Medal of Honor ceremony from the White House

President Obama Presents the Medal of Honor to Staff Sergeant Ryan M. Pitts
The White House
Tanya Somanader
July 21, 2014

At a ceremony at the White House this afternoon, President Obama presented the Medal of Honor to Staff Sergeant Ryan M. Pitts for his unwavering courage in one of the fiercest battles of the Afghanistan war.

In the summer of 2008, when our forces in Afghanistan were stretched thin across isolated outposts, Ryan was serving alongside 48 American soldiers charged with using little resources to defend a post with significant vulnerabilities. Mountains stood sky-high on every side of the village of Wanat, diverting aerial surveillance and delaying the heavy equipment they needed for their defense.

In the pre-dawn darkness of one fateful July morning, while manning this small, unfinished base, Ryan and his fellow soldiers were attacked by 200 assailants who were determined to take their post. “Those 200 insurgents were firing from ridges and from the village and from trees,” President Obama said. “Down at the base, a vehicle exploded—scattering its missiles, back at our soldiers. It was, said a soldier, ‘hell on earth.’”

Pounded by the relentless attack, every soldier was wounded almost instantaneously. Bleeding from the arm and both his legs, Ryan, at 22 years old, was the last man standing between the insurgents and his base. In his remarks, President Obama described how Ryan’s heroic acts helped not only prevent the fall of his post but save lives of his fellow soldiers:

As the insurgents moved in, Ryan picked up a grenade, pulled the pin, and held that live grenade—for a moment, then another, then another—finally hurling it so they couldn’t throw it back. Then he did it again. And again. Unable to stand, Ryan pulled himself up on his knees and manned a machine gun. Soldiers from the base below made a daring run—dodging bullets and explosions—and joined the defense. But now the enemy was inside the post—so close they were throwing rocks at the Americans; so close they came right up to the sandbags. Eight American soldiers had now fallen. And Ryan Pitts was the only living soldier at that post.

Soon, the enemy was so close Ryan could hear their voices. He whispered into the radio—he was the only one left and was running out of ammo. “I was going to die,” he remembers, “and made my peace with it.” The he prepared to make a last stand. Bleeding, barely conscious, Ryan threw his last grenades. He grabbed a grenade launcher and fired—nearly straight up, so the grenades came back down on the enemy just yards away. One insurgent was now right on top of the post, shooting down—until another team of Americans showed up and drove him back. As one of his teammates said, had it not been for Ryan Pitts, that post “almost certainly would have been overrun.”

But even with those reinforcements, the battle was not over. Another wave of rocket-propelled grenades slammed into the post. Nine American soldiers were now gone. Still, the fighting raged. Ryan worked the radio, helping target the air strikes that were hitting “danger-close”—just yards away. And with those strikes the tide of the battle began to turn. Eventually, the insurgents fell back. Ryan and his fellow soldiers had held their ground.

Ryan’s steadfast bravery and selfless dedication to his brothers-in-arms exemplifies the quintessential strength of America’s servicemen and women. To Ryan, the Medal does not belong to him alone but serves as a tribute to all who fought with valor that day and as “a memorial for the guys who didn’t come home.” Today, the President honored the nine men who made the ultimate sacrifice for us all that day in Wanat:

The son who “absorbed love like a sponge”; the expectant father whose dream would later come true: a beautiful baby girl—Specialist Sergio Abad.

The boy who dominated the soccer field, fell in love with motorcycles, and there in that remote outpost took a direct hit in the helmet and kept on fighting—Corporal Jonathan Ayers.

The photographer whose pictures captured the spirit of the Afghan people, and who wrote to his family: “Afghanistan is exactly [where]…I wanted to be”—Corporal Jason Bogar.

The father who loved surfing with his son; the platoon leader who led a dash through the gunfire to that post to reinforce his men—1st Lieutenant Jonathan Brostrom.

An immigrant from Mexico who became a proud American soldier, on his third tour, whose final thoughts were of his family and his beloved wife Lesly—Sergeant Israel Garcia.

A young man of deep faith, who served God and country, who could always get a laugh with his impersonations of his commander—Corporal Jason Hovater.

The husband who couldn’t wait to become an uncle; the adventurous spirit who in every photo from Afghanistan had a big smile on his face—Corporal Matthew Phillips.

The big guy with an even bigger heart; the prankster whose best play was cleaning up at the poker table with his buddies and his dad—Corporal Pruitt Rainey.

And the youngest, just 20 years old, the “little brother” of the platoon, who loved to play guitar, and who, says his dad, did everything in life with passion—Corporal Gunnar Zwilling.

“Their legacy lives on in the hearts of all who love them still, especially their families,” the President said. “Mothers. Fathers. Wives. Brothers and sisters. Sons and daughters.” For Ryan, who is celebrating his two-year anniversary today with his wife Amy and his one-year-old son Lucas, that is the story he wants people to remember: “Soldiers who loved each other like brothers and who fought for each other; families who have made a sacrifice that our nation must never forget. ‘I think we owe it to them,’ he says, to ‘live lives worthy of their sacrifice.’”

The President reflected on the lessons we learned from Ryan and those who fought in the battle of Wanat:

When this nation sends our troops into harm’s way, they deserve a sound strategy and a well-defined mission. They deserve the forces and support to get the job done. That is what we owe soldiers like Ryan and all the comrades that were lost. That is how we can truly honor all those who gave their lives that day. That is how, as a nation, we can remain worthy of their sacrifice. I know that’s a view that’s shared by our Secretary of Defense, our Joint Chiefs of Staff, and all the leadership here. They’re hard lessons, but they’re ones that are deeply engrained in our hearts.

It is remarkable that we have young men and women serving in our military who, day in and day out, are able to perform with so much integrity, so much ability, so much courage. Ryan represents the very best of that tradition and we are very, very proud of him as we are of all of you. So God bless you, Ryan. God bless all who serve in our name. And may God continue to bless the United States of America.

Alaska National Guard Soldier Attacked by Grizzly Bear

Soldier attacked by grizzly in second JBER mauling this summer
Alaska Dispatch
Michelle Theriault Boots
July 20, 2014

A National Guard soldier was mauled by a brown bear on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson while participating in a training exercise Sunday morning, officials said. A JBER release said the soldier was mauled by a sow defending her cubs -- the second such attack in just more than two months on the Anchorage base.

The soldier was in stable condition as of Sunday afternoon. His name had not yet been released.

The Alaska Army National Guard soldier was a participant in a daylong “land navigation exercise,” said Alaska National Guard spokeswoman Maj. Candis Olmstead. During the exercise, soldiers are given a compass and map and are timed as they navigate alone to hidden locations on the course.

At about 11:45 a.m. the soldier was traveling through the woods when he encountered a sow with two cubs, Olmstead said.

“He dropped to the ground, covered his head and remained still,” she said.
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Drumming for PTSD Therapy

Drums Aren’t Just for Music: They’re Therapy, Too
The Daily Beast
Dale Eisinger
July 21, 2014

A growing body of research shows that drumming has a positive effect on Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, depression, PTSD, and more.

YouTube user MrFasthands65 has posted more than 1,000 videos of himself drumming on top of popular songs. “Fun is learning something and doing it well in your own mind,” Lou, as he’s known on the web, writes. “Perfection or striving for it is work and ruining your fun. As I aged I realized no one can be perfect, for there will always be some self-proclaimed critic to tell you you're not.”

But Lou isn’t just drumming for psychological fulfillment. He plays the drums to help combat a very rare neurological condition known as chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, or CIDP. This autoimmune disorder, which affects about seven in 10,000 people, causes numbness and pain in the limbs and imbalance walking. Lou has found that drumming relieves him of these symptoms. And he’s not alone.

Above all though, the benefits of drumming seem to mostly be psychological and emotional. The Wahlbangers Drum Circle Organization, a group based in Northern California, has been using drumming as an effective treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans. In 2008, Science Direct Journal published a study titled Drumming Through Trauma: Music Therapy With Post-Traumatic Soldiers. It showed that “a reduction in PTSD symptoms was observed following drumming, especially increased sense of openness, togetherness, belonging, sharing, closeness, connectedness and intimacy, as well as achieving a non-intimidating access to traumatic memories, facilitating an outlet for rage and regaining a sense of self-control."
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Veterans Charity claims 68% PTSD healed in a week?

Local veteran puts on Gala for Warrior Camp
New Hampshire.com
By MEGHAN PIERCE
Union Leader Correspondent
July 20, 2014

Warrior Camp alum Jennifer Pacanowski of Allentown, Pennsylvania, reads poetry she wrote to express her challenges with PTSD at the 1st annual Warrior Camp Gala in Jaffrey Saturday. Meghan Pierce

JAFFREY — Saturday night’s Warrior Camp Gala at the Shattuck Golf Club raised about $10,000 to support the treatment of active military members and veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Warrior Camp founder Eva J. Usadi of New York City told gala attendees the intensive one-week program was created to save lives. Every day one active military member commits suicide, she said, and the suicide rate is even higher in the veteran population in which 22 veterans commit suicide a day.

Warrior Camp is held a few times a year at Touchstone Farm in Temple. But Usadi is hoping to raise funds to build a full-time facility for Warrior Camp in New York eventually.

There are three components to Warrior Camp, Usadi said: equine assisted psychotherapy, yoga and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy.

PTSD is a physical and biological reaction to trauma that cannot be properly treated through talk therapy and medication, Usadi said.

Because of their approach, Usadi said 68 percent of the participants who arrive at Warrior Camp with chronic PTSD no longer meet that diagnosis by the end of the week.

Graduates of the camp have urged Usadi to add a fourth component to the program: community.

“They train together. They live together and they go to war together in very tightly knit units and some of the people have said we have created that feeling again that nobody has had since they had been discharged,” Usadi said.
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Sgt. Eddie Ryan caught 175-pound blue shark from his wheelchair

Wounded Marine lives his dream on shark hunt
Oneida Dispatch
By Paula Ann Mitchell
July 20, 2014

The fearsome 7-foot ocean beast was no match for the 240-pound stouthearted Marine.

After a spirited battle on June 19, Sgt. Eddie Ryan gave a final tug and reeled in a 175-pound blue shark 30 miles out on the Atlantic.

“I lived my dream,” he said afterward, looking over the long-snouted, slender fish that lay across the 54-foot boat “La Bella Donna.”

Catching a shark is hard enough for able-bodied seafarers, but for someone like Ryan, the challenge is compounded.

The Marine sniper suffered brain injury in April of 2005 after being shot by friendly fire while serving in Iraq during his third tour of duty.

Since that day nine years ago, Ryan has shown heart as he slowly recuperates at the home of his parents, Chris and Angie.

The family moved from Ellenville to Lake George a few years ago, but the Ryans have managed to keep in touch with their supporters in Ulster County.

Word got out in recent months that Ryan was obsessed with the idea of shark hunting, and it just so happened that the right people got wind of it.
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Iowa congressman on VA committee not there half the time

The Gazette fact checked a claim made by the GOP against a Democratic Representative out of Iowa. 

The claim made stated that Representative Bruce Braley missed 74 percent of the hearings. The article went on to point out that Braley is also on a Veterans Affairs Subcommittee. It turned out when they put both duties together, he wasn't there half the time.

We've all seen the VA committees and subcommittee meetings with more empty chairs than interested politicians but with the way things are going most of us think more aren't there half the time and when they are there, the questions they ask seem more like for getting attention for just showing up.

Which veterans do we care about and which are forgotten?

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 20, 2014

Bill McClellan of the Saint Louis Dispatch has a good article on Who should go to the front of the line? at the VA. He raises a lot of good points focused on combat veterans wounded during their service and the veterans using the system for their general healthcare needs. McClellan wrote, "I do not know what a reasonable waiting time should be for a person who needs cataract surgery, but I fear that in our zeal to save the VA system, we will continue to ignore the most necessary reform. Who has priority?"

Part of the problem according to McClellan is "It was not intended to be socialized medical care for all veterans. It’s great if we have enough money to provide care for aging veterans with limited income, but we ought not lose sight of the primary mission."

While all of this sounds like a reasonable argument to have it avoids far too many other factors.

There has been a "fix" known as "fee basis" for veterans to get care outside of a VA hospital or clinic when they do not have enough staff or empty appointments slots to get veterans in.

What is Non-VA Care: Non-VA Care is medical care provided to eligible Veterans outside of VA when VA facilities are not available. All VA medical centers can use this program when needed. The use of the Non-VA Care program is governed by federal laws containing eligibility criteria and other policies specifying when and why it can be used. A pre-authorization for treatment in the community is required for Non-VA Care -- unless the medical event is an emergency. Emergency events may be reimbursed on behalf of the Veteran in certain cases. See the Emergency Non-VA Care brochure for information.

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 authorizing VA payment for Non-VA medical care in the Veteran’s community. Non-VA Care is not an entitlement program or a permanent treatment option.

While the latest bill in the congress has been cheered over allowing veterans to seek care outside of the VA, it has been done for a long time. The American Legion addressed this back in 2012.VA Fee Basis: Examining Solutions to a Flawed System, September 14, 2012

Title 38, United States Code (U.S.C.) Section 1703a states when VA facilities are not “capable of furnishing economical hospital care or medical services because of geographical inaccessibility or are not capable of furnishing the care or services required, the Secretary may contract with non-Department facilities in order to furnish medical care.”

It went on to point out,

In the last four years, non-VA purchased care has doubled from $2.2 billion in FY 2007 to $4.5 billion in FY 2011 along with a corresponding increase of 615,768 veterans served in FY 2007 to 970,727 veterans served in FY 2011 (2). VA program leadership has stated the reasons for growth of non-VA usage are: the increase of unique veterans seeking VHA care; economic conditions; waiting times because of more veterans enrolling in the system; and growth of number of CBOCs and emergency medical needs in rural areas (2). During our System Worth Saving site visits, Directors and VA hospital finance staff have told us the fee-care is between 15-25 percent of their medical center budgets and continues to grow. The facilities struggle with what services they can provide in-house and whether they should hire a full-time specialist to balance the number of veterans requesting the specialty services or contract out this care.

When a perfect system processes and determines claims on time, putting service connected veterans to the head of the line would work however this is far from a perfect system. Thousands of claims tied to combat are in the backlog. Without a compensation rating of the disability, they are considered "non-service" connected until the claim has been approved. What happens to those veterans? Do they get pushed to the back of the line on top of facing a true disability connected to their service and being billed for their care?

Until a veteran has the rating from the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) there is no compensation and no free care unless they meet the income threshold proving the lack of means to pay for care.

It happened to us back in the 90's. We had private health insurance but once the VA doctors determined the need for medical care was connected to service in Vietnam, they would no longer cover that condition being treated. The VA had not approved my husband's claim but did not turn him away to make room for someone else. He had great doctors. As we fought for his claim to be approved the VA instructed the IRS to send our tax refund to them to cover the cost of his care. That went on for six years until his claim was finally approved. We received a refund for most of the money they took but the damage done to us financially and emotionally was beyond what we received back. It was torture back then just as it is now for thousands of families of veterans wounded in war.

There is nothing happening today in the news that was not happening decades ago when the press was not interested. (You can read about what happened to us in FOR THE LOVE OF JACK, HIS WAR MY BATTLE.)

Veterans like my husband with a medical need caused by his service would have been disregarded and he would have to go to the back of the line until the VBA approved his claim on top of everything else.

Veterans without a disability rating from the VA also include combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan receiving 5 years of free care after discharge. Do they go to the back of the line as well?

This is not a perfect system and is a lot more complicated than what most people think they know. The trouble remains in congress as it always has. It is not about one party over another since we've seen the same issues making headlines for decades as reporters pretend it is all new and politicians use the Sgt. Schultz excuse of "knowing nothing" was happening. No one has been held accountable for what they have failed to do.

Boston Red Sox Run to Home Base in Combat PTSD fight

Thousands run for veterans at Fenway
Annual event raises millions
Boston Globe
By Oliver Ortega
GLOBE CORRESPONDENT
JULY 20, 2014

THOUSANDS RUN FOR VETS AT FENWAY

More than 2,000 people participated in this year’s Run to Home Base outside Fenway Park on Saturday.

Hosting the event at the home of Boston’s beloved Red Sox helps elevate an issue affecting many in the military, said retired Army Brigadier General Jack Hammond, the executive director of the Home Base foundation.

Along with Massachusetts General Hospital, the Red Sox Foundation funds and oversees the clinic.

Tommy Lee Kidman always wore a smile. His two daughters, Gracie and Madeline were the “light of his eyes,” friends say, and he had an artistic side — he drew, wrote, played the guitar.

But Afghanistan changed him. On the front lines, the Army medic saw death and desolation, fellow soldiers whose wounds he could not heal. The memories tormented him on sleepless nights and led to fits of rage back in the US.

In the end, it proved to be too much. He committed suicide last summer, a year after coming home.

With his friend Kidman as inspiration, Major Craig Meling of Dorchester laced up his best pair of sneakers Saturday morning and joined about 2,600 people running at Fenway Park to raise money for military members suffering from mental trauma and brain injuries — what some call the “invisible wounds” of war.

Now in its fifth year, Run to Home Base has raised more than $11 million for a clinic at Massachusetts General Hospital that serves hundreds of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans and their families, helping them grapple with the mental illnesses that took the life of Kidman and other soldiers. This year’s run alone raised just under $2 million, said Lee A. Chelminiak, a spokeswoman.
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In Afghanistan, troops join Boston runners
Boston Globe
By Oliver Ortega
GLOBE CORRESPONDENT
JULY 20, 2014

Members of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division held their own run in Afghanistan on Friday in support of Saturday’s Run to Home Base event in Boston. The effort was spearheaded by Captain Lukasz Willenberg, the division’s chaplain and an avid runner. Gear and winners’ medals were provided by the Corvias Foundation charity group.

“We thought it would be a great event to bring military and civilian folks together under the banner of Run To The Home Base and ‘Boston Strong,’ ” said Willenberg, who also ran.

About 1,100 soldiers and civilians at the base trekked back and forth on a road that stretched a mile and a half inside Bagram Airfield, the largest US military base in Afghanistan.
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