40 Members of Congress Don't Want Cuts to Army?

Odierno: More troops in Afghanistan may get pink slips
Stars and Stripes
By Jon Harper
Published: September 20, 2014

(Here are the highlights)

Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Ariz., said in a written statement in July. “It’s deplorable the Obama administration would treat them this way.”

Hmm, can only guess that he was AWOL when the Congress passed sequestration when they couldn't pass a budget ahead of that.

Active duty Army end strength is slated to drop from 510,000 troops this year to 490,000 in 2015. Defense officials expect it to go down to about 450,000 by 2019. If lawmakers don’t put an end to budget cutbacks known as sequestration, which are scheduled to go back into effect in 2016, the force level could fall to 420,000.

Congress comes up with the Bills and Congress controls the money. When do politicians understand the rest of the country has grown very tired of hearing it isn't their fault?

Odierno blamed lawmakers for soldiers losing their jobs. He told reporters that he recently received about 40 letters from members of Congress asking him not to cut soldiers from bases in their districts.
read more of this here

Fort McClellan Veterans Sick and Dying From Toxic Exposures

Sick veterans who served at shuttered, toxic Army base turn to Congress, VA for help
FoxNews.com
By Barnini Chakraborty
Published September 19, 2014

VetFriends.com

WASHINGTON – Sue Frasier spent the first six months of her military career at Alabama's Fort McClellan. But that short stint -- 44 years ago at an Army base the EPA later would find so toxic it would shut it down -- was all it took for her to start getting sick, she says.

Her problems began shortly after completing boot camp in 1970 at the Anniston, Ala., base. Today, she says she's coping with asthma, a life-threatening gastrointestinal disease that required surgery, and fibromyalgia that results in long-term pain and tenderness in her joints and muscles.

"It hurts everywhere, but at least I can still walk and talk," she told FoxNews.com.

Frasier is among thousands of veterans who were stationed at the former Army base who believe they were exposed to dangerous polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. They repeatedly have turned to the Department of Veterans Affairs for help, seeking aid for medical treatment and a formal study of their ailments -- but say their pleas have been largely ignored or buried in red tape for decades. Today, they're looking to fresh leadership at the VA, and allies in Congress, to finally take on their case.

The true cause of the veterans' ailments has never been officially determined. Fort McClellan housed several Army components, including a division for chemical weapons training and research. But many veterans suspect they were sickened by chemicals dumped near Anniston by Monsanto Co., which had facilities in the area and disposed of chemicals near the base.

Two pieces of legislation have been introduced to deal with the veterans' medical claims. A proposed Senate bill would establish a national center for research on the diagnosis and treatment of health conditions of the descendants of veterans exposed to toxic substances during service in the Armed Forces. The bill has not advanced.

Over on the House side, a bill more specific to Frasier and similar veterans' claims, and backed by Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., would require the VA to create a registry of everyone who served at Fort McClellan from 1935 to 1999. It then would require the department to reach out to those veterans and offer health exams and information about the effects of toxic exposure. It also would open up disability payments to the veterans.

The House bill, though, has been stuck in congressional gridlock for five years and hasn't made its way out of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
read more here

Kitchen Commandos Debate War Again Ignoring Cost

War Computer Games vs Real Call of Duty
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 20, 2014

The debates about sending troops back into Iraq, keeping them in Afghanistan and spreading them out into other countries leaves most of us sick because they never manage to consider the cost. Hell, they never really do while they show their knowledge, or lack of it, defending their opinions on the options never thinking beyond their limited view. Kitchen Commandos think they understand because more Americans play computer war games than actually go to do it for real.

The New Yorker has an article about "Isis's Call of Duty" computer game "In a recruitment video for the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS (also known as ISIL or I.S.), that has been making the rounds of some uglier parts of the Internet"

The real Call of Duty on Google Plus has this many followers

3,522,318 followers 57,054,760 views

More people are paying attention to computer war games than the real battles being fought as the politicians push for more. The real price paid is what they ignore the most.

ICYMI: WITH A VETERAN COMMITTING SUICIDE EVERY HOUR
U.S. REP. RON BARBER SAYS THEY MUST NOT ‘FACE THE GHOSTS OF WAR ALONE’
Sep 18, 2014

Press Release

Congressman calls for ‘well-funded, well-planned campaign’ to halt epidemic WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Ron Barber, noting that a veteran commits suicide every 65 minutes, called for increased attention to the issue, saying that soldiers and veterans “are left to face the ghosts of war alone.”

“The suicide rate among our country’s brave service men and women and veterans is at a frightening level,” Barber said yesterday on the floor of the House. “Some estimates have shown that as many as 22 veterans take their own lives every day.”

Barber, who represents 85,000 veterans in Southern Arizona, called for an increased focus on identifying members of the armed forces and veterans who may be at risk of taking their own lives and increased attention to preventing that from happening.

“We must combat military and veteran suicide with the same conviction that we take on an enemy of war – because it is killing our men and women in and out of uniform,” Barber said. “We must wage a well-funded, well-planned campaign to fight this heartbreaking epidemic.”

Video of Barber’s entire remarks can be seen by clicking on the photo below:
Published on Sep 18, 2014
Rep. Ron Barber spoke on the floor of the House on veterans suicide prevention. "The suicide rate among our country’s brave service members and veterans is at a frightening level. Some estimates have shown that as many as 22 veterans take their own lives every day.

“We must combat military and veteran suicide with the same conviction that we take on an enemy of war. Because it is killing our men and women in and out of uniform. We must wage a well-funded, well planned campaign to fight this heartbreaking epidemic. we must do more for those who have borne the brunt of war. We must come together, Congress, the administration, the health care community, mental health experts and build upon a plan to help the veterans who served this nation proudly, yet may be suffering." September 17, 2014.

I left this comment

Kathie Costos DiCesare
Being appalled is one thing, knowing how long it has been going on is inexcusable. By 1978 there were 500,000 Vietnam veterans with PTSD. Their suicides were 200,000 many years ago and today, today veterans over 50 are 78% of the suicides no one talks about. How many more years does it take to stop being home more deadly than being in combat?

For military families, the wars never end, fighting to keep them alive

How do you explain this to the rest of the citizens of this country? How do you get them to understand that when our husbands, wives, daughters and sons return from combat, the war isn't really over?

It does not really matter to us which war in what decade because the fact is, veterans risked their lives in service to this country, but being home with us is still more dangerous that combat was. More die after combat than during it. Not much has changed since this country began.

We keep hearing about the "price" of war and know the numbers will never show the true total. We keep hearing promises from politicians about fixing what went wrong and wonder what they mean. We wonder what "one" suicide will actually be the "too many" they keep claiming year after year while we wait for them to actually reach the point where they stop what they are doing, fix what is wrong and live up to what they claim.

How many more years will the public let us keep paying the price for those they choose to ignore until they decide another war has to be fought and they remember those willing to pay the price with their lives?

‘They’re Still At War When They Come Home’: Soldier’s Mother Struggles With His Suicide
WBUR News
By Lynn Jolicoeur
September 19, 2014

Tammy Sprague Gallagher, whose son, a Massachusetts National Guard soldier, died by suicide last October, stands among tributes to him in her Raynham home.
(Jesse Costa/WBUR)

“I only have a picture now, a frozen piece of time, to (remind) me of how it was when you were here and mine. I see your smiling eyes each morning when I wake. I talk to you and place a kiss upon your lovely face.”

For Tammy Sprague Gallagher of Raynham, this has become a daily ritual. She spends a few moments in front of her dresser, which is covered with pictures of her son, Joaquin Pereira Jr., and his military medals. She talks to him, or reads this poem to him.

“How much I miss you being here I really cannot say. The ache is deep inside my heart and never goes away. I need to feel you constantly to get me through the day. I love you so very much. Why did you go away?”

Pereira was 25 when he died by suicide last October.

He was a Massachusetts National Guard soldier and did two tours overseas in war zones. He’s one of eight Massachusetts Guard soldiers who’ve killed themselves since August 2012. That’s a big increase in the suicide rate for the Guard, and it happened despite the Guard instituting widespread suicide prevention programs over the last several years.
read more here

Watchfires lead the way out of PTSD darkness

Watchfires Lead The Way
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 19, 2014

Watchfires lighting the way out of the darkness of PTSD

Wisdom, compassion and courage
are the three universally recognized
moral qualities of men. Confucius

Why do you have PTSD? Why you and not someone else?

I am sure you've heard some kind of nonsense like it has something to do with you being mentally weak but that kind of rumor will always start with someone with very weak emotions. The stronger you feel love, happiness, joy and empathy, the stronger you will feel the sadness, grief, loss and regret.

When you risked your life for someone else, it meant you cared and so did the others you were with but some cared less while others cared more. Compassion is a gift the rest of the world depends on when things go wrong for them, but they are the last to understand what it does to the compassionate ones when they give all they have.

“But there was no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bore witness that a man had the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer.”
Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

Had you not left your home, family and friends, you would not have experienced the conditions closer to hell than any other place on earth. You wouldn't have seen with your own eyes what horrors man is capable of or abundance of compassion spawn by the pain. You wouldn't be hurting if you were not there.

Today is POW MIA Day. Most people have seen the flag, the table ceremony honoring the memory of those who did not come home but there is another service that remembers the lost.

In the The Battle Hymn of the Republic Julia Ward Howe wrote "I have seen Him in the watchfires of a hundred circling camps" yet while the tradition was carried on by Vietnam veterans, it goes back to the beginning of this country.

Vietnam veterans have come together to build such fires according to the military regulations and specifications of the 1700s, when fires were used to help guide stray Soldiers home from battle.

Vietnam veterans have been lighting the watchfires for decades on helping other veterans find their way back from combat to living as a veteran. While what we call PTSD now may seem new to you, it is as old as the Bible itself. Anyone reading the spiritual struggles of David in the Book of Psalms can see it clearly.

Psalm 144
Of David.
1 Praise be to the Lord my Rock,
who trains my hands for war,
my fingers for battle.
2 He is my loving God and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
who subdues peoples[a] under me.
3 Lord, what are human beings that you care for them,
mere mortals that you think of them?
4 They are like a breath;
their days are like a fleeting shadow.
5 Part your heavens, Lord, and come down;
touch the mountains, so that they smoke.
6 Send forth lightning and scatter the enemy;
shoot your arrows and rout them.
7 Reach down your hand from on high;
deliver me and rescue me
from the mighty waters,

In Vietnam, much like in Afghanistan and Iraq, the enemy hides within "friendlies" and they are hard to see but what is harder to see is the enemy hiding within you. More deadly than any weapon in the enemy hands, this is embedded within you. More veterans die by their own hands than have been killed in those wars. Why? Because you have not been trained to use the weapon you were born with.

It is your soul. Some call it the spirit. It holds everything you need to do with what you were sent to their earth to do.

Did you feel as if there was nothing else you wanted to do than join the military? Then that is what you were sent here for. The courage was paired with your compassion and both joined forces with your determination to endure whatever came your way.

The answer is within you as well.

You are not alone. There are other veterans all across the country waiting for you, watching for you appearing in the distance so you stop feeling lost and alone. They are waiting for your families too so that they can be helped to help you heal.

Members of Point Man International Ministries have been standing watch since 1984. They can help you find your way all the way back home so you can stand for others when their time has come to return to the One Who sent them here.

I am Florida State Coordinator looking for leaders right here doing what I cannot do. These OutPosts are run by veterans and are in small groups, much like a unit in combat. Home Fronts are for the families, like mine, so that families receive the support and knowledge they need for the sake of their veterans.

My husband and I are celebrating our 30th this month so it is not impossible.

You can get out of the darkness if you look for the light to show you the way.

"Days of Elijah" sung by Camp Pendleton Marines

‘Oorah!’: The Viral Video of Marines Singing a Popular Christian Worship Song You Just Have to See
The Blaze
Billy Hallowell
Sep. 18, 2014

There’s a feel-good video going viral that shows Marines at Camp Pendleton exuberantly singing “Days of Elijah,” an upbeat Christian worship song about hope and redemption.

The men, who wave their hands in unison sporadically and shout, “Oorah!” as they sing the praise and worship song, were apparently gathered over the weekend for a Christian service at the California military installation.
read more here

Marine Reservists Capture Record 792 Pound Gator

Marine sergeant and friends bag record-setting alligator
Military Times
By Joshua Stewart
Staff writer
September 18, 2014

Sgt. Jesse Phillips, inset, a mortarman with 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines, hunted a 792-pound alligator, with two of his friends. It measured more than 13-feet from the tip of the nose to the tail, and broke a Mississippi state record. (Courtesy of Jesse Phillips)

The next time Sgt. Jesse Phillips has to train in the swamp, he’ll be all too familiar with the type of beasts that might be slithering around his boots.

The mortarman with Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines, an Alabama-based Reserve unit, made history on Sept. 2 when he and his friends caught a 792-pound alligator in Mississippi. The gator measured in at nearly 13 ½ feet from nose to tail, had a belly that was 69 ¼ inches in girth, and a tail that spanned 51 inches around.

It was the first time the sergeant went alligator hunting, and it paid off. According to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, their alligator was the largest male ever caught in the state.

“During my swamp training I’m going to think about it a lot different now that I’ve snagged a 13-foot, five-inch gator,” Phillips told Marine Corps Times. “I don’t like snakes and I don’t like gators. But it ended up good — I faced my fears.”
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POW-MIA Day and the story few know

The Story of the POW/MIA Flag
HistoryNet
By Marc Leepson
Published Online: April 18, 2012

Heisley modeled the flag's silhouette on his 24-year-old son, who was on leave from the Marines and looking gaunt while getting over hepatitis. Heisley also penned the words that are stitched on the banner, "You are not forgotten."

Newt Heisley, with the POW/MIA flag he designed. (Copyright Don Jones Photography)

You see it everywhere—the stark, black-and-white POW/MIA flag—flying in front of VA hospitals, post offices and other federal, state and local government buildings, businesses and homes. It flaps on motorcycles, cars and pickup trucks. The flag has become an icon of American culture, a representation of the nation's concern for military service personnel missing and unaccounted for in overseas wars.

From the Revolution to the Korean War, thousands of U.S. soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors have been taken prisoner or gone missing. But it took the Vietnam War—and a sense of abandonment felt by wives and family members of Americans held captive—to bring forth what has evolved into the nation's POW/MIA symbol.

The POW/MIA flag is inextricably tied to the National League of POW/MIA Families, which was born in June 1969 as the National League of Families of American Prisoners in Southeast Asia. Its mission was to spread awareness of the mistreatment of POWs at the hands of their captors. It was the brainchild of Karen Butler, wife of Navy pilot Phillip Butler, who had been shot down over North Vietnam in April 1965, and Sybil Stockdale, whose husband, Navy Commander James Bond Stockdale, was the highest-ranking POW in North Vietnam. Stockdale had been held prisoner since September 1965, when his A-4 Skyhawk went down over North Vietnam.

In 1971, League member Mary Hoff came up with the idea of creating a flag as the group's symbol. Her husband, Navy pilot Lt. Cmdr. Michael Hoff, had been missing since January 7, 1970. Mary Hoff called the country's oldest and largest flag-maker, Annin Flagmakers of Verona, N.J.
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Thanks Gunny for the link to this!

Presidential Proclamation --- National POW/MIA Recognition Day, 2014
NATIONAL POW/MIA RECOGNITION DAY, 2014
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION

America's history shines with patriots who have answered the call to serve. From Minutemen who gathered on a green in Lexington to a great generation that faced down Communism and all those in our military today, their sacrifices have strengthened our Nation and helped secure more than two centuries of freedom. As our Armed Forces defend our homeland from new threats in a changing world, we remain committed to a profound obligation that dates back to the earliest days of our founding -- the United States does not ever leave our men and women in uniform behind. On National POW/MIA Recognition Day, we express the solemn promise of a country and its people to our service members who have not returned home and their families: you are not forgotten.

My Administration remains dedicated to accounting as fully as possible for our Nation's missing heroes, lost on battlefields where the sounds of war ceased decades ago and in countries where our troops are deployed today. Whether they are gone for a day or for decades, their absence is felt. They are missed during holidays and around dinner tables, and their loved ones bear this burden without closure. Americans who gave their last full measure of devotion deserve to be buried with honor and dignity, and those who are still unaccounted for must be returned to their families. We will never give up our search for them, and we will continue our work to secure the release of our citizens who are unjustly detained abroad. Today, we acknowledge that we owe a profound debt of gratitude to all those who have given of themselves to protect our Union and our way of life, and we honor them by working to uphold this sacred trust.

On September 19, 2014, the stark black and white banner symbolizing America's Missing in Action and Prisoners of War will be flown over the White House; the United States Capitol; the Departments of State, Defense, and Veterans Affairs; the

Selective Service System Headquarters; the World War II Memorial; the Korean War Veterans Memorial; the Vietnam Veterans Memorial; United States post offices; national cemeteries; and other locations across our country. We raise this flag as a solemn reminder of our obligation to always remember the sacrifices made to defend our Nation.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 19, 2014, as National POW/MIA Recognition Day. I urge all Americans to observe this day of honor and remembrance with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eighteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand fourteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-ninth.

BARACK OBAMA

HEART TO HEART
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel gives former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia, an Army veteran of the Vietnam War, a hug after introducing him as the guest speaker at the 2014 National POW/MIA Recognition Ceremony at the Pentagon, Sept.19, 2014
DoD photo by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Adrian Cadiz

Massachusetts National Guard Fighting Suicides

Massachusetts Army National Guard Is Fighting A War Against Suicide
WBUR
By Lynn Jolicoeur
September 18, 2014

The clanging and hissing noises of cars being repaired are a welcome change from the sounds of war for 31-year-old Nate Radke.

Radke’s business, Gardner Auto Sales, though a little grimy inside the garage, is a shining example of how this Massachusetts National Guard sergeant has turned his life around in a short time.

Two years ago, Radke was living with his wife and two young children in the moldy basement of his parents’ house. He had recently returned from 2 1/2 years of training, deployment to Afghanistan and post-deployment treatment. He was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury — with mood swings, massive headaches, dizziness and sleep problems. He had missed the birth of his first son, who was now a toddler and barely recognized him. His wife was upset he had been gone so long. He says he had been denied Social Security disability benefits and had long waiting periods for medical appointments at the VA hospital.

“I felt left behind. I felt betrayed,” Radke reflected. “I felt that nothing was working no matter what I did.”
read more here

Researchers find no "one size fits all" treatment of PTSD

Research shows possible neurological patterns for PTSD symptoms
MYFOXPhilly

The study, published online Sept. 17 in JAMA Psychiatry, represents a shift within the field of psychiatry away from a "one-size-fits-all" approach to more individualized treatments for mental health issues that target specific areas of the brain.

THURSDAY, Sept. 18, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Imaging technology has shed new light on how certain symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) manifest in the brain, according to a new study.

PTSD is a mental health condition that can cause a wide range of debilitating symptoms, such as flashbacks to a traumatic event, being in a constant state of stress and avoiding certain situation and people, according to background information from the study.

Researchers identified a specific opioid receptor in the brain linked to emotion that is also associated with a specific group of PTSD symptoms, including listlessness and emotional detachment. They suggested their findings could help doctors develop targeted, or personalized treatments for the condition.

"Our study points toward a more personalized treatment approach for people with a specific symptom profile that's been linked to a particular neurobiological abnormality," explained the study's lead author, Dr. Alexander Neumeister, co-director of NYU Langone Medical Center's Steven and Alexandra Cohen Veterans Center for the Study of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury, in an NYU news release.

"Understanding more about where and how symptoms of PTSD manifest in the brain is a critical part of research efforts to develop more effective medications and treatment modalities."

"People with cancer have a variety of different treatment options available based on the type of cancer that they have," noted Neumeister. "We aim to do the same thing in psychiatry. We're deconstructing PTSD symptoms, linking them to different brain dysfunction, and then developing treatments that target those symptoms. It's really a revolutionary step forward that has been supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) over the past few years in their Research Domain Criteria Project."
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Firefighters Shower Plane of Army Reservist Back from Afghanistan

UPDATE
Video: Firefighter welcomed home from Afghanistan deployment
Firefighters took up donations to send him packages with special treats and even a fire department flag to remind him of home
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

DALLAS — Arlington firefighter Ryan Pugh, a specialist in the Army Reserve, received a wet welcome home Thursday after a nearly year-long deployment in Afghanistan.

In a “shower of affection,” fire engines shot sprays of water over the top of Pugh’s plane moments before it pulled into a gate at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, where family, friends and fellow firefighters gathered to celebrate his long-awaited arrival.

After reuniting with his fiancée, his parents and his older brother, Pugh said he was pleasantly surprised to see so many of his Arlington Fire Department friends and colleagues also waiting for him with hugs and handshakes.
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Arlington firefighters welcome home one of their own from Afghanistan
Star Telegram
BY SUSAN SCHROCK
September 18, 2014

DFW AIRPORT — Arlington firefighter Ryan Pugh, a specialist in the Army Reserve, received a wet welcome home Thursday after a nearly yearlong deployment in Afghanistan.

In a “shower of affection,” fire engines shot sprays of water over the top of Pugh’s plane moments before it pulled into a gate at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, where family, friends and fellow firefighters gathered to celebrate his long-awaited arrival.

After reuniting with his fiancee, his parents and his older brother, Pugh said he was pleasantly surprised to see so many of his Arlington Fire Department friends and colleagues also waiting for him with hugs and handshakes.

“I missed those guys terribly. I’m overwhelmed by it,” said Pugh, who served in Kabul with the 302nd Military Police Company. “I definitely feel the love and support.”

Arlington firefighters regularly took up donations to send Pugh care packages with treats such as Crystal Light drink mix packets and Oreo cookies, even a Fire Department flag to remind him of home.
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Fallen Soldier's Mom Sent to Collections by Funeral Home?

FUNERAL HOME COLLECTION NOTICES SENT TO MOM OF FALLEN SOLDIER
ABC 7 News Chicago
By Steve Campion
September 17, 2014

HOUSTON -- With bill collectors calling and letters arriving in the mail, a Houston mother said she's forced to relive her son's death.

Sergeant Graham Woody passed away in April of 2013. He died from injuries sustained in a military exercise in Fort Bliss. His mother, Maddi Armstrong, held a service for him days later at the Setteghast-Koph Funeral home in Sugar Land.

"Graham was an amazing, amazing kid. He graduated from A and M with an engineering degree," remembered Armstrong.

Armstrong says Woody joined the Army out of a love for his country.

In June of this year -- more than a year after his death -- Armstrong said she first got a call from a debt collector. Just last week, she received a letter for more than $5,000 in monies owed. The company even offered her a settlement.
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Fallen Soldiers No Longer Treated Like Luggage on South West

Veteran designs a fitting tribute for the last rides of fallen soldiers
Wisconsin Journal Sentinel
Meg Jones
September 17, 2014

Vietnam veteran Richard Kalashian worked with Southwest Airlines to design a special luggage cart to carry the caskets of fallen soldiers.

Town of Genesee— Rich Kalashian had gone to O'Hare International Airport to greet a friend when he looked out the window to see a flag-draped casket unloaded from a military plane.

The fallen service member was loaded onto a luggage cart and driven to a waiting hearse parked next to a grieving family watching their loved one's final journey.

The Vietnam veteran watched the poignant scene unfold and thought the veteran deserved something more than a luggage cart that looked like all the other baggage carriers.

"Military families and their fallen soldiers deserve a proper patriotic entrance with all the respect and dignity they deserve," said Kalashian, who earned a Bronze Star in Vietnam.

Through Kalashian's inspiration and efforts, a cart for caskets is being transformed into a fitting tribute to service members.

Starting next month it will be permanently stationed at Mitchell International Airport.
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Homeless Veteran John E. Miller Died Alone, Buried with Honors

John E. Miller: Full honors at funeral for homeless veteran
WPTV
Ashleigh Walters
Sep 17, 2014

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. - Wednesday John E. Miller was honored by a group of men who had never met him. They knew he was born in Akron, Ohio in 1950 and served honorably as an E-1 Private in the United States Army in 1970.

"Unfortunately in this case have not been able to locate any family or any friends," explained Bill Quinn with Dignity Memorial and a funeral services director.

Miller's body sat in a quiet room at Quattlebaum funeral home in West Palm Beach. The silver-toned casket was draped in an American flag. The chairs in the expansive room sat empty.

"He is cared for just like one of your loved ones would be. We take him into our care from his place of death. We bring him in and we take care of him. We dress him in clothes, whether he has clothes or not. He is dressed in, you know, in a brand new set of clothes. He is placed in a casket that we provide free of charge," explained Quinn.

Miller died homeless. The Dignity Memorial Homeless Veterans Burial Program is a network of funeral, cremation and cemetery service providers who work with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, local medical examiners, coroners, veterans advocates and veterans organizations to offer homeless and indigent veterans a proper burial.
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