Amputee Afghanistan Veteran Went From Crutches to Running NY Marathon

Defying the odds: US Army veteran with above-the-knee amputation to run NYC Marathon
FoxNews.com
By Melinda Carstensen
Published November 01, 2014

Today, Lychik has proved his doctors— and even himself in the early hours after his injury— wrong. Today, Lychik doesn’t just walk. He runs.

United States Army veteran Edward Lychik joined the military because he wanted to be part of something bigger than himself. But on his 21st birthday, while serving in Afghanistan as a combat engineer, he faced a horrific reality of war that prompted him to rethink his life mission entirely.

On Sept. 30, 2011, about a year into his deployment, Lychik was sitting in the gunner’s hatch of a tank when a rocket struck his vehicle. Lychik remembers feeling a dry thirst in his throat as black smoke engulfed the unit, seeing fire in the background, and reaching down to his left leg, which felt mushy on his fingertips.

“My friend immediately pulled it away and said, ‘You don’t want to do that,’” Lychik, now 24, told FoxNews.com. “They put me on a stretcher and in a vehicle, and that’s when I knew something was wrong.”

Lychik lost most of his left leg in the attack, which doctors later amputated above the knee. Gone were his knee joint, ankle joint and hip joint on that side of his body after undergoing a procedure called hip disarticulation. His medical team said the only way he would be able to walk again was with crutches and assistance.
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New York to pay homeless Marine veteran's family $2.25 million

New York City to pay $2.25M to the family of mentally ill homeless veteran who 'baked to death' in his Rikers Island jail cell
By ASSOCIATED PRESS and MAIL ONLINE REPORTER
31 October 2014

Loss: Former marine Jerome Murdough, 56, died in a mental observation unit on Rikers Island jail on February 15, eight days after he was sent to the facility charged with trespassing

Jerome Murdough, 56, had internal body temperature of at least 100 degrees when he was found dead in a cell in Rikers Island on February 15
Murdough was arrested a week earlier for trespassing after being found sleeping in an internal stairwell on the roof of a Harlem apartment complex
City officials said inmate's anti-psychotic medications made him more sensitive to heat and he also failed to open a vent in his cell

New York City has reached a $2.25 million settlement with the family of a mentally ill, homeless former U.S. Marine who died earlier this year in a 101-degree jail cell, the comptroller said Friday.

Jerome Murdough, 56, died in a mental observation unit on Rikers Island jail on February 15, eight days after he was sent to the facility because he couldn't afford to pay $2,500 bail on a trespassing arrest.

He was found slumped at the foot of his bed with a pool of vomit and blood on the floor and an internal body temperature of 103 degrees. Officials said he wasn't checked on for at least four hours and 'basically baked to death.'

His mother, Alma, filed initial papers to sue the city for $25 million over her son's death. But Comptroller Scott Stringer said Friday his office took the unusual step of settling the case before a lawsuit was filed after a review of the facts of the case.
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Homeless Veteran Baked To Death in New York Jail Cell

Shocked and offended by explicit questions on military sexual assault survey

Military sex-assault survey asking explicit questions draws complaints
The Associated Press
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Published: October 31, 2014

WASHINGTON — Shocked and offended by explicit questions, some U.S. servicemen and women are complaining about a new sexual-assault survey that hundreds of thousands have been asked to complete.

The survey is conducted every two years. But this year's version, developed by the Rand Corp., is unusually detailed, including graphically personal questions on sexual acts.

Some military members told The Associated Press that they were surprised and upset by the questions, and some even said they felt re-victimized by the blunt language. None of them would speak publicly by name, but Pentagon officials confirmed they had received complaints that the questions were "intrusive" and "invasive."

The Defense Department said it made the survey much more explicit and detailed this year in order to get more accurate results as the military struggles to reduce its sexual assaults while also encouraging victims to come forward to get help.

The survey questions, which were obtained by The Associated Press, ask about any unwanted sexual experiences or contact, and include very specific wording about men's and women's body parts or other objects, and kinds of contact or penetration.
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OEF-OIF Marine Veteran Fights to Save Lives

Service and Sacrifice: Marine fights suicide spike
WBIR News
John Becker
October 30, 2014

Retired Marine Stephen Cochran with the service dog he credits to saving his life, Semper.

(Photo: WBIR)

(WBIR) An increasing number of military veterans in Tennessee find they share this fact: they have seen more of their fellow troops die by suicide than in combat.

The Tennessee Department of Veterans Affairs notes the number of suicides among veterans in Tennessee spiked from 197 in 2012, to 214 in 2013. Nationally, the Department of Veterans in its last comprehensive survey in 2013 put the number of suicides among veterans at 22 a day.

"I've been as far as you can go down the suicide line without being able to come back," said former enlisted Marine Stephen Cochran and veteran of tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I've literally lost more friends to suicide than to combat," he recalled after recounting the day after he spent months at war when he had a gun in his own mouth. He credits his service dog "Semper" for scratching at the door and saving his life that day.
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Military Suicide Leading Cause of Death

Suicide surpassed war as the military's leading cause of death
USA TODAY
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
Gregg Zoroya
October 31, 2014

War was the leading cause of death in the military nearly every year between 2004 and 2011 until suicides became the top means of dying for troops in 2012 and 2013, according to a bar chart published this week in a monthly Pentagon medical statistical analysis journal.

For those last two years, suicide outranked war, cancer, heart disease, homicide, transportation accidents and other causes as the leading killer, accounting for about three in 10 military deaths each of those two years.
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Enough said on how the military and congress failed to live up to the "one too many suicides" for them.

PTSD on Trial: Prosecutors won't seek death penalty in Chris Kyle murder trial

Erath prosecutors won’t seek death penalty in SEAL sniper slaying
Star Telegram
BY DOMINGO RAMIREZ JR.
October 31, 2014

Erath County prosecutors will not ask for the death penalty for an Iraq war veteran accused of fatally shooting retired Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and a friend at a gun range in February 2013.

Erath County District Attorney Alan Nash filed paperwork Thursday saying that his office will seek a sentence of life without parole for Eddie Routh of Lancaster.

Routh’s capital murder trial has been set for Feb. 9 in 266th state District Court in Stephenville.

Defense attorneys have said that they will use an insanity defense for Routh, 27.

State District Judge Jason Cashon imposed a gag order in the case that prohibits prosecutors and defense attorneys from commenting.

Routh is accused of shooting Chris Kyle, 38, and Chad Littlefield, 35, both of Midlothian, on Feb. 2, 2013, at the shooting range at Rough Creek Lodge, an upscale resort outside Glen Rose in Erath County. The lodge is about 77 miles southwest of Fort Worth.

Area police reports documented Routh’s mental problems well before the killings at the gun range.
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Case 1 of Shell Shock 100 Years Ago

100 years since the first case of shell shock, it’s time to prioritise mental health
It’s 100 years since the first documented case of shell shock today. What progress should we be making a century on?
New Statesman
BY DAN JARVIS PUBLISHED
31 OCTOBER, 2014

Since "Case 1" of shell shock, we still need to make far more progress.

Photo: Getty

One hundred years ago today, on the morning of the 31 October 1914, a 20-year-old private ventured out into firing line of the First World War for the first time.

We know from frontline reports that he and his platoon had just left their trench when they were "found" by the German artillery.

The explosions sparked chaos and confusion as everyone dived for cover. The young soldier was separated from his comrades and became tangled in barbed wire.

As he struggled to free himself, three shells rained down on him, missing him by only a few feet. Witnesses said it was sheer miracle that he survived.

But when the young man was admitted to hospital a few days later, it was clear to the medics that his close brush with death had left a mark on him the like of which they had not seen before.

History hasn’t remembered the young private’s name. Today we know him only as "Case 1" from a seminal report published early in 1915 by a Cambridge professor and army doctor called Dr Charles Myers.

It detailed the first documented cases of what Myers came to describe as "shell shock".

More than 80,000 members of the British Army had been diagnosed with the disorder by the time the First World War came to an end, including the famous war poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen.
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VA Contract for IT Firm Worth $31 Million

Engility Wins $31 Million Contract to Provide IT Management Services to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Business Wire
Published on October 31, 2014

That mission includes providing policy, analysis, strategy, technical guidance and products that ensure IT capabilities are defined and managed for the VA in a manner that improves the lives of our nation’s Veterans.”

Engility Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EGL) , today announced it has been awarded a $31 million contract to provide information technology (IT) management services, application services and subject matter expertise to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Information and Technology, Product Development Group (OI and T PD).

Under this VA contract, which represents new work, Engility will provide management, analysis, technical and support services for nearly 100 technology systems throughout VA. The award further establishes the company’s role in providing end-to-end program management, technical and analytical services in support of the VA’s critical IT investments that support its three pillars of health, benefits and corporate IT systems. The contract is a three-year (base plus two, one year options) time and materials award.
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VA to begin compensating family members of Camp Lejeune

VA vows to pay families sickened after exposure to Lejeune water
News Observer
BY MARTHA QUILLIN
October 31, 2014

Despite promises by the Department of Veterans Affairs, critics of the agency say they don’t trust it to help Marine Corps family members exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune because the VA is still fumbling the cases of sickened veterans two years after Congress ordered they be treated for free or at low cost.

The VA announced last week that it’s ready to begin compensating family members for the out-of-pocket costs they have incurred since March 2013 for 15 medical conditions associated with exposure to chemicals that entered the drinking water at the Eastern North Carolina military base. The Marine Corps has said the water was contaminated with more than a dozen chemicals, including known carcinogens, between 1957 and 1987.

The military has said that between 750,000 and 1 million people – veterans, family members and civilian workers – may have been exposed to contaminated water before the tainted sources were shut down.
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UFO surrounded by helicopters on rural road

UFO surrounded by helicopters on rural road: National Geographic hunts answers
Examiner
Roz Zurko
October 31, 2014

They were in the Piney Woods just outside of Huffman, Texas in 1981 when they saw a UFO hovering over the road ahead of them, describes the website Blue Blurry Lines.

Some UFO sightings are much more intriguing than others, like the UFO that was surrounded by 23 helicopters seemingly trying to corral the spacecraft. This is a case still talked about today. Then there's the case of an unknown spacecraft that plays cat and mouse with jet fighters, this is another UFO sighting that can’t be ignored. These sightings are too detailed and seen by too many reputable people to dismiss them as being mistaken for a weather balloon.

How about the case of the Australian pilot disappearing mid-flight just after he radios in that a “strange craft” appears to be “dancing” around his aircraft? This is another encounter not to be taken lightly, according to Open Minds TV on Oct. 30.
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Watchfire Back From Far Part Two

Watchfire to show you the way back from far
Part 2
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 1, 2014

Josh told the Watcher the stories he wanted to share
of Afghanistan and Iraq and the nine times he was sent there.
A Green Beret, fearless and tough
he never thought being home would be so rough
but the talk slowed down enough to know.
Josh's loss of hope was beginning to show.
The Watcher said I know where you are
been there myself with a fresh scar.
See, I had three sons from three different wives
sooner or later they stopped wanting me in their lives.
I traveled all across this country looking for a place to stay
but ended up with too many memories getting in the way.
So I'd pack my stuff and head down the road as far as I could get
never really trusting anyone I met.
But there is something more you need to know about the life I had
about the times when I hurt my family just because I was mad.
My kid brother named his son after me.
Your buddy Bob was actually a nephew to me
but I left soon after he was born
because they just didn't understand how I was torn.
I looked fine to them but inside I was beaten up bad
regretting living so much nothing made me glad.
After Bob was killed, I knew it was time to come back home
knowing you'd be here feeling lost and alone.
Josh started to cry with shaking hands to light his cigarette
he knew Bob understood his life of regret after regret
but wondered how he got so far into his head
to know he was thinking everyone would be better off with him dead.
So Bob pulled out a tiny book from his vest
thinking it was time for Josh to learn how to rest.
The book said "Point Man In Your Pocket"
40 days to healing what is inside your jacket
But Josh said he no longer believed in God after what he'd seen
he couldn't understand if God loved how He allowed it all
Then Bob started to question him
When you were in that hell of a mess
did you see any tenderness?
Josh thought about it for a while
then he had a broad smile
There was a time after a firefight.
All hell came down that night.
We were getting the wounded to the medivac flight
when we heard the sound of a mortar before it was in our sight
we just dropped to our knees and covered them with our bodies
not knowing if any of us would lose more buddies
but it turned out to be a dud landing nearby
had it exploded, all of us knew it wasn't our time to die.
Well one young one was shaken up and fell apart
LT grabbed his shoulders, looked him in the eye and saw his heart
First time I ever saw LT cry, he put his arms around the kid
and told him it was because he loved it hurt as much as it did.
So ya, there are lots of times like that but what is your point?
Bob put his arm around Josh's shoulder with a soft voice
telling him if love lived through all of that it was a choice
between what was bad inside of all of us and what is right within us.
That right came from God walking with them letting love live
even in the hellish place war soldiers can still givev share, pray care about someone else in pain
and be willing to die for each other all over again.
Josh started thinking of all the other times when he did see acts of kindness
The arm reached out, the head laid on a shoulder of a brother, words spoken with softness
all happened but he didn't really notice before when they were done
he hadn't stopped long enough to think of a single one.
Bob and Josh spent every night talking about God's love strong enough to live through war
and what they really did it all for.
When all was said and done they did it all for the buddy on their left and buddy on their right
fighting to save lives with all their might.
There was nothing really wrong with them after all they'd been asked to do
but something in them that was right and true.
A couple of years later, Bob passed away
but Josh took over his watch that very same day
knowing there would come someone like him needing to be shown
the way back from far from God they used to believe in feeling alone.
Just needing someone to care
knowing what it was like because he was there.

If you need to know where God was, be shown the way back from far, contact Point Man International Ministries and find an OutPost in your area.

Watchfire to show you the way back from far

Mexico Released Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi

UPDATE
U.S. Marine Tahmooressi Released From Mexican Jail

Mexico orders immediate release of Marine veteran
Associated Press
By JULIE WATSON
November 1, 2014

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A Mexican judge ordered the immediate release of a jailed U.S. Marine veteran who spent eight months behind bars for crossing the border with loaded guns.

The judge on Friday called for retired Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi (Tah-mor-EE-si) to be freed because of his mental state and did not make a determination on the illegal arms charges against the Afghanistan veteran diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a Mexican official who had knowledge of the ruling but was not authorized to give his name.

Tahmooressi has said he took a wrong turn on a California freeway that funneled him into a Tijuana port of entry with no way to turn back. His detention brought calls for his freedom from U.S. politicians, veterans groups and social media campaigns.

"It is with an overwhelming and humbling feeling of relief that we confirm that Andrew was released today after spending 214 days in Mexican Jail," the family said in a statement.

U.S. Republican and Democratic politicians had held talks with Mexican authorities to urge his release. A U.S. congressional committee also held a public hearing to pressure Mexico to free him.
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Victoria Cross For Bravery in WWI 1st Muslim Soldier

Story of the first Muslim soldier to be awarded the Victoria Cross
As two former heads of the Army call for greater recognition of Khudadad Khan, the first Muslim soldier to be awarded the Victoria Cross, we outline who he was and the actions that led to his medal
Telegraph UK
By Edward Malnick
31 Oct 2014

Sepoy Khudadad Khan was awarded the Victoria Cross during World War One

Photo: GETTY

It was an extraordinary act of bravery. Finding himself among the few surviving members of a force sent to repel a German advance at Ypres, a soldier manned a single machine gun to prevent the enemy making the breakthrough it needed.

Continuing to fire until he was the last man remaining, his actions helped to ensure that two vital ports used to supply British troops with food and ammunition from England, remained in Allied hands.

Now, 100 years on from being awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery, a series of military leaders, MPs, peers and Muslim leaders are calling for wider recognition of Khudadad Khan's role in the First World War. The call forms part of a plea for greater appreciation of the contribution of the hundreds of thousands of Muslim soldiers who fought for Britain in the war.

On Friday, unveiling a commemorative stone which will be laid at the National Memorial Arboretum in Khan’s honour, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the communities minister, will hail his “exceptional loyalty, courage and determination in Britain’s fight for freedom”.

Khan, who was born in the village of Dab in the Punjab province of present day Pakistan, was a 26-year-old machine gunner in the 129th Duke of Counaught’s Own Baluchis when the regiment was sent to France to aid the exhausted troops of the British Expeditionary Force.
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Chemical Weapons Exposures to Iraq Veterans Kept Secret

Report: Troops, vets to get checked for chemical exposure in Iraq
Stars and Stripes
Published: October 30, 2014

The Pentagon will offer medical examinations and long-term health monitoring to servicemembers and veterans exposed to chemical warfare agents in Iraq as part of a review of how the military handled encounters with chemical munitions during the American occupation, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

An Oct. 15 Times story found that while the United States had gone to war looking for an active weapons of mass destruction program, troops instead quietly found and suffered from the remnants of the long abandoned arsenal.

Since that article, which detailed instances of exposure that the military kept secret in some cases for nearly a decade, more veterans and servicemembers have come forward, the Times reported. To date, neither the Pentagon nor any of the services have released a full list of chemical weapons recoveries and exposures.

The Times found that the military did not follow its own guidelines in the initial care of many patients, and did not establish a means for tracking their health, as guidelines also required.

In response, two senior Army doctors said in interviews this week that new medical examinations for troops and veterans who were exposed to chemical munitions would begin in early 2015. The Navy too has announced it will ramp up care.
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Fayetteville VA Hospital Closed Emergency Room Over No Doctors?

PROTESTERS DEMAND VETERANS AFFAIRS EMERGENCY ROOM REOPEN IN FAYETTEVILLE
ABC 11 News
By Andrea Blanford
Thursday, October 30, 2014

FAYETTEVILLE (WTVD) -- A few dozen protesters, made up of Veterans Affairs workers and union members representing employees of the Fayetteville VA Medical Center, carried signs and chanted at the VA's entrance on Ramsey St. Thursday afternoon. They demanded the VA's emergency room reopen after administrators closed its doors in September.

But VA officials said the ER was closed for good reasons.

"I would hope that, much like me, their first concern would be the safety of our veteran patients," said Jeff Melvin, Fayetteville VA Medical Center Spokesperson.

The VA told veterans and employees in September, the closure was due to contractors failing to provide enough qualified ER doctors to properly staff Fayetteville's Emergency Dept. A 12-hour urgent care clinic was opened in its place, but many veterans say it's not enough.
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Fake Heroes Beware: Court Rules Wearing Unearned Medals Is a Crime

Court Rules Wearing Unearned Medals Is a Crime
Stars and Stripes
Oct 31, 2014

Lying about receiving a military medal is protected speech, but there's no right to wear a combat decoration that hasn't been earned, a federal appeals court said Wednesday.

The difference, said a divided panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, is that lying is speech, but wearing a medal is conduct, according to a report in the San Francisco Chrnonicle.

The decision in an Idaho case returned the court to a controversy that led to a 2012 Supreme Court ruling and a rewriting of the law by Congress in 2013.

The defendant, Elven Swisher, served in the Marine Corps from 1954 to 1957, the Chronicle reported. In 2001, he applied for disability benefits, claiming he had been wounded in a secret mission to North Korea in 1955, after the Korean War ended. The Department of Veterans Affairs granted the request in 2004 after Swisher submitted what appeared to be a military document saying he had been awarded a Silver Star and other medals for his actions.
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Department of Defense Tracking Smart Phones?

Top Three are Army

Fort Hood 33%
Fort Campbell 35%
Fort Bragg 11%

The DOD used DARPA for tracking social media sites. Ok, and what exactly was accomplished by all of this?

This Is The Suicide Info Whisper Gave To The Department Of Defense
Forbes
Kashmire Hill
Forbes Staff
October 30, 2014

What Whisper sent to a Department of Defense researcher, via Whisper.

Last month, the Guardian did a hard-hitting piece on Whisper, reporting that the start-up that offered users the cover of anonymity to voice their deepest secrets was actually tracking interesting users, storing user data and making it searchable for editorial and research use by outside organizations (like the Guardian), and “sharing information with the US Department of Defense gleaned from smartphones it knows are used from military bases.” Regarding one sex-crazed lobbyist using the app from D.C., an unnamed member of the Whisper team told Guardian reporters that “he’s a guy that we’ll track for the rest of his life and he’ll have no idea we’ll be watching him.”

Whisper has fought back hard against the damaging report — which led to terrible press and an angry letter from a senator – saying the Guardian exaggerated the scrutiny it put its users under, was wrong about its cavalierly digging up location information on users who hadn’t volunteered it, and had talked to an employee whose statements “[did] not reflect our values and what we stand for.”

What I wanted to know was what exactly Whisper was handing over to the Pentagon. The Guardian described it thusly: “The company is cooperating with the US Department of Defense, sharing information with researchers investigating the frequency of mentions of suicide or self-harm from smartphones that Whisper knows are being used from US military bases.” I reached out to both Whisper and to the DoD to find out the exact nature of the information being handed over, and found out it was less alarming — and less useful — that it initially seemed.

At first the Pentagon had no idea what I was talking about. Whisper CEO Michael Heyward had said Whisper was working with the Department of Defense’s Suicide Prevention Office but Defense Department spokesperson James Brindle said that wasn’t the case. “The Defense Suicide Prevention Office is unaware of the use of Whisper as a suicide prevention tool for the Department of Defense,” said Brindle.
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PTSD On Trial: Decorated Marine Iraq Veteran

Suspect who shot Athens cop is decorated Iraq war combat vet with PTSD
Online Athens
By JOE JOHNSON
October 30, 2014

A former U.S. Marine who shot and wounded an Athens-Clarke County police officer three months ago is a decorated combat veteran of the Iraq war whose post traumatic stress syndrome may have played a role in the altercation, according to a motion recently filed in Clarke County Superior Court.

Police said that on Aug. 31 James Michael Marcantonio shot the officer with his own holstered handgun during a struggle that began when the officer responded to a disturbance involving Marcantonio and a former girlfriend.

Defense attorney Edward Tolley argues in the motion that it was “evident” from an examination of the shooting by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation that Marcantonio “did not (intend) to harm the officer; the gun discharged during a struggle and when it went off, the struggle ended.”

Athens-Clarke County police said Marcantonio grabbed the officer’s weapon and “manipulated” it in the holster when he fired a shot that wounded the officer in the area of his hip and thigh. He was arrested at the scene and charged with aggravated assault and aggravated battery on a police officer.
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Vietnam Veteran "I know my purpose, I know my destiny"

Vietnam vet had the Purple Heart - now he can fly the flag
Twin Cities News
By Mary Divine
POSTED:10/30/201

Richard Jenkins, left, a Vietnam vet and Purple Heart recipient, talks on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014, with his neighbors Joe Williams, center, and Jason Lange, who put up an American flag and a Purple Heart flag in Jenkins' yard in Newport.
(Pioneer Press: Jean Pieri)

His favorite Bible verse is Psalms 37:23-25: "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread."

"I have never looked back," Jenkins said. "You have to have an impact. To change the lives of people, that's with the grace of God.

The Rev. Richard Jenkins didn't receive a warm welcome when he returned from Vietnam.

Jenkins, who received a Purple Heart for shrapnel wounds to his leg, said there were no yellow ribbons, no ticker-tape parades, no standing ovations.

"I had such anger," said Jenkins, 72, an Army draftee who now lives in Newport. "I didn't volunteer for any of it."

Two of his neighbors are doing their part to right that wrong. Jason Lange and Joe Williams recently bought a flagpole and installed it in Jenkins' front yard to honor his sacrifice and celebrate his service. They also gave him an American flag and a flag that honors Purple Heart recipients.

"What he's done for us, for our families, is a lot more than we did here," Williams said.

For 30 years, he has volunteered as a chaplain at Minnesota prisons. He is an advocate for veterans, serves on the board of Black Veterans of America and counsels those with post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition he was diagnosed with 25 years ago.

"I came back with the survivor's guilt: 'Lord, why me?' " he said. "The longer I live and the veterans that I have crossed paths with, I know that God has allowed me to come back for a purpose. I know my purpose, I know my destiny.
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Watchfire to show you the way back from far

Watchfire to show you the way back from far
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
October 30, 2014

Jason headed down route 50 on his Harley waiting for the light to turn green
Looking around nothing seemed like home to him after everything else he'd seen.
He had been down the road a thousand times before
but then the world turned upside down on his last tour.
He'd been away for 9 long months in Afghanistan.
Not the first time he was there but he swore he'd never go back again.
His thoughts were of friends he lost
as he wondered if any of it was worth the cost.
Then he wondered what his life meant then or what it would mean tomorrow
when he couldn't remember the last time he wasn't filled with so much sorrow.
The light turned green, traffic moved ahead
he was stuck thinking of being better off dead.
Jason took the right onto Goldenrod almost hit by a jerk on the phone
he fought to control the bike as much as he fought feeling all alone.
Then he saw the bikes in front of the Laughing Horse bar, his second home.
Betty's eyes twinkled when he walked in the door
Stomped his boots on the floor
He winked with a grin he asked her "where you been?"
She gave him a hug and grabbed him a beer
thinking the last time she saw him was about a year
He took a seat and looked around a while
seeing the pictures on the wall, all with a smile
Then he saw a stranger with a Vietnam Vet patch on his head
He turned away long enough to get his belly fed
looked across to see the empty stool
then thought about his buddy from high school
So many plans they had as kids
No one ever thought they'd be doing what they did
But right after September 11th Bob joined the Army
prepared to leave behind his friends and family
Josh followed right behind the way it always was
since Josh believed that's just what a friend does.
Bob was killed took a part of Josh away
He made sure to have a beer to honor that day
the day Bob sacrificed his life to keep his word
to keep Josh alive or die trying, though living was prefered
The stranger came back and put out his hand
"Come with me if you want to understand"
Josh, polite as always followed and saw the flames behind the bar
"It's called a Watchfire to show you the way back from far
Back from far? What's that mean?
You didn't find your own way into war or what you've seen
You had to be shown the way and taken there
Now you have to be shown the way home to people who care
I went in a different time to a different place
but someone showed me the way home with grace
and helped me find peace to last all these years
Ya can't find it in cigarettes and beers
Ya can't find it unless someone helps you see it
that's why the watchfire was lit
but you don't have to look at the flames burning
to ease the places where you're hurting
What you need is already there
in the place where you care
cause it was love that caused you to go
to be willing to die for someone you know
It's my time to pass it on
Cause one of these days I'll be gone
but one day when you're as old as me
someone else will be lost as you seem to be
and you can help him find his way
the same way I guide you starting this day
PTSD doesn't have to ruin your life
or end your relationship with your wife
You ain't stuck with the way it is now
It changed you once but you can change again if you learn how
I'll spend as much time as you need me to
for only a promise that you'll do it too
when you're strong enough to take the watch for another
and show them the way back from far, brother to brother.