VA Hospital in Philadelphia Being Renamed for Vietnam MOH Michael Crescenz

VA Hospital In Philadelphia To Be Renamed In Honor Of Vietnam War Veteran
CBS Philly
Kim Glovas
December 20, 2014

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Philadelphia’s Veterans Administration Hospital is getting a new name, after a bill was signed by President Obama earlier this week.

The bill means the VA hospital in West Philadelphia will be renamed in memory of Michael Crescenz, who lived in West Oak Lane and served in the Vietnam War.

Terry Williamson, president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, says, “All of the veterans in the region are extremely excited about this. Michael was the only Medal of Honor recipient from Philadelphia for his actions in 1968 when he assaulted multiple machine gun nests.”
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Bill would rename VA hospital for Philadelphia's only Medal of Honor recipient from the Vietnam War
Philly.com
By Robert Moran, Inquirer Staff Writer
POSTED: February 06, 2013

Joseph Crescenz called it "humbling."

Pennsylvania's two U.S. senators, Pat Toomey and Bob Casey, introduced a bill Monday to have the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center renamed after Michael J. Crescenz, the city's only Medal of Honor recipient from the Vietnam War.

Joseph Crescenz was 12 when his brother Michael, 19, was killed while single-handedly taking out enemy machine-gun bunkers on Nov. 20, 1968, in South Vietnam.

U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.) also introduced a bill Monday to change the facility's name to the Cpl. Michael J. Crescenz Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

"It's still a little surreal that it's happening," said Joseph Crescenz, now 56 and living in East Fallowfield Township.
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Utah Candlelight Vigil Remembers 22 Veterans Gone Everyday

Vets who've taken their own lives honored at candlelight vigil
Herald Extra
Kurt Hanson
Daily Herald
December 20, 2014

“War is a terrible thing and it’s taken probably the best of every generation since this country’s been born,” said Gary Anderson, Utah County Commissioner.

Julie Hill of Park City looks downward during the moment of silence during the Winter Solstice Celebration of Life event at Elks Lodge Memorial Park in Provo on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2014. During the event, a bell was rang 22 times to honor the 22 veterans who commit suicide every day. SAMMY JO HESTER, Daily Herald

PROVO—Christmas, as joyous of a season as it is, can also be a time of depression or even loneliness for those going through post-traumatic stress disorder.

Unfortunately, veterans who may be suffering from PTSD end their lives all too frequently.

In fact, 22 veterans commit suicide every day within the United States, according to data from the Department of Veteran Affairs.

“This is a tragedy,” said Richard Thayer, vice president Utah County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

A special event was held Saturday night to honor those men and women who take their own lives each day.

A candlelight vigil was held and a bell was rung 22 times, symbolic of each life lost by suicide each day, before the audience bowed their heads in a moment of silence.

“They come back maybe with no visible wound, but [the wounds] are deep,” he said. “We don’t treat those.”

Anderson said he wants to help veterans within Utah County as much as possible, whether or not they are experiencing PTSD. He announced, with the help of Judge Lynn Davis of the Fourth District Court, that there will be a Veteran’s Court in Utah County come next year.

“I’m not a politician,” Davis said. “But frankly, on a national level, I’ve been disturbed at the neglect and oversight of our veterans to say the least.”
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Vietnam MIA Pilot Thomas Duffy Served 13 Years in Air Force Then as a Marine

Side Streets: MIA widow grateful to finally know how pilot husband died in Vietnam
The Gazette
Staff
December 21, 2014

"Duff had served 13 years in the Air Force, then transferred to the Marines for six more years until his death so he could fly the F-4. He served in Vietnam in 1967-68 before going back in 1971 for another tour of combat duty. If that doesn't qualify Duff as a hero, nothing does.

In fact, I think everyone in this story is a hero."

For 42 years, Ann Duffy wondered exactly what happened on April 27, 1972.

That was the day her husband, Thomas Duffy, went missing in action in Vietnam after the F-4 Phantom he was piloting went down over Da Nang bay.

About all Ann knew was that the radar/weapons officer in the backseat had ejected and survived.

But she never knew why "Duff," as she calls her husband, didn't make it out of the fighter jet. She didn't even know the circumstances of the incident. She assumed they were in combat and believed he had collided with a North Vietnamese plane.

"He went down over water, but I don't know what happened," Ann told me recently. "I didn't insist on his backseater getting in touch with us. They never even told me his name. I wish I had asked."

The voice of the 80-year-old widow trailed off.

"I always wanted to ask what happened," she said. "How did he get out alive and not Duff?"
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'Assassinated': Shock After Two NYPD Officers Gunned

'Assassinated': Shock After Two NYPD Officers Gunned Down in Their Car
NBC News
BY PHIL HELSEL AND JONATHAN DIENST
December 21, 2014

Investigators believe the gunman who ambushed and fatally shot two New York City Police Department officers Saturday boasted on social media that "I'm putting wings on pigs today" before the killings. The Instagram post also references Michael Brown and Eric Garner, two unarmed black men who died in confrontations with police.

Police said Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, walked up to a police car in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn at 2:47 p.m. and shot officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos through the passenger side window, fatally striking both in the head. Brinsley then ran to a nearby subway station where he turned the gun on himself, police said.

"Today two of New York's finest were shot and killed, with no warning, no provocation. They were, quite simply, assassinated," Police Commissioner William Bratton said. "Targeted for their uniform and for the responsibility they embraced to keep the people of this city safe."
Police said Brinsley — who has an extensive rap sheet, with more than 15 arrests in the past 10 years — is suspected of shooting and wounding an ex-girlfriend in a Baltimore suburb earlier Saturday before he traveled to New York and ambushed the officers. While Baltimore County Police sent a fax warning that Brinsley was a suspect in that shooting and might be in New York, that message came in just as Brinsley was carrying out the attack, according to Bratton.
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Veteran Went to the VA for Help, He Died and So Did His Wife

Veteran's family sues the Fayetteville VA Medical Center over his suicide
FayObserver
By Greg Barnes Staff writer
December 19, 2014

The family of Paul Wade Adams Sr. of Lumberton has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the Fayetteville Veterans Affairs Medical Center failed to provide proper care and follow-up treatment before Adams killed his wife and then himself on July 18, 2012.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, seeks $40 million for the deaths of Adams, an Army veteran, and his wife, Cathy. The lawsuit names the U.S. government as the defendant. The couple had been married 38 years. He was 62. She was 56.

According to the lawsuit, Paul Adams went to the Fayetteville VA on June 15, 2012, complaining of having suicidal thoughts. He was prescribed the anti-depressant Zoloft, the lawsuit says.

On July 4, the lawsuit alleges, Adams tried to shoot himself but was left with only a flash burn on his head.

Two days later, the lawsuit alleges, his daughter, Jennifer Nichole Fairfax, took him to the VA's emergency department. A nursing triage note on that day says Adams admitted having had suicidal thoughts for the previous two months.

According to the lawsuit, Adams was admitted directly into the VA's psychiatric unit, where records indicate that he suffered "suicidal ideation and homicidal ideation," indicating he had thoughts or plans to kill other people.

The lawsuit says Adams spent four days in the psychiatric ward. In that time, it says, VA did not take steps to warn his family or make sure that Adams did not have access to guns after his release.

According to the lawsuit, VA switched Adams' medication from Zoloft to another antidepressant, Wellbutrin. Records show that Adams was to gradually increase the dosage and that maximum benefits would be reached in three to four weeks.

The lawsuit says the VA did not keep Adams in the hospital long enough to test or observe whether the new medication was working and released him while he was still at high risk of committing homicide or suicide.

VA initiated Adams' release - not the family - and left him outside the hospital until his wife picked him up, the lawsuit says.
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Betty's Laughing Horse 25th Annual Toy Run to Central Florida Children's Home

If you live in the Orlando area, you may have seen a huge procession of motorcycles with Orlando Police officers blocking the road. That was us on the 25th Annual Betty's Laughing Horse Toy Run.

Betty's Laughing Horse 25th Annual Toy Run to Central Florida Children's Home - Orlando, FL

Please join us for monumental year. Saturday 12/20/14 for Betty's Laughing Horse's 25th Annual Toy Run to the Central Florida Children's Home.

Since 1973 the CFCH has been taking in abandoned, abused, neglected and underprivileged children whose parents either cannot or will not care for them. The home receives NO STATE or FEDERAL FUNDS but solely relies on the generosity of the people and businesses in the community to keep the doors open and food on the table. Registration is from 9 am - 11 am @ Betty's Laughing Horse 907 N. Goldenrod Rd. Orlando, Florida with a group ride leaving at 11 am with police escort along with Fire and Iron MC to the children's home. 

The children's wish list will be up at Betty's by 11/15/14 and you can also contact TROUBLE @ 407 595-2488 who has a master wish list with her at all times. Please find it in your heart to sponsor one gift or an entire wish list for a needy child. Breakfast will be available the day of the run. We will also have a Color Guard Ceremony and Blessing of the Bikes before we ride out.

Pretty much I think at least a couple of hundred of us answered the call. Video up later on this.

Yes, the owner let me sit on her bike.

The Grinch showed up with a bigger heart

Orlando Police Officers did a fabulous job escorting!

This is Betty.

You saw the pictures now here are the videos
 The ride
 

Army Veteran Newport News Police Officer Andrew Gohn Prevented Suicide

Newport News officer stops suicide attempt [Warning: Graphic Content]
Daily Press
Sarah J Pawlowski
December 19, 2014

The man was lying on the sidewalk when officers arrived, an 8-inch butcher knife firmly pressed against his stomach. He was crying. He said he didn't deserve to live.
The incident happened at about 9 p.m. Dec. 9 alongside Jefferson Avenue near Oyster Point Road in Newport News.

Body-mounted cameras on officers recorded as Newport News police officer Andrew Gohn knelt to the ground. He asked the man about his problems and encouraged him to talk about his kids.

Gohn said the incident was somewhat personal to him. A former member of the U.S. Army, he decided to complete the advanced course because he witnessed the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder. A relative also committed suicide when he was a teen, he said.

He said he hopes people considering suicide will recognize it's not a solution.
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PFC Joseph P. Dwyer Project Peer Support Groups for PTSD

BELLONE INITIATES VETERANS SERVICES OUTREACH EFFORT IN RESPONSE TO RISE IN PTSD RELATED SUICIDE
Long Island Press Releases

County Executive Steve Bellone, center, announces a veteran support outreach effort to veteran families in response to rise of PTSD related suicides. Photo Credit: Suffolk County.

(Long Island, NY) County Executive Steve Bellone was joined by Congressman-elect Lee Zeldin, Legislator Bill Lindsay III, Legislator Tom Muratore, the Suffolk County Veteran Services Agency and family members of veterans lost to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at the Farmingville VFW Post 400 today to announce a veteran support outreach effort in response to the rise in PTSD related suicides around the region. County officials encouraged veterans affected by PTSD to enroll in their local PFC Joseph P. Dwyer Project support groups.

“There is no greater obligation we have than to make sure the men and women of our armed forces have the support and services they require when they come back home,” said County Executive Steve Bellone. “PTSD related suicide is an American tragedy and we need to do more to help our veterans work through the challenges they face.”

 The Joseph P. Dwyer Peer to Peer program is overseen by the Suffolk County Veteran’s Service Agency and is designed to serve veterans, active duty, reserve and National Guard troops suffering from PTSD and allows veterans the opportunity to share and discuss their issues and problems with trained veteran personnel in a secure and anonymous setting.

The unique nature of the program is that veterans are serving as the facilitators of the groups which provides a comfort and familiarity level to those veterans seeking assistance.

Since its inception in 2012, over 2,000 veterans have participated in the Joseph P. Dwyer Project where they share their experiences with fellow veterans and allow the healing process to begin. As part of the outreach effort, the Suffolk County Veterans Service Agency issued an informational pamphlet on the Joseph P. Dwyer Project to veteran households throughout the County.
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Who was PFC. Joseph Dwyer?

Warren Zinn / Army Times file
Joseph Dwyer carries a young Iraqi boy who was injured during a battle between the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry Regiment and Iraqi forces near the village of Al Faysaliyah, Iraq, on March 25, 2003.

A photograph taken in the first days of the war had made the medic from New York's Long Island a symbol of the United States' good intentions in the Middle East. When he returned home, he was hailed as a hero. But for most of the past five years, the 31-year-old soldier had writhed in a private hell, shooting at imaginary enemies and dodging nonexistent roadside bombs, sleeping in a closet bunker and trying desperately to huff away the "demons" in his head. When his personal problems became public, efforts were made to help him, but nothing seemed to work.

This broken, frightened man had once been the embodiment of American might and compassion.

If the military couldn't save him, Knapp thought, what hope was there for the thousands suffering in anonymity? read more here

Another family faced pain of suicide with hope of bill redo

Another family hopeful others will be spared the pain of losing a service member to suicide. How many more families will have to push a member of congress to do something before they do something right? These rules in this bill have already been done and the Joint Vice Chiefs of Staff admitted years ago they do not do post deployment screenings. No one did anything to enforce the bills that were already done so this will be more of the same.

Families touched by military suicide thankful for new federal law
FOX 59
BY DAN SPEHLER
DECEMBER 19, 2014

INDIANAPOLIS (Dec. 19, 2014) – It’s a problem that’s affected far too many of our Hoosier Heroes and their families, but now there’s a new federal law aimed at preventing military suicide.

Sen. Joe Donnelly’s office said they were anticipating President Obama would sign the Jacob Sexton Military Suicide Prevention Act into law by the end of the day. The new law requires annual mental health assessments for our military- including guardsmen and reservists.

Sexton’s parents, from Farmland, joined Donnelly Friday at the Indiana War Memorial to discuss the new law.

A few years ago, Sexton took his own life while home on leave.

“My son’s name on this bill will help other soldiers and that’s very important to me,” said Jacob’s mother, Barb Sexton. “I’m very proud this is going into law and I truly know this will help other families that are dealing with PTSD.”

Gregg Keesling’s family dealt with the same pain- when his son Chance took his own life in Iraq.

“I’m convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt this bill, if it had been in place, my son would be alive today,” said Keesling. “And when you lose a child all you have is hoping the death can help save other people.”
read more here

In 2008 it was another National Guardsman's family getting attention after he committed suicide. Spc. Chris Dana of the Montana National Guards got the attention of then Senator Obama. We had hope back then but as suicides went up, hope left a bitter taste from tears across the country.

Troop suicide rates declined and so did the number of enlisted

Troop suicide rates decline in second quarter 
Fort Campbell Courier
by Amaani Lyle, Defense Media Activity
December 18, 2014

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Defense Department released the quarterly suicide report for April through June of 2014, and the numbers, officials said, indicate a drop from first-quarter statistics for all services and components.

The second-quarter report showed 70 suicides among active duty service members, 14 suicides among Reserve component service members and 20 suicides among National Guardsmen.

In an off-camera briefing, Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren reported comparison first quarter statistics of 74 active duty members, 24 Reservists and 22 National Guardsmen.
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Have you ever noticed they don't seem too willing to mention the fact there are also less serving when they talk about the number of suicides?

Well in this case, they actually did.

"Garrick noted that DOD and VA recognize the need to help transitioning service members, as some 250,000 separate or medically retire from the military each year."

This is why we are not impressed by suicides going down by a few all too slowly.

Picking Political Sides Left Military Crushed in the Middle

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 19, 2014

There are many things we should argue about politically because that is how things change. There are somethings that we should never argue about. One of them serves this country everyday and the other served her yesterday.

It seems as if everyone has a strong opinion about how things got so bad for our troops and veterans. The truth is, both sides did it. Both sides continue to feed the myth of everyone in this country picking their side but the truth is most of us are just average folks. I am a full time American.

Republicans think I am a Democrat and Democrats think I am Republican. No one wants to claim me and that is a good thing.

"I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member."
Groucho Marx

The issues facing the troops range from not getting enough pay to provide for their families, unsure future for their careers, to being mistreated for claiming benefits they were promised if they needed them. The veterans face the same things they have faced for decades. Sorry but not much has changed.

Both sides of politicians got us to believe it was the other side's fault but again, truth is stranger than their fiction. Everyone complain about how sequestration hurt the military when Republicans controlled the House and Democrats controlled the Senate and both sides refused to work together. Strange thing is, no one was paying attention to the troops risking their lives in other parts of the world, working together as a team, putting their lives on the line ready to die for each other and those folks couldn't manage to even talk to each other to at least support them.

When I was young, I wanted to change to world. I had an opinion on every topic. I lost every argument and never managed to change a single mind on any of them. My Mom, a very wise woman told me it was time for me to pick just one battle, learn everything I could about it and give it all I had. It was not until I received an email from a Marine serving in Iraq that I finally, really understood what she meant. Back then I was politically twisted. I was so involved in supporting my own political views, I settled for what I was being told. The Marine asked me if I was doing what I did for them or myself. The answer made me cry. I wasn't serving them no matter how hard I tried to convince myself I was. That's when Wounded Times started 7 years ago.

The truth is all of this falls back on Congress and both sides put a pox on both sides of the House. Troubles in the military started long ago and kept going just as they did for veterans. Media and online posers like me had the ability to research and understand basic history but they must have not thought it was all that important or they would have known the truth in our history. The truth is we always sucked at taking care of the most unselfish among us.

"Odd how that seems to work all the time. They give all they have and ask for little in return, so that is exactly what Congress gives them."

Kathie Costos

"Congress meets tomorrow morning. Let us all pray: Oh Lord, give us strength to bear that which is about to be inflicted upon us. Be merciful with them, oh Lord, for they know not what they're doing. Amen."
Will Rogers

While there are thousands of postings right now on Bradley Stone and the people he killed, other stories far more pressing have fallen into the abyss. Bradley Stone cleared by Veterans Affairs doctor one week before murders, suicide was the headline on the Washington Times. "A Department of Veterans Affairs psychiatrist cleared former Marine Bradley Stone of suicidal or homicidal tendencies just a week before he went on a killing spree, slaying six others and then taking his own life."

The headline we needed to pay attention to was on the Dallas Morning News because it involved a lot more lost lives but no one seemed to care. INJURED HEROES, BROKEN PROMISES about PTSD wounded soldiers in the Warrior Transition Units being treated, well, like crap. They were told to get over it and suck it up for 7 years. This after hearing from the DOD they got it. Understood it and were addressing the problems apparently with the wrong address and stamping them with return to sender families.

"As far back as 2008, the House committee received similar complaints from soldiers, Thornberry said. At that time, the committee required improvements from the Army." Rep. Mac Thornberry, the new chairman of the House Armed Services Committee

Things were so bad that the Army actually had to issue orders to stop abusing them.

The training order required all WTU leaders to attend a day of training. The order highlighted the need to treat all soldiers and family members “with dignity and respect.” It includes the warning: “There is zero tolerance for hazing, abuse, or discrimination in our Army.” Col. Chris Toner, head of the Warrior Transition Command

Who is to blame? Congress obviously for starters but suggest you pick up a mirror because no matter which letter you voted for, if you didn't pay attention to what was going on, you may as well have picked up a shovel to dig their graves and made yourself useful.

Fort Hood Soldier From Virginia Found Dead

Death of a Fort Hood Soldier: Sgt. 1st Class Keith Robert Tucker 
DVIDS
December 18, 2014

FORT HOOD, Texas - Fort Hood officials have released the name of a Soldier who was found unresponsive at his off-post residence in Killeen, Texas, Dec. 16.

He was pronounced deceased by Bell County Justice of the Peace Bill Cooke. Sgt. 1st Class Keith Robert Tucker, 37, whose home of record is listed as Portsmouth, Virginia, entered the military in October 1995 as an infantryman. He arrived at Fort Hood in January 2012 and was assigned to 3rd Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, Fort Hood, since December 2014. 

Tucker deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from October 2005 to September 2006 and from October 2007 to October 2008. read more here

“You served a country, but you don’t mean anything to her.”

Veterans exposed to viruses, claim V.A. avoided responsibility
MSNBC
By Ronan Farrow and Rich Gardella
12/18/14

Inside the V.A.: Colonoscopy claims denied
Five years ago, V.A. hospitals potentially exposed thousands of veterans to potential infections like HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis. Ronan Farrow Daily and the NBC News Investigative Unit report that, for some, that was just the beginning of the nightmare.

John Renegar Jr., wearing a careworn baseball cap emblazed with “101st Airborne”, surveyed his small living room in Smyrna Tennessee and shrugged. “It just makes you think you don’t mean nothin’ to anybody, you know,” the 66 year old Vietnam vet said. “You served a country, but you don’t mean anything to her.”

Renegar is referring to his treatment by the Department of Veteran Affairs. He’s one of thousands of veterans to receive a bombshell of a letter in 2009 – warning them that they may have been exposed to life-threatening infections as a result of misconfigured or unclean colonoscopy equipment. He’s also one of a smaller group to subsequently test positive for a serious infection – in his case, chronic hepatitis that will leave him at risk for life-threatening liver damage for the rest of his life.

But Renegar was just as shaken by his treatment after the infection – with the V.A. ignoring his concerns, denying his claims, and eventually fighting him in court.

Documents obtained by NBC News show he is not alone – in fact, the agency has quietly rejected most of the medical malpractice claims associated with the botched colonoscopies.

Reneger said he believes he contracted his case of hepatitis during a colonoscopy at the V.A.’s Alvin C. York Medical Center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on Oct. 30, 2003. “You know you’ve lived a clean life and hadn’t done any kind of drugs or … been running around on my wife or anything,” he said. “… I don’t know of anywhere else I could have got it.” He was among 6,387 patients deemed at risk after procedures at that facility between April 23, 2003 and Dec. 1, 2008
read more here


VA says 3 positive HIV tests from follow-ups

Nearly 11,000 could have been exposed to HIV as 5th case is linked
5th HIV Case Linked To VA Equipment

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- A fifth patient has tested positive for HIV, and seven more have tested positive for hepatitis after being exposed to contaminated medical equipment at three Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals, the agency said Friday.

That brings the total who have tested positive for hepatitis to 33.

They are among thousands tested because they were treated with endoscopic equipment that wasn't properly sterilized between patients and exposed them to the body fluids of others. The equipment is often used in colonoscopies and ear, nose and throat procedures.

Nearly 11,000 former sailors, soldiers, airmen and Marines could have been exposed at the hospitals in Miami, Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Augusta, Ga.

5th HIV Case Linked To VA Equipment

Related Stories:
April 24, 2009: VA Reports 4th HIV Case
March 26, 2009: 10 VA Patients Have Viral Infections
March 11, 2009: VA Denies Hepatitis Results
January 8, 2009: Valve Problem Cited In Colonoscopy Issue
January 8, 2009: VA Volunteer Calls Hospital Tools Dirty

Stolen Valor: Man Can't Prove Super Secret Special Forces Team

He claims PTSD and faced off with police while armed yet he survived.

Military service claim by man in standoff still unproven
Herald Washington
By Diana Hefley, Herald Writer
December 18, 2014

EVERETT — A Snohomish man could face jail time if he can't convince a Snohomish County judge that he has delved into the accuracy of his claimed military experiences as part of his court-ordered mental health treatment.

Superior Court Judge Michael Downes said Wednesday that he hasn't received sufficient records documenting that Tyler Gaffney is getting to the bottom of whether he has been truthful about his military service in the U.S. Army.

Downes in January sentenced Gaffney to six months in jail for a Sept. 29, 2013, incident that involved a standoff with Snohomish County sheriff's deputies. Gaffney assaulted his father and threatened to blow up and shoot police.

He confronted deputies, armed with a Airsoft gun that resembled a M-4, an assault rifle widely used by the U.S. military. Deputies used less-than-lethal ammunition to subdue him.

Gaffney later told detectives that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder because of his combat experiences. He claimed that “he was a member of a super-secret Special Forces team,” who served in clandestine combat missions and had been awarded medals for his bravery.

The detectives, who both served in the military, reported that many of Gaffney's combat stories followed the plots of popular war movies. Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Paul Stern raised concerns about “stolen valor.”
read more here

Georgia National Guard Soldiers home in time for Christmas

Georgia National Guard soldiers return from Afghanistan deployment in time for holidays
Associated Press
By Russ Bynum
Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014

RUSS BYNUM/ASSOCIATED PRESS Staff Sgt. Christopher Reynolds of the Georgia National Guard hugs his wife, Colleen Reynolds, at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, after returning from Afghanistan.

The Georgia National Guard said this is the first holiday season since 9/11 that none of its units will be deployed, though about 40 individual soldiers remain overseas assisting units from other states. Georgia began sending its citizen-soldiers to Afghanistan in November 2001.

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Chief Warrant Officer 4 Duane Sandbothe returned from a deployment to Afghanistan on Thursday with plans to keep his holiday homecoming a secret from his 8-year-old son for a full week. “He’s supposed to ask Santa Claus to get me home for Christmas,” said Sandbothe, 41, of Savannah, after his parents and other family members greeted him at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah. They plan to help him lay low until he can surprise his son.

Sandbothe was among 61 citizen-soldiers of the Georgia National Guard coming back from a 10-month deployment exactly a week before Christmas. Another 60 members – the 1st Battalion, 169th General Support Aviation Battalion – were headed home to Alabama, which shares the unit’s B Company with Georgia. read more here