Fort Hood 5 Non-Combat Soldier Deaths Since December

Fort Hood: Soldier Found Dead In Off-Post Residence 
KWTX News
January 27, 2015

FORT HOOD

Fort Hood Tuesday identified a soldier who was found dead Saturday in his off-post residence in Killeen, as Spc. Joshua Avery Snapp, 30, of Spartanburg, S.C.

Snapp was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:55 p.m. Saturday.

Snapp joined the Army in January 2010 and in June 2010 arrived at Fort Hood where he was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division.

He deployed to Afghanistan from October 2012 to July 2013.

Killeen police are investigating the death.


Spc. Jason Krusczynski, 35, was found dead on January 27th.

Spc. Kendrick Vernell Sneed, 24, January 13, 2015

Cpt. Jonathan Nyle Muniz, 42, Rocky Ford Colorado, January 11, 2015

Sgt. 1st Class Keith Robert Tucker, 37, Virginia, December 18, 2014

Fort Hood: Florida Soldier's Death Under Investigation

Fort Hood soldier from Cape Coral found dead 
NBC 2 News
Posted: Jan 30, 2015

A Fort Hood soldier from Cape Coral was found dead in his off-base home in Killeen, Texas, according to Fort Hood officials.

Spc. Jason Krusczynski, 35, was found dead on January 27th.

Kruszczynski, 35, began active-duty service in May 2008 as a wheeled-vehicle mechanic for the U.S. Army. 

He has been stationed at Fort Hood since July 2014. He was deployed during Operation Enduring Freedom from January 2012 to October 2012.

The circumstances surrounding his death are under investigation. check for updates here

Jesse Ventura Gains Attention For Saying Nothing New

Jesse Ventura has been getting a lot of attention attacking American Sniper and Chris Kyle's service. After all, Kyle claimed to have punched out Ventura and that really hurt his feelings. Ventura sued Kyle and won but when Kyle was killed trying to help a veteran with PTSD, Ventura decided to make sure he got what he must have thought was worthy of his hurt feelings. Jesse Ventura wins $1.8M in defamation lawsuit against ex-SEAL sniper

No one would ever expect Ventura to approve of the movie so why is he getting so much attention from reporters for saying absolutely nothing new?
Famous Veteran: Jesse Ventura

Jesse Ventura Sets Sights on Wife of Slain Navy SEAL Chris Kyle

Despite his membership with Underwater Demolition Team 12, Ventura never saw combat during Vietnam although he did receive the Vietnam Service Medal.

One of my favorite songs is Don Henley's Dirty Laundry

I make my living off the evening news
Just give me something
Something I can use
People love it when you lose
They love dirty laundry
Well, I coulda been an actor
But I wound up here
I just have to look good
I don't have to be clear
Come and whisper in my ear
Give us dirty laundry
Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em all around
We got the bubble headed
Bleached blonde
Comes on at five
She can tell you 'bout the plane crash
With a gleam in her eyev It's interesting when people die
Give us dirty laundry

This video is the Eagles performing Dirty Laundry and dedicated it to Rupert Murdoch

Jesse Ventura skipping ‘American Sniper’; says Chris Kyle is no hero
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
01/29/2015

MINNEAPOLIS – “American Sniper” is tops at the box office but don’t expect to see former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura lining up at a theater for it.

Ventura, a former Navy SEAL, won $1.8 million in a defamation lawsuit last year against the estate of the late Chris Kyle, the SEAL protagonist of the movie, which has sparked debate over whether snipers should be considered heroes. Ventura said Wednesday he won’t see the film partly because Kyle is no hero to him.

“A hero must be honorable, must have honor. And you can’t have honor if you’re a liar. There is no honor in lying,” Ventura said from his winter home in Baja California, Mexico. He also noted that the movie isn’t playing there.

Ventura also dismissed the movie as propaganda because it conveys the false idea that Iraq had something to do with the 9/11 attacks.
read more here

In this country, anyone can say whatever they want. On the flip side, no one is forced to listen to it however mucking up the works are reporters giving folks a platform to get more people exposed to their thoughts. In a perfect world, reporters would actually stop long enough to ask a question about what was just said by the subject of the interview.

Ayman Mohyeldin said that Chris Kyle went on "killing sprees" with the full force of facts in his voice. That didn't last long when he was challenged by Joe Scarborough. After a painful pause, his tone changed and when he responded it pretty much summed up he had no intention of proving a single claim he just made.

MSNBC Reporter: ‘Racist’ Chris Kyle Went on ‘Killing Sprees’ in Iraq 
Washington Free Beacon
Staff
January 29, 2015

NBC foreign affairs reporter Ayman Mohyeldin made the suggestion Thursday on Morning Joe that Chris Kyle, late subject of the hit movie “American Sniper” and credited as the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history, had “racist tendencies” toward Iraqis and Muslims and “went on killing sprees in Iraq on assignment.”

 “American Sniper” has given a lot of Americans an inside look at what actually happened over in Iraq during the war.

It has also raised a national discussion on post-traumatic stress disorder, addressing the personal issues veterans face when they come home.

Mohyeldin’s commentary left host Joe Scarborough dumbfounded.

“Killing sprees?” Scarborough asked incredulously. “Chris Kyle was going on killing sprees?”
read more here

At least Joe Scarborough decided to ask a question on two points made but not proven.

Vietnam Veteran Chuck Hagel DOD Retirement Tribute

Hagel 'Quintessentially American,' Obama Says at Farewell Tribute
Department of Defense
By Claudette Roulo
DoD News, Defense Media Activity

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks during the Armed Forces Farewell Tribute to him on Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Va., Jan. 28, 2015. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Laura Buchta

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28, 2015 – President Barack Obama hosted an armed forces farewell tribute to retiring Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel today at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Virginia.

"Today is a celebration of a quintessentially American life; a man from the heartland who devoted his life to America," Obama said.

From his time as a boy in Nebraska, to volunteering for a war that would see him pull his own brother from a burning vehicle, to leading the charge to ensure veterans exposed to Agent Orange were treated fairly, to the Senate -- where he led the fight to establish the Post-9/11 GI Bill -- and then on to head the Defense Department through a difficult transition, Hagel's career has been characterized by service to others, the president said.

"Thanks to Secretary Hagel's guiding hand, this institution is better positioned for the future," he said. "...But Chuck, I want to suggest that perhaps your greatest impact -- a legacy that will be felt for years to come -- has been your own example.

"It's not simply that you've been the first enlisted combat veteran, and the first Vietnam veteran, to serve as secretary of defense, it's how your life experience -- being down in the muck, feeling the bullets fly overhead -- has allowed you to connect with our troops like no other secretary before."

‘We Are All Americans’

One day last year, Obama said, Hagel arrived with a guest for their regular weekly meeting at the Oval Office. The man, Jerome "Skip" Johnson, had been Hagel's platoon leader in Vietnam, and the two men had only just reconnected after nearly 50 years, the president said.

"Chuck told me about how in 1968, with protests and race riots back home causing tensions among our troops in Vietnam, and Chuck's unit was mostly white, but Skip is African-American," Obama said.

"As the platoon commander, he was not going to tolerate division or distrust, and he went to his men and made himself clear: 'We are all Americans. We're going to live together, we're going to take care of each other, we're fighting together, we're going to get each other's backs. Let's get it done.'"

"And at that moment in the Oval Office, as these two soldiers stood before me, with Skip's grandsons looking on, it wasn't lost on any of us how far our nation has come. And I want to thank Chuck for that moment," the president said, "because part of the reason we've traveled that distance is we've had men like Chuck Hagel serving and representing what's best in America."

"In moments when we are tested as a military, as a nation, sometimes we get distracted by what divides us and lose sight of what unites us,” Obama said. “And at those moments, we can draw strength from the example of a sergeant from Nebraska and a lieutenant from Chicago. We are all Americans. We live together, we sacrifice together, we take care of each other. Sometimes we have to fight together."
read more here

Remains of Army Air Forces 1st Lt. James F. Gatlin of Jacksonville Home

Remains of fallen Florida aviator make it home after 70 years 
Tampa Bay Times
By Josh Solomon
Times Staff Writer
January 28, 2015

Four generations of a family gathered on the tarmac of Tampa International Airport Wednesday to welcome home the remains of a long-lost relative.

Nearly 70 years after being shot down over Germany during World War II, U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. James F. Gatlin of Jacksonville was coming home. "We've been waiting for this to happen," said Janda Fussell, 45, of Lithia, granddaughter of Gatlin's oldest surviving first cousin, Wilma Gatlin Shiver, 89.

Fussell never met Gatlin, obviously, but when she read about him and his death, she said she wept. 

"Even though we didn't know him, we've sort of invested ourselves in him. Especially since he was such a hero." Gatlin was co-piloting a B-26C Marauder on Dec. 23, 1944, when German fighters intercepted the plane on its way back from a bombing mission and shot it.

The plane caught fire and crashed near Ahrweiler, a west-German town, south of Cologne and west of Frankfurt, killing Gatlin. He was 25. read more here

Surf's Up For UK Triple Amputee

Triple Amputee Veteran Martin Pollock Now Surfs With The Best Of Them 
The Huffington Post
By Carla Herreria
Posted: 01/29/2015

After an improvised explosive devise took both of Martin Pollock's legs and part of his left arm in 2010, he did everything he could to get his active lifestyle back.

Pollock was 26 years old and serving as a rifleman in Afghanistan for the British Army when the explosion happened. He went home to England as a triple amputee and tried to carry on with normal life. He bought a car and a house. He went to the gym. He continued to work on his walking. He was determined to be as active as he possibly could, but "I had no real plans for anything in particular," he told The Huffington Post.

One of his biggest challenges, Pollock said, was getting his prosthetics to fit properly. "I spent 2 1/2 years trying to get my leg sockets to fit into the prosthetics," he said. "It's the most important part to be able to walk. If the socket is no good, nothing else matters."

At the beginning of one of Pollock's routine rehab visits in 2012, he heard about a sponsored trip to California hosted by Operation Surf, a nonprofit that assists the rehabilitation of wounded active duty servicemen through adaptive surfing. read more here

Air Force Veteran Wrongly Arrested Caught On Dashcam

Elderly man who was wrongly arrested threatening to sue city
KIRO News
January 29, 2015

SEATTLE — A former Metro Bus driver and Air Force veteran wrongly arrested by Seattle police is threatening to sue the city.

The arresting officer was reprimanded, but William Wingate says it’s not enough.

Wingate filed a claim for damages, perhaps for as much as $750,000, if it leads to a lawsuit.

He said he was targeted, arrested and embarrassed by a Seattle police officer at 12th Avenue and Pike Street last summer.

Thursday morning, the 70-year-old Wingate sat with his attorney, saying he’s still bewildered by police dash cam video that shows the arrest.

In July, Wingate was walking down the street, using his golf club as a cane, when Seattle police Officer Cynthia Whitlatch stopped him and claimed he had swung his club at her while she was driving by in her patrol car. read more here

Published on Jan 28, 2015
SPD Commanders first became aware of this incident in October 2014 after receiving an inquiry from former Washington State Representative Dawn Mason in which she raised questions as to the necessity of the arrest and charges.

VA Declared Another Veteran Dead, Sent New VA Card

Local2 Investigators: VA Tells Live Claimant He’s Dead
CBS Chicago
January 29, 2015

(CBS) – A U.S. Army veteran who worked on anti-terrorism cases and even went undercover for his country needed help. But when he went to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, he was rejected because he was supposedly dead.

CBS 2 Investigator Dave Savini reports Karl Moess fears there will be further delays in his nearly decade-long fight for benefits.

The VA sent him a letter saying he was dead and denying him added benefits he was trying to obtain. Moess says he was angry and confused because on the same day he received his so-called death notice, he also received a new VA card to get care at a VA hospital.

“I think this is an example of the government not knowing what the right hand is doing,” he says.

“This is totally ridiculous.”
read more here

Veteran declared dead January 15 According to a letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs sent to James Fale’s wife, he’s dead, even though he was the one who opened it.

Fake Ranger Gets Called Out

Stolen Valor: Fake Ranger Gets Called Out, HUMILIATED at LA Stadium [WATCH]
Published on Dec 7, 2014

In quite the upsetting incident, a man has been caught on video impersonating an army ranger in yet another incident of stolen valor.

Taking place at Staple Center in Los Angeles, an unidentified man recording the incident confronts a “soldier” about his uniform. Dressed in what he’s trying to pass off as an Army Ranger’s attire, he would appear to be a soldier who deserves respect to an unknowing individual.

The man recording, presumably a veteran himself, points out several reasons as to why this is not the case from the black boots to the “soldier’s” shaggy hair and scruffy facial hair. All the while, the man in the uniform just stares at his phone.

As many of us would do, the man continues to question the “soldier.” Eventually, the soldier shows some pictures that are meant to prove that he is, in fact, a soldier.

Police seeking man accused of stealing identities of 14 military members

Police seeking man accused of stealing identities of 14 military members: The Colorado Springs Police Department is looking for a man accused of stealing the identities of 14 military members and several civilians.

"Police said the theft resulted in a loss of about $22,000."