"We're old, we're thinning out in our ranks. If we're going to build a memorial, we've got to get real busy real fast"
Air Force veteran fired 23 shots before he was killed by police
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
By KIMBERLY DE LA CRUZ
March 3, 3015
Metropolitan Police Department Undersheriff Kevin McMahill speaks about the officer involved shooting that occurred on Feb. 25, 2015, in the 5300 block of East Craig Road, at Metro headquarters on Tuesday, March 3, 2015. Francis Spivey, 43, was suicidal and armed with an AR-15 rifle when he was fatally shot after a two-hour confrontation with police.On the balcony of his second-story apartment in U.S. Air Force dress blue uniform, Francis “Frank” Lamantia Spivey stood with an assault rifle pushed up to his chin just after midnight Feb. 25.
(Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Over the course of two hours, the retired serviceman fired 23 rounds from his rifle into the air and nearby buildings at the Eagle Trace apartment complex, 5370 E. Craig Road, threatening Las Vegas police officers during a standoff before being fatally shot, police said at a press conference Tuesday.
Spivey, who served 23 years in the U.S. Air Force, told negotiators he would “shoot every single officer that he sees,” McMahill said.
A single shot to the chest from SWAT Officer Bradley Cupp’s rifle at 1:48 a.m. ended negotiations that night in Metro’s second officer-involved shooting of 2015.
“Our officers exercised incredible restraint,” Metro Undersheriff Kevin McMahill said, citing the scrutiny Metro has faced in past officer-involved shootings.
Armed with six magazines holding 124 rounds of ammunition for his AR 15, Spivey, 43, demanded to talk to his estranged girlfriend. His exchange with police was captured by a camera worn by one of the officers and shown during Tuesday’s news conference.
“You put that (expletive) on the (expletive) phone,” Spivey shouted from his balcony.
Officers taking shelter behind a car in the complex parking lot are heard pleading with him to put his rifle down.
“There’s no way I can bring the phone to you, Frank,” an officer says, trying to negotiate. “She’s scared too, Frank.”
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"The Fort Hood Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Training Facility is also an excellent support system here at the Great Place. They focus on developing confidence in the community through educational and holistic “Mind, Body and Spirit” programs in order to promote resiliency and overall comprehensive fitness which is great for marriage enrichment. They have programs and classes available such as Family dynamics, parenting, financial planning and budgeting and reintegration training, amongst others. More information can be found on their website at www.hood.army.mil/csf-tf/."
If you promote this program the way Battlemind was promoted, count on the numbers of suicides and attempted suicides to go up instead of down. It's just one more deadly mistake after another and just as dangerous as sending them into Iraq without the armor needed to protect them.
For veterans who are disoriented or experiencing war-related flashbacks they aren't able to process, "that can be dangerous to them to others in the area and to law enforcement," O'Driscoll said.
Research suggests that female veterans are far less likely than their male counterparts to take their own life, but female veterans are three times more likely to kill themselves than women who have never served.
DARPA taps tech to build sophisticated artificial limbs for wounded veteransEven in this video on the link you can see an elderly man!
FOX News
Alison Barrie
March 5, 2015
For more than 10 years, DARPA has been relentlessly advancing prosthetic limbs in an attempt to revolutionize the devices. The agency, for example, recently debuted two advanced mechatronic limbs for the upper body. Truly leveraging these revolutionary devices, though, means restoring the link between thought and the hand and arm devices.
Restoring hands, arms, feet, and legs to those wounded in the service of our country should be a national priority…and now, finally, it is, thanks to some very promising technological advances.
Technology advances in area such as body armor and medical response have helped save many, many, wounded U.S. warfighters’ lives. However, many who survive are permanently wounded and today’s generation of warfighters has to contend with an unprecedented frequency of limb loss. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is committed to building highly sophisticated prostheses, giving wounded servicemembers and veterans naturally functioning limbs.
The HAPTIX (Hand Proprioception and Touch Interfaces) project is working on creating a solution for amputees. This solution would be implanted and directly communicate with the nervous system and brain. This means that a person could think and the hand and arm would move intuitively and function just like a natural hand, complete with the dexterity and sense of touch.
The agency has recently moved its HAPTIX program forward by selecting eight teams that will advance the development of next-generation, state of the art upper-limb prostheses. In particular, they are focusing on creating hands that will move and have a sense of touch like natural ones.
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LAURA PARKINSON, Air Force Veteran: I did have one person who hired me because when she found out I made bombs, she was like, that is cool.
A pilot program here in North Carolina backed by computer maker Lenovo and run by the nonprofit Dress for Success hopes to help change that. It aims to help female veterans look and feel their best in job interviews.
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In the return to civilian life, many women find that veteran services fall short of their needs. Unemployment rates for female veterans are higher than for other women, as well as for male veterans. Female veterans are at least twice as likely to be homeless than women who haven’t worn a uniform. Special correspondent Gayle Tzemach Lemmon reports on the challenges they face.
Jason White, 34, and his wife, Danielle, and their daughter Savannah, 2. were denied lodging because of his service dog, White says. (Photo: Michael Braun/news-press.com)
U.S. Army veteran Jason White talks about being arrested Tuesday after a dispute with a Best Western hotel in Bonita Springs over his service dog, Camo. Video by Kinfay Moroti/news-press.comA bill making its way through the Florida legislature could help situations like the one Monday night that saw a young veteran arrested at a Bonita Springs hotel after he, his family and his service dog were denied lodging.
Over the past three decades, the Wall has become a hallowed spot, a place of pilgrimage, homage and reconciliation. Now, some of the 400,000 items left there over the years by visitors are being selected for display in the new $115 million Vietnam War education center planned for a site nearby.
