PTSD Veterans Find Healing With Horses

Equine therapy helping local veterans
Horses help veterans suffering with PTSD
WESH 2 News Orlando
By Dave McDaniel
UPDATED 6:10 PM EDT Apr 28, 2015

Veterans and first responders receive therapy at S.A.D.L.E.S. free of charge.

ORLANDO, Fla. —You might not know it just by looking at him, but Lance Cpl. Chris Brooking has only recently returned from the battlefield. Sometimes the scars of war can be seen and other times completely hidden.

Brooking's wounds weren't only the visible kind. He suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I couldn't bring myself to even walking around the neighborhood, constantly being on guard, on high alert, crazy uncomfortable,” he said.

The recipient of a Purple Heart after being injured in Afghanistan, Brooking wasn't the same when he came home.

“I was very uncomfortable in every day situations,” he said.

“Whenever I talked with him, I felt I had to walk on eggshells, because sometimes anything I said would set him off,” said his wife, Katie Brooking.
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Wisconsin Police Billboard Features Officer Who Shot 2

Thank-you billboard features Wisconsin police officer who shot two men days apart 
Washington Post
By Sarah Larimer
April 27, 2015

This billboard shows police officer Pablo Torres. (Bill Siel/Kenosha News)

Last month, Kenosha police officer Pablo Torres was involved in two separate shootings, including one that was fatal.

This month, his face is on a billboard in the Wisconsin city.

“Thank you for your support, Kenosha,” reads the billboard, which pictures a smiling Torres and a dog.

The police association, which paid for the ad, said it was an attempt to thank the local community. But some people connected to Aaron Siler — who was fatally shot by Torres — said they were upset by the display, which went up after a rally in support of law enforcement, the Kenosha News reported.

“I saw it and I was immediately sickened,” Kathy Willie, a Siler family friend, told the newspaper.
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The other call was for a suicidal veteran after his wife called police for help to save him.

Philadelphia Veterans Get Massive Awareness Resource

Connecting the dots for veterans 
Philly.com
DON SAPATKIN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Tim Wynn came home from Iraq in 2003, suffering from what he now knows was PTSD. Wynn pictured at the 9/11 Memorial in New York.

Just four days after coming home to Northeast Philadelphia from Iraq in 2003, Tim Wynn got into a bar fight. The Marine was arrested for the first time in his life.

That wasn't even the worst of it.

"I can remember, my mother and my girlfriend at the time, now my wife, they didn't know what to do," he said. It took five years and six more arrests before he began court-ordered treatment for the PTSD that he didn't know he had.

His homecoming might have been easier if he could have had access to a new website for Philadelphia-area veterans that went live Monday.

It has 200,000 pages of searchable local resources - legal clinics, housing, job openings specifically for veterans - and tens of thousands more about medical conditions, insurance, and veterans organizations.

There are 30,000 pages on assistive devices alone. A diagram of a human lets you click on body parts to begin seeking information about what might be wrong. A keyword search for bills in Harrisburg - "disability" finds 25 bills - allows you to e-mail legislators involved in the effort.

The site is the first local version of www.networkofcare.org for veterans in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Philadelphia hosts sibling sites for inmates released from prison; every Pennsylvania county has one for people with mental health questions.

They were built by Trilogy Integrated Resources L.L.C., a San Rafael, Calif., company that began the local-links concept in its home state more than a decade ago. The early adopters spent millions of dollars developing the sites, Bruce Bronzan, president of Trilogy, said at a City Hall news conference, at which he demonstrated the veterans' website Monday. The local host, the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disabilty Services, paid a $10,000 setup fee; maintenance costs were waived.

Even caseworkers would not otherwise have access to many of the links on the site, Bronzan said. Veterans don't know that many of the services are out there.

"How does somebody find things when they don't even know that they exist to look for?" Bronzan said.
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Vegas Station Casinos Chips Homeless Veterans

‘Month of Honor’ casino promotion helps village for homeless vets
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
By KEITH ROGERS

April 27, 2015

With a boost from Station Casinos’ “Month of Honor” promotion in May, Arnold Stalk expects his Veterans Village living center for homeless veterans will soar to a new level.

In addition to augmenting operation of the transitional and permanent residence, the effort by Station Casinos could help lay a financial foundation for a couple more floors that Stalk, founder and an architect, envisions on top of the two that already provide 125 rooms for homeless vets at the former Econo Lodge, 1150 Las Vegas Boulevard South

“When I meet with people, I don’t ask them for checks or donations,” Stalk said Monday after a tour of Veterans Village, a few blocks north of the Stratosphere. “We promote by attraction.

People get attracted to seeing the grassroots effort. They get attracted to our residents.”

The rippling effect of the branding of Veterans Village “has gotten a head of steam. This takes us to another level,” he said.

Through the end of May, all 19 Station Casinos properties and venues including cafes, casino bars, bingo rooms, spas and gaming areas will donate a portion of their proceeds and gaming winnings.

Lori Nelson, Station Casinos vice president of corporate communications, noted this is the first year of the effort and wasn’t sure how much it will generate.

“The more our guests enjoy our patriotic-themed offerings, the more money we can donate,” Nelson said.

The offerings include “patriotic pastries” and “patriotic poker,” as well as certain slot machines, designated blackjack tables and special bingo cards for players who want to help Veterans Village.

“We have obviously taken a deep interest and commitment in the local military community,” Nelson said. She was referring to Operation Thank You and the Military Mondays program that Station Casinos launched last year to thank local veterans with special discounts.
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Vietnam Veteran Took Stand Against Baltimore Rioters

Vietnam Veteran took stand against Baltimore rioters and bravo for him. When he said why he did it, he was expressing what a lot of other people feel.

The truth is, the rioters respect nothing but use everything they can to pretend what they are doing has any value at all. It doesn't. They used the death of Freddie Gray to the point where I actually had to look up his name because I couldn't remember it.  It solved nothing when they became the story.

His family asked protestors to respect their grief just for one day, but they ignored it. No one knows what happened right now but the one thing everyone should know is the entire police force is not to blame even though it seems as if a few are responsible.

They attacked police officers even though what was done to Gray was not done by all of them, but that didn't matter. It didn't matter that they were destroying businesses and neighborhood property. Nothing mattered.

It never seems to matter that veterans are killed by police officers everyday all over the country because they do not get the help they need to come home and live in peace. Depending on where they live, some officers are trained properly and the veteran is taken to get help.  In other parts of the country, they are shot quickly. There are hardly no protests at all for them.

Well, one veteran decided he was going to do something about it and he took a stand against the corrupters of Gray's family in pain. Even London took notice.

Baltimore riots: Video shows 'hero' Vietnam vet who told looters to go home and study
London Evening Standard
RAMZY ALWAKEEL
Published: 28 April 2015

Veteran: Robert Valentine tells CNN's Joe Johns why he has confronted rioters
(Picture: CNN/YouTube)

A Vietnam veteran who stood up to rioters in Baltimore has been branded a hero.

Robert Valentine was interviewed by CNN after he was spotted confronting rioters in the street after a wave of violence broke out following the death of a black man who was in police custody in the US city.

The war veteran astonished news reporters when he delivered a poignant message on camera denouncing rioters.

Speaking to CNN reporter Joe Johns, he said: "I did 30 years, came out Master Sergeant. I've seen more than all this. I've been through the riots already."
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Veteran stands up against rioters
Anderson Cooper 360 | Source: CNN
Added on 9:55 PM ET, Mon April 27, 2015
There was a lot of folks showing great courage and those were the folks showing up to do their jobs in spite of the criminals destroying their city instead of working to make it a better place to live. Protesting peacefully is one thing but this, this inflicted more pain on more people.

Afghanistan Veteran Killed By Police Had PTSD

Parents of veteran fatally shot seek answers 
Victoria Advocate
By Bianca Montes
April 27, 2015

Lawrence, a U.S. Army veteran, was diagnosed with PTSD after serving in Afghanistan, his wife, Yasmine Lawrence, told the Advocate. He was trying to get help and had just started a new combination of medication.

The parents of a 25-year-old Victoria man fatally shot by police officers want answers.

Answers they say Victoria police officials have been reluctant to offer.

Saturday night, officers responded to a disturbance call in the 800 block of Simpson Road behind Academy Sports and Outdoors. At the scene, one of the officers observed a man inside his own residence holding a 23-inch machete.

Police Chief J.J. Craig said at a news conference Sunday that officers ordered the suspect, Brandon Lawrence, out of his residence. He said they also ordered him more than 30 times to drop his weapon.

Lawrence didn't comply and was fatally shot outside his home, Craig said.
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Afghanistan Veteran Killed By Police in Texas

Two Navy SEALs Died in Training Accident

2nd Navy SEAL dies after accident in Little Creek pool 
Pilot Online
Virginia Pilot
Lauren King
April 7, 2015

A second Navy SEAL involved in an accident at a Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek pool has died.

Petty Officer 1st Class Brett Allen Marihugh, 34, of Livonia, Mich., died Sunday afternoon of his injuries, according to Lt. David Lloyd, a Naval Special Warfare Group 2 spokesman. Marihugh and Petty Officer 1st Class Seth Cody Lewis were found unresponsive Friday in a swimming pool on base while doing physical fitness training.

Both belonged to Naval Special Warfare Group 2, and Lloyd said in a news release that the two men were discovered at the bottom of the pool by service members assigned to the Combat Swimmer Training Facility, which is used by members of the SEAL team for regular fitness training.

Lewis was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Sentara Leigh Hospital, the news release said. Marihugh had been in critical condition and was transferred to Sentara Virginia Beach General, where he later died.
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Linked from Military.com

Afghanistan Veteran Killed By Police in Texas

Victoria police kill man wielding machete (w/Video)
Victoria Advocate
By Bianca Montes
Updated April 27, 2015

At least two Victoria police officers were placed on administrative leave Sunday after fatally shooting a 25-year-old man outside of his home.

The officers will remain on paid leave during the investigation, which is being led by the Texas Rangers, per departmental policies, chief J.J. Craig said Sunday at a news conference.

Craig declined to name the officers involved in the shooting or how many fired a weapon at the scene.

Officers responded to a disturbance call about 11 p.m. Saturday in the 800 block of Simpson Road behind Academy Sports and Outdoors.

A man, who was later identified as Brandon Lawrence, was observed by officers just inside his residence holding a 23-inch machete.
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Man shot by police suffered from PTSD, wife says
Victoria Advocate
By Bianca Montes
April 26, 2015

Lawrence met her husband while stationed in Alaska.

The two were in the U.S. Army, and their attraction was instant, she said.

"He was a protector; he was sweet."

Lawrence, 23, said her husband deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 while she was pregnant with their first child.
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Veteran Shot to Death Trying to Save Woman

Wife of Marine veteran mourns his death after he was shot to death in Ohio while visiting family
10News Digital Team
Apr 26, 2015

SAN DIEGO - A woman in Oceanside is mourning the death of her Marine veteran husband who was shot and killed in Ohio while he was trying to break up a bar fight.

Lydia McJilton said her husband Josh McJilton saved her life when they met and married five years ago. She said she was lost and he became her best friend. She believes Josh died a hero.

He was visiting family in his hometown of Wauseon, Ohio, and was at a bar when he noticed a fight starting between a man and a woman in a car.
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Vietnam Veteran Dropping Sunflower Seeds?

A vet seeks to make 58,183 U.S. casualties more than a number 
The Register-Guard
By Jack Heffernan
APRIL 27, 2015

Bruce Hindrichs, a Vietnam War veteran, holds a map of the route of the Seed Walk that he has organized as a memorial for the U.S. soldiers killed in Vietnam. He stands in front of the Lane County War Memorial in Skinner Butte Park in Eugene.
(Andy Nelson/The Register-Guard)

An 11-mile line of sunflower seeds will stretch from south Eugene to Coburg on Thursday.

The seeds — a total of 58,183, the number of U.S. military personnel who died in the Vietnam War — won’t be planted.

They’ll just be sprinkled near roadways, to be blown away by gusts from passing cars or eaten by birds and squirrels.

That’s just fine with Vietnam War veteran Bruce Hindrichs, the Eugene resident who came up with the novel way to commemorate the war.

Hindrichs, along with nine fellow veterans and two family members, plan to drop the seeds along 10 miles of the route on Wednesday.

The entire 11-mile route will begin at Spencers Crest Drive and Willamette Street in south Eugene, then snake north to cross the Ferry Street Bridge and travel along Coburg Road, all the way to the southern city limits of Coburg. The seeds will sit about 1 foot apart along the route.

Hindrichs is then inviting the public to join him to drop the final 5,300 or so seeds on Thursday, the 40th anniversary of the Vietnam War’s end with the U.S. evacuation from Saigon.
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