Hunting For Fake Veterans Caught Real Disabled Marine Veteran

Pennsylvania police officer wrongly accuses veteran of being a fake Marine
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
BY ALIZA CHASAN
Thursday, June 4, 2015

A police officer and a soldier accused a man of being a fake Marine during a Pennsylvania art festival on Memorial Day.

Turns out they were wrong: Robert Ford, 75, served in the Marines from 1958 to 1964, Pennlive reported.

“It was the most humiliating experience of my whole life,” Ford told the site.

Ford’s day started off with a visit to the cemetery for a wreath-laying ceremony. He played taps and then left for Harrisburg’s Artsfest to find a gift for his granddaughter.

But an Army soldier attending the festival thought Ford’s uniform looked fake. His hat was wrinkled and the belt buckle looked off, the soldier assessed.

He spoke to Detective John O’Conner, a Harrisburg officer and a Marine, and they accused Ford of being a fake.

He eventually pulled out his U.S. Veterans Affairs Card to show the officer and soldier. The soldier looked it over and said it was a fake, Pennlive reported. It wasn’t.

"He's as legit as you can get," said Doug Sterner, a Vietnam veteran and archivist who does military fraud work, told the site.

“There's a lot of bullying going on in the community now,” Sterner said. “It's almost like hunting game, going out looking for phonies."
read more here

Vietnam 74 Lost Lives USS Frank E. Evans Not On Wall

Finding a place on the Vietnam wall for a local veteran and his shipmates
Buffalo News
By Michelle Kearns
News Staff Reporter
June 4, 2015

Randy Henderson vividly remembers the warm June night 46 years ago when his family got the news that his brother, Terry Lee, had died on a Navy ship during the Vietnam War.

It was 1969. He was 13 and in his older brother’s bedroom when the phone rang at their Westfield home. His father screamed and started to cry. When his dad told his mother as she arrived home from her night job at a drug store, she ran off up the street.

“It’s the type of thing that never leaves you,” said Henderson, who now lives in Mayville.

Worse, the June 3 collision of the USS Frank E. Evans that killed his soft-spoken, guitar-playing brother and 73 others didn’t lead to the kind of honor that most who died in the war received: Their names were not engraved on the black granite Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Now after decades of lobbying by families of the seamen, an effort to right that wrong has been making progress. Sen. Charles E. Schumer officially launched his push to add the names this week with a letter to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus.
read more here

USS Frank E. Evans (DD 754) Association, Inc.

Sep 11, 2009
A Short Documentary made in memory of the 74 US Sailors who died in a collision at sea, involving the USS Frank E. Evans and the HMAS Melbourne. The maritime accident happened on June 3rd 1969 off the coast of wartime Vietnam. The 74 dead were never recognized by the US government as dieing in "the warzone", and subsequently were never added to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington DC.

Patriotic Video Needed No Words Said

Tomorrow is a reminder of the men and women putting their lives on the line everyday. It happened on June 6, 1944 D-Day

On June 6, 1944, more than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which, “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in Continental Europe. The cost in lives on D-Day was high. More than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded, but their sacrifice allowed more than 100,000 Soldiers to begin the slow, hard slog across Europe, to defeat Adolf Hitler’s crack troops.

A coworker shared this video with me this morning. She knew I'd get a bit misty eyed. It was a Food City commercial for July 1, 2013.

It shows a large group of people getting ready for a 4th of July BBQ. Great reminder that while we all seem so ready to celebrate the time off of work, it is also a great time to remember what the real day is all about. July 4th is about our Independence and we cannot forget the men and women who put their lives on the line since then to retain it.

"At Food City, we honor those people that serve and protect our country, and we know that without the men and women who watch out for us, we would not have any of the luxuries we do. We are the land of the free because of the brave and we salute you!"

Researchers Continue to Learn From Vietnam Veterans

The Long Tail of War
War's impact on mental health stays with soldiers long after they leave Iraq and Afghanistan.
US News
By Terri Tanielian and Rajeev Ramchand
June 4, 2015

Since U.S. military operations began in Iraq and Afghanistan, more than 2.7 million men and women have served or continue to serve there. Some have been deployed two, three, four or more times. More than 6,800 service members have sacrificed their lives in these conflicts. Untold others have forfeited their well-being. A vast majority of these surviving veterans will carry the wounds of war, both visible and invisible, with them long into their lives.

In the last few years, researchers have made great progress capturing the downstream consequences of coping with injuries sustained in the theater of war, but the emerging picture is shadowed in grays. Taken together, a series of recent findings and statistics presents a bleak portrait of the cost of modern war to service members, their families and their health care providers.

As researchers, and as a society, we continue to learn from Vietnam veterans decades after they returned home from war. They are teaching us about the challenge of delayed-onset illnesses and increased demand for unexpected health-related services. As a group, veterans with PTSD or traumatic brain injury – or both – are more likely to struggle with marital and relationship issues and health problems like substance abuse. These health obstacles can affect workplace productivity, causing increased absenteeism and job loss, and lead to housing instability and homelessness.

Our research released in 2014 shows that military caregivers also face an increased psychological and social burden, with 40 percent of post-9/11 caregivers meeting symptom criteria for depression, compared to 10 percent of non-caregivers. There are an estimated 5.5 million military caregivers in the United States, and the country's overreliance on them poses a threat to the continuity of care for the newest veterans. It also calls into question the nation's ability to meet the long-term needs of post-9/11 veterans. Too many rely on parents who will age out of the role of caregiver, or they depend on their spouses in fragile young marriages that may be vulnerable to divorce.
read more here

Vietnam veterans were noticed in one part but not the part about caregivers. Guess they just didn't notice that Vietnam veterans families have gone through what new generation is a lot longer with no help or attention at all.

Brevard Turns Out For Sgt. 1st Class Ruiz's Last Ride Home

Brevard turns out for return of fallen soldier
FLORIDA TODAY
Chris Bonanno
June 4, 2015

The remains of Sgt. 1st Class Pablo A. Ruiz returned home to his family Thursday morning. 

Ruiz died while serving in Afghanistan. Video by Craig Bailey, Chris Bonanno and Malcolm Denemark. Posted June 4, 2015.
read more here


From Space Coast Daily

Money Donated For Veterans Went to UCLA Instead of Them

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
June 4, 2015

In the Veterans community, there is an entirely different conversation going on. While folks read news reports one way, we read them entirely differently.

When the topic involves your life and your friends it is alway more than just the headline.

When you donate to a charity, do you really know where your money is going? That question is usually answered repeating what the charity claims. Usually they say that a certain percentage goes to helping the individuals in need. When the individuals are veterans we assume the funds are going to them. In most cases, the money is not going to them or what the charity claims they are doing for them individually.

Over the years there has been a lot of talk about Wounded Warrior Project being "fraud" and a "scam" but there is nothing fraudulent about never making any real claims about doing anything more than "raising awareness" or getting folks to donate so they can "aid and assist each other" since WWP never really says more than that. It is all carefully worded PR coupled with legalese. It is also not a scam, again, since they allow the giver to use their own imaginations fed by heart-tugging images.

There is a recent news story about UCLA getting a huge donation from WWP. It pretty much shows that the money you gave to help veterans ended up going to UCLA instead.

UCLA Operation Mend receives $15.7 million for mental health program for wounded warriors
Wounded Warrior Project funding creates network to connect injured service members with world-class care
UCLA Newsroom
Amy Albin
June 02, 2015

WWP and Warrior Care Network partners will commit a total $100 million over three years to fund the initiative, including $7.5 million each that the medical centers will contribute through their own fundraising efforts.

Wounded Warrior Project has approved a $15.7 million grant over three years for UCLA Health to expand its Operation Mend program.

The grant will fund a new, intensive structured treatment program for service members suffering from mild traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Operation Mend expansion is part of Warrior Care Network, a first-of-its-kind medical network funded by Wounded Warrior Project that will connect wounded veterans and their families with world-class, individualized mental health care. In addition to Operation Mend, the network will include three other programs based at academic medical centers — the Veterans Program at Emory University in Atlanta, the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program in Boston, and the Road Home Program at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

“UCLA Operation Mend is at the forefront of healing the visible and invisible wounds of war suffered by our military men and women,” said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block. “This funding will expand Operation Mend’s highly successful holistic approach to restoring our wounded warriors in body, mind and spirit. And I am confident that the collaboration between UCLA and its new partners will result in ever more effective treatments for wounded warriors and their family members.”
read more here

This is nothing new. When you donate to a charity they can turn around and give that money away and you never really know where your money went. You just assume you know. It isn't just the money you give directly to the charity but it is also the money you donate to businesses saying they are giving the money to the charity.

We've all seen the Brawny papertowels with the WWP logo on them. It is good PR for Brawny as folks think about helping veterans. The problem is when no one knows where that money ends up as well as direct donations.

Corporate Sponsors
BRAWNY: A WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT PARTNER The Brawny® brand is proud to partner with Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP). WWP helps wounded servicemen and women adjust to civilian life and persevere through the visible and invisible wounds of war. To date, we have donated over $2 million to WWP.

In 2015, the Brawny® brand will donate up to $300,000 to Wounded Warrior Project®.*

*Donation consists of a $250,000 direct donation and up to $50,000 based on consumer engagement from Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2015.

Under Armour is another corporate sponsor selling WWP clothing.

Under Armor: This is an Official Wounded Warrior Project Licensed product. Between August 2012 and December 2014, Under Armour® will make a donation of over $1 Million to Wounded Warrior Project™ benefiting injured service members and their families.

And so is Overstock.

Overstock™ combined efforts with WWP on November 1, 2009 to raise awareness and collect donations from our customers. Since then, we are proud to have donated more than $2,000,000 to help our returning service members.

Here are some more

Bank of America

Bank of America “Express Your Thanks” Campaign Connects Individuals to Military Service Members and Veterans

Expressions Will Generate up to $1 Million from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation to Support Welcome Back Veterans and Wounded Warrior Project®

Acosta Sales and Marketing

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. and NEW YORK, Sept. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Acosta Sales and Marketing, a leading full-service sales and marketing agency in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry, and Wounded Warrior Project (WWP), a non-profit organization devoted to helping wounded veterans, today announced the annual Believe in Heroes™ fundraising initiative. This year's program will raise funds on a national level with the help of more than 100 participating retailers and CPG companies throughout the country.

Acosta conceived and launched Believe in Heroes last year as a corporate social responsibility program with a single regional retail partner and 13 national CPG brands. The initiative raised $200,000 for WWP and increased awareness for the program among consumers and CPG brands. Acosta has since expanded the program to a national one, and has gifted the Believe in Heroes moniker to WWP, thereby allowing the organization to add partners outside the CPG industry. This year's Believe in Heroes fundraising initiative kicks off on 9/11 and will culminate on Veterans Day 2011.

Capital One
Cardinal Health
Cisco
Code, Call of Duty Endowment
Food Lion
Harris Teeter
Heinz
National Association of Collegiate Directors
NFL
PGA
Raytheon
Safeway
Survival Straps
Tough Mudder
TPC
U Haul
USAA

The movie American Sniper has been released by Warner Brothers and they have committed to donating another million to WWP from sales of it. The question is, why didn't they donate to the Chris Kyle Foundation since this movie was about his life?

Chris Kyle is the American Sniper.
Through four tours he served and protected his fellow military members and his country, becoming one of the most decorated Navy SEALs in US history.

He wrote his story with the 2012 New York Times Best Selling book, American Sniper,which was immortalized in 2014 by screen legend, Clint Eastwood in a movie of the same name. The movie received six Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Actor for Bradley Cooper.

Chris sadly lost his life in February 2013 while pursuing his post-deployment passion - helping fellow military members re-patriate after their service.

The legacy of Chris Kyle lives on through the Frog. The Frog logo is the convergence of two tattoos that Chris wore.

Help us keep Chris’ spirit alive through the Frog.

While you may think the money you spend on the DVD goes to helping veterans, since Warner Brothers is making the donation from what you spend, it may not be going to them. It may be part of the money going to UCLA or other charities. Then you don't know what they do with the money either.

If we donate to a charity knowing where the money is going, then that is fine but if we donate and just assume it goes to helping the veterans, then shame on us! Top that off with the simple fact that if you think all veterans should matter equally, WWP does not support all wounded or disabled veterans. They only help Post 9-11 veterans. In other words, Gulf War/Desert Storm, Vietnam, Korean War and WWII veterans are not among those worthy of help.

The issues veterans from all generations face everyday have gotten worse after all these claims made about helping them. The average citizen hears about them, donates a couple of dollars, then they get on with their lives feeling as if they just did a good thing. For the veterans and families, nothing really changes for us and frankly, we wonder when folks will notice when it comes to helping us, no one seems aware few are really helped by billions raised every year by a growing list of charities claiming they do.

As for the inpatient care, the VA already does that and you already paid for it with your tax dollars.

PTSD Treatment Programs in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs In a Crisis?

If you are in crisis dial 911 or 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255), press 1 for Veterans. No matter where you live, PTSD treatment in the Department of Veterans Affairs is available. Each medical center within VA has PTSD specialists who provide treatment for Veterans with PTSD and there are nearly 200 specialized PTSD treatment programs throughout the country.

Some large Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) also offer PTSD care. When there are no nearby facilities, smaller CBOCs provide needed treatment services by telemental health (using technology to communicate) or by referral to Vet Centers or community clinicians. This fact sheet describes the specialized PTSD programs and these other options within VA for getting PTSD treatment.

You can use this VA PTSD Program Locator to see if there is a specialized program near you. Who is covered for VA care?

VA services are provided to all Veterans who:

Completed active military service in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, or Coast Guard (or Merchant Marines during WWII)
Were discharged under other than dishonorable conditions

Were National Guard members or Reservists who have completed a federal deployment to a combat zone At times, the VA has special agreements to provide care to Active Duty service members and family.

What services are offered?
Each PTSD program offers education, evaluation, and treatment. Program services include:

One-to-one mental health assessment and testing
Medications
One-to-one psychotherapy and family therapy
Group therapy (covers topics such as anger and stress, combat support, partners, etc.) or groups for Veterans of specific conflicts or specific traumas

The VA provides treatments shown by research to be effective in treating Veterans. To learn about these treatments, see our Understanding PTSD Treatment page. Not all VA's offer the same programs, and some specialty programs require a referral. Your doctor can help you decide which program is best for you.

PTSD specialists
Every VA Medical Center has providers that have been trained to offer PTSD treatment. Services for PTSD are delivered by mental health care workers called PTSD specialists. For more information about types of mental health care workers, see our fact sheet: Types of Therapists.

In addition, all regions (called VISNs in VA) have specialized residential or inpatient care programs to address the needs of Veterans with severe symptoms or trouble functioning related to PTSD. Below you will find information about options for getting PTSD treatment within VA.

UK Soldier Saved Lives Then Killed Someone Texting Behind Wheel

If you still think it is ok to use phone texting while driving, you are not thinking at all!

This Captain in the UK was a hero in Afghanistan, risking her life to save others by defusing bombs.

This same Captain decided to pick up her phone while driving a car, risking the lives of others and killed someone.

Hero soldier jailed for killing hitchhiker while using phone at the wheel
Metro.co.uk
Harry Readhead
Wednesday 3 Jun 2015

A female soldier who defused more than 60 Taliban bombs during a tour of Afghanistan has been jailed after killing a hitchhiker while texting at the wheel.

Captain Alison Dray, 31, received a Queen’s commendation for her work in the gulf and is the only female British bomb disposal expert to complete a full tour of Afghanistan.

But Captain Dray, from Rochester, Kent, was jailed for nine months for hitting and killing 32-year-old Ashley Taylor with her car while surfing the internet on her mobile phone.

Norwich Crown Court heard how Captain Dray had been using her iPhone ‘extensively’ at the wheel and had mounted the kerb and hit Mr. Taylor, killing him instantly.
read more here

Judge Shows Displeasure With Prosecutor After Veteran Charged Instead of Helped

UPDATE
Army veteran given probation for communicating threats against Fayetteville VA Hospital

Army vet who made threatening call will learn his fate Thursday
News Observer
BY MANDY LOCKE AND MARTHA QUILLIN
June 3, 2014

RALEIGH
Ryan Broderick, an Army war veteran, on Thursday will seek mercy from a federal judge who has the power to set him free.

Broderick, 31 of Fayetteville, has been in jail since January after making a threatening call to the VA for help managing his persistent Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Sleep-deprived and frustrated with the lack of care the VA had offered, Broderick threatened to shoot doctors and nurses at the VA medical center in Fayetteville if he didn’t get help.

“I was just trying to get help,” Broderick said in an interview last month. “I had no intentions of hurting anyone.”

Broderick was prepared to take his case to a jury this week. Instead, the U.S. Attorney’s office invited him to plead guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge. The deal spared Broderick the uncertainty of a possible felony conviction that would have jeopardized his service in the Army Reserves and marred his military record.
read more here

Sen. Joni Ernst Still Waiting For Answers From VA After Veteran's Suicide

Ernst rips VA for slow response to D.M. vet's suicide
Des Moines Register
Tony Leys
June 3, 2015

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst blasted the Department of Veterans Affairs on Wednesday for taking too long in determining whether a Des Moines veteran obtained appropriate care before he committed suicide.

Richard Miles, 41, was found frozen to death in Waterworks Park on Feb. 20. Friends said the Iraq War veteran suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and had gone to Des Moines' VA hospital on Feb. 15 for help. Instead of being offered in-patient treatment, he was given medication and was told he would receive an appointment with a psychiatrist later, friends said.

Ernst formally requested an investigation by the VA inspector general a few days after Miles' death. She told reporters Wednesday that she was originally told she'd get a response by April, but she still hasn't received a report. "It is frustrating, disappointing and absolutely unacceptable that this has taken so long," she said.

Ernst said part of the problem could be that the inspector-general's top position is vacant.
read more here

MOH Henry Johnson Died Destitute And Alone In VA Hospital

With Medal of Honor Award, Family Learns WWI Hero Wasn't Kin
Associated Press
by George M. Walsh
Jun 03, 2015

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Two days before President Barack Obama announced a posthumous Medal of Honor for black World War I soldier Henry Johnson, a family got staggering news about the legacy of heroism that had inspired them for generations and through three wars. They weren't related to Johnson by blood after all.

An Army general visited Tara Johnson last month with word that Henry Johnson was not her grandfather, and that her father, World War II Tuskegee airman Herman Johnson, was not the hero's son.

"Dad's birth certificate didn't have Henry on it," she told The Associated Press in an interview this week. The name of the man listed on the document found by Pentagon researchers vetting Johnson's lineage was one relatives had never heard mentioned as the father.

Henry Johnson was a railroad porter in Albany before the war. He enlisted in the Army and won acclaim for rescuing a comrade despite suffering grenade and gunshot wounds in a ferocious hand-to-hand battle with German raiders in 1918. Returning from France, he was honored with parades and glowing newspaper stories about his exploits with the 369th Infantry Regiment, a unit known as the "Harlem Hellfighters." But while France awarded him the Croix de Guerre for heroism, Johnson was given no medals by a U.S. military mired in Jim Crow-era racism.

Hobbled by his wartime injuries and unable to work, Johnson took to drinking. He died destitute in 1929 at age 32 at an Illinois veterans hospital.

On Tuesday, the president handed the Medal of Honor to New York National Guard Command Sgt. Maj. Louis Wilson because the military found no known blood relatives of Johnson.

read more here