Highly Decorated Ranger, Wasn't

Stolen valor can also be a problem among active-duty troops 
Stars and Stripes
By Ashley Rowland
Published: July 5, 2015

Rare are the reports of active-duty servicemembers trying to paint themselves as heroes.

SEOUL, South Korea — Damian Barbee was a model soldier, a highly decorated Ranger with nearly a dozen awards for valor and ribbons recognizing his overseas service.

His story was too good to be true.

In May, the former senior noncommissioned officer was found guilty of lying about items on his service record, including claims he earned a Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Master Parachutist Badge and a valor device on his Army Commendation Medal. Even his Ranger tab was fake.

In addition to being court-martialed for seven false claims of wearing decorations and badges, Barbee also lied to investigators, telling one official he had been awarded the Combat Action Badge in 2002, producing a falsified document as proof.

Barbee, formerly an E-8, was sentenced to hard labor without confinement for three months and given a reduction in rank to staff sergeant.

A groundswell of support for U.S. troops after more than a decade of war has led some to take advantage of that goodwill — lying about military service for adoration and financial gain. The practice is so offensive that it’s punishable by federal law under the Stolen Valor Act, which was signed by President Barack Obama in 2013.
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Florida Prisoner Issues Down, Doing Good For Veterans Up

Florida prisoners train therapy dogs to help veterans 
Washington Times
By - Associated Press
Sunday, July 5, 2015

Blackwater officials say disciplinary issues are down 90 percent in the housing area where the dogs and trainers live.

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) - A group of Florida prisoners are training therapy dogs for veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as part of a new program.

Prisoners from the Blackwater River Correctional Facility will train three puppies for America’s Vet Dogs Veteran’s K-9 Corps with plans to expand to 10 dogs by the end of the year. The training program will teach the K-9s to do everything from retrieving medication, to turning lights on and off, to waking veterans from nightmares.
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Wounded National Guard Col. War Veteran Told to "Quit Playing Soldier"

Air Force officer: State bosses told me to ‘quit playing soldier’ 
New York Post
By Isabel Vincent
July 5, 2015

Col. Jack O'Connell Photo: J.C.Rice

A hero US pilot claims his bosses at the New Jersey Turnpike Authority have harassed him for years because they want him to “quit playing soldier” in the Reserves.

Col. Jack O’Connell, 50, who was wounded in Baghdad and flew 30 combat missions during Operation Desert Storm, says the agency denied him leave to attend military training in Nebraska last month, and he fears he’ll be fired.

He is already suing the Authority, alleging it blocked his promotions and raises for years because of his five active-duty tours in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay.

“When you’re in the military you have an obligation,” O’Connell told The Post. “I get an order, and I go.”

O’Connell, of South Amboy, NJ, began his military career flying Navy F-14 fighter jets off aircraft carriers during the First Gulf War in 1991. He was decorated for valor after flying dozens of strike missions in and around Baghdad.

O’Connell left active duty in 1993 and earned a law degree at Seton Hall. After the Sept. 11 attacks, the newly minted attorney joined the Air National Guard.

He had to leave his job five times to serve his nation, once to oversee legal operations at Guantanamo Bay in 2004-2005. He also worked as legal adviser to Gens. George Casey and David Petraeus in Iraq. His first tour of duty lasted 14 months. He missed nearly six years at his civilian job in total because of the deployments scattered over 13 years.

In 2007, he was wounded in Iraq while running for cover during a rocket attack.
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Are Military Suicides Higher Because They Outsourced Care?

This leaves a lot of questions. "Why did the DOD fund a college for current military members? What about all the money they received from Congress to reduce military suicides? Why would they do this when they have 900 other programs?

Veterans Hotline Tries to Survive Without Pentagon Funds
New York Times
By DAVE PHILIPPS
JULY 4, 2015

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — In a row of beige cubicles in a suburban office park, a hulking former Army sergeant hunched over his phone next to a photo taken in Afghanistan, a few days before he was hurt by a roadside bomb.

“Look, man, sometimes you’re dealt a raw deal and you’ve got to play it,” the former sergeant, Adriel Gonzalez, said into his headset. Big as a bouncer, he wielded his gruff voice tenderly. “I’ve known you long enough that you’re ready to hear this: It’s not going to be all sunshine and rainbows. You might be in for a lifelong struggle, but it is a doable one. This I can tell you, my friend.”

The idea of using veterans to help peers grew out of a hotline set up by the State of New Jersey in 1999 to make retired police officers available to offer anonymous support to other officers, said Christopher Kosseff, the president of Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care, which hosts the police peer line and Vets4Warriors.

Today, the 40 peers at Vets4Warriors come from all branches. A bank of clocks on the wall showing the time in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, South Korea and Germany serves as a reminder of the array of troops who seek help. A recent call came from a ship in the Persian Gulf, where a young sailor had concerns about finding a job after leaving the Navy.
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Vets4Warriors

Since 2010, thousands of Service members have found confidential assistance using our Peer Support Line. Who better to understand the challenges of military life than someone who has lived it? Veterans provide support to military members, engaging them in a personal, non-threatening way. Our peer support network is confidential and caller information will not be shared with the military or the VA. Sometimes, the issues will require specific expertise, such as financial resources, legal advice or medical services. Our Veteran Peers will work to find the best options for the caller and help make the connection in their local communities.

The Vets4Warriors Peer Support Line is staffed entirely by Veterans with funding from the Defense Suicide Prevention Office.

This is from RAND Corp Study.

We found that DoD is the largest funder of suicide prevention research having recently funded 61 studies at the cost of more than $100 million. This figure does not include the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (known as Army STARRS), a $65 million study funded jointly by the U.S. Army and the National Institute of Mental Health.

It doesn't matter how much money they spent or how many years they have been spending it since the numbers kept going up even as the number of military service members were reduced.

UPDATE ON MILITARY SUICIDE PREVENTION PROGRAMS HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON MILITARY PERSONNEL OF THE COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION HEARING HELD MARCH 21, 2013

DSPO [Defense Suicide Prevention Office] program evaluation approach tracks requirements, funding, and will unite efficiency measures with effectiveness for continuous process improvement reporting on shortfalls and duplications. We are evaluating training to develop core competencies for peer, command, clinical, and pastoral requirements.

A critical aspect of preventing suicide is eliminating stigma that prevents service members or families from seeking help. DOD and V.A. are implementing President Obama’s executive order and have a 12-month help-seeking ‘‘Stand By Them’’ campaign to encourage servicemembers, veterans, and their families to contact the military crisis line by phone or online.

We are expanding it in Europe and we are expanding it to Japan and Korea. It is at larger bases in Afghanistan, and where it is not available we have trained medics to initiate a peer support call line, similar to the Guard’s Vets4Warriors program.

I am not about to release a single tear over Rutgers losing funding for this from the DOD. I am sure they'll find money elsewhere however, the lives lost while the DOD refused to stop outsourcing care of the troops, they also failed to hold anyone accountable for the rise in the number of lives lost.

That is part of the problem with all this suicide awareness running amok across the country. No one is ever held accountable for what they do or do not do.

Freedom Fest Parade Honoring Vietnam Veterans

Overdue thanks; Vietnam veterans to be honored during July 4th Parade
Austin Daily News
Jenae Hackensmith
Friday, July 3, 2015

This year marks the 40th anniversary since the fall of Saigon in 1975 and the official end of the Vietnam War, and the Austin Area Chamber of Commerce is taking the chance to acknowledge and thank veterans of the war during the Freedom Fest Parade.

This year, the grand marshals will be the area Vietnam veterans, who will be recognized for a war they fought in over 40 years ago and that many received little recognition for at the time.

“It was a different time in our country,” Austin Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sandy Forstner said. “And we see this as an opportunity to do that, to recognize them the way they should have been many years ago.”

Many in the community see it as an overdue thank-you.

“We never got a pat on the back for a good job done,” Vietnam veteran Warren Smith said. “It was just forgotten about for the last 50 years.”

Many veterans from the Vietnam War have already passed away, and Smith, who fought in the war around 1967, said it’s time to honor the remaining veterans.

“They drafted us, they sent us there, and they probably should have had a recognition for us 50 years ago when this happened,” he said. “But they didn’t, so I think it’s probably about time.”
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Over 700 Honor Vietnam Veterans Service

A town pays homage to veterans of Vietnam War
In Tonawanda, honoring devotion to duty from era when nation was deeply divided
The Buffalo News
By Joseph Popiolkowski
News Staff Reporter
July 2, 2015

“They really have influenced the way our troops are treated now. And I think it’s really, really admirable.”
Valerie Monahan

Charles M. Pritchard celebrated his 20th birthday in 1966 on a ship that was taking him across the Pacific Ocean to Vietnam.

He landed in the southern port of Vung Tau and spent a year fighting the North Vietnamese up the Mekong Delta to Chu Lai as an Army combat engineer.

“We built things and blew up things,” said Pritchard, 68, of the Town of Tonawanda.

But he was shocked by the reception he got when he returned home from that controversial war in September 1967.

After a debriefing in Oakland, Calif., he and others were told not to walk through the San Francisco airport alone for fear that they would be accosted by anti-war protesters.

“It still hurts to this day – still hurts,” said Pritchard, his voice breaking.

At an American Legion post while picking up a fish fry, he asked the bartender how he could join the veterans organization. Pritchard was told he had to go to war: “I said, ‘I went to Vietnam.’ He said, ‘That wasn’t a war.’ ”
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Veterans Airlift Command Vietnam Veteran Inspired by Others

Sarasota veteran donates time, money and plane to serve wounded troops
Sarasota veteran volunteering his plane to serve wounded warriors
News Channel 8 Sarasota Bureau 
Reporter John Rogers
Published: July 2, 2015

Knisely said these veterans inspire him. “The drive that they have is incredible and it sustains all of us to keep doing what we’re doing,” he said. “What I do now for veterans is a labor of love.”

SARASOTA, Fla (WFLA) – A local Vietnam veteran is still proudly serving his country. Retired Army Colonel Ben Knisely is donating his time, money and his own airplane to help wounded veterans through the Veterans Airlift Command.

Knisely has dedicated his life to saving others. He nearly died in Vietnam. He was a medevac helicopter pilot and was shot down by a missile. “(I) spent four days in the jungle, crawling around with broken leg and burns, evading the enemy,” Knisely said.

After he was rescued by the 101st Airborne Division, he spent nine months recovering in a hospital. Now decades later, his mission is still not finished. “I’ve been moving patients in some mode for a good long while,” Knisely said.

Knisely is one of thousands of pilots in the Veterans Airlift Command. He voluntarily flies wounded veterans and their families around the country for medical purposes. The Veterans Airlift Command is a non-profit organization that is run completely on donations and volunteers. The organization has transported more than 10,000 wounded troops across the country.
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VFW Post 4287 Needs Help After Fire

VFW Post 4287

HOT Notice!! OUR POST HAD A FIRE IN THE BACK STORAGE ROOM JUNE 21 AT NIGHT. EVERYONE SAFE, SMOKE DAMAGE THROUGHOUT THE POST.

NO POWER RIGHT NOW.

Friday July 3rd and Saturday July 4th we will need work crews at the Post at 0900 to help in clean up. We have lots of work. Remember that old saying

"Many hands make light work"

We hope to open in two or three weeks

If you attended any of the 3rd Orlando Rocks event, you know how special this post is. They need our help.
If you doubt how much they accomplish, then think about this. In January Orlando Rocks held a fundraiser for Cpl. Adam Devine. The VFW and Semper Fidelis America Joined Forces yet again under the leadership of Navy Mom Mary.

January 18, 2015
Marine Cpl. Adam Devine was honored by a huge crowd on January 17th at the VFW Post 4287 in Orlando, sponsored by Semper Fidelis America. Adam was wounded in Afghanistan. This is from the motorcycle escort thru the streets of Orlando.
That fabulous day didn't end then. Because of this, others stepped up to help Adam and his lovely family.

June 29, 2015 was the GROUND BREAKING CEREMONY for CPL. ADAM DEVINE, the Recipient of Semper Fidelis America, Inc. and VFW Post 4287's Annual FUNdraiser in support of OUR Brothers/Sisters.

For more pictures of what love achieved, go to Semper Fidelis America

Wichita Officers Caught Taking Homeless Veteran From Shed

Wichita officers and volunteers help homeless veteran 
KAKE News
Lily Wu
Jul 02, 2015

WICHITA, Kan.--- Local organizations are helping a US Army veteran who was homeless for weeks.

"A week ago I was sleeping in a shed. This week I have a house to sleep in," said Josh Jernigan, a 2001 graduate of Maize High School and a US Army veteran.

Jernigan is having a life changing week.

"Seven days ago, I wasn't sure what I'd eat or when I'd eat, or didn't have any money, didn't have a job," he said.

It all changed when he approached a Wichita Police officer and asked about the Homeless Outreach Team.

Within 15 minutes, Officer David Nienstedt of HOT met Jernigan. Nienstedt is one of three officers in the special unit that helps the homeless population in Wichita.

"What I do is offer referrals and guidance," said Nienstedt. "Josh took it upon himself to really do those things that were necessary to help himself out and he did that, and did a tremendous job."
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101 Year-old Veteran Receives WWII Medals

101-year-old veteran receives WWII medals 
The Blade
BY TAYLOR DUNGJEN
BLADE STAFF WRITER
7/3/2015

Miss Kaptur said the medal presentation was “to pay tribute to a veteran whose memories and whose service have given us the liberty that we commemorate this July Fourth.”

In war, there's little time to think about fear or to worry about what might happen.

There's time to act.

On Jan. 6, 1945, Army Pvt. Horace Appleby took action, saving the life of a comrade and, for that he was awarded the military's third-highest decoration, the Silver Star.

“I didn't think much about it,” said Mr. Appleby, 101, of Toledo. “I did what I had to do.”

Thursday, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) presented Mr. Appleby with 10 medals for his service during World War II. His medals, many of which he didn't know he was entitled to until his great-niece, Renee Hahn of Perrysburg, started inquiring about his personnel records, include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Good Conduct Medal, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge 1st Award, Honorable Service Lapel Button, and the Marksman Badge with rifle bar.

“He's the family treasure,” Mrs. Hahn said. “You better believe it.”
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