Marine Corps Officers Not As Smart As Before?

Why Are Marine Corps Officers Less Smart Than Before?
Newsweek
BY DELANEY PARRISH
7/30/15

"Today's less qualified officer candidates 

will be tomorrow's senior military leaders"

The General Classification Test (GCT) from World War II to present day. BROOKINGS

When the United States ended the draft and transitioned to an all-volunteer military in 1973, there was concern about who would join and whether the transition would negatively impact the quality of the force, which many suspected it would.

As it turns out, the quality of the force as a whole actually increased over time. In 1977, 27.1 percent of new enlisted recruits met the military’s standard for being “high quality,” meaning that they possessed a high school diploma and above-average intelligence relative to the U.S. population as a whole. Decades later, at the height of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, 60 percent of new enlisted recruits met the high quality standard.

But what about military officers? Though commissioned officers comprise only about 16 percent of the force, they clearly have a major impact on the success of the military as a whole given their leadership role for their troops and responsibility for strategy and tactics.
read more here

Vietnam Veteran Died Over Wrong DNR Order

Audit cites California VA hospital’s ‘confusion’ in patient’s death
Sun Herald
BY MICHAEL DOYLE
July 30, 2015

A Citrus Heights, Calif., resident, Mayo had served in the Army’s 101st Airborne Division and worked as a Riverside County deputy sheriff. He had a medical history that included hypertension and post-traumatic stress disorder when he entered the hospital for elective heart surgery.

WASHINGTON — An erroneous wristband placed on a 65-year-old Vietnam veteran caused a “delay in life-saving intervention” at the Mather VA facility in Sacramento, federal investigators say in a new report prompted by the patient’s death under questionable circumstances last October.

The wristband incorrectly identified patient Roland Mayo as having given a “Do Not Resuscitate” order, also known as a DNR.

The resulting “confusion” about Mayo’s status “delayed chest compressions, defibrillation pad placement, and medications” when he went into cardiac arrest, investigators with the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General concluded. As a result, two precious minutes reportedly passed between the time Mayo’s pulse stopped and CPR began.

“The American Heart Association recommends initiating immediate chest compressions for adults suffering from sudden cardiopulmonary arrest,” investigators noted.

They further described a seemingly frantic scene on the day of Mayo’s death, during which so many medical personnel crowded into the patient’s room that they blocked the doorway and spilled out into the hallway.

“A nursing supervisor and physician requested several times for nonessential personnel to leave, but no one did so,” investigators noted. “Staff reported having difficulties hearing the physician’s orders throughout the code because there were so many people in the room.”
read more here

Canada: Widow Blames Mounties For Husband's Death

Widow Blames Mounties for Husband's Death
Courthouse News Service
By DARRYL GREER
July 31, 2015

In the days after his death, his widow says, an RCMP chaplain took over the funeral arrangements and refused to let her deliver a eulogy or play songs she selected for the funeral.

VANCOUVER, B.C. (CN) - Harassment from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police drove a prominent member of the force to suicide, and the Mounties wouldn't let his widow give a eulogy at his funeral, she claims in court.

Sheila Lemaitre, a former Mountie who met her husband Pierre Lemaitre on the job, says her husband was a dedicated, passionate officer who was praised by higher-ups.

Pierre Lemaitre joined the RCMP in 1985 and was posted to a media relations position in 2003. In July that year, a reporter told Lemaitre that his direct supervisor had sexually harassed her "on a number of occasions."

"Although struggling with the impact of reporting this complaint would have on the small media unit, Pierre Lemaitre knew from policy and training that he was required to report the matter to the Sergeant's superior officer," the widow says in her July 20 claim in British Columbia Supreme Court.

Sheila Lemaitre says her husband was "shunned and isolated" by fellow officers after the transfer, causing him to develop depression, anger management issues and a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. He went off-duty on sick leave in February 2013 and committed suicide on July 29 that year.
read more here

SIckening Note on Marine Iraq Veteran's Car in New York

Veteran finds hateful note on car at NY shopping center
WISH TV 8
Rachel Yonkunas
Published: July 31, 2015

QUEENSBURY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – A simple trip to the store ended with a veteran getting a hateful letter left on his car.

When a local Iraq War veteran went shopping Thursday morning, he did not expect to find an anonymous note with ugly language left on his car.

The letter blasted the Marine for having a Purple Heart and serving overseas. It stated, “All of you Islamaphobe vets deserve to die.”

The note has people shaking their heads. Some call the author pathetic.

“It’s just shocking,” Ann Lanoir said. “It’s just ignorant. That’s the way I feel. I feel like some punk wrote it.”

“Makes me sick to my stomach,” Navy veteran Robert LaPrairie said. “To me, it’s an act of terrorism really.”
read more here

Veteran of Korea and Vietnam Laid to Rest At Arlington

Fresno-area veteran lauded at Arlington burial
McClatchy DC
Corinne Kennedy
July 30, 2015

A family man and patriot, friends and family say
Veteran of 329 combat missions in Korea, Vietnam
Inspired loyalty from colleagues

Leué flew 329 combat missions over both Korea and Vietnam during more than three decades of military service. He earned numerous honors, including four Distinguished Flying Crosses, three Navy Commendation medals and a Bronze Star. He also penned two memoirs detailing his service.

The Navy Honor Guard carries the casket of Korean and 

Vietnam war veteran David Leue. Daniel Desrochers McClatchy

WASHINGTON A construction worker removed his hardhat and held it over his heart Thursday morning as the funeral procession wound its way through Arlington National Cemetery.

As the sun broke through the clouds for the first time all morning, tourists put down their cameras to watch as the family of David E. Leué followed his shiny silver casket, draped in an American flag and carried by horse-drawn cart, to its final resting place.

Leué, of Clovis, Calif., died Jan. 25 and was interred with full military honors, including a three-volley rifle salute and the playing of Taps. He was 87.

His burial at Arlington took several months, as is often the case at the revered patch of greenery across the Potomac River from the capital, where the tombstones honor national luminaries and everyday Americans alike.
read more here

Waco Looks At PTSD in Veterans and First Responders

This report says that research on First Responders with PTSD started recently but that report is wrong. It began years ago but acknowledging how long all of this has been going on would force folks to admit they didn't take it seriously enough when they had a chance to fix it fast.

Waco research facility takes aim at PTSD in first responders, veterans
KXXV News ABC 25
By Grant Hermes
Posted: Jul 29, 2015

Doctors at the Warrior Research Institute (WRI) said they've seen a clear link between traumatic situations experienced by first responders and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), similar to the way veterans develop the disorder.

According to the institute's director, Dr. Suzy Bird Gulliver, between nine and 13 percent of fire fighters experience some form of PTSD on the job. Gulliver focuses primarily on veterans and fire fighters, although said the research at WRI, in partnership with Baylor Scott and White healthcare, has begun to expand to police officers and paramedics.
read more here

PTSD I Grieve

Washington 7-11 Clerk Did Not Like Serving Soldier?

Soldier denied service at 7-Eleven 
KIROTV.com
By Gary Horcher
July 29, 2015

“From moment one, the only thing I was hoping to do by coming forward with this is to get the issue addressed with the employee,” He said. “If you don't know something is wrong, you can't fix it."

REDMOND, Wash. — A local soldier, whose story sparked a firestorm of nationwide anger on social media, says a Redmond convenience store clerk denied him service, after he showed his military ID.

Collin Brown –- who is a reservist in the Army – was purchasing cigarettes for his fiancé, and a Slurpee last Wednesday, at the 7-Eleven on West Lake Sammamish Parkway. Brown put his U.S. military ID on the counter, when the cashier asked for his proof of age. The ID clearly has his date of birth on the back and serves as legal ID.

“She said, 'You're in the military?' I said, 'Yes,'” Brown said. “She said, 'I can't serve you.'" Honestly, I was in shock. I asked, 'Are you serious?' “She looked at me like she was offended," he said.

Brown says he asked the clerk why there was a problem as he pulled out his driver's license to back up his military ID.
read more here

Death of Twentynine Palms Marine Still Unclear

Twentynine Palms Marine shooting death details unclear
The Desert Sun
Anna Rumer
July 29, 2015

Dominic Pavelko was stationed at the Twentynine Palms
military base as a motor transport operator before he
died as the result of a gunshot wound.
(Photo: Courtesy of Jonathan Scholles)

Nearly a month after a 23-year-old Marine died of a gunshot wound at the Twentynine Palms military base, officials have released little information on the circumstances surrounding his death.

Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Justin Smith confirmed that a Marine died of a gunshot wound on July 2, but said he was unable to release any information surrounding his death other than saying the injury didn't occur during a training exercise.

"Officials are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident at this time," he said in an email. "Right now, the focus of the investigation command is bereavement and grief counseling, which are offered to service members and their families at all times, but especially in the light of recent circumstances."

A representative for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service acknowledged there was an ongoing investigation into Dominic Pavelko's death, but declined to comment further.
read more here