Fort Bragg Commander Removed For Kissing Spouses--Not His

Colonel Removed Over Accusations of Kissing Spouses, Poor Leadership 
Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer
by Amanda Dolasinski
Aug 31, 2015

In this file photo from Sept. 25, 2012, Col. Chad B. McRee, commander of the 16th Military Police Brigade, briefs soldiers about the importance of buddy aid when it comes to suicide prevention at Fort Bragg, N.C. 16th Military Police Brigade photo

As Congress wrangled with the growing clamor over sexual misconduct in the military in 2013, a Fort Bragg commander made it a practice to give the wives of subordinates unwelcome kisses on the lips at public events.

After an anonymous letter was sent to the commander's superiors, a subsequent investigation led to his removal from his job. But he stayed in the military and was allowed to quietly retire in April 2015 -- more than two years after the initial complaint about his conduct.

An Army investigation -- triggered by an anonymous letter to Lt. Gen. Daniel Allyn, commander of the 18th Airborne Corps at the time -- reveals that Col. Chad McRee, former commander of the 16th Military Police Brigade, violated five of eight core expectations for Army leaders, made inappropriate remarks toward officers and noncommissioned officers and was unfairly authoritative toward Family Readiness Group members, officers and noncommissioned officers.

In 2013, McRee was suspended amid numerous allegations, then reinstated for the purpose of relinquishing command.

He was moved to serve as a special assistant to the 18th Airborne Corps Headquarters. He went on leave in December 2014 and retired in April 2015, according to Tom McCollum, a spokesman for Fort Bragg. McRee denies allegations
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Veterans HERD Veteran Needed Help and Did It

Area Veteran falls on tough times; fellow service members lend a hand
WIVB News
By Marissa Perlman, News 4 Reporter
Published: August 30, 2015

Some of the vets helping Gozdan suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or other physical injuries. But that doesn’t stop them, organizers say they are ready to help.

CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WIVB) – One local Vietnam veteran’s home is in need of a major overhaul, but he can’t afford to fix it. He’s now getting help from neighbors who have also served. Darryl Gozdan lives on the Cheektowaga-Buffalo border.

He’s lived in this home since 1958, and says he has gotten behind on keeping it up. Now he can’t afford to renovate.
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Vets H.E.R.D. Objective
To raise public awareness about the lack of veterans’ resources in our community and also to ensure that no veteran or service member is forgotten upon his or her return home from active duty.

Vietnam Veteran says "I thank God they recognize the soldiers now"

Orangeburg soldier survives as others around him die in Vietnam attack
Times and Democrat
By DIONNE GLEATON
August 29, 2015

“I thank God they recognize the soldiers now. We go through hell in combat. It took me 21 years to get my disability (benefits), and they know what I went through,” he said.

Albert Shuler Jr. spent 11 months in the combat zone in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968, surviving six ambushes and a firefight.

The searing heat and drenching rain make the walk up hills and down through valleys longer.

Albert Shuler Jr. is not used to climbing through the Central Highlands of Vietnam, especially with up to 70 pounds on his back. Carrying his personal items, weapon, ammunition and rations, he moves through thick terrain, constantly looking for an enemy he knows is out to kill.

His reconnaissance platoon maneuvers the best it can. A sergeant gets hit. A member of the squad is hit too, and the infantrymen are pinned down amid the bloodshed.

The North Vietnamese Army unleasheas a barrage of fire. Artillery support is summoned. Planes drop bombs against the enemy, but there are two men whose bodies must be brought back.

Shuler and another soldier are asked to do the job. Fright fills him, and he is almost killed by a sniper. But he gets the job done. These men are his fellow soldiers -- even in death.

The dramatic experience is just one of many during the Orangeburg man’s time in Vietnam. Another comes just a week later.
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Today continues The Times and Democrat's print and online series, “Vietnam: They Served With Honor.” The stories based on interviews with local veterans of the Vietnam War will continue on Sundays and Wednesdays through Nov. 11, Veterans Day. For more photos and video, and earlier stories in the series, visit TheTandD.com.

This is from Wounded Times and shows that while some folks think what OEF and OIF veterans go through is new, it isn't.

Vietnam Veteran Finds Forgotten Photos of Never Forgotten

Dawn patrols and downtime in America's ugliest war 
Daily Mail
By KIERAN CORCORAN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: August 2015

One veteran's forgotten photos of Vietnam unveiled after 47 years, showing troops unaware of protests at home - and the many who never made it back
Former artillery officer Christopher Gaynor, now 70, took the images in 1967 and 1968 while deployed

They stayed hidden away for more than 40 years before he reopened them and relived old memories

Shelter: Soldiers are pictured above in cramped conditions near a battery of Howitzer artillery units in Loc Ninh. Thomas Corbin, bottom left with a bandaged finger, was one of Gaynor's war buddies. He died in action a year after this photograph was taken in 1967

These candid images show life on the front lines of the Vietnam war through the eyes of a young soldier, who rediscovered the collection decades after the conflict ended.

In the images by former artillery officer Christopher Gaynor, helicopters swoop down in high-risk troop deployments, convoys rumble through the booby-trapped countryside and infantrymen make tense dawn patrols.

Gaynor, now 70, spent more than a year in Vietnam between 1967 and 1968, taking photographs as he went. As well as showing scenes of battle-ready soldiers and equipment, he also showed his war buddies in their down time.

Photographer: Gaynor is pictured in a more recent photograph, honoring his fellow soldiers at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
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Veteran Survived 3 Tours, Attempted Suicide But Not Tampa VA Hospital

Mom questions care at Tampa V.A. hospital
News Channel 8
By Steve Andrews Investigative Reporter
Published: August 29, 2015

Robert Bradford arrived at Haley in May 2012. He suffered paralysis from a gunshot wound to the neck. Robert did two tours of duty in Iraq, a third in Afghanistan. It wasn’t an enemy bullet that turned him into a quadriplegic. Suffering invisible wounds from post traumatic stress disorder, he attempted suicide in 2011. By the time he arrived in Tampa, his mother recalls Robert was eating a regular diet, moved about the grounds with his power chair and went on outings everyday. However, his condition deteriorated and in March of this year Monte told V.A. Secretary McDonald, she wanted her son “out of this grave yard.”

TAMPA, FL (WFLA) – The mother of a U.S. Army soldier claims the military sent her son to fight a war at the James A. Haley Veterans Administration hospital without ammunition.

Monte Reinhardt claims her quadriplegic son received substandard care, contracted infections and lived in unsanitary conditions. Her son Army Specialist Robert Bradford was a patient at Haley’s Spinal Cord Injury Center for three years.

“He didn’t really receive top notch care, he really didn’t,” Monte stated.

So earlier this year she fired off a letter to V.A. secretary Robert McDonald complaining of “unsafe staffing levels, no respect for sanitation practices,” pointing out Robert’s gums “are near rotten.”

“When I would brush his teeth, and I would not be rushed, the toothbrush would be bloody,” Monte added.

She wrote McDonald, that Robert contracted “a new infection weekly.”

“He would have a U.T.I.(urinary tract infection) and a couple of times it would get to the point where it was just flat out red,” she explained.

Robert died two days after surgery. His uniform shirt now hangs on a chair in her apartment.

The flag that draped his casket sits on a cabinet beside an urn that contains his ashes. read more here