Life After Combat Shouldn't Be Harder After It

This Time Save Yourself 
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 31, 2015

Paul Combs

You put your life on the line for the sake of others. Did you think less of them because they needed you?

In combat, if you were overwhelmed by enemy forces, did you ask for help? Did you think you were weak because you couldn't defeat them by yourself?

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ASKING FOR HELP NOW?

Do you still think you'll get over it? You won't. No one gets "over" anything that happens in their lives but they do get past it if they have the help they need to stop being stuck suffering. Your life can get better if you don't settle for the way it is today. PTSD is caused by surviving and it changed you but you can change again!

Do you still want to fit back in with your civilian friends? Forget about it since you didn't fit in as well as you thought in the first place because you served and they didn't. You went places and did things they never will. Find other veterans because no matter what war was in their lives, they are fighting the same battle back home as a veteran. None of this is new.

If you're sick and tired of hearing about folks "raising awareness" using the number of "22 a day" veterans committing suicide, you should be. The only things you need to be aware of is that YOU CAN HEAL and where you can get the help to do it.

It isn't "22 a day" but they say "it is an easy number to remember." Why should any of this be easy for them? This isn't like guessing how many jelly beans are in a jar! This is your life and it is far from easy on you and your family.

If you are not finding what you need, then keep looking for the weapons you need to save your own life this time. Folks you helped deserved the best you could give and now you deserve the same!

STOP GRIEVING AND START HEALING!

Veterans Plant to Paper Project Inspired by Ed Tick

Military and vets make art from plant to paper
Hi Desert Star
By Daniel Strasberger
The Desert Trail
January 30, 2016

“I read a book by Ed Tick, ‘War in the Soul,’ that said PTSD is more of a soul wound than anything else,” she said. “When you are in a situation that is beyond your wildest, sometimes your soul cannot take it all in, it’s too much and creates anxiety and all the symptoms that PTSD creates.”

Military and vets make art from plant to paper
Lt. Col. Frank Marilao and Donald Burton, from Marine Corps Community Services, join Mil-Tree founder Cheryl Montelle at informational meeting for the Plant to Paper Project Thursday at Copper Mountain College.

JOSHUA TREE — Joining Forces: Plant to Paper is a new art and writing project catering to veterans and people on active military duty.

Mil-Tree joined forces with Arts Connection from San Bernardino to create the project.

This multifaceted art project, spanning from February through May, is paid for by a Veterans in the Arts Initiative grant from the California Arts Council.

The goal is to clear invasive plants from the desert, make them into paper and pulp and create works of art and writing that will displayed in a show in May.

Cheryl Montelle, Mil-Tree founder, is excited about bringing the project to the Morongo Basin.

“Mil-Tree’s mission is to bring veterans into the community through arts and dialogue,” Montelle said. “Communication and arts is what we are about, to create bonds and connections where there haven’t been.”
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This is a great video from 2010
War and the Soul: Healing our Veterans, Families, and Communities from the Wounds of War

Dr. Edward Tick is a practicing psychotherapist who has worked with veterans with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) for more than 30 years. For Tick, the key to helping veterans heal lies in how we understand PTSD.

Ret. General Petraeus Will Keep 4th Star

Pentagon won't demote Petraeus for sharing information
USA TODAY
Tom Vanden Brook
January 30, 2016

WASHINGTON — Retired General David Petraeus will not be docked one star for his conviction on charges of leaking classified information to his biographer and former lover, according to a letter sent by the Pentagon to the Senate and obtained by USA TODAY.

Stephen Hedger, a top official for legislative affairs, wrote Friday to Sen. John McCainsaying that Defense Secretary Ash Carter considers the Petraeus matter closed, according to the letter, which was obtained by USA TODAY from the Senate.

A Defense department official told USA TODAY on Saturday that Carter accepted the Army's recommendation that Petraeus not be sanctioned with demotion. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

Carter agreed with the findings of an Army review that recommended Petraeus be allowed to maintain his four-star rank in retirement, the official said. Holding that rank, while prestigious, also allows him to collect a pension of around $220,000. Loss of a star could have cost him tens of thousands of dollars a year.
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Amputee Veterans Enjoy Parade of Pirates in Tampa

Wounded Veteran Meets Joe Maddon at Bayshore Home on Parade Route
Tampa Tribune
By Howard Altman
Tribune Staff
January 30, 2016

Charlie Lemon, center, got to have his wish fulfilled and met Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon, left, on Saturday at Gasparilla. HOWARD ALTMAN/STAFF

Sitting in his wheelchair on the front lawn of the Bayshore Boulevard home owned by Jill and Scott Kelley, Charlie Lemon talks about an item on his bucket list.

“I really want to meet Joe Maddon,” says Lemon, 32, who lost both legs in Iraq in 2011 when an explosive hit the big armored vehicle in which he was riding.

Lemon is one of about a half-dozen veterans — wounded in combat dating back to the Vietnam War — who, along with spouses and significant others, were invited to watch the annual Gasparailla parade from the Kelleys’ lawn.

For Lemon and the other wounded veterans, it was a chance to see an event they otherwise would have to avoid.

“This is my first Gasparilla since I was hurt,” says Lemon. “There’s no way I could come out here otherwise, because it’s impossible to get around these crowds in this chair.”

It was a sentiment shared by Rudy Salas, who was a Marine lance corporal when he lost his left leg in Vietnam.

“Normally I’d stay home,” says Salas, 68.
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Gasparilla Parade of Pirates
Gasparilla celebrations get off to an early start on Davis Island

Joplin High School Won't Hold Empty Chair for Tornado Victim?

Anguished mom wants seat saved for son at graduation
WZZM 13 ABC News
January 30, 2016

"They should at least do something," he said. Williams is now 21 and a member of the U.S. Marine Corps stationed in North Carolina's Camp Lejeune. His unit is expected to deploy soon.

JOPLIN, Mo. — A woman whose son was killed almost five years ago in a monster tornado that struck southwest Missouri wants an empty chair saved for him at what would have been his high school graduation.

Officials at Joplin High School and the school district rejected the request, saying it doesn't comply with their policy. Now Tammy Niederhelman hopes to put pressure on Joplin School District officials through an online petition.

"I'll never see my son graduate. I know that. I'll never see him get married. I'll never hold my grandchildren," Niederhelman said. "This is very important to me — to have a seat for him."

Zachary Zachary Allen Williams was 12 and hadn't finished middle school when he died May 22, 2011, as he huddled in a bathroom of the Niederhelmans' house; 160 other people died that same day.

"No parent should ever have to beg, plead, and fight for their deceased student to be honored with their own seat at graduation and for their name to be called," Niederhelman wrote in her Change.org petition, which more than 4,500 people had signed as of Friday. "Zach will not sit in the seat as he should have but he was, is, and always will be a Joplin Eagle Class of 2016."
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Marine Veteran Stops Intruder Twice

Former Marine Stops Burglary, Holds Intruder at Gunpoint 
News Channel 20
Brendan Cullerton
January 29, 2016

"He did an outstanding job of defending his castle, and had the restraint to know not to shoot because he didn't feel his life was in danger at that point."

Josh Crammond said when he first heard the break in Thursday night, he thought it was his girlfriend.

"I was awake and then I heard glass break," Crammond said. "I thought she fell in the kitchen and dropped something and it scared me, and then I heard somebody kick in my door."

24-year-old Christopher Price had busted through the glass in Crammonds door, but he picked the wrong house.

"My father was a police officer, and I spent four years in the Marine Corps."

So Crammond pulled a gun on the intruder, scared him off, called 911 and went upstairs.

But Price tried breaking in again.
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Marine Presented with Navy and Marine Corps Medal

Marine awarded for saving Senegalese man from drowning
Marine Corps Times
By Matthew L. Schehl
January 29, 2016

Sprankle, who also happens to be a Marine Corps water survival instructor, was at dinner with fellow Marines when they heard screams coming from a nearby pier: A swimmer had been caught up in a strong rip current.

U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Matthew A. Sprankle is awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal after saving a Senegalese man from drowning last August, aboard Morón Air Base, Spain, Jan. 26, 2016. The award is the highest non-combative decoration for heroism awarded by the U.S. Department of the Navy.
(Photo: Sgt. Kassie McDole, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa)

A Marine who leapt into the ocean to save a drowning Senegalese man has received the Navy’s highest non-combat decoration for heroism.

Sgt. Matthew Sprankle was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal on Tuesday by Maj. Gen. Niel Nelson, commander of Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa, at a ceremony aboard Moŕon Air Base, Spain. 

The mortarman deployed with Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force — Crisis Response — Africa is credited with saving the man’s life as he was being swept out to sea Aug. 28 in Dakar, Senegal.
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Army Captain Back from South Korea Meets 4 New Babies

FATHER MEETS NEWBORN QUADRUPLETS FOR FIRST TIME WHILE HOME FROM DEPLOYMENT 
ABC 7 News Chicago
Will Jones
January 29, 2016

HINSDALE, Ill. (WLS) -- Four newborn quadruplets are meeting their father - home from his deployment in South Korea - for the first time.

Anthony Burch and his wife Mary Pat are now the parents to Henry, Molly, Nathaniel and Samuel.

"I can't wait to hold them," Anthony said.

This is the moment this Army captain has been waiting for.

The quadruplets are getting stronger every day in the neonatal intensive care unit at AMITA Adventist Medical Center at Hinsdale.

Although Anthony couldn't be in the delivery room last Sunday morning to welcome them into the world, he wasn't too far away thanks to FaceTime.

"Perfect timing. Everything clicked together I was able to see the babies as they were getting cleaned off in the room," Anthony said.

"He got to see them before I did even though I was right there and he was 12,000 miles away," Mary Pat said.
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Judge Regrets Sending Veteran to Prison

With regret, judge gives veteran 6 years for home invasion
Pantagraph
Edith Brady-Lunny 1 hr ago

Saying he appreciated the state's willingness to support the minimum sentence of six years, Luckman said "I wish our legislature had shown the same thoughtfulness."

BLOOMINGTON — Thanking an Iraq War veteran for his service and bravery, a McLean County judge expressed regret that no sentencing option other than prison existed before giving him a six-year term for home invasion.

Lawyers for Sam Siatta spent Friday afternoon arguing the psychological aftermath of his service with the Marines in Afghanistan was behind his out-of- control conduct in April 2014. Siatta, 26, of Diamond, a small town near Joliet, was convicted in November of breaking into a man's home in Normal and hitting the man with a frying pan. Siatta was stabbed nine times by the victim during the altercation.

The situation Siatta and other veterans find themselves in was not contemplated by lawmakers when they approved a mandatory prison term of six to 30 years for home invasion, said defense lawyer Kerry Luckman.

"This is an issue we are going to be dealing with more with the veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan," said Luckman.

In his brief comments to Judge Scott Drazewski, Siatta apologized to the victim. He said he has no memory of the incident that occurred while he was a student at Illinois State University.

With day-for-day good time credit, Siatta will serve about three years of the sentence.
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Veteran Caregiver Stipends Dropped 7,000 Families

Reminder; this program was for only post 9-11 veterans and their families. Older ones, waiting even longer for help were not part of this. We didn't matter.

Veterans’ caregivers lose VA stipends, struggle to understand why
The Olympian
Adam Ashton
January 29, 2016

So far, about 7,000 veterans who once were enrolled in the program no longer are getting stipends. About a third were cut because VA staff members determined they did not meet medical criteria for the support.

For some, caregiver stipends validated work at home with loved ones

Overall program growing at a fast pace, adding 400 caregivers every month

Advocates notice more complaints, but unsure what’s behind changes

Alisha McNulty of Olympia received a stipend from the Department of Veterans Affairs since 2012 to help her family care for her husband, Jared, an Iraq veteran with post-traumatic stress. The family lost the benefit in December. She and her husband do not understand why. Steve Bloom sbloom@theolympian.com

For three years, a monthly stipend of $1,275 from the federal Department of Veterans Affairs gave Sarah Jenkins the freedom to care for her husband without having to worry about resuming her career.

That let her keep a calm home and respond instantly if her veteran husband experienced one of the mood swings that have characterized his behavior since a group of mortars landed close to him on an Iraqi air field.

The checks abruptly stopped in August when the VA declared her family no longer needed them. Jenkins is still trying to figure out why.

“How am I going to keep him still feeling safe? That’s what the caregiver program has enabled me to do — to keep him feeling safe,” said Jenkins, 39, whose family recently moved to their hometown in North Idaho after spending the previous 17 years in Roy and Yelm.
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