Staff Sgt. Louis Cardin Made Sure Others Made It Into Bunker

Marine Killed in Iraq 'Made Sure Everybody Got in the Bunker'
Military.com
by Hope Hodge Seck
Mar 26, 2016

The remains of Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin of Temecula, Calif., arrive at Dover Air Force Base, Del., on March 21. (Air Force/Zachary Cacicia)

The commandant of the Marine Corps paid tribute to a staff sergeant killed by Islamic State rocket fire in Iraq last week, shedding new light on the circumstances surrounding the loss.

Staff Sgt. Louis Cardin, 27, a member of Battalion Landing Team 2/6, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, was killed by indirect fire March 19 at a new artillery outpost near Makhmour, Iraq, shortly after he and a small element of Marines had detached from the MEU in order to support the small post.

Speaking at a Marine Corps Association awards dinner near Washington, D.C. Thursday night, Gen. Robert Neller said three other Marines wounded in that same rocket attack were due to arrive back in the United States that evening, headed for Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

Reflecting on Cardin's loss, Neller did not prevaricate about a fight that US officials still refuse to describe as a combat operation.

"The loss of a Marine is sad, but I thought about it: He was leading his Marines in combat," Neller said. "They were in indirect fire and he made sure everybody got in the bunker, and he just didn't make it in time. Is that sad? That's sad. But if you're going to go, you want to go in the fight.
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Only The Dead See End Of War--Michael Ware's Darkest Moment

Operation Iraqi Truth: New Documentary Reveals
Why War Is Hell
Michael Ware spent seven harrowing years covering the Iraq War – and he has the scars to prove it
Rolling Stone
By Reeves Wiedeman
March 25, 2016

By 2009, however, another IED attack debilitated Ware's senses of smell and taste – "I get too salty, too sweet, and that's about it" – and he soon realized he had to get out. He moved to Brooklyn, but found himself unable to walk to the corner store, much less work on the book he had a contract to write. He took assignments from CNN that sent him back to conflict zones. Eventually, he went on leave from CNN, citing post-traumatic stress disorder, and never went back. "That's when I started watching the tapes," Ware says.
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Only the Dead See the End of War
HBO

His footage captures the violence, fear and confusion that defined the Iraq War, as well as his self-described “darkest moment” of the war, which haunted him long after he left the country.

Directed by two-time Oscar winner Bill Guttentag in collaboration with Australian journalist Michael Ware, Only the Dead See the End of War examines the Iraq War and its moral consequences through the story of the rise and fall of jihadi terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of Al Qaeda in Iraq and the progenitor of ISIS. A harrowing and graphic account from both sides of the war zone, as well as an illuminating window into the origins of a modern terrorist organization, the film is told through visceral hand-held video footage culled from hundreds of hours that Ware shot while reporting over the course of the war. This unique, on-the-ground view is combined with eye-opening narration for a frank, unsparing look at the Iraq War unlike any before.

Arriving in Baghdad in 2003 as a novice reporter, Michael Ware was initially on a three-week assignment to cover the invasion of Iraq. He left seven years later, having gained unprecedented access to the Iraqi insurgency and American troops, as well as a myriad of demons -- the after-effects of witnessing seemingly endless, horrific violence.
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Only The Dead

PTSD On Trial: Four Tour Veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq

Logan County Jurors Hear Witness Testimony Regarding Shooting Of Lora Karras
Times Record
By Pat McHughes
Paris Express
March 26, 2016

The jury heard testimony Friday that when Lora Karras, 40, was shot three times and killed in March 2014 at her home near Scranton she may not have been the intended victim.

The jury heard that information when a taped interview between a Logan County Sheriff’s Office investigator and the man accused of her murder was played in court. On the tape, the accused, Josh Johnson, 40, of New Blaine, described an argument he’d had with Jennifer Johnson, who was then his wife, which led to her taking their two children and leaving their home. During the interview, conducted the night of March 19, 2014, a few hours after Karras was killed, Johnson told then-investigator Ray Gack what happened next.

“I loaded my gun,” Johnson told Gack. “I got in my truck and drove down there. I was hoping to get Robert.”

Robert Karras is the husband of the deceased. However, he wasn’t home. After Johnson arrived at the Karras home on Rodeo Arena Road, according to testimony presented Friday, he shot Lora Karras three times with a shot gun.

Johnson has been charged with first-degree murder and his trial opened Thursday in 15th Judicial District Circuit Court in Paris. Johnson has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of mental defect or disease. His lawyers — public defenders John Irwin of Morrilton and Aubrey Barr of Fort Smith — contend that Johnson suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder brought about by four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Johnson served in the Marines.
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Ohio Veteran Gets Back Stolen PTSD Service Dog

Veteran reunites with service dog after woman arrested for stealing it
FOX 8 Cleveland
Kaily Cunningham
MARCH 25, 2016

Dog being reunited with his owner. Courtesy Alliance police.

ALLIANCE, Ohio – A woman was arrested in Alliance on Friday after police found a dog inside her home she was accused of stealing.

Alliance police say Andrea Sindledecker, 34, allegedly stole a service dog from a man she was in a relationship with.

The man, a military veteran, lives in Delta, Ohio and had the dog for his post traumatic stress disorder.
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Johnathan Michael Gilotti Murder Leads To More Arrests

More arrests in January 5 Lake Cyrus murder case of Johnathan Michael Gilotti
WIAT News
By Brandon Varner
Published: March 25, 2016

HOOVER, Ala. (WIAT) — The Hoover Police Department has made two more arrests in the shooting death of Lake Cyrus resident Johnathan Michael Gilotti on Jan. 5.

The Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office issued murder warrants in the names of 19-year-old De’Ron Keith Lucas of McCalla, and 16-year-old Darrian D. Bryant of Bessemer, according to a press release from the office. Lucas and Bryant were early suspects in the case, and were arrested at separate times.

Lucas was taken in on Jan. 7, and charged with “numerous felonies” that include car break-ins and the theft of the vehicle used in the murder in addition to the murder itself. He is currently in custody at the Tuscaloosa County Jail, according to the press release.
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Jonathan Michael “Mike” Gilotti (WBRC/Family photo)

Lake Cyrus community remembers lessons of slain war veteran Mike Gilotti
WIAT News
By Matt Fernandez
Published: March 25, 2016

HOOVER, Ala. (WIAT) — Many of Mike Gilotti’s neighbors spoke to CBS 42 News on Friday. The people that lived around Gilotti mostly said that this case reminds them to stay alert at all times.

An American flag still hung outside of the Iraq War veteran’s home on Friday. On that day, neighbors heard the news of the latest arrests.

“I think it is good they have been caught and apprehend now it’s time for the judicial process to do its course,” said resident Greg Stroud.
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Mike Gilotti Survived Iraq But Not Going to Alabama Gym