Iraq Veteran Died After Burn Pit Exposure Before Justice Was Granted

Soldier who fought VA, blamed cancer on Iraq 'burn pits,' dies
FOX News
By Perry Chiaramonte
Published April 04, 2016

Ashely and John Marshall met while serving in the Army. John died last week, leaving behind his wife and two young children.

A decorated Army veteran who battled the VA over treatment for cancer he claimed to have gotten from working over burn pits in Iraq has died, his family said Monday.

Former Army Sgt. John Marshall, who went to his grave believing his cancer was caused by standing over burn pits where the military disposed of everything from disabled IEDs to lithium batteries, died at his home in Surprise, Ariz., March 29. He was 31, and left behind a wife and two young children.

"John was the type of guy who touched people even if he didn't know them that long," said Marshall's wife and fellow veteran, Ashley. "The amount of people that have come from all over to offer condolences has been amazing and overwhelming. I knew John was a great person, but it shouldn't have amazed me as it did that so many other people thought so, too."
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Here's the link to rules for a case like this. His claim does not have to die and they can fight to finally have his service honored.

Federal Benefits for Veterans, Dependents and Survivors
Chapter 13 Dependents and Survivors Benefits

And this as well
Compensation for Dependents

Evidence Required
Listed below are the evidence requirements for this benefit:
The Servicemember died while on active duty, active duty for training, or inactive duty training, OR
The Veteran died from an injury or disease deemed to be related to military service, OR
The Veteran died from a non service-related injury or disease, but was receiving, OR was entitled to receive, VA Compensation for service-connected disability that was rated as totally disabling
For at least 10 years immediately before death, OR
Since the Veteran's release from active duty and for at least five years immediately preceding death, OR For at least one year before death if the Veteran was a former prisoner of war who died after September 30, 1999

6,000 Enewetak Atoll Veterans Wait for Justice

Enewetak Atoll cleanup vets, facing cancer, hope long-shot 'atomic veteran' bill becomes law
Bangor Daily News, Maine
By Abigail Curtis
Published: April 3, 2016

Laird and Dean were among approximately 6,000 American soldiers tasked with rehabilitating the atoll between 1977 and 1980 before it was returned to the people of the Marshall Islands.

BANGOR, Maine (Tribune News Service) — Congress is considering a bill that would create a special “atomic veteran” designation for the men and women who worked to clean up nuclear waste from a South Pacific atoll nearly 40 years ago, a move that Maine veteran Paul Laird says was a long time coming.

But Laird, a 59-year-old from Otisfield who served with the U.S. Army’s 84th Engineer Battalion on Enewetak Atoll and who is a three-time cancer survivor, said that the bill has only a slim chance of becoming law — and that is not acceptable to him. As of now, only 30 co-sponsors have officially signed on to the bill, which is a number the Mainer said does not seem like enough.

“We are not seeing people jump up and down to get onboard,” he said earlier this month. “We’re a little disappointed. We’re trying however we can to get the word out, but people just don’t seem to think it’s very important.”
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Blown Up in Afghanistan--Identity Stolen At Haley VA Hospital

Woman indicted, accused of stealing the identity of Afghanistan war veteran
Tampa Bay Times
By Sara DiNatale, Times Staff Writer
Friday, April 1, 2016

Prince is also accused of filing false tax returns using the identities of four other victims, totaling more than $33,000, according to court records.

TAMPA — The day Army 1st Lt. Ryan Timoney arrived at the James A. Haley VA Medical Center, he was still recovering from a suicide bomber's blast in Afghanistan.

That same day in June 2012, Timoney's name, birth date and Social Security number were traded for crack cocaine.

David Lewis, the VA worker who gave up the personal information to feed his drug habit, has already been sentenced to six years in prison. Now, 31-year-old Nejah Prince is facing an indictment in federal court alleging aggravated identity theft and filing false tax returns, according to records filed Thursday.

Timoney, who had part of his leg amputated, first noticed something was amiss when he was mailed a receipt for a TV bought in his name.

According to the court filings, Prince used a Montgomery Ward credit card to buy a plasma screen television and cookware set for nearly $1,400 in February 2013. The credit card, the documents said, were in the name of someone with the initials "R.T."
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Scottsdale soldier shoots girlfriend then turns the gun on himself

Exclusive details: Scottsdale soldier shoots girlfriend then turns the gun on himself
NBC 12 News Arizona
Trisha Hendricks, KPNX
March 31, 2016

SCOTTSDALE - A soldier in the Arizona National Guard allegedly shot his girlfriend to death and then turned the gun on himself Wednesday night.

Family of the victim, Katie Marie Johnson, gave 12 News their blessing to release her name. Now, Scottsdale police released the name of the shooter -- 35-year-old Jose Gualberto Rios.

The Arizona Army National Guard confirmed that he was listed as an active staff sergeant.
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Canadian Veteran Gets Ovation Returning To Game He Loves

War veteran brought to tears by massive ovation at Jets game
BarDown Staff
Mar. 31, 2016

Len Kropioski has been a fixture at most Winnipeg Jets home games ever since the team moved back to Manitoba. The 97-year-old war veteran has a seat right along the glass and is shown on the video board during the Canadian national anthem with regularity. He is even featured on a pin that is sold at the True North Shop.

Unfortunately, after being hospitalized in February, he hasn’t been able to make it out to any games for quite some time. On Wednesday night however, he made his return, and it was glorious.

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Colorado Man Gets 10 Years Following Brutal Attack Against Disabled Vietnam Veteran

Man who attacked disabled Vietnam veteran gets 10 years 
KDVR News 
By Kent Erdahl 
MARCH 31, 2016

“Xakon once fought for his country and now there are many days I see him fighting for his life,” said Paul Solari, a friend of Xakon’s who spoke during the sentencing.

BOULDER, Colo. -- He was singled out and brutally beaten for no other reason than his disability. Now, a Vietnam veteran from Boulder has the justice he has been waiting for.

Though Xakon Con Passion had hoped his case would send a message by leading to the state’s first disability-motivated hate crime conviction, prosecutors said a plea agreement ensures his attacker will spend more time behind bars.

On Thursday, with the hate crime charge no longer on the table, Xakon argued for the stiffest sentence possible: 10 years in prison for 62-year-old Jerry Dawson, who attacked him, unprovoked, in July.

“I have very little left, physically, of the man I worked so hard to be,” Xakon told the judge.

The disabled Vietnam veteran, who uses an electric wheelchair after suffering nerve damage from his service in Vietnam, was outside a Boulder bank when Dawson began punching him in the head and fractured his skull.
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Veteran Pushed to Attempted Suicide by VA?

Canceled VA appts pushed vet to suicide attempt
Investigation confirms San Diego VA falsified wait times for patients
San Diego Union Tribune
By Jeanette Steele
March 31, 2016

An investigation released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says the San Diego VA hospital triggered one veteran’s suicide attempt in 2014 by repeatedly canceling his mental health appointments.

The investigation also found that at least two San Diego VA employees instructed appointment clerks to “zero out” wait times in the scheduling database, presenting an unrealistically positive picture of how long patients were waiting for mental health care.

The tactics may have affected hundreds of San Diego veterans seeking mental health treatment.

The VA’s inspector general found that employees in the San Diego mental health clinic scheduled more than 700 appointments with a 98 to 100 percent rate of zero-day wait times -- described as virtually impossible without data manipulation.

The findings are among more than 70 investigations the VA has released nationally over the past few weeks.

The investigations of VA facilities in several states followed a sweeping scandal in 2014 that started over allegations of falsified wait times at the Phoenix VA hospital.
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Linked from RawStory

UK Veteran's Charity Took on PTSD in 1972

Post Traumatic Stress - and what a charity decided to do about it in 1972
By Staffordshire Newsletter
Posted: April 03, 2016

The association housed single homeless people referred to them by welfare bodies, the probation service and hospitals, but many of the "guests" were men suffering from the long-term after-effects of wartime stress.

SOME soldiers returning from the First World War complained about being unnerved and ill at ease after being faced with constant bombardment and witnessing the most dreadful sights imaginable to humankind.

Medics often called the condition "shell shock" the resulting stress of being in quagmire trenches and never knowing whether they would live to see the end of the day.

The phrase post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been in use since the 1980s but in reality it is a condition known to mankind since the beginning of time though one has to admit that the reasons for its diagnosis grow year by year.

The Second World War, the Korean War, the troubles in Northern Ireland, 9/11, conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have all taken their toll on people experiencing the most unimaginable stress.
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Just because you didn't know about it did not mean it wasn't happening. I am with Point Man International Ministries and it started in 1984 working with veterans as well as families to help them heal PTSD. After all, it was happening to us as well. No wound of war is new!

Amputee Iraq Veterans Taking on Everest Climb

Two Iraq veterans strive to be first combat amputees to climb Everest
USA TODAY
Gregg Zoroya
April 3, 2016

Chad Jukes lost part of his right leg after a roadside bomb explosion in Iraq in 2006. The same happened to Thomas Charles "Charlie" Linville when he was Marine in Iraq in 2011.

(Photo: The Heroes Project)

The Heroes Project founder, Tim Medvetz, and Charlie Linville looking at Mount Everest in 2014.

Now Jukes, a former Army reserve staff sergeant, and Linville want to defy their disabilities in the most extreme way — by climbing the highest mountain in the world within the next two months. They could be the first combat amputees to reach that summit.

"There is a pressure to show the world that I can climb Mount Everest," said Jukes, 31, who, like Linville, has become a skilled mountain climber using a prosthesis. "To say, 'I have one leg, but I can climb Mount Everest. I have PTSD, but can climb Mount Everest. I have a traumatic brain injury, But I can climb Mount Everest.'"

Linville, 30, who is married and the father of two daughters, said he went from being a strong Marine to having people have pity for him after the amputation.

"Getting to the top I kind of view as vanquishing those demons, showing all these people that, 'Don't you have pity for disabled veterans because we're capable of so much more than you think," Linville said.
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Military Suicides For 2015 Four Hundred and Seventy Five Lives Gone

Four Hundred and Seventy Five Lives Gone
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
April 3, 2016

By the end of March the military decided that attempted suicides should no longer be treated as crimes.

"Tucked into recent massive changes to the Uniform Code of Military Justice is a reminder for military officials that suicide attempts are not a crime."

On April 1st the Pentagon released the number of Service Members, National Guard and Reservists lost to suicide.

The Pentagon reported Friday that 265 active-duty service members killed themselves last year, continuing a trend of unusually high suicide rates that have plagued the U.S. military for at least seven years.

Data released Friday also show that suicides among reserve troops — reservists in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps and the National Guard — were 210 last year. That is an increase from 170 suicides in 2014 but down from 220 suicides in 2013.

Keep in mind when you read those numbers 265+210=475.  More than one a day after all these years of "prevention" training publicity but no accountability. 

No one is talking about those attempting suicide after all the training they had anymore than they are talking about the fact young veterans are committing suicide at triple their peer rate.

The leaders show no sign of changing anything they are doing and more puzzling than anything else is, they don't seem to understand they are causing a lot more harm.

There are less serving in the military now, yet after all the training, billions in funding programs that have failed, they continue to push the programs.  Why? Seriously, why would they do that?

What has Congress done with all their hearings? Has anyone been held accountable for any of this?

The anguished cries of families and friends all across the country while elected officials seem satisfied with holding hearings producing more graves filled than combat itself. The chirp of crickets coming out of Washington have proven they have no ideas or any intention of holding anyone accountable including themselves.

Congress has jurisdiction over the Department of Defense, just as they have jurisdiction over the Department of Veterans Affairs. They write the rules but have not righted the workers of iniquity.

Fort Hood has just reported they had four suicides in the first quarter of 2016.

What will Congress do about any of this? Hold more hearings with grieving families trying to spare other families from the same pain? How many more years do they get to do that when the results get worse?

How many more charities do we have to put up with doing this and that to raise awareness about suffering when they failed to begin to comprehend the message they share is one of death based on a headline instead of the report that should have been important enough for them to actually read? They have had four years to read the Suicide Report from the VA and learn those numbers came from limited date from just 21 states.

How many more need to die while this lie has been allowed to be repeated over and over again while publicity is provided for those doing the "awareness raising" when no one is aware of the simple fact the quoted number is wrong or the simple fact that the majority of the veterans committing suicide are over the age of 50?

How many times will you write a check then wash your hands of your own responsibility in all of this? Have you held politicians accountable? Have you held heads of charities accountable or even asked where they money was going or why they deserved it?

Do we really care about all these lives gone when they should have been healing to live better lives? What the hell is wrong with us?