Iraq Veteran-Single Mom Finds Hope With New Home

Home is hope for war vet, single mom
Gaston Gazette
By Michael Barrett
Posted Apr 27, 2016

Hogan was one of dozens of people eating in the base's crowded chow hall tent during lunchtime when a suicide bomber disguised as an Iraqi National Guard soldier detonated an explosive vest, killing 22 people and injuring 72 others.

U.S. Army veteran Lauren Hogan with her daughter Roxanne, and her father Otis Whitehurst during the Mission Kickoff at her Bessemer City home that will be renovated by the Purple Heart Homes organization. JOHN CLARK/THE GAZETTE

Lauren Hogan's burden from her time in the Iraq War is symbolized by the shrapnel she carries in her spine.

The bothersome piece of metal has come with her across the country in the decade since she left the Army. It has followed along on her job interviews, on efforts to further her education and during her constant quest to find a permanent, fulfilling home for herself and her two daughters.

As a disabled veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Hogan's journey is similar to those taken by tens of thousands of other soldiers who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. But she and her family are closer to finding solace and a path to a positive future, thanks to a nonprofit that works to help get wounded veterans in reliable homes.
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Military Cross Afghanistan Veteran Says PTSD Veterans Left to Struggle

Suffolk Military Cross winner’s anger at MoD over treatment of PTSD war veterans
UK East Anglian
Colin Adwent
April 2016

Combat no longer involves the Iraq and Afghanistan veteran putting himself in mortal danger.

It now reflects the 41-year-old’s daily struggle with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The ex-Royal Irish Regiment Colour Sergeant, who lives in the Woodbridge area with his wife and five-year-old son, served his country for almost 20 years. He was awarded the Military Cross for risking his own life to protect comrades in Iraq.

But he feels he, and many others like him, are being treated shamefully by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Mr Coult is scathing in his condemnation over the help those with PTSD receive.

Mentally fragile, they return to civilian life haunted by flashbacks, frayed nerves and financial pressures.

For a few it is too much and they take their own lives. Others end up homeless or in prison. Relationships break down. Drugs or alcohol become a source of self-medicating comfort.

Mr Coult believes the MoD casts off many veterans too cheaply by giving them a few thousand pounds as an interim payment, with a proviso their cases will be reviewed in two years.
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Still No Arrest Made After Fort Hood Solider Killed By Hit and Run Driver

Family honors soldier killed in Austin hit-and-run a year ago
KXAN Staff
Published: April 26, 2016

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Friends and family are remembering a soldier killed in a hit and run one year ago.

Sergeant Derek Pagan was killed while walking along US Highway 183 and Riverside Drive in Southeast Austin last April.

Police think the 29-year-old was hit by a driver who kept on going.

Tuesday night, his family gathered where the crash happened to honor him.

At the time of the crash, Pagan had just re-enlisted in the Army and had been based at Fort Hood for four years.
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Vietnam Veterans Fighting Agent Orange and Bladder Cancer Plus VA Over Claims

Armed with new research, Vietnam vets push VA to link bladder cancer to Agent Orange 
By Mike Hixenbaugh, The Virginian-Pilot
and Charles Ornstein and Terry Parris Jr., ProPublica
April 27, 2016

Eller is one of about 5,000 veterans and family members who’ve shared their Agent Orange exposure stories with ProPublica and The Virginian-Pilot over the past several months. More than 125 of them said they’ve been diagnosed with bladder cancer. Hundreds more reported having one or more of the other conditions being reviewed by the VA.

Alan Eller has spent more than a decade trying to convince the Department of Veterans Affairs that his bladder cancer was the result of exposure to Agent Orange almost 50 years ago in Vietnam.

The Army vet has filed three claims with the agency, most recently in 2014, since a doctor told him the cancer was likely tied to the toxic herbicide.

Each time, even as he found additional doctors to vouch for the link between his cancer and his service, the VA rejected Eller’s claim, arguing there was no proof.

But a report last month by a prominent committee of scientists said there’s now research suggesting otherwise. As a result, the VA is studying whether it should reverse its position and add the condition to the list of illnesses it presumes to be linked to Agent Orange, which the U.S. sprayed across Vietnam during the war.
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Strange Story of Joseph Benjamin Noil Canadian with US Medal of Honor

UPDATE
Headstone fixes error for MOH recipient more than 140 years after rescue

District of Columbia Executive Director of the Mayor's Office of Veterans Affairs Tammi Lambert, left, and Director of the Department of Behavioral Health Tanya A. Royster, right, unveil the headstone of Medal of Honor recipient Joseph B. Noil during a ceremony Friday, April 29, 2016, at St. Elizabeths Hospital Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Noil received the Medal of Honor while serving on USS Powhatan, but his headstone did not recognize his award because of a misprint on his death certificate.
ERIC LOCKWOOD/U.S. NAVY

Nearly forgotten, a sailor’s heroics are now forever etched in stone
Washington Post
By John Kelly Columnist
April 26, 2016

When Joseph Benjamin Noil started to lose his mind, it was agreed that the best place for him was the Government Hospital for the Insane in Washington, D.C. That’s where the Navy sailor went on June 3, 1881.

“Paralysis” was the vague diagnosis. Today we might call it post-traumatic stress disorder. Noil did little more than stare into the distance.

Living in New York City and working to support their two daughters, Noil’s wife, Sarah Jane, was too poor to visit him, but she wrote the hospital regularly to check on his condition.

Joseph Noil was a hero. He joined the Navy in 1864, possibly earlier. On the day after Christmas in 1872, he was aboard the USS Powhatan, a side-wheel steam frigate, off Norfolk. A boatswain named Walton fell from the forecastle into the ice-cold water and was swept under the bow.

Upon hearing the cry, “Man overboard!” Noil bolted from below deck, took the end of a rope and leapt into the sea. He caught Walton and held him until a boat came to their rescue.

For this gallant conduct, Noil was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Noil was unusual for many reasons. He was Canadian. And he was black.
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Vietnam Veteran Filmmaker "Bravo! Common Men, Uncommon Valor" Earns High Award

Vietnam veteran, filmmaker to receive highest DAR honor
Stars and Stripes
By Matthew M. Burke
Published: April 26, 2016

During the 11-week siege in early 1968, a single surrounded and cut-off Marine regiment of about 5,000 and their supporting forces stood in defiance of three North Vietnamese Army divisions — about 20,000 troops. They were victorious, but only after 27 deaths, with 19 wounded and one taken prisoner.

Retired Marine Ken Rodgers poses during the Vietnam War at Khe Sanh in 1968. Rodgers will receive the Ellen Hardin Walworth Founders Medal for Patriotism, the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution's highest award, May 12 in Boise, Idaho.

COURTESY OF 'BRAVO! COMMON MEN, UNCOMMON VALOR'

A Marine veteran who turned his company’s harrowing tale from the 77-day siege of Khe Sanh during the Vietnam War into a documentary film will be honored with the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution’s highest award.

Ken Rodgers, of Eagle, Idaho, will receive the Ellen Hardin Walworth Founders Medal for Patriotism on May 12 in Boise, the society announced in a statement. The medal honors an adult who has displayed “outstanding patriotism in the promotion of NDSAR’s ideals of God, home and country through faithful and meritorious service to our community, state and nation.”
Rodgers, along with his wife, Betty, directed and co-produced the award-winning film, “Bravo! Common Men, Uncommon Valor.” The film won the best documentary feature prize in 2015 at the GI Film Festival San Diego’s Local Film Showcase.
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Australian Troops Fear of "Career Suicide" Seeking Outside Care for PTSD

ADF personnel seek PTSD treatment in secrecy to avoid 'career suicide', members say
ABC News Australia
Exclusive by Alexandra Fisher
Updated earlier today at 1:13am

"You're almost alienated from the system ... you can't go to work, you can't drive a vehicle, can't carry a weapon."

Key points:
ADF members say they speak to mental health professionals outside the Department
Talking about mental illness could jeopardise worker's career, members say
ADF says reporting mental illness ensures members are provided with proper support

Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel are being treated in secret for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health conditions to avoid jeopardising their careers, according to serving and former members.

James (not his real name) has just recently retired from a 25-year career in the Australian Army and said he never told the ADF he had PTSD.

"I'd go and speak to professionals outside of Defence," he said.

"I'd go see a psychologist and talk to them about what was wrong."

The ADF told the ABC in a statement that members were required to tell them if they were being treated outside the ADF system.

But James said if he spoke up about his mental illness, he risked his career.
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Iraq Veteran Proved PTSD to VA But Not Maine Public Employee System?

Maine retirement system again denies war veteran with PTSD
Bangor Daily News
By Beth Brogan, BDN Staff
Posted April 26, 2016

A Veterans Administration determined Couture is 80 percent disabled and provides him benefits, but in December 2014, the Maine Public Employees Retirement System, or MePERS, which Couture paid into as a Marine Patrol employee instead of Social Security, denied Couture’s application for retirement because of disability, despite acknowledging he suffers from PTSD.

BRUNSWICK, Maine — The Maine Public Employees Retirement System for a second time denied disability retirement benefits to a military veteran from Brunswick whose two tours in Iraq left him with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Scott Couture, an Iraq combat veteran formerly with the Maine Army Reserves, reflects on his service, Feb. 11, 2016, at his home in Brunswick.

Scott Couture, a former Maine Marine Patrol warden, was denied when he first applied for retirement system disability benefits after being told he could no longer work as a marine warden because of his condition. Couture appealed that decision, but that appeal was denied in a letter dated April 14 and received by Couture’s family Monday.

Couture will appeal the latest decision to a hearing officer, his wife, Darcie, said Monday. The decision devastated Scott, who declined to speak about the denial. The couple was preparing Monday night to tell their two teenage sons that they can’t afford to keep their house.

Scott Couture served in the Army Reserves with the 94th Military Police Company in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, for what would become the second longest deployment of any U.S. military unit since World War II, including 15 months in combat zones such as the notoriously violent “Sunni Triangle.”
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Dying Vietnam Veteran Has Message for Younger Veterans with PTSD

Terminal Vietnam vet continues mission to spread PTSD awareness
Lake County Journal
Angela Sykora
April 26, 2016

The point that really touched the veterans, Tuccy said, was they have their whole lives ahead of them and PTSD does not have to damage them and their relationships as it did Hacke.

Vietnam veteran Richard Hacke (center) holds hands with his brother Robin Hacke (left) and personal caregiver David Pasieka. An article about Hacke published by the Lake County Journal last October garnered much attention from area VFW posts in addition to the Thomah VA Medical Center in Wisconsin.

ZION – A story published last fall in the Lake County Journal has helped fulfill an end-of-life wish for Zion resident Richard “Micky” Hacke, a Vietnam veteran who’s suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) most of his adult life.

He wanted to speak to the veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to share his struggles and the mistakes he’s made in life, hoping it would encourage them to seek professional help for PTSD sooner than later.

At age 68, Hacke is bedridden and under hospice care for terminal cancer.

“It’s too late for me, but not for them,” he said.

Hacke, who grew up in Waukegan, enlisted in the U.S. Army when he was 17-years-old. He became a sergeant and served one tour of duty in front-line combat. At one time, Hacke was trapped in a tunnel for days. He also captured 37 enemy prisoners and was awarded the Purple Heart.

When Hacke returned from the war, he was in and out of VA hospitals but didn’t receive the long-term mental health care he needed. Things were different back then, he acknowledged, and today’s young veterans have much more help available if they reach out.
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Police Confirm Body Pulled From River is Missing Veteran Adam Sharp

Remains pulled from river ID’d as missing Marine veteran, police say
New Jersey 101.5
By Toniann Antonelli
April 25, 2016

For months after his disappearance, those who knew Adam Sharp — the 23-year-old reported missing on New Year’s Eve — believed he was trying to avoid being found. Late last week, police confirmed what the family feared – the retired Marine has died.

Authorities have identified the human remains pulled from the Raritan River in Perth Amboy on April 10 as Adam Sharp. His sister, Katie Sharp, posted about the veteran’s death.

“I regret to inform everyone that my brother Adam has passed away. I love you so much Adam and I wish I could tell you again what you mean to me,” Sharp wrote in an emotional post late last week.

Adam’s mother, Trudy Sharp, told NJ Advance Media Monday that her son retired from the military about a year ago, after serving a tour of duty in Afghanistan. She said he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Sharp told NJ Advance Media that Highland Park Police Detective Sean McGraw visited her personally to deliver the news about her son’s remains being found.
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