Tennessee Family Struggles to Bring Son's Body Home After Suicide

Tennessee family raising money to fly deceased veteran’s body from Springfield to Memphis
The Register-Guard
By Elon Glucklich
SEPT. 22, 2016

SPRINGFIELD — A mother in Tennessee hopes the public can help raise money to fly her military veteran son’s body home, after he committed suicide in Springfield last weekend.

Taylor Lee Odom

Pfc. Taylor Lee Odom, 23, hanged himself Saturday, his mother, Jenniffer Palazola-Herrin, said. After being injured during training in the U.S. Army, he was medically retired from the military in July 2015. He moved to Springfield five months ago to study automotive technology at Lane Community College under the GI Bill.

Odom had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder for four years, Palazola-Herrin said, stemming from a traumatic brain injury he received in a training accident at Fort Carson in Colorado.

In the 2012 accident, Odom was thrown from a Humvee and partly crushed as it rolled on him, local news reports said at the time.

Even as he slowly recovered, Odom suffered from symptoms related to his PTSD, Palazola-Herrin said, speaking from her home in Memphis.

He attempted suicide before, she said, and care was subpar at the Memphis-area Veterans Affairs hospitals where they sought help.
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Camp Pendleton Suicide Awareness Walk With Over 1,000 Side by Side

Marines, sailors march for suicide awareness
OC Register
Erika I Ritchie
Staff Writer
Sept. 23, 2016

‘Suicide didn’t take away my husband’s pain, it just transferred the pain to those that loved him.’

More than a 1,000 Marines and sailors take part in Camp Pendleton's second annual Suicide Awareness Walk. The event was held at the base on Friday. (Photo courtesy of Camp Pendleton.)

CAMP PENDLETON – Chad Robichaux, a Force Recon Marine and former MMA fighter, spoke to Marines and sailors Friday about the military lives lost to war and the far greater number of military lives lost to suicide.

“I was thinking about how as a young Recon Marine I’d respond to a suicide pep talk,” said Robichaux. “I’d probably be a little arrogant and not want to listen. But I’ve been on the other side of it. After eight deployments to Afghanistan in the special operations community, I know that’s one extreme. The other is just military service and the stress it brings. Military life will change you 100 percent. The change will be either for the worse or the better, that’s up to you.”

Robichaux now runs the Mighty Oaks Warrior Program, dedicated to curtailing the high veteran suicide rate and helping American military and their families suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. He spoke at the seaside base as part of the second annual Suicide Prevention and Awareness Walk.

“We lost 6,882 in combat since 9/11,” he said “But the more significant number is the 22 lives a day from suicide. Since 9/11 we’ve lost 120,000 to suicide. We learn to push through in our mission but sometimes, we can’t push through in our personal lives.”

Robichaux relayed the story of a Marine wife he recently counseled. Her husband had shot himself standing in the street surrounded by police. The last thing he said to police was, “Tell my wife, I’m doing this for her,” Robichaux said.

“She later told me, ‘Suicide didn’t take away my husband’s pain, it just transferred the pain to those that loved him.’”
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Vietnam Veteran Has Faith to Help Fight PTSD

Pet Tales: Vietnam veteran is thankful for his 'Faith'
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
By Linda Wilson Fuoco
September 24, 2016

Forty-seven years after Bill Fennell fought with the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam, he still suffers from the invisible wounds and scars of post-traumatic stress disorder. He has nightmares, anxiety in crowds and daytime panic attacks that make him reluctant to leave his house in Carnegie.

But everything is better since Faith entered his life in June.

Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette

Faith is a Guardian Angel Service Dog that belongs to Bill Fennell

of Carnegie. Mr. Fennell served in the U.S. Marine Coprs in Vietnam.

Mr. Fennell, 67, says he is a man of faith — with a lower case “f”. Faith — with a capital “F” — is a German shepherd who was bred, trained and named at Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs Inc. in Williston, Fla.

“My wife, Debra, and I were praying for a good dog,” Mr. Fennell. “God winked at us, and I got a dog named Faith. She is everything I could ask for.”

Faith gets along well with the family cats, Cisco Kid, Rocky and Sheba.

Mr. Fennell, a retired postal worker, says he sleeps better because Faith, 4, “senses when I’m having a nightmare.”

The dog lies on his chest and licks his hand, and he is soothed into a restful sleep.

Faith’s need to be walked and exercised forces her companion out of the house. “I have trouble meeting people, but now they come up to me to ask about my dog.”

He’s happy to tell them about Faith but sorry to tell them they can’t pet her because she’s working.

It takes one to two years and $22,000 to raise and custom-train a dog to meet the specific needs of a veteran. Faith was funded by Life Changing Service Dogs for Veterans, a collaborative effort between Veterans Cable Services in Bethel Park and Guardian Angels.

Anthony Accamando of Eighty Four, Washington County, is a Marine veteran who founded the Life Changing group. Since November 2015, the organization has raised $176,000 for eight dogs placed with Western Pennsylvania veterans. They hope to fund a total of 11 dogs by Nov. 11, which is Veterans Day.
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First All Female Veteran Honor Flight Brings Women Together

First all-women Veterans’ Honor Flight from Columbus visits D.C. war memorials
Department Veterans Affairs
Jennifer Sardam
September 21, 2016

“Most times, women were not wanted overseas unless you had a nurse’s degree, and you could take care [of] or nurture the men that were injured,” said Dorothy “Dottie” Wolfe, who served in the Marine Corps, Marine Corps Reserve and Air National Guard. “But I served, and I was proud to have served. I would have gone had they sent me, under any situation. That’s what you signed the contract for, and I knew it.”

Honor Flights from across the country bring Veterans to Washington, D.C., several times a week.

But Sept. 10, the Honor Flight Columbus organization out of Ohio sent the group’s first all-women Veterans’ Honor Flight to the nation’s capital. While there, 81 women—Veterans of World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War—visited their respective monuments.

The trip to Washington kicked off with a hosted event at the Women in Military Service for America (WIMSA) Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, and included stops at a number of sites: the Iwo Jima Memorial, the U.S. Air Force Memorial and the memorials for World War II, and the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Wilma L. Vaught—one of the most decorated women in U.S. military history—was among those who greeted the group at the WIMSA Memorial; in 1966, she was also the first woman to deploy with an Air Force bomber wing.

“It means so much to see this group of women come in and see what the memorial means to them, because it does mean something to them,” said Vaught. “It is seeing their service to our country paid tribute to by the nation. And yet with it all, there comes laughter and joy, and that’s the way it ought to be about serving our country.”

As the pioneers of their times, these women blazed a path that until then was only traveled for men. And yet despite their contributions, they weren’t so readily accepted as equals.

“My career field was supposed to be aerospace jet mechanic,” said retired Air Force Veteran Phyllis Collins, who goes by the nickname “Sunshine.”

“And the guys didn’t like me there … I was supposed to be working on a dead battery. They hooked it up, and I got zapped,” she said. “So I changed my career field real fast. I became a military cop.”
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Sunny 105.9 Paco Lopez Not Ashamed of National Anthem

Paco Lopez has been playing Whitney Houston singing the Star Spangled Banner everyday at noon.  This is in response to some athletes deciding they would rather sit or kneel instead of acknowledging while this nation is not perfect, some are risking their lives everyday because it is even worth dying for.

This is Paco at the opening of Rock and Brews in Oviedo. Paco is a Marine, you know because "once a Marine always a Marine" and he's the one remembering our veterans at the VA.  

The coolest thing is, he plays some of the calls coming in thanking him for doing it.

Today someone called in and said that he was in his garage working, stopped, put his hand over his heart when his neighbor was walking his dog, stopped to ask him what he was doing.  When he told him, the man stopped, put his hand over his heart and the dog sat down.

So if you want to turn to Sunny 105.9 at noon on Monday. I look forward to it now especially when I think of the price paid by those serving today and those carrying the weight of their service from before so guys and make millions playing a game and sit it out. Oh, by the way, according to Forbes it looks like a lot more Americans think this country is worth taking a few minutes to honor.

NFL's TV Ratings Continue Slide Amidst National Anthem Protests

Whitney Houston - Star Spangled Banner
CavBuffaloSoldier

Among the annals of national anthems as a prelude to sporting events, few have topped the one delivered by Whitney Houston before Super Bowl XXV in 1991 in Tampa. A woman, her incredible voice and the bare minimum of extraneous notes. Her rendition came at a particularly patriotic time, just after the onset of the Persian Gulf War, and was released as a single. It was re-released after the September 11th terrorist attacks. Houston donated all proceeds to charity. She ranks among the best of all-time because of the circumstances and ... that voice..

Billionaire Pledges $325 Million to Help PTSD Veterans

Billionaire Investor Steven Cohen Pledges $325 Million to Combat PTSD in Vets
FORTUNE
by Jen Wieczner
SEPTEMBER 22, 2016,

Cohen said he plans to invest $325 million during a five year period in his two new initiatives to help veterans and prevent them from committing suicide, a recent phenomenon among vets that has alarmed policymakers.

His own son was a Marine.

Steven A. Cohen, the billionaire hedge fund manager whose former firm SAC Capital pled guilty to insider trading charges, rarely does speaking gigs. Always extremely private, the investor has hardly ever spoken publicly since the 2013 settlement.

But Cohen, who has since transformed his firm into a family office called Point72 that manages $11.6 billion of mostly his own money, broke his silence Thursday. The occasion was a special and deeply personal one to him: The kickoff of his inaugural Cohen Veterans Care Summit (or just “Cohen Cares,” as it’s called for short), a two-day meeting held in Washington, D.C. at the Ronald Reagan Building, a block away from the White House.

His speech led the convention of medical and policy experts focused on pursuing new research and breakthroughs for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injuries, frequently seen among recent veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Inspired by his son Robert who served as a U.S. Marine, deploying to Afghanistan in 2010, Cohen has since stepped up his philanthropic efforts focused on the mental health of military veterans—particularly the 2.7 million who served in the “War on Terror” after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
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Lt. Col. Ira Stephen Eadie Was From Lake City

Lake City pilot killed in California spy plane crash
By News4Jax.com Staff
September 21, 2016

LAKE CITY, Fla. - The pilot who died Tuesday after ejecting from a U.S. Air Force U-2 spy plane that crashed into a mountain in Northern California was a 20-year veteran who grew up in Lake City.

According to his family, Lt. Col. Ira Stephen Eadie had been stationed in California for the past six years. Before joining the Air Force, he was in the Navy and flew P-3 patrol aircraft out of NAS Jacksonville.

A co-pilot who also ejected has survived.

Eadie (pictured below) leaves behind a wife and six children, ranging in age from 6 to 25 years old.

Eadie's father told News4Jax that the couple met in Lake City and they were excellent parents devoted to family. He asked the community for prayer.
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USS Wasp Sailor's Death Under Investigation

U.S. Navy sailor dies of non-combat injury off Libya
UPI
By Andrew V. Pestano
Sept. 22, 2016

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Defense on Thursday said Devon M. Faulkner, a U.S. Navy aviation boatswain's mate airman, died from a non-combat-related injury while supporting the U.S.-led coalition operation against the Islamic State in Libya.

Faulkner, 24, from Raleigh, N.C., was assigned to the Norfolk, Va.-based USS Wasp, which left in late June for a 6-month tour in the central Mediterranean Sea. The incident that caused Faulkner's death on Tuesday is under investigation.
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Fort Hood: Ret. General Robert Cone Passed Away at 59

Former TRADOC, Fort Hood commander Gen. Robert Cone dies
Army Times
By: Kevin Lilley and Michelle Tan
September 20, 2016

Left to right, Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, first lady Michelle Obama, President Barack Obama, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry pray at a memorial service at Fort Hood, Texas, for the victims of the Fort Hood shootings on Nov. 10, 2009.
Photo Credit: Jay Janner/Pool via AP

Retired Gen. Robert Cone, who led Army Training and Doctrine Command and was the top general for III Corps during the deadly 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, that killed 13 people, has died at age 59.

“He was a great friend, a brave warrior and a uniquely gifted Army leader. His loss leaves a big hole in our ranks and in our lives,” said retired Gen. Carter Ham, president of the Association of the U.S. Army, in a statement.
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Marine Shot in LA, Left For Dead, Passed Away

Camp Pendleton Marine dies three days after he was mysteriously shot and left for dead in South L.A.
LA Times
Veronica Rocha and Matt Hamilton
September 20, 2016

A U.S. Marine Corps training command said in a statement that his death weighed heavily on everyone’s hearts.

“The overwhelming support and prayers we witnessed in support of this young man are a testament to the mighty son, friend and warrior that he was,” the training command said.

A 19-year-old Marine from Camp Pendleton who was shot this weekend while visiting friends and family in South Los Angeles died Monday night, coroner’s officials said.

Carlos Segovia died at 8 p.m. at California Hospital Medical Center, according to the Los Angeles County medical examiner-coroner. Segovia had been hospitalized in grave condition since the weekend.

He was found at 11:35 p.m. Friday slumped over and unconscious in a Dodge Charger in the 2100 block of 31st Street, according to Capt. Peter Whittingham of the Los Angeles Police Department.

The Marine left the military base near San Diego on Friday. He had just visited his girlfriend that night and was preparing to drive to the home of Claudia Perez, a family friend, when he was struck by gunfire.
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