Hacksaw Ridge Hero Desmond Doss Saved 75 Soldiers--Without A Gun

The Real 'Hacksaw Ridge' Soldier Saved 75 Souls Without Ever Carrying A Gun
WVPE
By ELIZABETH BLAIR
NOV 4, 2016

Doss saved 75 men — including his captain, Jack Glover — over a 12-hour period. The same soldiers who had shamed him now praised him. "He was one of the bravest persons alive," Glover says in the documentary. "And then to have him end up saving my life was the irony of the whole thing."

Desmond Doss is credited with saving 75 soldiers during one of the bloodiest battles of World War II in the Pacific — and he did it without ever carrying a weapon. The battle at Hacksaw Ridge, on the island of Okinawa, was a close combat fight with heavy weaponry. Thousands of American and Japanese soldiers were killed, and the fact that Doss survived the battle and saved so many lives has confounded and awed those who know his story. Now, he's the subject of a new film directed by Mel Gibson called Hacksaw Ridge.

A quiet, skinny kid from Lynchburg, Va., Doss was a Seventh-day Adventist who wouldn't touch a weapon or work on the Sabbath. He enlisted in the Army as a combat medic because he believed in the cause, but had vowed not to kill. The Army wanted nothing to do with him. "He just didn't fit into the Army's model of what a good soldier would be," says Terry Benedict, who made a documentary about Doss called The Conscientious Objector.

The Army made Doss' life hell during training. "It started out as harassment and then it became abusive," Benedict says. He interviewed several World War II veterans who were in Doss' battalion. They considered him a pest, questioned his sincerity and threw shoes at him while he prayed. "They just saw him as a slacker," the filmmaker says, "someone who shouldn't have been allowed in the Army, and somebody who was their weakest link in the chain."
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Lt.Col Lives to Help Others Heal From Surviving War with PTSD

An Army officer from Frederick who fought and conquered his own depression
Frederick News-Post
By Nancy Lavin
November 5, 2016

“You think you’re not going to not promoted if you’re active military and you come forward with PTS. But I did, and I have been [promoted.]” Lt. Col. Robert Reed

Drinking saved Robert ‘Rob’ Reed’s life.

Reed, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army who served several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, was serious as he explained how his inebriation botched his suicide attempt. He was so drunk that fateful night in 2008, he didn’t realize he’d looped the rope with which he intended to hang himself around a rotten tree limb, he said.

He jumped. The rope snapped. He was still alive, on the ground of his then-home in Virginia.

Reed, 41, who lives in Frederick, had no qualms in a Tuesday interview talking about his attempted suicide, or the depression, anger and alcohol abuse that led him there.

“It was hell,” he said, recalling the frequent combat, death of both Afghan and American members in the small, embedded training team he led.

Returning home in 2008, he began drinking heavily. He slept in a trench he dug in his front yard, just like he had while in Afghanistan. When his then-wife left for a business trip, he tried to hang himself.

Tattoos cover both his forearms, reminders of those lowest of lows and the messages of hope that helped him along his journey to recovery. He lifted the sleeve of his Platoon 22 shirt to reveal more inked designs.

A flag with a Biblical line his training team read before embarking on missions covers his right shoulder, his deployment dates below it. On his left shoulder sits an eagle, accompanied by the dog tags of his dad, a Korean War veteran. A heaven and hell battle scene plays out below it, and a lit candle beside a Bible.
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Eleven Years After Being Wounded, Sgt. Shurvon Phillip Laid to Rest

Friends, family, fellow veterans celebrate life of Marine critically injured in Iraq in 2005, laid to rest Nov. 5
The News-Herald
By Jonathan Tressler
November 5, 2016

“I’m not going to be sad. I’m going to celebrate. This is not a day to be sad. We’re here to celebrate, because he’s blessed us with his life. His mother blessed us with Shurvon and now we have another angel looking over us.” USMC Staff Sgt. Derick Young

A USMC honor guard carries the casket of Sgt. Shurvon Phillip to the awaiting hearse Nov. 5 during a celebration of his life Nov. 5 at DeJohn-Flynn-Mylott Funeral Home in Willoughby Hills. Jonathan Tressler — The News-Herald

Hundreds gathered Nov. 5 at DeJohn-Flynn-Mylott Funeral Home in Willoughby Hills to honor a Marine sergeant injured in Iraq in 2005.

Despite doctors’ opinions and against all odds, U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Shurvon Phillip not only survived, but thrived, during the more than 11 years which followed.

Phillip, a native of Mayaro, Trinidad and Tobago and a 1998 graduate of East Cleveland’s Shaw High School, was critically injured when the Humvee in which he was riding struck a land mine on may 7, 2005 in Dulab, Iraq, according to USMC Staff Sgt. Derick Young, who was in the vehicle and also injured in the incident.

According to his obituary, Phillip suffered injuries which left him with a severe brain injury, causing him speech and motor-function impairment and necessitated his use of a wheelchair for many of the past 11 years.
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Mississippi Soldier Died During Training in Hawaii

Hawaii soldier killed in training exercise
Associated Press
By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER
Nov. 4, 2016

HONOLULU (AP) — The soldier who died during a training exercise in Hawaii was a 26-year-old combat engineer from Mississippi, the U.S. Army said Friday.

Sgt. Renardo Deshun Dukes, of Pachuta, Mississippi, was killed Thursday in a training incident on the island of Oahu. 

The Army didn't release additional details about his death, saying Army authorities are investigating.
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Special Forces Soldier From New Hampshire Died in Florida

Army Investigating Death Of NH Soldier During Dive Training
CBS Boston
November 5, 2016

“U.S. Army Special Forces Staff Sergeant David J. Whitcher was a decorated soldier whose service and sacrifice made our country safer and our freedom stronger,” Gov. Maggie Hassan

David Whitcher. (Image Credit: U.S. Army Special Operations Command)

MANCHESTER, N.H. (CBS/AP) — The commander of the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School says the death of a soldier from New Hampshire is “sobering reminder” of the dangerous training undertaken by the Special Forces.

The Army says 30-year-old Staff Sgt. David Whitcher of Bradford died Wednesday while dive training off of Key West, Florida. The death is under investigation.

Maj. Gen. James B. Linder said thoughts and prayers go to Whitcher’s family, including his wife and son.
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Special Report: Combating veteran suicide

Special Report: Combating veteran suicide
WIAT CBS 42 News
Casey Walsh
Published: November 5, 2016

According to the United States Department of Veterans Affair report in 2014, an average of 20 veterans died from suicide each day, of those, 6 of the 20 utilized VA services.

Men, women and teenagers around our nation have put their lives at risk joining the United States Military for the purpose of protecting our country, in case one day the United States goes to war. Throughout the years, many soldiers have traveled overseas for war, seeing and experiencing the unimaginable, which has lead to suicide for many military members.

Jamie Baraibar of West Des Moines said it was a shock to everyone when her husband Scott Baraibar died from suicide in March.

“When he passed away, it was a big shock to everyone, all of his friends,” said Baraibar. “Like I said, he was working full time with the [National] Guard, interacting with his supervisors every day.”

Baraibar said she met Scott when he came back from Afghanistan in the summer of 2011 at the manufacturing facility they both worked at. She described her husband Scott as a happy person who served his country, but looking back she noticed difficult situations for him that he didn’t talk much about, such as his lack of sleep. “It was common for him to get maybe two or three hours of sleep a night, it’s like his mind would keep racing.”

Baraibar said she wished she pushed him to talk to someone about the problems. She said it was common for Scott if he was sick or not feeling well to avoid going to the doctors, risking getting discharged from the military.

“He [Scott] didn’t go to the VA or he didn’t see anybody for anything,” said Baraibar. “Looking back, I wish I would have gone with him. I would rather him be mad at me for going to the doctors than be gone.”
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Is This The Best We Can Do For Veterans?

Is This Really The Best We Can Do?
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 5, 2016

I absolutely refuse to believe this great country of ours is not already great, as much as I refuse to believe this is the best we can do.

There are two people running to become President of this country. Half the country will be happy and the other half won't be. The losers, however, will continue to be the men and women in the military as well as our veterans.

Neither candidate for Commander-in-Chief has spent time talking about Afghanistan, which oddly enough, has happened before. You'd think it would matter considering sending troops there was in response to this nation being invaded by terrorists...but why talk about any of that?

Most of us have been scratching our heads wondering how these two candidates became the best this nation can do. Wow! Then again, most of us have been wondering if this is the best this nation can do on a lot of things.

Everyone is talking about veterans, especially with Veterans Day coming next weekend. They'll either be talking about them with ceremonies, parades or other veterans events, while others will be complaining about traffic because there is a parade for them. I suppose it has more to do with what is important to them and if they are more important than anyone else, then, enough said on that. 

Some say that veterans should be able to go to private doctors, but the truth is, a lot of them already are. As a matter of fact, most of them are. The Times Tribune reported on Halloween that only about 20 percent of our veterans get all of their care from the VA, but the most shocking number is with over 21 million veterans in the country, the VA has not been able to properly take care of the veterans they have. 

This is more of a problem created by Congress than the VA, simply because Congress, has had jurisdiction over how they are taking care of veterans since 1946. They like to forget that part, especially when they want their jobs back to push for privatizing the VA and sending veterans into the mess the rest of us face.

There seems to be a lot of talking based on what is claimed, instead of what is true. Are we so lazy we are willing to settle for something because someone said "believe me" or "trust me" when they offer nothing to back up what they say? We're used to politicians doing that, but reporters managed somehow to fact check them. So why aren't reporters fact checking what has been going on for over a decade when the topic is about veterans killing themselves?

Some pretend they have the solution, but evidence has shown they do not even know the basics. The evidence keeps smacking them right in the head, but they're to busy filling their heads with nonsense, false claims are flowing out of their mouths like a bad case of Tourettes. They may have good reasons to want to help, but they lack the knowledge to actually do it. 

PTSD and suicides tied to military service are not new, but after over a decade of everything being done to help these men and women, it has actually gotten worse. Yep, worse, not better, no matter how much money Congress has been spending or how much in donations folks have been taking in to "raise awareness" about the "problem."

Worse? Yes. In 1999, the Department of Veterans Affairs discovered there were 20 veterans a day committing suicide. They came out with that same number in their latest research report.

There are less veterans now than in 1999, so yes, it is worse. The majority of the veterans committing suicide are over the age of 50, yet, according to social media, Iraq and Afghanistan are the only ones worthy of attention.

So, when do we stop settling for folks running around the country, expecting our money, without offering anything in return? When do we actually demand proof of what they claim?

How is raising "awareness" doing anyone any good? Good question, but add to that, how did they expect a different outcome, when they didn't even take the time to figure out that efforts raising awareness worked in the 70's, 80's and 90's, when no one was jumping onto Facebook? Back then veterans were suffering in silence because no one was talking about them until they started to talk about it. The worst thing is, no one is facing the harsh reality of what war does to those sent, other than those who went in our place.

Other nations lack in taking care of their veterans but those other nations are looking to us for leadership on how to do it. It has been that way since the 70's, when all the great research began on PTSD. So far, we've shown that what works is easily replaced by what is picked up on social media as the best research is allowed to gather dust on the library shelf. (A library is a place where actual books are held and lent out so that people can share knowledge)

We are better than this! Our veterans deserve the best we can give them including the truth. Change that to "nothing but the truth" and that has to include the facts instead of empty words said during an campaign speech. It must include more than a propaganda push to support what has already proven to have failed like "raising awareness" when no one seems to telling them they can heal or remind them of why they are worth helping. 

In a few days, thankfully, this two year ordeal will end with someone being elected and the other rejected. When do we reject the notion that this is the best we can do for veterans, the number one issue everyone in this country should never put over politics?

Woman Gets Jail After Using American Legion Auxiliary Funds For Herself

Clermont women sentenced to prison for theft of veterans organization
Orlando Sentinel
Jason Ruiter
November 4, 2016

When auxiliary officers asked for financial statements of the nonprofit during Briere's tenure, she "always had an excuse" not to provide the information, Rousseau said. Some of the money she embezzled was spent on a $6,000 ring, she said.

A 64-year-old Clermont woman who embezzled more than a half-million dollars from a veteran-services organization spent the money on jewelry, furniture and concert tickets, an officer from her organization said Friday.

Robin C. Briere stole more than $657,000 from the American Legion Auxiliary Department of Florida by writing checks to herself or paying her personal expenses with the organization's checks, according to court documents. She was sentenced to 33 months in prison Friday.

"It wasn't visible to us. We trusted her completely in the position that she had," said Diane Rousseau of Fruitland Park, auxiliary parliamentarian.

But when Brier left her position of seven years as secretary treasurer in 2014, the new treasurer found inconsistencies in her reports, she said.
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US Troops in Afghanistan Help Sisters of Charity

US troops, civilians volunteer to help Afghan needy
STARS AND STRIPES
By PHILLIP WALTER WELLMAN Published: November 5, 2016

About a dozen volunteers help with the sorting and packing of the nuns’ car. The volunteers tend to rotate from week to week, but Army Capt. Rachel Campion, 27, with the 82nd Airborne Division, participates regularly.

National Guard Capt. Carl Crawford holds a device used to make fuel bricks out of paper waste, Oct. 21, 2016. On the table are circular bricks formed with ordinary food containers. Every Friday, civilian and military volunteers at Resolute Support headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, donate their time to make the bricks for an orphanage in the Afghan capital.
Andrew Yurkovsky/Stars and Stripes

KABUL, Afghanistan — Twice a month, Jerry Farkas, a retired Air Force flight chief from Utah, greets two Catholic nuns who come to the NATO headquarters here to collect donations for orphans at their Sisters of Charity home and needy families the nuns help support.

The nuns’ visits coincide with a weekly meeting of volunteers, primarily American troops, who organize the donation drive — one of several initiatives the volunteers are engaged in to help underprivileged families and orphans in the Afghan capital.

“Many people want to try to help,” said Farkas, 54, who works for Combined Security Transition Command — Afghanistan’s contracting enabler cell. “They’re here in Afghanistan and they’re trying to figure out: what can I do?”

Appeals for donations have resulted in a steady stream of clothes, school supplies and other items arriving at the NATO base from companies and citizens in the United States. People living on the Resolute Support base also make some donations.

Volunteers sort through the donated items in a shipping container used as a storage unit, preparing them for collection.
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Veteran of WWII and Korean War Proves PTSD is Not New

A veteran's life of triumph and tragedy
WUSE 9 News
Bruce Leshan
November 4, 2016

Next Thursday, the French Embassy will give Col. Gabriel one of its highest honors: a French knighthood, the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.

ALEXANDRIA, VA (WUSA9) - On Veterans Day next week, Colonel Arnald Gabriel will be just where he's been for decades: conducting a symphony and remembering lost comrades.

In his 91 years, the Army and Air Force vet has seen several lifetimes worth of triumph and tragedy.

He is one of the few vets left to remember what it was like to land on the beaches of Normandy in that first wave on D-Day.

He didn’t think he would survive.

“Gosh no,” he said. “Scared to death.”

Gabriel was a 19-year-old machine gunner. He said there are no words or movie that can give any of us a sense of chaos.

“If you watch Private Ryan and multiply it by 100, maybe that will come close to what the carnage was really like,” he said.

He marched across Europe to Germany with his two buddies, Harry Ashoff and Johnny Arrowsmith. On Jan. 9, 1945, a German shell hit the trench where they were sheltering.

“Those two buddies will remain with me forever,” he said, his voice breaking.

In a book just out, The Force of Destiny, Gabriel's son describes how he returned home and buried himself in work to deal with the mental anguish now called post-traumatic stress disorder.

When the Korean War broke out, Gabriel volunteered again. This time as a conductor for the Air Force Band. And for 34 years, Gabriel was a military band director. He played with some of the biggest stars of the day.

“Shirley Temple, Edward G Robinson, Peter Graves,” Gabriel said.
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