Bar Angels Buy Home For Homeless Navy Veteran

Bar owners buy house for homeless Alabama veteran
AL.com
William Thornton
on December 23, 2016

By the time Mark Holman showed up at Blu's Karaoke Bar in Anniston this September, 2016 had already been rough.

Daniel and Cynthia Mosley own Blu's Karaoke Bar in Saks

But the year is ending on a higher note, as the once homeless Naval veteran is living in his own home, thanks to donations and some timely intervention.

"It shows you there's still some good people in America," Holman said. "It ain't all about stuff. There's people who want to know how they can help you out."

In January, the 55-year-old Naval veteran had a stroke. Then he could no longer afford the monthly payments on his Jacksonville home. He spent time at the Anniston Salvation Army shelter until his money ran out. Then he made him home in a wooded area in Saks.

The day of the Alabama-Ole Miss game, Holman came into the bar and ordered water, still carrying his backpack.
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Iraq Homeless Veteran, Father of Six Got Help Going Home

Army veteran, a homeless father of 6 gets help to come home for holidays
WPRI 12 News
By Walt Buteau
Published: December 23, 2016

Specialist Hicks spent 18 months in Iraq with the 133rd Field Artillery Regiment. But risking his life while serving his country brought no guarantees when he came home.

PROVIDENCE, RI (WPRI) Not even the Army could prepare Specialist Stephen Hicks for the curveball life threw at him.

He stepped off a bus in Kennedy Plaza, and immediately began counting heads and collecting luggage.

“They all seem pretty happy today,” Hicks said, looking around at his children. “This is Lexxi. She’s my oldest.”

The oldest of six, ages 2 through Lexxi’s 8, with 5-year old twins somewhere in the middle. Lexxi did her best to help her dad control the other five during the long bus ride from Pennsylvania.

“I was trying,” Lexxi said. “It wasn’t easy but we’re here.”

Both dad and daughter mustered a smile.
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Lt. Col. Stephen "Slade" Mount Stands As Example of Healing PTSD

Spirit of service guides Marines dealing with physical, mental wounds
The San Diego Union Tribune
Carl Prine
December 23, 2016

All devout Christians, these three Marines see Christmas as more than the day to honor the birth of Christ, the man they believe to be the son of God. It also reminds them that their savior’s life and suffering should guide their lives year-round.

Lt. Col. Stephen "Slade" Mount, holding the flight helmet he wore when he was wounded in 2004, is now commander of Wounded Warrior Battalion West at Camp Pendleton. (Nelvin C. Cepeda * Union-Tribune)

Blinded, slumped next to his crumpled chopper at the foot of Iraq’s Najaf cemetery, Stephen “Slade” Mount cupped his gunshot face to keep it from oozing into the street.

He knew he’d never pilot a Huey again. But he never could’ve predicted on that brutal day in 2004 that he’d recover sight in one eye, carve out a long career in the Marine Corps and come to think — in a strange but comforting way — of his terrible wound as a kind of gift.

“I actually became a better Marine officer,” the Southern California native said.

For senior military leaders, he has another message: “Be ready for what you ask for, but be that leader who can show other Marines that it’s OK to ask for help.”
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Offering Hope, PTSD Suicide Survivor Opens Up on Healing

Suicide survivor has message for those facing depression
CBS 7 News
By Stephanie Bennett
Dec 23, 2016

Although Bray admits she still struggles with depression, it’s her faith, counseling, and spending time with her family and dog, Snappy, that keeps her going.

ANDREWS -- The military and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are often associated, but after an Army career that ended many years ago, an Andrews woman was just recently diagnosed with PTSD, but not for the reason you may think.

Lora Bray remembers her days in the Army as some of the most fun times of her life.

But then, a culmination of losses and tragedies took over her life, and she became very depressed.

Back in August she even attempted suicide but survived.

Now, she has a message for anyone going through depression.

But first, let’s rewind the clock to the day she tried taking her life:

“I didn't want anybody to know where I was at, so I went to a little farm road, took some pills, I just wanted to die,” Bray said.

While several Andrews residents assisted in looking for her, it was ranchers who eventually found Bray unconscious in her car.

She was then hospitalized and later diagnosed with PTSD.
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Staff Sgt. Shilo Harris, Combat Wounded Soldier Feeling Blessed

Austin film crew bringing veteran's life to the big screen
FOX 7 News
Elizabeth Saab
December 23, 2016

“There are blessings out there. There are better ways to live. There are other ways to live and if they're not living their lives, they need to start living their lives.” 

Staff Sergeant Shilo Harris

A film crew in Austin is chronicling the life of a U.S. Army Veteran who was seriously wounded in Iraq a decade ago.

Staff Sergeant Shilo Harris enlisted after 9/11. “I had two tours in Iraq,” he says. It was during his second tour “On February 19, 2007 we got a call to investigate a possible I.E.D.” Harris was traveling in a Humvee when it hit an I.E.D. “It literally erupted,” he says remembering that day, “700 pounds of explosives went off underneath the vehicle just blew the Humvee apart, shredded the vehicle and killed 3 of my soldiers.
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