Fort Bliss Wasn't Looking for Two Missing Soldiers?

Two soldiers are missing. Their families say the Army refused to look for nearly two weeks
Washington Post
By Avi Selk
January 5, 2016

Pfc. Jake Obad-Mathis (center) in a family photo after his enlistment in 2015. He

and Pfc. Melvin Jones have been missing from their base for more than two weeks.

(Courtesy of Carin Obad)

As his mother describes him, Jake Obad-Mathis does not look like most soldiers.

At age 20, after more than a year in the Army, he is still thin and small. He stands a head shorter than most of his comrades at Fort Bliss, Tex. He’s shy and talks with a slight stutter.

Or so he did, before the private first class disappeared Dec. 19.

If you have seen her son, Carin Obad would like to know. She has been searching for him for more than two weeks.

So has the family of his friend, Pfc. Melvin Jones, who disappeared on the same day from the same base.

Now — after nearly two weeks of rejections, excuses and abrupt dial tones from police and military brass, Obad said — the Army is finally looking, too.
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Veteran Finds Out He's Not The Father, VA Wants Money Back?

Very poorly written report. First there is a difference between "Retirement Pay" that is from the Department of Defense. Then there is Disability Compensation that is from the VA and is rated by degree of a Service Connected Disability. There is a VA Pension with these requirements

In addition to meeting minimum service requirements, the Veteran must be:

• Age 65 or older, OR

• Totally and permanently disabled, OR

• A patient in a nursing home receiving skilled nursing care, OR

• Receiving Social Security Disability Insurance, OR

• Receiving Supplemental Security Income

There are different rates of compensation for a single veteran as well as a veteran with a spouse and/or child.  So is this about the VA paid for the child that turned out to not be his and they want the money back?

Either way, this veteran is stuck with a huge headache topped off with a reporter that did not do basic research on the subject that was important enough to write about.

Army veteran says VA taking his money to pay child support for a boy who is not his BY TRIBUNE MEDIA WIRE POSTED 2:38 PM, JANUARY 4, 2017

AURORA, Colo. -- An Army veteran in Colorado says the Department of Veterans Affairs is wrongly garnishing his retirement pay.Elmo Jones, a retired Green Beret, served our country for more than two decades. But he's going up against a behemoth bureaucracy to stop child support payments for a boy who is not his.The VA is taking a big chunk of his retirement pay each month to pay support for the now-5-year-old boy.It's something a Colorado court already ruled the ex-wife is not entitled to receive."This is America? Really?" Jones said.The 57-year-old served in the U.S. Army for 21 years, including combat in the Persian Gulf War. But he's finding the toughest mission of his life is on home soil.read more here

Fort Carson Soldiers Rescue Woman Trapped in Car

Fort Carson Soldiers credited with helping a woman pinned by a vehicle
KKTV 11 News
January 3, 2016

"I mean, at the minimum they prevented further injury they could have even saved her life," said Trooper Timothy Deen with the Colorado State Patrol.

FOUNTAIN, Colo. (KKTV) - Several Fort Carson Soldiers are being hailed as unsung heroes. Members of the Colorado State Patrol are hoping to give credit where credit is due.

A rollover crash Tuesday morning left a woman pinned by part of her red SUV. The crash happened at about 7 a.m. on I-25 near the Mesa Ridge Parkway exit.

Good Samaritans that stopped to help say there were at least three men, likely from Fort Carson, that held the vehicle up off the woman until the fire department arrived on scene.

"She was pinned and trapped, she was able to speak and let us know that she didn't believe that she was injured in anyway," said Sgt. Sean Hartley with the Fountain Police Department. "However half of her body was in the vehicle and the other half was out with the vehicle on its side and kind of leaning towards the rest of her body."

The crash was believed to be caused by icy road conditions. The conditions didn't keep the group of unidentified soldiers from attempting to help the trapped woman.
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Nova Scotia Abandoned PTSD Veteran--Family Paid Price With Gunshots

I struggled with the headline I used. There is no other way to put it. Governments, like the US, send them to fight battles yet do not seem interested enough in making sure they are properly taken care of afterwards. Now a veteran is gone. His family is gone. As you will read, he tried to get help that should have been ready and waiting for him. Much like weapons, uniforms, supplies and transportation are prepared to welcome them to the war zones. No one welcomed them to the war zone of having to fight for the care they needed because they went.

Veteran, his wife, child and mother found dead in apparent murder-suicide
CBC News
By Elizabeth McMillan, Sherri Borden Colley
Posted: Jan 04, 2017

Lionel Desmond appears to have shot himself, 3 others died of gunshot wounds, RCMP say

Lionel Desmond was part of the India Company, 2nd battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, in Afghanistan in 2007. (Facebook)

A military veteran, his newly graduated nurse wife, their 10-year-old daughter and her grandmother are dead after an apparent murder-suicide that has rocked a rural Nova Scotia community.

CBC News has confirmed the deceased are Lionel Desmond, 33, his wife, Shanna Desmond, 31, their 10-year-old daughter, Aaliyah, and Brenda Desmond, 52, who was Lionel's mother.

Nova Scotia RCMP said Lionel Desmond appeared to have shot himself, and the three others died of apparent gunshot wounds. Police said they found two guns in the house and are continuing to search the area.

Police were called to the house in northeastern Nova Scotia, about 29 kilometres north of Guysborough, shortly after 6 p.m. AT. Insp. Lynn Young, officer in charge of the Nova Scotia RCMP major crimes unit, told reporters two people found the bodies and called 911.

"This is incredibly tragic for everyone involved," she said.

Shanna Desmond's aunt, Catherine Hartling, said she went to the home in Upper Big Tracadie on Tuesday night because she thought Lionel Desmond had taken his own life. She arrived to learn everyone inside was dead.

'No beds available'

Rev. Elaine Walcott, who lives just outside of Halifax and is related to the victims, said Lionel Desmond had recently spent time in a Montreal clinic for post-traumatic stress disorder.

"He's been crying out for help from the mental health system," she said.

Shanna Desmond recently graduated as a registered nurse and was working at St. Martha's Regional Hospital in Antigonish, N.S. — the same hospital where her husband had tried to get treatment within the last week, Walcott said.

"I understand that there were no beds available," Walcott said.

"He suffered in physical ways, he suffered in emotional ways, and spiritual ways," she said of his tours in Afghanistan.
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Hell No! Congress Seeks To Privatize or Pulverize the VA?

Congress has been writing the rules, bills and funding (or underfunding) the VA since 1946. Here is what they were supposed to be responsible for.

Legislation Within the Jurisdiction of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs

1. Veterans' measures generally.

1. Pensions of all the wars of the U.S., general and special.

1. Life insurance issued by the government on account of service in the Armed Forces.

1. Compensation, vocational rehabilitation, and education of veterans.

1. Veterans' hospitals, medical care, and treatment of veterans.

1. Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief.

1. Readjustment of servicemen to civilian life.

1. National Cemeteries.

Complete Jurisdiction of the Committee

The Department of Veterans Affairs

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was established March 15, 1989, with Cabinet rank, succeeding the Veterans Administration and assuming responsibility for providing federal benefits to veterans and their dependents. Led by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, VA is the second largest of the 14 Cabinet departments and operates nationwide programs of health care assistance services and national cemeteries.
Care for veterans and dependents spans centuries. The last dependent of a Revolutionary War veteran died in 1911, the War of 1812's last dependent died 44 years ago, the Spanish American War's, in 1962. There are widows and children of Civil War and Indian War veterans who still draw VA benefits. Some 2,190 children and widows of Spanish-American War veterans are receiving VA compensation or pension benefits.  The last American Doughboy, Corporal Frank Buckles, passed away on February 27, 2011. His passing signified the passing of the last of the World War I veterans.

So if the VA has been getting stuff wrong, ask Congress why they didn't fix it to make sure it worked for our veterans? 

VA Backlog, their fault
VA Appointment Delays, their fault
VA Drug Problems, their fault

VA is not the enemy but it may be the way Congress planned on it becoming so they could pulverize it and then be done with having to answer to us.

Oh, by the way, we still don't know why veteran suicides have gone up after they started to write bills to prevent them. Anyone ask them how that is working out too?

Marine dog handler wounded in Iraq

Marine dog handler wounded in Iraq
Marine Corps Times
By: Jeff Schogol and Andrew deGrandpre
January 2, 2017

A Marine was severely wounded in Iraq on Dec. 30, according to an online fundraising campaign for his family.

Staff Sgt. Patrick Maloney was on his fifth combat tour when he was “critically wounded,” according to a GoFundMe account that was established on Dec. 31.

The “Help wounded Marine and his family” account raised $11,201 out of a $15,000 goal by Monday afternoon. It did not contain any information about how Maloney was wounded.

“Please consider donating to help Patrick and his entire family during this very tragic time and the long road they have ahead of them,” the account said. “Donations will be used to offset any expenses accrued during Patrick's long road to recovery.”
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VA Advisory Committee on Women Veterans

New Members Appointed to VA Advisory Committee on Women Veterans
01/03/2017

WASHINGTON – Four new members have been appointed to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Advisory Committee on Women Veterans, an expert panel that advises VA’s Secretary on issues and programs impacting women Veterans. Established in 1983, the committee makes recommendations to the Secretary for policy and legislative changes.

“VA values the transformational guidance the Committee has provided over the past 33 years, and relies on to the members to utilize their diverse perspectives in anticipating the emerging needs of women Veterans,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert A. McDonald. “The new appointees will provide unique insight, as VA strives to gauge the evolving needs of women Veterans.”
New Members VA Advisory Committee on Women Veterans

Lisa Kirk Brown, Bellingham, WA. A retired Maryland Air National Guard Lieutenant Colonel; currently serves as a member of the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs’ Women Veterans Advisory Committee, a member of the Whatcom County Veterans Advisory Board, and a Disabled American Veterans service officer.

Kate Germano, Upper Marlboro, MD. A retired U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel; currently serves as chief operating officer for Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN), a non-profit organization solely focused on supporting the needs of service women and women Veterans.

Karen O’Brien, University Place, WA. A retired U.S. Air Force Colonel, with deployments in support of Operation Enduring Freedom; currently serves as a compensation and pension physician for the Veterans Benefits Administration in American Lake, WA.

Betty Yarbrough, Springfield, VA. A retired U. S. Army Colonel, with deployments in support of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom; immediate past military director of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services, where she served as the primary advisor to the Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness on all matters pertaining to women in the armed forces.

Committee members Octavia Harris (Retired Command Master Chief Petty Officer) San Antonio, and Shannon McLaughlin, Esq. (Major, Massachusetts National Guard) Sharon, Mass. have been reappointed for an additional term.
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Fort Campbell Wife Celebrated Birth of Quads...Battling Cancer

AWESOME UPDATE
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – A GoFundMe campaign for a Fort Campbell soldier and wife with newborn quadruplets has now topped $1 million dollars.



Fort Campbell woman gives birth to quadruplets while battling cancer
WKRN News
Josh Breslow
Published: January 2, 2017

“We know that He’s gotta have a different plan up there for us, and surely everything’s gonna work out in the end,” said Kayla Gaytan.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – A Fort Campbell soldier and his wife have four tiny reasons to celebrate 2017.

Kayla and Sgt. Charles Gaytan are the proud parents of quadruplets born Friday afternoon at Vanderbilt University Medical Center without fertility treatment of any kind.

“It was exciting. It was nerve-wracking. But to see them when they all came out and to hear them crying, that was really exciting,” Kayla told News 2.

Diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma last January, Kayla had just finished five months of chemotherapy and was in remission when she learned she was pregnant.

Already a mother-of-two, the 29-year-old was excited to tell her husband Charles, a Fort Campbell soldier.

“She called me on the phone, and we’re in a Humvee and I kinda couldn’t really hear her,” recalled Charles. “It was truly some of the best news I’ve ever gotten in my life.”
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Wave American Flag for Suicide Awareness or White Flag to Surrender More Lives?

While I do not question their motives or their intentions, they might as well replace the American flag they wave with a white one to surrender more lives to suicide. Raising awareness has failed. When well meaning folks like these quote the number of "22 a day" it means they are unaware of the truth behind the numbers. 

A decade of talking about the problem has actually produced worse results than when no one was doing public displays. The VA report had the number of "20 a day" in their report back in 1999 when we had over 5 million more veterans in the country. If that does not prove these stunts do not work, then please drop to ground and do some push-ups to make yourself feel better about the results we allowed to happen.

Waving flags to raise awareness
KSWO News
By Chelsea Floyd
Sunday, January 1st 2017

LAWTON, OK (KSWO)- If you were passing through Duncan on January 1st you may have seen people waving American flags on the side of highway 81.

Proposition USA, a focus group targeted to helping veterans, asked people to wave the flag to bring awareness to issues that face the men and women who have served our country.

Veteran Cori Gilbert says she's been raising awareness for veterans for years and was glad to take part in waving the flag for the group.

"This flag is the single most important symbol for our government, for our troops,” said Gilbert. They wave this flag when they go into battle and come out of battle. This is what they stand for and this is what I stand for."

Since the organization's start in 2007 volunteers like Gilbert and Vietnam veteran, David Cook will continue their support for many reasons.

"Twenty-two veterans a day commit suicide, 200,000 veterans are homeless at any given moment, three hundred and seven thousand veterans have died from the lack of care,” said Cook. “We are trying to bring awareness to it."

Cooks son spent a year in Afghanistan and now suffers from PTSD.
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Vietnam Veteran Went From Hamburger Hill to Facing Homelessness

Veterans in need? They’ve got friends, indeed
East Bay Times
By SAM RICHARDS
PUBLISHED: January 1, 2017

Metsiou served in the Army’s 101st Airborne “for 366 days in 1968 and ’69,” he said. “I’m one of the lucky ones who made it back from Hamburger Hill,” referring to a battle against the North Vietnamese in May 1969 in which 400 Americans died and which drew criticism from some lawmakers for its questionable strategic value. His landlord consented to give him until New Year’s to find a new place to live.

Disabled American Veterans Chapter 154 vice commander Sean Poynter, of Pittsburg, unloads a child’s bicycle at the new home of Vietnam veteran Richard Metsiou, 68, in Antioch on Friday, Dec. 30. Richard Metsiou and his wife, Zitta, were facing eviction from their home in Pittsburg, but with the help of Shelter, Inc. and the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 154, the couple were able to move into a new home in Antioch. They are also raising three adopted grandchildren. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

ANTIOCH — Finding a place to live can be an expensive challenge in the Bay Area, and for Richard Metsiou, a Vietnam veteran battling cancer and a bad credit score, an almost impossible one.

So when his longtime landlord died and her family chose to sell the Pittsburg house where he and his family have been living, he had to act fast. Metsiou needed a little help from his friends, and he got it.

Some of them were friends he’d never met before.

“A friend of mine came to me and said Richard was in a bind,” said Sean Poynter, of Pittsburg, who knows Metsiou from the Mount Diablo Disabled American Veterans post in Pittsburg, where he is senior vice commander. “I put it out in an email, that a fellow (veteran) needed some help, and all these guys showed up.”

On Friday, eight members of veterans groups from East Contra Costa County, and from Shelter, Inc. of Contra Costa, a nonprofit whose main mission is fighting homelessness, were unloading trailers in front of a house on West 10th Street in Antioch, where Metsiou, his wife, Zitta, and their three adopted grandchildren will soon live.

But before that, Poynter called Shelter, Inc. for help, and it came though big time, he said. The agency helped find an affordable house with an owner who could deal with Metsiou’s credit issues.

“They’ve been absolutely great,” said 68-year-old Metsiou, who is physically weak and also battling post-traumatic stress disorder.
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