Filmmaker Accused of Stealing Money for PTSD Documentary

Filmmaker Accused of Stealing Money for PTSD Documentary
The Connecticut Law Tribune
ROBERT STORACE
January 30, 2017

The three plaintiffs eventually raised more than $1.7 million for the film, according to the complaint. While the money raised was supposed to go exclusively toward the making of the film, the suit alleges Bernadette King, Michael King's wife, was given $60,000 for "unknown office operations" and another $70,000 went to pay writer Richard Friedenberg to draft a script for an unrelated for-profit feature film.

A West Hartford woman has sued a California-based production company claiming they stole hundreds of thousands of dollars intended for a documentary on war and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Poster for the film “When War Comes Home.”

Credit: Michael King Productions

Debra Hyde claims Michael King Productions spent a good portion of the money donated for filming on such things as luxury hotel stays unrelated to filming, plane tickets for family members and restaurants. Hyde also claims she, Laurence Smith and Jennifer Harris, also plaintiffs in the case, were not allowed to screen the final version of "When War Comes Home," and that the film was never publicized despite an agreement to do so.
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This is what happens when people want to make money off someone else's pain.

I am sure you see the dates on these. 2006 and 2007. Those are my videos that used to be up on Youtube when I started to make them to help veterans and their families understand what we had lived through since 1982. They had to have a format edit and that is why you see 2006, 2007 and 2010. I gave them away for free just like everything else I do. 

There was a book published in 2008 with the same title.

I am done for the day. I need a good stiff drink!

Florida First Responders May Get Justice For PTSD

PTSD legislation could give first responders lost wages
Senate Bill 516 mandates 'clear and concise' medical evidence
Click Orlando
By Mike Holfeld - Investigative Reporter
January 30, 2017

“We do see a lot of bad stuff and it affects different people differently," he said. "(PTSD) is disabling ... . I represent first responders in a lot of cases and it’s just a shame that those who are suffering from PTSD can’t go back to the job – can’t get wage loss benefits.”

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The fight to provide lost wages to first responders diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder received a potential lifeline Friday, in the form of Senate Bill 516.

The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Keith Perry of Gainesville, allows for lost wages “whether or not the mental or nervous injury is accompanied by physical injury requiring medical treatment.”

Mike Clelland, a retired battalion chief with the Longwood Fire Department, now with the Morgan and Morgan Law firm, said he “likes the proposal with reservation.”
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A Veteran Needs Your Help With Combat PTSD

A Veteran Needs Your Help 
Combat PTSD Wounded Times 
Kathie Costos 
January 30, 2017

A veteran needs your help. He did everything possible to stay alive in combat. After all, the lives of everyone in his unit depended on him. It didn't matter if he was sick, tired, hungry, or if he spent the night battling memories he didn't want to keep. He was always watching over everyone else.

When he got back home, everything came with him. It wasn't a matter of staying alive, because someone else needed him. It was a matter of not knowing how to get up when he no longer knew who he was. Nightmares, flashbacks, mood swings, pushing people away when he needs to have someone care. 

Hope? No hope of healing. Hell, he didn't think he deserved to and even if someone told him he could, he wouldn't believe them. Not that he would have told anyone he needed help at all. He feels totally alone like no one will ever understand him and even if they did, they would think he was just weak or there was something mentally wrong with him.

All he needs is someone to show up the same way others were watching his back with each deployment. Someone to just show they care about him. That's all he needs to know. He is worthy of someone sitting with him, listening to him, buying him a beer or even a cup of coffee. Picking up the phone and showing some compassion, listening without any judgment or competition.  

Do you think you can do that? Ok, then. That veteran is you. 

It is a safe bet you'd do anything for one of your brothers or sisters, without thinking anything less of them than you did in combat. So what's stopping you from doing what you need to help now? If in your mind your buddies deserved your help, then why don't you deserve their help?

Cross posted on Residualwar.com

Special Operations 1 KIA and 3 Wounded in Yemen

U.S. service member killed in Yemen raid marks first combat death of Trump administration
The Washington Post
By Missy Ryan, Sudarsan Raghavan and Thomas Gibbons-Neff
January 29

A U.S. Special Operations service member died of injuries suffered during a weekend raid against al-Qaeda militants in Yemen, the military said Sunday.

Three other American troops, members of a Navy SEAL unit, were wounded in the operation on Saturday against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The militant organization has remained a potent threat amid an extended civil war in Yemen.
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O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife,

If you read the Declaration of Independence, it came at a very high price for the freedoms we still have and have expanded upon after this document was delivered to the King of England. In the end there is this portion.

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

We have men and women in foreign nations risking their lives side by side with Muslims, yet they have not only been banned from entering our country, they have been told by our President, the troops are in those countries for the oil.

The president’s order, enacted with the stroke of a pen at 4:42 p.m. Friday, suspended entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days, barred Syrian refugees indefinitely, and blocked entry into the United States for 90 days for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

 


And in The Bill of Rights there is this portion.

Article the third... Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

I wonder what they would think had they lived to see this day. 

America, The Beautiful Lyrics

by Katharine Lee Bates – 1913

O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America! God shed His grace on thee,

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,

Whose stern impassion’d stress

A thoroughfare for freedom beat

Across the wilderness!

America! America! God mend thine ev’ry flaw,

Confirm thy soul in self-control,

Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife,

Who more than self their country loved,

And mercy more than life!

America! America! May God thy gold refine

Till all success be nobleness,

And ev’ry gain divine!

O Beautiful for patriot dream

That sees beyond the years

Thine alabaster cities gleam,

Undimmed by human tears!

America! America! God shed His grace on thee,

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

Katharine Lee Bates Biography Poet, Scholar (1859–1929)

That same year, Bates spent part of the summer in Colorado. She was there lecturing at Colorado College. During her visit, she went on a hike to Pikes Peak. The view from this mountaintop inspired her most famous poem. "It was then and there, as I was looking out over the sea-like expanse of fertile country spreading away so far under those ample skies, that the opening lines of the hymn floated into my mind," she later said, according to the Library of Congress web page on "America the Beautiful."

I wonder what she would write if she had lived to this day.

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL by Ray Charles

Walker County Wounded Warrior Banquet Draws 1,200

A sight to behold: More than 1,200 people show support for veterans during Wounded Warrior Banquet
The Huntsville Item
By JP McBride
Jan 27, 2017

In suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, many veterans feel like they are alone in their pain and are helpless in finding the healing they need.

The residents of Walker County and others from around the state of Texas showed that there are many Americans who want to help veterans struggling with PTSD find a solution and get them on the road to recovery during the eighth annual Walker County Wounded Warrior Banquet on Thursday night.

A sellout crowd of more than 1,200 generous folks made their way to the main building of the Walker County Fairgrounds for the banquet to honor the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country by donating to organizations like the Lone Survivor Foundation and Mighty Oaks Warrior Programs, as well as the Warrior Family Support Center in San Antonio.
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Stronger (2017) - Official Trailer (HD)

Film draws awareness to PTSD, provides suicide intervention

Arizona Afghanistan Veteran Died After High Speed Chase

Girlfriend: I-17 chase suspect was Army veteran battling PTSD
AZ Family News
By Zahid Arab
Jan 26, 2017

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5)
The girlfriend of a man who stole work truck in Gilbert and led troopers on an I-17 chase says he was an Army veteran dealing with PTSD.

Brad Moore, 29, drove nearly 95 miles before he drove off the road and died near Camp Verde Tuesday.

Moore finished his service several years ago. (Source: 3TV/CBS 5)

“That’s not him at all. I would have never expected something like that ever,” said the woman who asked we not use her name.

His family says Moore served in the Army as a paratrooper during a tour in Afghanistan. The 29-year-old finished his service several years ago.

While DPS calls what Moore did criminal, the woman says those that knew him say it’s out of character.

“We lost such a beautiful soul. He had the most contagious laugh and smile. It just lit up the room,” she said.
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azfamily.com 3TV | Phoenix Breaking News, Weather, Sport

Vietnam Veteran Dave Roever Inspiring "Devil Brigade" Soldiers

Vietnam veteran inspires ‘Devil’ brigade Soldiers
Camp Casey South Korea
Cpl. Dasol Choi
1st Armored Brigade Combat Team
1/27/2017

“Roever inspired me because he told his story of how he wanted to give up because of what happened to him,” said Spc. Mitchell Strange from the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st ABCT. “While a lot of people would have given up, he never gave up. From now on, I want to start to look at things more positively.”

Photo By Cpl. Dasol Choi | CAMP CASEY, South Korea – Soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, listen to a speech given by Dave Roever, a former riverboat gunner in the Brown Water forces in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War and a recipient of the Purple Heart Medal, during resiliency training at the Camp Casey Multipurpose Complex, Camp Casey, South Korea, Jan 24. (U.S. Army Photo by Cpl. Dasol Choi, 1st ABCT, 1st Inf. Div. Public Affairs)

CAMP CASEY, South Korea ¬– Soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, had an opportunity to hear from a Vietnam War veteran and a recipient of the Purple Heart Medal, during a resiliency training session held at the Camp Casey Multipurpose Complex, Camp Casey, South Korea, Jan. 24.

Invited by Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, commander of the U.S. Forces Korea and his chaplains, Dave Roever, a veteran of the U.S. Navy who served in the Vietnam War, shared his experience of overcoming hardship that he faced while serving in the Vietnam War as a riverboat gunner in the Brown Water forces in the Navy.

“My heart followed troops; I love the troops; I was one and I never got it out of my system,” Roever said. “I came here to say to the troops not to cave under pressure but to stand strong and always defend against the enemies.”

Although injured during the war and believed to be dead, Roever never gave up. Instead, he considered a moment, which others might call a defeat, as an opportunity.

“I was burned and was given up twice as other Soldiers believed I was dead. I never died, never claimed it, and never said that,” Roever said. “But I can tell you, I wouldn’t have been standing here giving you this speech if I had given up.”
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American Legion Service Officer Goes Above and Beyond

‘No Man Left Behind’: Marine Corps veteran opens home to help fellow vets
FOX 17 News Michigan
Janice Allen
January 27, 2017

"I bought a house and I didn't need all the rooms, so I started bringing in veterans that needed help," Clemens explained. "If they need food, I buy them food... If they need clothes, I give them clothes."

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Joe Clemens has been back to civilian life for awhile now, but he's still fighting to help his fellow man.

"No man left behind. That's the way I've lived my life," he told FOX 17 News. "When I got out, nobody helped me, so because of that, I wasn't going to let that happen to anyone else."

Despite battling a rare and terminal blood disorder as a result of his service, Clemens has made it his mission to help veterans who are struggling.

"They're not gonna fall through the cracks," he said. "To come back, and not be able to feed your family, it takes a toll on you."

Clemens is a Service Officer at American Legion Post 459. His job is to help veterans navigate different resources to secure their benefits and get back on their feet.
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Spc. Patrick James Rodgers' Body Recovered After Motorcycle Crash

Identity of soldier killed in H-1 motorcycle crash released by Army
KHON News
By Brigette Namata and Web Staff
Published: January 27, 2017,

The name of the Schofield Barracks soldier who died from a motorcycle crash early Friday morning on the H-1 Freeway was released by the Army Saturday.

He was Spc. Patrick James Rodgers, 26, of Willis, Texas, assigned to 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.

A wheeled vehicle mechanic, Rodgers enlisted in the Army in March 2010. He previously served in Oklahoma and South Carolina, and moved to Schofield Barracks in July 2014. Rodgers deployed once to Kuwait for 12 months in 2012. He was a recipient of two Army Achievement Medals, the Army Good Conduct Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal, among others.
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