Soldiers Death in Iraq Under Investigation

Death of Mass. soldier in Iraq under investigation 
WCVB 5 News Boston 
Feb 21, 2017

Brian Patrick Odiorne

WARE, Mass. — A soldier from Massachusetts died Monday in a non-combat related incident in Iraq, according to the Department of Defense. 

Pfc. Brian P. Odiorne, 21, of Ware, was part of Operation Inherent Resolve in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. 

The fatal incident is under investigation by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, the DOD said. read more here

When Veterans Are In Crisis, Fight for Their Lives!

We need to stop taking "no" for an answer, especially when we're asking for help to save someone's life. When a veteran reaches the point where they are in crisis and ask for help, do not walk away from the VA! Tell them to either find a bed there or send you some place else.

I actually heard someone say that veterans do not call 911 or show up at an emergency room for civilian care because they do not want to get stuck with the bill. DEAL WITH IT! 

We did! In the 90's they didn't have a bed for my husband but I told them we were not leaving until they found a place for him. They saved his life and we got stuck with the bill because our private insurance wouldn't pay for something the VA doctor said was tied to Vietnam. When we couldn't afford to pay, they took our tax refund for years. Six years later, when his claim was finally approved, we got most of the money back.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't easy. But giving up on him getting the help he needed was not an option. Why it is still happening is beyond excuses from Congress but it is what it is for now until they are forced to fix the problems with the VA. Still don't blame the VA for everything because when you'll deal with the same thing in civilian hospitals. You just have better chances with them since there are a lot more beds in their hospitals.

Wife of veteran says Topeka VA didn’t do enough to help suicidal husband

Travis Patterson died on Jan. 27 at age 26

On Jan. 25, Travis tried to kill himself. The couple went to the Topeka VA’s mental health building. Staff said it was closed and to go the VA emergency room. Rachel said the emergency room doctor took Travis’ vital signs and told them there wasn’t much they could do that night. They were given the option to be admitted and seen in the morning or to go home and come back the next day. They opted to go home.

When Travis Patterson sought care at the Topeka VA after attempting suicide, his wife, Rachel Patterson, said they were told no one could provide immediate help. Two days later, Travis Patterson killed himself at the age of 26.

“He was driven to this because he didn’t get the help he should’ve gotten,” Rachel Patterson said.

Travis Patterson, also known as “Patt,” had been in intense pain since December, his wife said. Much of his physical pain stemmed from his time in the service. Travis was deployed three times — to Iraq, Afghanistan and Nigeria. In Afghanistan, his truck was blown up. In June 2016, he was discharged from the military.

He suffered from bulging disks, nerve pain and migraines, Rachel said. The pain, at times, prevented him from going to work or school, and he walked with a cane. In December, it worsened. Rachel said doctors wouldn’t prescribe a different medication.

“As a veteran, being treated like that, basically treated like you’re a criminal, it hurts your pride. It doesn’t make you feel like you’re a person and that definitely contributed,” Rachel said.

read more here

Remains of Combat Medic Will Naugle Found by Hikers

Family: Body of missing U.S. Army reservist found
KOIN 6 News Staff
Published: February 20, 2017

Will Naugle was last seen on January 26

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The body of a missing U.S. Army reservist has been found, according to family members.

Will Naugle was last seen on January 26. He was scheduled to report for annual training and vanished.

Naugle was a combat medic and connected to the U.S. Army Reserves at Camp Whithycombe in Clackamas.

The reservist’s family said he was found dead at Powell Butte in Crook County. The family also said they believe Naugle committed suicide.

Naugle’s body was found by hikers, and it is being turned over to a funeral home.
read more here

Investigations continue of death at Oklahoma veterans center

Investigations continue of death at Oklahoma veterans center 
Pilot Online 
Feb 19, 2017

"I took care of Leonard almost three years before I had to put him in there. In all of that time, he never swallowed or wanted to eat anything that was inedible," Harger said. "This has upset me so bad — and not just about Leonard. It's all of these other men down there that are not getting the care that they are needing."

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Federal and state investigations are underway into the choking death of a man with later-stage dementia at the Oklahoma Veterans Center in Talihina. 

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services and the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs have launched separate investigations into the Jan. 31 death of 70-year-old Leonard Smith, formerly of Sapulpa. 

Smith died in the nursing home's locked-down, special-needs unit. read more here

MOH for Chesty Puller?

Is it time to give Chesty Puller the Medal of Honor?
Marine Times
By: Jeff Schogol
February 19, 2017

More than 300 Marines have earned the Medal of Honor since award’s inception in 1861. But missing from that list is perhaps the most legendary Marine, whose memory still looms large in the lore of the Corps: Lt. Gen. Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller.

Lieutenant General Lewis "Chesty" Puller

The image of Puller’s iconic frown and his memorable quips about combat have come to define what it means to be a Marine for generations. Puller once told his troops, when surrounded by enemy fighters in Korea: “All right, they’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of us, they’re behind us ... they can’t get away this time.”

Puller earned five Navy crosses, the nation’s second-highest honor for valor. At least two serious attempts have been made to get one of Puller’s awards upgraded to the Medal of Honor, but they failed. Even today, Marine veterans and devotees still grumbled that Puller deserves to be recognized with the nation’s highest honor and the book has not been closed on the matter.

“Marines still today in boot camp chant his name. They all still do know about him and they should keep his spirit alive,” said Kim Van Note, president of the Basilone Memorial Foundation, a charity named for one Marine Medal of Honor recipient who served under ­Puller’s command at Guadalcanal, ­Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone.
read more here

Vietnam Veteran Joins Phi Kapa Sigma Faternity

Fraternity initiates Vietnam veteran
Indiana Daily Student News
Larmie Sanyon
February 20, 2017

After returning from the Vietnam War, Army Col. Gregg Hammond said he struggled to integrate back into society because he felt alienated. Since serving in Vietnam and eventually Iraq, Hammond said he learned how to cope with society, both as a veteran and a citizen. When Phi Kappa Sigma initiated him Saturday, Hammond said he had an opportunity to share his experiences with a young group of people.

Retired Army Col. Gregg Hammond, right, was initiated into the fraternity Phi Kappa Sigma on Saturday. DOMINICK JEAN

Hammond, a native of Peru, Indiana, graduated from IU in 1979 and served about 33 years in the Marines and Army. Sophomore Jake Olson, the fraternity’s president, said the 167-year-old initiation kept with traditions at Bryan Room in the IMU.

The standards and traditions reminded Hammond of the Army after he retired in 2009.

“I started to research it after I retired and I found the values of Phi Kappa Sigma to be almost identical to the Army’s core values.” he said.

The fraternity’s local chapter, the Delta Pi chapter, recognized the colonel by initiating him along with 14 other young men in their winter class. Hammond said he never had an opportunity to join a fraternity while at IU or any other institutions, but he remembered one of his classmates being a member of the Phi Kappa Sigma and 
enjoying his experience.
read more here

Soldier Saved Seven Lives After Motorcycle Crash Claimed His

Soldier gives ultimate gift to seven strangers
Claremore Progress
Diana Dickinson
February 19, 2017

While family members were praying to God to save their loved one after a tragic motorcycle crash left him brain dead, other individuals elsewhere were praying to God for another day.

Twenty-one-year-old Oklahoma Army Reserve National Guardsman SPC Teddy L. Keys Jr., of Oologah, was a soldier who saved or improved the lives of seven people when doctors could not save him after a crash on April 27, 2015.

Because he became brain dead prior to his death and had maintained great physical health, his bones, tissues and other organs were all eligible for reuse and were harvested.
read more here

New Hampshire Army Ranger Shot by Other Soldier Receives Outpouring of Support

Over $20,000 raised in 1 day for NH soldier shot by fellow Army ranger
NH1.com
February 18, 2017

HUDSON - There has been an outpouring of support from the community after a soldier from New Hampshire was shot in the neck by another Army ranger earlier this week.

A GoFundMe page for Joshua Keller has already collected more than $20,000. He was accidentally shot in Washington, and the other solider is facing charges.

His father Matt Keller spoke with NH1 News earlier in the week. He said his family has been in Washington since Sunday to be with their son.
read more here

Solider from NH shot by fellow Army ranger, in critical condition
The Associated Press
February 14, 2017

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — An Army ranger from the Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state has been charged with shooting a fellow soldier, who remains in critical condition.

The Olympian reports that Spc. Thomas Patrick Popek was arraigned in court Monday on an assault charge. The 23-year-old victim from Hudson, N.H., is in critical condition and unable to breath on his own.
read more here

Topeka VA Delivers Care While Searching for Psychiatrist

Care continues at the Topeka VA during difficult search for a psychiatrist
Topeka Capital Journal
Justin Wingerter
February 19, 2017

Bob Portenier, a Vietnam combat veteran and former PCT patient who raised alarms when the PTSD psychiatrist transferred in December, said he was referred to a mental health clinic and has been impressed with the care he received.

Dr. Michael Leeson, chief of behavioral services at the Colmery-O’Neil

VA Medical Center, speaks during an interview at the hospital Wednesday.

(Thad Allton/The Capital-Journal)

Eight weeks after the Department of Veterans Affairs announced it would transfer its lone post-traumatic stress disorder psychiatrist at Colmery-O’Neil VA Medical Center to another department — worrying veterans who had come to rely on the doctor — PTSD patients and hospital administrators say treatment has largely continued unabated.

On the third floor of Building 2, three psychologists, a nurse and an administrative clerk care for minds wounded by war. Together, they make up the PTSD Clinical Team, or PCT in hospital parlance.

Before mid-December, they were joined by a psychiatrist. When the psychiatrist left to work in the hospital’s understaffed inpatient ward for severe mental health crises, veterans feared a loss of the doctor they had come to trust — the one who knew them, knew their stories and knew their conditions.

Patients with few symptoms were transferred to the primary care wing. Patients who did not require medications were transferred to the three PCT psychologists. Others chose to seek treatment outside the hospital through the VA’s choice program.
read more here

Police Kill Suspect After Woman Found Brutally Beaten

PTSD is no excuse for things like this and as a reminder, it is a rarity.

Friend of Claremore man killed by police in east Tulsa says he could have prevented shooting
KJRH 2 News
Feb 19, 2017

TULSA -- A friend of the kidnapping and rape suspect who was a shot and killed by police officers in east Tulsa on Friday is speaking out.

The man told 2 Works for You reporter Corley Peel that he could have prevented officers from shooting his friend, David English, 34, if police only gave him a chance.

Wayne Youngwolfe says although English was his lifelong friend, he immediately stepped in when he said he saw English had brutally beaten his girlfriend. He said if police would have let him get to English beforehand, he would have never been shot.

"They didn't give me a chance to go get him," Youngwolfe said. "This is what they wanted, so they got it."

Youngwolfe said English was battling Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

"The war messed him up. He has never been the same person since he came back," Youngwolfe said.
read more here