People Caught Doing Good For Homeless Veteran

Eugene police officer, local business owners honored for helping homeless, ailing veteran
The Register-Guard
By Chelsea Gorrow
MAY 31, 2017

“I’m just thankful; very, very thankful that God sent someone like Shawn to me and put him in my life as my friend,” Grotzky said Tuesday. “I’m thankful for people like Tom and (Eugene) Catholic Worker, and all of Eugene police. … I am so thankful for Shawn and for all of the other officers he’s brought to me, introduced me to. They’ve changed my whole life and my outlook on city cops 100,000 percent.”

Officer Shawn Trotter, second from right, and Dr. Daran deCalesta of Rainbow Optics, second from left, were honored at the Eugene Police Department's annual awards by Chief Pete Kerns, left, for helping homeless veteran Dean Grotzky get back on his feet after a mugging last August. (Submitted photo)

When a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps found himself homeless and the victim of a pickpocket late last August, a local restaurant owner, an optometrist and a Eugene police officer came together to help.

The veteran, Dean Grotzky, 53, had been living on the streets of Eugene since March 2016 after losing his job as a commercial truck driver.

Grotzky said he suffers from fibromyalgia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, arthritis and post-­traumatic stress disorder. The PTSD stems both from childhood and six years in the Marines in the 1980s, he said.

When he couldn’t pass a Department of Transportation physical last year, he said, he lost his job.

Grotzky then lost his housing.

His first night on the streets last March, he recalled, was cold. “I was in pain. I didn’t have any of my meds, so I was in a lot of pain. I was a big grown man hiding in the corner crying in pain. It was a living hell.”

But he wasn’t scared, Grotzky added.

“I’ve never been scared. I don’t get scared of anything. Life’s too short to be scared.”
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Vietnam Veteran Donated Braille Flag So Others Could Feel It

Braille flag at Jacksonville VA clinic sends message of hope to blind community
Florida Times Union
Joe Daraskevich
May 31, 2017

Peters is a legally blind Army veteran who was born in Jacksonville but lives in St. Marys, Ga. He served as a special operations aviator in the Vietnam War and was the driving force behind bringing the braille flag to the Jacksonville clinic.

Anyone who visits the Veterans Administration Outpatient Clinic in Jacksonville will notice a new bronze American flag fastened to the wall near the main elevator.

The flag is barely larger than a square foot, but even people without sight can appreciate the gesture and understand the power of its message.

It’s meant to bring attention to the often-forgotten group of blinded veterans in the area. The Pledge of Allegiance is written in braille for anyone to feel.
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Air Force Veteran Defended Deputy Being Attacked

Veteran helps Pasco deputy take down man accused of punching officer
WFLA News 8
By Corey Davis
Published: May 30, 2017

Johnson, a U.S. Air Force veteran and licensed security trainer, said he did it to put an end to the confrontation as quickly as possible.

PASCO COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office is thanking a veteran who helped a deputy take down a combative man.

Officials said Ray Johnson stepped in to help when Jordan Caraballo started punching Deputy Jesse Larkin.

“I was able to get him down, control his head so he wouldn’t throw me and that’s when he started punching me in the abdomen,” Larkin said.

Larkin was responding to a domestic disturbance at a home in the 1700 block of Canoe Drive in Lutz on Monday.

“It was probably 20 seconds, but it felt like 10 minutes,” Larkin said.

Investigators said Caraballo had already thrown a glass object at a family member before Larkin arrived.

Calls to 911 reveal that Caraballo was arguing with his mother and sister, which led to several calls for help.
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Joshua Berry Survived Afghanistan, Fort Hood Massacre, but Not Being Home

Father raises awareness of veteran suicide after death of his son
FOX 19 News
Tuesday, May 30th

FORT THOMAS, KY (FOX19)
Hundreds of American flags have been placed across the Tri-State in the past few months.

On Memorial Day, more than 600 flags waved at Tower Park.

But there's an important message behind the patriotic displays.

"Families, the empty chairs at tables," said Howard Berry. "The grieving process and the questions, the unanswered questions."

Howard Berry started the Flags for Forgotten Soldiers campaign after the death of his son, US Army Staff Sergeant Joshua Berry.

Joshua had just returned to the US from a tour in Afghanistan in 2009 when shots were fired at him during the attack at Fort Hood, Texas. He was then diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.

"He was treated here at this Cincinnati VA and committed suicide in February 2013," said Howard.

Since then, Howard has been on a mission, erecting groups of flags wherever they will let him.

660 star spangled banners, to be exact.
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Cincinnati News, FOX19-WXIX TV

Retirement Shockingly Awakens PTSD

Vietnam Veterans Experience PTSD in Retirement for the First Time
WGCU News
By MICHAEL HIRSH
May 30, 2017

David “Dozer” Henderson of Punta Gorda began experiencing intense PTSD symptoms after seeing news footage of bodies coming home from the war in Iraq. He currently runs a PTSD veterans therapy group. MICHAEL HIRSH

The U.S. Census shows Florida is home to nearly half a million Vietnam veterans. The VA’s health clinic in Cape Coral alone served 37,000 of them last year—and the number of Vietnam veteran baby boomers retiring to Southwest Florida just keeps increasing. A significant number of these new retirees are showing symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder—or PTSD—often for the first time.

For a veteran who’s never shown symptoms of PTSD—or doesn’t remember ever showing symptoms—connecting new behaviors to what happened in a war fifty years ago can be difficult. Clinical psychologist Dr. Lynn Bernstein runs therapy groups specifically for Vietnam vets and family members in Englewood. She said the symptoms include:

“Not being able to handle stress,” said Bernstein. “The symptoms of avoiding people. Sleeplessness. Irritability. Road rage. Impatience with other people. Only associate with vets. Difficulty sharing their emotions.”

Bernstein said those symptoms combine with other, more well-known PTSD systems.

Bernstein and other therapists said PTSD occurs or reoccurs in retirement because it’s a time in life with less structure.

Vets have more time to think. They may have been using work as a way to cope. They were self-medicating by turning into workaholics. Now, that coping mechanism is no longer available, and any number of events can trigger symptoms. Even something as simple as going to an Asian restaurant, even though the vet may have eaten at the restaurant throughout their working life.
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Yes and maybe now you'll understand why 65% of the suicides involve veterans over the age of 50 then maybe you can explain to me why all the charities are not even talking about them or helping them? 

He Didn't Serve With the Living, But Honors the Dead

‘The Good Cemeterian’: Man Honors Veterans by Cleaning Headstones
NBC News
by PHIL MCCAUSLAND and KERRY SANDERS
May 29, 2017

"I feel connected to them," Lumish said. "And it's very important for me to be able to tell their story and I love to be able to show these individuals and show their accomplishments."

Andrew Lumish cleans the headstones of fallen soldiers.

One Florida man has taken it upon himself to help restore a Tampa graveyard and its veterans' headstones.

Though he has never served in the military, Andrew Lumish, 46, spends his little free time scrubbing and cleaning soldiers' gravestones — some dating back to the Civil War — in the L'Unione Italiana Cemetery.

Known as "The Good Cemeterian," Lumish found the headstones while pursuing his passion for photography. He thought they were beautiful but was bothered by the amount of dirt, mold and mildew that had overtaken them. Some of the men buried there did not have families to take care of their gravesites, so he stepped in to provide a little elbow grease and honor the fallen veterans.
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I missed more than I thought I would this Memorial Day

Today, nothing worked out the way I planned but that's ok now. My TV decided it needed to enter into the twilight zone, so I had to buy a new one. The cable didn't fit, so I had to go and try to find an adapter. So yes, you can gloat, I went shopping on Memorial Day...Karma!

Long story short, I got to the cemetery when the service was over. Chairs were being folded up and Channel 2 News was just leaving. I had seen the service many times before and filmed it. Plus I knew Channel 2 would have some coverage of it, so I took a deep breath and started to walk around with peace and quiet for a change. 

As I walked, I stopped here and there, reading the stones with names, dates and branch of service. I couldn't help but notice how many had no flowers, no flags, no indication that someone was there for them. Then I thought about my own Dad and my husband's Dad. We were not there to leave a remembrance for them either. They are buried in Massachusetts and we're here in Florida. I knew it would be wrong to make assumptions about the families of these veterans laid to rest. It was just sad and made me miss our Dads more than usual.

Here is the article from WESH 2

Winter Park community gathers to observe Memorial Day

Monday morning, the Winter Park community gathered to give special honors to those who fought in Vietnam. Organizers said unlike the veterans of World War II and Korea, Vietnam vets came home to a divided country and didn't have the support to adapt to civilian life. Michelle Meredith reports.

"Honor the dead by caring for the living"

If there is one takeaway from 

Our View: Honor the dead by caring for the living

It is this!

To them, we owe our deepest gratitude.
While we cannot adequately repay that debt to those made the supreme sacrifice for us, we can perhaps honor them by caring for those who fought and survived the horrors of war. Yet a new report suggests we are failing at that.

The Government Accountability Office released a study indicating that between 2011 and 2015 the Pentagon booted 91,764 soldiers from military service for misconduct, and that 62 percent of them suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury or some other debilitating mental health condition. Misconduct typically involves drug usage, criminal activity, insubordination or going AWOL.

Of the 57,141 troops released from service, the GAO determined that the bulk of them were provided general discharges, which still qualified them for many benefits available through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, education being the exception. Still, 13,283 of them were issued “other-than-honorable” discharges, which typically made them ineligible for VA healthcare programs.

Ninety-eight percent of the 57,141 soldiers in question were enlisted personnel, as opposed to officers, and they had on average served four years on active duty. In short, they were solid veterans from the lower ranks who had done their duty until something rattled them or the engineering inside their skull.

Please use the link and read the rest of this and think about what you just learned. We owe them, but that part keeps getting missed! 

False Teachers Raising Suicide Awareness Condemned Themselves

Disdain For Leaving Veterans in Despair
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 29, 2017

All across this nation people are doing things on this Memorial Day to acknowledge the price paid by those who fought our battles. Historians count the dead from all the named wars but they have never counted all the lives lost from the final battle the survivors fought until their lives ended.

"Only the dead have seen the end of the war." George Santayana

This is what most of us have forgotten. Most wars are fought on a nightly basis in the dreams of those carried the burden of war within them. 

This Memorial Day, I woke up, filled with bitter tears, thinking of all the lives gone but will never be counted. They will only be remembered by their families. It is a battle that has gone on since the beginning of time and one we will never win as long as we keep repeating what failed pretending it will work this time.

"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." 

George Santayana

Attempts have been made to put a number on those who have fallen by their own hand, but too many have taken the reports, grabbed the headline and dismissed the rest of the report. Far to easy for them to remember a number than to read the contents of 59 pages from the 2012 VA Suicide report or the 46 pages of the 2016 report.

All across this nation there are groups claiming to be doing good works by raising awareness of veterans committing suicide. They appear to be trying to change the outcome, but clearly, while they publicize what they want others to know, they hide the fact they do not know how to change the outcome and have no resources to help veterans stay alive.

Jesus Teaches about False Teachers

15 “Watch out for false teachers. They come to you dressed as if they were sheep. On the inside they are hungry wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruit. Do men pick grapes from thorns? Do men pick figs from thistles? 17 It is true, every good tree has good fruit. Every bad tree has bad fruit.

Matthew 7:15-17New Life Version (NLV)

When confronted, they claim they are not harming anyone but the truth is, they harm those who need help as much as they harm those who do want to change the outcome. They feel cheated and betrayed by these false teachers, then they believe that everyone else is just as useless.

I hear it all the time. Veterans are shocked when they discover the truth and then become angry because no one told them they did not need to suffer instead of healing. Betrayal after betrayal, yet the false teachers are supported by social media and funding. No one bothered to ask them why they needed the money or what they were doing with it when everything they talk about was given to them freely by others who did in fact pay the price to gain the knowledge in the first place.

For us, it is a price well worth paying. There is no way to explain what it is like to take a veteran from the edge of the cliff and see them walk away with their head held up high.

"Religion in its humility restores man to his only dignity, the courage to live by grace."

George Santayana

We are talking about people who were willing to die for the sake of others but not being able to find one more reason to live one more day? Doesn't that bother you? How do they go from that, filled with courage and compassion, valuing the lives of others to the point where they were willing to pay for it with their own, into taking their own life?

I did not decide to go into the military. I was born into it. I did not choose to fight the Vietnam war. I choose to fight for my husband. I did not choose to make this the mission of my life but it has been worth it to help others discover how they can save these veterans. I give what I know away freely but others take it, use it and profit themselves. 

To those who do, God sees what you are doing and you will pay for the bitter tears you left behind after families were left to grieve for veterans who sought help but were used and betrayed.

So this Memorial Day, remember, you have filled more graves by your actions. You disregarded over four decades of research done that others like me learned from. You took away our ability to reach them, teach them and watch them help others. You are like those who decide today is a day to party and go shopping wearing patriotic T-shirts!

I welcome the false teachers as regarding me as the enemy. When it comes to taking sides, I choose to stand by their side and damn those who have already damned themselves by using veterans for their own gain.

Memorial Day Lost Meaning to Those Who Simply Enjoy Day Off

Veteran: To many Americans, Memorial Day has lost meaning
FOX 9 News
May 28, 2017

Veterans groups say a growing military-civilian disconnect contributes to a feeling that Memorial Day has been overshadowed. More than 12 percent of the U.S. population served in the armed forces during World War II. That's down to less than one-half of a percent today, guaranteeing more Americans aren't personally acquainted with a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine.

ANNVILLE, Pa. (AP) -- Allison Jaslow heard it more than once as the long holiday weekend approached -- a cheerful "Happy Memorial Day!" from oblivious well-wishers.

The former Army captain and Iraq War veteran had a ready reply, telling them, matter-of-factly, that she considered it a work weekend. Jaslow will be at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday to take part in the annual wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. She'll then visit Section 60, the final resting place of many service members who died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"You can see it in people's faces that they're a little horrified that they forget this is what the day's about," said Jaslow, 34, who wears a bracelet bearing the name of a fallen comrade. "Culturally, we've kind of lost sight of what the day's supposed to mean."

While millions of Americans celebrate the long Memorial Day weekend as the unofficial start of summer -- think beaches and backyard barbecues, mattress sales and sporting events -- some veterans and loved ones of fallen military members wish the holiday that honors more than 1 million people who died serving their country would command more respect.

"It hurts," Duffy said. For combat veterans and Gold Star families especially, "it hurts that, as a society, we don't truly understand and appreciate what the true meaning of Memorial Day is."
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Arlington National Cemetery