Seven GIs among eight wounded in Afghanistan shooting
Boston Herald
Brian Dowling
Sunday, June 18, 2017
An Afghan soldier turned his weapon on coalition forces at a base in northern Afghanistan, wounding eight people, including seven U.S. soldiers — the second such insider attack in the turbulent Middle Eastern country this month.
The group of 39 nations advising and assisting the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces said seven U.S. soldiers and one Afghan soldier were wounded when the rogue Afghan trooper opened fire.
“We have an enemy who is actively trying to drive a wedge between us,” Operation Resolute Support said in a statement. “We will not be deterred.”
read more here
Sunday, June 18, 2017
Saturday, June 17, 2017
USS Fitzgerald: Seven sailors remain missing
The stricken destroyer Fitzgerald has returned home, but 7 sailors are still missing
Navy Times
By: David B. Larter
June 17, 2017
UPDATE: The destroyer Fitzgerald, mangled from a rare, harrowing collision while at sea, returned to its home port of Yokosuka, Japan, at about 6:15 p.m. local time Saturday, capping a 16-hour effort by the crew to prevent an even greater crisis.
Seven sailors remain missing, and divers were standing by to assess the ship's damage and try to access the spaces that were flooded when Fitzgerald collided with a merchant ship nearly four-times its size in the middle of the night.
The incident occurred in the Philippine Sea, about 50 nautical miles southwest of Yokosuka. Images show clearly the ship had taken on massive amounts of water during the ordeal. A news release from U.S. 7th Fleet confirmed that two berthing spaces, an auxiliary machine room and the ship’s radio room all flooded. read more here
Navy Times
By: David B. Larter
June 17, 2017
Three sailors, including the ship’s commanding officer, Cmdr. Bryce Benson, were medically evacuated from the Fitzgerald by Japanese military aircraft and rushed back to mainland during the ship's long transit home.
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| Kazuhiro Nogi/ AFP via Getty images |
Seven sailors remain missing, and divers were standing by to assess the ship's damage and try to access the spaces that were flooded when Fitzgerald collided with a merchant ship nearly four-times its size in the middle of the night.
The incident occurred in the Philippine Sea, about 50 nautical miles southwest of Yokosuka. Images show clearly the ship had taken on massive amounts of water during the ordeal. A news release from U.S. 7th Fleet confirmed that two berthing spaces, an auxiliary machine room and the ship’s radio room all flooded. read more here
A stigma for veterans with PTSD
A stigma for veterans with PTSD
AM NEW YORK
By Sol Wachtler
June 16, 2017
The discharges, imposed with little or no due process, carried the stigma of a criminal conviction and the stain of dishonor. They contributed to homelessness, substance abuse and suicide.
Fifty years ago, 550,000 U.S. troops fought in Vietnam. At war’s end, more than half of all veterans diagnosed with PTSD had been arrested — more than one, multiple times, mostly for drug-related crimes. Many suffered from undiagnosed and untreated combat-related PTSD and, tragically, many were issued less-than-honorable discharges from the service. For years, the military underdiagnosed and did not treat the problems and then cursed the sufferers with discharges for misconduct.
read more here
AM NEW YORK
By Sol Wachtler
June 16, 2017
Trump has repeated his support of veterans. He should consider the pardon and restoration of the honor of those veterans whose “misbehavior” and “bad paper” were caused by service-related mental disabilities.Sixty-two percent of the 91,764 service members dismissed by the U.S. military for misconduct between 2011 and 2015 had been diagnosed two years before separation with post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury or other conditions that could be associated with misconduct. And more than 13,200 of them received an “other than honorable” characterization of service, referred to as “bad paper,” making them ineligible for health benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The discharges, imposed with little or no due process, carried the stigma of a criminal conviction and the stain of dishonor. They contributed to homelessness, substance abuse and suicide.
Fifty years ago, 550,000 U.S. troops fought in Vietnam. At war’s end, more than half of all veterans diagnosed with PTSD had been arrested — more than one, multiple times, mostly for drug-related crimes. Many suffered from undiagnosed and untreated combat-related PTSD and, tragically, many were issued less-than-honorable discharges from the service. For years, the military underdiagnosed and did not treat the problems and then cursed the sufferers with discharges for misconduct.
read more here
On the Other Side of Broken: One Cop's Battle with the Demons of PTSD
Police officer talks about dealing with PTSD
Brantford Expositor
Friday, June 16, 2017
Gain a new understanding of those who live with either PTSD or deafblindness at upcoming Brantford Public Library programs.
On June 21, at 6:30 p.m, author and police officer Brian Knowler will visit the main branch to talk about how post-traumatic stress disorder affected his health, career and marriage.
In 2004, Brian Knowler was the first police officer at the scene of a fatal collision involving a close friend. For years he hid the physical and psychological effects, while his personal and professional life started to fall apart. He eventually sought help and was diagnosed with PTSD.
His book, On the Other Side of Broken: One Cop's Battle with the Demons of PTSD, tells the story about his life since being diagnosed and his recovery. It also talks about his wife's experiences; standing by him to help them rebuild their lives even though she watched her husband turn into someone she didn't recognize. Come to this free event to hear first-hand about Knowler's experiences.
read more here
Brantford Expositor
Friday, June 16, 2017
Gain a new understanding of those who live with either PTSD or deafblindness at upcoming Brantford Public Library programs.
 |
Police officer Brian Knowler will visit the Brantford Public Library on
June 21 to talk about how PTSD affected his health, career and marriage.
(Postmedia Network)
|
On June 21, at 6:30 p.m, author and police officer Brian Knowler will visit the main branch to talk about how post-traumatic stress disorder affected his health, career and marriage.
In 2004, Brian Knowler was the first police officer at the scene of a fatal collision involving a close friend. For years he hid the physical and psychological effects, while his personal and professional life started to fall apart. He eventually sought help and was diagnosed with PTSD.
His book, On the Other Side of Broken: One Cop's Battle with the Demons of PTSD, tells the story about his life since being diagnosed and his recovery. It also talks about his wife's experiences; standing by him to help them rebuild their lives even though she watched her husband turn into someone she didn't recognize. Come to this free event to hear first-hand about Knowler's experiences.
read more here
BOHICA Presidents Inherit Obligation to Veterans
Presidents Inherit Obligation to Veterans
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
June 17, 2017
Remember the expression "everything old is new again" because we've been down this road for so long now it is almost as if members of Congress forgot they were responsible for what the VA does and does not do. After all, they got jurisdiction over caring for our veterans back in 1946.
Or, did we fail ourselves and all the other generations to come?
When I started to really pay attention 35 years ago, President Reagan had been in charge for a year. Maybe what he said summed up exactly what had been happening to veterans with these words.
So far I've paid attention to what President Reagan, President Bush, President Clinton, President Bush and President Obama left behind as much as I'm paying attention to what President Trump is doing to veterans after making speeches of what all of them would do for veterans. While we never heard them say BOHICA, that is exactly what veterans and families have ended up with.
Stars and Stripes reported "VA Secretary: Money for Choice program will 'dry up' by mid-August"
Still, what makes all this worse is Congress let it get to the point where they are even talking about billions going to private providers instead of the care they were promised.
Here is a brief history of what veterans have had to deal with.
And then it was President Obama's turn. by June of his first year in office, the backlog was over 915,000.
Now, while we actually got a brief sense of relief this week with news that senior veterans were not going to be forced to pay for the "care" with massive cuts to their disability checks, we cannot go back to sleep. What they get away with today will be something all other generations will have to be face with if we do no nothing about any of this.
Aren't you tired of reading how veterans keep getting failed? Then start fighting back! Don't wait for all the service organizations to do the job for us. After all, the OEF and OIF generation are controlling the news through social media because everything we had to deal with was still hanging over our heads and no one cared but us.
UPDATE on something else in the news lately...
Everything old is still broken?
Congressional Record, House October 6, 2000 "The demonstration project may be conducted at several multi-specialty tertiary-care military medical treatment facilities affiliated with a university medical school. One of such facilities shall be supported by at least 5 geographically dispersed remote clinics of the Departments of Army, Navy and Air Force, and clinics of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and a local university.
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
June 17, 2017
Remember the expression "everything old is new again" because we've been down this road for so long now it is almost as if members of Congress forgot they were responsible for what the VA does and does not do. After all, they got jurisdiction over caring for our veterans back in 1946.
“Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.” ― George S. Patton Jr.None of this BS was either one of those. If anyone tells you that all the problems our veterans and families face is new, it is all old news to us. After all, we've been living with it for decades, listening to promises when politicians on both sides want our votes, yet fail us once they get into office.
Or, did we fail ourselves and all the other generations to come?
When I started to really pay attention 35 years ago, President Reagan had been in charge for a year. Maybe what he said summed up exactly what had been happening to veterans with these words.
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."Part of the jobs politicians take is actually making the best use of taxpayers funds but the other part is actually delivering on the promises made to the men and women risking their lives for this country no matter who is Commander-in-Chief.
So far I've paid attention to what President Reagan, President Bush, President Clinton, President Bush and President Obama left behind as much as I'm paying attention to what President Trump is doing to veterans after making speeches of what all of them would do for veterans. While we never heard them say BOHICA, that is exactly what veterans and families have ended up with.
Stars and Stripes reported "VA Secretary: Money for Choice program will 'dry up' by mid-August"
Money is quickly and unexpectedly running out for a program that allows veterans to seek health care outside of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and VA Secretary David Shulkin is urging Congress to fix it.Gee that sound bad. What is actually worse is that veterans do not want to have to make a choice between being by the VA or being seen by private providers. Rural veterans do need this option because their VA hospital is just too far away. In those cases, clinics or "community care" would be great, if they were run by the VA and not contractors. Having to see a contractor, frankly pisses them off.
In March, approximately $2 billion remained in the Veterans Choice Program, which was created following the 2014 wait-time scandal in order to allow veterans to seek outside health care. The funds dropped to $1.5 billion about a month later, and the account now holds $821 million, Shulkin told the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee on June 14.
Shulkin had originally estimated $626 million would be left in the account by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. Now, he’s expecting all of the funds to run out before money for fiscal 2018 is appropriated.
To continue the Choice program through the end of the fiscal year, Shulkin is seeking the authority from Congress to transfer money from a separate community care account that holds approximately $2 billion. The VA secretary does not have the power to move the money between accounts.
Still, what makes all this worse is Congress let it get to the point where they are even talking about billions going to private providers instead of the care they were promised.
Here is a brief history of what veterans have had to deal with.
Richard and Vicki Wild of Hillsborough, N.C., said they were mystified when their son Mark’s disability claim was rejected. “We had 10 years’ worth of hospital records,” Mr. Wild said. Credit Jeremy M. Lange for The New York Times
Disability Cases Last Longer as Backlog Rises
"The agency's new plan to hire 150 new appeals judges to whittle down the backlog, which soared to 755,000 from 311,000 in 2000, will require $100 million more than the president requested this year and still more in the future.Yes, you read the dates right. There were 311,000 in the backlog before President Bush took office. By 2007 it was 755,000. By June of 2008 it was 879,291. It was taking 185 days to process a veteran's disability claim.
And then it was President Obama's turn. by June of his first year in office, the backlog was over 915,000.
Now, while we actually got a brief sense of relief this week with news that senior veterans were not going to be forced to pay for the "care" with massive cuts to their disability checks, we cannot go back to sleep. What they get away with today will be something all other generations will have to be face with if we do no nothing about any of this.
Aren't you tired of reading how veterans keep getting failed? Then start fighting back! Don't wait for all the service organizations to do the job for us. After all, the OEF and OIF generation are controlling the news through social media because everything we had to deal with was still hanging over our heads and no one cared but us.
UPDATE on something else in the news lately...
Everything old is still broken?
"House appropriators have provided $65 million in Fiscal Year 2018 funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs’ recently announced plans to switch its legacy electronic health record system to a commercial product from Cerner. However, the funds come with strings attached."So what did they get for the $6 Million and the other millions?
"VA announced June 5 that it plans to replace its decades-old legacy Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) records system with Cerner’s Millennium EHR, the same platform that the Department of Defense is currently implementing as part of Military Health System (MHS) Genesis."
Congressional Record, House October 6, 2000 "The demonstration project may be conducted at several multi-specialty tertiary-care military medical treatment facilities affiliated with a university medical school. One of such facilities shall be supported by at least 5 geographically dispersed remote clinics of the Departments of Army, Navy and Air Force, and clinics of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and a local university.
Col. Kirk R. Slaughter Killed in Boating Accident in Honolulu
Army Reserve colonel identified as victim in Hawaii fishing boat accident
STARS AND STRIPES
By WYATT OLSON
Published: June 16, 2017
FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii — The Army has identified Col. Kirk R. Slaughter, 49, as the soldier who died in a fishing boat accident in Hawaii Thursday morning.
The Honolulu Police Department, which is investigating the incident, has released few details about the death, which happened in Waianae Small Boat Harbor in northwest Oahu. Slaughter was pronounced dead at the scene by the medical examiner, the Army said.
“This appears to be a boating accident with no indications of foul play,” the police said in a statement.
Slaughter was the deputy commanding officer of operations at the 9th Mission Support Command and was based at Fort Shafter, Hawaii. He was originally from Lyons, Neb.
read more here
STARS AND STRIPES
By WYATT OLSON
Published: June 16, 2017
FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii — The Army has identified Col. Kirk R. Slaughter, 49, as the soldier who died in a fishing boat accident in Hawaii Thursday morning.
Kirk Slaughter was a man loved and adored by all who knew him, according to a gofundme page. Slaughter passed unexpectedly in a tragic boating accident on June 15, 2017, off the coast of Hawaii. GOFUNDME
The Honolulu Police Department, which is investigating the incident, has released few details about the death, which happened in Waianae Small Boat Harbor in northwest Oahu. Slaughter was pronounced dead at the scene by the medical examiner, the Army said.
“This appears to be a boating accident with no indications of foul play,” the police said in a statement.
Slaughter was the deputy commanding officer of operations at the 9th Mission Support Command and was based at Fort Shafter, Hawaii. He was originally from Lyons, Neb.
read more here
Friday, June 16, 2017
San Antonio Man Found Guilty of Defrauding Department of Veterans Affairs
Man guilty of defrauding Dept. of Veteran Affairs Disability Compensation Program
Mack Cole Jr., 54, faces 50 years in federal prison
SAN ANTONIO - A San Antonio man is facing federal prison time after a jury found him guilty Wednesday afternoon of scheming to defraud the Department of Veterans Affairs Disability Compensation Program.
The Department of Justice said Mack Cole Jr., 54, injured his lower back in a stateside training accident in 2004 prior to being deployed with the Kansas Army National Guard to Kosovo.
Cole was granted military retirement and later deemed eligible for monthly benefits as a retired disabled veteran, the DOJ said, but misrepresented the severity of his injuries in order to collect a higher level of benefits, adaptations to his residence and extensive durable medical equipment.
"No training in the world could get you ready" for coming home
So many times we ask "why" when something like this happens. The question we avoid all too often should be asking why is it still happening? How many more years will it take, how much more money will have to be spent, before we see the truth? How many times will we send them into combat because they are willing to die to save others, only to let them what it did to them alone?
And now the story of what happened along with the question that there may never be any answers to."Many times, the platoon set out at 2 a.m. and was in position by dawn, the call to prayer echoing across the desert. When prayer ended, the soldiers attacked. The 24-year-old rifleman’s job was to hunt down and kill the Taliban. He also carried the wounded on stretchers and collected corpses – arms, legs and heads – and put them on vehicles to take to an Afghan police station."“No training in the world could get you ready for that,” said Mr. Trotter.
This happened in Canada but it happens here too. It happens all over the world when we refuse to see that the men and women risk their lives because they care more than the rest of us do. Maybe that's the point. We care enough to write a check or pass something along on Facebook. The thing is, the participation trophy we get for doing something making us feel good isn't keeping them alive.
What happened to Lionel Desmond? An Afghanistan veteran whose war wouldn’t end
No one knows for sure why, 10 years after serving in Afghanistan, Lionel Desmond took a gun to his wife, his daughter, his mother and then himself. But an investigation byLindsay Jones sheds new light on the pressing need to better understand soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder – and to find ways to support them before it’s too late.
read the story here
Thursday, June 15, 2017
Missing USS Shiloah Ticonderoga Sailor Found...On Ship
UPDATE
US Navy loses sailor on ship for 7 days
CNN
By Zachary Cohen
June 15, 2017
read more here
Missing Navy sailor found in ship's engine room reportedly faces court-martial
Mims was reported missing June 8. The search was suspended on midnight June 11, but the crew of the Shiloh continued their search on board the vessel. The Japanese Coast Guard assisted in the search that combed more than 5,500 square miles of water off Japan.
US Navy loses sailor on ship for 7 days
CNN
By Zachary Cohen
June 15, 2017
The circumstances surrounding Mims' disappearance are under investigation and no additional details about his recovery were provided by the Navy. Mims will be transferred to the USS Ronald Reagan for a medical evaluation, according to the service.Washington (CNN)A US Navy sailor who was thought to have gone overboard seven days ago and was presumed dead has been found alive aboard the ship that reported him missing, the Navy announced Thursday.
PACIFIC OCEAN (May 25, 2017) Gas Turbine Systems Technician (Mechanical) 3rd Class Peter Mims poses for a photo.Petty Officer Peter Mims, a gas turbine systems technician on the USS Shiloah Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser, vanished on June 8 while the Shiloh was conducting routine operations 180 miles east of Okinawa, Japan as part of the USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike group.
read more here
Retired General McChrystal Reminds POTUS of Responsibility
Gen. McChrystal and former Navy SEAL on Afghanistan and leadership
CBS NEWS
June 15, 2017
The Trump administration may increase the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. This week, Defense Secretary James Mattis was granted authority to set those troop levels.
Asked about Mattis' new authority, retired four-star Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who commanded American and international forces in Afghanistan in 2009-2010, said it's "a good thing to empower subordinates who are closest to the problem to make decisions."
"But you don't abrogate responsibility," McChrystal said Thursday on "CBS This Morning." "So the president of the United States still has responsibility for those decisions, and the American people ultimately still have ownership of those decisions. … They may not agree going in, but when the policy is set, we all have the resolve to follow through."
McChrystal also said "it's hard to say" what the appropriate number of troops should be in Afghanistan, where the Taliban has once again been gaining ground.
"I'd certainly defer to what Jim Mattis and [Gen.] Mick Nicholson on the ground are recommending," McChrystal said. "But the question I think we need to ask ourselves is, if we send more troops and that doesn't solve the problem or make the change we hope, what will we do then? And that's a question that the nation needs to ask itself about its long-term aims and objectives in Afghanistan and what we're willing to devote to achieve it."
McChrystal served as commander of the Joint Special Operations Command and was tasked with re-imagining the battlefields of the Middle East. McChrystal outlined how he did it in his 2015 bestseller, "Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World."
read more here
CBS NEWS
June 15, 2017
The Trump administration may increase the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. This week, Defense Secretary James Mattis was granted authority to set those troop levels.
"But you don't abrogate responsibility," McChrystal said Thursday on "CBS This Morning." "So the president of the United States still has responsibility for those decisions, and the American people ultimately still have ownership of those decisions. … They may not agree going in, but when the policy is set, we all have the resolve to follow through."
McChrystal also said "it's hard to say" what the appropriate number of troops should be in Afghanistan, where the Taliban has once again been gaining ground.
"I'd certainly defer to what Jim Mattis and [Gen.] Mick Nicholson on the ground are recommending," McChrystal said. "But the question I think we need to ask ourselves is, if we send more troops and that doesn't solve the problem or make the change we hope, what will we do then? And that's a question that the nation needs to ask itself about its long-term aims and objectives in Afghanistan and what we're willing to devote to achieve it."
McChrystal served as commander of the Joint Special Operations Command and was tasked with re-imagining the battlefields of the Middle East. McChrystal outlined how he did it in his 2015 bestseller, "Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World."
read more here
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