Military Veteran From New London Missing Nearly Three Weeks, Friends Concerned
Police are currently searching for information regarding a New London man who has been missing for nearly three weeks. PATCH By RJ Scofield (Patch Staff) Sep 29, 2017
NEW LONDON, CT - Police said James Kozik, 31, of New London has been missing for approximately three weeks. His friend said he went for a walk one evening and never returned home, and anyone with information on his location is asked to contact police immediately.
According to his longtime friend, 30-year-old Cas McDonald, Kozik went for his nightly walk on September 8 but never returned home. She also said he left with only his phone on him, which he typically used to text his significant other, Kay Richards, when he would be home.
read more here
Civil War veteran finally laid to rest more than 100 years after his death
Kitsap Sun
Julianne Stanford Sept. 28, 2017
"When I picked that guy up, I had tears in my eyes. I was able to hold the cremains of a veteran of the Civil War, but I felt a great sense of sadness for all of the other unclaimed remains of people whose families hadn't come to get them."Jim Diamond
RETSIL -- More than 100 years after his death, a Civil War soldier was finally laid to rest with full military honors at the Washington Veterans Home at Retsil on Thursday.
Zachariah M. Stucker served as a musician and later as a private in the Union's 48th Illinois Infantry Regiment from 1861 to 1865. He was a resident at the veterans home from 1910 until his death in 1914 at the age of 69.
Stucker's remains were sent to Seattle for cremation after his death, but for unknown reasons they were never returned to Retsil. His remains sat in storage for decades until his name was discovered on a list of unclaimed remains at the Lake View Cemetery in Seattle by a volunteer with the Missing in America Project, which seeks to locate the unclaimed remains of veterans and provide burial services for them.
“What is really sad is that he has been missing for 103 years,” said Lourdes "Alfie” Alvarado-Ramos, director of the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs, during the ceremony. “That is 103 Memorial Days where nobody put a flag by his headstone. That is countless holidays, Christmases, where he didn’t get a wreath on his grave. But now, that’s over.”
Civil War historian Jim Dimond went to the Seattle cemetery last weekend to recover Stucker's remains and bring them back to Retsil.
"When I picked that guy up, I had tears in my eyes," Dimond said. "I was able to hold the cremains of a veteran of the Civil War, but I felt a great sense of sadness for all of the other unclaimed remains of people whose families hadn't come to get them." read more here
"Apparently it was the anniversary of a day on which something very bad happened to the Marine and his unit in Iraq, Hopkins said.As officers prepared to make contact with him he placed his military dress cap back on his head, put the car in gear and started driving toward the west exit of the parking lot."
With Greencastle City Police officers dutifully assembled Thursday afternoon for training on the new lifesaving equipment, they took time to honor a lifesaver of their own.
Banner Graphic/ERIC BERNSEE With the rest of the Greencastle Police Department assembled behind him, Police Chief Tom Sutherlin (left) presents an award for actions above and beyond the call of duty to Assistant Chief Brian Hopkins for his actions during a crisis situation on Aug. 17.
Assistant Chief Brian Hopkins was surprised with an award for going above and beyond the call of duty on Aug. 17, 2017.
Before settling into training on the new AED (automated external defibrillator), a portable electronic device that diagnoses and can correct arrhythmia of the heart, Chief Tom Sutherlin read a citation about Hopkins prepared by Capt. Charles Inman.
“I was surprised,” Hopkins said after the squad meeting was over.
He recalled how he had already gone to bed the night of Aug. 17 when the call came in concerning a possibly suicidal person, a medically retired Marine Corps veteran in full dress uniform.
The man’s fiancée told police the 36-year-old was suffering from severe PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and seemed intent upon taking his own life through “suicide by cop.”
While responding to the scene, Capt. Inman reported, “I contacted Assistant Chief Hopkins to advise him of the situation. Recognizing the seriousness of the call, Hopkins advised he would be en route from his residence to assist in the investigation.”
In fact, Hopkins was up and out in no time.
“I’m one of those people,” he said, “who prepares everything,” laying out his clothes and all the night before.
Local Soldier gets special surprise before deployment
WQAD News 8
Jenna Morton
September 29, 2017
They got "IGY6" tattooed, a permanent symbol that they have his back.
DAVENPORT - Today the Iowa National Guard had a send-off for its largest, single unit deployment since 2010.
Send-off ceremonies were held at several locations, including Muscatine, Davenport, Waterloo, and Boone.
Around 400 soldiers of the 248th Aviation support Battalion will head to Fort Hood, Texas for additional training before assignment to overseas locations.
One of those soldiers is Michael Novitske, from Davenport.
His family will tell you the goodbyes never get easier.
"It`s our second but our first with kids so it`s going to be extra hard," said Michael's wife Kaylee.
The Iowa Army National Guard facility in Davenport was packed with people to say goodbye.
However, for Michael's family and friend's actions speak louder than words. Michael's family and his church family went out and got matching tattoos. read more here
Vietnam Veterans Left Behind
Combat PTSD Wounded Times Kathie Costos September 30, 2017 Last day of Suicide Awareness Month and it was pretty much the same as all other years. Numbers only mattered to those seeking attention, but not seeking to change the conversation to helping them find something worth living for. Most of the suicides are tied to PTSD because they felt hopelessness. They no longer believed one more day would be worth one more try. About a year ago, a woman stood up during a group meeting. I had known her for many years. She said that there were 22 veterans a day killing themselves. Then she went on to say that she was going to do something about it. I was sitting there, stunned by the slap on the face she had delivered to me after over three decades of actually doing the work to save lives. It is almost as if she woke up one day and thought that she was the only one to attempt to change the outcome. Stunningly, she had not thought to learn one thing about anything other than the headline she latched onto.
There is a lot of that going on all over the country. Folks read a headline, but won't read the actual report the number came from. The woman told me that all I talk about are Vietnam veterans. Yep, never one bothered to read my site.
While it is true that I do focus more on Vietnam Veterans, she didn't have a clue. So here is my confession about my magnificent obsession.
Thirty-five years ago, I fell in love with a Vietnam veteran. Thirty-three years ago today, I became his wife. Whatever I know about PTSD and our veterans, I learned because I loved him first.
Learning about why he was so different from my Dad and Uncles, all veterans, I discovered the term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at the library. I had to read clinical books with a dictionary. I did not set out to turn this into a lifetime vocation. I just wanted to know what I was getting into before I had fallen too deeply in love. The more I learned, the more I knew, there was no turning back.
These veteran are so different from any other generation. They came home to a nation where they were not welcomed or wanted. To families not wanting to hear their voices or ask a single question. They were told to "just get over it" and get on with their lives.
What they turned around and did, has changed the world. They fought for all the research on PTSD and made the government acknowledge this wounded of war all other generations had come home with, was in fact, their responsibility.
Because of this, civilians ended up reaping what healing they had begun. Mental Health centers, Crisis Intervention Teams, the list goes on, are due to their struggles during the 70's and 80's when no one wanted them around.
In 1978 the DAV commissioned a study called the Forgotten Warrior Project. Everything we know about combat and PTSD, came from what these veterans fought for, yet once again, they have been forgotten.
As the woman did not know anything she pretended to care about, the fact is, far too many have the same attitude.
Vietnam veterans, and other veterans over the age of 50, are 65% of the veterans committing suicide in this nation everyday, but you wouldn't know that if you listen to all the folks running around the country raising awareness, while these veterans are stunned to discover once again, they simply don't matter enough to count.
The truth is, far too many veterans don't really count because too many want to count what they cannot see. The CDC knows how many Americans commit suicide, or at least come close to the number, but they do not know how many are in fact, veterans. States like California and Illinois did not have military service on their death certificates, so they did not get counted. The CDC did not know they were there. They only knew those lives ended by suicide but not suicide after risking their lives for others.
I care about all veterans but my beloved Vietnam veterans are suffering still in silence. It isn't that they are not screaming for help. It is because the nation has once again turned deaf to what they want to tell.
As they face retirement, so many decades after coming home, raising families, working jobs and contributing to society, they are discovering PTSD had not left them unharmed. It was simply sleeping while they got too busy to notice.
Yet, what do all the suicide activist-stunt-publicity hawks do? They delude the public into thinking they are the ones to do something about it. The conversation in the Veterans community is that these people are repulsive. Worse, is when it is a veteran doing the awareness raising, because it is a betrayal by one of their own.
This is one of the first videos I did on PTSD because of what I learned from Vietnam veterans. After 35 years, they were first in my heart and they will never be last on my list!
VA providing support to Veterans in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria
VAntage Point
September 22, 2017
In the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, VA announced today that it continues to provide vital health care and other support to displaced Veterans in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI).
In Puerto Rico where electricity was knocked out by Hurricane Maria, the San Juan VA Medical Center — currently operating on generator power and staffed by 800 employees — is providing health care for 338 inpatients, with primary care and mental health services available for walk-in patients.
“We have been in constant contact with VA Caribbean Healthcare System leadership in San Juan and are sending relief resources to the VA medical center as soon as possible through available transportation assets,” said VA press secretary Curt Cashour. “Along with hurricane-hardened construction standards, the San Juan VAMC has enough fuel, water and other supplies to last at least seven days, if not more.”
Since Hurricane Maria also damaged communication systems, such as cellular phone towers and telephone landlines, VA officials have been monitoring the VA Caribbean Facebook page, and responding to family requests for status of both patients and staff.
Meanwhile, all community clinics, including Vet Centers in Puerto Rico and USVI, have been closed until further notice. Patients with appointments will be contacted as soon as possible to reschedule. Veterans Benefits Administration offices are also closed. VA national cemeteries in Puerto Rico are also temporarily closed.
VA is also coordinating standby personnel to deploy in the event they are needed, along with mobile shelters for use as sleeping quarters, as well as mobile medical units, which can be used to augment medical services in the area.
VA teams will begin damage assessments as soon as it is safe to do so and travel routes are clear. Once assessments are complete, officials will share information about when VA clinics will be operational.
The following resources are available for Veterans and employees impacted by the hurricanes:
VA Employee Accountability hotline for staff to report their status and safety: 866-233-0152
VISN 8 TelCare 24/7 hotline to assist Veterans with health-care advice and information, to include facility status updates and emergency prescription refill information: 877-741-3400
Widow of Vietnam veteran worries she'll be alone for his funeral
KOAA News
Alasyn Zimmerman
September 28, 2017
When Ute Belasco's husband Roman passed away, she felt a series of emotions. From sadness, loneliness, and even anger- she wasn't sure where to turn.
'It's like your brain dies for a while," said Belasco.
Roman, a Vietnam veteran served in the United States military for 20 years. Belasco remembers those years fondly.
With nowhere to turn and unsure of what to do, she did know one thing: 'I knew he needed the honor,' said Belasco.
With no family and not many friends, Belasco worried she would be all alone for her husband's funeral.
Luckily, her neighbor reached out to some veterans services in hopes she would be alone and would have the support of some of his fellow veterans.
'We can't let a veteran down, we really need[ed] to help," said Cynthia Galvin.
Galvin is with the Veterans of Foreign Wars, she says when she heard Belasco's story it was tough news to hear. "We have a saying, never leave a comrade behind, so we had to go and help," said Galvin.
read more here "The funeral will take place on Saturday, September 30th." If my work has done anything for you over these years, then please give me an anniversary gift. Tomorrow is my anniversary with my husband. She is burying her's. Please show up for this widow and honor the love she had for her husband!
Decorated Army Vet Sues Florida Supreme Court and Florida Board of Examiners for Violating Americans with Disabilities Act
Daily Business Review
Monika Gonzalez Mesa
September 28, ,2017
His numerous medals and commendations include three bronze stars. After 10 years of service, Hobbs separated from the military while seeking custody of his son.
As a result of three tours of duty, Hobbs lives with adjustment disorders with mixed anxiety, depressed mood and alcohol use disorder, according to the complaint.
Julius Hobbs.
Courtesy photo
A decorated U.S. Army veteran has sued the Florida Supreme Court and the Florida Board of Bar Examiners under the Americans with Disabilities Act, seeking an end to demands for detailed medical documentation of bar applicants' mental health history and additional psychiatric examinations based on a history of disability.
The attorney for former U.S. Army Company Commander Julius Hobbs argues that investigations based on psychiatric counseling history prevent people from seeking help, and instead says investigations should be prompted by negative behaviors that demonstrate unfitness to practice law.
"Our initial goal is to have them stop requesting documentation and information involving history of mental health or treatment of substance abuse," said Hobbs' attorney Matthew Dietz, director of the Disability Independence Group. "If a person has voluntarily sought help, that is something that should be encouraged—not create additional barriers to becoming a lawyer."
Hobbs, who according to the complaint maintains a 3.63 grade point average at Western Michigan University Cooley School of Law in Tampa, Florida, applied to the Florida Bar his first year of law school in 2016. read more here
We don't know how many lives are claimed by PTSD caused by combat. What we do know is that when the end comes as "suicide by cop" they won't be counted at all.
Family, friends mourn Valley veteran's death after he was fatally shot by police
ABC 15 News
Melissa Blasius
September 28, 2017
PHOENIX - Friends and family will bury a Valley veteran Friday at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona, one week after he was fatally shot by police.
ABC15 is learning more about 28-year-old Scott Farnsworth. His mom, Pat, says the Army veteran served in Iraq and medically retired because of severe PTSD and traumatic brain injuries.
"He's so compassionate, so kind, and he's been that that way since he was a little boy," Pat said.
Family members said they tried and failed to get Scott proper medical and mental health care at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
"They bleed red, white, and blue, and we do nothing except say, "Oh, how tragic," Pat Farnsworth said.
Mesa police say officers shot Scott Farnsworth after he pointed a gun at them, while in the area of Crismon Road and Southern Avenue Friday night.
They are nicknamed "pills with four legs" -- highly-trained dogs helping ex-Australian military veterans overcome the mental scars of war.
Australia's servicemen and women have in recent times been posted to danger zones in Iraq, East Timor, and Afghanistan -- the nation's longest-running military conflict.
With some undertaking multiple tours of duty, psychologists are concerned traditional treatment such as counselling do not sufficiently address the trauma of combat.
"I lost my home, my marriage," Ken Lloyd, an experienced former special forces commando who has battled severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), told AFP.
"Thankfully I am still in contact with my sons, thankfully I'm better," he added.
The Afghan veteran found he was able to better understand PTSD symptoms, such as anxiety and anger, when he began training his pet labrador Jaeger to help him with tasks. read more here
