Deputy Proved Saving Veteran's Life Takes More Than Moments

Deputy’s action saves veteran’s life

Grand Lake News
By Darin Hinman
Posted Dec 13, 2017

Delaware County Sheriff's Deputy Cody Thompson receives challenge coin from Mark Morgan, Director of the Muskogee VA 
Darin Hinman Delaware County Journal

In all, Thompson spent a combined 15 hours helping the man, and ultimately encouraging him to seek out treatment. Thompson assisted the veteran to develop a treatment plan and followed up not only with the man, but also with his family.

Law enforcement officers make critical decisions every day, some with life and death consequences. One decision, made with compassion, by Delaware County Sheriff’s Deputy Cody Thompson Cody Thompson not only made a difference but saved the life of a veteran in need. 

Earlier this year, Thompson was sent to conduct a welfare check for a veteran, living in Delaware County, who called the veteran’s crisis line.

Thompson, who served in the U.S. Army from 2010 to 2016 as a combat engineer and spend time deployed to Afghanistan, took the time to ensure the man was treated properly during their encounter.

“He needed the help,” Thompson said. “He just wanted to sit and talk. It felt like the right thing to do.” read more here

Tallahassee Fallen Firefighter Died Day After Birthday

Veteran Tallahassee firefighter Jeffery Atkinson dies on duty
Tallahassee Democrat
December 15, 2017

A 17-year veteran of the Tallahassee Fire Department died overnight Thursday while on duty.

The death of Engineer Jeffery Atkinson was not related to any of the fires fought by the department Thursday, a TFD spokeswoman said. Firefighters had responded to blazes at the International Book Mine on Gaines Street and at a home on Fermanagh Circle in Killearn Estates.

"Engineer Atkinson has served the citizens of Tallahassee and Leon County for over 17 years and he will be greatly missed," a statement released by TFD Friday morning said. "Please extend your thoughts and prayers to his wife, daughter and family during this difficult time."

Atkinson death came just a day after his 43rd birthday.
read more here

Airman Found Dead at Joint Base Lewis-McChord

Air Force investigating death of airman found in dorm

Associated Press

December 14, 2017

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Authorities are investigating the death of an airman found in his dorm at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma.

The Air Force announced that Airman Cody Watt was found dead Tuesday just after noon.

read more here

Press Continues False Advertising of "22 a day" Veteran Suicides

It is harder to not be angry when you see this number showing up all the time.  

"It's hard not to be angry, it's hard not to be angry because it happens 22 times a day, 22 times a day," said Cochran.

If reporters do not know enough to even correct something that important, it is doubtful they will even consider what else they got wrong...and try to change the outcome.

Here is the headline that should be called false advertising.

News 13 Investigates: Fighting Veteran Suicide

It's a staggering statistic: more veterans are dying from suicide than on the battlefield. (Photo credit: Patty Best)

Here is something else,

Rep. McHenry says just last month, they passed the National Defense Authorization Act which requires mental health exams for active service members once a year. 

"We created a yearly mental health screen for those in active duty. That will give the VA a better baseline to work with for those out of the military now," said Rep. McHenry. 

More BS because they passed bills and more bills going back to 2007 that were supposed to save lives and encourage service members and veterans to seek help.

This is from the Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Act signed by President Bush in 2007

Family education and outreachThe program shall include programs of outreach to, and education for, veterans and families of veterans (including, in particular, veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom and the families of such veterans) in order to assist the family members of veterans in—

(A)

eliminating or overcoming stigmas associated with mental illness;

(B)

understanding issues that arise in the readjustment of veterans to civilian life;

(C)

identifying signs and symptoms of mental health problems; and

(D)

encouraging veterans to seek assistance for such problems.

But going back even more years is this,

Postdeployment ScreeningThe Department of Defense (DoD) elected to use postdeployment screening to identify military members who may need mental health services.  Postdeployment screening became mandatory in 1997, with the creation of the Postdeployment Health Assessment (PDHA) occurring soon after. The PDHA is a two part process consisting of mental and physical health screening questions completed proximal to return from a deployment and a face-to-face encounter with a medical provider (e.g., not a mental health provider) who reviews the results and makes referrals

So how about we end the farce that any of this is new or the press cares enough to even look up the facts! 

USS Kirk to evacuate 30,000 refugees and one met veteran

Vietnam veteran, refugee connect 42 years after famed rescue mission

Monroe Journal

John Ward

December 13, 2017

Amory surgeon Dr. Hoat Hoang shakes hands with Vietnam War veteran David Burlison Sr. of Quincy after the two meet for the first time. Burlison was a sailor who served on a mission to rescue 30,000 refugees after the fall of Saigon, and Hoang was one of the ones saved.

AMORY – As small of a world as it is, two Monroe Countians reconnected recently more than 40 years after they ironically had the same memorable life experience half a world away. Vietnam veteran David Burlison, Sr. of Quincy was on a U.S. Navy mission on the USS Kirk to evacuate 30,000 refugees after the fall of Saigon. One of those refugees was a 6-year-old boy who grew up to be a practicing surgeon in Amory – Dr. Hoat Hoang.

“There had been stories of South Vietnam losing ground to its neighboring communist country for years,” Hoang said. “It wasn’t until the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon had fallen into the hands of the North Vietnamese that all hope was lost. Upon hearing the news, my father quickly gathered my mother and three siblings, along with our immediate family members and fled our homeland that very day. My father was in his 30s at the time, and I was the second of four children ranging from 8 years old to a young infant. My father knew that he could not live under the new communist regime, and though fleeing his home country was heart wrenching, there weren’t any other options.”
read more here

Veterans Charity Raises Millions to Help Who?

Ok! If you want to know how much BS is floating around as "acceptable" in other words, the guy isn't even ashamed to say this;

“There is no group that I know of that does what we do, educate and advocate for 21 million American Veterans,” he wrote. His small staff accomplishes this, he said, through a “massive bipartisan program” of phone, fax, email and snail-mail contact with more than 500 candidates for Congress; an “earned media machine” that generates attention through news releases; and the publication of the Veterans Vision newsletter once every two years."

Safe bet you learned a hell of a lot more reading this site every day...and I do it alone for free! Plus do you think he can top over 28,000 posts almost everyday for the last ten years on this site alone? Hmm, does over 3.5 million hits count?

Gee do you think he should have actually checked to see what was being done before he made such a stupid statement while defending what he thought he deserved?

(WOW, I need a drink and signing off for now.)

Veterans Charity Raises Millions to Help Those Who’ve Served. But Telemarketers Are Pocketing Most of It.

Politico

By SARAH KLEINER

December 13, 2017

Meanwhile, Hampton’s reported compensation quadrupled — to $340,126 between his two nonprofits in 2015 — in less than a decade.

The warning was prophetic. 

Maurice Levite sat in a modest office in Falls Church, Virginia, about a decade ago, and cautioned his longtime friend, Brian Arthur Hampton, against continuing to use telemarketers to fund his small veterans charity. 

With the help of his fundraisers-for-hire, Hampton had increased Circle of Friends for American Veterans’ income by an astounding amount — tenfold within three years. 

But there was a catch — a costly one. The fundraisers were keeping most of the contributions donors were giving to the charity. Almost all of the money left over paid for overhead costs, such as Hampton’s salary. Veterans themselves received scraps. 

Hampton’s veterans operation is hardly alone. Telemarketer Outreach Calling has contracted with at least a dozen other charities — two of which have been shut down by New York regulators — and keeps an average of 90 percent of the money it raises for them, according to state government records. And other veterans groups, such as the Wounded Warrior Project, have recently endured scandals surrounding their spending.

read more here 

A lot of charities have to use fundraisers or they close their doors. This is an example of what can go wrong when folks have the best intentions and write checks before looking twice.

Homeless Veteran Escaped Fire But Has Nothing Left

Homeless vet in hospital after barely making it out of burning building
WTOL 11 News
December 13, 2017

“I got nowhere to go for emergency purposes. Nowhere. I just lost everything. All my clothes, everything. I got nothing more, nothing.”

TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) 

A veteran is now homeless and in the hospital after barely making it out of a burning building in central Toledo Wednesday morning.

The fire occurred on Palmwood Avenue near Collingwood Avenue around 2:30 a.m.

Crews say they arrived to find the building totally engulfed, with flames shooting out of the windows and roof of the building.

Homeless veteran Rex Davis says he and about seven other people were squatting inside the building when the fire started.

Davis said the blaze started when an ember from the fireplace caught a mattress on fire.

“I opened up the fireplace and something popped out and landed on the mattress and burned it up. I crawled out from the basement. I couldn’t see,” he said.

read more here 

Marine Collecting Toys for Tots Bags Shoplifter

Marine Corps veteran stops Texas shoplifter

WTHR 13 News

December 13, 2017

PLANO, Texas (WTHR) - Marines collecting toys for children outside a north Texas Walmart did not hesitate to stop a shoplifter last weekend.

Even in his dress blues and slippery patent leather shoes, Nathan Hanson managed to chase down the suspect.

"I fell on my face when I got over there. And then I got up and I yelled at him, 'You're not getting away, I'm going to catch you!'" Hanson recalled.

In a photo snapped at the scene, Hanson had lost his hat, but got his man.

read more here

The life you need to save this time is yours

A Battle You Earned the Right to Win
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 12, 2017


You trained hard to be ready for wherever you would have to go.

Readiness Reach Airman 1st Class Brian Piperato low-crawls through an obstacle during a readiness assessment at Camp Blanding, Fla., Dec. 7, 2017, aimed at preparing airmen for the Army Air Assault School curriculum. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Daniel Snider

You prepared to be able to do whatever it would take to do your job.

Rappel Readiness A Marine rappels down a cliff during the 3rd Marine Division Annual Squad Competition in Okinawa, Japan, Dec. 4, 2017. The squad competition determines which of four units is the fittest for combat. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Desmond Martin

You did your best to stay calm as well as courageous.

Blue Wings A member of the Air Force’s Wings of Blue Parachute Demonstration Team jumps out of an aircraft during the opening ceremony of Aviation Nation 2017 Nellis Air and Space Expo at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Nov. 10, 2017. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Kevin Tanenbaum 

But as you fought like hell to stay alive when you were deployed, 

Viewing the WallMarines enrolled in the Marine Corps University’s Sergeants Course view the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., Nov. 3, 2017, during a motivational run with Army Command Sgt. Maj. John W. Troxell, the senior enlisted advisor to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. DoD photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Dominique A. Pineiro 

what made you think you should not fight hell to stay alive afterwards?

Was it something someone said or was it something you told yourself?

Did you tell yourself to forget the reason you joined the military in the first place? You know. The part where you decided life mattered so much to you that you were willing to die for someone else?

Did you think about going back home to your family and friends? Did you think that part of you had changed? Well, partly right. Change happens with everyday humans live. The thing is, who we are does not change with "how" we are.

You brought back a battle with you, only not the one you thought you'd ever have to fight. It is a battle of you against you.

In combat, you were not alone because no one wins a war alone. Same thing back home. No one wins when you decide to fight this one by yourself. 

Besides how many times did you say something and hear someone else say the same thing? Need help, then ask for it. Safe bet someone you know needs it too.

Give yourself a Christmas gift this year and take back your life. Stop giving PTSD the power it does not deserve. It did not defeat you when "it" hit you.

You already earned the right to win this battle!

Veteran Crisis Group Doing Work--Including Packing?

Move clouds future for North Las Vegas veteran-aid group
Las Vegas Review Journal
By Kailyn Brown
December 12, 2017

“(We moved to a living and work space) because we wanted to be accessible,” Kelisiha said. “Crisis doesn’t (happen during) banking hours, so normally when veterans have an issue, it is after hours.”

A 24-hour operation aimed at helping to prevent suicide among veterans via therapy and social activities may have to shut its doors after 2 1/2 years, during its busiest time of the year. 

The owners of Forgotten Not Gone, disabled Air Force veterans Peter and Kelishia Guidry, received notice in November to move out of their Clayton Park living and office space near Clayton Street and Gowan Road, where they say they have served 2,500 veterans this year. 

Arik Raiter, a part-owner and manager of Clayton Park, said he originally gave them until Dec. 22 to move but granted their request for a 30-day extension — required by law if someone being displaced is disabled.

Now the Guidrys are looking for a location where they can both live and work — preferably in North Las Vegas, where many of their clients reside.

The move is problematic for them because of their physical limitations, they said, as well as for the veterans they serve. Veterans have 24/7 access to the Forgotten Not Gone headquarters, where they can talk through issues with the Guidrys and go on weekend tricycle rides aimed at helping with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Michael Betts, who regularly visited Forgotten Not Gone for a few years before moving to Virginia, said the organization set itself apart.

“They are truly there 24/7 and they have never closed their doors on me, whether it’s been two, three or four in the morning. They’re truly here. … Their sole purpose for doing this is to get veterans out of the house,” he said.
read more here