Corporal William Draughon in his Marine Corps Blue Dress uniform.
DONALD AND LAURIE DRAUGHON
During his hospitalization at the Kansas City VA, Draughon had been flagged as being at high risk for suicide. Although no risk assessment was done, on Dec. 2, 2009, exactly 90 days later, a suicide prevention coordinator at the hospital removed the high-risk flag from his electronic medical records without explanation. No clinical assessment had been done.
The VA breached its own standards of care by removing Draughon from the high-risk list for suicides, Judge Julie Robinson concluded after a weeks-long bench trial.You can read more of this story here. The truth is, it could have been any son, daughter, father, mom, husband or wife it happened to. The other truth is, it is still happening. Not just with this generation of veterans. It happened 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago and longer. We just ran out of excuses 40 years ago when the US government invested billions researching what war did and how to treat them for this inner wound.
Instead, with four months left in his second Middle East deployment Burke started smoking marijuana given to him and other members of his unit by friendly Afghan police. It helped him sleep. Five months after the near-suicide, he was out of the Marines, with a less-than-honorable discharge, often called “bad paper.”
Thomas Burke, a Marine Corp’s veteran who received a less-than-honorable discharge, appears before the Veterans Affairs Committee of the General Assembly on Tuesday, March 6, 2018 at the State Capitol in Hartford, Conn. Burke asked state lawmakers to allow those whose with mental-health issues to gain some benefits from which they are currently prohibited.HARTFORD — What pushed Thomas Burke to the edge that night on the river bank in Afghanistan with his gun in his mouth, was the blood and broken, scattered children’s corpses.
Photo: Ken Dixon / Hearst Connecticut Media
A willingness to assume new rolesOne of the first women to serve, had to be crossdressers.
"During the Civil War, women stepped into many nontraditional roles. Many women supported the war effort as nurses and aides, while others took a more upfront approach and secretly enlisted in the Army or served as spies and smugglers. Women were forced to adapt to the vast social changes affecting the nation, and their ability and willingness to assume these new roles helped shape the United States."
"Deborah Sampson wore men’s clothes, served as a man, fought like a man and was wounded. After she died, her husband received 'widow’s pension.'"Yes, you read that right. Her husband collected her pension as a "widow" instead of the other way around.
"Nancy Morgan Hart, did more than that. She dressed in men’s clothing and pretended to be a crazy man. She was a spy for the Patriots against British forces."Still Margaret Corbin wore a dress as she helped her husband load the cannon. When he was killed in battle, she replaced him and fired the cannon. Congress awarded her pension in 1779 for her service and being a disabled veteran. It also made her the first servicewoman in the Army.
WALKER, DR. MARY E.Yes, you read that right too! She was a POW.
Rank and organization: Contract Acting Assistant Surgeon (civilian), U. S. Army
Places and dates: Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861; Patent Office Hospital, Washington, D.C., October 1861; Chattanooga, Tenn., following Battle of Chickamauga, September 1863; Prisoner of War, April 10, 1864-August 12, 1864, Richmond, Va.; Battle of Atlanta, September 1864
Entered service at: Louisville, Ky.
Citation: Whereas it appears from official reports that Dr. Mary E. Walker, a graduate of medicine, "has rendered valuable service to the Government, and her efforts have been earnest and untiring in a variety of ways," and that she was assigned to duty and served as an assistant surgeon in charge of female prisoners at Louisville, Ky., upon the recommendation of Major-Generals Sherman and Thomas, and faithfully served as contract surgeon in the service of the United States, and has devoted herself with much patriotic zeal to the sick and wounded soldiers, both in the field and hospitals, to the detriment of her own health, and has also endured hardships as a prisoner of war four months in a Southern prison while acting as contract surgeon; and Whereas by reason of her not being a commissioned officer in the military service, a brevet or honorary rank cannot, under existing laws, be conferred upon her; and Whereas in the opinion of the President an honorable recognition of her services and sufferings should be made: It is ordered, That a testimonial thereof shall be hereby made and given to the said Dr. Mary E. Walker, and that the usual medal of honor for meritorious services be given her. Given under my hand in the city of Washington, D.C., this 11th day of November, A.D. 1865. Andrew Johnson, President (Medal rescinded 1917 along with 910 others, restored by President Carter 10 June 1977.)
Given under my hand in the city of Washington, D.C., this 11th day of November, A.D. 1865.
1953 - Staff Sergeant Barbara Olive Barnwell First female Marine to be awarded the Navy and Marine Corps medal for heroism for saving a fellow Marine from drowning in the Atlantic Ocean in 1952.
1967 - Master Sergeant Barbara Jean Dulinsky first woman Marine to serve in a combat zone in Vietnam. She was assigned to U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam combat operations center in Saigon.
1973 - Colonel Mary E Bane, first female to become Commanding Officer of Headquarters and Service Battallion, Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton.The Marines,
Margaret A. Brewer became the first female Marine general when she was promoted to brigadier general in 1978 and made the director of public affairs. Fifteen years later, in 1993, 2nd Lt. Sarah Deal became the first female Marine to be accepted into Naval aviation training. Five years later, in 1998, Carol A. Mutter became the first woman in any service branch to achieve three-star status when she was promoted to lieutenant general. Prior to the promotion, Mutter had been in command of the 3rd Force Service Support Group in Okinawa, the first woman to command a Fleet Marine Force unit at the flag level.
Loretta Walsh: First Woman to Enlist in NavyLoretta Perfectus Walsh was the first woman to enlist in the U.S. Navy (March 17, 1917) and the first woman to reach the rank of chief petty officer. This opportunity also made her the first woman to serve in a non-nursing capacity in any branch of the armed forces.
Answering the call 1862
In 1862, Sisters of the Holy Cross served aboard USS Red Rover, the Navy’s first hospital ship, joining a crew of 12 officers, 35 enlisted, and others supporting medical care. Red Rover remained the only hospital ship in the Navy until the Spanish-American War.
And you can read more here
Over 11,000 Navy nurses served at naval shore commands, on hospital ships, at field hospitals, in airplanes, and on 12 hospital ships. Lieutenant Ann Bernatitus, Navy Nurse Corps, escapes from the Philippines just before the Japanese invaded; she later becomes the first recipient of the Legion of Merit award. Eleven Navy Nurses were prisoners of war in the Philippines from 1941 to 1945; they received the Bronze Star for their heroism.
In 1948, President Truman signed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, which allowed women to enlist directly in the military. That same year, the U.S. Air Force let the first female members into its ranks. The first recruit to the Women in the Air Force (known as WAF) was Esther Blake, who enlisted on the first day it was possible for women to do so—65 years ago today. The first commissioner of the WAF was Geraldine Pratt May, who was the first Air Force woman to become a colonel.
Today, the top-ranking woman in the Air Force is Lieutenant General Janet Wolfenbarger, the first female four-star general in Air Force history. According to the Air Force, women make up just 9.1 percent of the general officer ranks. There are only four female lieutenant generals, twelve major generals and eleven brigadier generals.
"This came about after we lost Jerry," said Morgan, who also heads the family business and farm in Tennessee. "I knew it was important that the family not try to suffer individually, that we needed to share our anger, hurt and pain, and stay focused on God.CLEVELAND, Ohio - Craig Morgan likes to take risks. Kind of the thing you'd expect from a guy who was a forward observer in the field artillery for almost 10 years on active duty and another six in the Reserves in the Army, then quit to pursue a music career.
Craig Morgan, the former soldier-turned-country singer best known for "Redneck Yacht Club'' and "That's What I Love About Sundays,'' is at Medina's Thirsty Cowboy on Friday, March 9.(Christopher T. Martin)"I had an opportunity to write for a publishing company and I thought it would be a good experience," said Morgan in a call to his place on 50 acres in Alaska's Mat-Su Valley, north of Anchorage. "I wanted to be able to say at least I tried it."
A soldier since 1995, Morgan was twice attached to the famous 101st Airborne "Screaming Eagles" as well as the equally well-known 82nd Airborne Division, the "All American Division," the unit in which World War I Medal of Honor winner Alvin York served.
read more here
In 2011, Michael Breen and James Veth died of PTSD-related causes. In the ensuing years, their mothers became friends bonded by grief and a goal — to help local veterans and their families. “There are so many proud moms and so many heartache moms as well, and that’s what Patricia and I are trying to prevent,” Dailey said. “We don’t want parents or families to go through the after part.”
The Dwyer Project is not a part of the governor’s budget. For the past two years the Senate has reallocated funds to provide Dwyer with $3.1 million annually, which amounts to a minimum of $185,000 for each county chapter. Adding the Dwyer project to the state budget would save this reallocation step and provide a permanent source of funding for the project.
Sen. Joe Addabbo, D-Ozone Park, wants to double that figure by adding $6 million to the budget to continue to grow the Dwyer Program into the five boroughs of New York City.
“[The project] has a proven track record,” Addabbo said. “When it comes to veterans there is no place for politics.”read more here
A 3-year-old chocolate lab and tactical explosives detector dog chews on a tennis ball at the National Training Center on Fort Irwin, Calif., in 2012. (Sgt. Christopher M. Gaylord/Army)The Defense Department’s inspector general has determined that, after the program ended in 2014, some soldiers struggled or were unable to adopt the dogs they had handled.
