God was not finished: Vietnam veteran brings lifesaving clean water to Kenyans St. Louis Post Dispatch Marketing content contributor by Lori Rose 6 hrs ago
Between 2008 and 2014, Hutchings’ Shoeman Water Projects collected and sold four million pounds of shoes and dug more than 300 wells in Kenya, providing clean water to thousands.
George Hutchings nearly gave his life on the battlefield in Vietnam. Now he’s in the business of providing life-giving clean water to people who thirst.
Not to mention shoes, medical supplies, food and schools.
Hutchings, 69, has been the force behind several charities that work around the world. His most recent project, The Aqua Effect, recently dug a well through hard African granite to provide access to clean drinking water in a remote village in Kenya.
Hutchings was a high school student from Southeast Missouri when he joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1967. While serving in Vietnam in 1968 he was severely injured, earning a Purple Heart.
Shot three times in the hip when he and his men were ambushed, he lay on the battlefield, playing dead and praying to God.
“Three people in front of me were killed, and a couple behind me,” he said. “I’m laying out in no man’s land, they were shooting over my head, and I said ‘God, if you’ll get me out of here, I’ll live for you the rest of my life.’”
Sgt. Hutchings was sitting in a muddy foxhole trying to wring out his socks when a superior directed him to collect drinking water from a nearby stream. Before he could get his boots back on, a buddy volunteered to go in his place. Moments later, that buddy was struck in the chest by enemy rocket fire. read more here
Marine Veteran Credits Operation Delta Dog With Helping Him WBZ 4 News By Katie Brace April 7, 2018
HOLLIS, N.H. (CBS) – Just leaving the house was scary and overwhelming for Massachusetts veteran Brian Callahan – until he found Maggie.
“She’s been a life-saver,” Callahan said of his beloved service dog during an interview with WBZ-TV at his Dracut, Mass. home.
As an active duty Marine, Lance Corporal Callahan served three overseas deployments.
It costs Operation Delta Dog $25,000 to train, house and prepare each dog before they go to their new forever home with a veteran.
But the four-legged therapist costs the veteran nothing.
“It’s made it 100 times better,” said Alisha Callahan of the help that her husband’s service dog, Maggie, has given to him and their family.
Maggie is a calming force for the Marine veteran, by waking him up before a night terror and staying vigilant when they go out so he can relax.
“She’s given back my family. I get to go out with the kids,” Brian Callahan said.
The family even accomplished a trip that once seemed impossible: a trip to Disney World. read more here
More than my love could give PTSD Patrol Kathie Costos April 8, 2018
"Combat should never be easier than coming home to you!" Kathie Costos
For The Love of Jack, His War My Battle originally published in 2003 because I tried to warn people about what was coming into their lives. PTSD! It was republished in 2013 because too many thought their love alone would be able to heal them. Love has to be strong enough to do whatever it takes to help them heal! Stop making excuses for what you fail to do. We lose more after combat than we do during it. Wars end and they come home but that battle lasts a lifetime! We have to be trained to win it for them!
The battle to save the lives of combat veterans is not lost and it is not new. 18 veterans and more than one active duty service member take their own lives each day. More attempt it.Kathie Costos is not just a Chaplain helping veterans and their families, not just a researcher, she lives with it everyday. Combat came home with her Vietnam veteran husband and they have been married for 28 years.She remembers what it was like to feel lost and alone.Everything you read in the news today about PTSD is in this book originally published in 2002 to serve as a guide to healing as well as a warning of what was coming for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.
Helping vets is soldier’s mission Daily News Miner Keith Kurber II 2 hrs ago
"It’s time to lighten your rucksack, friend. It’s time to get found."
Keith Kurber II
FAIRBANKS — As a career soldier, everything I did for the military was based on a mission statement. It didn’t matter whether it were a peacetime training exercise or a wartime operation, the mission gave us the “who, what, where, when and why” of our task. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus Christ provided his mission statement and it reads like this: “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10, New American Standard Bible). Because I am a follower of Jesus, his mission becomes mine. Wherever I go, I am to seek out and save the lost.
The seeking part of the mission seems fairly straightforward; it means I am out and about, looking for those who need to be saved. The idea of saving is also an uncomplicated notion, as long as I don’t forget that what saves somebody is pointing them to Jesus. Personally, I can’t save anyone, but I can tell them all about Jesus, who can. I can tell people that he is the answer to their deepest needs, especially their aching fear of the unknown, their chronic lack of peace and their confusion. Who wouldn’t want that?
But sometimes lost people don’t want to be found. As a young man, I regularly resisted the advice of well-meaning Christians trying to “save” me by pointing me to Jesus. And being lost isn’t a great feeling either. No matter what you call it, being lost, confused, unsure, unclear, perplexed, disoriented or bewildered, it’s largely an unpleasant experience. When you understand that the original meaning of “being lost” also encompasses being destroyed, rendered useless or killed, it takes on a very weighty sense. The bottom line is this: Being lost is not a good place to be, especially eternally so. read more here
Keith Kurber II is the senior pastor of Harvest, a church that he and his wife, Nola, also an ordained minister, founded in September 2010. They look forward to many years serving Fairbanks and the Tanana Valley together through Harvest. Keith retired after serving 30 years of Army active duty, reserve and National Guard service as a colonel of special forces. He is also a Drop Zone graduate, having attended in March of 2018. Insight is sponsored by the Tanana Valley Christian Conference.
Report: Almost Half of Australian Military Veterans Suffer Mental Health Conditions Voice of America Phil Mercer April 07, 2018
FILE - A veteran is pushed in a wheelchair during the ANZAC Day parade, in Sydney, Friday, April 25, 2014, commemorating the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) during the First World War.
SYDNEY Almost half of the Australian military personnel who've left the defense force in the past five years have some sort of mental disorder, according to a new study. The Australian government says it is the most comprehensive study ever undertaken in Australia of the effect of military service on the mental, physical and social health of veterans, including those who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For many former Australian service men and women, adapting to civilian life can be tough. According to a new study by the Department of Veterans' Affairs, about half suffer debilitating conditions that include anxiety and depression. Some retired soldiers, however, believe the true number of those affected is much higher.
Robin Lee was in the Australian army for 14 years, and served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder before he left the military in 2015. read more here
Wisconsin Sheriff Discovers Letter He Got As Soldier Was Written By Deputy Now Working for Him WSLS 10 News April 06, 2018
Jim Johnson saved every letter he got while serving overseas in Baghdad with the Wisconsin Army National Guard.
"We received these letters from these young kids. I held on to all of them," said Johnson, who is now the sheriff of Ozaukee County in his home state.
Recently, he was going through some of those old letters and stumbled upon one signed by a fourth-grader at Cedar Grove Belgium Elementary School in Wisconsin.
"Dear soldiers. Thank you for what you all do and are doing for our country. Best wishes and have a Merry Christmas. From Chris Uselding."
The letter was dated 2003.
Fast-forward to 2018 and Chris Uselding is a grown man. And he's been working for as deputy for Johnson for the past few years. read more here
Service dogs in training visit Disneyland ABC 6 News April 4, 2018
Service dogs in training dressed up as Disney characters during their trip to Disneyland.
Service dogs in training dressed up as Disney characters during their trip to Disneyland.
A group of service dogs in training visited Disneyland dressed up as Disney characters, much to the delight of Twitter users.
The animals are being trained by Canine Companions for Independence, an organization that provides assistance dogs to adults, children, and vets with disabilities. The group trains dogs to become service dogs, hearing dogs, facility dogs, and skilled companion dogs.
Ortega the dog, who was wearing a Winnie the Pooh Bear hat, met the silly old bear himself! read more here
Valley Veteran Turned Away from Harlingen Fast Food Restaurant KRGV News Angelo Vargas Posted: Apr 06, 2018
HARLINGEN – A Rio Grande Valley veteran who went to war is now fighting to educate.
Marine Veteran David Floyd, his son and service dog, Bella, were turned away from a Harlingen restaurant.
Floyd says Bella is always next to him.
"When she has the vest on, she knows she's working. She follows me wherever I go,” he says.
Floyd says his service includes two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan aboard a ship.
"She helps a lot with my PTSD and when I get around big groups of people. I get bothered, uncomfortable,” he explains.
He says he never expected he, his son and Bella would be turned away from a Valley fast-food restaurant employee.
"She said, ‘Sir, your dog is not allowed to come in here. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to leave.’ I explained to her that this is a service dog,” he tells us.
Floyd says he left the eatery but wants other businesses to know service dogs are allowed in public places. read more here
Tiny home in Oviedo fits the needs for veteran wounded in Iraq Orlando Sentinel Martin E Comas April 7, 2018
Marine Corps veteran Peter Banach came home from Iraq in 2007 with a shattered ankle, a broken back and post-traumatic stress disorder caused by an improvised explosive device that detonated near his vehicle in Fallujah.
Returning to his old job as a police officer in New Jersey was no longer possible for Banach. Like tens of thousands of other combat-wounded veterans, he found it a struggle to pay his bills or find a stable, affordable place to live.
Now the soft-spoken 37-year-old former sergeant first class has a new home he can call his own — the latest example of a charitable undertaking to find housing for Central Florida veterans in need. The 360-square-foot Oviedo home was made possible by two nonprofits, Fairways for Warriors and Operation Tiny Home, and a Longwood business, Cornerstone Tiny Homes. read more here
