Police Officer Lost Battle For His Own Life

Lancaster police officer's death ruled a suicide; first responders urged to get help 
York Daily Record 
Geoff Morrow 
Published June 27, 2018

Lancaster City Police on Wednesday announced that the recent death of Patrol Officer Mark Gehron, 43, was a suicide. Gehron, a 19-year veteran of the police bureau, died Saturday, June 23. 

He was previously a volunteer firefighter and, as a police officer, received several awards and commendations. 

Gehron was also the father to sons Chris and Carter, both of Lancaster. In its release, the Lancaster Police Department said the law enforcement community experiences an average of 130 deaths a year related to officers in crisis. read more here

Report: Multiple people shot at Maryland newspaper office

UPDATE
CBSNews
5 dead and several wounded.

Report: Multiple people shot at Maryland newspaper office
Thomson Reuters

Jun 28th 2018

June 28 (Reuters) - Several people were fatally shot at a newspaper office in the Maryland capital of Annapolis on Thursday and a suspect was apprehended, the local sheriff told Fox News.

Anne Arundel Sheriff Ron Bateman told Fox News the incident took place outside the Capital Gazette office.

Phil Davis, a Gazette reporter, said that multiple people had been shot, according to a report from the Baltimore Sun, which owns the paper.

Agents from the Baltimore office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were responding to the incident, the bureau tweeted.
read more here

Vietnam Veteran and PTSD Service Dog Kicked Off Bus?

Veteran, dog kicked off city bus highlights service animal policy
KRQE News
By: Jackie Kent
Posted: Jun 26, 2018

ALBUQUERQUE, NM (KRQE) - ABQ Ride says one of its drivers did not follow its policy when he kicked a veteran and his service dog off a city bus.

"They treat you different because you have a service animal and I don't think that's fair," said Jesse Gordon about his latest ABQ Ride experience.

The Vietnam veteran said he tried to hop on a city bus on June 18, with his service animal, Jackson, to get to a doctor's appointment. Yet, bus surveillance video shows he never got past the bus stop at Eubank and Central.

"The driver of the bus looked at the animal and says, 'That's not a service animal.'" Gordon said.

He said the bus driver claimed Gordon's PTSD was not a recognized disability that would allow him to have the vested dog.
read more here

Navy: Sailor's death suicide on flight line

UPDATE

His Suicide Note Was a Message to the Navy. The Way He Died Was the Exclamation Point

On June 25, 2018, Caserta left notes to several friends and his parents, walked out on the flight line at Naval Station Norfolk and hurled himself into the spinning tail rotor of an MH-60S helicopter."I'm sorry you have to see this," he shouted to the plane captain before he died.

Sailor Died by Suicide at Naval Station Norfolk: Navy
Associated Press
June 26, 2018

Aircraft carriers in port at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, the world's largest naval station, on Dec. 20, 2012. Stocktrek Images

NORFOLK, Va. — U.S. Navy officials say a sailor who died on a helicopter flight line at a base in Virginia died by suicide.

Cmdr. Dave Hecht, a spokesman for Naval Air Force Atlantic, said by phone Tuesday that Monday's death was investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Hecht did not provide additional details.

The sailor worked as a maintainer in a helicopter squadron. Navy officials said Monday that the sailor had been killed in a "mishap" at Naval Station Norfolk. The flight line is where helicopters take off.
read more here

#TakeBackYourLife from trauma. I did!

Crossposted from PTSD Patrol
Special post for PTSD Awareness Day I cannot think of a better day to explain why I do what I do. I am a survivor! Not once, twice or even five times, but this will give you an idea of why I work as hard as I do, devoted so much research and get so pissed off!

It is the reason for this site, Combat PTSD Wounded Times, all the books, videos and articles, training, research and yes, my marriage that has lasted over 3 decades!

If you have PTSD, no matter what caused it, you need to hear this. If nothing else, this is the one message you need to get today of all days, because all the bullshit out there has been blocking what could change your next day.

Yep! #TakeBackYourLife from trauma. I did!

This may shock some of my friends but, if you read the book, FOR THE LOVE OF JACK, HIS WAR MY BATTLE, then you already know all of this. (PS original book was in 2003 before this became a billion dollar industry for people making a lot of money off our suffering.)

Veterans committing suicide,..they'll drink to that?

If you do not like it when I use bad language, do not read this! I have had to contain myself all day since I read this at work.

What the fuck gave anyone the idea that since veterans are killing themselves having fun was the solution? First it was the groups using a number as if it was fact. Yes, the number "22" which the VA stated clearly was not to be considered all there was. They also pointed out that they had only limited data from 21 states. Guess that was not as important as grabbing the headline and then raising a lot of cash.

Oh, then we all remember the smiling faces lining up to do their pushups that veterans also experienced while in the service as punishment for doing something wrong!!! Yep, they also did use the "22" a day.

Anyway, then we had Congress spending billions, charities raising billions AS MORE AND MORE VETERANS NOT ONLY LOST HOPE ENOUGH TO STAY ALIVE, THEY ALSO FIGURED OUT THEY DID NOT EVEN MATTER TO THE GROUPS TALKING ABOUT THEM COMMITTING SUICIDE AND HAVING FUN WHILE THEY WERE SUFFERING!

OH, NO! NONE OF THAT WAS BAD ENOUGH!
Now there is a fun-raiser that includes drinking---to help fight suicides!~~~ WTF!

Help fight veteran suicide during Red, White and Brew Bar Crawl in downtown Allentown
Ryan Kneller
Of The Morning Call
June 25, 2018

Tickets, $5, include a commemorative cup and giveaways. Proceeds benefit The One Fight Foundation, whose mission is to combat veteran suicide through a peer-to-peer support network while providing fellowship and camaraderie to empower all veterans.

Kick off your Fourth of July celebrations while supporting a patriotic cause during a Red, White and Brew Bar Crawl, 8 p.m. to midnight Saturday in downtown Allentown.

Participants are encouraged to wear red, white and blue apparel as they enjoy drink specials ($3 beers and $4 cocktails) at the following bars: Fegley’s Allentown Brew Works, Bell Hall, Grain, The Hamilton Kitchen and Queen City BBQ.

no joke read more here

It wasn't bad enough the VA had to change the statement they made on the latest suicide report, that basically made it useless.

VA backs off suicide study that indicated thousands of unreported military deaths

VA officials blamed the confusion on the troops’ suicide information on inconsistent definitions used in various agencies. Individuals who served in the guard or reserves and are considered “veterans” in census reports may not have been counted in the Defense Department statistics because of different mobilization authorities and state rules.

It was not bad enough that we found far too many missing sources in their research, or the fact that as the veteran population dropped, the number of "known" suicides remained "stable" since 1999~ but oh, no, none of that was bad enough.

When the hell will people wake up that all they are doing is proving to veterans that while they are the topic of a way to make money, they survived combat a hell of a lot easier than being surrounded by people who really did not even give enough of a shit to READ THE DAMN REPORT IN THE FIRST PLACE OR HAVE A CLUE WHAT TO DO TO MAKE LIVING VETERANS WANT TO KEEP ON LIVING!!!

Just to point out one more thing, as every report the VA has released is the other fact that while these groups never mention older veterans, veterans over the age of 50 are the majority of the veterans deciding to give up! Like today when a 58 year old Air Force Veteran set himself on fire in Georgia!

58 year old veteran set himself on fire at Georgia Capitol

UPDATE July 3, 2018 from Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) — State investigators say a man who identified himself as an Air Force veteran has died after he lit himself on fire in front of the Georgia Capitol last week to protest the Veterans Affairs system.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation tweeted Tuesday that 58-year-old John Michael Watts died Monday. Authorities say Watts strapped fireworks to his chest, doused himself with a flammable liquid and set himself on fire June 26. A state trooper who saw what was happening quickly put out the flames. 

UPDATE from Atlanta Journal

About 10:45 a.m., the 58-year-old Air Force veteran from Mableton parked a Nissan Sentra on Washington Street, stepped out of the car and walked toward the Capitol, GSP Capt. Mark Perry told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Veteran sets himself on fire in protest outside Georgia Capitol
Military Times
By: J.D. Simkins
3 hours ago

A veteran who was fed up with treatment by the Department of Veterans Affairs set himself on fire in protest outside of the Georgia state Capitol building in downtown Atlanta on Tuesday.

A veteran protesting treatment from the Department of Veterans affairs set himself on fire outside of the Georgia Capitol building on Tuesday. (Stephen Morton/Getty Images)

The 58-year-old from Mableton, Georgia, who has not yet been identified, parked his car alongside the Capitol before walking toward the building, where he commenced self-immolation, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

“He was strapped with some homemade incendiary devices (and) firecrackers, and doused himself with some kind of flammable liquid,” Georgia State Patrol Capt. Mark Perry told the AJC.
read more here

Army 1st Lt. Garlin Murl Conner MOH

Grandson of WWI's 'Sgt. York' Will Attend Medal of Honor Ceremony
Military.com
By Richard Sisk
25 Jun 2018

On Tuesday, Pauline Conner will accept the posthumous award of the Medal of Honor for her husband, who died in 1998 at age 79

They were Appalachian farm boys and crack shots who were distantly related by marriage, and now they are both Medal of Honor recipients for their "above and beyond" actions in separate wars.

Sgt. Alvin C York (US Army)

Army Sgt. Alvin C. York, believed to be the most highly decorated American soldier of World War I and made famous in a 1941 blockbuster movie, and Army 1st Lt. Garlin Murl Conner, one of the most highly decorated soldiers of World War II, first met when York came to the parade for Conner's homecoming in May 1945 and spoke at the Clinton County Courthouse in Kentucky.

That was where Pauline Conner, or Miss Pauline as she is known in the county, first saw the man who was to become her husband. He was all of about 5-foot-6 and maybe 130 pounds -- "probably," she said with a laugh at a Pentagon briefing Monday.

Pauline, who was Pauline Wells at the time, said her future husband didn't make a good first impression. She recalled with a smile turning to her mother, Tressie, and saying "my God, Mama, that little wharf rat couldn't have done all of what they said he'd done."
read more here

VIETNAM VET ARRESTS MAN WHO STOLE DOG TAGS FROM MEMORIAL

HUDSON VALLEY VIETNAM VET ARRESTS MAN WHO STOLE MILITARY TAGS 
101.5 WPDH 
BOBBY WELBER 
June 25, 2018 

A Hudson Valley man was arrested by a Vietnam veteran for allegedly stealing from a war memorial.

On Wednesday, 73-year-old Dennis McGuire, a part-time security officer for the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office, was alerted by a witness that a man stole a set of commemorative military dog tags from the war memorial located in front of the Ulster County Office Building on Fair Street in Kingston. McGuire and another officer found 29-year-old Jeris B. Lincoln wearing the stolen dog tags on Fair Street, police say. He was charged with petit larceny.
read more here

Two firefighters shot responding to report of explosion

Veteran firefighter killed, 2 others injured in shooting at California retirement home
The Associated Press
June 25, 2018

Fire Capt. Dave Rosa, who had worked for the department for 17 years, died at a hospital Monday morning, DuRee said. He is survived by a wife and two children, the chief said.

LONG BEACH, Calif. – A resident of a retirement home in Southern California opened fire on firefighters responding to a report of an explosion in the building, killing a veteran fire captain and wounding a second firefighter and another person, officials said.

The shooting happened after firefighters responded to a 3:49 a.m. alarm at the 11-story retirement facility in Long Beach, south of Los Angeles, and found some windows blown out, activated sprinklers, the smell of gas and a fire that they extinguished, authorities said.

Firefighters were searching the building when shots were fired at 4:08 a.m. and the two firefighters were hit, Long Beach Fire Chief Michael DuRee said.
read more here