One thing to keep in mind when you watch the video. Deported veterans committing suicide, are not counted at all...anywhere. Busted with 267 pounds of pot and a DD214 that says ‘US citizen.' Should this Marine have been deported? Military Times By: Tara Copp 1 hour ago
At his 2002 deportation hearing, Martinez said the judge told him he had a case and could probably win, but he’d have to go back to jail to wait for a hearing, which might take two years. Martinez' other option was to be deported.
NUEVO PROGRESO, Mexico ― Marine Corps Vietnam veteran Jose Maria Martinez is not your typical deported immigrant.
In February 2002, five years after Jose Maria Martinez was sentenced to federal prison on drug charges, he was to be released. But immigration agents said his paperwork was incorrect. Two weeks later, he was deported. (Jillian Angeline and Tara Copp/Military Times)
First, he doesn’t want your sympathy. He was busted in 1997 at a South Texas border checkpoint with 267 pounds of marijuana in his car.
“I screwed up, it was bad. It was so bad it pisses me off sometimes,” Martinez said.
He’s an ardent Trump supporter and cheers at the thought of a wall. In our in-person encounter, he made clear that reporters, save for Fox, were purveyors of “fake news.” His personal views on former President Barack Obama landed him in Facebook jail. He takes a hard line on those who are in the U.S. illegally.
To the day he was deported, he thought he was a U.S. citizen.
It was February 2002. He’d just completed five years in federal prison for the drug bust. He’d served his time. Martinez was ready to be released, start over. Instead, immigration agents walked into his holding cell in Oakdale, Louisiana.
“They said they were going to deport me,” Martinez said.
“I took the oath in San Antonio and got on a plane to San Diego,” he said. He was assigned as an infantryman and mortar man and deployed in 1967 to Vietnam with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, 3rd Marine Division. He and several other Marines started naturalization classes, Martinez said, but then they were pulled into operations. read more here
Former NFL star shows his love and respect for Veterans Department of Veterans Affairs
Upon receiving the call a few months ago, former National Football League star running back Earnest Byner felt honored to be tapped for the role. He had been selected as a guest speaker during the annual “Parade of Athletes” at the National Veterans Golden Age Games in Albuquerque.
Byner is the founder of The Healing Dawgs, a non-profit group that is aimed at teaching, helping, and healing through humanitarian efforts in communities, with a special focus on Veterans, the homeless, and youth. He has led visits to VA medical centers in Cleveland, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., in hopes of assuring wounded Veterans that their service and the sacrifices they have made for their country are not going unnoticed.
The “Parade of Athletes” took place Sunday evening at the Kiva Auditorium at the Albuquerque Convention Center. The nearly 1,000 Veterans who are participating in the Golden Age Games—which run from Aug. 3-8 in Albuquerque and offer many sports and recreational events for Veterans age 55 and older—were on hand to hear Byner speak.
Speaking with passion and emotion, Byner urged the Veterans to keep on competing in sports “because healing comes from within when you are competing,” he said. “If you are trying to get better on a daily basis, you provide healing for the mind, body, and spirit.”
He also told the Vets: “I appreciate and honor and love you because of the freedoms you have fought for. You have given your life and limbs.”
Byner said the Veteran community and retired NFL players like himself share several potential similarities. Members of both groups could be experiencing debilitating symptoms from concussions. In addition, the Veteran population is battling alarming rates of suicide and drug and alcohol addiction, issues that are also of concern in the community of retired NFL players. read more here
Michigan Air Force base water may have caused cancer By: The Associated Press August 12, 2018
The chemical was first found in the base's water in 1977, but drinking water wells could've been contaminated for many years before the discovery, according to the report. The Air Force installed a groundwater treatment system to clean up the trichloroethylene in the 1980s after being sued by Michigan.
The Wurtsmith Air Force Base grounds in Oscoda Township, Mich., two years ago. (Garret Ellison/MLive.com via AP)
OSCODA, Mich. — A federal health agency says contaminated drinking water might have caused cancer and other chronic disease among veterans and families who lived at a former northern Michigan military base.
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry released last month a draft report about the Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda, Michigan, MLive.com reported. The report concluded that people who consumed or had skin contact with Wurtsmith water may be at an increased risk for cancer.
Extremely high levels of benzene and trichloroethylene were documented in the former B-52 bomber base’s water before its 1993 closure.
The report is based on long-term exposure over a period of years. The findings also note that even short-term exposure to trichloroethylene for pregnant mothers during the first trimester could lead to heart birth defects in their children. read more here
Sailor found dead on base in Norfolk Navy Times By: Mark D. Faram August 13, 2018
NORFOLK, Va. — A sailor from Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station, Atlantic was found dead at Naval Station Norfolk Friday night, Lt. Cmdr. Ben Tisdale, spokesman for U.S. Fleet Cyber Command told Navy Times on Monday.
Tisdale said the cause of the death was still under investigation on Monday but officials have identified the deceased sailor as Information Systems Technician 3rd Class Joshua I. Johnson. A three-year Navy veteran, Johnson, 22, was originally from Orange Park, Florida. read more here
‘Tough as nails’ veteran urges focus on fitness, not wounds STARS AND STRIPES By ROSE L. THAYER Published: August 11, 2018
Reeves said Bullock’s focus as a business owner is incredible — just as it was during his early days of recovery.“When he got injured, he said, ‘This does not define me.’ He hasn’t let it define him,” Reeves said.
Jared Bullock, a former Green Beret, and his wife Jesica stand outside Foundry Athletics, a gym they opened May 19, 2018, in Carterville, Ill.
PHOTO BY TIM KOLCZAK
AUSTIN, Texas — Everything changed for Sgt. 1st Class Jared Bullock on Nov. 13, 2013.
It was one month into his fifth deployment, and the Green Beret and a team of soldiers were riding in an all-terrain vehicle in Kandahar when it ran over an improvised explosive device. Bullock woke up in Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where he learned he’d lost his right arm above the elbow and his right leg above the knee.
The explosion also took the life Bullock’s best friend, Staff Sgt. Richard L. Vazquez, 28, and Staff Sgt. Alex A. Viola, 29, died days later in the hospital.
His injuries left him wondering what was next for him, after 10 years in the Army doing a job that he loved. read more here
Pensacola veterans struggle to pay for legal help in civil court cases, panel says Pensacola News Journal Melissa Nelson Gabriel Aug. 10, 2018
A Tampa veterans crisis line receives more than 10,000 calls a month from veterans needing help, said Dennis Baker, president of the Florida Veterans Foundation. Many of the calls are about suicidal thoughts or addiction issues. A lot of the calls are also from veterans who need help negotiating the legal system, he said.
From child support hearings to eviction notices, many Florida veterans are left to fend for themselves when it comes to complicated legal issues, members of a statewide committee on civil justice heard Friday.
Judges, lawyers and veterans advocates from around the state met in Pensacola to discuss what can be done to ensure veterans have better representation in the civil justice system.
Florida Supreme Court Justice Jorge Labarga, chairman of the Florida Commission on Access to Civil Justice, said the group took its meeting on veterans' issues to Pensacola because of the high number of active-duty military members and retirees in the region.
"Access to civil justice not only impacts the poor, it also affects those of moderate income," he said.
A Tampa veterans crisis line receives more than 10,000 calls a month from veterans needing help, said Dennis Baker, president of the Florida Veterans Foundation. Many of the calls are about suicidal thoughts or addiction issues. A lot of the calls are also from veterans who need help negotiating the legal system, he said.
"A number of callers are telling us they need an attorney. It's everything from landlord/tenant disputes, wills and estates, mortgages and foreclosures, and taxes," he said. read more here
Vista veteran and service dog kick off casino's new six-legged security force San Diego Union Tribune Pam Kragen August 12, 2018
Four years ago, Tipton said he wouldn’t have been able to strike up a conversation with strangers and even found himself incapable of cracking a smile. Tipton said having Daisy and the self-esteem of a holding a job “have made me human again.”
After struggling for years with post-traumatic stress disorder, 22-year Marine veteran John Tipton decided three years ago to get a trained service dog. The Vista man calls the day he took Daisy home in May 2015 both the best day and the worst day of his life.
John Tipton of Vista and his service dog Daisy do their rounds at Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula. The 22-year Marine Corps veterans and his dog are the first of nine human-canine security teams Pechanga plans to hire. (Pechanga Resort and Casino)
Because although the 4-year-old black Lab/terrier mix helped heal the crippling anxiety that had turned Tipton into a housebound “grumpy grandpa,” he couldn’t find anyone willing to hire a man with a full-time service dog.
“It was a pretty rough couple of years,” said Tipton, 62. “I’d walk into job interviews and they’d take one look at me and then look at the dog … You could see it in their eyes and hear it in the tone of their voice. They wondered what was wrong with me.”
But those years of isolation ended in mid-June, when Tipton and Daisy became the first six-legged safety patrol team at Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula. Over the next year, Pechanga plans to hire a total of 10 veteran-service dog teams.
The idea was conceived by Robert Krauss, vice president of public safety at Pechanga. Before joining Pechanga’s security team 21 years ago, Krauss spent four years in the Marine Corps. He said military veterans make up a substantial portion of his department’s 300-strong staff because their leadership qualities make them great workers. read more here
Search underway for Camp Pendleton Marine missing at sea San Diego Union Tribune Andrew Dyer August 10, 2018 An all-hands effort is underway near the Philippines to find a U.S. Marine reported overboard Thursday morning from the amphibious assault ship Essex.
An MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft prepared to depart the flight deck of the USS Essex (LHD 2) on July 17. The Essex and its crew of sailors and marines left San Diego July 10. (U.S. Navy)
The unidentified Marine is deployed with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit based out of Camp Pendleton.
The Essex left Naval Base San Diego with its complement of Marines on July 10.
The Navy, Marine Corps and Philippine ships and aircraft are searching the Sulu Sea, where the ship was conducting routine operations, the Marines said in a news release Friday.
“It is an all-hands effort to find our missing Marine,” said Navy Capt. Gerald Olin, the amphibious squadron commander leading the search and rescue operation, in a statement. “All of our sailors, Marines and available assets aboard the USS Essex have been and will continue to be involved in this incredibly important search and rescue operation.” read more here
Have you decided to get into your life and drive? PTSD Patrol Sunday Morning Empowerment Zone Kathie Costos August 12, 2018
When you are a passenger, you do not control anything. Someone else is in control of where you go, how fast you get there and how safe your trip is.
When you are the driver, then you decide all of it! Where you go and how fast you get there is all up to the decisions you make. There are things you decide in your own life. Do you want to be happy? Do you want to stay miserable? How you live can change just as it did when you survived the events that caused PTSD. This time, it can change for the better! PTSD is change, so, change again! It is your life. Get in and drive it instead of letting it drive you!
PTSD Patrol Sunday Morning Empowerment Zone topic is are you a passenger in your own life or a driver?
Iraq War veteran, radio host David Bellavia to run for 27th Congressional District WHAM ABC News 13 August 11, 2018
Buffalo, N.Y. (WHAM) - Decorated Iraq War veteran and radio host David Bellavia will run for Congress to represent New York’s 27th District.
Bellavia confirmed his decision to run Saturday, hours after Rep. Chris Collins announced he will not be running for reelection. read more here
Bellavia spoke at the Point Man conference in Buffalo last year.
