Fort Bragg Army Special Operations command soldier OK after standoff

Bragg Barricaded Soldier Surrenders After Evacuation

Fayetteville Observer 
By Rodger Mullen Staff writer 
Posted Mar 2, 2019

A soldier who barricaded himself inside a house Saturday night surrendered after several hours of negotiation, according to Tom McCollum, a public affairs officer for Fort Bragg.

"Everything ended peacefully," McCollum said.

The incident, which was reported after 5 p.m., ended by 11:20 p.m. Saturday, McCollum said.

The soldier's wife and children left the house when military police arrived after 5 p.m. on Charlotte Street, according to McCollum.

McCollum identified the soldier as a member of Army Special Operations command.
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Marine veteran inspiring fundraising for Gary Sinise Foundation

The Entrepreneur Who Died 3 Times, Became Homeless And Outran His Destiny

FORBES
Dan Murray-Serter
Contributor
Entrepreneurs
March 3, 2019

"So, what next?" I asked the ex-marine. "I will break the current Guinness’ Book of World Records for the 'fastest marathon completed while carrying a 100 pound pack' in less than 6 1.5 hours. To do so I need to complete 1,100 Miles with 100lbs on my back but aim to raise $1,000,000. Proceeds will go to the Gary Sinise Foundation later this year", he replies determinedly.

Giving Arnie A Run For His MoneyTSHANE JOHNSON

For most, the lowest point in your life would arguably be when you had a near fatal accident robbing you of your career, dreams and use of your legs. In TShane's case, when your life has had many flavors of lows, there's a wide array to pick from.

"There I was, freezing in 20 degree weather at a bus stop, homeless, and watching other homeless people fighting over a six pack of beer". That was the turning point for TShane Johnson, an entrepreneur who'd hit rock bottom.

After realizing he was only one or two decisions away from being in that exact spot - the only thing keeping him from it was the good fortune that he didn't drink.

A far cry from that bus stop, TShane now spends his time running across America raising money for veterans, sharing his inspiring story of determination to prove nothing is impossible.

A Marine With A Stolen Dream

Before he was an entrepreneur, TShane joined the Marine Corps in 1998. "It was my lifelong ambition to become a bodybuilder like Arnold Schwarzenegger" he tells me. So even as a Marine, he did regular personal training sessions and spent extra hours in the gym building up the specific physique required to compete. Given his lifestyle, he was in peak mental and physical shape when his whole life changed.
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Veteran with PTSD found dead after standoff with police

Suspect Dead From Apparent Self-Inflicted Wound After Intense Standoff At San Anselmo Home

CBS News San Francisco
March 2, 2019

“The man who committed this act was a veteran with severe PTSD and I don’t think he was being properly cared for or taken care of,” said Spring. He said he did worry though that something like this would happen in his neighborhood.

SAN ANSELMO (CBS SF) — A man is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after being in a tense standoff with crisis negotiators and police at a San Anselmo home that forced an entire neighborhood to evacuate.

The standoff lasted almost 7 hours and ended Saturday night as officers raided the home and found the suspect dead. Police believe the man shot himself.

Police responded to a report of shots possibly fired at the home, located at 46 Grove Hill Avenue. A shelter-in-place for the area was issued about 12:20 p.m. and 18 homes were evacuated.

Authorities have not confirmed how it started but according to next door neighbor Joe Spring, it may have been a marital dispute with an ex-husband. He said he knew the man well.

“Our neighbor came over saying she was shot at and they were hiding in the bathroom and had to evacuate,” said Spring.

For nearly 7 hours, negotiators with the Crisis Response Team tried to get the suspect to come out. Then shortly after 5 p.m.,, heavily armed officers decided to go in after police evacuated everyone on both sides of the street.

“Once we were able to get the evacuees out of the area then we can make a safe entry to the house,” said Margo Rohrbacher, a spokeswoman with Central Marin Police.
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Should POTUS apologize to Marine Corps Mad Dog?

Trump claims he coined the nickname ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis

Military Times
By: Leo Shane III
March 3, 2019

But news reports referred to Mattis by the moniker — which he has publicly said he does not like — as far back as 2004, when he was commanding general of the 1st Marine Division.

President Donald Trump hugs the American flag as he arrives to speak at Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Md., on March 2, 2019. During his speech, Trump claimed to have come up with former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' nickname of "Mad Dog." (Jose Luis Magana/AP)

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump incorrectly claimed to have coined former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’ well-known “Mad Dog” nickname because “Chaos” was not a good enough one for the four-star Marine Corps general.

The comments came during a lengthy speech on Saturday before the annual Conservative Political Action Conference meeting. Trump was speaking on the military’s involvement in the Middle East when he said Defense Department generals “are perfect people” and he wanted to make more of them famous.

“Just like I did with Mattis,” he said. “I said we’re going to give you a new nickname, because ‘Chaos’ is not a good nickname. So we changed it to ‘Mad Dog.’

"But Mad Dog wasn’t working too well (as secretary)."

Trump did give Mattis an original nickname last fall, labeling him as “moderate dog” as tensions between the two men grew.read more here

VA pushes slogan instead of solution on suicides

VA suicide high priority claim equals enduring slogan

This is the headline from NWA News

Boozman Seeks VA Improvements to Reduce Veteran Suicides

And this is what the article boils down to.

“The VA has indicated that suicide prevention is its highest clinical priority and, with the alarming number of suicides in the veteran community, it absolutely must be. Congress is appropriating resources and the VA is turning that into action, but the numbers continue to trend in the wrong direction. This is why it is vital that we have metrics to measure the effectiveness of the VA’s mental health and suicide prevention programs. This bill will help Congress and the VA isolate meaningful suicide prevention programs so we can ensure resources are focused on efforts that save lives.”

This was in the article too.

The GAO released a report in 2018 entitled Improvements Needed in Suicide Prevention Media Outreach Campaign Oversight and Evaluation. The GAO reveals in the report that the VA had failed to establish targets to evaluate the efficacy of its campaigns, that leadership turnover led to a dramatic decline in media outreach activities and that the VA spent a fraction of its budget for suicide prevention media outreach during the last fiscal year. 

This is what it was like back in 2008
Retired Vice Adm. Dennis McGinn:

Veterans with PTSD, he noted, have “much greater loss of employment and earnings” than those with physical disabilities.
McGinn recommended separate criteria on the rating schedule for PTSD, as well as a way to compensate unemployable veterans for lost quality of life, not just their inability to work.
So-called “individual unemployability” veterans may have formal VA disability ratings of less than 100 percent, but are still rated fully disabled because of their inability to work. The commission found that almost half of the 223,000 IU veterans have primary diagnoses of PTSD or other mental disorders.

The problem is that if a veteran has physical disabilities that lead to a 100 percent disability rating, he can still work and keep his full compensation. But a veteran who has a 100 percent disability for a mental disorder tries to work, he loses his compensation. 

And yet, they are still trying to take that away when a veteran reaches retirement age...not thinking about what the reduction actually means to them suddenly losing their 100% and all that goes with it. Guess they didn't figure on the fact these veterans stopped paying into Social Security BECAUSE THEY WERE TOO DISABLED TO WORK in the first place...plus actually believed permanent and total meant something they never had to worry about again.

While in the same year, the GAO found that there was no accountability for claims processors, we kept seeing the same every year after year, and doctors were accused of trying to blame the veteran as if PTSD was a matter of greedy and looking for a free ride the rest of their lives...like when Norma Perez had to apologize for telling counselors to start making fewer diagnosis's of PTSD...and some still do.

I think the worst thing out of all of this is, we keep hearing how it is a top priority for the VA...as well as the DOD, but the evidence is showing it has become a top priority to use the slogan instead of find solutions.

We also knew that female veterans were lacking in the care they were supposed to be receiving from the VA...and while they did some outreach to OEF and OIF veterans, they forgot about the veterans from previous wars...not just ignoring them, but pushing them to the back of the line for claims and services...and still do.

There was also a huge effort beginning on educating members of law enforcement about PTSD. Give what we've seen among officers and firefighters, they still have not learned what they needed to know...and still do.

We knew that veterans in rural areas of the country were lacking in services....and still are.

“Promise made, promise kept,” said Jim Eddleman, on building memorial wall

Vietnam Veteran fulfills promise 5 decades later

KFVS NBC 12 News
By Kelsey Anderson
March 1, 2019

PERRYVILLE, MO (KFVS) - A Perryville man made a promise to himself while serving in the Vietnam War.

If he made it home, he would honor his fallen comrades. Now, nearly five decades later he gave a part of himself to build it and the land to build it on.

“Promise made, promise kept,” said Jim Eddleman, who was a specialist in the Army during the Vietnam War.

“When I was in Vietnam, I made a promise that if i made it back to the United States alive that I had to do something to show my honor and respect for my comrades,” said Eddleman.

He never forgot the promise and was waiting for the right opportunity to fulfill it.

“Finally this opportunity for the veterans memorial come up and I knew that was what I wanted to do,” said Eddleman.

The wall that's an exact replica of the one in Washington D.C. sits on property donated by Eddleman and his wife Charlene.
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PTSD Patrol: Antique vehicles wanted

PTSD Patrol Turbo charge your healing

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
March 2, 2019

It seems as if everyone is talking about younger veterans with PTSD...forgetting that the majority of veterans seeking help for PTSD are over the age of 50. Unfortunately, that age group are also the majority of the known suicides. What did you expect me to say when they are also the majority of veterans in our country?

OK, so, if you are driving an antique, you know it takes a lot more to keep it running than if you had a new car with all the techno crap you really don't need. 

When you figure out that there is something seriously wrong with your vehicle, you can keep it in the garage, but that does not solve the problem. You ask some buddies what they think could be wrong, but you won't get the right answer unless you are able to mimic the noise that is in the engine.

Often, you will search online, then discover what you think it may be. You may make an appointment with the mechanic (docs at the VA) and get a diagnosis.
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Wounded Marine fought to stay alive...then stay in

SC veteran suffered severe hand wound in Iraq combat. He fought back.

Post and Courier
Bo Petersen
March 3, 2019

Bowen underwent more surgeries — it would eventually total more than 15. Medical staff would tell him after that while he was under general anesthesia they sometimes struggled to hold him down as he thrashed and yelled, “incoming.”

He stayed on the roof firing his machine gun for one mortar round too long. That’s how Dustin Bowen thinks of it.

The 22-year-old Marine lance corporal was under heavy attack in Ramadi, Iraq, in 2006, at a time when the city was ground zero for some of the fiercest combat in the second Iraq war. He remembers the blast. A fellow Marine told him he was blown off the roof and sat on the ground like he didn’t know how to get up.

He was pulled to cover and kept fighting until the unit could be reinforced, kept fighting despite some pain in his leg and his shoulder and the screaming agony in his hand.

For the next 10 years the agony in the hand wouldn’t ever go away.

They did field surgery on the hand, braced and wrapped it, knew it wasn’t fixed. Command “persuaded” him, he said wryly, not to evacuate. He took a thumb tack, snipped off the pin with a wire clipper. He embedded the pin in his numb shooting finger and lightly wrapped it before each sortie. It was the only way he could tell whether he was pulling the trigger.
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Snippets Military/Veteran News

Snippets

Collection of reports in one post for faster viewing. Check back during the day for more.
(trying something new on this so let me know what you think)

From Military Times

VA Needs to Do Better Credential Checks on Its Doctors, Report Finds

Chief Master Sgt. Shannon Rix, 92nd Air Refueling Wing command chief, gives a commemorative National Salute to Veteran Patients Week pin to Mike Olmstead Feb. 13, 2017, at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center, Wash. Olmstead served in the Army from 1944 to 1947 during World War II and is currently the community living center’s oldest resident. (Mackenzie Richardson/U.S. Air Force)

In sum, the GAO said the VA and VHA should make better use of the wealth of information on providers in the National Practitioner Data Bank.

In some cases, "providers had administrative or other non-disqualifying adverse actions reported in the NPDB," but VHA still determined that they could be hired, the report states.

It cited the case of a doctor who had surrendered his physical-therapy license for failure to complete physical therapy continuing education.

"Although his license surrender resulted in an adverse action in [the data bank], VHA determined that there were no concerns about the provider's ability to perform as a physician," the report states.

In other cases, "VHA facilities overlooked or were unaware of the disqualifying adverse-action information in NPDB," it adds.

"For example, VHA officials told GAO that, in one case, they inadvertently overlooked a disqualifying adverse action and hired a nurse whose license had been revoked for patient neglect. This nurse resigned in May 2017," according to the report.
read it here

On Military.com but from We Are The Mighty

5 Weird Fears That Only Service Members Have

Yay, getting to stand around in squares in a different country! So exciting! (U.S. Army Spc. Gage Hull)

5. Any acronym that ends in X probably sucks (Cs aren't great either)

CSTX, MRX, CPX, they all suck. ENDEX is cool. But if you get called into SIFOREXs or NATEXs, forget about it. There goes weeks or even months of your life. 

SINKEXs will monopolize your time, but at least there's usually a nice, big explosion you get to see.

Oh, quick translations — those are Combat Support Training Exercise, Mission Readiness Exercise, End of Exercise, Silent Force Exercise, National Terrorism Exercise, and Sink Exercise. Basically, if you hear an acronym with an X in it that you've never heard before, there's a good chance you're going to spend a few weeks in the field practicing something you know how to do. 

This message was brought to you by the letter 'C.' 'C' is just glad that you hate it a little less next to 'X,' because 'C' usually gets the blame thanks to things like JRTC, NTC, and JMRC (the Joint Readiness Training Center, National Training Center, and Joint Multinational Readiness Center, respectfully).

From Oklahoma Watch
Stitt’s Pick for Veterans Secretary Accused of Underpaying Veterans

Gov. Kevin Stitt’s pick to becomes Oklahoma’s next secretary of veterans affairs and the military is facing accusations that his consulting company violated federal labor laws by underpaying veterans.

Federal court filings show that 15 former workers have sued Tulsa-based Check-6 along with its founder and CEO Brian Brurud, whom Stitt appointed to the unpaid cabinet position in February. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in New Orleans. One of the plaintiffs lives in Louisiana, and the company has an office in the state. read it here

West Point Cadet found dead after skiing incident

West Point cadet dies of injuries after skiing incident

Army Times
Kathleen Curthoys
March 2, 2019

West Point Cadet Peter L. Zhu died Thursday, Feb. 28, of his injuries from a Feb. 23 skiing incident on the grounds of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York.

Cadet Peter L. Zhu, a member of the West Point Class of 2019, died Feb. 28 of injuries he suffered days earlier while skiing on the grounds of the academy. (West Point)

Zhu, 21, a member of the Class of 2019, died with family members by his side at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, New York, according to a Saturday release from West Point.

A fellow skier found Zhu unresponsive on a ski slope at Victor Constant Ski Area on Saturday, Feb. 23, the release said. Members of a ski patrol responded and performed life-saving measures before Zhu was taken to a local hospital and then airlifted to Westchester for further treatment.

The circumstances of the incident are under investigation.
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