Army Reservist went from homeless to homeowner in Las Vegas

Once homeless, Las Vegas veteran gets 1st taste of homeownership

Las Vegas Review Journal
Briana Erickson
April 26, 2019

Martinez, who starts studying social work at UNLV in the fall, said her next step will be to help other veterans who might be in the same situation she was in.

She had the key, and now it was time for one more thing. The brand-new American flag, still bright and shiny and creased from packaging.

Carrying it to the outside of her new home near downtown Las Vegas, Ana Martinez attempted to erect the flag on the tan house with white finish. But she didn’t have the necessary tools.

Laughing, the 52-year-old veteran used packing tape to secure the metal plate to the wall. As the flag came up, so did the tears. And when the tape didn’t stick, Martinez held onto the flag tightly.

“A lot of people don’t make it back. … They just don’t have an opportunity to live their life and continue giving,” the Army veteran said through her tears. “It’s just a little emotional for me.”

It was the first thing she did Friday morning as a first-time homeowner.

She was determined to put the flag up and to start up the stereo in her living room.

Only two years earlier, she had been homeless, living in her red two-door Mitsubishi Eclipse and working as a chief warrant officer with the U.S. Army Reserve Center in Sloan.
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Australia: Afghanistan veteran found dead in hotel room on Anzac Day

Army veteran who struggled with 'demons' after returning from battle in Afghanistan is found dead in his hotel room on Anzac Day

Daily Mail
BRETT LACKEY FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA
27 April 2019

"Things got so bad, I got so desperate. At the end of the day the system doesn't know how to handle PTSD. The doctors, they just prescribe drugs because they don't know how to handle it."

'It's become an epidemic with our boys. It's tragic. Then to watch your own son (go through it). The demons in their heads is intense. It took a long time before anything happened. These boys are juggling drug abuse, alcoholism, but the biggest thing they are battling is their PTSD.'

An army veteran who struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from Afghanistan was found dead in his hotel room on Anzac Day.

Bradley Carr, 34, lived in Cairns but had been on the Gold Coast seeking mental health treatment when he was found in his hotel room bed at about 10am on Thursday, according to The Age.

The cause of death has yet to be determined, however, his mother, Glenda Weston, has spoken about her son's lengthy battle to readjust to life after war.
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#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife

Missing In America Project buries 17 unclaimed or homeless veterans

Unclaimed, homeless veterans laid to rest

KVOA NBC 4 News
April 27, 2019

MARANA — Under bright blue skies, dozens gather at the Arizona Veterans Cemetery in Marana Saturday.

The Southern Arizona Missing In America Project buries 17 unclaimed or homeless veterans complete with a ceremony of appreciation.

“It’s closure for them and it’s the promise of closure for us,” Ross Scanio, an Iraq veteran and spokesman for the Missing In America Project said. “It’s difficult to quantify the impact of being in combat and losing your fellow service members or just the carnage that is war.”

Servicemen folded American flags and presented them to veterans in attendance including Carl Randall.

Randall served in both Korea and Vietnam.

Last fall he and his wife lived in Paradise, California.

They lost their home and dozens of neighbors to the ferocious Camp Fire.
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"War is bad for the brain"

Two sides of death

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
April 27, 2019

Tonight I finally had time to watch one of my favorite shows, Seal Team and I have been having trouble getting this one out of my head.

Brett Swan was having a hard time coming to terms with having PTSD, yet when he thought it was more a matter of TBI, he was not ashamed of saying he thought that was his problem.

At the same time, the Team was searching for a fallen service member. They were risking their lives to recover his body. They knew he was already dead, yet, not leaving him behind was a priority to them.

SEAL TEAM MEDICATE AND ISOLATE

While Bravo Team is on a recovery mission in Mali, their friend, former Navy SEAL Brett Swan (Tony Curran), continues to struggle with his mental health. (TV-14 L, V) Air Date: Apr 24, 2019

Clay, (Max Thieriot) still trying to recover from being blown up, had been trying to help Brett as he was being overcome by memory loss.

As the TEAM was trying to locate the remains of Capt. Washington, Clay was getting Brett to the VA.

The VA scenes were typical of a lot of VA hospitals, but not all of them. Long lines, long waits and "soldier's reward for serving" the country.

Watching the TEAM go through the recovery efforts, then watching Brett and Clay at the VA, stuck with me.

How is it that we seem to accept every effort being made to recover the fallen to honor their lives lost in service, yet, cannot manage to do the same for those who are wounded while serving?

How is it that, as Brett seemed to find no problem with being in the grip of TBI, he had such a hard time with PTSD? That happens all the time...still and it shows that after decades of research, education and claiming they are doing all they can to get rid of the stigma, it is still stronger than PTSD itself?

Clay was there for Brett, but Brett gave up. It is obvious that the writers had been paying attention to the latest news reports of veterans committing suicide at the VA. It would have been great if they had paid attention to the rest of the things going on at the VA...like what they have been getting right.

Brett's doctor said he could not treat him for TBI without medical evidence he had it and could not order and MRI since it was not documented in his service record.

Well, that is wrong and frankly, BS. No veteran would be treated and compensated for PTSD, or a long list of other disabilities, if that was how they were determined.


They also got the "therapy" session wrong. That would be more like a first session, not one that happens after multiple visits. Since Brett was on a lot of medications, it would not be a first for him.

He kept getting upset with "mental disorder" term being used, and then tried to change it to TBI because he understood that to be a wound. As Brett was trying to explain that he was sure he had TBI instead of PTSD, he said "war is bad for the brain" and he was right.

This again, shows that is also a problem for too many veterans because they still do not understand what PTSD actually means. It means after they were wounded. "Post" is after and "Trauma" is Greek for wound.

The TEAM found Capt. Washington and continued to risk their lives to bring his body home, while Brett was planning on leaving his body behind.

Clay found him in the parking lot.

This is one of those shows that will not be easy to just let go of.

After the episode, CBS did a message about needing help and that was great too. At least, they are talking about a lot of things that happen and I hope as the series goes on, they cover more of what really happens at the VA that does work.

They need to know they matter just as much as the fallen and no one gets left behind.

Veteran Affairs Medical Foster Home Program provides welcomed home

Indiana Family of 8 Takes In 3 Disabled War Veterans and Treats Them Like Family

Epoch Times
BY CHIARA CUI
April 26, 2019

Each veteran receives round-the-clock care and regular visits from licensed medical practitioners, including occupational therapists, doctors, and psychologists. The foster caregivers receive a stipend of $2,400 a month to take care of each veteran.

(L: Facebook | Sarah Rufing, R: YouTube Screenshot | CBS This Morning)

It takes a lot of patience to raise a family, and more so for a larger one. But for Sarah and Troy Rufing, who have six young kids, taking on three more people wasn’t a big deal. Except that the three people they fostered weren’t kids but elderly veterans with special needs.

The Rufings are among the 700 participants of The United States Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Foster Home Program, which “provides housing and care for more than 1,000 veterans in 42 states and Puerto Rico, serving as an alternative to nursing home care for those who cannot live safely on their own,” according to Military.com.

At their home in Greenville, Indiana, the Rufings’ family of eight members has expanded to 11 with the addition of Army Sgt. William Sutton, 53, Sgt. Charles Hughes, 87, and Army Cpl. Robert Schellenberg, 89. The three war heroes live in a three-bedroom wing attached to the main home.
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Thank you Amazon for killing my book!

Amazon stopped pirate operation

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
April 27, 2019

Yesterday Amazon stopped a pirate operation that had stolen my book, and royalties, for the last 16 years!

I won't bore you with explaining it over and over again, but if you go to these post, you can catch up in case you had not read about it. April Fools publishing with Xlibris and Book not pulled on account of zombies

I could not get Xlibris to stop selling the first book I wrote back in 2002 and they published in 2003. It is the blue copy and the other one is the one I had to republish in 2012 on Amazon for the 10th anniversary of FOR THE LOVE OF JACK. 

No matter what I did, they either refused to do it or, were too incompetent to even know they had to.

I received a bunch of lame claims when they could not even pin down the date they stopped selling it. 

In the latest round of seeking accountability from them, they said it was 2005, and the it was 2004. 

Too bad they could not come up with an excuse as to how, if either date had been the truth, they managed to add on a secondary ISBN number that was not even issued until 2007!

Lawyers did not want to help unless I could tell them how many were sold. There was no way for me to know. Considering it was over a period of 16 years, my site has been viewed over 4 million times and my profile, well, this was as of a few years ago.

Yes, according to Google, it was over 15 million views!

Long story short, what I could not do for all these years, Amazon managed to get it done in a matter of 2 days! I contacted them, filed a complaint for copyright infringement and piracy, since I do not know who did what, or when, and they stopped it.

Yesterday morning it was 4 used copies and a few hours later, it was "not available" and this morning, the damn blue copy IS GONE! Amazon killed it! 

I wanted to publicly thank Amazon for protecting the rights of this author when no one else would even bother to help!

These are my books on Amazon now and they are legal ones!

Gold Star Families hit by huge tax increases on benefits?

Gold Star widow "shocked" by new tax bill on sons' survivor benefits

CBS News
By JANET SHAMLIAN
April 25, 2019

Because a surviving spouse can't receive both Veteran Affairs and Defense Department benefits simultaneously in full, Gold Star parents often sign the taxable DOD benefits over to their children. But the new tax law lumps Gold Star children into a bracket known as the "kiddie tax" at 37 percent, much higher than their previous tax rate.

Coronado, Calif. — Many Americans were shocked by their tax bills this month. The new law was especially costly for our nation's Gold Star families, who saw the taxes owed on their survivor benefits skyrocket.

Theresa Jones has been a single mom to Anthony and Hunter for almost six years. Her husband Landon, a Navy chopper pilot, died in the Red Sea during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2013.

It's been a challenge for Jones, especially financially. They've been able to stay afloat because of the survivor benefits they receive, aid that came with an unexpected surprise at tax time.

"When I saw that tax bill I was shocked at how much these boys owed on benefits that were given to them," Jones said.

The boys each received about $15,000 in survivor benefits last year. Jones was hit with a tax bill of $5,400 for them, up from $1,100 from the previous year.
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Sgt. Maj. Troy Black wasn't going to leave one of his Marines behind

Next Marine Sergeant Major Ran Across IED-Filled Ground to Reach Fallen Comrade

Military.com
By Gina Harkins
25 Apr 2019

"Sergeant Major Black distinguished himself through his exceptional leadership, operational input, and devotion to duty," according to the citation. "Both on the battlefield under fire and on the firm bases, he courageously set the example."

Sgt. Maj. Troy Black wasn't going to leave one of his Marines behind.

U.S. Marine Sgt. Maj Troy E. Black addresses Marines, Sailors and guests during the 1st MLG Relief and Appointment Ceremony aboard Camp Pendleton, Calif., April 7, 2017. (U.S. Marine Corps/Sgt. Zabolotniy, Camp Pendleton)

When he deployed as sergeant major of 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, in 2010, Black went out on more than 50 missions, covering 10,000 miles of terrain filled with improvised explosive devices. When one of those IEDs detonated, killing a Marine, Black ran several hundred yards through unswept territory to reach him.

His actions earned him a Bronze Star with Combat "V" Device. Now, he will become the 19th sergeant major of the Marine Corps.

"[Black's] boldness under fire continually imbued his Marines with confidence and a steady resolve," his Bronze Star citation states. "He consistently demonstrated a sincere dedication to his Marines and Sailors, and inspired them to overcome incredible challenges to accomplish their mission."

That set the example for more than 1,100 troops during that deployment from April to September 2010. The Marines, sailors and soldiers he helped lead were spread across three provinces and partnered with two Afghan battalions.
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Disabled Navy Veteran got gift from another one...George H W Bush's car

Jay Leno, Jenna Bush Hager surprise ailing veteran with George H.W. Bush's service car

NBC Today
By Scott Stump
April 25, 2019

Jenna Bush Hager became emotional as a former Secret Service van that used to transport her grandfather was gifted to a disabled Navy veteran.

U.S. Navy veteran David Miller proudly served his country for 10 years before a degenerative neurological condition turned life upside down for him and his family.

Jay Leno and Jenna Bush Hager are hoping a special gift that was once used by the late President George H.W. Bush, a Navy veteran himself, can help make life a little easier for a fellow sailor.

Jenna became emotional as she joined the former "Tonight Show" host to surprise Miller, 31, along with his wife, Misa, and their daughter, Rachel, 7, outside Rockefeller Plaza on TODAY Thursday.
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Air Force Veteran James Davis had no family until he was buried by huge one

Veteran with no known living relatives given hero's send-off

Hastings Tribune
John Huthmacher
Apr 25, 2019

AYR — A U.S. Air Force veteran who died alone in his apartment in early March was remembered with a hero’s sendoff from a grateful community Tuesday afternoon.

Members of the Patriot Guard Riders and American Legion Riders form a circle around the grave site for James Davis Tuesday at Blue Valley Cemetery near Ayr. Laura Beahm

Around 150 mourners attended the graveside service honoring the memory of James Davis, who died at age 61. Many arrived at the cemetery as part of a motorcade from Livingston Butler Volland Funeral Home to Blue Valley Cemetery near Ayr.

The Rev. Thomas Brouillette, chief administrative officer of Hastings Catholic Schools, presided at the committal service, which included full military honors. The motorcade procession included members of the Patriot Guard Riders and American Legion Riders.

Davis, a Hastings transplant who relocated from Philadelphia in 2006, had no known relatives and but a handful of friends from the various jobs he worked while in the community, including a stint at Dunkin’ Donuts shortly before his death.

Greg Sinner, his landlord for 13 years, discovered Davis’ body inside his apartment at 739 N. Lincoln Ave. He teamed with Mike Butler of the funeral home and Adams County Veterans Service Officer Chris Long to make funeral arrangements.
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