Worcester Police Officer-Disabled Veteran fired for what service did to him

Disabled Military Veteran Fired by Worcester Police

This Week In Worcester
By Tom Marino
August 20, 2023

Documentation from the VA indicates Condo told its staff that while in Afghanistan, he was assigned a tent near a Counter-Rocket, Artillery, Mortar (C-RAM) unit at a base that experienced significant attacks where soldiers were killed. Public records show an attack at Bagram Air Force Base led to five casualties there on July 8, 2014, while records show Condo was stationed there. Documentation from the VA indicates Condo told its staff that while in Afghanistan, he was assigned a tent near a Counter-Rocket, Artillery, Mortar (C-RAM) unit at a base that experienced significant attacks where soldiers were killed. Public records show an attack at Bagram Air Force Base led to five casualties there on July 8, 2014, while records show Condo was stationed there.

Jerry Condo served as a Worcester Police officer for 14 years and is a 23-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force National Guard with a combat tour in Afghanistan. During his time with the Worcester Police Department, he was never the subject of a citizen complaint. He was the subject of two investigations by the Bureau of Professional Services (BOPS), the internal affairs unit that investigates officer wrongdoing inside the Worcester Police Department, for alcohol-related incidents in 2017 and 2018. Both investigations were sustained. Termination was recommended.

Prior to Condo’s termination, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) designated Condo as a disabled veteran due to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in connection with military service. Despite documentation from the VA that Condo was engaging in treatment for both PTSD and alcohol abuse consistently throughout 2018, then City Manager Ed Augustus signed a letter terminating the employment of this disabled veteran on Dec. 14, 2018.
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HOLD ONTO YOUR TEMPER AS YOU READ THE REST OF THIS. They recognized what service does a couple of months later.

Jon Stewart stood up for veterans Ted Cruz stomped on

The Repubicans voting against taking care of veterans proved one thing. They don't really care about veterans. Jon Stewart stood up for all of you after Ted Cruz stomped on you!

and here is the video!

Afghanistan veteran captured woman being beaten in street on video

Video shows woman attacked outside Rochester business

WHAM 13 News
May 31, 2020

Painter, who says he is a veteran of the War in Afghanistan, says it was one of the worst things he’s ever witnessed. He said he stopped recording abruptly because some of the people who attacked the woman in the video started running toward him.

(WHAM) - Disturbing video recorded by a person in Rochester shows a group of people attacking a woman outside a business amid widespread looting and rioting in downtown Rochester Saturday evening.

In the video, a woman pleads with the people smashing the exterior of Rochester Fire Equipment Company on Marshall Street to stop. The woman yelled at the group of people, who were apparently trying to loot the jewelry store next door.

Several of the people then turn on the woman and begin attacking her, hitting and kicking her, and then used boards to hit her.
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Marine veteran with PTSD pushed in front of Chicago Red Line moving train!

Man pushed in front of El train, killed was Marine who served in Afghanistan

WGN9 News
by: Tonya Francisco
Posted: Apr 8, 2020

Al Balde calls that good news, but says he can’t help but struggle with encouraging his son to join the military, saying he came back with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after his second tour in 2015.

CHICAGO — Family members say a former Marine who served two tours in Afghanistan was killed in a Chicago subway tunnel Tuesday after he was pushed onto the tracks and struck by a Red Line train.

Al Balde and his daughter came to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office Wednesday to identify the body of 27-year-old Mamadou Balde, who was killed Tuesday.
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U.S. Marine veteran who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan, and as police officer committed suicide in lobby

When a veteran commits suicide at a VA, it is a scream for help for others before it is too late for them. When a police officer does it at the station, it is for the same reason. So when exactly do we allow that scream to motivate us to actually do something?

Former Euclid Police officer commits suicide in department's lobby

News Herald
Staff report
Mar 23, 2020

Gauntner was a decorated police officer and is a U.S. Marine veteran who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan. He had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, according to a previous News-Herald article.

Todd Gauntner a former Euclid Police officer, committed suicide March 23 in the department's lobby. In 2019, Gauntner, left, was sentenced to five days in jail for brandishing a gun at two men during a 2018 bar fight in Willoughby. News-Herald file

Former Euclid Police Officer Todd Gauntner came to the Euclid Police Department lobby at 3 a.m., March 23, and committed suicide, the department announced in a news release.

He made no attempt to hurt anyone other than himself and no one else was injured, the release stated.
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Bravo Company battles to save their brothers after war

Military Unit, Ravaged by War, Regroups Back Home to Survive the Peace

The Wall Street Journal
By Ben Kesling
July 14, 2019

“Derek, Grant, Timmy—all those guys died at their own hands,” said Sgt. 1st Class Robert Musil, listing close friends from Bravo Company and other units he served in who had killed themselves. “All those men were warriors. If they can do it, what’s stopping me?”

Veterans at the reunion talk about their experiences since returning from deployment to Afghanistan. PHOTO: TRAVIS DOVE FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Suicides drive Bravo Company veterans to test whether reuniting will help overcome lingering effects of battle

Nearly a year ago, the combat-hardened paratroopers of Bravo Company realized things were getting too dangerous. They weren’t working as a team. Too many men were dying. Nobody seemed to know how to stop the bloodletting.

And that was a decade after they got home from war.

During an 11-month tour of Afghanistan’s notorious Arghandab Valley, three soldiers from Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment were killed in action and a dozen more lost at least one leg or arm. In the 10 years since they returned to the U.S., two B Company soldiers—isolated from their buddies, struggling with their demons—have killed themselves, more than a dozen have tried and others admit they have considered it.

“I didn’t think I deserved to get help,” Jason Horton confessed to the group over a microphone in a conference room. It’s hard to find help in a system as large as the VA, he said. He found it helpful to talk one-on-one with someone who experienced the same trauma he did. “It’s a big sea, and it’s hard to swim in that sea,” he said.
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You learned how to fight...now learn how to live! #BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife

Video of Afghanistan veteran being stabbed to death regarded as "trophy"

Fugitive captured in fatal stabbing of Cherry Hill war veteran

Philly.com
by Robert Moran
April 23, 2019

A 26-year-old man wanted in the fatal stabbing in Chinatown of a 28-year-old Afghanistan War veteran from Cherry Hill was captured by authorities Tuesday morning in Southwest Philadelphia.

Victor Yan has been accused of killing Brett Berdini, who was attacked by a group in the 1000 block of Race Street shortly before 2 a.m. last Oct. 14.

The attack, including the stabbing, was recorded on a camera phone by one of the assailants and shared among the attackers and others for their amusement, said Anthony Voci Jr., chief of the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office homicide unit.

“We have a generation that is apparently obsessed with recording just about everything, and that includes violent crimes,” Voci said.

Voci said the defendants regarded the video as a “trophy.”
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Triple Amputee Brian Kolfage TSA Full Pat Down? Seriously?

Purple Heart triple-amputee veteran Brian Kolfage subjected to full pat down at Tucson International Airport

Daily Mail
Stephanie Haney
February 10, 2019

Florida Purple Heart veteran Brian Kolfage, 37, was subjected to an 'invasive' pat down by TSA agents
A concerned fellow traveler filmed the incident on Saturday in Tuscon, Arizona
'They groped and searched under his hips and buttocks, his groin and his half arm searching for what?'
YouTube users James Hoft said in the video caption
According to his website, Kolfage was severely wounded in a 2004 rocket attack at an Iraq air base, losing both legs and one arm and now has prosthetics
Kolfage, from Florida, was in the Tuscon area for a rally about building a border wall through crowdfunding
Kolfage raised more than $20 million through GoFundMe since December to support his effort, but fell short of his $1 billion goal triggering refunds to patrons
Now those who donated have the option to forward their support to a non-profit

The Florida triple-amputee veteran who garnered more than $20 million online to help build a wall along the southern US border was filmed being thoroughly searched by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents in Tuscon, Arizona.

A concerned fellow traveler filmed Purple Heart recipient Brian Kolfage, 37, being subjected to an 'invasive TSA pat down' on Saturday morning at Tuscon International Airport, following a 'We Build The Wall' rally in Sahuarita, which took place on Friday.

'They groped and searched under his hips and buttocks, his groin and his half arm searching for what?' YouTube user 'james hoft' wrote in the caption with the video, uploaded on Saturday.

'Brian is an Afghanistan War veteran. They also swabbed his prosthetic legs and wheelchair for explosives.'
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Amputee-Disabled veteran changed tire...for Gen. Colin Powell

Veteran who lost leg in Afghanistan helps his "idol" Colin Powell change tire on side of road

CBS News
BY CAITLIN O'KANE
JANUARY 24, 2019

A military veteran on his way to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Wednesday saw someone having car trouble on the side of the road. Being the good Samaritan that he is, the veteran stopped to help — only to realize the man was his idol, Colin Powell.

"I'm not really starstruck that much. It was just a situation like, here's somebody on the side of the road who needs help, why not get out?" Anthony Maggert told CBS News. Since they were only about 5 miles away from Walter Reed, he knew the man likely didn't just look like Colin Powell — he was Colin Powell.

"The closer I got to the vehicle, I saw the face and I said, 'That has to be Colin Powell,'" Maggert said. When Powell got out of the car, Maggert realized he was face-to-face with the renowned general.
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Canadian veteran served 3 tours, ended life at Armoury

Leaving armed forces can create a deadly loss of identity, says top military psychiatrist
CBC News
Posted: Aug 08, 2018

Young veterans leaving the forces are at the highest risk of suicide, says the chief psychiatrist overseeing their care in Canada.

Master Cpl. Joseph Allina during one of three tours in Afghanistan before he retired from the military in 2016. The 35-year-old killed himself in July after struggling with PTSD. (Submitted by Sandra Weissinger)

And a suicide prevention strategy released last year to address this crucial period was not enough to save Master Cpl. Joseph Allina, who took his life in front of the Seaforth Armoury in Vancouver last month. He had retired from the armed forces in 2016 and was a day shy of his 36th birthday when he died.

"This points to the importance of that transition period," Veterans Affairs Canada chief psychiatrist Dr. Alexandra Heber told The Early Edition host Stephen Quinn on Wednesday.

A major study by Veteran Affairs Canada, Health Canada and the Canadian Armed Forces concluded last year that veterans are committing suicide in Canada at a much higher rate than the general population. 

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"This company was built by brothers helping brothers"

How This Former Marine Turned His PTSD Into a Multi-Million-Dollar Business in 60 Days
Entrepreneur
Javier Hasse
March 14, 2018

“I can tell you with certainty that I thought about killing myself more than once. And so did one of my best friends and former unit companion, Caleb Patton. It was the guys around us, who are now part of IPG, that saved us.” Hunter Garth

Hunter Garth, bearded, 27, seems to be as chill as they come. After all, he works with marijuana.

But this was not always the case.

Returning home after serving with the United States Marine Corps in Afghanistan for four years was not easy. Readapting to civilian life was not easy. And, as you might imagine, overcoming the trauma of war was not easy--is it ever?

“During my life in deployment, I was hyper-exposed to trauma, but I really negated it all, telling myself that it was not that bad. I really took a tough guy approach while I was in the Marine Corps,” Garth reveals.

However, coming back home was a whole other issue. He could no longer live in denial. “My deployment had pretty extensive consequences. During my transitional period, I was not thinking right, I was not sleeping well, [and] I wasn’t handling things in an appropriate manner,” he continues.

Despite being among the lucky ones, counting on the support of friends and family at the time of his return, Garth marks the moment of getting out of the Marine Corps as the one where things really went South--not only for him but also for almost every one of his comrades. There was not a lot of time to process things in Afghanistan; back home, they were all alone with their thoughts.

“A few of the guys that I served with killed themselves; a few of them got in adrenaline-based accidents… Basically, we were all self-medicating and acting in a way that was incredibly dangerous as a group of people and as individuals.”

“This company was built by brothers helping brothers, and we intend to follow that path,” Patton adds.
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PTSD Disabled Veteran Died After SWAT Standoff

Friend says Harris Co. deputy's accused shooter troubled by divorce and custody dispute
ABC 13 News
By Jessica Willey
Friday, February 02, 2018

Cobb was on the track team at the University of Houston. He was a triathlete and an Army veteran, having served in Afghanistan. "I know for sure he had PTSD. I know it. I feel like, that was a huge, plays a huge part in what happened," she said.

SPRING, Texas (KTRK) -- The man at the center of a deputy's shooting and SWAT standoff overnight was a disabled Army veteran who suffered from post traumatic stress disorder, according to friends.

Matthew Vincent Cobb, 35, was found dead from gunshot wounds early Thursday morning inside the house on Kiplands Way where he rented a room. That came after a Harris County Sheriff's deputy and a roommate had been shot.

Sources tell Eyewitness News Cobb had threatened his ex-wife with a gun at her house and then left. Deputies found him at his house and were mid-arrest when, investigators say, Cobb pulled a gun from his clothes and fired.

The deputies returned fire and retreated. Video from a neighbor's security camera shows one deputy stumbling out, having been shot in the arm.
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Afghanistan Veteran's Funeral With Marvel Super Heroes Friends

Family and friends dress as Marvel superheroes for funeral of comic book-mad Afghanistan veteran, 30, who died in road smash
Daily Mail
By Bridie Pearson-jones For Mailonline
19 December 2017

The Afghanistan veteran and budding actor was a huge comic book fan, particularly Marvel's Avengers His family threw a superhero themed funeral, where hundreds came dressed as Roman's favourite characters
Friends and family came dressed as Iron Man, Wolverine, Spiderman, Deadpool, Bananama and Black Widow

An Afghanistan veteran, 30, who died in a lorry crash was given a fitting send-off after his family and friends dressed as his favourite comic book characters at his funeral. People dressed as Bananaman from the Beano comics, as well as Marvel characters

An Afghanistan veteran, 30, who died in a lorry crash was given a fitting send-off after his family and friends dressed as his favourite comic book characters at his funeral.

Hundreds of mourners turned out to pay their respects to Marvel superfan Roman Parsons at Carmountside Crematorium in Stoke-on-Trent on Tuesday.

Grieving relatives came dressed as Iron Man, Wolverine, Spiderman and Deadpool ahead of the emotional service.

Others wore Bananaman and Black Widow outfits at the budding actor's funeral.

The lorry driver passed away when his HGV ploughed into the back of a broken down truck on the A500 on November 24.

Roman, of Blurton, Stoke-on-Trent was a lifelong comic book fan, and had dreamed of starring in an Avengers movie after signing with the Amanda Andrews Agency last year. He'd also spent six months working as a rail engineer in Afghanistan as part of a six-year stint in the Army, before becoming a lorry driver in 2009.
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Steelers Army Veteran Alejandro Villanueva Talks About PTSD

Steelers LT Alejandro Villanueva revealed why he served three tours in Afghanistan

Atlanta Journal Constitution
Stephen Knox
December 9, 2017

Pittsburgh Steelers left tackle Alejandro Villanueva has one of the most interesting stories in the NFL.

Villanueva graduated from West Point, and while there he walked onto the Army football team. Before beginning his career with the Eagles in 2014, he served three tours of duty in Afghanistan. He is a decorated Army Ranger, winning a National Service Medal and a bronze star.

However, he revealed that a big reason why he served the final two tours in Afghanistan was due to the struggles he had once he returned home.

“Now I started developing a fear of flying. I started developing even a fear of bacon because it can give you cancer,” Villanueva said to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ed Bouchette. “So you start developing all these things because you’re like ‘Holy smokes, I’m a healthy 20-year-old now back in normal society, I have a life expectancy. I don’t have to die tomorrow.’ It’s a very tough thing to reconcile in your mind. It causes a lot of stress. I think that’s one of the main reason for PTSD is that I was ready to die and now I don’t have to die.
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NFL Afghanistan Veteran Army Ranger Stood Alone For Anthem

Alejandro Villanueva, a U.S. Army veteran, was the lone Steeler on the field during national anthem

SB Nation

by James Dator  

Sep 24, 2017

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin explained on Sunday morning why his team would remain in the locker room during the national anthem in Chicago. He didn’t want his team to be part of a political discussion, or there to be division in the locker room as a result of players protesting or not protesting. But in the end there was one player who took the field, offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva.

Villanueva’s career in the NFL didn’t begin until 2014. Prior to that, he served three tours of duty in Afghanistan, where he served as a Captain in the army, as well as being an army ranger.

Villanueva was critical of Colin Kaepernick’s anthem protest in August of 2016, when he said:

"I don't know if the most effective way is to sit down during the national anthem with a country that's providing you freedom, providing you $16 million a year ... when there are black minorities that are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan for less than $20,000 a year."

However, he was also quick to acknowledge the problems in this country.

"I will be the first one to hold hands with Colin Kaepernick and do something about the way minorities are being treated in the United States, the injustice that is happening with police brutality, the justice system, inequalities in pay," Villanueva said. "You can't do it by looking away from the people that are trying to protect our freedom and our country." 
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Canada Motorcycle Rat Rally Honors Those Who Serve

Rat Rally motorcyclists take part in annual memorial ride

Chronicle Herald News Canada
Tina Comeau
September 3, 2017

One speaker was Bob Grundy, the founder of Rally Point Retreat in Sable River, Shelburne County. The retreat offers veterans and first responders suffering through the collateral damage of traumatic events a quiet, safe and relaxing environment. PTSD, Grundy said, should never be fought alone.

For another year, motorcyclists taking in the Wharf Rat Rally in Digby made the trek to Hebron, Yarmouth County, in a memorial ride that included a ceremony at the Afghanistan monument at Maple Grove Education Centre

As the hymn Amazing Grace was played on the bagpipes, a motorcycle engine rumbled to life.

Both were a soothing sound.

For another year, motorcyclists taking in the Wharf Rat Rally in Digby made the trek to Hebron, Yarmouth County, in a memorial ride that included a ceremony at the Afghanistan monument at Maple Grove Education Centre.

Flags flapped in the wind as members of the Maple Grove and Yarmouth High Memorial Club formed an honour guard along the sides of the school driveway.

Then — and you could hear them before you saw them — a steady stream of motorcycles arrived.

“Sweet in pride, bitter in the knowledge that sometimes it means they’re not going to come back the same, whether they’re soldiers, sailor, aircrew, police, firefighter or EMS. People who put on a uniform to serve others put themselves in harm’s way and often carry a weight that stays with them forever.” Bob Grundy
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Afghanistan Veteran Recovering After Disc Surgery

Veteran gets first type of spinal surgery in Upstate
Index Journal
By: Ariel Gilreath
Posted: Sunday, November 27, 2016

When Marcus English first got back from his service with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, he not only had to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder from watching his squadmate die right in front of him from an improvised explosive device (IED), but he also dealt with the pain of a herniated disc from the blast for six years.

As of Sept. 21, he is the first patient in the Upstate to receive the BRYAN artificial disc surgery on two disc levels.

The BRYAN surgery uses artificial discs to alleviate herniated discs rather than the traditional operation spinal surgeons use, which fuses the two discs together.

English was first deployed to Afghanistan in 2010 and was part of front line infantry. His squadron was doing a foot patrol to secure a compound in 2010 when one of them set off an IED.

“There was actually two guys in front of me -- the one guy kind of leaned up against the side of the building, hit a pressure plate IED and it went off,” English said. “I caught the blast that kind of threw me back, but when I landed, I actually landed on my neck and shoulders. So the blunt of the force was actually when I landed.”

English said the soldier who leaned against the pressure plate died.

“Then the gentleman behind him, he caught some fragments to his face from the fellow that was in front of him, and he went blind, and he actually had, I’d say, seven or eight different eye surgeries and they finally restored his vision,” English said.

English still has flashbacks of that moment and said he has since been diagnosed with PTSD.

From 2012-16, he lived with the pain of a herniated disc from the IED blast until almost exactly six years later, Dr. Michael Kilburn, with Self Regional’s South Carolina Spine Center, performed the BRYAN artificial disc surgery on him.

“The pain itself was gone immediately,” English said. “It made a world of difference immediately.”
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Suicide Awareness Pushes Reason To Give Up To

Talking About Someone Choosing to Die Not Giving Them Reason to Live
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 11, 2016 

"Hell was something Amanda was not afraid of. She had lived there for years." Kathie Costos from Residual War

The only thing I am sorry for is that too many have died instead of healing. As for hurting the feelings of all these awareness talkers, I have no sympathy left for them. None! 

What did they think would be accomplished by talking about the anguish that belongs to someone else? Did it give them a voice to ask for help before they did it? Did it help soothe their heartache? Did it offer them any hope that tomorrow would be any better than their last day was?

Coming Soon to Amazon

"If misery loves company, then triumph demands an audience."
Brian Moore

Letting the suffering know there are many more opting for suicide supports their own contemplation of resolving their agony. How about we change the conversation and talk about not just reasons to live but how to heal?

"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing." Walt Disney

Time to stop what failed and change the conversation. Suicide Awareness did no good at all for those who suffer.  It did a great deal for the spreaders of it in terms of publicity for profit but evidence has shown nothing positive came out of it.

What does work is when a veteran talks to other veterans and offers hope they can defeat PTSD just like they did and then tell the others how they did it.

What works is when veterans find the support they long for to replace the loneliness they exist with every day.

What works is when veterans show up just because they know one of their own is hurting.

What really works best is pointing out the simple fact that when a nation has veterans taking their own lives after surviving combat in higher numbers after everyone has been doing a hell of a lot of talking, it is time to changed the message! 

Residual: an internal aftereffect of experience or activity that influences later behavior

Residual War (fiction mystery) is about the battles fought inside and the private hell Amanda lived with for 6 years.  She did what she was compelled to do. No time to think about the consequences, she took quick action to save lives. Lives she blamed for shattering too many others including herself.

All she could see was what bad came out of all of it.  Forced to transfer to a Fort where she couldn't get into any more trouble before she was eligible for full retirement, Amanda descended into a deeper hell all tied to that one day in Afghanistan.

After three days she resurrected hope for forty others and was shown that for all the misery she thought she spread, there were many miracles unfolding at the same time but she was just too busy grieving to see any of them.  

Heroic actions by those who do not see themselves as heroes because living without taking action would be worse than dying doing it. They did not want sympathy. They wanted to heal enough to live with their memories.  Killing those memories would have been like their friends dying all over again.

Veterans left homeless at the mercy of vultures because the military decided they had entered into service with a pre-existing mental illness and booted them out with "personality disorders" instead of help. Leaving them with nothing, they became lab rats no one cared about. That is until Amanda refused to let it happen.

Judgement is part of all of this because humans tend to judge what they see instead of looking deeper, at least long enough to understand how someone would devolve into a complete total mess.

Peer support is part of all this because when no one understands what it is like to be them they feel like outcasts. 

44 "he is a leprous man. He is unclean. The priest shall surely pronounce him unclean; his sore is on his head." Leviticus 13

But they were not unclean. They were remarkable humans doing whatever they could, whatever they were compelled to do in order to save the lives of others. They suffered for it, were blamed for what they did out of suffering and no one noticed it was all tied to the simple fact they faced it all with no thought for themselves.

Ya, I know.  That's the part everyone keeps leaving out of all this "awareness" talk.  How do they think they anyone can reach a veteran playing on their own needs without letting them know they will be helping others after they heal?

4 "Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed." Isaiah 53

Each one of us has touched the lives of others. Either we helped them, encouraged them or we destroyed them. Does talking about veterans committing suicide help them or harm them? It surely does not help them by giving any hope to heal.  It does not encourage them to see why they are suffering any more than it comforts them by the fact they are not destined to remain suffering as they are.  When do we tell them they can heal if we take up so much time pushing the rumor of a number?

Today is September 11, the day that started many wars but finished none. Soon after 9-11 I was talking with others involved with PTSD and we saw what was coming after this nation was attacked. That is because we were paying attention to the generations of veterans we already had with us for decades.

RESIDUAL WAR is about the younger generation learning from the older generation that this is a war that does not end but does not have to defeat your life.

"Hell was something Amanda was not afraid of. She had lived there for years." Almost forgot.  Amanda is a military chaplain.

Afghanistan Veteran Survived Bomb--Beaten in Driveway

Police: Wounded vet attacked by five teens outside home
FOX 10 News
Reported by Forrest Sanders
Updated: Jul 12, 2016

Last year, Dicillo said he was deployed to Afghanistan with Fort Campbell when his vehicle was t-boned by a pick-up truck that exploded.

"I had my teeth knocked out," he said. "My hearing's gone, partially gone."

Kyle Dicillo, right, said he was attacked early Tuesday morning outside his Clarksville home. (WSMV)

CLARKSVILLE, TN (WSMV)
A vet wounded in Afghanistan said he was attacked in front of his family's home. He said what appeared to be five high school boys started hitting and punching him, while he tried to fight them off. For his family's safety, the man said he's hoping the police can catch the five teens he's seen before.

For the Dicillo family of Clarksville, summer afternoons are all about popsicles on front steps with daughter Annabelle and waiting for little Alexander Thomas to take his first steps.
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FOX10 News | WALA

Homeless Male Veterans With Kids Cannot Stay Together?

Homeless veterans with kids in Fresno need a place to call home
The Fresno Bee
BY BARBARA ANDERSON
June 28, 2016

"I HAD TO DIVIDE MY KIDS UP SO I COULD BE IN THE HOMELESS PROGRAM"
Former homeless veteran Sean Tait

Male veterans cannot have children in transitional housing

Children of female vets can live with their homeless mothers

Fresno dad had to split his children up while in transitional housing

Army veteran Sean Tait turned to veterans officials for help last year when he was evicted from a Sanger apartment.

He had injured his right knee while serving with the reserves in Afghanistan in 2009. The knee injury led to a bad back, and he needed an operation. He had worked on-and-off at jobs since returning home, but by December 2014 he couldn’t work, and he couldn’t pay $850 rent and utilities.

Ending veterans’ homelessness is a high priority at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which has set a December 2016 deadline for getting veterans off streets and into housing. The Fresno VA had a place available for Tait.

However, the divorced father had a son and daughter who lived with him. He needed somewhere they all could stay together. read more here