Hero with PTSD wonders if he did enough

Army Veteran Who Disarmed the Club Q Mass Shooter Opens Up About PTSD: 'Did I Do Enough?'

PEOPLE
By Sean Neumann
Published on December 14, 2023

“There's a guilt,” Fierro explained to Hall, as the two discussed #PTSD and its impact on their lives. (Hall was wounded during the war in Ukraine while working for Fox News.)

Rich Fierro, the Army veteran who helped disarm a mass shooter who opened fire at a gay nightclub in Colorado last year, is speaking out about the post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms he’s been managing in the year since the shooting that killed five people and injured 17 others.

In a new interview with Fox News war reporter Benjamin Hall on his Searching for Heroes podcast, Fierro, 46, recounts the harrowing night of Nov. 19, 2022, when a gunman entered Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colo., and opened fire and how it has impacted both his and his family’s life.

The victims included his daughter’s longtime boyfriend Raymond Green Vance, who died in the attack, as well as bartenders Derrick Rump and Daniel Aston, as well as Kelly Loving and Ashley Paugh.

Fierro, who along with fellow patron Thomas James helped subdue the gunman and pinned him down for roughly six minutes until police arrived, has been regarded as a hero for his immediate response to the massacre. But Fierro has also spoken out over the past year, most recently on Hall’s podcast, about his lingering sense that despite his heroism, he didn't do enough.
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Army Sergeant Major Denzel Washington?

Denzel Washington is the US Army’s newest (honorary) sergeant major

"He just wants to do better for the Army.”
Task And Purpose
BY HALEY BRITZKY
PUBLISHED OCT 11, 2021

Actor, director and Hollywood icon Denzel Washington is the “Honorary Sergeant Major of the Army” for 2021.

The Army formally announced Washington as the 2021 Honorary Sergeant Major of the Army recipient at the Annual Association of the U.S. Army conference on Monday. Washington was chosen because of his work with the Fisher House Foundation, a program focused on building homes at military medical centers around the world for military and veteran families to stay in while their loved one is receiving medical care.

Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Grinston, who presented the award to Washington, said that Washington represented everything he was looking for in this year’s honoree: humility, dedication to soldiers, and respect for the Army.
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580 Service Members Die by Suicide in 2020

580 Service Members Die by Suicide in 2020, New Pentagon Report Says

Air Force Times
By Greg Hadley
Sept. 30, 2021

Fliers are on display during the Suicide Explained and Suicide Intervention training inside the Bay Breeze Event Center at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., Sept. 17, 2021. Air Force photo by Kemberly Groue.

Five hundred and eighty service members died by suicide in 2020, the Pentagon announced Sept. 30, when the Defense Department released its annual suicide report.

Those 580 deaths mark the most the DOD has recorded in at least five years, with the Active-duty component accounting for 384, the Reserve for 77, and the National Guard for 119. In the Air Force, 81 Active-duty members, 12 Reservists, and 16 Air National Guard members committed suicide in calendar year 2020, according to the report.

“The findings are troubling. Suicide rates among our service members and military families are still too high, and the trends are not going in the right direction,” Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said in a statement accompanying the release of the report. “This is a paramount challenge for our department. We must redouble our efforts to provide all of our people with the care and the resources they need, to reduce stigmas and barriers to care, and to ensure that our community uses simple safety measures and precautions to reduce the risk of future tragedies.”

While the total numbers increased, the Defense Suicide Prevention Office found that the rate of suicides per 100,000 individuals did not increase by a statistically significant margin from 2019 to 2020, assuaging some fears that the COVID-19 pandemic would lead to a surge.
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As bad as that sounds for last year, the truth is, the military suicides have been averaging 500 a year since 2012.

While reporters are unable to add in the "reserve component" meaning National Guard and Reservists, that is the truth. 

Year after year, they make excuses and make promises as to how serious they are taking the deaths of service members because of their service. Year after year, the numbers prove whatever leaders are paying attention to, they are clearly not paying attention to what the men and women service actually need.

Considering the civilian world has not been able to bring down the numbers, yet the general public seems fixated on veterans committing suicide, ignoring the suicides of those who committed suicide while serving, it is unlikely anything will change for anyone.

Considering what happened at Fort Drum with the 10th Mountain Division. When I posted about three suicides at Fort Drum it was like a dagger to hope that someday, they will finally understand how what leadership has been doing has failed. 

'What are we missing?' Fort Drum seeks answers in wake of successive suicides

By Brian Dwyer
Fort Drum
Sep. 30, 2021

Three recent suicides of soldiers in the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, which has the lowest suicide rate of any division in the Army, has served as a wake-up call for leaders.

“We’re doing, for a lack of better words, mental gymnastics to think 'what are we missing?' ” 10th Mountain Division Command Sergeant Major Mario Terenas said upon learning three soldiers took their own lives.

Tenth Mountain Division officials were adamant that the days of stigma, being fearful to ask for help with mental health, were gone. Officials also discussed the highest priority the division places on ensuring soldiers get that help they ask for. So when the calls came in two weeks ago for three suicides in three days, it was a massive wake-up call.

“Put simply, suicide is the military in a crisis,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told reporters Thursday.

In her eyes, Gillibrand says more needs to be done regarding mental health stigma within the military. She’s pushing for passage of the Brandon Act, named after a sailor who three years ago took his own life after being bullied by a superior.

The act would trigger help for a military member without alerting those who could retaliate or impact a career. It had been placed in the House's version of the fiscal 2021 Defense Policy bill, but was removed during final deliberations.

“Our service members make sacrifices that we can never forget. It is our obligation to ensure that adequate resources are devoted to taking care of them, our veterans and their families,” Gillibrand said.
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A wake up call they have said they have been hearing for decades! Members of Congress in the last 20 years have done nothing meaning full. All they have done is repeat what didn't work before, spend more money and get their names on Bills, while the troops get their names on gravestones. Nothing more than putting words together for press releases, while families get a pressed, folded flag at the funeral of someone who didn't need to end up there. 

Families still say they don't know what to do to help other families not face the same outcome. How could they when the government, all the way from Congress to the leadership of every branch don't know what to do? How could anyone know what they need to hear, if no one is remember what they already heard for the last 4 decades as Vietnam veterans, Gulf War Veterans and the War on Terror veterans have testified over and over again to members of Congress and Brass?

10th Mountain lost three soldiers to suicide this month

Army investigating the suspected suicides of 3 Fort Drum soldiers this month

NBC News
By Corky Siemaszko
September 29, 2021

"We want to know the trigger," the 10th Mountain Division commander said.

Three soldiers at a U.S. Army base in upstate New York are suspected of dying by suicide during a 72-hour span earlier this month, including one who was among the last to return home from Afghanistan.

All were members of the 10th Mountain Division, which is based at Fort Drum, the division said in a statement. All three deaths are under investigation.

“Immediately when we have a situation when a Soldier is suspected of taking their own life, we want to know the trigger,” Maj. Gen. Milford H. Beagle Jr., the 10th Mountain Division commander, said in an email to Army Times.

The dead soldiers were identified by the Army Times as Staff Sgt. Angel Green, 24; Pfc. Tyler Thomas, 21; and Spc. Sika Tapueluelu, 26.

The deaths of the soldiers, who were assigned to different units on the base, were announced Sept. 19 by the base public affairs team.
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Who failed Nicholas Mavrakis and his family?

When you read this story, notice that it was known he had PTSD and had been deployed multiple times. The last listed deployment was in 2008. The question is, why didn't he get the help he needed to heal during all these years back home?

Did the Army fail him? Did the VA fail him? Did all the suicide awareness groups out there fail him? The truth is, they all did and so did the rest of us!

Greek-American Man Suffering from PTSD Kills Family in Murder/Suicide
Greek Reporter
Patricia Claus
June 25, 2021

The Greek-American man had served in the U.S. Army from April 1993 through July 2013 and retired as a staff sergeant according to US Department of Defense records. He had been deployed to Afghanistan from January 2002 to July 2002, and served in Iraq twice, from February 2003 to February 2004 and then again from September 2007 to November 2008.

Nick Mavrakis and his family. Mavrakis shot and killed his own family on Father’s Day in a murder/suicide. Credit: Facebook/Nick Mavrakis

Nicholas Mavrakis III, of Jackson Township, outside Canton, Ohio, allegedly shot and killed his wife and two children before turning the gun on himself in a murder/suicide on Father’s Day.

The shocking incident took place at the family home in Jackson Township, five miles from Canton, Ohio according to police and local media reports.

The Greek-American man was a U.S. Army veteran who had served in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Local police, in a post on Facebook, reported that Mavrakis, along with his wife Lesley Mavrakis, 37, and children Ace Mavrakis, 13, and Pippa Mavrakis, 5, “were found dead shortly after 4 PM Sunday in their home.”
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Veteran heals PTSD in unique way...Forged By Fire

Winston-Salem knife maker creates works of art. Army veteran's hobby led to stint on "Forged in Fire."

Journal Now
Fran Daniel
June 12, 2021

“It’s very therapeutic for him, which is good,” Robin Lopez said. “But his creativity started coming out and it was allowing him to express that…I think it’s positive that we all have that creative outlet.”

After noticing that making knives soothed and brought him peace, Lopez began reaching out to other veterans who are dealing with PTSD and interested in making knives.

In the spring of 2014, U.S. Army veteran Fermin Lopez decided to make his own knife.

At the time, he was dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Lopez, who now lives in Winston-Salem, said he did a tour in the Middle East as a helicopter medic when war broke out in Iraq in the early 2000s.

“I was having a lot of issues with memories from the war and things like that, and I needed an outlet,” Lopez said.

To make his first knife, Lopez used a bag of charcoal he bought from Walmart.

“Then I used my grill and a hair dryer, and I actually was able to forge a knife,” he said. “It was mild steel. It was not like the ones I make now. It was just something to play with.”

He decided to make more knives, saying it helped take his mind off things.

“I felt a lot more relieved,” Lopez said.

His skills as a bladesmith, which is the art of making knives, swords and other blades, have come a long way since then.
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Legacy of healing PTSD from my Dad

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
April 22, 2021

When I think about my Dad, I often wonder how he'd feel if he knew what he started back in 1982. All these later, the number of lives changed because he served in Korea and he never knew about them. I am a living legacy to him and his life.

About a week ago, I received a strange message on Facebook from a man claiming to have pictures of my Dad in Korea. He wrote things that had to be true, so I called him. His Dad served with mine. The twist to the story is that his Dad probably never knew he had a son born in Korea. Yesterday he sent me pictures I had never seen before and I thought about my Dad a lot more than usual.

My Mom and oldest brother went to stay with him when he was in Japan.

We were a normal family. Both of my brothers were born on Army bases. He was a Staff Sergeant. He left the Army before I was born but I was a typical Army brat. I also grew up with uncles who served in WWII. That was all normal to me. I didn't discover it was not usual to have a family full of veterans, or that having living room furniture from Japan was odd, until I was older.

When I met my current husband, I was already divorced and only 23. The night he met my husband, he said, "He seems like a really nice guy but he's got shell shock." My husband is a Vietnam veteran. I had no idea what he was talking about and when I asked him to explain it, he told me to go to the library because war changes people.

I spent all my free time at the library with clinical books and a dictionary, learning as much as I could. The more I learned, the more I fell in love. Not just with the man I would end up marrying, but loved my Dad more and all veterans. Now they call it PTSD.

My Dad started what turned out to be my life's work. Thousands of articles, books, videos, several websites and more, all started because of my Dad's life in the Army. Over the years, I've had many messages thanking me for what I do and to pass appreciation on to my husband for his service. I just wanted you to know, that had it not been for my Dad, I don't think any of this would have started.

This is why today the featured video is, Dan Fogelberg, The Leader Of The Band.

If you've sent me emails thanking me for what I do, and thanking my husband for his service, I wanted you to know that none of this would have happened if my Dad didn't understand what he saw in my husband. It is a good reminder that we never know how much we do change the world when we are willing to do what we can, when we can, when we are willing to try.

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'TALLADEGA NIGHTS' HOUSTON TUMLIN gone too soon

'TALLADEGA NIGHTS' HOUSTON TUMLIN Depression and PTSD Led to Suicide
TMZ
March 28, 2021

Houston Tumlin -- the kid who played Ricky Bobby's son in 'Talladega Nights' -- grew up to proudly serve his country, but sadly suffered from PTSD and depression as a result, which led to his suicide ... his mother tells TMZ.

Michelle Tumlin tells us ... her son honorably served in the U.S. Army for nearly 6 years, earning many accolades as an E-4 specialist in the 101st Airborne Division

Houston's awards include the Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal and Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, but Michelle says he was most proud of earning his Air Assault wings.

Michelle says, "Houston received a different set of wings" this week, and while the family is hurting from the loss, she says they want to stress to anyone who is suffering to reach out and get help.

She says ... "Houston Lee Tumlin was so much more than a child actor from 'Talladega Nights.' My beautiful boy brought joy to everyone he encountered and made them feel special. Houston fought his battle for years, and we will continue to fight for him."

We're told Houston will have a full military funeral, and his family marched in an event over the weekend in Helena, Alabama to raise awareness for veteran suicide and PTSD support.
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#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD

West Point cadets have tested positive for COVID-19 after forced ceremony

16 West Point cadets test positive for COVID-19 upon returning to campus for Trump's commencement speech

Task and Purpose
David Roza
June 1, 2020

According to the campus newspaper, The Pointer View, the 1,100 cadets of the class of 2020 started returning to campus last week.

(U.S. Army/Matthew Moeller)

At least sixteen West Point cadets have tested positive for novel coronavirus (COVID-19) upon returning to the New York campus President Donald Trump's upcoming speech at the school’s commencement ceremony on June 13.

USA Today first reported the infections. A West Point spokesman confirmed the article’s findings for Task and Purpose.

The 16 cadets are receiving treatment but are not showing symptoms of the disease, Lt. Gen. Darryl Williams, West Point’s superintendent, told USA Today.

Of the 16 affected cadets, 14 tested positive for the antibody which indicates they contracted the virus and subsequently recovered, USA Today reported.

The number is a small fraction of the 850 cadets who have returned to campus since spring break in March.
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Fort Hood soldier shot to death, jeep set on fire

Fort Hood soldier found shot dead near burning Jeep

Army Times
Kyle Rempfer
May 22, 2020

Texas police and Army CID agents are investigating the death of a Fort Hood soldier as a homicide after he was found dead from a gunshot wound roughly 13 miles from post on Monday.

Pfc. Brandon Scott Rosecrans, 27, was identifed as the victim by local police and post officials. (Army)

Harker Heights police officers identified 27-year-old Pfc. Brandon Scott Rosecrans as the victim in their murder investigation and also the owner of an orange 2016 Jeep Renegade that was found along with the deceased.

The vehicle was on fire when it was first reported to police, officers said, and it was later confirmed to belong to Rosecrans. The cause of the fire is still under investigation by the Harker Heights fire marshal, police said.
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Alan Twofoot, served in the Army for 28 years and Bedford VA hospital died of COVID-19

Rolling memorial service held for Merrimack veteran, 51, who died from complications of COVID-19

WMUR News
Siobhan Lopez
May 16, 2020

Tiffany Twofoot, who tested negative for COVID-19, said it's not clear how her husband contracted the virus, but that he continued to work at the VA in Bedford, Massachusetts, and was doing all of the grocery shopping for the family.

Emergency vehicles, including ones from the New Hampshire National Guard, led dozens of mourners past Alan Twofoot’s Merrimack home on Saturday. Twofoot, a 51-year-old Army veteran, died Tuesday from complications of COVID-19.

“Extremely overwhelming. I never imagined that there were so many people out there who loved and respected him that way,” said his wife, Tiffany.

Twofoot’s family want people to know this virus needs to be taken seriously.

“When he got sick with this, it brought him to his knees. It turned him into somebody he never would've wanted to be,” said Tiffany Twofoot.

Alan Twofoot, who served in the Army for 28 years, also leaves behind three children and two grandchildren. Nobody was allowed to be by his side when he died, adding to the heartbreak.

Alan Twofoot, who served in the Army for 28 years, also leaves behind three children and two grandchildren. Nobody was allowed to be by his side when he died, adding to the heartbreak.
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Fort Carson Staff Sgt. killed by police after domestic disturbance

Army staff sergeant shot and killed after allegedly pointing rifle at police through basement window

Army Times
Kyle Rempfer
April 30,2020

Thorpe, a 28-year-old combat veteran assigned to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, joined the Army on May 22, 2012, according to his service history. His home of record is Canton, Massachusetts. He had been assigned to Fort Carson since April 14, 2016.

Thorpe deployed to Afghanistan between May 2, 2013, and Dec. 1, 2013.

(Blackfoot Troop 4-10 Cavalry Regiment)

An Afghanistan veteran and non-commissioned officer was shot and killed by four police officers on April 19 after he allegedly picked up a rifle and pointed it at them through a basement window, Colorado Springs Police Department officials said.

Staff Sgt. Virgill Thorpe, a cavalry scout assigned to nearby Fort Carson, was shot on a Sunday night. A woman had called police to report a domestic disturbance in which a man was armed with a rifle. Officers arrived at the 3200 block of Oak Creek Drive East in Colorado Springs at roughly 10 p.m. and spoke at the front door with Thorpe.

“There was a verbal exchange. The suspect then ran inside ... downstairs to the basement of the residence where the [reporting party] was at,” said Colorado Springs Police spokesman Lt. Jim Sokolik.

“Officers were on the outside of the residence and could see through the basement window that he picked up a rifle," Sokolik added. “He then pointed that rifle at the officers who were outside the residence, through the basement window. And that’s when the officers fired.”

All four officers fired shots. Until the coroner’s report comes back, which takes about four weeks or longer, police cannot say definitively how many times Thorpe was struck. Sokolik could also not say how many rounds were fired in total or how large the basement window was through which Thorpe pointed his rifle.
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Vietnam Veterans Day with the voice of first talking GI Joe

The voice of the first talking G.I. Joe action figure is a true American hero

The New York Post
By Melanie Gray
March 28, 2020

For the Corsairs, today is an opportunity for all Americans to recognize Vietnam veterans for their service, particularly because so many were shunned when they returned home from fighting America’s most unpopular war.

Bill Corsair, voice of the first talking G.I. Joe action figure.

Bill Corsair is the voice of the first talking G.I. Joe doll, a SAG award winner and a Guinness World Record holder.

But the title that the Manhattanite is proudest of: Army veteran.

Corsair, 79, went to Vietnam in January 1969 as part of the fabled First Cavalry Division. He came back 10 months later a changed man.

“To me, it was the bravest and most patriotic and unselfish thing I’ve ever done, and I can’t imagine my life if I hadn’t,” Corsair said from his Upper West Side home.

Today, as the country wages a health war on the home front, Corsair wants to honor those 2.7 million men and women who served alongside him by calling attention to Sunday’s National Vietnam War Veterans Day. Roughly 60,000 made the ultimate sacrifice.
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Abrams tank burst into flames on Fort Hood

The Army is investigating why an M1 Abrams tank burst into flames on Fort Hood

Task and Purpose
JAMES CLARK
MAR 23, 2020

"We can report that no injuries occurred as a result of the fire." Maj. Paul M. Oliver

The tank appears to have caught fire just outside the unit's motor pool on Fort Hood.(Reddit)

An M1 Abrams main battle tank belonging to 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment caught fire on Thursday at Fort Hood, Texas.

A photo of the flaming tank, which appears to have been taken just outside the unit's motor pool, began making the rounds on the r/Army subreddit on Friday, though the post has since been deleted.

Multiple videos, shot by several different soldiers, were sent U.S. Army WTF Moments, a popular online military community, which provided the footage to Task and Purpose.
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Soldiers given housing rights after deplorable living conditions

DoD adds key provisions to tenant bill of rights

Army News Service
By Devon Suits
March 12, 2020

The tenant bill of rights included inputs from close to 200,000 households. Within the original provisions, Soldiers are given the right to reside in a house and community that meets health and environmental standards.

The Military Housing Privatization Initiative Tenant Bill of Rights was signed by DoD senior leaders on Feb. 25, ensuring that service members and their families receive fair treatment. The bill of rights may soon include three more key provisions to help rebuild trust about privatized housing, officials told the House Appropriations Committee. Sentinel file photo

WASHINGTON — The tenant bill of rights, signed by Department of Defense senior leaders last week, may soon include three more key provisions to help rebuild trust about privatized housing, officials said March 3.

The document has 15 provisions to ensure service members and their families receive fair treatment under the Military Housing Privatization Initiative. It was signed Feb. 25 by Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy and the other service secretaries.

The three additional provisions propose to provide military tenants a dispute resolution process, the right to withhold rent until a dispute is resolved, and access to a building’s maintenance history before the move-in date, officials told the House Committee on Appropriations’ Military Subcommittee.

“Since early last year, the DoD has been working to address the concerns of our military families,” said Pete Potochney, the acting assistant secretary of defense for sustainment, in written testimony to the Capitol Hill hearing.

“We recognize and acknowledge that our oversight of the program had not been up to the standards established at the outset,” which includes leadership engagement, he added.
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TBI and PTSD aren't usually diagnosed until long after those other than honorable discharges are handed out

A new insult to veterans: Thousands are unlawfully being denied medical care | Vince Bzdek

The Gazette
Vince Bzdek
March 7, 2020

Just because a discharge is “other than honorable” doesn’t mean that a vet doesn't qualify for medical benefits, according to the VA’s own rules. But the new study by the Veterans Legal Clinic at Harvard Law School says the VA has unlawfully turned away thousands of veterans with other-than-honorable discharges because officials at the VA systematically misunderstood the law and didn’t review the vets’ applications properly.

A new study has discovered that the VA has unlawfully turned away thousands of veterans with other-than-honorable discharges because officials at the VA systematically misunderstood the law and didn’t review the vets’ applications properly. Associated Press file photo. Ted S. Warren

Veterans call it “bad paper.”

In a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of stories reported in 2013, The Gazette found that more soldiers than ever are receiving “bad paper”, which means they are receiving “other than honorable” discharges for some sort of misconduct ranging from drug use to insubordination.

The Gazette investigation, based on data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, found that the annual number of misconduct discharges was up more than 25% Armywide since 2009. At the eight Army posts that house most of the service's combat units, including Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, misconduct discharges had surged 67%.

The Gazette discovered a Catch-22 about those discharges. Many “other than honorable” discharges stem from misconduct due to traumatic brain injuries received during service or to mental health issues caused by deployment. The problem is TBI and PTSD aren't usually diagnosed until long after those other than honorable discharges are handed out.
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PTSD after six years and three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, lost to suicide

Helen Ubinas: Veteran’s final words show the true cost of war

Journal Star
By Helen Ubinas
Posted Feb 17, 2020

It’s been six weeks since Rosalind Williams’ 30-year-old son, Army veteran Michael Corey Hadley of Philadelphia, took his own life.

When grieving the death of a child, that’s a moment. A blink of an eye, a flip of a calendar. Barely enough time for Williams to pick herself up and return to the high school where she teaches science.

And yet in that small window, 900 other military parents have been dealt the same blow — left behind to try and find the rhythm of a life that they’ve lost after losing their children to suicide. According to the most recent data from the Department of Veterans Affairs, about 20 veterans, active-duty service members and members of the National Guard and Reserve die by their own hands every day.

In the quiet that followed the initial flurry of collective shock and grief after his death on Jan. 2, Williams sat with her anguish. She went through old photographs, collected new ones from his funeral and military interment. She read, and reread, the numerous news stories written about her son after the family spoke unsparingly about his death.

“His wounds were slow-acting and invisible, but nonetheless crippling and fatal,” the family said in a statement that spoke of his struggles with depression and PTSD after six years and three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Just as she did when she and the family struggled to find the right way and words to describe the loss of her son, Williams has continued to consider the cause of his death. His PTSD and the mental health issues that medicines and other interventions failed to help — those were merely symptoms, torturous as they were, of what really ailed him. Instead, his mother believed: What finally cost him his life was the traumatic brain injury he suffered after the Army sharpshooter’s multiple deployments. Even in his final letter to his family, which she read aloud to me at her dining room table, he spoke about it.

“I’m so sorry for doing this to you,” Hadley wrote. “I am so grateful to have been born into a loving, strong family.
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#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife

Fort Carson Soldier falsely charged for abusing baby,,,until truth finally came out

Fort Carson Soldier Charged with Abusing His Child until Bone Disorder Found

The Associated Press
By JENNIFER BROWN
17 Feb 2020

Crystal gave up on restoring her nursing certification — the main reason she wanted it was to take care of Jace’s g-tube. Jarvis is still waiting for the Army to restore his security clearance, and when it does the Bryants hope to leave Colorado for another Army post. The state where their baby was born has too many bad memories.

FOUNTAIN, Colo. (AP) — When a child protection caseworker told Crystal Bryant they were taking her 5-month-old boy, the young mother dropped to her knees on the hospital floor.

“Take me,” she pleaded. “For my son to stay home, take me, I don’t care.”

She begged God and anyone listening, but “they still took him,” Bryant recalled, shaking her head and wiping tears as she recounted the worst moment of her life. Child welfare and police officers made Bryant and her husband, Jarvis Bryant, leave the Colorado Springs hospital room before a foster mother arrived to take their baby away.

Their lives were shattered.

The Bryants, who moved to Fountain when Jarvis was assigned to Fort Carson, were charged with felony child abuse, accused of breaking multiple bones in their only child’s body. Crystal’s recently earned nursing certificate was revoked. Jarvis, a U.S. Army specialist, lost his security clearance, stripping him of his job in aircraft and vehicle supply and relegating him to paper shuffling.

The Bryants’ son was one of 4,772 Colorado children removed from their homes by child welfare authorities and living in foster care last year.
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"What I took away was that we are never alone when we are at our darkest."

National Prayer Breakfast — Warriors should seek help during dark times

Fort Carson
By Norman Shifflett
Garrison Public Affairs Office
February 16, 2020

“What I took away was that we are never alone when we are at our darkest,” said Spc. Alexis Garwood, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 4th Inf. Div, who was attending her first prayer breakfast.

FORT CARSON, Colo. — During the National Prayer Breakfast, Soldiers eat breakfast at the William “Bill” Reed Special Events Center Feb. 6, 2020. (Photo by Norman Shifflett)

FORT CARSON, Colo. — The National Day of Prayer provides an opportunity for people from various faiths and backgrounds to come together and unite for a prayer for the nation.

About 500 Soldiers, Family members and guests from the local community attended the annual Fort Carson National Prayer Breakfast Feb. 6, 2020, at the William “Bill” Reed Special Events Center.

“The most important part of this breakfast is that it shows the people of America we can come together as different races, colors and creeds and pray for the safety of our nation and hope for the greatness to continue,” said Col. Robert Glazener, senior mission command chaplain, 4th Infantry Division.
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Heroes Horizon helped repair more than a roof for elderly veteran

Nonprofit organization remodels house for veteran Army nurse

NBC 10 NEWS
by SAM READ
February 15th 2020

NARRAGANSETT, R.I. (WJAR) — A veteran Army nurse from Narragansett is getting a new roof over her head, literally.

Dozens of volunteers who heard she needed some home repairs stepped up to help her.

“Some of these guys have brand new babies at home, some of them came hundreds of miles to help out this weekend,” said Ken Gayles, the Project Manager for Heroes’ Horizons.

Heroes’ Horizons is a non-profit organization based out of Rhode Island that helps veterans.

“My son was a veteran, he came home he was not well and we lost him eventually,” said Gayles. “I started this because of him, if a veteran needing heating oil, electricity bill paid, had nothing in the refrigerator, we like to provide it for them that day if possible.”
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