Fort Bliss solider "hero" in his own mind?

That hero soldier who saved a life with just a pen and a sweatshirt? Apparently, he made it all up.

Army Times
Meghann Myers
January 17, 2019

It took a few days, but as news outlets around the country picked up a Jan. 9 Fort Bliss, Texas, press release about a soldier’s heroic response to a gruesome car accident, firefighters in Sweetwater, Texas, started to ask questions.

Sgt. Trey Troney, a field artillery cannon crewmember assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, is under investigation after questions arose about whether he lied about saving a man after a traffic accident on Interstate 20 near Sweetwater, Texas, Dec. 22, 2018. (Staff Sgt. Killo Gibson/Army)

That wrecked Toyota pickup on the side of Highway 20 sounded very familiar, but Sgt. Trey Troney, the 20-year-old soldier with the New Orleans Saints “Salute to Service” sweatshirt and the ballpoint-pen chest decompression didn’t.

“There are so many similarities, but our patient didn’t have those injuries,” Grant Madden, Sweetwater’s fire chief, told Army Times in a Wednesday phone interview.

Fort Bliss officials on Thursday retracted their story. Troney’s command has initiated an investigation into whether he lied to his leadership about his role in the accident, spokeswoman Maj. Allie Payne told Army Times.

“The entire 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss team sincerely apologize to the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Highway Patrol, the city of Sweetwater, Texas, the city of El Paso, the University of Texas at El Paso, the New Orleans Saints, the local and national media and the American people,” Payne said in a release.
read more here

"...some deal alone with pain of military suicide"

Some survivors are offered help, some deal alone with pain of military suicide
Tampa Bay Times
Howard Altman
Times staff writer
December 28, 2017

A retired deputy with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, she spent 15 years on the crisis negotiation team, talking people out of taking their own lives. But there was nothing she could do for her son. 

Compounding the tragedy, she said, is that she was left to deal with it on her own. There was no help from the Marines. No casualty assistance officer. No honor guard. Nothing.

Nearly 500 troops killed themselves last year and the numbers are on pace to far exceed that in 2017. Thousands of former service members, about 20 a day in 2014, also take their own lives.

Suicide has hit home this year for some two dozen military families across Tampa Bay, including those left behind by a soldier from Tampa and by a Marine veteran — still carrying the scars of battle — from Indian Rocks.

The two men had their service in common, but the military stepped in to help ease the grief for only one of the families, pushing the other to join a cause: that no survivors of a military suicide should walk alone.

A Facebook post from Army Pfc. Matthew Forstrom left his parents horrified and helpless.

"... this isn’t anyone’s fault but my own," Forstrom wrote in a 341-word suicide note that appeared at 5:05 p.m. Dec. 4. "I only wish I had done it sooner."

Relatives of Army Pfc. Matthew Forstrom console each other near his flag draped coffin as it arrives at Tampa International Airport on Dec. 5. An Army Honor Guard received Forstrom's body during a plane-side service. [LUIS SANTANA | Times]

The words set in motion ripples of action, from the 24-year-old soldier’s base in Fort Bliss, Texas, to his home town of Tampa. The Army and local law enforcement launched a massive search effort. His mother, Pamela Andrews, who was alerted to the post by a relative, sent her son an urgent text message.

You better call me back right now.

He did, Andrews said, and the two spoke briefly.

"He just wanted to ask for my forgiveness. He was going to take one more thing from me."

For 12 agonizing hours, Andrews and Forstrom’s father, Ronald Forstrom, who was on a business trip to Indiana, waited for news.

But the Army and first responders couldn’t find their son in time.

And so on a Friday night earlier this month, relatives and friends of Forstrom’s gathered in the cellphone lot at Tampa International Airport to wait for an escort onto the tarmac so they could watch a flag-drapped coffin come off American Airlines Flight 2623.
read more here

Fort Bliss Soldier's Death in Iraq Under Investigation

Fort Bliss Soldier Dies in Non-Combat Incident in Iraq
Military.com
By Richard Sisk
December 22, 2017

A 20-year-old soldier with the 1st Armored Division has died in Iraq in a "non-combat incident," the Defense Department announced Friday.

Army Spc. Avadon Chavez. (Facebook)

In a release, the DoD identified the soldier as Spc. Avadon A. Chaves, 20, of Turlock, Calif. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, of the 1st Armored Division, at Fort Bliss, Texas.

Several Deaths Under Investigation?

What is going on with non-combat deaths and does any reporter care to put them together?

Army


Fort Bragg 

A Fort Bragg soldier died Tuesday after collapsing during physical training. Sgt. Robert Thornton Jr., 29, of Cairo, Georgia, was assigned to the 528th Sustainment Brigade.

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (WNCN) — Army officials say two soldiers were found dead in their barracks at Fort Bragg in the last few days.One soldier was found dead Thanksgiving while the second soldier died over the weekend.

A paratrooper from Florida died in his barracks on an Army base in North Carolina. The Miami Herald reports 22-year-old Spc. Carlton Butler of North Miami Beach died Saturday evening at the base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Fort Bliss

The Defense Department on Monday identified Cpl. Todd McGurn as the latest American service member to die in Iraq this month. Cpl. McGurn, a California native, died while conducting support operations for the U.S. coalition, according to a Pentagon statement. His death was tied to a “non-combat related incident” that took place in Baghdad. 

Fort Campbell

Sgt. Justin LaJoie-Grosvenor watched after her kids like he watched after his country. Two weeks after returning from Baghdad, Kaitlin said Justin took his life on November 18.

Marine Corps

Corporal Edwin Estrada, a Marine helicopter mechanic, died early Monday morning following what the Marine Corps called "an incident" in Wilmington. 

Navy 

Sailor found dead on USS John C. Stennis in Washington state Kitsap Sun Julianne Stanford Nov. 28, 2017
A 22-year-old sailor was found dead on the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis on Saturday afternoon with "no obvious and apparent cause of death," according to Stennis spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Frederick Martin.
The Navy has identified the sailor as Akiree Pointer, an engineman fireman recruit from Arlington, Texas.
The command is investigating his cause of death, Martin said.read more here linked from Stars and Stripes

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A 31-year-old sailor was found dead in an Oceanfront hotel room a day before she was scheduled to report aboard the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush, authorities said Friday.Petty Officer 3rd Class Amanda Simmons’ body was discovered in a room at the Ocean Beach Club Resort at about 3:20 p.m Wednesday, according to Virginia Beach police. 

Fort Bliss Soldier's Death in Iraq Under Investigation

Defense Dept. identifies American casualty in Iraq
The Washington Times
By Carlo Muñoz
November 27, 2017

The Defense Department on Monday identified Cpl. Todd McGurn as the latest American service member to die in Iraq this month.

Cpl. McGurn, a California native, died while conducting support operations for the U.S. coalition, according to a Pentagon statement. His death was tied to a “non-combat related incident” that took place in Baghdad.

Assigned to assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment in the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team,1st Armored Division out of Fort Bliss, Texas, Cpl. McGurn’s death is currently under investigation by command officials, the statement says.
read more here

Jimmie Smith, Homeless Veteran Laid to Rest

update

Hundreds honor homeless vet at Sierra Vista funeral

Hundreds gathered at the Southern Arizona Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery in Sierra Vista to honor the life of a homeless veteran.

Pfc. Jimmie Smith, from Tennessee passed away at the age of 60. He served in the U.S. Army from 1975 to 1977. Smith was discharged from Fort Bliss.

According to officials with the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services, not much is known about Smith’s background or family.

Dee Foster and Arthur Parson, both Sierra Vista residents, remember Smith as a man with a gentle heart.

Strangers gather to give homeless Arizona veteran proper burial 
The Republic
Cydney Henderson
July 27, 2017

Smith served in the U.S. Army from September 1975 until August 1977 before getting discharged from Fort Bliss in Texas, according to the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services.

A homeless Arizona Army veteran is going to get the funeral he deserves today, after a call for help on Facebook.

Pfc. Jimmie Smith has no family. Despite bravely serving his country, the 60-year-old died alone.

The Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services is doing its part to make sure the veteran is not alone during his memorial service in Sierra Vista, near Tucson.

The department asked community members to attend Smith’s Thursday morning funeral in place of his family, to give a man who fought for his country a proper send-off.
read more here

Afghanistan Veteran Pleaded For His Life Before They Slashed His Throat

Police documents recount gruesome murder of an Afghanistan veteran at Fort Bliss
STARS AND STRIPES
By ALEX HORTON
Published: May 26, 2017

SAN ANTONIO -- An Afghanistan veteran was stabbed to death in El Paso, according to court filings that recount a botched drug theft and the gruesome killing of a 23-year-old allegedly carried out by suspects connected to nearby Fort Bliss.

Tyler Kaden Croke pleaded for his life before his throat was slashed by two suspects during the robbery at Croke’s apartment in El Paso on May 7, according to a recently released complaint affidavit filed by El Paso Police and filed in El Paso County Court.

Five people were arrested in connection with the incident and charged with murder, according to El Paso Police. That includes Brandon Olsen, 27, who is assigned to Fort Bliss, said Mike Brantley, a 1st Armored Division spokesman at Fort Bliss.

In a handout mugshot provided by the El Paso police, Olsen is wearing an Army uniform with his name and “U.S Army” stripped off his chest.
read more here

OMG! Maj. General Pittard Credited for Suicide Prevention!

I do believe I have gone crazy or I am sleep reading. This cannot be true! A fabulous article on a General actually trying to do something about suicidal soldiers. All hopes dashed when I discovered the article was about Maj. General Dana Pittard! 

The General Who Went to War On Suicide
A commander with a history of depression created a unique way to keep his soldiers from killing themselves. The Army had other ideas.
POLITICO
By BEN HATTEM
March 17, 2017

On the evening of July 19, 2010, Major General Dana Pittard, the new commander of Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, got a call from the base’s 24-hour duty officer. A SWAT team had been sent to the house of a young sergeant named Robert Nichols. Nichols was inside with a gun, threatening to kill himself.

Pittard arrived at the soldier’s home just in time to see the soldier step out of the house, put the gun to his chest and fire. Neighbors and police crowded the street, but Pittard was the only officer from the Army base at the scene. He went home, where his boxes were still packed from his move 10 days before, feeling disturbed and helpless.

Nichols was the first of Pittard’s soldiers who died under his command at Fort Bliss. Others followed. A soldier from Fort Bliss’ 11th Air Defense Artillery brigade, which had recently returned from a tour in the Middle East, committed suicide. Another from the same brigade soon overdosed on prescription drugs.

The rash of deaths caught Pittard off guard. He knew that suicide was a growing concern for the military, which had spent millions of dollars to tackle the crisis and had issued dozens of reports—including a 350-page study that called suicides and deaths linked to high-risk behavior an “Army-wide problem.” But going in Pittard hadn’t planned to focus on the issue. That changed quickly. With suicides mounting at his base—a sprawling complex of 30,000 personnel, larger than Rhode Island—he realized he wanted to make stopping what he saw as preventable deaths a top priority.

Yep that guy!
Two years after that "first" suicide he was caught writing this while working out in the gym.

A General's Blog Post Undermines Army Suicide-Prevention Efforts

The Atlantic 

YOCHI J. DREAZEN

MAY 22, 2012

Maj. Gen. Dana Pittard commands Fort Bliss, one the nation's largest Army bases, so his blunt comments about suicide has raised eyebrows throughout the military.

"I have now come to the conclusion that suicide is an absolutely selfish act," he wrote on his official blog recently. "I am personally fed up with soldiers who are choosing to take their own lives so that others can clean up their mess. Be an adult, act like an adult, and deal with your real-life problems like the rest of us."

The posting was subsequently scrubbed from the Fort Bliss website, but the comments are adding new fuel to a contentious debate about whether the record numbers of troops who are taking their own lives are acting out of weakness and selfishness or because of legitimate cases of depression and other psychological traumas.

"Soldiers who are thinking about suicide can't do what the general says: They can't suck it up, they can't let it go, they can't just move on," said Barbara Van Dahlen, the founder of Give an Hour, an organization that matches troops with civilian mental-health providers. "They're not acting out of selfishness; they're acting because they believe they've become a burden to their loved ones and can only relieve that burden by taking their own lives."

read more here

I guess Politico didn't bother doing much of a Google search on him because this was on the second page of the search. 

Then again they could have searched Combat PTSD Wounded Times for even more reports like these.

New Records Show Injured Soldiers Describe Mistreatment Nationwide From Commanders at Army Warrior Transition Units (WTUs) North Carolina’s Fort Bragg records the most complaints, Texas not far behindNBCBy Scott FriedmanApr 7, 2015
New Army records uncovered by NBC 5 Investigates show injured soldiers have filed more than 1,100 complaints about mistreatment, abuse and lack of care from their commanders at more than two dozen Warrior Transition Units (WTUs) nationwide, many of those in Texas.
Those are just complaints made over five years to the U.S. Army ombudsman program, one of many places soldiers can complain.
Last fall, NBC 5 Investigates and The Dallas Morning News first revealed hundreds of complaints from ill and injured active duty soldiers in Texas.
Those Texas soldiers said WTU commanders harassed, belittled them and ordered them to do things that made their conditions worse at three Army posts in Texas: Fort Hood, Fort Bliss and Fort Sam Houston.

Major General Dana Pittard leaving after 3 officers committed suicide

Darren Hunt of KCIA News reported on Monday, All three suicides at Fort Bliss this year were officers

"The Pentagon says nearly 350 U.S. Military service members committed suicide last year.

Among those were five Army soldiers at Fort Bliss.

This year, three more suicides, all with something in common -- they were non-commissioned officers.

Sunday night on ABC-7 Xtra, Fort Bliss' outgoing commanding general confirmed the latest suicide happened just last week.

Anthony Fusco last Monday at his Northeast El Paso home -- a day after buying a gun at the PX -- has Pittard talking about refocusing the program.

But if the reporter cannot pay attention all along, the least effort that can be made is to actually get informed about what has been going on. After the fantastic reporting done by the Dallas Morning News series "Injured Soldiers Broken Promises" of the real facts of what our soldiers were going through after asking for help, it should have been important enough to pay attention to.

Death of Fort Bliss Soldier in Kuwait Under Investigation

UPDATE
Services announced for Hemet soldier who died in Kuwait
Press Enterprise
By GAIL WESSON / STAFF WRITER
Published: Jan. 22, 2017

Funeral services have been scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 25, for an Army soldier from Hemet who died Jan. 12 in Kuwait. The Patriot Guard Riders will provide an escort for the hearse carrying John Phillips Rodriguez into Hemet on Monday, Jan. 23, ending at the Miller-Jones Mortuary in San Jacinto at 165 W. Seventh St., with arrival estimated at 3:30 p.m., according to a post on the Patriot Guard organization website. The escort will come into Hemet on Highway 74 and turn north on San Jacinto Street to the mortuary.
for more information go here

SoCal Soldier Killed in Non-Combat Incident
NBC 4 News
By City News Service
January 14, 2017

A 23-year old Army soldier from Hemet was killed in a non-combat related incident in Kuwait, the Pentagon announced Saturday. Spc. John P. Rodriguez died while "supporting U.S. Army Central (Command)" as a combat engineer in Kuwait as part of Operation Inherent Resolve at the time of his death, according to Gil Telles, an Army spokesperson. The operation comprises of a U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

The circumstances surrounding his death were not disclosed due to an ongoing investigation. Rodriguez had been assigned to the 2nd Engineer Battalion, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, of the 1st Armored Division headquartered in Ft. Bliss, Texas.
read more here

Fort Bliss Wasn't Looking for Two Missing Soldiers?

Two soldiers are missing. Their families say the Army refused to look for nearly two weeks
Washington Post
By Avi Selk
January 5, 2016

Pfc. Jake Obad-Mathis (center) in a family photo after his enlistment in 2015. He

and Pfc. Melvin Jones have been missing from their base for more than two weeks.

(Courtesy of Carin Obad)

As his mother describes him, Jake Obad-Mathis does not look like most soldiers.

At age 20, after more than a year in the Army, he is still thin and small. He stands a head shorter than most of his comrades at Fort Bliss, Tex. He’s shy and talks with a slight stutter.

Or so he did, before the private first class disappeared Dec. 19.

If you have seen her son, Carin Obad would like to know. She has been searching for him for more than two weeks.

So has the family of his friend, Pfc. Melvin Jones, who disappeared on the same day from the same base.

Now — after nearly two weeks of rejections, excuses and abrupt dial tones from police and military brass, Obad said — the Army is finally looking, too.
read more here

Florida Combat Medic Veteran Thinks Suicide is His Only Answer After Decades of "Awareness"

Jacksonville veteran feels suicide is only answer despite push to raise awareness during September
Florida Times Union
Joe Daraskevich
September 28, 2016

Terry Russell Bass Jr. joined the Army when he was 19 years old. He believed in the military and was willing to give his life for his country so strangers could enjoy the feeling of freedom.

He’s now 35, living with his wife and three children in a mobile home on Jacksonville’s Westside, and he’s ready to kill himself so his family doesn’t have to struggle anymore.

“I’m tired,” Bass said recently as he sat on his couch wearing one of his four white undershirts and a pair of ragged athletic shorts. “If it’s OK for me to die for my country, then why is it not OK for me to die because I’m tired of being tired?”

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and the military and veteran communities in Northeast Florida have been working to spread the message of awareness and assistance that has eluded Bass for so long.

The Navy announced a new suicide-prevention program Sept. 16 called Sailor Assistance and Intercept for Life, or SAIL. The new national program provides continual support to supplement regular mental-health treatment for the first 90 days after suicide-related behavior.

“We are going to assign an advocate to follow up with them, kind of like being in aftercare,” said Command Master Chief Donald Henderson of Fleet Readiness Center Southeast at Jacksonville Naval Air Station.

He said a lot of times suicidal thoughts among sailors stem from something happening away from the base. Issues with family life or illicit drug use are common things that can lead to suicidal thoughts, Henderson said.
read more here

Houston Shooting Suspect Served Three Tours

UPDATE
Army vet behind Houston shooting becomes third mass shooter once stationed at Fort Bliss

Friend of Houston mass shooting suspect speaks out
KVUE
Grace White
May 31, 2016

HOUSTON -- Officials still don't know what caused a man to go on a deadly shooting rampage in West Houston. However, friends who knew him say he is an Army veteran who suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

"If precautions were taken before this, even on my part, to reach out for him then it could have been prevented," said a fellow solider, who asked not to be identified.

The soldier told KHOU 11 News he served alongside Dionisio Garza III, 25, in Afghanistan.

"I would have never guessed Garza. Ever. I've seen him talk people down from PTSD moments I'm sure more than I could even count," he said.

However, he told us PTSD was something Garza struggled with too.

"I never thought he had a serious problem with it, he chose to go on a second and a third deployment and not only go, but be a leader there," he said.

Police have still not said why they believe Garza snapped or even why a man from California chose a neighborhood off Memorial Drive in West Houston.

"This is not a place where anyone expects anything like this to happen, kids are about to get out of school, it's about to be summer," said Daniel Irving, one of the pastors at Memorial Drive United Methodist Church.
read more here


Police sources identify suspect in west Houston shooting

A second man identified as Byron Wilson is no longer a suspect and was in fact a Good Samaritan trying to help in the shooting.

The Good Samaritan was shot by the suspect as he tried to help and fight back. Wilson was critically injured, but he is expected to survive.

In total, two people were killed, including the suspect, and six others were injured.

The medical examiner on Monday identified the second deceased victim in the shooting as Eugene Linscomb.

One of the survivors was saved in part by a 17-year-old Boy Scout.

Army Widow Forgives Soldiers After Fort Bliss Training Death

Soldier negligence cited in death of Army captain
Army Times
By Kevin Lilley, Staff writer
September 21, 2015

Less than a day after rejoining his unit in the middle of a training exercise, a 27-year-old officer lay dying in the dark, the victim of what an Army investigator called “the intersection of multiple deficiencies.”

Capt. Jonathan Wynkoop, back with Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, after attending a wedding, had led an advance party from a training area to an assembly area about 30 kilometers away as part of Operation Iron Focus, a 10-day exercise involving more than 6,000 1st Armored Division soldiers at Fort Bliss, Texas.

The field artillery officer from Maumee, Ohio, helped set up camp and, around 12:30 the morning of March 31, went to sleep on a cot next to his vehicle.

Four hours and 15 minutes later came disaster. Operating in near-pitch black conditions, with a ground guide using the wrong type of illumination and a driver with the wrong type of license — both soldiers working on about two hours’ sleep — an MATV entered the unit’s unmarked sleeping area. It rolled over Wynkoop as he slept, crushing his chest.
read more here

This is the last photo taken of Capt. Jonathan Wynkoop. It was March 28, a few days before the training accident at Fort Bliss, Texas.
(Photo: Courtesy of Rachel Wynkoop)

Army widow forgives soldiers cited in her husband's death
Army Times
By Kevin Lilley, Staff writer
September 21, 2015

Days after learning Capt. Jonathan Wynkoop had died in a training accident, his family members had a request — they wanted to meet the soldiers involved.

So, on an April Monday at Fort Bliss, Texas, Rachel Wynkoop found herself in a room at her husband’s brigade headquarters, speaking with the driver of the MATV that rolled over the father of three while he slept on a cot next to his vehicle in the early morning hours of March 31.

Rachel Wynkoop wasn’t there to press for answers, to express rage, to impart or release any of the suffering she’d undergone in the six days since her husband’s death.

Instead, the officer’s widow had a simple goal.

“My mission was to help him,” Wynkoop said of the driver, in one of a series of emails to Army Times. “He offered apologies, and I offered forgiveness, and told him that the kids and I would be OK. I also ensured that even though he faces a difficult road ahead, that he would take care of himself in the best manner possible.”
click links for more

Fort Bliss Opens Nursing Room For Military Mums

Pictured: Soldier mums breastfeed to show they can still serve their nation 
The Mirror
BY SAM WEBB
13 SEPTEMBER 2015

Tara Ruby, who served in the US Air Force from 1997 to 2001 and is a mother herself, recalls how she had to find empty offices and bathrooms to pump.

A photographer and ex-servicewoman has taken a series of pictures showing female soldiers breastfeeding in uniform to show how women can be both mothers and serve their country.

Tara Ruby, who served in the US Air Force from 1997 to 2001 and is a mother herself, recalls how she had to find empty offices and bathrooms to pump. So she was delighted to learn that Fort Bliss in El Paso Texas, opened a nursing room with comfy chairs, a fridge to keep milk in and a sink.

The only thing was the room was a bit spartan, so she offered to take pictures of uniformed soldiers breastfeeding their children to decorate it. read more here

Army Reservist Due Promotion Killed in Her Home

Woman shot, killed remembered as loving mother, dedicated soldier
El Paso Times
By Aaron Martinez
POSTED: 08/01/2015

A 29-year-old woman shot to death Thursday night was known as a loving mother to an 8-year-old girl, a dedicated soldier and an all-around wonderful person, neighbors said at a vigil on Friday.

Blanca Rivera, 29, was shot and killed at about 9:15 p.m. at her home in the 11500 block of St. Thomas Way in East El Paso, police said. Her husband, Steven Quinteros-Rios, 25, was arrested in connection with slaying, police said.

Neighbors in the small gated community gathered Friday night in front of Rivera's home to pray and sing, including "Amazing Grace," in her memory. More than a dozen neighbors attended the vigil. They lit candles and left flowers and stuffed animals in front of her home.

"It is just heartbreaking," said Angel May, who lives across the street from Rivera. "I have known her for about a year. She was a soldier in the Army, she was funny, she was just a sweet girl all around. She loved her daughter so much. Blanca was such a great, loving mother."

Several neighbors said that Rivera served in the U.S. Army and was just two days from being promoted to staff sergeant.

Fort Bliss officials said Rivera was not stationed at the post, but was assigned to a local U.S. Army Reserve unit in the El Paso area.

"She was always friendly and would come talk to us and we would just laugh," said Maria Estela Cheung. She said she witnessed the start of the incident and called 911. "She was a wonderful person and an even better mother. It is just so sad that she lost her mother."
read more here

Maj. Gen. Dana Pittard Reprimanded After 3 Year Investigation

Just a reminder of who this General is, back in 2012, the year with the highest suicide record, Major General Dana Pittard lambasted soldiers at Fort Bliss,

“I have now come to the conclusion that suicide is an absolutely selfish act,” he wrote on his official blog recently. “I am personally fed up with soldiers who are choosing to take their own lives so that others can clean up their mess. Be an adult, act like an adult, and deal with your real-life problems like the rest of us.”

That was his answer to preventing suicides.

Looks like he made more bad choices as well.

Report: Pentagon Reprimands Army General after 3-Year Investigation
Military.com
UPI
Jun 22, 2015

Following a lengthy investigation by the U.S. Department of Defense, a key Army commander who was responsible for training Iraqis to fight the Islamic State was reprimanded earlier this year by the Pentagon for misconduct and will result in his retirement, the Washington Post reported Sunday.

According to Defense documents obtained by the Post through the Freedom of Information Act, Maj. Gen. Dana J.H. Pittard was the subject of a three-year probe that concluded he engaged in misconduct by steering a defense contract to a firm operated by two former West Point classmates.

As the U.S. Army's deputy commander for operations in the Middle East, Gen. Pittard managed the Pentagon-led training of Iraqi forces to combat Islamic State militants.

The formal reprimand could result in a loss of rank for the two-star general -- something the Army review board will ultimately determine before Gen. Pittard's retirement this year, the Post report said.

Until April, he was stationed in Kuwait but a Pentagon spokesperson said his returning to the United States was not related to the misconduct investigation. read more here

Fort Bliss Soldier From Florida Receives Army Commendation Medal with Valor Device

Army chief of staff honors two young Fort Bliss soldiers as heroes 
Army chief of staff pins medals of valor for their actions during an ambush in Afghanistan
El Paso Times
By David Burge
POSTED: 05/27/2015

Rudy Gutierrez—El Paso Times
Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, left, the 38th Chief of Staff for the U.S. Army pins the Army Commendation Medal with Valor Device to SPC Robert Gillespie, center, and PFC Nile Clarke, right, during a ceremony on post. The two soldiers were cited for their actions on March 13, 2014 when the convoy they were riding in was ambushed by insurgents in Afghanistan.

FORT BLISS
Two young Fort Bliss soldiers say they were just doing their jobs as infantry men, but the Army says they are heroes.

Spc. Robert Gillespie, a 21-year-old from Bartow, Fla., and Pfc. Nile Clarke, a 20-year-old from Norwalk, Conn., were each given the Army Commendation Medal with Valor Device during a ceremony at Fort Bliss on Wednesday.

They were recognized for their actions when the unit they were with in Afghanistan was ambushed on March 13, 2014, in the Zabul Province. They both exposed themselves to enemy fire, returned fire and allowed a six-vehicle convoy they were riding in to free itself up. No American soldiers were killed or wounded in the incident.

Making Wednesday's ceremony even more memorable, Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, who was visiting Fort Bliss for the day, pinned the medals on the two soldiers.

"They represent what we are about" as soldiers, Odierno said. "They care about the mission, they care about each other, about who they are and what they represent."

"War is a very personal business, especially on the squad and platoon level," Odierno added.

"It's about taking care of each other."
read more here

Troops Medical Care Was Outsourced to Defense Contractors?

The following is just a part of what the Department of Defense paid out to contractors to take care of our wounded. Bet you're as shocked as I am to discover that medical care was not always done by servicemembers including the "care" we read about at Warrior Transition Units.

$1.9 billion bonanza
Brevard startup lands lucrative Air Force deal
Orlando Business Journal
Chris Kauffmann
Staff Writer
Sep 18, 2006

MERRITT ISLAND -- Not even a case of pneumonia could keep Jim Barfield from crawling out of bed and going to work Aug. 14.

That was the day the president of Luke and Associates Inc., a tiny, Brevard County startup staffing company that had never generated any contracts or revenue, signed a 10-year, $1.9 billion contract -- that's billion with a "B" -- with the U.S. Air Force to supply medical personnel to bases all over the country.

"I signed a contract for more zeros than I have ever seen in my life," says Barfield, who started the Merritt Island firm two years ago with partners Rich Hall and Glen Bottomley. "I wasn't surprised we got it once I woke up from passing out."

About 18 months of meticulous preparation, planning and research helped ease the shock of winning the contract, not to mention that Barfield is hardly unacquainted with the intricacies of winning government contracts.

As head of Barfield and Associates Inc. for the past 13 years, the 52-year-old former Bechtel Corp. employee has helped major aerospace and defense contractors (names cannot be revealed because of non-disclosure pacts) make proposals to win more than 100 government contracts with values up to $3.5 billion.
read more here

Luke and Associates, Inc. Awarded $20 million Contract at Fort Bliss, Texas
Space Coast Business
May 22, 2014

Luke and Associates, Inc. (Luke), a leading provider of medical and clinical services for the U.S. military, announced today the award of a contract to provide medical services at the Ft. Bliss Continental United States (CONUS) Replacement Center (CRC). Luke will medically assess personnel to ensure readiness for deployment and redeployment. This is a new contract which was awarded under full and open competition and is valued initially at $20 million.
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Video of Fort Bliss Soldier's Death in El Paso Jail Released

Video of Texas soldier shows moments before his death while in police custody 
OKCFOX.com
By: Austin Prickett, Sr. Digital Content Manager
Updated: May 15, 2015

(KFOX) – An active-duty Fort Bliss soldier self-reported for a two day DWI sentence at the El Paso County Jail in 2012 but died before he saw the light of day or his family again.

In July 2012, KFOX14 anchor Erika Castillo reported on the story of the mysterious circumstances surrounded the death of Sgt. James Brown while he was in jail.

KFOX14 fought all the way to the Texas attorney general to obtain the video to learn what happened to Brown before dying.

The graphic video obtained shows the moments before the death of Brown. Brown served two tours of combat duty in Iraq. 

The decorated 26-year-old was on active duty at Fort bliss in July 2012, when he left his family for the weekend to self-report for a two day DWI sentence at the El Paso County Jail.

When he checked in, jail records show that Brown reported in writing to the jail that he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress. Brown's mother said when her son checked into the jail, he contacted her.

"He said they're trying to make me stay seven days instead of two days, so i just want to pay the court fine and get out of here," said Dinette Robinson-Scott. Brown asked his mom to send the money to pay the fine in lieu of the jail time, which she did by the following morning. But by that time, something had gone terribly wrong.

The video shows at some point, Brown appeared to have an episode in his cell that caused him to bleed. It's not clear from where. When he refused to answer or speak to the jail guard, a team of guards in riot gear were brought in to storm his cell. From beginning to the end of the recording, Brown stated he could not breathe. read more here

Warrior Transition Unit Soldiers Filed Over 1,000 Complaints

Can't help it. WTU Turned Into WTF!

New Records Show Injured Soldiers Describe Mistreatment Nationwide From Commanders at Army Warrior Transition Units 
(WTUs) North Carolina’s Fort Bragg records the most complaints, Texas not far behind
NBC
By Scott Friedman
Apr 7, 2015

New Army records uncovered by NBC 5 Investigates show injured soldiers have filed more than 1,100 complaints about mistreatment, abuse and lack of care from their commanders at more than two dozen Warrior Transition Units (WTUs) nationwide, many of those in Texas.

Those are just complaints made over five years to the U.S. Army ombudsman program, one of many places soldiers can complain.

Last fall, NBC 5 Investigates and The Dallas Morning News first revealed hundreds of complaints from ill and injured active duty soldiers in Texas.

Those Texas soldiers said WTU commanders harassed, belittled them and ordered them to do things that made their conditions worse at three Army posts in Texas: Fort Hood, Fort Bliss and Fort Sam Houston.

Now the new records, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, show the WTU at Fort Hood had the second highest number of complaints about WTU commanders with more than 140 over five years. The WTU at Fort Bragg in North Carolina had the most complaints in the nation, more than 160.

In all, seven WTU’s had at least 71 complaints about leadership over five years, including Fort Bliss. That’s the post where the Army Col. Chris Toner, commander of the U.S. Army’s Warrior Transition Command has previously said there were serious problems, “beyond a shadow of a doubt.”
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