Supporting the troops reduced to just a slogan at Fort Campbell

update Of the more than $3.6 billion that was redirected to the wall, $80 million came from projects in North Carolina, including $40 million for a new battalion complex and ambulatory care center at Camp Lejeune, $6.4 million for a storage facility for the new KC-46 tanker at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and $32.9 million for a previously canceled elementary school at Fort Bragg. The ambulatory care center was to replace current facilities that are “substandard, inefficient, decentralized and uncontrolled,” according to the military.

This report makes me sick to think about how many times we hear "support the troops" yet this verifies our politicians reduced it to a slogan!

Their loved ones serve our country but call their living conditions a slap in the face

FOX 17 News
by Erika Glover
December 19th 2019

“Why should my husband, or anybody’s husband or spouse, be deployed or be training and having to worry about if their family is sick this week and in the hospital because of the hazardous conditions?”

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (WZTV) — Back in February, concerned military spouses took their housing frustrations to Capitol Hill. Those at the top vowed to make a change.

However, Fort Campbell families allege some are still feeling the burdens of potentially hazardous housing conditions.

“I am appalled. I am frustrated. I am angry,” said one military wife who concealed her identity out of fear of retaliation.

For nearly one year, her family of four lived in Fort Campbell's on-post housing at the Pierce Village apartments. She said brown recluse spiders took over their two-story duplex, despite paying more than $1,300 per month.

“When I was doing dishes they would crawl across the counter,” she explained. “If I was sitting on the couch, they would crawl on my legs. They were in our bed. They were in our clothes.”

The concerned mother shared photos of mold hidden behind walls and chipping lead-based paint. There are other families, she said, who are currently exposed to these housing conditions.
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Add San Diego Navy housing to this.

Defense Bill Provides New Rights For Families In Private Military Housing

Abused Pit Bull and Disabled Veteran find healing together

New Beginning for Abused Pit Bull, Franky, and Combat Veteran

Clarksville Now
By Jessica Goldberg
June 15, 2019

Retired Sergeant Major Chris Self, is no stranger to overcoming adversity. An Army Special Forces veteran, Self has also served as a military police K-9 officer. In 2005, Self sustained gunshot wounds to both his legs. In 2006, he had to have his right leg amputated to return to active duty.

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – What some thought may be the end of one dog’s life, turned into a beautiful new beginning. Courage, tenacity, and the strength to overcome brought one Fort Campbell solider and man’s best friend together. Franky, the pit bull discovered earlier this year suspected of being used as a bait dog, has finally found a forever home.

On Friday, Retired Army Sergeant Major, Chris Self, was surprised at Nashville International Airport with 18-month-old Franky. “It’s a boy,” shouted Dana Self, Chris Self’s wife. Chris Self bent down to meet his new companion.

Montgomery County Animal Control received a call April 14 to pick up a dog. What they saw shocked everyone. A pit bull with gruesome head injuries, including half his scalp missing and ear flaps ripped off. Maggots infested the open wounds. Bite marks surrounding his head, neck, and legs, coupled with the other injuries led authorities to believe this poor creature had been used as a bait dog in dog fighting.
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101st veteran's body found in Mississippi River

Body found in flood waters in Alexander County, IL identified as 31-year-old veteran

WPSD NBC 6 News
Krystle Callais, Rebecca Gangemella
June 1, 2019

UPDATE: The uncle of Robbin Christopher Franklin says his nephew was an army veteran who served the country in both Iraq and Afghanistan. His uncle Mark Franklin says his nephew went by Chris.

Mark tells WPSD that Chris served in the 101st Airborne out of Fort Campbell, KY. Chris lived by the river in Illinois.

As the Mississippi River rises, Mark says his family has to boat to their homes. On May 29th, Mark says Chris’s dad was boating to his home when he found his son’s body in the water.

Mark was told the death will be ruled an “accidental drowning”. The coroner says the report is not finished until the toxicology report is done. At this time, no official cause of death has been released.

His family is working on finalizing funeral arrangements with Crain Funeral Home out of Cairo, IL.
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Fort Campbell is doing better than the Army average response to issues

WKRN News went out to Fort Campbell to investigate a report on how soldiers thought they were being treated.

In a survey anonymously filled out by soldiers in the 101st Airborne Division, 90% answered favorably about sexual assault prevention in the unit. That is 14% better than the Army average.

Fort Campbell leaders credit SHARP for the results. They also have a zero tolerance for sexual assault because one sexual assault could affect an entire unit.

"It doesn't have to be an assault it could be an inappropriate comment. You watch that soldier's performance go from 100% to just barely getting by. Now your unit is affected by that too," said Sergeant First Class Ed Hannah. Hannah is the SHARP manager for Fort Campbell.

There are around 21,000 soldiers in the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell; 10% are female. According to a 2011 report, women in the military are more likely to be raped than their male counterparts.

Overall, the survey the soldiers filled out shows Fort Campbell is doing better than the Army average when it comes to job satisfaction, discrimination and sexual harassment.

"We want to make sure that every soldier has the opportunity to succeed," said acting senior commander Brigadier General Kenneth Todd Royar. "They deserve a safe environment to work in and train in and as a command, we're absolutely dedicated to making sure they have that."

The survey, called a Command Climate Survey, is given out to soldiers as part of a federal requirement. They fill it out anonymously throughout various times of the year.

But this is the headline they used?

Fort Campbell averaging 10 reports of sexual assault a month

Fort Campbell soldier shot and killed, wife in custody

Fort Campbell soldier shot dead, spouse in custody

Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle
Jason Alt
Oct. 15, 2018

A Fort Campbell soldier was shot and killed Sunday night at the army base, and the soldier's spouse is in custody.

Shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday, all gates on Fort Campbell were closed for about 55 minutes while military police investigated the shooting in on-post housing, according to a news release.

The names of those involved were being withheld pending next-of-kin notification.

"Our hearts and prayers are with the families involved. Any loss of a soldier has a profound impact on the entire Army family," said Brig. Gen. K. Todd Royar, acting senior commander, 101st Airborne Division and Fort Campbell, in the release.
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Dateline NBC investigates murder of Fort Campbell soldier

Evil Was Waiting: Dateline NBC investigates murder of Fort Campbell soldier
Clarksville Now
By Nicole June
September 12, 2018

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – A report coming later this week from Dateline NBC highlights the 2012 slaying of Fort Campbell soldier Sgt. Vincent Goslyn, Jr.

Clarksville NowInvestigator Ed Stokes talks to Dateline NBC's Andrea Canning in Evil Was Waiting, a new report on the 2012 murder of Fort Campbell soldier Vincent Goslyn, Jr. (Photo courtesy of Dateline NBC)

Goslyn was gunned down on the side of the road in Christian County, Ky. in Feb. 2012, not long after returning home from a deployment to Afghanistan.

At the time of the incident his wife, Jessie Goslyn, called 911 and reported that her husband had been shot when he got out of the car to help a stranded motorist on the side of the road. She told operators she drove away from the scene as her husband supposedly instructed her to.

It was later uncovered that Jessie Goslyn and her boyfriend, Jarred Tabor Long, had plotted Vincent’s murder and used the 911 call as a cover-up.
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First America woman to die in Vietnam jumped with 101st!

Inside the Daring Life of a Forgotten Female War Photographer
National Geographic
Nina Strochlic
August 17, 2018

But her tally of conflict zones would end in Vietnam, where she became the first American woman correspondent to die in action. Years later, other journalists reported that Vietnamese Airborne troops were still reminiscing about the small, foul-mouthed woman who’d jumped with them.

Dickey Chapelle was one of history's most fearless conflict journalists—and the first American woman to die on the job.

THE 36 HOURS before Dickey Chapelle leaped off a tower with the Screaming Eagles were terrifying. She was 41 years old and parachute jumping for the first time. But fear never lasted for the pioneering war correspondent, and she quickly proclaimed it among “the greatest experiences one can have.”

It was 1959 and Chapelle had hooked up with the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, on the border between Tennessee and Kentucky. She’d been working as a war correspondent since 1942 and had reported on dozens of conflicts. She’d been called “the polite little American with all that tiger blood in her veins” by Fidel Castro; held in solitary confinement during the Hungarian uprising; and affirmed as the first correspondent accredited by the Algerian rebels. After learning with the Screaming Eagles, she became the only woman authorized to jump into combat with paratroopers in Vietnam.
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Gold Star Mom searches for stolen truck

Fallen soldier's mom searches for missing truck with distinct license plates
KOMO News
March 8, 2018

On top of the distinct license plates, she said her maroon 2003 Chevy Silverado HD 2500 Duramax diesel truck had no tail gate, a blue nylon web net on the back, tinted windows, a tool box, and a fallen soldiers symbol on the rear passenger side window.

MARYSVILLE, Wash. -- The mother of a fallen soldier is on a desperate search to find her missing truck that was stolen from her Marysville home.

"This was him at 4 years old wearing his dad’s flak vest and helmet. ‘Cause he wanted to be in the military all his whole life," Donna Woods said while looking at photos of her son Jake.

Vivid memories, photos, and a few keepsakes are all Woods has of him.

In 2009, she lost Jake to suicide just a couple of years after he joined the U.S. Army, she said. He was stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

"He went to Afghanistan, they made him a gunner, and he came home from Afghanistan, bought himself a fancy sports car and then 6 weeks later killed himself," Woods said.
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101st Soldier rescued people from burning car...including himself!

A soldier caught on fire while rescuing people from a burning car. It didn't stop him
Ledger Enquirer
Scott Berson
January 29, 2018

"As I was [unbuckling her seatbelt] the whole vehicle caught fire, and I just felt a blanket of fire wrap around my body, and everything just happened in a matter of seconds from there," Davis said in an Army news release.. "But before I could get the other half of her body out, she caught fire from all the fuel that was on her. I noticed she was on fire [shortly] before noticing that I was on fire too."

Maj. Gen. Andrew Poppas, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) commanding general, pins the Soldier's Medal on Staff Sgt. Nicholas Davis, C Battery, 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) artillery cannon crew member and section chief, during a ceremony held at Fort Campbell, Jan. 22, 2018. Sgt. Samantha Stoffregen Special to the Ledger-Enquirer

It was a normal summer day on June 9, 2017 when Staff Sgt. Nicholas Davis, C Battery, 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Artillery cannon crew member and section chief, was driving home to Ellijay, Ga., from Fort Campbell in Kentucky.

As he was cruising down the road near Nashville, he noticed a car overturned on its passenger side. It had flipped almost completely over, coming to rest on a slight downward slope, reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Few other drivers seemed concerned, according to the Army.

"I was pulling up, and I noticed there was a small engine fire underneath the belly of the car, so I jumped out and ran up to the vehicle," Davis said.

When he reached the car, he found two people, Rick and Sharon Steiert, trapped in the vehicle. Most distressingly, a can of fuel that had been in the back of the car had tumbled during the crash. It had now become wedged under Sharon's legs, and she was covered in gasoline.
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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 Campbell Soldier's Widow Faces Life After Suicide

Soldier's Widow Speaks Out About Depression After Her Husband's Suicide

News Channel 5

Alexandra Koehn

November 27, 2017

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - It's a tragedy that has become sadly commonplace, soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines surviving combat, only to take their own lives. A local widow hoped to raise awareness about depression after her husband, a soldier, became the latest unfortunate statistic.

Conner said, "It's so hard because he just wanted to do everything he could for this country, and it's just like he felt like he couldn't do it anymore. He felt like he would fail his family."

Two weeks after returning from Baghdad, Kaitlin said Justin took his life on November 18...

A grieving widow, now left to fend alone for her 3 small children. 

Conner said, "I honestly believe if my husband thought he could get help and not lose his job, he'd probably still be here right now." 

Now she wants other military wives to not be afraid to speak up, and possibly save their loved one's life. 

Conner said, "Screw the money, screw taking care of your family cause you won't have a family if your husband or wife... if they don't get help..."

read more here

Fort Campbell Command Sgt. Maj. Noel Foster died at home

Fort Campbell garrison command sergeant major has died

Army Times

September 3, 2017

The senior enlisted soldier for U.S. Army Garrison Fort Campbell has died, officials announced Sunday. Command Sgt. Maj. Noel Foster died at home Friday, officials said. 

Command Sgt. Maj. Noel Foster, the garrison command sergeant major for Fort Campbell, Ky., died Sept. 1, 2017, at home.

Foster had been the garrison command sergeant major for the Kentucky post since February 2016. In that role, he served as the senior enlisted adviser to the Fort Campbell garrison commander for all matters involving enlisted personnel. Officials did not release any additional information about the cause or manner of Foster’s death.
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Fort Campbell Solider Saved Drowning Autistic Teenager

Fort Campbell Soldier Saves Autistic Teen From Drowning

News Channel 5

Jonquil Newland 

August 18, 2017

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Recalling the events that happened still bring Martie Weeks to tears. Her family was tubing down the Red River in Clarksville on Sunday when she and her autistic son, Ronnie Harris, became separated.

"The current had taken me about 20 feet from him," Weeks said. 

It had rained the day before and the water was a bit higher than normal. The current wedged Ronnie under a tree.

"I was just holding on to the tree branch," said Ronnie. 

"He was struggling for a little bit and then he stopped struggling, there was no more struggle, and I'm screaming for him stand up," recalled Martie. 

Martie's screams could be heard up the river where U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Timothy Hansen and his family were enjoying the day.

"My mother, she's the one that heard it, and I turned over and I could see her face shriek. I was like, 'What's going on?' She said, 'Go save that baby,'" Hansen said. 

With that, Hansen was in a sprint down the river. He grabbed Ronnie and spent several minutes getting him to shore; however, for a moment, Ronnie wasn't breathing.

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101st Remember Fallen Soldiers While The Rest of the Country Forgets

Close-knit military community feels pain of deaths in wars the nation has forgotten

STARS AND STRIPES 
By DIANNA CAHN 
Published: July 30, 2017

The procession crossed the base that straddles the Kentucky-Tennessee border, past training grounds where members of the 101st Airborne Division prepare for war, past buildings where they reunite with loved ones when they return and past the headquarters where a long corridor bears the names of the thousands of “Screaming Eagle” soldiers who didn’t make it home. In wars that most have forgotten about, troops are still dying from hostile fire.

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — Rain came in a deluge on the Friday of Sgt. William Bays’ funeral.

A 101st Airborne Division soldier prays at the memorial service for Sgt. William Bays, who was killed in action in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan on June 10, 2017. MICHAEL S. DARNELL/STARS AND STRIPES

“He was a friend, a peer, a husband,” Sgt. Lucas Schultze, a fellow soldier of the 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, cried as he spoke of the more senior comrade who taught him to lead. “A father, a son and a brother.”
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Fort Campbell Attorney Spouses Can Get to Work!

SUPREME COURT AND FORT CAMPBELL CELEBRATE MILITARY SPOUSE RULE
Tennessee State Court
June 6, 2017

The Tennessee Supreme Court and 53 members of the 101st Airborne Division and 5th Special Forces Group, stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, recently celebrated the Supreme Court’s Revised Military spouse Rule (Rule 7), which permits attorney spouses of those in the military to obtain temporary law licenses to practice in Tennessee while their active-duty spouse is stationed in Tennessee at a military installation.

Members of the 101st Airborne Division and 5th Special Forces Group on the stairs of the TN Supreme Court Building.

Brigadier General Todd Royar, Deputy Commanding General of the 101st Airborne Division and members of the 5th Special Forces Group were welcomed by Secretary of State Tre Hargett. Hargett is the son of Major General Gus Hargett. The group toured the State Capitol and experienced the Bicentennial Mall along with the architect and visionary for the Mall, Kem Hinton. Major General Andrew Poppas, Commanding General of the 101st Airborne Division, was attending D Day commemoration in Normandy, France.

Following the Court’s official arguments, all five justices participated in the ceremony to recognize four recently admitted attorneys to the Tennessee Bar through the revised Military Spouse Rule. Chief Justice Jeff Bivins opened the ceremony by discussing the meaningful sacrifices made by military and their military spouses.

“Our country has approximately 650,000 active duty military spouses and the unemployment rate within this group currently stands at approximately 20 percent,” he said. “By comparison, the national unemployment rate provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics has remained between 4.4 and 4.8 percent in 2017.”
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Fort Campbell Family Welcomed Home 3 of 4 New Babies

3 of Fort Campbell quadruplets released from hospital 
Clarksville Now 
February 8, 2017

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Three of the quadruplets delivered by the wife of a Fort Campbell soldier are back home following an extended stay at the hospital after their birth. Kayla and Sgt. Charles Gaytan are the proud parents of quadruplets born at the end of 2016 without fertility treatment of any kind. 

Babies Lillian, Victoria and Charles have all returned home. The final quadruplet, Michael, should be released from the hospital on Wednesday or Thursday. Diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma last January, Kayla had just finished five months of chemotherapy and was in remission when she learned she was pregnant. read more here

Fort Campbell soldier died protecting his fiancee's best friend

Fort Campbell soldier died protecting his fiancee's best friend
Army Times
By: Meghann Myers
February 8, 2017

When news broke that two soldiers had been killed in an off-post home near Fort Campbell, Kentucky, early reports left out the third adult in the house that night.

Spc. Priscilla East was killed Feb. 2 by her estranged husband in an off-post home near Fort Campbelly, Kentucky

(Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle)

Spc. Dominique House had invited her best friend and fellow 101st Airborne Division soldier Spc. Priscilla East over for dinner with her and her fiancee after East called and said she didn't feel safe going home after an argument with her estranged husband.

But East's husband, Jeremy Demar, showed up at House's residence, House told Army Times in a Tuesday phone interview. Demar is accused of shooting his way into the home and killing House's fiancee, Spc. Christopher Hoch, 28, and East, 32.

"It's been a lot survivor's guilt, I guess you could say," she said. "And then reading articles -- I don't know why the police didn't mention my name."

"It feels impossible to live life without them right now," she added.
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Domestic Violence: Two Fort Campbell Soldiers Killed

2 Fort Campbell Soldiers Killed, Suspect in Custody
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OAK GROVE, Ky.
Feb 3, 2017

Fort Campbell said in a statement Friday night that East and Hoch were both specialists and that Hoch was posthumously promoted to the rank of sergeant.

East, of Missouri City, Texas, was a health care specialist who joined the Army in 2011 and began serving at Fort Campbell in 2014.

Hoch, of Ferndale, Michigan, was an infantryman who joined the Army in 2013 and arrived at Fort Campbell later that year.

A domestic dispute near Fort Campbell has left two soldiers dead and a juvenile wounded, authorities said Friday.

Jeremy Demar, 35, of Clarksville, Tennessee, forced his way into a house in Oak Grove, Kentucky, where he had tracked down his estranged wife, 32-year-old Priscilla Ann East, on Thursday night and fatally shot her and 28-year-old Christopher Ryan Hoch, Kentucky State Police said in a statement. East and Hoch were soldiers at the Army post on the Kentucky-Tennessee line, the statement said.

Demar was charged Friday with murder, murder-domestic violence, burglary and assault. He is being held at the Montgomery County Jail. Records don't indicate whether he has an attorney.
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Fort Campbell Soldiers Hurt After Helicopter Caught Fire

Helicopter Training Incident Injures Four Fort Campbell Soldiers
WKMS News
By NICOLE ERWIN and MATT MARKGRAF
JAN 31, 2017

Tuesday Afternoon Update: The helicopter caught fire during a training exercise and was extinguished by Fort Campbell Fire and Emergency Services personnel.

Soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team aided in the extraction of the aircraft personnel. The soldiers suffering injuries were transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Blanchfield Army Community Hospital. Their families are still being notified.
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Army Husband Welcomes Wife Home in Style

Man’s re-engagement to Army wife tops off return ceremony
Kentucky News
JESSE JONES

February 1, 2017 Fort Campbell welcomed 332 soldiers home from deployment Wednesday night into Thursday morning at its airbase.

But Willie Sanders only had eyes for one.

After letting their children embrace his wife for a tearful moment, Sanders got down on one knee and asked Maj. Ireka Sanders to marry him — again.

“The first time I was in college, I was 24, didn’t have a lot of money, financial aid, oodles and noodles, that’s all I was good enough for,” Willie said. “But now I think I did a pretty good job.”

Because he was poor when he first decided to propose, he could only afford a “bubble gum” ring. The pair also decided to get tattoos to mark the occasion around their left hand ring fingers.
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