Fort Logan National Cemetery won't acknowledge proper service?

‘Total Dishonor’: Marine Wife and Cemetery At Odds Over Headstone
CBS Denver
Michale Abeyta
March 29, 2018

“It’s a total dishonor of service,” said Kimberly. “Like he doesn’t matter. Like what he did for our country doesn’t matter.”

DENVER (CBS4) – A widow in Denver who went through the pain of losing her husband to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is now going through the pain of something else.

Kimberly Vigil says her husband’s headstone at Fort Logan National Cemetery is wrong.

Cpl. Elias Vigil served in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

When asked to describe her husband Kimberly said, “Elias was full of life. He was an outdoorsman. He was a family man. He loved serving in the Marines.”

Vigil spent a tour in Kuwait, but like so many who have served, he came home with PTSD.

“He was very silent about it. We talked a little bit when I went with him to therapy, but it was very small sessions,” Kimberly said.

Eventually it was too much. In December of 2017, Vigil died by suicide and left behind Kimberly and four children.

“It was a nightmare,” she said.
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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.
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U.S. soldier committed suicide at Kuwait's Camp Arifjan

Reports: U.S. soldier committed suicide at Kuwait's Camp Arifjan 
Military Times 
By: Staff 
January 12, 2017 

A soldier assigned to U.S. Army Central died in a noncombat-related incident at approximately 8:30 a.m. on Thursday in Kuwait, according to an official Army statement.

Multiple regional media outlets have cited a report from Kuwait's Interior Ministry claiming the soldier died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. read more here

Army Medic-War Veteran Comes to Rescue At Walmart

Army vet helps gunshot victim following Friday night shooting
FOX 4 News
LynnAnne Nguyen
December 31, 2016

“Everybody started running towards us screaming they're shooting, they're shooting,” said Semmler.

Police are still looking for the people who shot a man at a Walmart in the Red Bird area of Dallas. The victim is stable, thanks to a Good Samaritan who used his military training to step in and help as they waited for medics to get there.

Rafael Semmler was at the Walmart on Wheatland with his family, Friday night, when they heard gunfire.

Semmler says he made sure his family got out safely, then his military instincts kicked in.

“You don't really think about it, it's just at that time it's kind of like instinct, it's what you've been trained to do,” he said, “and was my first instinct was to go toward it to see if there's anything I could do to help out.

Semmler went straight to the McDonald’s inside the store where most of the commotion was.

“Another gentleman was like, I've been shot, I'm dying. So I immediately went directly to him first.”

Semmler says the man had been shot in the arm and was losing a lot of blood. After eleven years in the military as an infantryman and a medic, Semmler says he’s used to training abroad in places like Kuwait, Iraq and Bosnia, but never thought he’d be using it here at home.
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Florida National Guardsman Family Get New Roof

On June 14th, Jasper Contractors partnered with Owens Corning and Support Our Troops to install a new roof for the Singrossi family. This husband and wife team serves our country both in the Army and at the Orlando police department all while raising a family. This was an awesome experience! 

Thank you to the Singrossi's and thank you to our partners for making this possible.

Attention Passenger Lopez, Your Pilot Is Your Dad

US soldier receives surprise from father onboard flight

“First Lieutenant Lopes, What are you doing on my flight?"

Attempted Rapist Gets 20 Years After Attacking Army Captain

Ex-Navy reservist gets 20 years for attempted rape of Army captain in Kuwait 
The Virginian-Pilot 
By Scott Daugherty 
23 hrs ago

In court Monday, the victim recalled how she told the masked man that he didn’t need to do this, that he could just leave. She said the man, later identified as Garcia, responded by trying to drag her to a bathroom stall on the other side of the trailer. She said she fought back, only to be cut several times with a box cutter.

While showering almost six years ago in Kuwait, an Army captain turned around as someone pulled back the curtain.

She recalls thinking it was a friend pulling a prank on her, but then she saw a muscular man wearing a homemade ninja mask.

Amin Jason Carl Garcia – a former Navy reservist – was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison for trying to sexually assault the woman. The sentence is on top of an earlier life-plus-30-years term he received in connection with a 2008 rape in Norfolk.

“It was a crime of barbaric, inhumane nature,” U.S. District Judge Raymond Jackson said in court, adding that a review of Garcia’s life story reveals no explanation for his criminal record. “Somewhere along the way, something happened to you.”
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Family Hasn't Given Up on Mike Robinson, Oregon Missing Veteran

No trace of missing Bend man who left town in July
The Bulletin
By Tara Bannow
Published Dec 26, 2015

Robinson’s military service included a nine-month deployment to Kuwait. In the months before he disappeared, he had struggled with depression and anxiety and had complained about not being able to see a counselor through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Family members and rescue workers say they believe a 23-year-old Bend man missing since late July may have hitched a ride and could be living in another state.

Mike Robinson left Bend in late July with his black lab, Charlie.
His wife reported him missing less than a week later, and his
abandoned pickup was found Aug. 5 near Riley

No one has heard from Mike Robinson, an Army veteran who suffered from depression, since July. His wife reported him missing in early August, less than a week after he left town with his black Labrador, Charlie. Robinson left notes in his apartment imploring loved ones not to come looking for him and to let him “rest in peace.”

The Harney County Sheriff’s Department found Robinson’s abandoned pickup truck Aug. 5 on U.S. Highway 20 near Riley, out of gas. In a note left in the truck, Robinson wrote he was happy now and promised to contact loved ones in the future, said his mother, Becky Deem of Mariposa, California.

Deem said she’s not sure whether Robinson was referring to contact from beyond the grave or from across the country. He has friends and relatives in other states he might have gone to see, she said.

“It’s kind of hard to interpret what he was actually getting at there,” she said. “If he actually decided to commit suicide or if he decided to just disappear and become a homeless person. We really don’t know what to think about it.”
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Fort Carson Soldier From Georgia Died in Kuwait

Department of Defense 
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Release No: NR-236-15
June 14, 2015
DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Inherent Resolve. Pfc. Monterrious T. Daniel, 19, of Griffin, Georgia, died June 12 in Camp Buehring, Kuwait, in a non-combat related incident.

He was assigned to 68th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 43rd Sustainment Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado.

Gulf War Air Force Veteran Fights for Neglected Female Veterans

Female vets offer help to neglected comrades
Women give a voice to overlooked female troops
Gainesville Times
By Chelsey Abercrombie
POSTED: December 7, 2014

“A man walks around and he’s wearing a veteran’s hat and that’s OK,” she said. “But if a women does it, she’s just wanting attention.”

Teresa Lambert, of Women Veteran Social Justice, discusses veteran’s issues Wednesday morning in the studios of Decibel Radio at the University of North Georgia Gainesville campus.
By SCOTT ROGERS (The Times)

When Teresa Lambert graduated high school in 1988, she found herself on a more unique path than most of her fellow female classmates.

Lambert joined the U.S. Air Force at 17 and began a career in air transportation. In the overwhelmingly male-dominated field, she relished the challenge.

“It’s considered a man’s career field, so it was a perfect fit for me because I grew up as a tomboy and there was nothing a man could do that I couldn’t do,” Lambert said.

However, her life in the military was not idyllic. She faced several obstacles during her tenure in the Air Force.

But each obstacle she overcame led her to helping others through their own journeys as active service members and veterans.

Now, the University of North Georgia student serves as the Northeast Georgia ambassador for Women Veteran Social Justice, an organization that advocates for female veterans and their needs.

A big part of Lambert’s job is reaching out to female veterans via social media, as many of them are disabled and can’t leave their homes. WVSJ also connects female veterans with job skills training and counsels them on how to get the Veterans Administration benefits to which they are entitled.

But Lambert’s journey with the military started years earlier.

Lambert’s tale During the Michigan native’s military career, she oversaw air transportation of cargo. And she served in Operation Desert Storm in Iraq and Kuwait in 1991.

But a decade of service in a physically demanding job took its toll. Her marriage to a civilian became embroiled in domestic abuse.

It was then Lambert discovered the military’s resources fell short of helping her cope.

“The Air Force’s way of handling (my husband’s abuse) was just to always send him back to the States, just basically to get rid of the problem,” said Lambert, who was stationed overseas at the time. “They got rid of him, but I didn’t get any of the support or the recognition from my command that I was in a domestically abusive marriage.”
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VA Setting up Gulf War Research Committee,,,,again

VA Seeking Nominations for Appointment to the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses Washington – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is seeking nominations of qualified candidates to be considered for appointment to serve as a member of the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses (RAC). The RAC was established pursuant to section 104 of Public Law 105-368 to provide advice to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on proposed research studies, research plans, or research strategies relating to the health consequences of military service in the Southwest Asia theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War.  The Committee periodically releases reports that summarize and make recommendations regarding research on the health of Gulf War Veterans. “VA recognizes and respects the service, dedication and many challenges faced by Veterans of the 1990-1991 Gulf War, and is committed to improving the health and well-being of these Veterans. Through its recommendations regarding relevant research, members of the RAC play an integral part in helping us achieve this goal,” said VA Secretary Robert A. McDonald. “Widening our search for committee members to fill the upcoming vacancies will provide better diversity, and enable us to bring in new, well-qualified members with fresh perspectives and input.” The Committee is composed of approximately 12 members, appointed by the VA Secretary for either a 2- or 3-year term of service; members may be reappointed for additional 1- or 2-year terms. The Chair of the Committee is appointed for an initial 2-year term and may be reappointed for an additional 1- or 2-year term. By law, the RAC membership must include members of the general public, including Gulf War Veterans and representatives of such Veterans.  The RAC’s charter also provides that the membership will include members of the medical and scientific communities representing appropriate disciplines such as, but not limited to, epidemiology, immunology, environmental health, neurology and toxicology. “VA continues to provide health care and benefits to these Veterans and to invest in research to understand and treat Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses.  We agree that there are health issues associated with service in the Gulf War, and are clear in our commitment to treating these health issues,” said Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D., Interim Under Secretary for Health. Nominations for membership on the Committee must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. EDT on October 24, 2014. The Federal Register Notice can be found at https://federalregister.gov/a/2014-23661 More information on RAC is available at http://www.va.gov/rac-gwvi/.

North Dakota National Guardsman's Family Talks About Suicide

For Tom: After losing soldier son to suicide, family seeks to dispel stigmas
Jamestown Sun
By Ryan Johnson
Sep 22, 2014

Dave Lautt and Beth Doyle-Lautt reminisce about their son, Spc. Thomas Avery Doyle, from their home in Jamestown. David Samson / Forum News Service

JAMESTOWN — Beth Doyle-Lautt has gotten used to the clutter in her house.

A basement room is filled with boxes and totes, tools and extra furniture.

The shed her husband, Dave Lautt, bought to store his new Harley-Davidson in last year is too full for the motorcycle, which now stands in the garage that doesn’t have room for their pickup.

"It’s too soon to get rid of anything and too soon to even go through it yet," he said. "We will; we’ll get there. It’s just on our terms."

Since Sept. 7, 2013, it’s been easier to keep busy than dwell on the loss they suffered that day when their son, Thomas Avery Doyle, a specialist in the North Dakota National Guard who served in Kuwait, died by suicide at the age of 22.

The couple have since worked to break through the stigma surrounding mental illness and post-traumatic stress disorder within the military and the world at large — something they believe contributed to their son’s suffering and eventual death.
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Gulf War Veterans, The Silenced After Service

Gulf War vets: VA trying to silence claims of illness
The Arizona Republic
Paul Giblin
September 20, 2014

Approximately 37 percent of the 700,000 U.S. troops who deployed to the war suffer chronic multisymptom illness, according to "Gulf War Update," a VA newsletter issued in March of this year.

The head of a national committee that studies the health of Gulf War veterans says senior Department of Veterans Affairs officials are obscuring scientific evidence that points to war-related illnesses among an estimated 250,000 veterans who served in the 1990-91 conflict often called the First Gulf War.

VA officials are trying to suppress the number of veterans who would be eligible for treatment and compensation to keep down costs and waiting lists for care, said committee Chairman James H. Binns, a Vietnam veteran and Phoenix business executive involved in the medical equipment industry.

Binns made his claims in a four-page letter to former interim VA Secretary Sloan Gibson, White House deputy chief of staff Rob Nabors and congressional leaders on June 3 and during a private meeting with new VA Secretary Robert McDonald on Sept. 10.

"The duplicity reaches the highest levels of the department and obstructs hopes for better health of an entire generation of veterans," Binns wrote in the letter.

In response to the group's call for more attention to Gulf War vets, VA officials instead are working to eliminate the congressionally mandated committee's independence by replacing its members with hand-selected new members, Binns told The Arizona Republic.

Hundreds of thousands of veterans, who now primarily are in their 40s, suffer health problems associated with the Gulf War, Binns said.

The conflict, led by the United States, countered Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait. Coalition planes bombed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's military relentlessly for more than a month, then ground forces raced through Kuwait into Iraq in four days.

The skies above the battlefield were blackened for days with smoke from burning oil wells.

The Gulf War committee and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies have concluded that Gulf War illness exists and that it likely was caused by exposure to neurotoxins from oil-well fires, anti-nerve-gas pills, pesticides and chemicals released from low-level chemical weapons damaged in the destruction of Iraqi facilities.

About a third of those involved in the ground war suffer from a variety of ailments including respiratory conditions, unremitting pain, memory loss, intestinal disorders and skin rashes, which have combined to ruin careers, Binns said.

"These sick veterans have no effective treatments, but remedies can likely be discovered with the right research, according to the Institute of Medicine," Binns stated in his letter to Gibson, Nabors, Miller, the Senate VA Committee chairman, Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and others.
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Texas soldier heading to surprise family, died on flight home from Kuwait

Soldier flying home to surprise family in Texas dies en route
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Texas
By Nicole C. Brambila
Published: September 15, 2014

LUBBOCK, Texas (MCT) — Staff Sgt. Virginia Caballero died unexpectedly on a commercial flight home from Kuwait, family members said Monday.

Rodrigo Cantu, Caballero’s cousin, said she was flying home earlier than expected last week when during the flight she felt ill and went to the bathroom. A military companion traveling with Caballero went to the bathroom to check on her when she did not return and found her unconscious, Cantu said.

“They made an emergency landing, went to the hospital and got a faint pulse,” Cantu said.

Cantu said a lot of the details are sketchy, but Caballero’s family in Abernathy was officially notified about her death on Saturday.

Caballero was 41.

Cantu said it is thought that Caballero suffered from a blood clot, which was exacerbated with the altitude on the flight that would be her final trip home.

“None of the family knew she was on her way home,” said Martina Flores Herrera, a cousin. “She was trying to surprise us.”
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Love in combat zone

A deployed love affair
DVIDS
2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs
Story by Sgt. Marcus Fichtl
February 14, 2014

CAMP BEUHRING, KUWAIT – It’s a love story like any other, boy meets girl, they fall in love, they grow old together in a combat zone.

Spc. Alexandria Perez, a health care specialist, and Sgt. Eduardo Perez, a behavioral health specialist, met six years ago at “Charlie Med,” Company C of the 204th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, two privates as new to each other as they were to the Army.

One from Los Angeles the other from Laredo, Texas, one a lover of Tejano music the other joining the Army straight out of fashion school, culturally, two people as different as you could find anywhere. But in the Army, both hundreds a miles from home, they found a family in their unit and with each other.

“We connected on paper,” said Alexandria. We didn’t have much in common, but both coming from big Mexican families we shared values of faith and family.”

And seemingly, Eduardo’s Texan chivalry meshed with Alexandria’s Californian openness.

“He was always saving me and keeping me out of trouble,” said Alexandria. “He would help me with my ruck or always have a spare of whatever I forgot to formation.”

“We grew on each other,” said Eduardo. If I needed to someone to talk to or vent, I went to her, she would understand me.”

A few months into their stay on Fort Carson, they received the word that they were deploying to Iraq.
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Fort Carson issues list of banned items to avoid sending to troops

Fort Carson brigade to families: Don’t send porn, Nerf guns to troops
The Gazette
By Tom Roeder
January 29, 2014

“Items that are NOT okay to send
alcohol beverages of any kind
pornography in any format
bow and arrow-type devices that includes slingshots
knives with a blade length over six inches (such as switch blades, ballistic, gravity, or stilettos)
brass knuckles
numchucks
throwing stars
shurikins
throwing spikes
samurai swords
blackjacks
slappers
saps
riot clubs
night sticks
lead or iron pipes
explosives including fireworks
teargas
mace
pepper spray
tasers
stun guns
drugs of any kind
firearms or missile launching devices including air rifles or pistols, spear guns, blowguns, paint-ball guns
Nerf guns squirt guns.”
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Troops in Kuwait Super Bowl Party beer free beer

Super Bowl party for Fort Carson troops offers beer pong, without beer
The Gazette
By Tom Roeder
January 21, 2014

Fort Carson soldiers in Camp Buehring, Kuwait, will get a big Super Bowl party that includes beer-free beer pong.

The twist on the timeless drinking game comes courtesy of the USO and Central Command’s decade-old General Order No. 1, which forbids boozing in Middle Eastern nations where alcohol is forbidden.

Alcohol is illegal in Kuwait.

A recent article in the English-language Kuwait Times said bootleg liquor was running between $300 and $500 per bottle for New Year’s revelers there.
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697,000 Gulf War Veterans ignored by the government

VA doctor says Gulf War vets not getting effective treatments
USA TODAY
Kelly Kennedy
January 7, 2014

Miami clinic has treated Gulf War illness successfully, but methods have not been disseminated for use in other clinics in the VA system

WASHINGTON — As Department of Veterans Affairs physician Nancy Klimas told an agency panel Tuesday about the many successful ways her clinic has been treating Gulf War illness, veterans have responded with a combination of hope and anger.

The hope came because her clinic appears to be making headway in using research-based methods to treat veterans with the disease, which consists of symptoms ranging from headaches to memory loss to chronic fatigue, and plagues one in four of the 697,000 veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War against Iraq.

The anger came because, although Klimas had been using at least some of her methods for a decade, none of them have been disseminated throughout the VA system for use in other clinics. Her testimony was part of the ongoing fight between Gulf War veterans, who believe the government is ignoring physical causes for their ailments, and the VA, which has been reluctant to support the veterans' claims.
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Fort Carson Solider shot by police had PTSD

Man shot in standoff was Fort Carson soldier; vet says he struggled with PTSD
The Gazette
By Andrea Sinclair
Updated: November 14, 2013

The man fatally shot by police during a standoff in Fountain on Monday was a Fort Carson soldier who had completed deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait.

Fort Carson's public affairs confirmed Jonathan D. Clark III, 25, had been stationed at the Mountain Post since July 2009, assigned to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team with the 4th Infantry Division.

Clark, from Germantown, N.Y., had most recently completed a four-month deployment to Kuwait and had returned to Fort Carson in June.

Clark was shot in the chest and hand during a standoff with two Fountain police officers, and died at a Memorial Hospital Central late Monday night.
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UPDATE

Germantown soldier dies after being shot by Colorado police
Daily Freeman News
Staff
November 16, 2013

FOUNTAIN, COLO
A Germantown man who served three tours overseas with the U.S. Army died Monday near Fort Carson after he was shot by police, according to media sources in Colorado and the Fountain Police Department.

Jonathan D. Clark III, 25, died Monday night after the standoff with officers.

In a press release from police, it was reported officers were dispatched around 5:10 p.m. local time on Monday to a reported car crash and possible shots fired on Crest Street.

The release said officers found the car parked sideways in the road and that a male (Clark) in the driver’s seat had a gun to his head. The release also said that a female ran from the car as officers approached.

Police said that as officers attempted to negotiate with Clark, multiple shots were fired and Clark was struck in the chest and hand.

Clark was taken to Memorial Hospital Central where he later died from his wounds.
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Fort Hood soldier's death in Kuwait under investigation

DoD Identifies Army Casualty
No. 733-13
October 19, 2013

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Sgt. Lyle D. Turnbull, 31, of Norfolk, Va., died Oct. 18, in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, from a medical emergency.

The cause of his death is under investigation.

Turnbull was assigned to the 62nd Expeditionary Signal Battalion, 11th Signal Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas.