Brian Williams’ interview with Stars and Stripes

UPDATE From WCPO News

9 On Your Side talked Monday with Terpak, an Iraq veteran who had a fateful encounter with Williams during the invasion, to ask why he hasn't spoken up about the controversy. Terpak said he wanted to say something but he was concerned his every word would be dissected.

The Ripley County man said he hadn't spoken publicly all these years because he wasn't in the chopper that really was shot down in the desert that day and he wasn't in Williams' chopper, which landed an hour later. Williams' helicopter wasn't fired upon and arrived safely.

Terpak was in charge of the armored platoon sent to protect Williams' crew and others in the desert. Terpak's platoon didn't get there until three days after the choppers landed. So for Terpak, it was not his place to say what did or did not happen to Williams in Iraq.

Terpak, who earned three Bronze Stars, returned home Friday and said he never expected so much attention.

But Terpak is in the spotlight because Williams put him there.

55 minutes ago
EXCLUSIVE REPORT
In his words: Brian Williams’ interview with Stars and Stripes 
Stars and Stripes
By Travis J. Tritten
Published: February 9, 2015

WASHINGTON — NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams on Sunday scuttled what would have been his first public appearance to explain his situation when he canceled a planned appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Williams has only ever answered questions about the Iraq incident — how he ended up telling a war story he now admits was false — during an interview with Stars and Stripes.

The embattled anchor published a Facebook apology to troops after claiming he was in a Chinook forced down by rocket-propelled grenade fire in 2003, addressed the issue on air Wednesday, and issued a brief statement over the weekend saying he will temporarily leave the news desk while NBC investigates.

Questions have also arisen around statements he made about reporting on Hurricane Katrina from New Orleans in 2005, and Israel’s war with the militant group Hezbollah in 2006.
read more here

This Ain’t Hell blogger alerts Stars and Stripes duped by Army sergeant’s war claims

Stars and Stripes duped by Army sergeant’s war claims
By MARTIN KUZ
Stars and Stripes
Published: January 31, 2012

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — An Army reservist in Afghanistan with the 425th Civil Affairs Battalion who told Stars and Stripes that he deployed during the Vietnam War has come under military investigation for apparently lying about his prior combat service.

Staff Sgt. Larry Marquez, a civil affairs specialist, stated that he deployed to Cambodia in 1973 after enlisting at age 17 with his parents’ consent.

A story about Marquez ran under the headline “Vietnam vet joins ‘today’s war’ ” in Jan. 13 editions of Stars and Stripes and was also published on the newspaper’s website.

Stars and Stripes failed to perform basic fact-checking to verify any of Marquez’ claims about his service record. The newspaper was alerted to inconsistencies in Marquez’s account by a blogger, Jonn Lilyea, who runs the military blog “This Ain’t Hell.”

Lilyea raised questions about whether Marquez, whose current age Stars and Stripes reported as 55, would have been too young to serve during the Vietnam War. Lilyea also questioned the timing of Marquez’ alleged year-long deployment in Cambodia, given that most U.S. troops were withdrawn from Cambodia by the end of 1970 and from Vietnam in 1973.
read more here

Stars and Stripes wants to know: Did you join the military because of 9-11?

Did you join the military in response to the 9/11 attacks?
Stars and Stripes
Published: July 25, 2011

Stars and Stripes: Servicemembers of 9/11
Did you join the U.S. military because of the September 11 attacks?

If so, Stars and Stripes wants to know your story.
go here to fill out form
Did you join the military in response to the 9/11 attacks

Dallas native 'Ms. Vicki' helps military families cope through columns

I've read her column several times. She's usually right on the mark.
Dallas native 'Ms. Vicki' helps military families cope through columns
Dallas Morning News - Dallas,TX,USA
10:28 PM CST on Sunday, January 4, 2009
By JOANNA CATTANACH / The Dallas Morning News
jcattanach@dallasnews.com

She's the armed forces' own Ann Landers, the Department of Defense's Dear Abby – but to her loyal followers she's just Ms. Vicki, an Army wife and mom of three turned advice columnist.

Now in her 40s, Dallas native Vicki Johnson has been giving people her two cents since childhood.

"I was always the one that would sit and listen and give some kind of guidance," said Johnson, from her home in the Washington, D.C., area.

The clinical social worker has been sharing her wisdom in a biweekly newspaper column since 2005. Her topics are far-ranging, but she's best known for her niche.

"I'm the columnist for the military set," said Johnson, whose column appears in The Washington Times as well as two military publications, The Fort Campbell Courier in Kentucky and the Heidelberg Herald-Post in Germany.

"I get letters like, 'You know Ms. Vicki, I came home to flags waving and banners, and my wife wasn't there and my whole house was empty and so was my bank account,' " said Johnson, who receives 40 to 50 e-mails a week.

It's not a full-time job yet – she's a social worker specializing in post-traumatic stress disorder. But the inquiries, mostly from women concerning relationship issues, are steadily streaming into her Yahoo! account, placed on her car and pushed into her mailbox.

"America Supports You" leaves eveyone wondering who the "you" is

"America Supports You" leaves eveyone wondering who the "you" is
by
Chaplain Kathie
What was sold to the American people and the military families, was that this was a wonderful way to show support for the troops. After all, isn't that what we kept saying? We support the troops. The problem is, they really were not too clear on who the "you" was in any of this. As you can see from the investigation, a lot of money didn't go to the troops or really have anything to do with what they need. The bottom line is, when it comes to supporting the troops, it isn't the government even though that's what they want the public to think.

We see this when they come home wounded and are forced to wait without money to have their wounds taken care of when they cannot work. We see this when they come home sick because of burn pits and depleted uranium along with contaminated water. We see it when reports came out saying they knew about the tactic the Iraqi insurgents would use as the weapon of choice, IED and that the up-armored vehicles would have saved lives. We see it when they come home and PTSD is still trying to kill them. The list goes on, so please keep that in mind when you read the following and see if you are as infuriated as I am.

Report: Problems with America Supports You

By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Dec 12, 2008 17:39:04 EST

About $9.2 million in appropriated funds were inappropriately funneled to the independent newspaper Stars and Stripes to finance a Pentagon program aimed at telling troops how well they are supported by the general public, the Defense Department Inspector General has concluded.

And a senior Pentagon official conducted that program, America Supports You, in a “questionable and unregulated manner,” producing “results that were not consistent with the program’s objective,” the IG report said, adding that the official had “too much authority and control over the ASY program.”

Stars and Stripes officials also “lost visibility” of $4.1 million in appropriated funds — those authorized by Congress for specific programs. The IG’s Dec. 12 report also concluded that about $1.9 million from Stars and Stripes’ nonappropriated fund account was spent to subsidize expenses of the ASY program.

Stars and Stripes, which falls under Pentagon public affairs management but is editorially independent, is supported primarily with nonappropriated funds. Pentagon policy bans the use of nonappropriated funds, raised through the on-base sale of goods and services, from being used for or to support public affairs activities.

The audit also found that the Pentagon public affairs directorate provided “inadequate oversight” for an $8.8 million contract with an outside public relations firm. The audit questions the “nature of work, cost and competitive process” of the contract, said Bob Hastings, assistant secretary of defense for public affairs.
click link above for more

We also have a ton of info just from this one page;

Fundraising activities under investigation
On May 11, 2007, officials said that the Pentagon is "looking into complaints that Defense Department officials charged with building public support for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan might have been engaged in improper fundraising," David S. Cloud reported in the New York Times.

Officials said the inspector general is "examining whether officials who run 'America Supports You,' a three-year-old Pentagon program lauded by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, helped arrange a fund-raiser for a private foundation"—the America Supports You Fund—set up in December 2006 "by former Bush administration appointees," Cloud reported. In a January 2007 memo explaining the ASY Fund, Allison Barber wrote: "What we have learned is that the American people are beginning to fatigue, even in their support for the troops. ... I don't think we have a minute to lose when it comes to maximizing support for our military, especially in the new political environment."

Stars and Stripes involvement
In October 2007, the U.S. Defense Department Inspector General's review of "America Supports You" widened to include the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes. "Both America Supports You and American Forces Information Service -- the parent organization for Stripes -- are headed by Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary for public affairs," Stars and Stripes reported on October 20.

Freedom Walks
On September 11 in 2005, 2006 and 2007, America Supports You held a "Freedom Walk" in Washington DC, "to commemorate the attack on the Pentagon and honor all lives lost on September 11." ASY describes the walk as a "new national tradition," and encourages local cities to organize their own Freedom Walks. An America Supports You "teaching supplement" in the Weekly Reader, a periodical for grade-school students, encouraged the students to organize Freedom Walks, among other activities

Other activities

In July 2006, National Public Radio reported that "one recent effort is a campaign to get people at major league baseball games to 'text-message' their support to the troops on their cell phones... even though those messages aren't actually sent to the troops." According to former ASY webmaster Chris Moore, the messages were simply archived on an ASY computer database.

On December 2, 2004, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld presented an "America Supports You" dog tag to Bill O'Reilly on his Fox News show, calling O'Reilly "a terrific supporter of our troops." President George W. Bush also plugged the "America Supports You" campaign during an address to Marines and their families at Camp Pendleton, California

PR firm
In December 2004, O'Dwyers PR Daily reported that the PR firm Susan Davis International (SDI) "is handling the Pentagon's 'America Supports You' campaign to drum up support for the nearly 150,000 U.S. forces that may be occupying Iraq during the next four years". "America Supports You," a Defense Department campaign, was originally planned to run through May 2005 but as of August 2007 is ongoing. SDI was paid "at least $2.7 million" for the first year of America Supports You alone, reported National Public Radio.

Operation Tribute to Freedom
ASY's predecessor of sorts appears to be "Operation Tribute to Freedom," which was launched by the Defense Department in May 2003. A Department press release explained it as "a sustained and widespread program of activities in appreciation for our men and women in uniform and the families that support them." The program's now-defunct website says it "encourages and facilitates public participation at every level -- from corporations and organizations to families and individuals. It reinforces the bond between citizen and soldier."

Infuriated? If not, then you haven't been paying attention. What if you were one of them?

But this one is the one that gets my blood boiling

Converting U.S. troops and Iraqis
The "evangelical entertainment troupe" Operation Straight Up, which "actively proselytizes among active-duty members of the US military," is an official arm of America Supports You, reported Max Blumenthal on The Nation blog in August 2007. Among OSU's future plans are mailing "copies of the controversial apocalyptic video game, Left Behind: Eternal Forces to soldiers serving in Iraq." The game is based on the Tim LaHaye/Jerry Jenkins books, and players must "kill or convert ... non-believers left behind after the rapture."

go here for more

Fundraising activities under investigation

Now think of that. Not only are you told they can keep you as long as they want to under stop loss, tell you that if you have problems you need to go talk to someone and then they send you to be "saved" in a way you didn't expect. I really doubt it would matter to them if you had been saved by Christ as a Catholic or any other denomination of Christianity, or were of another faith or even no faith at all. They blurred the line between taking care of your spiritual needs by taking advantage of you in a weak moment of despair to convert you. Wouldn't that bother you? Would you feel totally betrayed? Taken advantage of? Made to feel as if you've just been targeted by a cult?

For Heaven's sake! I wonder how many men and women were pushed away from Christ because these people couldn't get a grip on reality and actually do the work of Chaplains taking care of the spiritual needs of anyone in need? More to the point, how many were pushed away from the psychological and spiritual help they needed in a moment of crisis? Shame on them for betraying the very people they were selling themselves off as helping and "supporting" when the "you" turned out to be someone else.

Families Catch Fallout From PTSD

Spouse Calls Column: Families Catch Fallout From PTSD

February 24, 2008

Of all the subjects covered on the Spouse Calls blog, none is more heartbreaking than post- traumatic stress disorder and its effects on military spouses and families.

An upcoming column will feature resources and counseling for those affected by PTSD. These blog excerpts will explain why:

I live in New Jersey. I have searched endlessly, to no avail for a support group for the loved ones of PTSD veterans. I even tried starting one of my own. The vet centers, and the VA clinics and hospitals say they are including family members and loved ones, but I have not found that to be true.

Many of the veterans’ wives and significant others that I know are left without a support group. Does anyone else have live support in your area?
go here for the rest

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9405

If anyone is in the Orlando Florida area, I'd be happy to begin a support group. I believe it is vital having support to get through all of this. Vietnam veterans and their families didn't have it and it cost too many marriages as well as lives .