"This ain’t the America I signed up for."

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 10, 2022

It is no secret that there are good Chaplains in the military and some terrible Chaplains too. We've all heard stories of service members in spiritual turmoil seeing a Chaplain and then being told they were going to hell because they did not belong to the same faith as the Chaplain.

The question is, who are these Chaplains serving? Are they serving the men and women fighting for and defending our freedom around the world, from many different faiths, including no faith at all, or are they serving the churches they received endorsements from?

Spiritual help is vital to helping them heal from what is asked of them, plus they also have personal problems going on back home while they can be thousands of miles away. If they choose to seek a Chaplain's help, they have to settle on whatever Chaplain is with them. If the Chaplain is a good one, then they are helped and do not turn away from the faith they already had. If the Chaplain is putting their own personal choice of faith ahead of those who turn to them for help, it causes a lot more harm than not having one at all.

While I have some problems with Military Religious Freedom Foundation, there are times when I agree with what they do.

It is a wonder what they'll be hearing now that Roe v Wade has been overturned if they do not want to continue the pregnancy. They are already fighting back and looking for help.

Active Duty U.S. Naval Fighter pilot asks what will happen to women like her stationed in states where abortion is illegal: “MRFF Help for military abortion?” 

"This ain’t the America I signed up for. Military women have civil rights too. We just lost one this morning."

This came out in June about Independence Day as a "Christian Nation"

Encouraged by Wednesday’s major MRFF victory in getting the 246th Army Band of the South Carolina National Guard canceled from performing at a South Carolina Baptist church Christian nationalistic “Annual Carolina Celebration of Liberty,” members of a second military band came to MRFF for help in getting their upcoming scheduled performance at a large evangelical church’s Fourth of July event, which band members described as “some sort of ‘Celebration of the Founding of America as a Christian Nation’ which is just unacceptable to most of us in the Band,” canceled as well.

How can we expect men and women to put their lives on the line, go through endless hardships over and over again, and then discover this country they are willing to die for, won't even allow them to worship as they choose, or not worship at all? 

Not allow them to make their own choices over their own bodies? You know, the same bodies they place in danger all the time because they made the choice to do it! They all enlisted, willingly, by choice! What's next? 

Courageously Broken

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
June 2, 2022

I don't have as much time as I used to have to post here, but I still track the news on PTSD. Working on the books has consumed whatever extra time I've had. You'd think that after 4 decades, I'd be able to just retire and enjoy the rest of my life, but at this point, it is so much a part of my DNA, I doubt that will ever happen. There is just too much suffering out there and not enough people to change the outcome.

This morning, I was happy to discover someone out there was so determined to #BreakTheSilence that she was one of the news reports I read this morning.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – DA Michaels’ one-woman push to help military veterans and first responders dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is built on a tragedy that nearly sent her “down the rabbit hole.” (Click Orlando)

When I read the interview, I could feel my blood pressure boiling seeing that damn number of "22" and right away, I thought it would be just one more person getting attention for the wrong reason. I slammed my hand down on the desk, got another cup of coffee, prepared to walk away from the article repulsed, and just move on to the next report. Soon I discovered that was the only part that bothered me.

D.A. Michaels is a Navy veteran and police veteran, and she's a woman! I took a look at the beginning of the book and knew that this one was of value. When you watch the video below, she also links what happened to her in her personal life while addressing what she survived in her professional life. If you ever doubted the fact that PTSD strikes survivors, no matter what the event is, this should remove all doubt and God willing, get the stigma out of the way with it!

Courageously Broken

"A young idealistic teen leaves a small town and abusive father behind to join the Navy in a refreshingly down to earth memoir of one woman's journey to self discovery. She embraces life with passion and courage, from training and partying with Navy SEALs to skydiving and joining the police force, but when tragic events while serving her country lead to years of nightmares, depression and PTSD, she must learn to navigate life through the heartache and tears until the laughter and love return.

Navy suicides up, and so are cockamamie conclusions

The Navy wants to boost morale after several suicides. Some sailors say it's not enough.

NBC News
By Deon J. Hampton and Melissa Chan
May 5, 2022

Team-building events are in the works for sailors on the USS George Washington, where three shipmates died by suicide within a week in April.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The Navy’s plan for repairing morale on a historic warship after a rash of sailors assigned to the ship killed themselves includes team-building exercises like a video game competition, recreation and moving sailors off the ship.

But some sailors who spoke to NBC News think the efforts don’t go far enough.

The Navy plans to host a day of team-building activities and has asked each department to submit ideas for how crew members could interact off the ship, according to Lt. Cmdr. Robert Myers, a Navy spokesman.

“It could be anything,” Myers said.

A Super Smash Bros. video game competition and a soccer tournament are some of the suggestions that have been floated, according to one George Washington sailor, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation.

However, that sailor doubted whether such events would fix what appears to be a mental health crisis on the ship.
read more here

Well alrighty then! Seems like they got a plan. I hope you caught the solutions they wanted to try.

More than 200 sailors moved off aircraft carrier after multiple suicides “Leadership is actively implementing these and pursuing a number of additional morale and personal well-being measures and support services to members assigned to USS George Washington.”

Are they kidding? Seriously? Super Smash Bros and soccer will really fix a mental health crisis about the same way reminding suicidal veterans there were a lot of other veterans committing suicide. Insanity will not help the mental health of anyone.

As for Lt. Cmdr. Robert Myers saying "It could be anything." That is yet another head smack moment.

Here's  thought, how about actually knowing enough about PTSD, trauma, stress and a lot of other things first and then maybe, it would be a good idea to go from there? If they don't understand what causes a mental health crisis by now, it's time for the leaders to be held accountable, especially when they come up with these cockamamie conclusions!

580 Service Members Die by Suicide in 2020

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

Air Force Times
By Greg Hadley
Sept. 30, 2021

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

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

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

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

While the total numbers increased, the Defense Suicide Prevention Office found that the rate of suicides per 100,000 individuals did not increase by a statistically significant margin from 2019 to 2020, assuaging some fears that the COVID-19 pandemic would lead to a surge.
read more here

As bad as that sounds for last year, the truth is, the military suicides have been averaging 500 a year since 2012.

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

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

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

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

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

By Brian Dwyer
Fort Drum
Sep. 30, 2021

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Our service members make sacrifices that we can never forget. It is our obligation to ensure that adequate resources are devoted to taking care of them, our veterans and their families,” Gillibrand said.
read more here

A wake up call they have said they have been hearing for decades! Members of Congress in the last 20 years have done nothing meaning full. All they have done is repeat what didn't work before, spend more money and get their names on Bills, while the troops get their names on gravestones. Nothing more than putting words together for press releases, while families get a pressed, folded flag at the funeral of someone who didn't need to end up there. 

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

Military PTSD-suicide in the news

Military PTSD-suicide in the news would not be happening if the other bills done over all these years actually worked......

Parents of Norfolk sailor who died by suicide hope Brandon Act passes this time; Event in VB will provide mental health resources for military

WASHINGTON (WAVY) — Legislation to provide better access to mental health services for military members will be re-introduced next week on Capitol Hill, and the parents of the sailor for whom the bill was named are hoping it will become law.

Brandon Caserta was 21 when he died by suicide on Naval Station Norfolk. He had washed out of SEAL training in San Diego, but so do the vast majority of those who even qualify for the training. The course is known as BUDS, or Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL training, and Caserta was mocked with the label “BUDS dud.”

Caserta ended his life by jumping into the rotor of a helicopter. A military investigation found that his lead petty officer’s abusive actions were a likely contributing factor, and that officer was removed from the position. read it here

Canadian Armed Forces reports 16 military suicides in 2020

OTTAWA — The Canadian Armed Forces says 16 service members took their own lives last year.

That represents a slight decline from the 20 military suicides reported in 2019, which was the largest number in five years.

The new figures nonetheless bring the total number of Canadian military personnel who have died by suicide over the last decade to 191. That is more than the 158 service members who were killed while serving in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. read it here

"Please don't kill me" Navy veteran Angelo Quinto last words

Navy veteran died after police knelt on his neck for nearly 5 minutes, family says
Associated Press
FEBRUARY 24, 2021

A Navy veteran who was going through an episode of paranoia died after a Northern California police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes, his family said Tuesday. The family of Angelo Quinto called police on December 23 because the 30-year-old was suffering a mental health crisis and needed help.

This Nov. 30, 2017 photo provided by Isabella Collins shows Navy veteran Angelo Quinto in Moffett Field in Mountainview, Calif. CASSANDRA QUINTO-COLLINS / AP

His family says a responding officer knelt on Quinto's neck for nearly five minutes while another officer restrained his legs. Quinto lost consciousness and was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he died three days later.

"He said 'Please don't kill me. Please don't kill me,' as they were putting him on the ground. They handcuffed him and one officer put his knee on the back of his neck the whole time I was in the room," said Quinto's mother, Cassandra Quinto-Collins

"I trusted the police because I thought they knew what they were doing but he was actually passive and visibly not dangerous or a threat so, it was absolutely unnecessary what they did to him," she said.

A video recorded by Quinto-Collins shows her son listless, with a bloodied face and his hands cuffed behind his back. She said she began recording after seeing her son's eyes were rolled up in his head.

The family filed a legal claim against the Antioch Police Department last week, which gives the department 45 days to respond. After that time has elapsed, the family will file a federal lawsuit, said John Burris, the Quintos' attorney.
read more here

Veterans "Continue To Serve" clean up after Washington Riot

DC veteran group works to clean up city after attack on Capitol, denounces insurrection
WUSA 9 News
Jess Arnold
January 9, 2021

Navy vet David Smith founded Continue to Serve after watching federal forces tear gas peaceful protesters. Now, his group is helping to clean after the Capitol riot.

WASHINGTON — Days after pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol, a group of veterans is working to clean the hate out of their beloved city.

Navy veteran David Smith is still grappling with the horrific images from Wednesday's insurrection.

“It almost brings you to tears," he said. "It’s terrible.”

He said it was especially disconcerting to hear some rioters claiming to be veterans as they broke into the citadel of democracy.

“They’re yelling 'I served!' as if somehow that gives them impunity and they can just storm the Capitol, which is not right," Smith said. "To support and defend the Constitution. That’s what we’re supposed to do, not a man, not a president, but the constitution.”

read more here

Navy Vet got tired of waiting for prescription at Pensacola VA...went back with AR-15

FBI: Veteran tried to enter Pensacola VA Clinic armed with AR-15-style rifle, handgun

Pensacola News Journal
Colin Warren-Hicks
May 7, 2020

He returned to the clinic two hours later, carrying an AR-15-style rifle that was loaded with 20 rounds of ammunition, with one round in the chamber. The safety was turned off and "ready to fire," the affidavit stated.

After allegedly making threatening comments to a witness in the parking lot, a U.S. Navy veteran approached the Pensacola VA armed with AR-15 style rifle. (Photo: Gregg Pachkowski/gregg@pnj.com)

A U.S. Navy veteran is facing federal charges after he entered the Pensacola Veterans Affairs Clinic on Wednesday armed with an AR-15-style rifle, 34 rounds of ammunition and a handgun because he was upset COVID-19 policy changes were causing his prescriptions to be filled too slowly.

Howell E. Camp, 58, was stopped by police before he entered the building and was taken into custody.
read it here

"Story about hope and kindness, not fear and despair" retired Navy psychiatrist volunteer at hospice

In a Farmington hospice, a friendship bloomed among two veterans

Minneapolis Star-Tribune
By Reid Forgrave
MARCH 27, 2020

“I’ll have sadness when someone I care about is no longer around. That’s a hard thing about hospice. But there’s something that tempers that for me: the reality I’ve been able to help somebody in their last days of life.” Tim Magee

In these uncertain times, a visitor and a patient bond over rich life stories.

Tim Magee, left, must defer his visits to Dave Roberts for now. But he’s grateful for the friendship the two veterans have forged over the past year.

This is a story set in a place where people typically die — but it is a story about hope and kindness, not fear and despair. This is a story about small gestures of grace that have blossomed over the past several years at Trinity Care Center, an AseraCare hospice in Farmington, Minn.

Life and death are themes forever present at hospices, places where people are cared for and comforted through the final chapter of their lives as painlessly as possible.

But in these uncertain times, this is a story of light for all of us.
read it here
Linked from Philadelphia Enquirer

Navy veteran Steve Hefler on 'country road" to recovery from COVID-19

Coronavirus Florida: Watch Sarasota Memorial staff sing ‘Country Roads’ to recovered patient

Herald Tribune
By Michael Moore Jr.
Staff Writer
April 24, 2020

Recovering from the coronavirus can be a long and difficult road.

Just ask longtime pediatrician and Navy veteran Steve Hefler, who has been fighting for his life for 25 days in Sarasota Memorial Hospital’s COVID-19 critical care unit. Except you can’t ask him — because he, like all COVID-19 patients, is quarantined.

But the isolation caused by quarantine can be a difficult reality for many patients and their families to cope with, which is why Hefler’s son, Jonathan, set up a GoFundMe page for cell phone chargers that are “desperately needed in every hospital.”
read it here

After fighting for his life for 25 days in Sarasota Memorial’s COVID-19 critical care unit, longtime pediatrician and Navy veteran Steve Hefler is on the road to recovery. #TeamSMH celebrated "Dr. Steve" and his transition to a step-down unit this afternoon, singing his favorite song — “Country Roads” by John Denver — while his family joined in via FaceTime.

DoD: Ready to respond to COVID-19 with ships, respirators, ventilators and crews!

DoD poised to provide supplies to combat virus

Fort Hood Sentinel
By C. Todd Lopez, DoD News
Mar 19, 2020

WASHINGTON — As part of the president’s whole-of-government approach to fighting the coronavirus pandemic, the Defense Department has agreed to provide medical supplies and capabilities to the Department of Health and Human Services to help combat further infections, Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper said.

The Defense Department will make available up to 5 million respirator masks and other personal protective equipment from its strategic reserves to the Department of Health and Human Services for distribution, Esper said during a news conference at the Pentagon today, adding that the first million masks would be made available immediately.

Esper said some 2,000 deployable ventilators would also be made available to HHS. Those devices, he said, are different from civilian equivalents and will require special training for civilian users, so DoD personnel likely will provide that training.

To help measure the spread of the coronavirus, the Defense Department has also made 14 certified testing labs available to test non-DoD personnel, and two labs would be added to that total, the secretary said.

Additionally, Esper said, DoD officials are considering use of the National Guard, the Reserve components, and capabilities such as the Navy’s hospital ships USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy. He said the Comfort is undergoing maintenance now and the Mercy is in port.
read it here

Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) departs Naval Base San Diego in support of Pacific Partnership 2018 (PP18) on Feb. 23, 2018. US Navy Photo

This video is from 2014 and but shows what the USNS Mercy crew is prepared to do.

Sailors describe their jobs and responsibilities aboard USNS Mercy.

UPDATE
US Navy hospital ship Comfort reportedly won't be ready for weeks

New York Post

The US Navy hospital ship Comfort that President Trump said would be dispatched to New York

VA Secretary under IG investigation for dismissing Navy Reserve Lt. assault claim

VA Secretary Under Investigation for Handling of Dismissed Hospital Sex Assault Claim

Military.com
By Richard Sisk
February 28, 2020

Missal's investigation, which could put Wilkie's job on the line, was first reported by The Washington Post. It follows an earlier clash with Wilkie over his claim that Goldstein's complaint of being assaulted last September was "unsubstantiated."

VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Department of Veterans Affairs Inspector General Michael Missal has opened an investigation into allegations that VA Secretary Robert Wilkie sought to dig up dirt on a congressional staffer who filed a complaint of sexual assault at the Washington, D.C., VA Medical Center. Her complaint was ultimately dismissed.

In a letter Thursday to congressional leaders, Missal said he is putting a "high priority" on the investigation into whether Wilkie attempted to discredit Navy Reserve Lt. Andrea Goldstein, who serves on the staff of House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Mark Takano, D-California.
read it here

Vice Adm. Scott "Sterno" Stearney gave no warning signs before committing suicide

The Navy’s investigation into Vice Adm. Scott Stearney’s suicide

Navy Times
Geoff Ziezulewicz
February 25, 2020

The investigation instead focused on the long and brutal hours Stearney put in, as well as the stoic face the man with the call sign “Sterno” wore, a countenance that belied any turmoil he might have felt inside.

U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Scott A. Stearney, the commander of U.S.5th Fleet, killed himself in his Bahrain home on Dec. 1, 2018. (Marine Corps)

The investigation into the death of Vice Adm. Scott Stearney revealed no warning signs that may have predicted the U.S. 5th Fleet commander’s Dec. 1, 2018, suicide in his Bahrain home.

But a series of suicide notes left behind by Stearney revealed he grappled with “significant time away from family” and “the struggles of military life," according to a redacted Naval Criminal Investigative Service report obtained by Navy Times.

Released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the probe also reflects the shock Stearney’s family, friends and colleagues felt after the career aviator hanged himself.

Investigators found no evidence of personal misconduct or scandal linked to the admiral.

One officer told NCIS he didn’t think Stearney was involved in any bad behavior “because he was addicted to his job,” according to the report.
read it here

$8.2 million claim against VA after veteran son’s suicide

Mother files $8.2 million claim against VA after veteran son’s suicide

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Jeremy Redmon
February 20, 2020

The mother of a U.S. Navy Reservist who killed himself outside the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center in Dublin last year has filed an $8.2 million wrongful death claim against the Veterans Affairs Department.

Rhonda Wilson said a VA doctor abruptly stopped refilling an opioid painkiller prescription for her 28-year-old son, Gary Pressley, causing him to go into a painful withdrawal.

Pressley shot himself to death in the hospital parking lot on April 5, one of three veterans who, over a five-day span, committed suicide outside of VA facilities. One died outside the main entrance of the Atlanta VA Medical Center in Decatur the next day. Three days later, a veteran killed himself in front of hundreds of people in a waiting room at a VA clinic in Austin, Texas.
read it here
Original Report

Ted Phillips, Navy-Vietnam-Homeless Veteran Laid To Rest By Community

Homeless Navy veteran buried with honor by veteran community

KSN News
by: Byron J. Love
Posted: Feb 13, 2020

WINFIELD, Kan. (KSNW) – Homeless veterans are all too often laid to rest in solemn, sparsely attended services as the surviving family of the deceased can often be difficult, if not impossible, to reach.

Data from a 2019 report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates that approximately 40,056 veterans are homeless on any given night, and over the course of a year that number can double.

The inscription above the Kansas Veterans’ Cemetary mausoleum reads “No one is ever buried alone, all are buried with honor,” and the staff and south-central Kansas veteran community do their best to fulfill that promise.

A great deal is unknown about the life of Ted Phillips, 73, who was laid to rest Thursday at the Kansas Veterans’ Cemetery in Winfield. Phillips, who was born April 5, 1946, according to his service records, served in the United States Navy during the time of the Vietnam war, including duty from 1964 to 1968.
read it here

Marine Corps suicides down for 2019...up for Navy

Marine Corps Suicide Rate Declines, Navy Rate Rises in 2019

USNI
By: Ben Werner
February 6, 2020

In 2019, 47 active-duty Marines committed suicide – 11 fewer than in 2018 – while the Navy reported 72 suicides, four more than a year earlier, according to preliminary totals from both services.

The Marine Corps suicide rate for the calendar year 2019 was 25.3 per 100,000 active-duty Marines, a decrease from the rate of 30.7 per 100,000 active-duty Marines in 2018.

“The Marine Corps is committed to reducing the number of suicides and continues to encourage unit leaders to have open dialogue with their Marines about stress, resiliency, mental wellness and suicide,” Maj. Craig Thomas, a spokesperson for Marine Corps Manpower and Reserve Affairs, wrote in an email to USNI News.

“When leaders and mental health programs and resources acknowledge that ‘everybody struggles with life, trauma, shame, guilt and uncertainty,’ it helps make asking for assistance more acceptable,” Thomas said.

In 2019, the Navy’s active-duty suicide rate increased to 22.3 per 100,000 active-duty personnel, from the 2018 suicide rate of 20.1 per 100,000 active duty service members.
read it here

Air Force Suicides increased

Inspirational Amputee: "It's so life-altering, but it's not life-ending."

San Diego amputee war veteran on a path to inspire

ABC 10 News
By: Amanda Brandeis
Feb 06, 2020

Doc ultimately made US Naval and Marine Corps history after becoming the first amputee Corpsman assigned to an infantry unit.

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - After losing his leg in Iraq, a San Diego veteran is accomplishing more at age 34 than most do in a lifetime.

"I love being active because of that inspiration it gives other people. I know a lot of people, especially new amputees, that I come across, they think that their time is up," said Doc Jacobs, a medically retired Navy Corpsman.

Doc was only 18 months into his service when his platoon endured an IED explosion.

He underwent 78 surgeries, losing his left leg (below the knee), three toes from his right foot, and three partial fingers from his left hand.

But he wasn't done serving his country.

"It's so life-altering, but it's not life-ending."

Doc ultimately made US Naval and Marine Corps history after becoming the first amputee Corpsman assigned to an infantry unit.

"I did another six-and-a-half years overall, from detonation to discharge."
read it here

Florida man changed with killing Navy Veteran's dog

A man in Florida allegedly killed a veteran's dog for barking too much

NBC News
By Nicole Acevedo
Feb. 1, 2020

“When I got the call, my son was screaming in the phone, 'He’s hanging my dog,'” Richard Hunt told WFLA.

A man is facing charges for allegedly killing a dog for barking too much and then punching a child who refused to help him cover up the crime, authorities said.

Robert Leroy Edwards, 38, was arrested Wednesday on charges of animal abuse and child abuse by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

The black labrador retriever, named Midnight, belonged to Richard Hunt, a disabled Navy veteran, according to NBC affiliate WFLA in Tampa. Hunt's adult son, Ian, was caring for Midnight at his home at the time of the incident.

Ian Hunt told NBC News that Edwards was a boarder at his home.
read it here

Navy Flight Surgeon James Mazzuchelli continued to save lives after he died

Their Son’s Heart Saved His Life. So He Rode 1,426 Miles to Meet Them.

Bicycling.com
BY A.C. SHILTON
Jan 24, 2020

What she did not yet know was the way those heavy words would ripple outward like a stone dropping into a still pond: allowing a man to return to work, a veteran to get his health back, and an ailing cyclist to get back on his bike. And how those little waves would slowly smooth out the edges of her own grief.

Lt. James Mazzuchelli in an undated photograph. Courtesy U.S. Navy

It took several drafts to get the letters right. To capture her boy who, just a few short months before, had been so full of life, energy, and love. To distill him into the two dimensionality of words on paper.

Three weeks earlier, the thread that held Christine Cheers’s world together had been ripped clean away, sending her whole life spinning like an off-balance top. On Wednesday, February 21, 2018, someone on the other end of the phone had said the words that bring any parent to their knees: “There’s been an accident.”

Her son, 32-year-old Navy flight surgeon James Mazzuchelli had been injured in a helicopter training mission at Camp Pendleton. If she wanted to see him while he was still alive, she needed to get on the next flight from Jacksonville, Florida, to San Diego—and she needed to pray.

James was still breathing when Christine and her husband, David, arrived at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California, the next morning. But it soon became clear that his condition would not improve. Machines were keeping him alive, and the doctors told Christine that what she was seeing was likely his future—that her scuba-diving, world-traveling, over-achiever of a son was never going to wake up.
read it here

Officer Katie Thyne killed in the line of duty, was Navy veteran from New Hampshire

‘It’s OK to cry’: Emotional Newport News police chief calls officer killed in line of duty a hero

WAVY
by: Sarah Fearing
Posted: Jan 23, 2020

“There is a lot of healing that needs to take place. There is no timetable for that,” said Chief Drew.

Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew holds a news conference to provide details about a deadly traffic stop Thursday night. Officer Katie Thyne died in the line of duty.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) – Speaking through tears, Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew identified the officer who died in the line of duty Thursday night as Officer Katie Thyne.

Chief Drew provided new information about the investigation and Officer Thyne during a Friday morning news conference.

Officer Thyne was originally from New Hampshire. She was a Navy veteran and a reservist. She joined the Newport News Police Department in 2018 and was assigned to the South Precinct. She leaves behind her mother and stepfather, a brother, her two-year-old daughter, and a loving partner. She was 24-years-old.

While the driver’s side door was open, Chief Drew said the driver accelerated. Officer Thyne was unable to get out of the way and was dragged for about a block. The driver crashed into a tree at Walnut Avenue, pinning Officer Thyne. She died from her injuries at Sentara Norfolk General.
read it here

UPDATE

‘Raegan will know her mother’: Friend, day care provider remembers Officer Katie Thyne

WTKR
BY CHELSEA DONOVAN
JANUARY 27, 2020

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - "When I leaned her over the casket, I said, 'Kiss your mommy,' and she did and it broke my heart," said Jenifer Locey.

Locey has been providing day care for 2-year-old Raegan Thyne since she was born and had also become great friends with Officer Katie Thyne.

"It's so hard to look at Raegan and know she is not going to see her anymore," said Locey.

Locey described the toddler as innocent, bubbly and always smiling.

"She is just like Katie - always happy, just a spitfire. She is the favorite at daycare," Locey told News 3.
read it here
Long line of police cars escort fallen officer Katie Thyne home