Retired Marine rebuilds his life after brush with death in Iraq

Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times
Wounded in Iraq, Nick Popaditch got a prosthetic eye decorated with the Marine Corps' eagle-globe-and-anchor logo. He has two others: one with the gun sights of a tank gunner and one with the logo of the 1st Tank Battalion.

Retired Marine rebuilds his life after brush with death in Iraq
Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times
Wounded in Iraq, Nick Popaditch got a prosthetic eye decorated with the Marine Corps' eagle-globe-and-anchor logo. He has two others: one with the gun sights of a tank gunner and one with the logo of the 1st Tank Battalion.
He has a new life and a new set of goals, including one to become a high school teacher. He has written a book, works with other wounded veterans and is a sought-after motivational speaker.
By Tony Perry
November 2, 2008
Reporting from San Diego -- In his San Diego apartment, retired Marine Gunnery Sgt. Nick Popaditch keeps two jagged hunks of metal from Iraq: one from a day of triumph, the other from the day he almost died.

One piece is from the statue of Saddam Hussein that Marines pulled down in central Baghdad in April 2003. A news photo from that day shows a grinning, cigar-smoking Popaditch sitting atop his tank as the statue fell.
click post title for more

Heroes of 2 Para: The bloody reality of the war against the Taliban

Heroes of 2 Para: The bloody reality of the war against the Taliban
By Andrew Malone Last updated at 10:00 PM on 31st October 2008


They've suffered the worst death rate since World War II. In the week they came home, battle-scarred Paras reveal the bloody reality of their terrifying war against 'Terry Taliban'.

On parade for the cameras this week, the soldiers of 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment had finally arrived home. They marched through the streets of Colchester, their Essex garrison town, applauded by hundreds of members of the public, friends and family. Tanned and fit, they cut heroic figures just returned from fighting a war on treacherous foreign fields.

Hugging their loved ones in the English rain, the soldiers spoke of their joy at seeing their families after a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan's Helmand province, a place of lethal intrigue known as the Tournament Of Shadows on account of the treachery by warlords vying for control. But this was not an entirely joyful homecoming. This battalion have gained the awful distinction of suffering the fiercest 'kill ratio' since World War II.

It was only after the cameras had gone, and the barrack doors were closed, that this remarkable story of 2 Para's deadly sojourn in the badlands of Afghanistan finally emerged in full.

Their mission was to win hearts and minds among the local population, train the Afghan National Army (ANA) to take over and carry out regular patrols to flush out Taliban fighters lurking in opium fields. In truth, all they really wanted to do was 'kill Terry'.

'We'd been training and training,' said Tom Wilson, 24, who had gone through basic selection with Dan Gamble. 'We'd done lots of live firing exercises. We were itching to put it all into action. But nothing happened. We could walk through villages and chat to the local people. It's not what we expected.' YET THE Taliban, many of whose soldiers repelled the might of the Soviet Red Army 30 years earlier, were simply biding their time.

They did not want fighting to damage their precious crop of opium poppies, used to fund their war against the West. That much became clear during a routine patrol on June 8, almost two months after Four Platoon arrived at Camp Inkerman.

About a mile-and-a-half from the garrison, the 30-strong patrol came across a strange fort built from mud. As they approached the fort, an old man shuffled into sight. The Para's regimental motto - Ready For Anything - was of little use. There was a deafening explosion. The old man was a suicide bomber. With the help of fellow Taliban soldiers, he had packed explosives around his body and covered them with his robes.

Then, as the British platoon approached, he pressed the detonator. It was a deadly new twist to the Taliban's tactics in the Afghan war. The scene was chaotic. Cries of 'Medic, medic!' could be heard above the noise of the fading explosion. Some soldiers fanned out to protect their flanks - and the wounded. Three men had been hit: Cuthie, 19, Dan, 22, and Dave, 19. They were treated at the scene, then airlifted out by helicopter. But it was hopeless. They died from their injuries. All three had been popular figures at Camp Inkerman.
click post title for more

SAS chief quits over 'gross negligence' that killed his troops

SAS chief quits over 'gross negligence' that killed his troops

A commander of the SAS in Afghanistan has resigned – blaming the Government's failure to provide adequate kit for the needless deaths of four of his colleagues. Major Sebastian Morley criticised the 'gross negligence' of Whitehall officials and military commanders. He said they repeatedly ignored his warnings about the vulnerability of Snatch Land Rovers.

Boatswain Mate 2nd Class Eugene Morgan, "buried at sea"

WWII veteran reunited with former shipmates
Archive WWII Disaster Still Vivid -- Survivors Of Indianapolis Sinking To Attend Memorial Ceremonies
When the submarine USS Ohio surfaced at sea and Machinist Mate 1st Class Jason Witty emerged from the hatch to look around, he saw calm...

By Eric Talmadge

The Associated Press


YOKOSUKA, Japan — When the submarine USS Ohio surfaced at sea and Machinist Mate 1st Class Jason Witty emerged from the hatch to look around, he saw calm, blue water under a peaceful sky — perfect for the solemn task he was about to perform.

On the map, the Bangor-based Ohio was afloat in just another indistinguishable expanse of the Pacific Ocean. As Witty, of Puyallup, stood on deck holding a silver pitcher, the vessel was alone.

Just like the ill-fated USS Indianapolis, 63 years earlier.

The pitcher contained the ashes of Witty's grandfather, Boatswain Mate 2nd Class Eugene Morgan, who had survived the sinking of the Indianapolis — one of the worst tragedies for the U.S. Navy in World War II.

Morgan, a Seattle firefighter, had died of a heart attack in June at age 87, just before Witty went to sea, and among his last wishes was the desire to be rejoined with his shipmates at roughly the same spot in the Pacific where the Indianapolis went down.

Witty, sitting in a wardroom of the Ohio at this Japanese port, recounted the Oct. 2 burial at sea, saying he had never participated in one before.

He had sheepishly asked one of the officers if his grandfather's wish could be granted. The request went up the chain of command to Capt. Dennis Carpenter, who quickly approved.

"I thought it would be an honor," Carpenter said. "And I wanted to make sure that we did it right. Sometimes on a submarine at sea, you just can't go topside. But everything seemed to be on our side."
click link for more

USS Indianapolis CA-35
This site is the official site of the USS Indianapolis Survivor's Organization. It is dedicated to all of the members of the crew.

The Worst Naval Disaster in US History

At 12:14 a.m. on July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the Philippine Sea and sank in 12 minutes. Of 1,196 men on board, approximately 300 went down with the ship. The remainder, about 900 men, were left floating in shark-infested waters with no lifeboats and most with no food or water. The ship was never missed, and by the time the survivors were spotted by accident four days later only 316 men were still alive.

The ship's captain, the late Charles Butler McVay III, survived and was court-martialed and convicted of "hazarding his ship by failing to zigzag" despite overwhelming evidence that the Navy itself had placed the ship in harm's way, despite testimony from the Japanese submarine commander that zigzagging would have made no difference, and despite that fact that, although over 350 navy ships were lost in combat in WWII, McVay was the only captain to be court-martialed. Materials declassified years later adds to the evidence that McVay was a scapegoat for the mistakes of others.

In October of 2000, following years of effort by the survivors and their supporters, legislation was passed in Washington and signed by President Clinton expressing the sense of Congress, among other things, that Captain McVay's record should now reflect that he is exonerated for the loss of the Indianapolis and for the death of her crew who were lost.
click link for more of this

Man who set self on fire released from UW job in August

Man who set self on fire released from UW job in August


UW students are praised for trying to help a 61-year-old former facilities employee who set himself on fire Thursday on campus. The man died despite the efforts of the students.
By Nick Perry and Will Mari

Seattle Times staff reporters

University of Washington students are being praised for trying to save the life of a 61-year-old man who doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire Thursday in Red Square.

Despite the efforts of more than a half-dozen students who initially tried to beat down the flames with their clothes and later used fire extinguishers, the man — a former UW employee — died Thursday afternoon at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

"It really is phenomenal how people tried to help him out," said Ralph Robinson, an assistant UW Police Chief. "It says a lot about the caring community of the entire university. People reacted almost instantaneously, even though there was some danger to themselves."

Some new details about the man emerged Friday, although authorities have not released his name pending notification of his next of kin.
go here for more
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008337455_burnedman01m0.html

Chief Master Sgt. Richard Etchberger may be "secret" hero no more

Medal of Honor

Airman may get highest award for actions in secret Laos mission
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Oct 31, 2008 17:42:24 EDT

Pentagon officials told Cory Etchberger that his father died in a helicopter accident in Southeast Asia on March 11, 1968.

But even at 9 years old, Cory said he felt something was missing in the story when his family was secretly whisked into the Pentagon to accept his father’s Air Force Cross.

Turned out Chief Master Sgt. Richard Etchberger died saving three Americans fighting off waves of North Vietnamese commandos advancing on a top-secret U.S. radar station in the Laotian mountains, but those details were omitted.

Four decades later, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley has recommended Etchberger’s Air Force Cross be upgraded to the Medal of Honor. It’s now up to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and President Bush for final approval, said an Air Force official.

Etchberger was nominated for the Medal of Honor in 1968, but President Lyndon B. Johnson didn’t approve it. Military officials instead awarded Etchberger the Air Force Cross.

This is where the story gets complicated.

Johnson didn’t sign off on the award because the U.S. wasn’t supposed to have troops in Laos, and at the time of his death, Etchberger wasn’t technically in the Air Force.

Before he was deployed to Lima Site 85 — a radar station used to locate bombing targets in North Vietnam and Laos — Etchberger and his wife went to Washington, D.C., along with the other airmen about to go on the secret mission and their wives. There they were told they would be made into civilian employees who worked for Lockheed Aircraft Services as a cover, said Col. Gerald H. Clayton, then the commander of 1043rd Radar Evaluation Squadron, Detachment 1.

Only seven Americans survived past 3 a.m., and they were backed up against a ledge.

With rescue helicopters en route, records show Etchberger tended to the wounded while also trying to fight off the advancing enemy soldiers.

When the helicopters arrived, Clayton said Etchberger loaded the wounded Americans onto the rescue sling as the helicopter hovered over the station. He refused to leave until everyone else was on board.

Those who survived say Etchberger saved at least four airmen before he rushed onto the helicopter. But moments later, an armor-piercing round ripped through the helicopter’s underbelly, hitting Etchberger. He bled to death en route to an air base in Thailand.

go here for more

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/10/airforce_etchberger_moh_103108/

Military Rise in drug prescriptions may signal abuse

Rise in drug prescriptions may signal abuse
By Gregg Zoroya - USA TodayPosted : Saturday Nov 1, 2008
The sharp rise in outpatient prescriptions paid for by the government suggests doctors rely too heavily on narcotics, says Army Col. Chester “Trip” Buckenmaier III, of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

Recently, at least 20 soldiers in an engineer company of 70 to 80 soldiers at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., shared and abused painkillers prescribed for their injuries, according to court testimony.

“The groundwork for this toxic situation was laid out through the continual prescription of highly addictive, commonly overused drugs,” said Capt. Elizabeth Turner, the lawyer for one defendant in the case.

In response to six suicides and seven drug-related deaths among soldiers in Warrior Transition Units — created for the Army's most severely injured — aggressive efforts are underway to manage prescription drugs, says Col. Paul Cordts, chief of health policy for the Army surgeon general. These include limiting prescriptions to a seven-day supply and more closely monitoring use.
click link for more

John McCain's 14th Amendment Problem

Worth reading and make up your own mind about what this says. One thing to think about is that 100% of people who have been tortured develop PTSD. If he was tortured, then he has it, but the question remains, at what level. The other, if he was not torture, he did give information and did do propaganda pieces for the North Vietnamese. Either way McCain has a problem and needs to explain it fully before Tuesday but given the fact the media have spent so much time on things like people Obama met at some point in his life (without having real relationships with them) and his ex-pastor, who gave a sermon with a lot of anger (but they only came up with one out of all the years Wright was preaching even though the church provides the tapes and Obama was not even there that day) I doubt they will look into any of this at all.

John McCain's 14th Amendment Problem
Giving Aid and Comfort to the Enemy
By DOUGLAS VALENTINE

Technically, the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits John McCain from becoming president of the United States.

Section III of the Amendment says, “No person shall … hold any office, civil or military, under the United States … who, having previously taken an oath … as an officer of the United States … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have … given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

It is a fact that McCain was an officer in the U.S. Navy and took an oath to “bear true faith and allegiance” to the Constitution. This was a solemn appeal to Jehovah to smite him silly in the event he lied about or broke his oath. If he fell into captivity, he was bound by the Military Code of Conduct not to answer questions or make any oral or written statements disloyal or harmful to the U.S. To do so was considered collaborating with the enemy, and meant yet another mighty swipe from Jehovah.

It is also a fact that, in 1967, Lieutenant Commander John McCain was shot out of the sky while dropping bombs on North Vietnamese civilians. McCain’s plane crashed in a lake, and he suffered some broken bones and was slapped around after he was rescued. And all of that hurt, but none of it reached the Rumsfeld-Bush-Cheney standard for torture. Yet after a mere four days, McCain cracked like a robin’s egg. He told his captors, “I’ll give you military information if you will take me to the hospital.”

In his autobiography McCain elaborated, saying, “I gave them my ship’s name and squadron number, and confirmed that my target had been the power plant.”

It is alleged that McCain gave the numbers of aircraft in his flight formation, information about location of rescue ships, and the order of which his attack was supposed to take place. According to retired Army Colonel Earl Hopper, McCain divulged classified information North Vietnam used to hone their air defense system, including “the package routes, which were routes used to bomb North Vietnam. He gave in detail the altitude they were flying, the direction, if they made a turn … he gave them what primary targets the United States was interested in.” As result, Hopper claims, the U.S. lost 60 per cent more aircraft, and in 1968 “called off the bombing of North Vietnam, because of the information McCain had given to them.”
go here for more
http://www.counterpunch.org/valentine10312008.html

Faith community gathers to hone trauma-support training

Faith community gathers to hone trauma-support training
Colorado Springs Gazette - Colorado Springs,CO,USA

"Spiritually, church counselors want to help, but they don't always understand what PTSD actually is," Griggs said.

MARK BARNA
THE GAZETTE
Religious leaders might know how to comfort someone who has lost a relative or counsel a couple in the midst of a marriage meltdown, but when it comes to helping military members traumatized by battle, they could use some counseling themselves.

That was the purpose of an all-day seminar Thursday in Colorado Springs. The seminar, called the "Trauma Support and Resources Training for the Faith Community," had two goals: to educate faith leaders about combat-related psychological conditions, and to let them know about resources where they can refer military members in need.

"Military folks seek the counsel of church leaders, but most of them don't know how to deal with combat stress-related issues," said Brian Duncan, an event organizer and program manager at First Choice Counseling Center in Colorado Springs. "We want faith leaders to know where they can refer people for services."
click link for more

Like feeling the hand of God

While the following article discusses football, the part of the Warrior Ethos reminded me of a conversation I had a few days ago. While discussing the difference between regular military and the citizen soldiers, I seemed to have shocked someone who is considered an expert but never stopped to think about what makes all of us different. It is what is within our souls.

There are many parts within our soul making us into what people see within us. Some of us are giving and caring while others are greedy and selfish. Even the greedy and selfish can take care of their own families but the others tend to look at the needs of others outside their families. Some of us are brave and will stand up to people who appear to be stronger, others will back away. Some of us have it within us to be willing to not only risk our own lives for the sake of others, but kill them. Some do not have it within them to be able to kill to save but will if they are forced to. In other words, they would rather not even think about it.

That is the biggest difference between the citizen soldiers and the firefighters when compared to those who enter into the regular military and the police force.

The people who enter into the military have it within them to not only risk their lives but to take the lives of others, just as the people who enter into the police force. While many will have problems after traumatic events and develop PTSD, the rates are lower than the other group. They have it in the front of their minds that as a warrior, they will have to kill someone at some time and they train for it. The basis is the need to be of service but the awareness of taking a life is active.

The people who enter into the National Guards and fire departments have it within them to risk their lives for the sake of others, but they never think of having to take a life. While they train to do it in the National Guards, this was not something active in their decision to enter into the Guards. The thought is trapped in the back of their minds. The bravery is on equal level to that of a warrior as well as their sense of duty, but what else comes with war is not on an equal level.

When the National Guards and Reservist come home, they are expected to return to their normal lives but they are ill prepared to deal with what came home with them.

This article about football mentions the Warrior Ethos and this applies to the regular military as well as to the citizen soldiers. The difference is that while a football team is putting their bodies on the line being tackled with force, the baseball players put their bodies on the line in a different way, just as the basketball players in yet another way. It is what we all have within us, what we came onto this earth to do and contribute that leads us in different directions.

The Hand of God is always there to guide all of us if we use what He has prepared us to do. He is also there to help us if we were faced with doing what He did not intend for us to have to do.

For those who feel as if God has turned His back on them, please watch PTSD Not God's Judgment. It's on the side bar of this blog under My Videos.

Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
International Fellowship of Chaplains
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington

Like feeling the hand of God
Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia
It is the warrior drive and the warrior ethos that are resurrected in modern football. The team becomes a band of blood brothers, men who assemble together to undertake dangerous exploits under conditions of duress and threat. The experience creates strong bonds of companionship - ones that often last for life, and certainly long after the team has disbanded. Students who were members of teams wrote unselfconsciously, in a similar vein to returned soldiers, about their attachment to their mates.

The warrior ethos, stressing courage, tenacity, and self-sacrifice for the higher good of the collectivity, carries over directly into football with, of course, the one great difference that the greatest sacrifice of all is not asked for. What is involved is "manliness", with its deepest roots, whatever the humanist niceties of modern civilisation, in the war hero. These roots do not seem to wither.

Indeed, I had students who added, without prompting, that if there were a war they and their team-mates would be the first to volunteer, and that, because of their collective morale, they would make an excellent unit. Football shows the young the working of key values in situations of high emotional and physical duress. It shows them what it means to be a hero, and what is shameful.
click link for the rest of this