'I'm going to die,' blogs soldier
Story Highlights
Army machine gunner Colby Buzzell began blogging from Iraq in 2004
His blog gained media attention for its refreshing, unvarnished candor
The Army encourages active-duty soldiers to blog as a way to educate the public
But soldiers are prohibited from posting details that could compromise troops' safety
I've never felt fear like this. I was like, this is it, I'm going to die. When U.S. Army machine gunner Colby Buzzell began blogging about his combat experiences from Iraq, he wasn't looking for attention. But in the first major war of the Internet age, his visceral, first-hand accounts became a bracing antidote to bloodless news reports.
But his visceral, first-hand accounts were a bracing antidote to dry news reports and bloodless Pentagon news releases. In the first major war of the Internet age, Buzzell and other soldier bloggers in Iraq offered readers around the world unfiltered, real-time glimpses of an ongoing conflict.
"Here's a soldier in a combat zone ... writing about it and posting it on the Internet. I don't think that's ever been done in previous wars," Buzzell said.
"It just provides another perspective that no embedded journalist can ever do," said the veteran, now a freelance writer in San Francisco, California, and the author of "My War: Killing Time in Iraq." "An embedded journalist is just there observing. But a soldier writing about it -- you can't get more embedded than that."
See an interview with Buzzell »
full story
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Stevens no longer ahead in Alaska
Senator Ted Stevens' opponent now leading by 814 votes
John Byrne
Published: Thursday November 13, 2008
John Byrne
Published: Thursday November 13, 2008
"The state Division of Elections tallied about 60,000 absentee, early and questioned ballots from around the state on Wednesday," the Alaska Daily News reported Thursday morning. "The ballots broke heavily in the Democrat's favor, erasing the 3,000-vote lead the Republican Stevens held after election night Nov. 4."
"The state still needs to count at least 15,000 questioned ballots and an estimated 25,000 absentees," the paper added. "With all the absentee votes coming in, this will be one of the biggest turnouts, if not the biggest in terms of ballots cast, the state has ever seen. That's despite questions in the media and on blogs about why turnout appeared low on Election Day."
National Guard's major general vows to help all vets
Guard's major general vows to help all vets
By ROGER AMSDEN
New Hampshire Union Leader Correspondent
Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2008
TILTON – MAJ. GEN. Kenneth Clark, adjutant general of the New Hampshire National Guard, offered his definition of what constitutes a veteran yesterday at a Veterans Day ceremony at the New Hampshire Veterans Home.
"A veteran is a person who at one point in his life wrote a blank check to the United States in which they agreed to follow orders which may cost them their life," said Clark, who was introduced by Veterans Home Commandant Barry Conway as "a dedicated patriot."
Clark said that since 2003, some 27 men from New Hampshire have lost their lives in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The most recent loss was National Guard Cpl. Scott Dimond of Franklin, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan last month. Dimond's mother, Mary Gnerre of Bristol, is a long-time employee at the Veterans Home.
Clark said the stresses and strains of war are reflected in the number of suicides by those who have returned from military operations overseas, including one that took place the day after he greeted six members of the military who had returned from Iraq.
Another recent suicide was that of a Guardsman who was the roommate of National Guard medic Sgt. David Stelmat, 27, of Littleton, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in March 2008.
"The stress was too much for him. A lot of people are coming home with injuries we can't see,'' said Clark.
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Car recovered; phones for troops missing
Car recovered; phones for troops missing
(By Casey Ramsdell, Globe Correspondent)
A car that was stolen Monday carrying about 500 cellphones to benefit troops overseas was found yesterday in Weymouth, about a quarter mile from where it was last seen, police said.
A window was smashed and the phones were gone, said Weymouth police Sergeant Rick Fuller.
The stolen 1990 Oldsmobile was found at 11:45 a.m. at Old Stone Condominiums, around the corner from the Weymouth Elks Club, where it was taken on Monday between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m., said Fuller
"We weren't sure if it was targeted for the car or the phones, but after finding it a quarter of a mile away, [we can assume] it was for the cellphones," said Fuller.
The car was stolen while its owner, Rick Bruce, was in the Elks Club, where he was decorating the facility for a Veterans Day drive for CarePacks, a group based in South Weymouth that sends care packages to troops.
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(By Casey Ramsdell, Globe Correspondent)
A car that was stolen Monday carrying about 500 cellphones to benefit troops overseas was found yesterday in Weymouth, about a quarter mile from where it was last seen, police said.
A window was smashed and the phones were gone, said Weymouth police Sergeant Rick Fuller.
The stolen 1990 Oldsmobile was found at 11:45 a.m. at Old Stone Condominiums, around the corner from the Weymouth Elks Club, where it was taken on Monday between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m., said Fuller
"We weren't sure if it was targeted for the car or the phones, but after finding it a quarter of a mile away, [we can assume] it was for the cellphones," said Fuller.
The car was stolen while its owner, Rick Bruce, was in the Elks Club, where he was decorating the facility for a Veterans Day drive for CarePacks, a group based in South Weymouth that sends care packages to troops.
click link for more
NY Detective Recalls Four Shots, and His Partner Down
Detective Recalls Four Shots, and His Partner Down
By ANDY NEWMAN
Published: November 12, 2008
“Ten-thirteen Rogers and Lefferts! 85!” the officer’s panicked voice, distorted nearly beyond intelligibility, crackled across the packed Brooklyn courtroom on the radio recording played on Wednesday. “Ten-thirteen!”
A few minutes later, live on the witness stand, the officer, Herman Yan, now a detective, spoke in softer, measured tones at the trial for three men accused of killing his partner last year after the officers had pulled over a stolen BMW S.U.V. on a darkened street in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn.
“As I approached the driver’s side door,” he testified, “within three to four feet I heard approximately four shots go out. I could tell that those shots came from that vehicle. They were really loud. I immediately felt a pain in my arm and I realized I was hit. I was hit, and it was a situation where I had to take other action.”
Detective Yan said he fired at the vehicle as it pulled away. A prosecutor asked him what happened next.
“As the BMW left, I observed —” Detective Yan said, then paused to collect himself. “I observed my partner laying on the sidewalk.”
His partner that night was a 23-year-old officer named Russel Timoshenko. The prosecutor, Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi, asked the detective if his partner appeared to be conscious.
“No, he did not,” Detective Yan replied.
In the third row of the courtroom, several of Officer Timoshenko’s relatives dabbed away tears.
Officer Timoshenko, shot in the mouth and throat, died five days later.
By ANDY NEWMAN
Published: November 12, 2008
“Ten-thirteen Rogers and Lefferts! 85!” the officer’s panicked voice, distorted nearly beyond intelligibility, crackled across the packed Brooklyn courtroom on the radio recording played on Wednesday. “Ten-thirteen!”
A few minutes later, live on the witness stand, the officer, Herman Yan, now a detective, spoke in softer, measured tones at the trial for three men accused of killing his partner last year after the officers had pulled over a stolen BMW S.U.V. on a darkened street in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn.
“As I approached the driver’s side door,” he testified, “within three to four feet I heard approximately four shots go out. I could tell that those shots came from that vehicle. They were really loud. I immediately felt a pain in my arm and I realized I was hit. I was hit, and it was a situation where I had to take other action.”
Detective Yan said he fired at the vehicle as it pulled away. A prosecutor asked him what happened next.
“As the BMW left, I observed —” Detective Yan said, then paused to collect himself. “I observed my partner laying on the sidewalk.”
His partner that night was a 23-year-old officer named Russel Timoshenko. The prosecutor, Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi, asked the detective if his partner appeared to be conscious.
“No, he did not,” Detective Yan replied.
In the third row of the courtroom, several of Officer Timoshenko’s relatives dabbed away tears.
Officer Timoshenko, shot in the mouth and throat, died five days later.
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Liberty University student talks about experience in Iraq at PTSD awareness event
Student talks about experience in Iraq at PTSD awareness event
Liberty News - Lynchburg,VA,USA
Thursday, November 13, 2008 by Teresa Dunham in General News
"How was Iraq? Did you like it over there?"
Liberty University student Jesse Hogan can’t count the number of times someone has asked him those generalized questions.
“I didn’t mind answering questions for people that were specific things. The thing that made me mad and got me really frustrated was when people were asking me because they thought they needed to ask me. They really didn’t want to know anything,” said Spc. Hogan, 22, who served with the Army National Guard in Iraq.
Speaking candidly to students at a Tuesday evening Post Traumatic Stress Disorder awareness event as part of LU’s Military Appreciation Week, Hogan tried to bridge the gap of understanding between civilians and returning veterans
He told the group gathered in the Arthur S. DeMoss Learning Center that vague questions made him feel like no one really understood what he was going through when he first came home, and often the questions made him want to be alone.
Nowadays he’s enjoying everyday life, but he admitted that it wasn’t easy when he first came home. While he was in Iraq, he longed to see his friends and family again — but the excitement quickly wore off when he returned to the U.S.
“I felt like I was losing control over here, and things were slipping out of my hands. I was disappointing people. I wasn’t meeting people’s expectations,” he said, explaining that his life in Iraq involved highly structured missions that he could succeed at by following a checklist of motions.
Human relationships weren’t so easy to navigate, he said, and he was having trouble flipping the switch from soldier to ordinary life. People wanted him to be OK right away, as though they could “fix him” or explain to him what was wrong, but Hogan said what he really needed was space.
click link for more
Liberty News - Lynchburg,VA,USA
Thursday, November 13, 2008 by Teresa Dunham in General News
"How was Iraq? Did you like it over there?"
Liberty University student Jesse Hogan can’t count the number of times someone has asked him those generalized questions.
“I didn’t mind answering questions for people that were specific things. The thing that made me mad and got me really frustrated was when people were asking me because they thought they needed to ask me. They really didn’t want to know anything,” said Spc. Hogan, 22, who served with the Army National Guard in Iraq.
Speaking candidly to students at a Tuesday evening Post Traumatic Stress Disorder awareness event as part of LU’s Military Appreciation Week, Hogan tried to bridge the gap of understanding between civilians and returning veterans
He told the group gathered in the Arthur S. DeMoss Learning Center that vague questions made him feel like no one really understood what he was going through when he first came home, and often the questions made him want to be alone.
Nowadays he’s enjoying everyday life, but he admitted that it wasn’t easy when he first came home. While he was in Iraq, he longed to see his friends and family again — but the excitement quickly wore off when he returned to the U.S.
“I felt like I was losing control over here, and things were slipping out of my hands. I was disappointing people. I wasn’t meeting people’s expectations,” he said, explaining that his life in Iraq involved highly structured missions that he could succeed at by following a checklist of motions.
Human relationships weren’t so easy to navigate, he said, and he was having trouble flipping the switch from soldier to ordinary life. People wanted him to be OK right away, as though they could “fix him” or explain to him what was wrong, but Hogan said what he really needed was space.
click link for more
T. Boone Pickens donating money from his book to help wounded troops
I was watching the Daily Show last night and T. Boone Pickens was talking about his new book. The great thing was he also announced that the money from the book, is going to Brooke Army Medical Center and Fisher House! This is a great thing.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=210176&title=t.-boone-pickens
The First Billion Is the Hardest: Reflections on a Life of Comebacks and America's Energy Future (Hardcover)
by T. Boone Pickens (Author)
The First Billion Is the Hardest: Reflections on a Life of Comebacks and America's Energy Future (Hardcover)
by T. Boone Pickens (Author)
Orlando teen admits beating homeless man "for fun"
Orlando teen admits beating homeless man
Willoughby Mariano Sentinel Staff Writer
November 13, 2008
One of six Orlando teens charged with beating a homeless man so badly he died of his injuries pleaded no contest to a manslaughter charge Wednesday.
With his stepfather, mother, sister and a teacher looking on, Brenton Mack, 16, acknowledged in Circuit Court that he took part in the attack two years ago on August Felix, 54, near a downtown homeless encampment.
Police said the teens beat Felix for fun.
The transient had no money and did not threaten the youths before the attack March 26, 2006, authorities said. The attack left the man paralyzed from the waist down. He spent about a month in the hospital before dying May 1, 2006.
When no friends or relatives stepped forward to claim the body, he was given a pauper's burial.
click link for more
Willoughby Mariano Sentinel Staff Writer
November 13, 2008
One of six Orlando teens charged with beating a homeless man so badly he died of his injuries pleaded no contest to a manslaughter charge Wednesday.
With his stepfather, mother, sister and a teacher looking on, Brenton Mack, 16, acknowledged in Circuit Court that he took part in the attack two years ago on August Felix, 54, near a downtown homeless encampment.
Police said the teens beat Felix for fun.
The transient had no money and did not threaten the youths before the attack March 26, 2006, authorities said. The attack left the man paralyzed from the waist down. He spent about a month in the hospital before dying May 1, 2006.
When no friends or relatives stepped forward to claim the body, he was given a pauper's burial.
click link for more
Military to follow up with wounded vets
Military to follow up with wounded vets
By Gregg Zoroya - USA TODAY
Posted : Thursday Nov 13, 2008 6:20:28 EST
WASHINGTON — The military has launched a detective effort to find at least 2,300 veterans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan to see how they are faring, and whether they are missing out on health and other benefits.
Army and Marine commanders says the outreach effort is due to several factors, including greater concern in these wars for long-term consequences of combat and more funding to get it done.
About 33,000 troops have been wounded in the two wars, but not all have been located or reached.
“We are trying to catch up to six years worth of war,” says Col. Gregory Boyle, commander of the Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Regiment.
Callers who reach these new veterans help eliminate red tape to resolve compensation and health care needs, educate veterans about new benefits and link them to resources or potential employers.
Congress last year authorized expanded efforts to manage cases and advocate for wounded service members leaving the military, at a cost of about $65 million, records show.
The outreach is so unexpected that some veterans ask if the service is trying to call them back to duty, says John Chavis, who directs a call center for the Wounded Warrior Regiment. ”We reassure them that’s not our intent,” he says.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/gns_injured_vets_111308/
By Gregg Zoroya - USA TODAY
Posted : Thursday Nov 13, 2008 6:20:28 EST
WASHINGTON — The military has launched a detective effort to find at least 2,300 veterans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan to see how they are faring, and whether they are missing out on health and other benefits.
Army and Marine commanders says the outreach effort is due to several factors, including greater concern in these wars for long-term consequences of combat and more funding to get it done.
About 33,000 troops have been wounded in the two wars, but not all have been located or reached.
“We are trying to catch up to six years worth of war,” says Col. Gregory Boyle, commander of the Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Regiment.
Callers who reach these new veterans help eliminate red tape to resolve compensation and health care needs, educate veterans about new benefits and link them to resources or potential employers.
Congress last year authorized expanded efforts to manage cases and advocate for wounded service members leaving the military, at a cost of about $65 million, records show.
The outreach is so unexpected that some veterans ask if the service is trying to call them back to duty, says John Chavis, who directs a call center for the Wounded Warrior Regiment. ”We reassure them that’s not our intent,” he says.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/gns_injured_vets_111308/
New solutions sought as homeless ranks grow
New solutions sought as homeless ranks grow
Gregg Krupa / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- Latrina Medlock knows how a few bad decisions can lead to homelessness.
As she walks the streets of the city pregnant and uncertain of the future, she says she knows that handling money and opportunities a bit differently in her life would have saved her from dire straits.
"Bad decision-making caused me to get in the situation I am now," said Medlock, who is one of a growing number of pregnant women and families left homeless in Metro Detroit as the economy shrivels. Being "homeless is not pleasant," she says. "I just make it day by day."
As state officials, along with more than 5,000 social workers, charities and the poor gather at Cobo Center for a major conference on poverty Thursday, a national and worldwide recession threatens to burst the seams of the social safety net in Michigan, where the economy soured earlier in the decade. The recipients and providers of social services, who normally grapple with solutions for poverty in good times, will gather to hammer out a new, concerted approach to fighting rising levels of poverty as more workers and their families are exposed to dire circumstances.
go here for more
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081113/METRO/811130414
Linked from RawStory
Gregg Krupa / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- Latrina Medlock knows how a few bad decisions can lead to homelessness.
As she walks the streets of the city pregnant and uncertain of the future, she says she knows that handling money and opportunities a bit differently in her life would have saved her from dire straits.
"Bad decision-making caused me to get in the situation I am now," said Medlock, who is one of a growing number of pregnant women and families left homeless in Metro Detroit as the economy shrivels. Being "homeless is not pleasant," she says. "I just make it day by day."
As state officials, along with more than 5,000 social workers, charities and the poor gather at Cobo Center for a major conference on poverty Thursday, a national and worldwide recession threatens to burst the seams of the social safety net in Michigan, where the economy soured earlier in the decade. The recipients and providers of social services, who normally grapple with solutions for poverty in good times, will gather to hammer out a new, concerted approach to fighting rising levels of poverty as more workers and their families are exposed to dire circumstances.
go here for more
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081113/METRO/811130414
Linked from RawStory
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