Soldier Describes Watching Fatal Fire Burn
WSMV - Nashville,TN,USA
FT. CAMPBELL, Ky. -- A Fort Campbell soldier injured in a fatal fire on post said he watched helplessly as his wife tried to save the couple's children.
Rebekah Smallwood, 2, and Samuel Fagan, 9, were killed in the May house fire that investigators said was arson.
Spc. Wayne Smallwood, 33, said he shattered his leg jumping from the building to get water to try and put out the fire.
Smallwood said he couldn't stand up to help his wife, Billi-Jo, as she tried to escape to the roof with the three small children.
His wife was badly burned trying to reach the children. The couple's infant child, Nevaeh, was unharmed by the blaze.
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Video: Fort Campbell Fire Kills 2 Children
June 15, 2007: Officials: Fatal Fort Campbell Fire Deliberately Set
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Fort Bragg Soldier charged with beating toddler, infant
Soldier charged with beating toddler, infant
Raeford, N.C. — A Fort Bragg paratrooper has been charged with beating his two young children, including one that is 7 weeks old, authorities said Tuesday.
Sgt. Alex Wayne Mages, 22, of 106 Dotson Drive, was charged with one count each of felony child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury, felony child abuse inflicting serious injury and felony assault with a deadly weapon. He was being held Tuesday in the Hoke County Jail under a $150,000 secured bond.
Video here
Soldier charged with beating toddler, infant
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http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/3984269/
Mages was an unmanned drone pilot. Before you think that there is no chance he was affected by this, read this and understand there is a chance it was because he served. Don't assume anything yet.
Remote-control warriors suffer war stress too
by Scott Lindlaw / Associated Press
Thursday August 07, 2008, 3:45 PM
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, Calif. -- Working in an air-conditioned trailer nicknamed the Dumpster, Predator pilots peer into Iraq through a bank of computers, operating by remote-control the drone via keyboard and chat software -- and occasionally unleashing missiles on enemy fighters.
When their eight-hour shifts are done, they merge onto the highway and blend into the Southern California suburbs.
For the growing number of air national guardsmen involved in unmanned combat missions, it can be a whiplashing daily transition, and one that is taking a toll on a few of them.
"When pilots finish their job sitting in the ground control station, they climb out of that thing, hop in their car and then they drive home, and they have just been basically at war," said Col. Albert K. Aimar, commander of the 163rd Reconnaissance Wing here.
A Predator's video cameras are powerful enough to allow an operator to distinguish between a man and a woman, and between different weapons on the ground, unit commanders say. While the cameras' resolution is generally not high enough to make out faces, it is sharp, they say.
Aimar, a weapons system operator on F-4 fighters in the 1970s, said flying unmanned Predator drones in combat can weigh on a pilot and on the sensor operators who control cameras and weapons systems.
"When you come in (with a fighter) at 500-600 mph, drop a 500-pound bomb and then fly away, you don't see what happens," said Aimar, who holds a bachelor's degree in psychology. "Now you watch it all the way to impact, and I mean it's very vivid, it's right there and personal. So it does stay in people's minds for a long time."
The 163rd has called in a full-time chaplain and has enlisted the services of psychologists and psychiatrists to help ease the mental strain from this remote-controlled fighting, Aimar said.
"We've been doing this for two years now, and we're pretty adaptable," Aimar said. But, he said, "It's causing some family issues, some relationship issues. It's just not something we ever had to deal with."
Similarly, chaplains have been brought on at Predator bases in Texas, Arizona and Nevada.
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http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2008/08
/remotecontrol_warriors_suffer.html
St. Helenan finally receives honor earned in Korean conflict
St. Helenan finally receives honor earned in Korean conflict
By JOHN LINDBLOM
For the Register
On Tuesday, Jess Torres’ 80th birthday — and serendipitously Veterans Day — his past as a U.S. soldier in the Korean War caught up with him.
It all came together at St. Helena’s American Legion Hall in one illuminating moment in which Torres was presented a long-overdue Purple Heart in recognition of wounds suffered on the battlefield 57 years ago.
It was a proud moment as a spit-and-polished U.S. Army Captain Jack Faulkner presented the medal “on behalf of President Harry S. Truman.” But it was a bittersweet moment, as well, as Torres reflected on the grim circumstances that led to the Purple Heart, awarded only to those killed or wounded in battle.
“It happened in the northeast part of Korea where we were under a lot of heavy attack from the Chinese,” said Torres, a shy man of few words since his Army days. He did not elaborate.
“I can’t really describe how I’m feeling right now. I hope you understand that,” an emotional Torres told a full house of veterans and wives after the brief ceremony.
It was understandable. Torres didn’t know he was going to receive the long overdue Purple Heart Tuesday night. He was unaware of the covert campaign waged by fellow Legionnaire Dave Curtin.
Curtin was motivated to secure the medal for Torres out of respect for a comrade in arms, albeit in different wars — Curtin is a Vietnam-era vet. “I did it because no veteran in combat should be denied his Purple Heart for any reason,” he said.
A lifelong friend of Torres, Al Butala, presented the former Private First Class with a second medal that was also a lifetime overdue — the Combat Infantry Badge — and recalled how he and Albert Betz, another lifelong Torres friend, had gone through St. Helena schools together.
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http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2008/11/17/
news/local/doc4920fcd90d264533203096.txt
By JOHN LINDBLOM
For the Register
On Tuesday, Jess Torres’ 80th birthday — and serendipitously Veterans Day — his past as a U.S. soldier in the Korean War caught up with him.
It all came together at St. Helena’s American Legion Hall in one illuminating moment in which Torres was presented a long-overdue Purple Heart in recognition of wounds suffered on the battlefield 57 years ago.
It was a proud moment as a spit-and-polished U.S. Army Captain Jack Faulkner presented the medal “on behalf of President Harry S. Truman.” But it was a bittersweet moment, as well, as Torres reflected on the grim circumstances that led to the Purple Heart, awarded only to those killed or wounded in battle.
“It happened in the northeast part of Korea where we were under a lot of heavy attack from the Chinese,” said Torres, a shy man of few words since his Army days. He did not elaborate.
“I can’t really describe how I’m feeling right now. I hope you understand that,” an emotional Torres told a full house of veterans and wives after the brief ceremony.
It was understandable. Torres didn’t know he was going to receive the long overdue Purple Heart Tuesday night. He was unaware of the covert campaign waged by fellow Legionnaire Dave Curtin.
Curtin was motivated to secure the medal for Torres out of respect for a comrade in arms, albeit in different wars — Curtin is a Vietnam-era vet. “I did it because no veteran in combat should be denied his Purple Heart for any reason,” he said.
A lifelong friend of Torres, Al Butala, presented the former Private First Class with a second medal that was also a lifetime overdue — the Combat Infantry Badge — and recalled how he and Albert Betz, another lifelong Torres friend, had gone through St. Helena schools together.
go here for more
http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2008/11/17/
news/local/doc4920fcd90d264533203096.txt
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
86 city officers have answered duty's call in National Guard
Honoring those who serve and protect here and abroad
86 city officers have answered duty's call
By Angela Rozas Crime Scene
November 18, 2008
Over here, he was a police officer in the Morgan Park District, catching drug slingers on corners. Over there, he was a major in the Army, teaching the people of Afghanistan how to build hospitals.
If you bumped into Officer Michael Henderson at the training academy, where he works now, you might not know that he has been a military man for 17 years, earning enough rank to command scores of soldiers. That he is proud of every school his men helped teach the Afghani people to build. That he still feels the pain of sending three of his young charges home, shrouded in the U.S. flag.
If you met Probationary Patrol Officer James Kurth, you might think he seems a bit mature to be a rookie. But at 28, Kurth has already spent 11 years in the Illinois Army National Guard. In August 2007, just months after becoming a Chicago police officer, Kurth was sent to Kuwait to help repair aircraft engines, the same engines that would help fly soldiers to Baghdad and Tikrit.
There are 86 stories like Henderson's and Kurth's in the Chicago Police Department. Stories of officers who worked a district or a detective's desk for months or years, then were called to the front lines to fight or the back lines to rebuild.
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86 city officers have answered duty's call
By Angela Rozas Crime Scene
November 18, 2008
Over here, he was a police officer in the Morgan Park District, catching drug slingers on corners. Over there, he was a major in the Army, teaching the people of Afghanistan how to build hospitals.
If you bumped into Officer Michael Henderson at the training academy, where he works now, you might not know that he has been a military man for 17 years, earning enough rank to command scores of soldiers. That he is proud of every school his men helped teach the Afghani people to build. That he still feels the pain of sending three of his young charges home, shrouded in the U.S. flag.
If you met Probationary Patrol Officer James Kurth, you might think he seems a bit mature to be a rookie. But at 28, Kurth has already spent 11 years in the Illinois Army National Guard. In August 2007, just months after becoming a Chicago police officer, Kurth was sent to Kuwait to help repair aircraft engines, the same engines that would help fly soldiers to Baghdad and Tikrit.
There are 86 stories like Henderson's and Kurth's in the Chicago Police Department. Stories of officers who worked a district or a detective's desk for months or years, then were called to the front lines to fight or the back lines to rebuild.
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Pittsburgh PA:Post-Traumatic Stress Under-Treated: Local Soldiers Affected
Post-Traumatic Stress Undertreated: Local Soldiers Affected
WPXI.com - Pittsburgh,PA,USA
Post-Traumatic Stress Under-Treated: Local Soldiers Affected
Target 11 Investigates Treatment Gaps
A recent study was highly critical of the care the soldiers are receiving when it comes to post-traumatic stress disorder.
Target 11 talked to a local soldier who said he was one of the ones left behind.
Robert Reeb spent the past 17 years in the military.
In the summer of 2006, he returned from Iraq and that's when his troubles began.
"I started using inhalants, and anything I could," said Reeb.
Diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, he was sent to Walter Reed Army Hospital in Maryland.
But halfway through, the treatment program was cut off -- Reeb was ordered back to Pennsylvania and discharged under honorable conditions.
A spokesman for the Pennsylvania National Guard said Reeb was given numerous chances, but repeated problems eventually led to his discharge. But a recent survey by the RAND corporation uncovered troubling statistics about the treatment soldiers returning from battle receive.
While some 300-thousand soldiers suffer from PTSD, the study revealed only half who need it are getting treated and of those, slightly more than half received care labeled "minimally adequate".
Terri Tanielian conducted the study and said the military can do better.
"There are a number of opportunities that exist within the Department of Defense and the VA where there are tools and settings where you would hope and expect that higher quality care would be delivered," said Tanielian.
Congressman Jason Altmire agrees it's a big problem.
"It's a problem with the quality of care they are getting," said Altmire.
Altmire believes the situation facing Reeb and other soldiers is preventable.
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WPXI.com - Pittsburgh,PA,USA
Post-Traumatic Stress Under-Treated: Local Soldiers Affected
Target 11 Investigates Treatment Gaps
A recent study was highly critical of the care the soldiers are receiving when it comes to post-traumatic stress disorder.
Target 11 talked to a local soldier who said he was one of the ones left behind.
Robert Reeb spent the past 17 years in the military.
In the summer of 2006, he returned from Iraq and that's when his troubles began.
"I started using inhalants, and anything I could," said Reeb.
Diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, he was sent to Walter Reed Army Hospital in Maryland.
But halfway through, the treatment program was cut off -- Reeb was ordered back to Pennsylvania and discharged under honorable conditions.
A spokesman for the Pennsylvania National Guard said Reeb was given numerous chances, but repeated problems eventually led to his discharge. But a recent survey by the RAND corporation uncovered troubling statistics about the treatment soldiers returning from battle receive.
While some 300-thousand soldiers suffer from PTSD, the study revealed only half who need it are getting treated and of those, slightly more than half received care labeled "minimally adequate".
Terri Tanielian conducted the study and said the military can do better.
"There are a number of opportunities that exist within the Department of Defense and the VA where there are tools and settings where you would hope and expect that higher quality care would be delivered," said Tanielian.
Congressman Jason Altmire agrees it's a big problem.
"It's a problem with the quality of care they are getting," said Altmire.
Altmire believes the situation facing Reeb and other soldiers is preventable.
click link for more
Lt. Gov. Brown a co-chair of Obama veterans team
Lt. Gov. Brown a co-chair of Obama veterans team
Baltimore Sun - United States
Brown a co-chair of By Gadi Dechter
November 18, 2008
Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown has been appointed co-chairman of President-elect Barack Obama's transition team overseeing veterans policy, officials said yesterday.
At the Agency Review Team for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Brown - an Iraq war veteran and 24-year member of the Army Reserves - will help formulate the incoming administration's policy goals regarding veterans. Brown will be working with Maryland Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez, who is part of a team reviewing personnel and policies at the departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, and Housing and Urban Development.
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Baltimore Sun - United States
Brown a co-chair of By Gadi Dechter
November 18, 2008
Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown has been appointed co-chairman of President-elect Barack Obama's transition team overseeing veterans policy, officials said yesterday.
At the Agency Review Team for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Brown - an Iraq war veteran and 24-year member of the Army Reserves - will help formulate the incoming administration's policy goals regarding veterans. Brown will be working with Maryland Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez, who is part of a team reviewing personnel and policies at the departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, and Housing and Urban Development.
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Rear Adm. Robert F. Burt, Chief of Navy Chaplains gets it right!
This is one Chaplain who gets it right. He talks about PTSD, the different levels and how Chaplains are supposed to take care of their people no matter what faith they claim as there own. So why aren't all the branches of the military doing it?
A man for all faiths
Chief of Navy Chaplains reflects on the challenges of serving God and country
By Tim Wightman, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, November 20, 2008
Rear Adm. Robert F. Burt, Chief of Navy Chaplains, sat down Tuesday with Stars and Stripes at Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan. The 35-year Navy veteran is visiting bases in mainland Japan and Okinawa. Burt, who will retire in September, discussed the effect the war has on servicemembers and explained the role of chaplains in "facilitating" the worship of different faith groups on military bases.
How do Navy chaplains adapt to deal with faiths outside their own? How well are different faiths represented?
In an institutional environment, I think military chaplaincy leads the world in being able to adapt and reach out and minister to everybody… We facilitate for those who might be of a different faith group than us.
If someone comes to me and needs specific religious guidance, and they’re not of my same faith group or like-faith group, my job becomes a facilitator. I will find someone who can help that individual.
We are trained in chaplain school to be able to identify faith groups that want to, first of all, have a meeting, exercise their faith, grow in their faith.
If chaplains are approached (by someone) to have a meeting, there’s a process, whether it’s Wiccans or whoever it might be. The commanding officer signs off paper work after (the lay leader) has proven that they’re a recognized member of whatever religious organization it might be that they want to represent, and if they’ve got training on how to lead that particular faith group.
And the chaplain makes sure that that faith group has not only a specified facility or area to worship in, but they also have any kind of equipment or literature that they might need. Chaplains recognize that it is the right of everyone in this great nation, in or out of uniform, to express their faith and to choose whatever faith they want to follow. We don’t have to agree with them theologically or philosophically, but we respect their right to choose and we will support them in their efforts.
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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=58909
Loveland Starbucks customers pay it forward
'Paying it backwards' at the drive-thru
written by: Adam Chodak
LOVELAND - Call it a Venti Caffe Latte of love.
At the Starbucks drive-thru in Loveland, more and more people are pulling up to the pick-up window to find they owe nothing. They're then told the person ahead of them paid their bill.
"It kind of almost took my breath away for a minute," said Lindell Green, a Loveland resident. "It was just such a wonderful surprise."
Green then paid for the person behind him.
"This is paying it backwards," he chirped.
Starbucks employee Julia Domascieno says - for reasons she can't explain - this random act of kindness is becoming less and less random.
"I've seen it go through 15 cars," she said.
Of course, this idea of paying it backwards wasn't born at this coffee shop and it's not limited to its drive-thru.
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http://www.9news.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=104095&catid=222
linked from CNN
written by: Adam Chodak
LOVELAND - Call it a Venti Caffe Latte of love.
At the Starbucks drive-thru in Loveland, more and more people are pulling up to the pick-up window to find they owe nothing. They're then told the person ahead of them paid their bill.
"It kind of almost took my breath away for a minute," said Lindell Green, a Loveland resident. "It was just such a wonderful surprise."
Green then paid for the person behind him.
"This is paying it backwards," he chirped.
Starbucks employee Julia Domascieno says - for reasons she can't explain - this random act of kindness is becoming less and less random.
"I've seen it go through 15 cars," she said.
Of course, this idea of paying it backwards wasn't born at this coffee shop and it's not limited to its drive-thru.
go here for more
http://www.9news.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=104095&catid=222
linked from CNN
Texas soldier missing for 58 years in Korea identified
Texas soldier missing for 58 years in Korea identified
November 18, 2008
Texas soldier missing for 58 years in Korea identified
The Defense Department this morning announced that it had identified the remains of a Texas soldier missing in action from the Korean War.
According to the Pentagon's POW/Missing Personnel Office, Army Cpl. Librado Luna of Taylor was last seen in action on November 26, 1950.
His remains will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors on Nov. 25 in Taylor.
Here's the backstory on Cpl. Luna's disappearance:
In late November 1950, Luna was assigned to the 8th Army Ranger Company, 25th Infantry Division, then attached to B Company, 89th Medium Tank Battalion as part of Task Force Dolvin. The 8th Army Ranger Company was deployed on Hill 205 in Kujang County along the leading edge of the U.S. position. On November 25, the Chinese Army struck in force in what would become known as the Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River. Task Force Dolvin, including the 8th Army Ranger Company, was forced to withdraw to the south. Of the 91 men from B Company, 89th Medium Tank Battalion and the 8th Army Ranger Company, only 22 made it to safety. Ten men, including Luna, went missing on November 26 near Hill 205.
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NON-BATTLE DEATHS 2,830
TOTAL DEATHS IN THEATER: 36,516
DIED ELSEWHERE (Worldwide during Korean War) 17,730
WOUNDED (Number of personnel) 92,134
WOUNDED (Number of incidences*) 103,284 (*Includes individual personnel wounded multiple times)
UNACCOUNTED FOR (Bodies not identified/bodies not recovered) 8,176
Prisoner of War 2,045
Killed in Action 1,794
Missing in Action 4,245
Non-battle 92
Total: 8,176
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Attleboro MA:City threatens blind woman over unpaid 1-cent bill
Nov 18, 9:19 AM EST
City threatens blind woman over unpaid 1-cent bill
ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) -- A 74-year-old blind woman was shocked when her daughter found a letter from the city saying a lien would be placed on her home unless she paid an overdue water bill.
The amount? 1 cent.
Eileen Wilbur told The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro the letter sent her blood pressure soaring, and pointed out that stamps cost 42 cents.
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City threatens blind woman over unpaid 1-cent bill
ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) -- A 74-year-old blind woman was shocked when her daughter found a letter from the city saying a lien would be placed on her home unless she paid an overdue water bill.
The amount? 1 cent.
Eileen Wilbur told The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro the letter sent her blood pressure soaring, and pointed out that stamps cost 42 cents.
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