Sgt 1st Class Miguel A. Wilson died while trying to save another soldier

DoD Identifies Army Casualty


The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Sgt 1st Class Miguel A. Wilson, 36, of Bonham, Texas, died Nov. 21 in Abu Sayf, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a rescue attempt of another soldier while their unit was conducting a dismounted reconnaissance mission. He was assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Hood, Texas.

The incident remains under investigation.

http://icasualties.org/oif/

IIT student died after doing 'whippets'

IIT student died after doing 'whippets'

New details in IIT student's death
November 24, 2008 at 12:10 PM Comments (0)
The 19-year-old Illinois Institute of Technology student who was found dead in his fraternity house Saturday died of asphyxia from inhaling nitrous oxide from a whipped cream container, authorities said today.

The body of Benjamin Collen, a sophomore biomedical engineering major from Lincolnwood, was discovered Saturday night in a storage room in the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity house on campus.

Small cylinders containing nitrous oxide from whipped cream containers, known casually as "whippets," were found near Collen's body, said Mitra Kalelkar, Cook County deputy chief medical examiner.

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Wounded told "It's not a combat wound."

With so many in congress also being lawyers, it boggles the mind how they can write these rules without understanding what the language they choose actually means and how it will be interpreted.

This is not the first time they did something because it sounded good at the time only to but our veterans through torture. In the 90's they managed to come up with a rule to allow the VA to collect for any treatments they did for "non-service connected" medical needs. That sounded good but what this rule allowed was for veterans with a claim tied up or on appeal to be charged for even conditions caused by their service. A PTSD veteran with a claim tied up is charged for his treatment and tests until the claim is approved. A veteran with Agent Orange poisoning is charged for his treatments until he can prove it happened because of his/her service. The list goes on and on because the congress did not understand the way the VA works. Any claim that is not approved as "service connected" is not service connected until they give the claim their stamp of approval. The veteran is charged until they prove it because no one paid attention.

Now our new veterans are being wounded in rollovers and accidents, but they are told that was not combat related. Excuse me! If it happened in Iraq or Afghanistan, were they there on vacation? These are military campaigns for Heaven's sake! A roadside bomb blows up and a soldier ends up with TBI from the blast and it's pretty much up in the air if the DOD regards it as "combat" wound.

Injured veterans engaged in new combat
Dixon Family
Marine Cpl. James Dixon in Iraq.
In a little-noticed regulation change, the Pentagon's definition of combat-related disabilities is narrowed, costing some wounded veterans thousands of dollars in lost benefits.
By David Zucchino
5:56 PM PST, November 24, 2008
Marine Cpl. James Dixon was wounded twice in Iraq -- by a roadside bomb and a land mine. He suffered a traumatic brain injury, a concussion, a dislocated hip and hearing loss. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Army Sgt. Lori Meshell shattered a hip and crushed her back and knees while diving for cover during a mortar attack in Iraq. She has undergone a hip replacement and knee reconstruction and needs at least three more surgeries.


In each case, the Pentagon ruled that their disabilities were not combat-related.

In a little-noticed regulation change in March, the military's definition of combat-related disabilities was narrowed, costing some injured veterans thousands of dollars in lost benefits -- and triggering outrage from veterans' advocacy groups.

The Pentagon said the change was consistent with Congress' intent when it passed a "wounded warrior" law in January. Narrowing the combat-related definition was necessary to preserve the "special distinction for those who incur disabilities while participating in the risk of combat, in contrast with those injured otherwise," William J. Carr, deputy undersecretary of Defense, wrote in a letter to the 1.3-million-member Disabled American Veterans.


The group, which has called the policy revision a "shocking level of disrespect for those who stood in harm's way," is lobbying to have the change rescinded.
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Crowd gathers to turn scrawlings of hate into messages of hope

"This is a place where intolerance is not tolerated," Malmberg said.

Crowd gathers to turn scrawlings of hate into messages of hope
About 200 join to show support of Newton temple
By John S. Forrester
Globe Correspondent / November 24, 2008
NEWTON - Responding to swastikas spray-painted outside two places of worship last week, about 200 people gathered outside Temple Shalom in Newton yesterday to condemn the incidents and spread a message of hope and tolerance.

A swastika was found on a sign outside Temple Shalom on Nov. 15 as members arrived for a bar mitzvah and a bat mitzvah, rites of adulthood for a boy and girl. Another swastika was found Wednesday on a curb outside of Eliot Church, a United Church of Christ affiliate.

"We've wiped away the hateful symbol, but it is our presence here as one community that enables us to say no to hate," said Rabbi Eric Gurvis of Temple Shalom, as he began yesterday's rally.

Gurvis thanked the Newton Police Department, residents, and community leaders for their support after the vandalism.

"I know that out of something very bad, we're going to make something good," said Newton Mayor David Cohen. Addressing residents' potential safety concerns, Cohen urged the crowd not to be afraid and "to be whoever you are."

"We have to reaffirm our commitment to diversity," he said.

Reverend Richard Malmberg of the Second Church in Newton, former chairman of the Newton Interfaith Clergy Association, highlighted his church's more than 50-year relationship with Temple Shalom and denounced the painting of the swastika on the sign as a "cowardly and vulgar act of vandalism."

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Firefighter Severely Burned in ’06 Dies in Staten Island Blaze

Mary DiBiase Blaich for The New York Times
Lt. Robert J. Ryan in an undated family photo.


Firefighter Severely Burned in ’06 Dies in Staten Island Blaze
By MICHAEL WILSON

The fire burned so hot that it melted a smoke detector, dripping molten plastic through Lt. Robert J. Ryan’s fire jacket and across his neck and shoulders. It was the kind of injury that could have tempted others to leave the Fire Department, but he chose to stay, spending a year recuperating, and returning to work in 2007 with twisted pink scars above his shirt collar.

His determination to return cost him his life. Lieutenant Ryan, 46, coming off the first engine to arrive at a house fire in the New Brighton section of Staten Island on Sunday morning, was killed when the attic ceiling collapsed on him, knocking off his helmet and air mask, the Fire Department said.

“Unconscious, he was carried out of the building by his fellow firefighters who were standing right around him when the accident occurred,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said at a news conference at Richmond University Medical Center, where Lieutenant Ryan was pronounced dead. “Firefighters and E.M.S. personnel on the scene tried to revive him, but they were, I am sad to say, unsuccessful.”

Lieutenant Ryan is the first member of the department to die while fighting a fire since Jan. 3, when Lt. John H. Martinson was killed in a blaze in a 14th-floor apartment in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
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Fast-moving fire kills three children in Cincinnati

Fast-moving fire kills three children
Published: Nov. 24, 2008 at 12:14 PM

CINCINNATI, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Cincinnati firefighters say they were too late to save three children who died early Monday in a house fire.

The children, all under the age of 10, died in a predawn fire that broke out in a home on State Avenue just blocks from the fire station that received the alarm.

Officials told The Cincinnati Enquirer that the two-story home was nearly engulfed in flames when the first fire equipment arrived.
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Teenagers with history of hardship find empowerment in aiding others

Teenagers with history of hardship find empowerment in aiding others
By Cathy Zollo


Published: Monday, November 24, 2008 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, November 24, 2008 at 1:11 a.m.
Gonzalo Moody spent Sunday lugging boxes of turkey, green beans, potatoes, rolls and pies to families struggling in this economy.



Moody, 19, was among the 25 or so teenagers from the YMCA's Bowman Ranch, Transitional Living Program and Youth Shelter, taking part in the event. YMCA board members escorted the youngsters.

The deliveries are as much about helping the teenagers as helping the families who get Thanksgiving dinner, say board members. The youngsters -- some in foster care, some just getting out of it and some who need an escape from the streets -- ranged in age from 11 to 19.

They benefit from helping others and working toward a common goal alongside adults. They went in groups to a dozen front doors Sunday, dropping off the heavy boxes and wishing families a happy holiday.
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Deputies: Teen kills brother over a hat

November 23, 2008
Deputies: Teen kills brother over a hat
TAMPA -- An argument between two brothers turned physical overnight, and ended with one of them fatally stabbing the other, deputies said today.

The fight between brothers Deadreart J. Holmes, 18, and Jason Phifer, 22, started just after 1 a.m. this morning at their Tampa home at 12509 Sugar Pine Way, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office reported.

Holmes stated he was going to stab his brother, then left the bedroom they shared and returned with a knife. Deputies say Holmes stabbed Phifer in the chest, in front of a third brother who is 14.

Phifer ran into his mother's room, told her his brother stabbed him and collapsed. The family called an ambulance, but it was too late.

Deputies say the fight was over a hat that Phifer had borrowed and left in someone's car.
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http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/2008/11/deputies-teen-k.html

Christmas Charity Appeal: Andy McNab on fighting the battle that does not end

Christmas Charity Appeal: Andy McNab on fighting the battle that ...
Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom


Combat Stress is one of the charities you can support in this year’s Telegraph appeal. Here, Andy McNab, who has seen brave friends devastated by the aftermath of war, explains why it is such a vital cause.

With thousands of members of the Armed Forces returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, the number of soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is rising dramatically.

We shouldn’t be surprised by this. The ancient Greeks recorded similar symptoms in their soldiers after they returned from battle. They understood that their veterans would require support. But somehow the Greeks’ lessons were lost on us.

During the First World War, a PTSD sufferer would have been placed against a wall and shot because it was believed that this condition was brought on by weakness of character. During the Second World War, the sufferer was instead sent down the coal mines and made to wear a LMF (lack of moral fibre) armband.

Even today, PTSD suffers are stigmatised. This has to stop. Any service personnel hit by the disorder are casualties of war, just as much as soldiers hit by an enemy bullet. More service personnel who fought in the 1982 Falklands War have gone on to commit suicide than the 255 killed in action.

I know this from experience. Two of my closest friends have committed suicide as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder, and many more have suffered terribly for years. My SAS troop, 7 Troop, was never more than 12-strong, so we knew each other very well. Frank Collins and Nish Bruce were a bit older than me and they became my heroes. I operated with both of these men in South East Asia, as well as under cover in Northern Ireland. Frank eventually left the SAS, got ordained into the Anglican Church and became an Army Padre.
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Recalled 12 year old spare tired causes fatal crash

How a 12-year-old recalled tire caused a crash that killed one man, paralyzed another
Rene Stutzman | Sentinel Staff Writer
November 24, 2008


SANFORD - The tire was a Firestone ATX, the subject of one of the nation's biggest consumer-product recalls. Millions of Americans read or heard news reports about it in 2000 and 2001, warning that it was dangerous.

But for a decade this particular tire was just a spare, bolted to the underside of an aging Ford Explorer.

A lawsuit settled in October revealed how in 2005 -- long after consumers and mechanics had stopped checking -- this tire did exactly what safety officials feared: It shredded at 65 mph.

Rotated into service on the right rear hub of the 1993 sport utility vehicle, the tire flew apart on Interstate 4 near Sanford, and the Explorer went out of control.

Its driver, Michael Enriquez, a Deltona father of four on his way home from work, hit the brakes. The vehicle skidded across the median, flipped and plowed head-on into an Infiniti driven by Douglas George Gibson, 56, of Orlando.
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