For kin, the Iraq mission isn’t over

US forces have been deployed into Pakistan to help flood survivors. They are in Afghanistan trying to stop the Taliban from regaining brutal control over the villages at the same time trying to find remaining members of Al Qaeda crisscrossing the two countries. They are also still in Iraq but no longer in combat roles. They still have work to be done there and as this piece points out, we should not forget about the remaining troops there. Given the fact we have pretty much forgotten about all the troops we have deployed, it is pretty doubtful we will think of any of them. More people in this country know more about Lindsay Lohan's couple of days in jail than they do about how many troops are deployed, where they are deployed, how many killed in action or how many wounded.


For kin, the Iraq mission isn’t over
As troops depart, work remains

By Brian MacQuarrie
Globe Staff

When the last US combat brigade from Iraq crossed into Kuwait this past week, that benchmark in a bloody, seven-year war was greeted with mixed reactions from veterans and military families who have ties to Massachusetts.

To some, the withdrawal is tangible proof of a job well done. To others, the 50,000 US troops left behind to provide training and security underscore the daunting perils that face Iraq’s fragile, fledgling democracy.

All agree, however, that much work remains to be done.

To Maura Kilbride, a Newton native whose husband, Bryan, recently deployed to Iraq for a fourth tour, the war has been measured in sleepless nights, the births of three children, and questions about whether the United States will ever be at peace.


Occasionally, Kilbride said, people are surprised to hear that her husband has returned to Iraq. They will ask, “Aren’t we done over there?’’ she said.

“Yes, the combat troops are gone, but my husband is over there,’’ Kilbride said. “I don’t want people to take their eye off the war. The war is not over. There are still troops over there who are still in harm’s way, and families here whose brothers, husbands, and sons are there.’’

Since Sept. 11, 2001, a total of 8,300 Army and Air National Guard members from Massachusetts have been deployed overseas, with the bulk of them dispatched to Iraq. Currently, 594 Massachusetts National Guard members are serving there.

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For kin the Iraq mission isnt over

Frustration, pride in a year of danger in Afghanistan

Frustration, pride in a year of danger
This is the story of the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment's year in Afghanistan, as soldiers struggled with their mission in the conservative Islamic region. The story reflects broader tensions within the U.S. military and among civilian leaders about the conduct of the war: how to balance battling the Taliban with winning the trust of Afghans.
By Hal Bernton

Seattle Times staff reporter

About the Strykers

The 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, served in Afghanistan from July 2009 to July 2010. The 750-member battalion, under command of Lt. Col. Jonathan Neumann, was divided into smaller units that include Bravo, Charlie and Alpha companies. The battalion is part of an infantry brigade of about 3,700 soldiers built around eight-wheeled Stryker vehicles that can travel at more than 60 mph and have high-tech communications and considerable firepower.

1st Battalion casualties The battalion lost 22 soldiers in Afghanistan, and more than 65 were wounded.

On a late September afternoon last year, Capt. James Pope climbed a hill that offered a sweeping view of the Arghandab Valley. He gazed on thousands of acres of irrigated farm fields and orchards that faded into a dusty, mountain-ringed desert.

Pope, a North Carolinian with a reputation as a hard charger, commanded a company of soldiers from the Western Washington-based 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment.

He took a certain pride in pointing out the formidable size of his area of operations, which stretched some 15 miles through some of the most hostile terrain of southern Afghanistan, a place the Taliban claimed as a staging ground for its growing insurgency in Kandahar province.

Two months into the deployment, Pope had yet to visit all of the villages in his sector. But he knew where to find a fight: amid the orchards that offered thick cover for insurgents.

"See that green zone, where it's very thick," Pope said. "That's where the Taliban like to hide."

It was from these orchards two decades ago that Afghan mujahedeen fought off the Soviet army as it tried to secure southern Afghanistan.

Seattle Times reporter Hal Bernton spent two weeks in Afghanistan last fall with the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment. This story is based on reporting during that period as well as interviews this summer with soldiers after their return to Joint Base Lewis-McChord. He can be reached at 206-464-2581 or hbernton@
seattletimes.com

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Frustration pride in a year of danger

Channel 3 viewer donates new wheelchair lift to veteran

Channel 3 viewer donates new wheelchair lift to veteran
By Tommy Noel


IDAHO FALLS - Earlier this week, we introduced you to Doug Stewart.

A disabled Vietnam veteran who now volunteers his time driving other veterans to the V.A. Hospital.

Sadly, the wheelchair lift he relies on was stolen right from the back of his truck.

But there's a happy ending, the Eyewitness News staff presented Doug today with a new wheelchair lift.
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http://www.kidk.com/news/101180009.html

Military to add religious practices and terrorist screenings

Military to add terrorist screening

By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Aug 21, 2010 9:53:48 EDT

In the wake of the deadly shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, last year, the Pentagon is devising new methods to identify terrorists or other dangerous people working inside the military community, according to a new report.

That includes revising mental health screening tests to add factors correlated with violence, such as “work, home, financial, legal and interpersonal stressors,” according to the Defense Department report released Aug. 20.

In addition, commanders will soon receive better instructions on how to “distinguish appropriate religious practices from those that might indicate a potential for violence or self-radicalization,” the report said.

The 23-page report details the Pentagon’s response to the mass shooting in November 2009 when Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an American-born Muslim who was serving as a psychiatrist, allegedly shot and killed 13 people and wounded 43 others after becoming a radicalized Muslim with extremist anti-American views.
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Military to add terrorist screening

Vietnam Vet Col. Marcel J. “Mac” Dube awarded Silver Star for action in 1967

Twentynine Palms Marine base marks 58th year, awards a Silver Star
Staff reports • The Desert Sun • August 21, 2010


Marine Brig. Gen. H. Stacy Clardy, III hosted a birthday celebration on Friday, which included a cake-cutting ceremony and a rededication of the official battle colors of the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center.

Rededication of the battle colors is a practice observed every two years for Marine commands.

Friday's ceremony was held in conjunction with the base's 58th birthday celebration.

As part of the day's events, retired Col. Marcel J. “Mac” Dube was awarded the Silver Star in recognition for his heroic valor on March 20, 1967, during the Vietnam War.
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Twentynine Palms Marine base marks 58th year

Another National Guardsman in murder-suicide tied to PTSD

When I read the headline I thought it was about the story I posted yesterday and then the shock hit that this was another story. Six more deaths tied to combat and four of them never went. two children dead. Two Moms dead. Two National Guardsmen dead. Yesterday it was a Wisconsin National Guard soldier and today it is a post about a Hawaii National Guards soldier. Both of them were tied to PTSD and I sit here in total disbelief. So many still falling into the abyss when so many others have come out of the darkness into healing and I wonder why it is still happening.

Murder-suicide leaves 3 dead
A former guardsman shoots his ex-girlfriend, her daughter and himself

By Mary Vorsino


On Thursday night a distressed Kristine Cass called a friend and said she planned to file a temporary restraining order against the man who, just hours later, would fatally shoot her and her 13-year-old daughter, Saundra, before turning the gun on himself.

"I said, 'I am scared for you,'" said Linda Tsai, a close friend. "She said, 'I'm kind of scared, too.'"

The double murder-suicide happened at about 1:30 a.m. yesterday at 2009 Makiki St., shattering the early-morning calm of the residential neighborhood with a single shot, followed by a shout for help and as many as a half-dozen subsequent gunshots - all over a 10-minute period.

A neighbor said the intruder apparently bent the bars covering a panel of jalousies to enter the Cass home.

Friends identified the shooter as Clayborne Conley, a former Hawaii National Guardsman with a history of violent behavior and mental instability.

Conley was deployed with his Hawaii unit to Iraq in 2004, and friends said he struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder.
read more of this here
Murder suicide leaves 3 dead

This is the link to the Wisconsin story.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Wisconsin National Guard Iraq war vet kills pregnant wife, daughter, dogs and self
Wis. woman killed by husband was staying elsewhere The Associated Press

The Suicide Prevention Hotline has had over 2 million calls. Claims for PTSD have gone up and programs have sprung up across the country. The military has been trying to do what they can and change their attitude toward PTSD but that has not worked. What is worse in all of this is the National Guards and Reserves have even less than the regular military soldiers have in terms of mental healthcare and support services.

Now we have two more families and friends left wondering how it all got so bad that two Guardsmen are dead after taking their families with them. These are people who wanted to do more when they joined the Guard. These were not selfish people and they were willing to risk their lives for total strangers when they joined. So why isn't anyone asking why it is these same men decided to take the lives of people they loved when they came home from combat?

Friday, April 2, 2010

Apparent murder-suicide reported in Lawson
Apparent murder-suicide reported in Lawson
By St. Joseph News-PressFriday, April 2, 2010
LAWSON, Mo. — Law enforcement officers continue to investigate what appears to be a murder-suicide involving a recently returned veteran from Iraq.“At this time, we suspect that Alex C. Caton, 23, shot and killed his wife, Michelle, 22, wounded his father-in-law and then committed suicide,” said Brian LaFavor, Lawson chief of police. “We won’t know for certain until the autopsy results are in.”
The Ray County sheriff’s department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol are assisting in the investigation. Mr. LaFavor said Mr. Caton was in the military and had recently returned from service in Iraq.

Monday, August 31, 2009

Family suspects PTSD in murder suicide of Iraq vet and wife
Family suspects PTSD in couple's murder-suicide03:22 PM PDT on Monday, August 31, 2009KREM.com / LEE STOLLREPUBLIC, WA. -- Family members say a young man suspected of killing his wife and then himself in an apparent murder-suicide in Republic may have suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after returning from Iraq.Jessica Armstrong and Chad Olson.Chad Olson, 21, and Jessica Armstrong were found shot to death in the home they shared with Olson's parents early Saturday morning.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Fort Hood Reservist and Iving Police Officer Kills Wife and Self
Irving police officer, wife found dead
WFAA-TV
Investigators say an Irving police officer murdered his wife while their two children were present in their Fort Worth home.
By DAVID SCHECHTER / WFAA-TV WFAA-TV FORT WORTH — Investigators say an Irving police officer murdered his wife while their two children were present in their Fort Worth home. Then, police say, the officer killed himself. The officer was a 36-year-old Army reservist currently on active duty at Fort Hood. Police were called to the 5300 block of Mineral Creek Drive shortly after 8 a.m. Sunday. A woman called police after finding the bodies of her sister and brother-in-law, police said.

Monday, February 18, 2008

When Strains on Military Families Turn Deadly
When Strains on Military Families Turn Deadly
Lizette Alvarez and Deborah Sontag
New York Times
Feb 17, 2008
February 15, 2008 - A few months after Sgt. William Edwards and his wife, Sgt. Erin Edwards, returned to a Texas Army base from separate missions in Iraq, he assaulted her mercilessly. He struck her, choked her, dragged her over a fence and slammed her into the sidewalk.As far as Erin Edwards was concerned, that would be the last time he beat her.Unlike many military wives, she knew how to work the system to protect herself. She was an insider, even more so than her husband, since she served as an aide to a brigadier general at Fort Hood.With the general’s help, she quickly arranged for a future transfer to a base in New York. She pressed charges against her husband and secured an order of protection. She sent her two children to stay with her mother. And she received assurance from her husband’s commanders that he would be barred from leaving the base unless accompanied by an officer.Yet on the morning of July 22, 2004, William Edwards easily slipped off base, skipping his anger-management class, and drove to his wife’s house in the Texas town of Killeen. He waited for her to step outside and then, after a struggle, shot her point-blank in the head before turning the gun on himself.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Airman kills his 2 kids then self
Divorced US Air Force computer expert kills his 2 young children, himself at base housing
The Associated Press
Published: February 27, 2008
A recently divorced airman who served with distinction in Iraq chased his ex-wife out of military housing with a pistol before killing his two young children and himself.Tinker Air Force Base officials on Wednesday identified Tech. Sgt. Dustin Thorson, a military computer expert, as the killer in the shootings Monday.

Friday, March 28, 2008
War Comes Home "The man I married died in Iraq"

"In the Spring of 2002, members of the elite Special Operations units began returning home from duty in Afghanistan. Within six weeks, four Army wives, and one soldier, would be dead.



On June 11, 2002, Sergeant First Class Rigoberto Nieves, who had returned from Afghanistan just two days earlier fatally shot his wife, Teresa, and then killed himself.

Master Sergeant William Wright strangled his wife Jennifer on June 29, 2002, and then buried her body in a shallow grave.


On July 9, 2002, Sergeant Cedric Ramon Griffin stabbed his estranged wife, Marilyn, 50 times and then set her house on fire.

On July 19, 2002, the same day as Master Sergeant Wright was arrested for the murder of his wife, Sergeant First Class Brandon Floyd shot his wife Andrea to death and then and then took his own life.

On July 30, 2002, Fort Bragg police arrested the wife of a major for shooting him in the head and chest while he slept. These homicides made national news, owing mainly to the number of deaths at Fort Bragg in a short period of time extreme prejudice with which the acts were committed. The incident also caused an increased awareness of post-deployment combat-related stress.

These are just some of the stories from my achieves. Too many stories of heartache that didn't need to happen and too many families left behind wondering what they could have done. Even more stories on suicides and attempted suicides all leaving families to wonder what they could have done and even more wondering why no one told them anything that could have helped.

We can think the VA and the DOD are better at doing what needs to be done and they are but the truth is, they are nowhere near where they need to be for their sake and the sake of their families.

What happened to FOX's hoorah?

What happened to FOX's hoorah?


All these years FOX has had the opportunity to really support the men and women in the military and serving as citizen soldiers in the Guards and Reserves. The problem is they didn't support them in the long run.

From the time the talk of the need to invade Iraq made it to the airwaves until the Bush Administration packed up their offices, it was all about showing support for the military operations and not about what was happening to the men and women when they came home. The reports about Afghanistan were forgotten about because Iraq ruled their time but again, it was all about the war itself and not about them.

Walter Reed was not about the deplorable care they suffered from and the enemy became Dana Priest and Anne Hull for daring to report on it. We had an administration disconnected from the wounded created by the two wars some in congress had no problem paying for but found it impossible to find the funds to take care of the wounded. Walter Reed had overworked staff and no one geared up to transform it from heading to be shut down into a fully functional military hospital while two wars were producing more and more men and women needing to be cared for. FOX should have taken the lead and demanded action to take care of the wounded. It was their job as self-proclaimed supporters of the troops.

Homeless veterans were a joke to Bill O'Reilly and the reports of them living in crowded shelters and cardboard boxes became all about drug addicts and criminals instead of veterans left homeless by all administrations before and including Bush's. The support of the troops and the military did not include veterans falling thru the cracks.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and TBI were not covered as the suicide and attempted suicides went up. To this day there is very little coverage on these two signature wounds of Iraq and Afghanistan.

National Guards and Reservists families living on food stamps and losing their homes were not covered. When they came home without jobs they used to have, no one at FOX seemed to care.

They did an awful lot of shouting about supporting the troops during elections but very little when it really mattered to the men and women they shouted about.

After the invasion of Iraq began, it was full coverage everyday but Afghanistan was forgotten about. Then even the reporting on Iraq dropped down to hardly none at all.

While NATO was screaming for more troops to be sent into Afghanistan to hold off the Taliban, they didn't seem interested.

Now we have the troops coming home from Iraq as the combat operations have ended and hundreds of men and women returning home after handing over combat operations to the Iraqis but FOX does ten minutes. What happened to their hoorah? Is it because the agreement to pull out combat forces by now and all US forces be withdrawn by 2011 was done by President Bush but accomplished under President Obama?

2007 904
2008 314
2009 149
2010 46
Icasualties.org/

When you look at the numbers and the years you'd think that this would be important to mention but FOX didn't seem to be able to connect the dots and really offer a hoorah for what the troops ended up doing in Iraq.

All these years, the loss of life, the wounded, the hardships on the families accomplished Iraq being turned over to the Iraqis without Saddam. Debate all you want about if it was worth it or not but the end results is, the troops did do everything that was asked of them. They didn't lose a single battle. There are 50,000 troops remaining in Iraq but instead of allowing them rejoicing over the pull-out of combat forces, they deserved only ten minutes on FOX. The troops finally heading home deserved coverage but that wouldn't fit into what FOX wanted to talk about.

Because they didn't want to talk about this, they missed the opportunity to really show support for the troops and that is a real shame.

Fox News Covered Iraq Withdrawal For Under TEN MINUTES Wednesday
DAVID BAUDER 08/19/10 11:02 PM
NEW YORK — Nowhere was the difference between the cable news networks on starker display than in prime-time coverage on the night the last American combat brigade left Iraq following a war that started seven years and five months ago.

MSNBC devoted its entire prime-time footprint to the story, with Richard Engel riding with the troops in a specially equipped vehicle and host Rachel Maddow based in Baghdad. Keith Olbermann anchored the coverage from a New York studio.

Fox News Channel devoted just under 10 minutes to the story, much of it during Shepard Smith's 7 p.m. newscast. The network spent 45 minutes discussing the potential construction of an Islamic cultural center near ground zero, while that story wasn't mentioned on MSNBC at all. CNN, meanwhile, spent an hour on each story.

The news decisions led critics of Fox and MSNBC to suggest politics was at play in the coverage decisions.
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Fox News Covered Iraq Withdrawal For Under TEN MINUTES

Problems uncovered in Meade cleanup

Problems uncovered in Meade cleanup
Fed report finds pollution repair efforts ineffective at military posts
By PAMELA WOOD, Staff Writer

Published 08/19/10
When it comes to cleaning up polluted military installations - including Fort George G. Meade - federal defense and environmental officials are rarely on the same page, threatening the success of restoration efforts, according to a new report.


The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, spent a year and a half evaluating the efforts to clean up decades' worth of pollution at Fort Meade and other military installations. The GAO's report found serious problems, including:

The Department of Defense and the Environmental Protection Agency have different ways of defining polluted areas and measuring cleanup efforts.

Some military facilities don't have formal cleanup agreements with the EPA. Fort Meade's agreement was signed in 2009 - after the GAO investigation began and the state threatened to sue.

The military uses performance-based contracts, which may motivate environmental contractors to overlook problems or push for less costly and less-complicated cleanup techniques.

In some cases, the military moved forward with cleanups without approval from the EPA.

The GAO report, released Monday, looked at the 141 military installations on the "National Priorities List" or "Superfund list" of the nation's most polluted sites. It gave special attention to Fort Meade, McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey and Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida.
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Problems uncovered in Meade cleanup
linked from Stars and Stripes

for more from the EPA go here
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/index.htm

Senator Kent Conrad decries ruling in Stolen Valor case

Senator decries ruling in Stolen Valor case

By Dale Wetzel - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Aug 19, 2010 16:54:13 EDT

BISMARCK, N.D. — Sen. Kent Conrad on Thursday decried a federal appeals court's ruling that people can't be prosecuted solely for lying about their military medals, saying it dishonors veterans who fought for their country.

The North Dakota Democrat was the primary Senate sponsor of the "Stolen Valor Act," which Congress approved in 2006. It carries criminal penalties and fines if someone falsely claims to have earned military decorations.

Under the law, someone who lies about receiving several military decorations, including the Medal of Honor and the Purple Heart, can be punished with up to a year in prison.
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Senator decries ruling in Stolen Valor case

Bear fatally mauled its caretaker during a feeding

Bear Owned by PETA Foe Kills Its Caretaker

COLUMBIA STATION, Ohio (Aug. 20) -- A bear fatally mauled its caretaker during a feeding on property holding dozens of other exotic pets owned by a man who drew the wrath of activists -- and lost his license to exhibit -- after offering people the chance to wrestle bears at a Cleveland expo.

The bear in the attack southwest of Cleveland was not one that owner Sam Mazzola had used for wrestling, officials said. His license to show animals had been revoked, but he apparently was still allowed to keep them on his property, which housed a menagerie including several bears, 20 wolves, tigers and lions.

A rescue squad took Mazzola to a hospital Thursday night with an unspecified medical problem that Lorain County Sheriff's Capt. James Drozdowski said was not from any injury. Mazzola, who had filed for bankruptcy this year, returned to his home around noon Friday and did not comment.
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Bear Owned by PETA Foe Kills Its Caretaker