Tammy Duckworth lost legs in service to country, Rep. Joe Walsh lost his mind

UPDATE Vote Vets wants Walsh to resign!
In fact, McCain released the book “Faith of My Fathers” focused on his military service and imprisonment in North Vietnamese POW camps while he was beginning his unsuccessful bid for the 2000 presidential nomination.

The veterans group Vote Vets is calling on Walsh to resign over his comments.

Tammy Duckworth lost legs in service to country, Rep. Joe Walsh lost his mind!
by Chaplain Kathie
OK this is about as bad as it gets. Joe Walsh said that Tammy Duckworth should talk about her service, the fact she lost limbs or even the fact she turned around and fought hard for other combat wounded disabled veterans. Walsh said "true heroes" don't talk about it.?

Rep. Joe Walsh criticizes Tammy Duckworth's military service



Maybe Walsh should tell that to Medal Of Honor Hero Sammy Davis. He says veterans need to talk about it.



It is fine to complain about someone's politics when running for re-election. It is fine to complain about other things you just don't agree with but when you stoop so low as to say that a veteran is not a true hero because she talks about it, just goes to show this man does not honor the service of the men and women risking their lives where people like him sent them.

The men and women serving this nation after 9-11 in combat was less than 1% of the population and even less were wounded but we can't take care of them? We can't because people like Walsh don't value their service.

Vote Smart Joe Walsh
Military Issues
2011
Women's Action for New Directions (WAND) and-WILL - Positions (House Only)
31%

Veterans Issues
2011
Vietnam Veterans of America - Positions 0%

Jul 3, 2012
Rep. Joe Walsh Says Iraq War Vet Opponent Talks Too Much to Be ‘True’ Hero
By Amy Bingham
ABC News

Rep. Joe Walsh’s Facebook page is flooded with negative comments today after the Illinois Republican said his opponent, Iraq War veteran Tammy Duckworth, was not a “true” hero because she often makes reference to her military service on the campaign trail.

Duckworth lost both her legs after an RPG attack in Iraq brought down the Black Hawk helicopter she was piloting in 2004. Walsh never mentions his own military service on the campaign stump. He never had any.

“My God, that’s all she talks about,” Walsh said of Duckworth’s military career in a video recorded at Walsh’s town hall speech Sunday and posted by Think Progress. “Our true heroes, the men and women who served us, my God, that’s the last thing in the world they talk about. That’s why we are so indebted and in awe of what they have done.”
read more here

When I started this blog almost five years ago I said that politics would not come into it unless a politician did something for or against veterans. Well this one really tops all the "against" veterans I've ever heard!

Hero Marine Lance Cpl. Kyle Carpenter promoted

Wounded warrior Marine promoted, 19 months after grenade blast
JULY 3RD, 2012
POSTED BY DAN LAMOTHE

Then-Lance Cpl. Kyle Carpenter is shown here at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center during a November interview with Marine Corps Times. (Colin Kelly/Staff)

It was Nov. 21, 2010, when Lance Cpls. Kyle Carpenter and Nick Eufrazio were rocked with a grenade blast that changed both of their lives.

Nineteen months later, Carpenter’s miraculous recovery continues. Profiled in a Marine Corps Times cover story I wrote late last year, he has continued to heal slowly from life threatening injuries. The blast mangled his jaw, destroyed one of his eyes and most of his teeth and caused severe trauma to his right arm, which had severe tissue damage and more than 30 fractures.

Carpenter has been strikingly open about his recovery since, launching a Facebook page called Operation Kyle tracking his recovery.
read more here

January 27, 2012
Marine Lance Cpl. Kyle Carpenter, injured by a grenade, discusses his recovery

September 24, 2011
U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. William Kyle Carpenter getting help from his neighbors

March 10, 2011
Marine Lance Cpl. William Kyle Carpenter, hero Marine honored

Army admits mistake in Special Forces MOS OEF OIF veteran

Army Pulls Candidate's Mistakenly-Awarded SF MOS
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan
Jul 04, 2012

The Army has revoked the Special Forces military occupational specialty of an Arkansas political candidate who claimed he served as a Green Beret in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Kenneth Aden, a Democrat running against incumbent Rep. Steve Womack for Arkansas' 3rd District, has said in interviews he served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan as a Green Beret, though a DD-214 and other documents he released to substantiate the claim only raised questions.

In a statement Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the Special Warfare Training Center at Fort Bragg, N.C., said Aden was dropped from Special Forces training in April 2008 "after failing twice to pass the Light Weapons Exam and Hands-on Mortar Exam."

Nevertheless the center in June 2008 erroneously issued an order awarding him the 18 B MOS – Special Forces Weapons Sergeant – and then failed to catch the mistake. When told last week that the Army called Aden's MOS order a mistake and had revoked it, campaign spokesman Vincent Leibowitz said Aden never received orders pulling the MOS.

That turns out to be true, since the Army only noticed and corrected its mistake after media attention focused on Aden's military background, according to training center spokeswoman Janice Burton.

Retired Special Forces Master Sgt. Jeff "JD" Hinton, who has exposed many phony veterans or troops who embellished their records, says Aden had to know all along that he never was Special Forces.
read more here

Former FBI officer saw legions of angels at Flight 93 site

Former officer claims she saw angels at Flight 93
Woman has PTSD linked to her role in the investigation of the Sept. 11 terror attacks
By Joe Mandak
Associated Press
July 03, 2012

PITTSBURGH — A former FBI employee with post-traumatic stress disorder linked to her role in the investigation of the Sept. 11 terror attacks has written a book about seeing legions of angels guarding the Pennsylvania site where a hijacked airliner crashed.
read more here

WWII veteran buried in cardboard box receives honor

Ceremony held for WWII vet initially buried in cardboard box
July 3, 2012

SUMTER COUNTY, Fla. — A World War II veteran, who was buried in a cardboard box, was laid to rest again on Tuesday and this time with military honors.

A ceremony was held Tuesday morning at Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell for Lawrence Davis Jr.

Dozens of veterans and a handful of dignitaries attended the service, which was something that did not happen in 2005 when Davis was first buried there.

A few months back, workers straightening headstones found Davis's bones one foot underground, with nothing left of the cardboard box he'd been buried in.

There was widespread outrage over his burial.
read more here

Flags stolen from Vietnam War Memorial in Plymouth

Flags stolen from Plymouth's Vietnam site
Times Leader
July 3, 2012
Bill O'Boyle

PLYMOUTH – The theft of American flags from the Vietnam War Memorial on Main Street in this West Side community is especially upsetting to Clyde Peters.

The Vietnam veteran led the campaign to raise funds to erect the memorial that bears the names of seven Plymouth residents who were killed in Vietnam. More than a dozen flags were apparently stolen overnight Sunday.

“We put them up for Memorial Day and a lot of people would stop and take pictures,” Peters said. “And now somebody who has no respect for the flag or the sacrifices all veterans have made decided to ruin the display.

“We found a couple of the flags thrown in yards just down the street,” Peters said. “We think some kids decided to have some ‘fun.’ Whoever is responsible should pay for what they did.”

The memorial and the site that was developed to house it cost around $10,000, he said. The Plymouth American Legion Post 463 planted flowers to spruce up the display.

Peters said that when the granite memorial was set in place, he installed red, white and blue lights to illuminate it at night.

“They stole the lights, too,” Peters said.

read more here

Cleveland Browns' Seneca Wallace USO Tour

Pretty good shooting from a football player and not a cameraman!

Greetings again from The NOC!

I want to pass along a new feature on the recent USO tour of The Cleveland Browns' Seneca Wallace. Wallace video documented his four-day stint in Kuwait, after which he sat down with The NOC to talk about the experience and narrative his footage.

The piece that emerged is unique in its perspective and fascinating in its access; it's a meditation on opportunity and responsibility that speaks to the tremendous sacrifice made by our troops abroad. We'd love you to consider sharing it with your readers.

Might make for a nice 4th of July feature.

Beloved actor Andy Griffith died this morning

Andy Griffith dies at age 86
By Ann Oldenburg
USA TODAY
Jul 03, 2012

Beloved actor Andy Griffith died this morning.

Former UNC President Bill Friday says The Andy Griffith Show and Matlock actor died at his home in Dare County, North Carolina around 7 a.m.

Friday, who is a close friend of the actor, confirmed the news to WITN News.

Emergency medical crews responded to Griffith's home this morning, Dare County Sheriff J.D. Doughtie told WAVY.com.

Griffith, who was born in Mt. Airy, N.C., was launched to fame as Sheriff Andy Taylor in The Andy Griffith Show for the CBS from 1960-1968. On the show, Ron Howard played his son, Opie. He starred on other shows and in films, but found his greatest success again with legal drama Matlock, from 1986 to 1995. He played the title character, Ben Matlock.
read more here

Combat PTSD In-fil-trator

Combat PTSD In-fil-trator
by Chaplain Kathie
Wounded Times Blog
July 3, 2012

An infiltrator according to Free Dictionary is "To penetrate with hostile intent" and "To gain entrance gradually or surreptitiously." along with "One that infiltrates, especially an abnormal substance that accumulates gradually in cells or body tissues." This sounds a lot like Combat PTSD. Doesn't it?

After all, it comes in, fills the thoughts, fuels the actions and betrays the character of the veteran.

We know that PTSD is much like an infection. When you get wounded, it opens you up to infection if the wound is not treated. The infection gets worse, eats away more tissue and invades the blood stream taking more and more of the body until it is either treated or the infected dies.

Did you know that the word "trauma" is Greek for "wound" and one of the reasons trauma was put into the term used to explain what happens to humans? Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is actually "after wound" but veterans were programmed to blame themselves for not being mentally tough enough to take the attack and fight it off.

Psychologists question Army resilience program many years after they should have been questioning it. I am not a psychologist but even I came out against it in 2008 simply because I paid attention and have enough knowledge of what combat PTSD was to know this was not a good thing to do.

Soon I was proven right when I held a Marine with full blown PTSD while he was crying in my arms, for the first time and heard him say that he was sorry for not training right. I said the word "Battlemind" and he cried harder.

Veterans say they drink so they can sleep at night and they talk themselves into believing that is true until someone points out that they are not falling asleep but are passing out instead. Then they admit that while they are passed out, their nightmares are even stronger. They wake up more drained, take their medications and then wonder why they are still feeling lousy. They talk themselves into blaming the medications instead of alcohol.

Then they blame their doctors for not listening to them when they won't tell them exactly what is going on including the fact they can't sleep unless they get drunk and pass out.

They say their doctors don't know what they are talking about, so they won't talk to them at all. While this is the case with far too many psychologists, most of the time the veteran won't tell the truth so they can understand them. No, this is not the case of them exaggerating but more of a case of them holding back.

Families are another issue. They push their families away at the same time they want their support. They give up on trying to explain why they act the way they do and then blame their families for not "understanding" and supporting them. They still want to drink or feel as if they have to no matter what else alcohol and drugs are doing to their own bodies or to their already fracturing relationship with their families.

A lot of psychologist are just as guilty in all of this because they are too lazy to learn what they have wrong. When the DOD came out with the "resiliency" approach to "preventing" Combat PTSD, they said it sounded good so they just did it. When the VA heard that so much money and time was invested in this, they did the same thing even though the numbers were proving it made things worse.

Over 4 years later, the number of suicides and attempted suicides committed by veterans depending on these departments increased but they had the nerve to wonder why the numbers were so bad at the same time they increased the push to depend on what was already failing.

Combat PTSD veterans need to know the truth beginning with why they have it and others don't but so far the DOD has not been able to tell them simply because after all this time and money, they don't know why. (I do, but the won't listen to me.)

Families need to know why their family member came back from their 5th tour but changed when all the other times they just got over it. The DOD won't tell them when they cannot even acknowledge their own research proving that repeated deployments increase the risk of PTSD by 50% or the fact their research also proved the need for dwell time. They ignore their own findings but what makes it even worse is they ignore the research they did 40 years ago when Vietnam Veterans fought for it.
Combat PTSD is an enemy invasion supported by what sounds good at the moment and funded into the pockets of "experts" without knowledge but a great PR campaign and politicians needing to "prove" they are doing something so they are willing to do anything that gets them a headline!

Do you blame any of these veterans for feeling as if digging a grave is less expensive than healing a life?

This is one of my videos from 2007 that you may want to watch if you want to know what we already knew back then. You'll be more disgusted with how we've treated veterans than ever before!

Army Staff Sgt. Corey M. Calkins awarded Distinguished Service Cross

Soldier gets Distinguished Service Cross for heroism with Marines
POSTED BY DAN LAMOTHE
JULY 2ND, 2012

Staff Sgt. Corey M. Calkins shakes hands with Adm. William H. McRaven, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, after receiving the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions alongside Marines in Marjah, Afghanistan, in 2010.
(Photo by Staff Sgt. Marcus Butler/Army)

Combat operations are rarely as simple as Marines serving exclusively with Marines, or soldiers serving exclusively with soldiers. There’s no better recent example of this than Army Staff Sgt. Corey Calkins, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism serving alongside Marines.

On Feb. 18, 2010, Calkins was serving in Marjah, Afghanistan, a Taliban stronghold that had been assaulted by Marine forces only days before. As part of a dismounted reconnaissance patrol consisting of U.S. soldiers, Marines and Afghan National Security Forces, Calkins led an attack on a platoon-sized group of insurgents in fortified positions in the bazaar near Marjah, according to his award citation.

“In the face of intense small arms, rocket-propelled grenade and mortar fire, Staff Sergeant Calkins’ undaunted charge inspired the Afghan National Army Company to overrun the enemy positions, pursue the insurgents and prevent them from reorganizing,” the citation says.
read more here