Retired, wounded Navy SEAL's 5 Bronze Stars and Silver Star not good enough for VA?

UPDATE August 21, 2012

VA Overturns Decision on Navy SEAL Denied Contracts

Navy SEAL Shot In Afghanistan Loses Chance To Bid On VA Work
By Kathleen Miller
Bloomberg
Jul 20, 2012

Mark Lilly retired from the Navy SEALs with a Purple Heart, a Silver Star and five Bronze Stars after 23 years of service that included combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Lilly, who said he oversaw development of military bases overseas, decided to make construction his next career. His company, Chesapeake, Virginia-based Syncon LLC, has attracted both commercial and U.S. government work since its start in 2009.

It wasn’t enough to get Syncon certified as a veteran-owned business after the Department of Veterans Affairs questioned whether he had enough experience. His firm is one of thousands of small businesses rejected by the VA since the agency stepped up efforts last year to prevent fraud. Lilly, 47, said his case shows the process may be hurting veterans even as the government seeks to boost opportunities for returning troops.

“It’s really disheartening,” Lilly, who said he was shot twice during the same incident while serving in Afghanistan, said in a telephone interview. “As you go through military retirement, the VA says they encourage you to be an entrepreneur and that they’ll support you the entire time. Now I find out the VA could very well be my demise.”
read more here

Man allegedly steals purse at Vietnman vet's funeral, caught in picture

UPDATE

Chino man charged in theft

Man allegedly steals purse at Vietnman vet's funeral, caught in picture
Thursday, July 19, 2012
ABC News
Leanne Suter

GLENDORA, Calif. (KABC) -- At first glance, it looks like an all-American tribute as a Marine Corps Honor Guard draped the coffin of a Vietnam veteran. But in the background as family and friends mourn and "Taps" is being played, a suspect is preying on those at their most vulnerable.

"We were literally right there, 25 feet away. We were right there, family, everyone around, you just wouldn't think that would happen," said Angela Earthman.

Earthman was burying her father, 64-year-old Eddie Rodriguez, in June when Glendora police say the suspect targeted her and her grieving family, breaking into their SUV and stealing her purse.

"There's stuff in there I can't replace, there's cards from family and friends that I never got to look at. That's the thing that hit me the most," she said.

When Earthman told her friend Nicole Sato, who was taking photos of burial at Oakdale Cemetery, she checked the pictures and realized she'd captured the suspect in action.

"I think it's disgusting, I couldn't believe it, I've never heard of such a thing in all my life. It was shocking and disturbing, and who would think to do something like that is beyond me," said Sato.
read more here

Why wasn't God in Colorado last night?

Why wasn't God in Colorado last night?
by Chaplain Kathie


Last night people went to see a movie. Last night people died because they went to that movie and so did a man with guns. We all woke up this morning in shock. We thought all the times we went to watch a movie with a bunch of strangers, never thinking anything like this could happen, but from now on last night will be on our minds the next time we go to the movies. It's human nature. It is also human nature to seek someone to blame.

The accused gunman is in police hands right now, so we assume we have someone to blame. Even with that, if you may still be needing to blame more, so you look to God to blame since He allowed it to happen. In times like this, we all ask "Where the hell was God?" "Why did He let this happen?" We also wonder if there really is a God anymore.

When we look for what was not done, we miss what was done. God does not mess with freewill no matter what. He wouldn't use his power to strike this man dead before he killed. (I will not glorify this man's name by using it.) Since God didn't stop him, we want to blame God without remembering all we do know about Him. He gave even the angels freewill, the right to make choices and yes, even the right to do horrible things but the angels remaining by God's side made the choice to stay with Him while a third of the angels decided to leave. Even God let them "live" and did not destroy them.


People are the same way. We are all able to make choices in our lives and this man made the choice to kill strangers. People he didn't know. People he didn't care about but managed somehow to hate them enough to kill them.

So where was God? Where He always is. He was there when people got away, out of danger but instead of running far away, they stopped to call for help because others were in danger or already wounded. He was there when someone stopped to help a stranger run away from evil and toward safety. There when a stranger cried for someone else. He was there people tried to comfort someone else after the danger was over, when they could have been only concerned with themselves.

God was there last night when the phone rang giving the bad news that someone is not coming back home. He was there when families rushed to the hospital to be by the side of one of the wounded. He was there when the police officers risked their lives last night and then had to get off their shift with all that pain in their souls. He was with the emergency responders and emergency room staffs when the wounded came in and they were there to help.

His love is there every time humans can show compassion in the midst of evil. He will be there as the prayers of this country join together for healing of the survivors as well as the families of the victims.

When we wonder where God was last night, He was as busy as ever every time a person did something for someone else. If you only focus on the evil that was done, that is all you'll find.

Military Casualties In Colorado Theater Shooting

Pentagon: Military Casualties In Theater Shooting
Aurora Mall Theater Is Near Buckley Air Force Base
July 20, 2012

AURORA, Colo. -- The Pentagon says that some members of the military were either killed or wounded in the Colorado shooting at a Batman movie.

A gunman wearing a gas mask set off an explosive device and then fired into a crowded movie theater near the Aurora Mall, killing 12 people and injuring at least 53 others during a midnight opening of the "The Dark Knight Rises."

Police arrested a man wearing a gas mask next to a white car in the parking lot behind the theater.
read more here

Police get help helping soldiers

Police get help helping soldiers
WTU leader uses unique understanding for good of post, surrounding community
Written by
Philip Grey
Leaf-Chronicle
Jul 19, 2012

FORT CAMPBELL, KY. — It didn’t take long for Command Sgt. Major James C. Smith to realize that his unique background would come in handy for his soldiers.

Smith is also a captain in the Clarksville Police Department, currently on a military leave of absence to serve the nation in a demanding, high visibility role as the top non-commissioned officer of the Warrior Transition Battalion on Fort Campbell, where he helps to manage recovering wounded warriors.

Almost immediately upon coming into the assignment, during a WTB Christmas party at the post USO club in 2011, Smith was talking to one of his soldiers who had suffered a traumatic brain injury as the result of several close calls with explosions while deployed in combat.
read more here

Congress wasting more money on the troops and failures

Congress wasting more money on the troops and failures
by Chaplain Kathie
Wounded Times Blog
July 20, 2012

Even after the DOD and the VA finally had to admit they have no clue if their "programs" work or not, congress says they need to spend more money on suicide prevention? Are they out of their minds?

There is no amount of money that is too much if it produces results, takes care of the troops and their families, takes care of the wounded veterans and insures they have a quality of life worthy of their sacrifices but when millions of dollars has produced deplorable results, it is a waste of money but above that, a waste of their lives.

$10 Million More for Military Suicide Prevention
By MARK THOMPSON
July 19, 2012

The House approved an amendment to next year’s defense spending bill Wednesday night that shifts $10 million from training Afghan security forces to fighting suicide in the ranks of the U.S. military.

“This is the most recent issue of Time magazine, reporting that military and veteran suicide is a tragic epidemic that has only gotten worse,” Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, said on the House floor, using a blown-up copy of the cover by Nancy Gibbs and me as a prop. “We are losing too many of our heroes,” said Boswell, a 20-year Army veteran.
“It’s up to us to act.”

Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., was a co-sponsor of the amendment. “This week’s Time magazine, as you see from that front page, describes military suicides as an epidemic,” McDermott said. “I would like to take $10 million out of a $5 billion fund in this amendment to go beyond the funding for existing suicide prevention services, and toward modifying the culture that keeps some from seeking help. We must also note that any progress in suicide prevention will be fleeting if we don’t focus on reducing the stigma associated with seeking psychological health services among our active-duty people.”
Read more

They are still wasting money on Battlemind even after all these years of proof it does not work topped off with the fact redeployments increase the risk of PTSD.

Battlemind bullshit
14. Januar 2008
Battlemind: Preparing Soldiers for combat, home life
By Susan Huseman
USAG STUTTGART

STUTTGART – Today, every Soldier headed to Iraq and Afghanistan receives Battlemind training, but few know the science behind it.

Dr. Amy Adler, a senior research psychologist with the U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Europe, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, visited Patch Barracks to break down the program, which is a system of support and intervention.

Not every Soldier who deploys downrange is at risk for mental health problems. The main risk factor is the level of combat experienced, Adler explained to her audience, comprised predominantly of medical, mental health and family support professionals.

Army studies show the greater the combat exposure a Soldier encounters, the greater the risk for mental health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anger and relationship problems. When Soldiers first return home, they may not notice any problems; sometimes it takes a few months for problems to develop.

What did they do after a blogger like me figured this out? Did they take a good hard look at it? Did they even bother to ask common sense questions? Hell no. They started to claim it was working.

Study finds ‘Battlemind’ is beneficial?
February 16, 2009

Study finds ‘Battlemind’ is beneficial? Sorry but I just choked on my coffee.

Col. Carl Castro should have known better when he developed this program. From what is said about this program and the evidence, this program does more harm than good.

Not that any of these people would ever listen to me or the veterans or the BBC investigation that showed the troops arriving in Afghanistan with 11 1/2 minutes of BattleMind training crammed into two straight days of briefings. There are parts of this program that are good and should be used but they begin with telling the troops that they can "toughen" their minds, which translates to them that if they end up with PTSD, it's their fault because they didn't get their brain tough enough. Try telling that to a Marine.

They can say whatever they want, but when you see the suicide rate go up every year, see them still not wanting to seek help, still not being treated for this as if they have nothing to be ashamed of, then there is a problem. You cannot begin by telling them they can train their brain and then tell them it's ok if they failed to do it.

While they may be able to prepare for combat what they cannot do is change the fact they are human, exposed to abnormal events in combat situations and have normal reactions of stress after as a normal human! No matter what the cause, people get wounded by PTSD. The difference between civilians and the troops is that the troops are exposed to it over and over and over again when they deploy into combat. Telling them they just didn't do a good enough job to toughen their minds is the wrong way to begin what could have been a really great program. Again it's just my opinion and based on 26 years of all of this. Plus add in the fact that the Montana National Guard had to come up with their own program along with a lot of other units. That should have been an alarm bell right there, but no one heard it that is in charge. read more here

Battlemind study leaves too many questions
by Chaplain Kathie
February 20, 2009

There has been something bothering me all week about the post I did on Battlemind.

The word "reported" has been nagging at me. Given the fact suicides and attempted suicides have gone up, reports of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans suffering in astronomical numbers, tells me that this program has not worked, but it's not just what I think. It's what they think that causes the concern. read more here

While Col. Castro seemed to be out of his mind back then, he woke up and said something brilliant. Combat PTSD is different and should be treated differently than other causes of PTSD. At least he showed he is thinking out of the box now. The question is, how could someone understanding this kind of PTSD has to be treated differently, not push to end this failure?

Castro is an example of how much these people do in fact care, but also a reflection of how much they don't know. Congress can sink $10 billion into this and still be wasting money if they continue to support what has already failed. They want to help but they still don't understand. Maybe if congress stops holding hearings with family members telling heartbreaking stories that will get the attention of the media they will finally have time holding hearings on who is responsible for all of these failures. I doubt that will happen as long as they don't even read their own reports or what the Army had reported so many years ago.

Pentagon report: Suicide up in military
Posted: Jul 19, 2012
By Tracy Clemons
BARKSDALE AFB, LA (KSLA)
An alarming new study shows that military suicides are up. It's estimated that there is one every day. Some predictions indicate that this year could set a record.

The study points to multiple and longer deployments to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, among a few other factors.

"One of the things this study is highlighting is the there's a great amount of stress within our military," says 2nd Bomb Wing Chaplain Lt. Col. Robert O'Dell Jr.

It was funded by the Pentagon. The people who did it talked to 72 Army soldiers who had tried to kill themselves.

"The main things, I think, folks struggle with whether they're in the military or whether they're in the civilian sector is finances and relationship issues," says Chief of the Airman and Family Readiness Center at Barksdale Air Force Stephanie Reyes.

Those are a few things blamed on the rising suicide rate among military men and women who have been fighting two wars during the time that rate has climbed.

"One of the things we tell individuals is that asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It's a sign of maturity," Reyes says.
read more here

You'd think they would have learned that all the money this "program" cost the tax payers in terms of money and tremendous suffering it caused the troops, congress would have had a clue it was a total failure, but no. They are still pushing this load of crap!

Dark Knight horror becomes real in Colorado

UPDATE Colorado shooting suspect's apartment was 'designed to kill,' police say

14 dead, 50 wounded in shooting at Colorado theater, police chief says
By the CNN Wire Staff
July 20, 2012

He said there was confusion in the theater when the shooting began because many believed the sound of gunfire was coming from the movie.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Movie-goer says the suspect wore a gas mask and used a smoke bomb
The gunman was wearing a bulletproof vest and was heavily armed, police say
The suspected gunman was taken into custody outside the theater, police say
At least 14 people are dead and 50 wounded in the shooting, the police chief says

(CNN) -- At least 14 people were killed and 50 wounded when a gunman opened fire during an early Friday morning screening of the new Batman movie at an Aurora, Colorado, theater, Police Chief Dan Oates told reporters.

The heavily armed suspect, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, was apprehended by police in a rear parking lot of the theater, Frank Fania, a police spokesman, told CNN. The suspect was not immediately identified, though Fania said he was believed to be in his early 20s.

"He did not resist. He did not put up a fight," Fania said. Police seized a rifle and a handgun from the suspect, and another gun was found in the theater, he said.
read mor here

Lake Nona veterans memorial gets $250,000 boost from Massey Services

Lake Nona veterans memorial gets $250,000 boost from Massey Services Corporate giving
July 15, 2012
Matthew Richardson
Orlando Sentinel

Pest-prevention company Massey Services Inc. has pledged $250,000 to the Central Florida Veterans Memorial Park Foundation, bringing the group closer to its goal of $1.5 million for construction of a memorial at Lake Nona.

The $250,000 from Orlando-based Massey boosts the foundation's total to $900,000. Once the $1.5 million goal is met, the group's all-volunteer board will seek another $1.5 million for an upkeep endowment for the memorial.
read more here

U.S. Navy Helicopter Crash: Copter Down In Oman

UPDATE

Jul 22
US Navy: 2 dead from Oman helicopter crash
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- The U.S. Navy says the death toll from a helicopter crash last week in the Arabian peninsula nation of Oman is two.

U.S. Navy Helicopter Crash: Copter Down In Oman
Reuters
Posted: 07/19/2012

WASHINGTON, July 19 (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy helicopter crashed in Oman on Thursday and the fate of its five crew members was unknown, the U.S. military said, even as it ruled out hostile activity.

The helicopter, a MH-53E Sea Dragon, manufactured by United Technologies Corp's Sikorsky Aircraft unit, crashed 58 miles southwest of Muscat while flying a heavy load in support of the Omani government.

"The crash was not due to any sort of hostile activity and the status of the five crew members is still being determined," said the statement from U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, adding the crash was under investigation.
check back on Huffington Post for updates.

Indy film about what it is like to really come home

My name is Christopher Thomas, and I am an independent film director working out of Indianapolis.

I have been working on producing a feature film about PTSD (and general social rehabilitation of veteran families) since January of this year.

The cast and crew have been locked down, and we are set to begin in February 2013!

Several combat veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are serving as advisors to the story and project as a whole.

If you would like to know more, we've put together a little online press-packet about our film:

www.helmsmanstudios.com