At the Cleveland Clinic's 2018 Medical Innovation Summit, Boehner called the VA "hopeless" and unnecessary, suggesting instead that veterans would receive better care from other hospital systems.
Unnecessary? Seriously? Gee why would anyone in their right mind with any kind of appreciation for our veterans say such a thing? Does he not understand that taking care of our disabled veteran was something they were promised they would receive from us?
John Boehner 8 weeks in the Navy did not make him a veteran or understand them. Now he won't even honor them with the promise we made to care for them!
"They provide substandard care to our veterans who deserve the best care," Boehner said. "If you're a real doctor, you're probably not working at the VA."
Wonder why he would say such things? After all, it is almost as he has forgotten he is on record trying 60 times to kill off the Affordable Care Act because it was so lousy for the rest of us. You know, the same system he thinks is now better than the VA, along with treating our veterans as if they did not pre-pay for whatever care they need. When you consider this from his bio, "Former Republican congressman John Boehner was best known as the speaker of the House, holding the position from January 2011 to October 2015," and the fact that also meant that he was in charge of what Bills were voted on, we have his to thank for what was done to our veterans by offering the "substandard" care he was referring to. We also need to add in this, since he did not simply arrive in Congress as the Speaker.
Boehner rose to power as a Republican member of Congress in 1990, becoming one of the the youngest members of the House. Throughout his tenure, Boehner has held his ground as a staunch conservative, promoting small-government policies. He has been elected 12 times and became speaker of the House of Representatives in January 2011."
Oh, but that is not all there is to his history.
After graduating from high school during the Vietnam War in 1968, Boehner enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Because of a bad back, he was honorably discharged after eight weeks. Boehner decided to attend college, though it took him seven years to graduate, working different jobs to pay his way through school.
Maybe he hates the VA because of that? As for the "care" the rest of us receive, Boehner thinks would be just fine for our veterans remember this part.
Obamacare was enacted nearly seven years ago - over Republican objections - in an effort to expand coverage and give new protections for people with pre-existing health conditions and other barriers that left them without insurance.
In the past few years, the House has voted more than 60 times to repeal or alter Obamacare, but Republicans had no hope a repeal would become law as long as Obama was president and could veto their bills.
What the order of unhappy Facebook posts say about suicide risk
Desert News Lois M. Collins October 24, 2018
Male veterans ages 55-74 had the highest number of suicides, while male veterans 18-34, a much smaller cohort, had the highest suicide rate.
SALT LAKE CITY — The sequencing of social media posts may provide hints that a veteran is in acute distress and at risk for suicide, offering potential to intervene, according to a new study from the National Center for Veterans Studies at the University of Utah.
The findings might hold true for others in distress, too.
"How to Use Social Media Patterns to Identify Veterans at Risk for Suicide" was released as part of the Bob Woodruff Foundation's Stand Smart for Heroes series. The study found veterans who took their own lives were more likely to have recently posted about stressful events, followed closely by posts about emotional distress. The reverse — emotional distress and then stressful events — did not have the same association with suicide, said lead researcher and the center's executive director Craig Bryan, a board-certified clinical psychologist.
He said fewer than 5 percent of veterans who took their lives posted anything obviously suicidal on social media, so finding other clues is crucial.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs calls suicide by veterans its "top priority." The department's new data finds suicide by young veterans increased 10 percent from 2015 to 2016, even as the rate among older veterans declined slightly. But between 2005 and 2015, veteran suicides had increased 25.9 percent, while non-veteran adult suicides increased more than 20 percent in that time period. Veterans overall are 1.5 times more likely than the general population to kill themselves. read more here
I hope you spotted things that you probably never heard of before. If you have been reading this site often, you'd know that already. Our veterans over the age of 50 are not on social media yet they need the most help but are getting the least attention! The suicides have increased, just as the population of veterans has decreased. Much like you can see within this chart from the latest VA report.
Now, if someone could please explain to all the families left behind, why the hell they still support all the stunts for "raising awareness" when the number of veterans killing themselves continues to rise.
Has someone contacted you saying they’ve got webcam video of you? Don’t pay them.
Army Times Meghann Myers October 24, 2018
CID recommends covering webcams (perhaps with a piece of black tape), as well as keeping software updated, using a firewall and changing passwords with another device.
Add another one to the list of scams soldiers should be looking out for. Apparently now internet grifters are pretending to have hacked your computer’s camera and taken videos of you or your family, and they’re threatening to release them unless you pay up.
CID is warning soldiers about scammers claiming to have hacked computer cameras to record illicit videos and are now threatening to release them unless they're paid a ransom. (Getty Images)
Army Criminal Investigation Command is warning soldiers and families to beware of this “hijacked webcam” scam, according to a Thursday release from the Army.
“This is a scam. Do not send any payment to the blackmailer even if you receive an email specifically addressed to you,” CID Special Agent Daniel Andrews, with the Computer Crime Investigative Unit, said in the release. “Sometimes the email includes one or more of your real usernames and seems to directly target you.”
read more here
Fairport vet admits to lying about PTSD to claim $92K in VA benefits
WHAM October 24, 2018
FILE - In this June 21, 2013, file photo, the seal affixed to the front of the Department of Veterans Affairs building in Washington. A veteran from Fairport pleaded guilty to lying about suicides he says he witnessed overseas in order to claim disability benefits and claim tens of thousands of dollars. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
A veteran from Fairport pleaded guilty to lying about suicides he says he witnessed overseas in order to claim disability benefits and claim tens of thousands of dollars.
Michael Pecka, 33, filed a claim for VA Disability Benefits in 2011 claiming that he had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from witnessing the suicide of two fellow soldiers while deployed to Kuwait in 2004-2005 with the Army Reserve.
But investigators with the Department of Veterans Affairs determined that Pecka "lied about being present for either suicide, lied about observing either suicide, lied about being involved in the investigation of either suicide, and in the case of one of the soldiers, was not even in the same country at the time he committed suicide," according to the office of U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. read more here
Army veteran won't be renting from Phoenix landlord after a President Trump rant
NBC 12 News Author: Mike Gonzalez October 24, 2018
The landlord at first told her he was not accepting anyone receiving government payments because he was afraid Trump's proposed wall along the U.S. border with Mexico would threaten those payments. He has since said he regrets the exchange.
PHOENIX — When Alyssa Gillaspy and her wife reached out to try to rent a house near 89th Avenue and McDowell Road in West Phoenix, she was shocked at the email messages she received from landlord Gary Faulkinbury.
Faulkinbury apparently told her he was not accepting anyone receiving government payments because of President Trump.
“When we inquired on the home and got that back, it was very shocking," said Gillaspy, who is receiving benefits for her post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq.
One of the emails to Gillaspy reads in part: "You stupid [expletive]. It’s called qualification. Trump is causing this not me. Get a job because he’s cutting your benefits and there’s nothing you can do," said Faulkinbury.
Team 12's Mike Gonzalez talked to Gillaspy via Skype from her Olympia, Washington, home.
She was still trying to figure out why the landlord had such a fear that President Trump would pull funding from veterans. Faulkinbury was apparently upset the president is threatening to build a wall on the Mexican border, in turn putting her disability benefits at risk. read more here
Just like muscles ache after an intense workout, Turner’s understanding of normalcy had crashed along with his marriage, and after such a harrowing tour overseas, his mind ached as he struggled to adapt to a life that was once routine but within the span of just one year had become so foreign.
Not often can people say their stories have received the Hollywood treatment, but for former U.S. Army Chaplain Darren Turner, that’s exactly what’s happened.
The decorated Iraq War veteran and his family are the subjects of the forthcoming movie, “Indivisible,” which chronicles Turner’s journey home from war, when he was forced to combat the emotional hardships threatening his marriage.
“It still is — and probably always will be — weird,” Turner told Faithwire, explaining how “surreal” it is to see his life’s experiences recreated on the silver screen.
Turner and his wife, Heather, had been married for about three years and were confident they wanted to go into ministry, but they just didn’t know where they were supposed to serve. Not long after they started looking at their options, Heather reconnected with an old college friend who’d married an Army chaplain. read more here
Ex-Nassau County firefighter wanted for DUI in wife's death found dead
News4Jax By Ashley Spicer - Reporter, anchor October 23, 2018
CALLAHAN, Fla. - A 48-year-old Navy veteran and retired Nassau County Fire-Rescue lieutenant wanted on a DUI manslaughter warrant connected to the death of his wife was found dead Tuesday afternoon, the Nassau County Sheriff's Office said.
The Florida Highway Patrol issued an arrest warrant last week for Curtis Bollinger, and he retired from the Nassau County Fire Department two days later. The Nassau County Sheriff's Office hadn't been able to locate him but got a call that his car had been seen at a cemetery at Live Oak Baptist Church in Callahan.
When deputies responded about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, they found Bollinger dead inside the car from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Bollinger and his wife, 29-year-old Shannon Bollinger, were in a motorcycle crash at 1 a.m. April 15 on State Road 200 in Callahan. Curtis Bollinger drove into the median and his Harley Davidson overturned. Both were thrown from the bike. Shannon Bollinger landed in the roadway and was killed when she was hit by another car. read more here
New Bedford veteran overcame his troubles and now helps other veterans
Sun Coast Today Curt Brown October 23, 2018
Azevedo was deployed to Desert Storm with the U.S. Navy from 1988 to 1991 and was with the Naval Reserve until 1993 and received an honorable discharge in 1994. He worked as a corrections officer and then became a member of the New Bedford Fire Department, after leaving the Navy.
But then 9/11 happened and Azevedo had a change of heart after the terrorist attacks. He remembers hearing the sound of fighter jets over his deck flying from Cape Cod hours after the attacks, he said.
NEW BEDFORD — A New Bedford veteran, who is devoting his life to helping others after suffering a combat-related brain injury in Iraq, is this year’s Southeastern Massachusetts Veteran of the Year.
Christopher E. Azevedo, 48, who also recently retired from the New Bedford Fire Department, was unanimously selected by the Board of Directors of the Veterans Transition House for the honor, according to Wayne Carvalho, chairman of the board. “We all feel he epitomizes what struggle is for veterans and the ability to give back,” Carvalho said.
Azevedo will receive the award at a luncheon at Rachel’s Lakeside, 950 State Road, Dartmouth, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Nov. 8.
He said he does not help others for the recognition and was floored when he received a phone call from board member Linda Silveira, informing him he was selected as this year’s Veteran of the Year. He was nominated last year, did not receive it and never thought he would be nominated again, let alone receive it.
During his deployment, he survived numerous attacks, but in one direct hit to his vehicle from an IED, he suffered a traumatic brain injury as well as damage to his spine and chest, he said.
Azevedo suffered post-traumatic stress disorder from his service, which he still battles today, and was overprescribed meds and became addicted to painkillers, he said. He won that battle, too, and has been free of painkillers for five years now and alcohol-free for three years. read more here
Florida woman dials wrong number for help, but still gets lift for sick brother
KETV News Andrew Ozaki October 23, 2018
Hillmer hopped into his car, picked up her brother and took him nine miles to the hospital. "You could hear the relief in her voice that something was going to get done. That was kind of nice just to hear that -- that made it all worth it," Hillmer said. Also that Hillmer was helping a fellow veteran.
"Till the day I die if another service member needs help I'll be going to do it," Hillmer said.
COLUMBUS, Neb. - The call wasn't like anything Jason Voss had ever taken before.
"She just started going off about how she was in Florida, and she needed help," Voss told Omaha, Nebraska, TV station KETV.
The manager of this Jimmy John's sandwich franchise in Columbus, Nebraska, listened as the women explain she had just returned to Tampa from visiting her brother in Columbus who just had surgery. He was having complications and needed to get to the hospital.
"He was like in a lot of pain. It's the same issues he was having this morning and I can't find a ride to the hospital," Lisa Nagengast told the TV station.
In an interview with Nagengast over Facebook, she said her brother didn't have enough money to call a cab, there was no Uber and since he's a veteran he couldn't call 911 unless he had prior Veterans Affairs approval.
Nagengast thought she was calling a caseworker. read more here
