Camp Pendleton Marine saves infant's life

Marine first on scene, saves infant's life
By Cpl. Jenn Calaway
Camp Pendleton Public Affairs

Courtesy Photo
Sgt. Sergio Zacarias Jr., combat instructor, Alpha Company, Infantry Training Battalion, School of Infantry, was the first responder on the scene of a baby girl drowning in the San Onofre III Housing Community, June 20. Zacarias took immediate action and assisted in administering CPR, an act which slowly but surely brought the baby back to life. (Official Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Jenn Calaway)

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — Baby Nynette Pedroza will turn 14 months old next month thanks to the heroic actions of a Camp Pendleton Marine.

Luckily for Nynette’s mother, who lives in base housing, Sgt. Sergio Zacarias Jr. happened to live next door when her daughter stopped breathing while taking a bath, June 20.

At approximately three in the afternoon, Zacarias, a combat instructor, Alpha Company, Infantry Training Battalion, School of Infantry was enjoying a regular evening home from work.

“I was getting ready for a soccer game and walked past the window and saw my neighbor screaming help me, help me!” Zacarias said. “I ran downstairs, told my wife to call 911 and went outside. My neighbor was holding her baby up high in the air and didn’t know what to do. I took the baby and she was blue and unconscious. At first, I thought she was choking so I applied pressure to her chest and nothing happened.”
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Marine first on scene, saves infant

Lejeune water documentary receives standing ovation

Lejeune water documentary receives standing ovation
July 07, 2011 9:47 AM
HOPE HODGE
An award-winning new documentary about a search for answers regarding a period of water contamination aboard Camp Lejeune received standing ovations at a screening recently inside the U.S. Capitol.

The film, Semper Fi: Always Faithful, tells the story of Onslow County resident and former Camp Lejeune Marine Jerry Ensminger, who began a single-minded fight to learn the truth after he discovered that a three-decade period of water contamination in base housing areas could be responsible for the leukemia death of his 9-year-old daughter Janey in 1985.

It was screened on June 23 by Rep. Brad Miller, D-NC, and Sen. Richard Burr, R-NC, and sponsored by Sen. Kay Hagan, D-NC, and Rep.John Dingell, D-MI, all endorsers of legislation that would grant care through the department of Veterans Affairs to former Lejeune troops and family members affected by exposure to base water.

Miller, who introduced the film, said he had been won to the cause by the persistence and dedication of advocates like Ensminger.
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Lejeune water documentary receives standing ovation

also


Pension comes just in time for disabled South Bend veteran
KEVIN ALLEN
South Bend Tribune Staff Writer
5:38 p.m. EDT, July 7, 2011

SOUTH BEND — Eileen Sullivan looks back a little more than a month ago and, understandably, says she was a basket case.

Her husband, John, suffers from seizures, debilitating joint and muscle pain, and other health issues he blames on exposure to contaminated water while serving in the Marine Corps in the 1980s.

John already was unable to work, as his health was declining. Eileen was spending so much time caring for him, she couldn’t find a job on the side.

The Sullivans had been waiting 16 months for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to determine John’s eligibility for a pension.

The couple were on the verge of losing their home near Edison Park. They struggled to fill their car’s gas tank, not to mention buy food for themselves and their two daughters, ages 8 and 13.

Then, on June 4, they received some relief.

Eileen said a VA official called to say John’s pension request was approved. The 45-year-old was classified as disabled and would begin receiving a monthly check of about $1,600 as well as a lump sum of roughly $11,000 in retroactive pension payments.
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Pension comes just in time for disabled South Bend veteran

Fort Carson Soldiers Trying To Bring Adopted Puppy To United States

If you are not a dog lover, there is not much of a chance this story will touch your heart. I have had some cats in my life, but dogs, well, they don't love you depending on what mood they are in.

This is Harpo and me at 20 (long time ago) a German Shepherd/Mastiff at six months old. When I brought him home, he was just two months old and I drove my car with him in my coat pocket. He was with me in some very difficult times. As a matter of fact, while Harpo loved everyone, he didn't like my ex-husband from the time we started to date. He was a better judge of character than I was.

Brandon, our Golden was with us for almost 14 years. We had to put him down two years ago when age caught up to him and he began to shut down. Brandon came into our lives when this family was falling apart because of PTSD and the poor dog had to listen to all of us cry, get soaked with our tears and gave us more love back than we could have ever given him.


This is Mac a Lab/Border Collie. Mac was with us only 5 months this year. We adopted him in January. He got sick the end of June and we had to put him down a couple of weeks ago. In the short time he was with us, he loved us beyond measure. He used to take naps with me on the family room sofa.

Mac was also subjected to a lot of projects for my college classes.

And now we have Harry. A Rottweiler/Lab. He's almost 4 months old.

At every major time in my life and when life was good, dogs were there just as much as any other part of my family. It didn't matter if I had them for months or years, the connection was so strong that they were equal to humans in our family. The bond can, and usually is, that strong.

When I look back at pictures I've seen with men and women deployed into combat, it is clear to see that they are not just smiling with a cute puppy, but loving them. Knowing first hand how much they tug at your soul, it is easy for me to understand that bond and the need to get them back. War dogs offer something no weapon ever can in combat. A reminder that unconditional love can live on even in horrible places.

Fort Carson Soldiers Trying To Bring Adopted Puppy To United States
Less than a week ago, several troops returned home to Fort Carson from a year long deployment in Afghanistan. While overseas, an Army unit adopted a puppy and they're now fighting to bring it to the United States.
Reporter: Alyssa Chin

Less than a week ago, several soldiers returned home to Fort Carson from a year long deployment in Afghanistan. While overseas, their unit adopted a puppy and they're now fighting to bring it to Colorado Springs.

During our interview with SGT Ryan Kivistad, he flipped through the photos of his deployment in Afghanistan. Several of them featured a dog named Gordita.


"She's a good dog. It's not really a good place over there. (I want to) make sure she gets a good home," Kivistad said.

Shortly after the loss of three unit members killed by a roadside bomb, Gordita was adopted in a trade for three parachutes. She helped these troops cope and quickly became the highlight of their time overseas.
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Fort Carson Soldiers Trying To Bring Adopted Puppy To United States

Oprah, we need you now more than ever

FOX is political on the right. MSNBC is political on the left. CNN is turning into a blend between the two and no one, no one on cable news is covering the other stories. Oprah has her own cable station, radio station, magazine, you name it, she's got it. She is also very passionate about the stories she's done over the years. We need her to step up one more time to do the right thing and cover the stories the other stations refuse to spend any time on.

Campion of the minorities in this country, there are many stories Oprah put the spotlight on during her shows. The military and veterans stories caused outrage in this country and went a long way in addressing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, when the other stations had better things to report on. She covered the reports on military families when no one else would.







With her OWN network, she has a lot of power to move the rest of the media into covering stories on our military and veterans. One thing is clear and that is the American people do care but they don't know what's going on or what they can do to help. Oprah can do what she does best. She can explain the problem and then tell them what they can do to change the world!

U.K. vet group ‘appalled’ by hacking allegation

U.K. vet group ‘appalled’ by hacking allegation
By Robert Barr - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jul 7, 2011 7:58:48 EDT
LONDON — Britain’s military veterans organization severed its ties with the News of the World on Thursday following a report that a detective employed by the tabloid newspaper had collected telephone numbers of relatives of military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Royal British Legion said that it was dropping the newspaper as a partner in campaigns related to veterans’ issues and had suspended all other ties until the allegations are resolved.

The Legion said it was also reviewing its advertising in other News International papers, including The Times and The Sun.

The Legion acted after The Daily Telegraph reported that telephone numbers of relatives of dead military personnel had been found in files amassed by a detective formerly employed by the News of the World.

“We can’t with any conscience campaign alongside News of the World on behalf of armed forces families while it stands accused of preying on these same families in the lowest depths of their misery,” the Legion said.

“The hacking allegations have shocked us to the core.”
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U.K. vet group appalled by hacking allegation

Military children are stuck in overcrowded, aging schools

A failing foundation
Military children are stuck in overcrowded, aging schools, despite long-promised fixes
By Kristen Lombardi - iWatch News
Posted : Sunday Jul 3, 2011 17:14:32 EDT
Catie Hunter is 11 years old. Her father, an Army platoon sergeant, has spent five of those years away from her, serving in South Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan.

At her elementary school on Fort Sill, Okla., ceiling tiles are removed so that when a Great Plains storm rumbles in, rain can cascade from the rotting roof into large trash cans underneath. To get to class, Catie must dodge what she calls “Niagara Falls.”

Each day, the fifth-grader walks beneath the tiles, bent and browned, some dangling by threads of glue. Signs of disrepair abound: chipped floors, termite-infested walls, finger-size cracks along brick halls. A bucket, strapped by a bungee cord, hangs over the gym door — another makeshift fix for leaks.

“Sometimes, I wonder if it’s going to fall in,” she said.

Catie’s schoolhouse, built before Gen. Dwight Eisenhower ran for president, is on Fort Sill property, although it is operated and funded by the Lawton Public Schools district.
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A failing foundation

North Dakota Tribal leaders explain VA needs

Tribal leaders explain VA needs

By SARA KINCAID Bismarck Tribune
Posted: Tuesday, July 5, 2011

North Dakota tribal leaders want more Veterans Affairs services on the reservations.

They told Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki Tuesday that there is a need for housing, health care and access to other VA services on the reservations.

“We all have friends and relatives who have served,” said David Gipp, president of United Tribes Technical College.

Shinseki was at United Tribes Technical College Tuesday morning for a listening session with tribal leaders and American Indian veterans. He also visited the VA Outreach Clinic at Gateway Mall in Bismarck, and spoke with members of the tribes about what services are available.

The crowd in the Healing Room of the United Tribes Wellness Center provided examples of what Veterans Affairs has done right and where they could improve serving the population of veterans.

In some cases it was offering help for job training or creating culturally-relevant services, such as a sweat lodge. Former state senator, Richard Marcellais, recalled an outreach program by the Fargo-based VA office in Turtle Mountain.


Read more: Tribal leaders explain VA needs

North Dakota Guard members pedaling with purpose

North Dakota Guard members pedaling with purpose
Bike trek aims to raise awareness about PTSD
FARGO – Dan Olson has ridden his bicycle around North Dakota for the past two years in memory of friend and fellow soldier Joe Biel.
By: Danielle Cintron, INFORUM

FARGO – Dan Olson has ridden his bicycle around North Dakota for the past two years in memory of friend and fellow soldier Joe Biel.

Olson, a North Dakota National Guardsman in the 188th unit based in Wahpeton, began this year’s bike ride June 27 in Williston and passed through Fargo on Tuesday.

He started the ride as a way to bring awareness to post-traumatic stress disorder among soldiers.

“There are a lot more people with PTSD than you’d think,” he said. “The army brainwashes people into thinking you’re invincible. So, soldiers like to shove the idea of getting help aside.”

Staff Sgt. Biel, of Devils Lake, died of suicide in April 2007 after serving two tours in Iraq.

“We’re just trying to prevent people from doing that kind of thing again,” Olson said. “We’re trying to make this (bike ride) a yearly event. It’d be really nice to get a corporate sponsorship and make this bigger.”
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North Dakota Guard members pedaling with purpose

Iraq Veteran shares his struggle with PTSD

Veteran shares his struggle with PTSD

By Jeanné McCartin
news@seacoastonline.com
July 07, 2011 2:00 AM
Aaron Lee Marshall often mourns privately when he hears of the suicide of a brother-in-arms. They paid the ultimate price for the country, but died here at home, because of injuries sustained in battle, he said.

Like Marshall and so many returning veterans, they had post-traumatic stress disorder. Too often, there's little understanding and a lack of sympathy for these deaths.

Marshall said he came close to committing suicide; he once held a gun in his mouth. It was family and friends who pulled him through.

"What we need is more understanding, more education," said Marshall, a Barrington resident.

"Really, there's no way to understand PTSD if you haven't had an experience. But right now, my main goal in life is trying to do that — to help people understand. If I could, I'd have a commercial on every TV show, like the cigarette campaigns we launched."

Marshall served in Iraq, as an Army military police officer attached to the 1st Infantry Division. He received the Purple Heart and an Army Commendation Medal with Valor for "exceptionally meritorious achievement."

He returned to the U.S. in 2005. Since, he's mourned the suicide of a few men he'd fought alongside. He's also watched as others found different means to hurt themselves.

"They drink, self medicate ...; they'll die at 45 of some weird thing, but it was (because of) PTSD," he said.

"My instinct is not to talk about it, but it defeats the purpose, my purpose, getting the word out there and building PTSD awareness."
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Veteran shares his struggle with PTSD

National Guards:PTSD blamed for war veteran's suicide

PTSD blamed for war veteran's suicide


By Elizabeth Dinan
edinan@seacoastonline.com
July 07, 2011 2:00 AM

NEWMARKET — Decorated war veteran and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard worker James Keenan died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on June 29.

"Post-traumatic stress disorder claims another hero," said Greg Chabot, who served in an Army National Guard artillery unit with Keenan.

"He was one of the younger guys, very squared away and wouldn't hesitate to help another guy out," said Chabot, who now receives regular counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder. "I don't know if he slipped through the cracks, or was overlooked."

Keenan served with the 2-197th field artillery unit, then was transferred to the 3643rd. According to National Guard 1st Sgt. Mike Daigle, Keenan was decorated six times during his service and was deployed to Iraq twice.

He received two Army Commendation Metals, an Army Achievement Medal, an Iraqi Camp Metal and a Meritorious Unit Commendation, Daigle said. "Most significant," added the National Guard spokesman, was that Keenan was decorated with the Bronze Star V-Device, with the V standing for valor.
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PTSD blamed for war veteran suicide

Two Marines killed when gunman opens fire

MILITARY DEATHS
Marine Lt. Col. Benjamin J. Palmer, 43, Modesto; shot and killed in Afghanistan
He and another Marine had just sat down for lunch with other members of a Marine advisory team inside an Afghan civil order police compound when a gunman dressed in an Afghan police uniform opened fire, killing them.

By Bob Pool, Los Angeles Times
July 3, 2011
Growing up in Modesto, Benjamin J. Palmer enjoyed playing soprano bugle. So he thought of joining the Marine Corps in hopes of becoming part of its elite drum and bugle corps.

Instead, he became a Marine Corps specialist in air command and control and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel.


Palmer was three weeks into a yearlong deployment in Afghanistan and just three days shy of chalking up a quarter-century with the Marines when he was shot and killed May 12 inside an Afghan civil order police compound in Lashkar Gah, the capital of southern Helmand province, on the Pakistani border.

Palmer, 43, and Sgt. Kevin Balduf, 27, of Nashville, had just sat down for lunch with other members of a Marine advisory team when the attacker opened fire, Marine Corps sources said. The shooter was wounded in an exchange of gunfire before being tackled; he was taken into custody by Afghan police.

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Marine Lt. Col. Benjamin J. Palmer

One dead in California crash of Marine helicopter

One dead in California crash of Marine helicopter
SAN DIEGO | Wed Jul 6, 2011 11:47pm EDT
(Reuters) - One Marine was killed and five others were injured in the crash of a military helicopter at Camp Pendleton in southern California on Wednesday, the military said.

The five surviving victims are all Marines, and they were taken to local hospitals, said 1st Lt. Maureen Dooley, a Marine spokeswoman at Camp Pendleton.

Military officials did not immediately disclose the extent of their injuries, or the identity of the Marine who died.

The helicopter crashed in the north end of the 125,000-acre base, which is about 50 miles north of San Diego,

"It was a training incident, we are flying training at Camp Pendleton all the time," said Sgt. Derrick Carlson, a Marine spokesman.
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One dead in California crash of Marine helicopter

Maj. Nidal Hasan to face death penalty

Hood shooting suspect will face death penalty
By Angela K. Brown - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jul 6, 2011 11:55:13 EDT
FORT HOOD, Texas — The Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly Fort Hood rampage will be tried in a military court and face the death penalty, the commanding general for the Texas military post announced Wednesday.

Maj. Nidal Hasan is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in the November 2009 shooting spree at the Texas Army post.

It was not immediately clear when Hasan will be arraigned in a Fort Hood courtroom. He must plead not guilty based on the nature of the case, according to military law.

Hasan's lead attorney, John Galligan, had urged the commanding general not to seek the death penalty, saying such cases were more costly, time-consuming and restrictive. In cases where death is not a punishment option for military jurors, soldiers convicted of capital murder are automatically sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
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Hood shooting suspect will face death penalty

COLA change could cut retiree benefits

COLA change could cut retiree benefits
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jul 6, 2011 11:24:34 EDT
A possible change in how cost-of-living adjustments are calculated for military retired pay may sound small — just an average 0.25 percentage point reduction — but it could result in big lifetime losses.

An E-7 retiring this year with 20 years of service would, over 40 years, receive $109,335 less in retired pay, a 5.6 percent loss.

An O-5 retiring this year with 20 years of service would receive $207,991 less over 40 years, a 5.5 percent difference.

The potential COLA calculation change has been under discussion by White House officials and congressional leaders as part of a larger package of cuts in federal spending, with talks under way on Capitol Hill and at the White House.

Military retired pay would not be singled out for the change; it would also apply to federal civilian retired pay, Social Security, and most likely to veterans disability and survivors benefits. Unlike military retired pay and other federal entitlements that adjust automatically each Dec. 1 based on changes in consumer prices, veterans-related benefits increase only through an act of Congress, although lawmakers traditionally provide the same percentage increase for veterans that goes to other federal entitlements.
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COLA change could cut retiree benefits

Vietnam vet walked long, tough road

Vietnam vet walked long, tough road


by KIM SCHMIDT
Kearney Hub

Published: Tuesday, July 5, 2011 1:47 PM CDT
RAVENNA - Don Macek didn't want to see the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall. He didn't think he could handle the emotion.

After having been wounded in the hand with a punji stick, regularly having to pick leeches off his body, and sitting within inches of a buddy who was shot in the back of the head by a sniper, he said the wall would just bring back too many bad memories of Vietnam.

"I'm afraid I'll break down," Macek said last week. "It was worse than people said. You grew up in a hell of a hurry."

The traveling wall has been in at the Great Platte River Road Archway for public viewing 24 hours a day since Friday. It can be seen until midnight tonight.

Macek was drafted into the U.S. Army in July 1969 - four days before his 19th birthday - where he was an infantryman operating an M60 machine gun. The gun weighed 28 pounds without ammunition.

With the gun loaded, the ammunition and a backpack in tow, Macek carried about 90 pounds on his back daily.
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Vietnam vet walked long, tough road

Families Exposed To Toxic Water Make Progress in Fight

Families Exposed To Toxic Water Make Progress in Fight

This 4th of July, some local Marine Corps families exposed to contaminated water are feeling mixed emotions. They're proud to have served their country, but are still looking for recognition for injuries suffered by their families.

Imagine drinking water that's so contaminated, it can cause severe health problems, including birth defects and childhood leukemia. It's estimated a million people were exposed to that for years at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. One local family has been fighting to get those people health care benefits and as Local 12's Paula Toti reports, they got some good news on Monday.
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Families Exposed To Toxic Water Make Progress in Fight

Westboro hate group stalking another fallen Marine's family

They pick and choose which families to target. With all the fallen coming home, they do not show up at all of them, thus, they stalk the families. Simple as that. Maybe they go after the funerals they think will get them the most attention? It looks that way since they're preaching their message of hate only at certain funerals, with their posters about thanking God for the fallen.

Controversial Westboro Baptist Church to protest local Marine's funeral

Posted: Jul 05, 2011 8:56 AM

TOPEKA, KS (WMBF) The controversial church congregation out of Topeka, Kansas that is known for contentious remarks and actions at the funerals of fallen soldiers has declared it will make the trip to Mullins High School on Wednesday.

According to a press release from Westboro Baptist Church, the religious unit travels the country in protest of military funerals because the services "have become pagan orgies of idolatrous blasphemy, where they pray to the dunghill gods of Sodom & play taps to a fallen fool."

Gunnery Sgt. Ralph "EJ" Pate, Jr., 29, of Mullins was an explosive ordnance disposal technician assigned to Second EOD Company, Eighth Engineer Support Battalion, Second Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force in Camp Lejeune, NC.

WMBF News spoke to Pate's family Tuesday about WBC's planned protest. The family says it's a major burden in an already tough time, but they're doing what they can to ignore it.

"It is about saying goodbye to EJ not about anything else. This is the family time tomorrow. It's to pay the last respects to EJ. Let the family mourn and move on," said John Ryan, Pate's brother-in-law.

Flags are still at half staff in Pate's hometown and residents there say they're appalled by WBC's attempt to ruin their local hero's funeral service.
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Westboro Baptist Church to protest local Marine's funeral

Camp Pendleton Marine awarded Silver Star

Camp Pendleton Marine awarded Silver Star
By Jeanette Steele
5:51 p.m., July 5, 2011

The month was August, and Sgt. Franklin Simmons was exhausted from foot patrolling and low on fluids when the ambush happened.

It was 2008, and the United States was on the cusp of dispatching large forces to Afghanistan to rejoin the battle there in earnest. The future would bring tough days for Marines.

Foreshadowing those, fierce fighting broke out on that sweltering August afternoon, when a platoon of 30-odd Marines defeated more than 250 enemy soldiers and took the village of Shewan.

In the end, it meant a Silver Star for Simmons, a 27-year-old Camp Pendleton Marine who displayed “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action,” according to his award citation.

Simmons received his medal Monday while aboard the amphibious ship Boxer on deployment in the Gulf of Aden.

“It was a good day for the platoon, a good day for the Marine Corps, and a bad day for the enemy,” Simmons said Tuesday, remembering the battle during in a telephone interview from the ship. “I don’t know how we pulled it off.”

The Silver Star is the third-highest military decoration awarded for valor against an enemy.

The Battle of Shewan resulted in at least 14 major medals for Marines.
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Camp Pendleton Marine awarded Silver Star

Death because of combat worth condolences now

It has been a long time coming. For all the men and women buried from what was called "non-combat" death, it was because of combat and all they had to endure even if it was not the direct result of a bullet or bomb connecting with their bodies.

This country acknowledges the fact combat does wound in more ways than just physically. We invested billions of dollars over the years working on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and countless articles have been published on PTSD as a direct result of the traumas of combat. Now we can finally acknowledge the sympathies of the nation to the families of the men and women we trained to go into combat but did not train them to come home.

No matter how you feel personally about suicide, these men and women served this nation with honor.

Official: White House to lift ban on military suicide condolences
By Dan Lothian, White House Correspondent
July 6, 2011 5:31 a.m. EDT

Army Spc. Chancellor Keesling, seen here with his father Gregg Keesling, committed suicide in Iraq in 2009.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Official: Move applies to families of deployed service members who commit suicide
Decision will help end "stigma" of wars' mental health toll, official says in statement
Senators, family of a deceased soldier had asked president to reverse the policy
Army report showed a steady rise in 2004-2009 Army and Marine suicide rates

(CNN) -- The Obama administration has reversed a White House policy of not sending condolence letters to the next-of-kin of service members who commit suicide, a senior administration official confirmed in a statement to CNN.

The move comes nearly six weeks after a group of senators -- 10 Democrats and one Republican -- asked President Barack Obama to change what they called an "insensitive" policy that dates back several administrations and has been the subject of protest by some military families.
In the statement Tuesday, the White House official said a review had been completed, and the president will send condolence letters to families of service members who commit suicide while deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and other combat operations.

"The president feels strongly that we need to destigmatize the mental health costs of war to prevent these tragic deaths, and changing this policy is part of that process," the official's statement said.

"Unfortunately, perpetuating a policy that denies condolence letters to families of service members who die by suicide only serves to reinforce this stigma by overshadowing the contributions of an individual's life with the unfortunate nature of his or her death. It is simply unacceptable for the United States to be sending the message to these families that somehow their loved ones' sacrifices are less important."

read more here
White House to lift ban on military suicide condolences







Long time coming

My video, Death Because They Served, 2007

This post from my older blog has more of their stories.
Did they play taps

Congress should be charged with dereliction of duty to veterans

Is it because they are not rich? Is it because they don't like to ask for help? Is it because they are a tiny minority in this country? What is it that makes politicians think they can just cut back on what veterans need at will? Rich people have the money to fund politicians campaigns but veterans made sure this nation was free to elect them. Seems to me that when a man or woman makes a promise to do something, they should be expected to do it. When they enter into the service, if they change their minds, they go to jail. When a politician changes their mind on living up to the promise made to the veteran risking their life, they get to use excuses. Maybe they should end up in the brig for dereliction of duty to the veterans?

Dereliction of duty is a specific offense under United States Code Title 10,892. Article 92 and applies to all branches of the US military. A service member who is derelict has willfully refused to perform his duties (or follow a given order) or has incapacitated himself in such a way that he cannot perform his duties. Incapacitation includes falling asleep while on-duty; getting drunk and being unable to perform his duties; or vacating his post contrary to regulations. Article 92 also applies to service members whose acts or omissions rise result in criminally negligent behavior.

Local Family Claims Veteran Is In Jeopardy


Posted: Jul 05, 2011 7:13 PM

By Kara Hammer

On February 4th Representative Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota, now a presidential candidate, released a statement backing off of her plan to cut $4.5 billion from the Department of Veterans Affairs budget calling it merely a discussion.

But one local woman is claiming that budget cuts are already causing some concern to her father.

88-year-old Roland Thomas spent over 30 years of his life in the U.S. Navy serving this country.

His daughter, Janet Toler said, "He was in Pearl Harbor and survived that, probably one of the last few that are left."

He suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and dementia.

Toler said, "20 years ago it started getting a lot worst."

So for the past seven years Roland Thomas has been living at the Cheyenne VA.

She said, "He started getting where he couldn't remember medication and couldn't take care of himself. They felt he needed to stay there."

But, now his daughter says because of budget cuts they are telling her, her father may no longer be able to stay at the VA.

Toler said, "They decided they wanted to start sending them out of there to live on their own."

She doesn't understand why her father who so proudly fought for his country and his considered disabled is now in jeopardy.
read more here
Local Family Claims Veteran Is In Jeopardy

PTSD on CNN

Added On July 5, 2011
CNN's Don Lemon talks to Dr. Mark Goulston about the new rule changes for troops suffering from PTSD.



Dr. Mark Goulston said that it is hard for them to ask for help and he's partially right on the reason. One that keeps getting missed is that these men and women are "helpers" and think of others first. This type of person has a very hard time asking for help with anything.

Dr. John Burson, 4th tour at 76

76-year-old Army medic on 4th tour in war zones
By Mandy Clark

(CBS News) Finally this evening, the last draftee is set to retire from the army this summer at the age of 58. Command Sergeant-Major Jeff Mellinger was drafted back in 1972. In recent years, he survived 27 roadside bombings while deployed in Iraq.

CBS News correspondent Mandy Clark reports on another long-serving veteran with a great story.

In Afghanistan being a doctor can be a frontline position. But even back from the fighting, men and women of the U.S. Military have tough jobs and the medical problems to match.

An experienced eye makes all the difference, and few are more experienced than Dr. John Burson, an ear, nose and throat specialist from Villa Rica, Georgia. At age 76, he may not have seen it all, but he brings a lot of history to his work at this US military clinic in Kabul.
read more here
76 year-old Army medic on 4th tour in war zones

$6,000 raised to fly two Afghanistan war zone dogs to the U.S.

$6,000 raised to fly two Afghanistan war zone dogs to the U.S.
Published: July 4, 2011
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Two stray dogs in Afghanistan that found comfort and companionship with a company of U.S. Army soldiers at a remote firebase are poised to leave the war zone behind. As the troops get set to return home, their spouses have raised nearly $6,000 to fly the dogs to the United States.

A Facebook posting has spread the word and donations are flowing in to pay the costs of transporting the dogs - Smiley and OP1 - the thousands of miles from Afghanistan. Their destination: Fort Campbell, the big military base on the Kentucky-Tennessee line and a new, peaceful life with the families of some of the soldiers.

The 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, was one of the units dispatched to Afghanistan last year to secure that country from a resurgent Taliban. They are expected to begin leaving the country later this summer.

Sonya Luedeman, wife of Spc. Jason Luedeman - a medic in Charlie Company, 1-61 Cavalry - said her husband couldn't stop talking about a black-and-white dog that had followed the soldiers back to their firebase during a patrol months ago.
read more here
War zone dogs
linked from Stars and Stripes

Obama thanks troops at July 4 South Lawn party

Obama thanks troops at July 4 South Lawn party
By Stacy A. Anderson - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jul 5, 2011 7:09:19 EDT
WASHINGTON — Telling troops that "America is proud of all of you," President Obama marked the Fourth of July holiday by hosting a barbecue and concert for military members and families on the South Lawn of the White House.

The president and first lady Michelle Obama greeted more than 1,200 guests from a White House balcony Monday night. After brief remarks, the first couple stood in the driveway and shook hands with visitors.

"You represent the latest in a long line of heroes who have served our country with honor, who have made incredible sacrifices to protect the freedoms that we all enjoy," Obama said.

"You've done everything we could've asked of you," he said, also recognizing the "families that serve alongside of you with strength and devotion."
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Obama thanks troops at July 4 South Lawn party

Little League World Series honors MoH recipient

Little League World Series honors MoH recipient
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jul 5, 2011 12:48:00 EDT
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — A western Pennsylvania soldier posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for saving the lives of four comrades in Iraq will be inducted into the Little League Museum Hall of Excellence at this year’s Little League World Series.

Army Pfc. Ross McGinnnis, 19, of Knox died in 2006 after he dove atop a grenade that had been thrown through the gunner’s hatch of a Humvee on patrol outside of Baghdad.
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Little League World Series honors MoH recipient

Fitchburg MA VFW has 20 year old female commander!

National Guard Military Police, plus female, plus young, add in Iraq topped off with Blackfoot and you have a whole different VFW than your father went to. It is one reaching out for the younger veterans while avoiding a very common complaint many female veterans have, the feeling they are not welcome. This VFW is not only telling young veterans they are welcomed there but females are just as important as males.

Twenty-Year-Old Veteran Takes Command of Her Local VFW
By Donna Laurent Caruso
July 4, 2011

Courtesy Tasha DeBlois
Tasha DeBlois, a 20-year-old military veteran was recently named commander of the Fitchburg, Massachusetts Veterans of Foreign Wars Branch. She was recently in Monson, Massachusetts on active duty as a National Guard Military Police following the tornadoes that swept through the area.

At 20 years old, Tasha DeBlois to some would appear to be just starting her adult life. That is until they get to know the United States military veteran, a National Guard Military Police officer, pow wow vendor and participant, college student and recently named commander of her local Veterans of Foreign Wars Branch.

“I don’t look like what a lot of people expect a veteran to look like,” she said from her home in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The Blackfoot citizen, who’s Indian name means Beautiful Woman—tattooed across her abdomen—has her family tree tattooed on her back and served in Iraq (Ubaydi, Military Police, 2009 and 2010) where she sustained a permanent injury from a non-combat situation.

She remains in the Army National Guard Military Police, however, and was recently sent to the nearby towns of Monson and Springfield, Massachusetts to help in the recovery from the tornadoes that caused 300 injuries, four deaths, and millions in property damage.

read more here
Twenty-Year-Old Veteran Takes Command of Her Local VFW

Label Them Survivors

Label Them Survivors
by
Chaplain Kathie

There is a lot of talk about dropping the "D" from PTSD as if changing it again would do any good. Forgetting about the Disorder part of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder will do about as much good as changing the name in the past. The list of terms used has been growing since the Revolutionary War here in the US. The condition is still the same. The only thing that has really changed is in the way they are treated. There was a time in this country when they were shot for being cowards.

This is a video about WWI from the UK.
War Neuroses: Netley Hospital (1917


Here is another one
Verdun- Shell Shock
After WWII, a "shell shocked" became "battle fatigue" but the term was still used by veterans until PTSD was used in the late 70's. A Merchant Marine was sent to live on a farm so that he could live out his days in a peaceful environment. That Merchant Marine was my husband's uncle. While it is doubtful he was more troubled by the term "shell shock" as much as he was troubled by what happened to him and his ship. It was sunk and while he tried to stay alive in the ocean with the rest of the survivors, they lost more men.

Among the terms used for what we now call PTSD, there was "soldier's heart." There is a great series on PBS addressing PTSD and what it does after combat, Soldiers Heart. This series is from 2005. While it helps everyone understand what they go through, it also points out how much was known and for how long we've known it.

There is a huge difference between what causes PTSD in civilians, but we're more able to understand it, make it personal to us while thinking about how that event in the person's life could very well happen to us. We connect to their story as much as we connect to what happened to them afterwards. One traumatic event out of their lives changed everything.

When it comes to law enforcement and emergency responders, they face more trauma then most other humans will ever know but we tend to assume they were trained to deal with all of it. When they end up with PTSD, we expect them to just get over it more easily than civilians because they were trained to face it in the first place. We just can't figure out how deeply multiple events have cut into them.

When the person is/was in the military, well, that's a whole other story. They spend a year at a times facing trauma piled onto trauma, piled onto waiting for the next time. They can't just go out of harms way, recover and live a peaceful life. They have to face more of it for as long as they are deployed.

Even with a diagnosis of PTSD, many of them are redeployed with their weapons and what the DOD doctors think they need to finish one more tour of duty. A handful of pills. So we have a survivors of multiple traumatic events facing having to expose themselves to more of the same with nothing more than medication to fight it off with.

Maybe the time has come to label them what they really are and that is "survivors" because they have survived what few others would be able to. The level of what comes after is different for all of them but we have to acknowledge that none of them come back unchanged.

Some come back with just memories they learn to live with. Others come home with the memories more real than what they come home to. Some come home with mild PTSD and think they defeated it until another traumatic event happens in their lives and then this secondary stressor sets all they were able to subdue into overdrive. This ends up shocking them and their families after they have settled into what they thought was the worst of it. By this time, families look for other things to blame because it has been years since their veteran came home so the connection between war and PTSD is not there. They look for other reasons for the change and then blame the veteran.

Talk to someone after they survived a traumatic event and how they feel differently afterwards. Then think of how they may react after that same event either happened everyday or there was a threat of it happening again. Do you think their pain would be deeper? Sure you would and you'd understand it because it could have been you. With combat, you know it wouldn't happen to you because you were not in the military but you are only human just like them.

Marine: 'We're Starting To Fall To The Wayside

Marine: 'We're Starting To Fall To The Wayside'
by TOM BOWMAN

July 5, 2011
A very small number of Americans are now serving in the military — less than 1 percent. Some are looking for direction; others are inspired by a sense of patriotism or by a family member who served in an earlier war. In the series Who Serves, NPR looks at the troops who have made a decision few others have — to fight in America's wars.

Just after dawn one day last month, Sgt. Jon Moulder led his patrol of Marines out of Combat Outpost Reilly — basically a collection of tents and sandbags and razor wire — and headed down a dusty road in Afghanistan's Helmand province.

Moulder is a short, compact Marine from Nashville, Tenn. He's on his fourth combat tour, split evenly between Iraq and Afghanistan.

That's meant a lot of time away from home.

"Yeah, it's this whole family thing, deploying and keep leaving," Moulder says. "I have my personal views and opinions on things."

Moulder has a wife back home, and a 2-year-old child from a previous marriage. This is likely his last deployment.

But he acknowledges that this life is exciting. It's fighting America's enemies; it's danger; it's firefights.
read more here
Marine We are Starting To Fall To The Wayside

July 4th when we don't remember how we got here

I didn't go to see the fireworks last night and don't plan on watching them tonight. There doesn't seem to be much reason to celebrate this year. Two wars still going on and producing more dead and wounded. More families missing someone they loved. More families wondering how to take care of a wounded combat veteran and far too many wondering how to put their lives back together after PTSD has taken hold.

Celebrating our independence doesn't seem right considering we do not celebrate the veterans enough to take care of them properly. Sure, we talk a lot about it, but face the truth. If we really did do whatever it took, there would be very little to post on. As it is in less than four years, there are over 12,000 post on this blog along and most of them are not happy ones.

See, we can celebrate all we want claiming we're celebrating how this country earned the right to be free, but we hardly ever think about the men and women after they paid the price to achieve it and retain it. Three times a year we manage to do something involving them. Memorial Day we're supposed to honor the war dead but we have politicians saying that Memorial Day is all about the veterans instead of all about the fallen. Veterans Day is a day for sales ahead of the Christmas shopping season. July 4th is about cookouts and fireworks along with both of them but we can forget about the guilt we should carry the rest of the year because after all, these days are supposed to be all about them but as usual, we make it all about us and our enjoyment.

Korea:Marine Corps shooting spree kills 4 soldiers

Marine Corps shooting spree kills 4 soldiers
By Lee Tae-hoon

A Marine Corps corporal killed four soldiers and wounded another in a shooting spree Monday at his military unit based on Ganghwa Island near the maritime border with North Korea in the West Sea.

“The shooter, identified only as Kim, went on a shooting rampage inside his barracks at 11:50 a.m., killing four and wounding two, including himself,” Kim Tae-eun, a spokesman of the Marine Corps, said in a press conference televised nationwide.

He added that the death toll rose from three to four as an injured private lost his life after being taken to hospital.

A senior Marine Corps official also confirmed that Kim was arrested after attempting to commit suicide with a grenade.

“He tried to take his own life after firing at his fellow soldiers, who were taking a nap in their barracks at 11:50 a.m.,” he added.

The Marine Corps has formed a task force and sent it to the military unit for an investigation, while taking Kim into custody for questioning.

In a press release, the Corps said that the perpetrator may have stolen the rifle and ammunition after finishing his sentry duty at around 10 a.m.
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Marine Corps shooting spree kills 4 soldiers

Fort Carson gay soldiers beaten in possible hate crime

Gay soldiers beaten in possible hate crime
Posted: Jul 3, 2011 6:54 PM by John Romero


Their car a bloody mess, a group of Fort Carson soldiers and their friends try to pick up the pieces after a seemingly senseless hate crime early Saturday morning at the Albertacos restaurant in northeastern Colorado Springs.

Chris, one of the victims and a gay soldier, asked that we hide his identity. He tells us a group of black men and women took exception to the way one of them was dressed. "We walked in and immediately one black male started making remarks like, faggot."

Chris tells us hey tried to leave when the shoving started. But when they went out in to the parking lot Chris says it was an ambush. "At that point it was basically a bum rush." he explains, "I turn around and my friend was getting stomped by 6 black males." Chris and his friends were outnumbered and were brutally beaten. "Another female friend of mine was trying to fight off 3 or 4 men." he says.
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Gay soldiers beaten in possible hate crime

Command Sgt. Maj. Jeff Mellinger, last Vietnam-era draftee is retiring from Army

Last Vietnam-era draftee is retiring from Army
By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Jul 3, 2011 10:26:20 EDT

ALEX BRANDON / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Army Command Sgt. Major Jeffery Mellinger, 58, talks to The Associated Press about his nearly 40-year career in his office in Fort Belvoir, Va. Mellinger, a Vietnam War draftee in 1972, is believed by the Army to be the last conscripted soldier to have served continuously without a break.

FORT BELVOIR, Va. — A homemade wind chime with the word “Whining” under a red slash is made from metal parts put in his leg after a parachute accident. Every Sunday he trims his crew cut. He didn’t join the Army willingly, but as Command Sgt. Maj. Jeff Mellinger prepares to retire, he’s grateful he found his calling.

Mellinger was drafted to fight the Vietnam War, and the Army believes he’s the last draftee to retire, after 39 years. Most did their two years and left. But Mellinger had found home.

“I think I’m pretty good at it, but I like it. That’s the bottom line. I love being a soldier and I love being around soldiers,” he said.

Mellinger’s motto is simple: No whining — as the wind chime attests.

When the draft notice arrived in the mail in 1972 at his home in Eugene, Ore., tens of thousands of troops had been killed. Anti-war protests were rampant. Draft notices were being set on fire and returning soldiers were treated as part of the problem. The military wasn’t a popular job.
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Last Vietnam-era draftee is retiring from Army

2 SF earn Silver Stars for Afghanistan heroics

2 SF earn Silver Stars for Afghanistan heroics
By John Ryan - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Jul 2, 2011 9:02:51 EDT
When insurgents attacked, two Green Berets helped turn surprise enemy assaults into bloody insurgent losses in Afghanistan last year.

In May 2010, Master Sgt. William J. Dickinson’s team foiled an attempted siege at Bagram Airfield.

Weeks later, Staff Sgt. Adam Dorner’s patrol repelled a roadside ambush in Logar province.

For their courage, the Army formally awarded them Silver Stars during a ceremony at Patch Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany, on June 13 before a crowd of nearly 300, according to a release from Special Operations Command Europe. Adm. Eric Olsen, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, made the presentation.

Both men were serving with the 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne).
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2 SF earn Silver Stars for Afghanistan heroics

2 Hood soldiers die in crash, 1 injured

2 Hood soldiers die in crash, 1 injured
The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Jul 3, 2011 14:21:21 EDT
KILLEEN, Texas — Two Fort Hood soldiers died and another was critically injured in an early morning single-vehicle crash.

Killeen police said the driver of a black 2007 Chevy Impala SS traveling at a high rate of speed lost control, and the vehicle went airborne after crossing over some railroad tracks.
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2 Hood soldiers die in crash, 1 injured

Family of 100% disabled Vietnam vet reeling from death and expenses

Family reeling from veteran's death, funeral expenses
Hattiesburg native who received Bronze Star in Vietnam was disabled
11:17 PM, Jul. 2, 2011

Richard "Dickey" Randolph (right) and his friend Nelvil Hollingsworth from Hattiesburg, had an impromptu reunion in South Vietnam while they were serving there in the early 1970s. The family is struggling after Randolph's recent death. / Special to The Clarion-Ledger

Written by
Gary Pettus

Hattiesburg native Richard "Dickey" Randolph didn't ask much from his country - a house near the ocean, a place to fish and the company of his family.

But his country had asked much of him, drafting him into the Army 40 years ago and encouraging him to go to Vietnam, where he was rewarded with a Bronze Star, shrapnel scars and wounds that wouldn't heal.

He was 100 percent disabled, plagued by post-traumatic stress disorder, because he had taken care of his country, said Nancy Randolph of Pace, Fla., his wife of some 25 years; so when he died, she assumed his country would take care of him.
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Family reeling from veteran death

An update on two vets struggling to put the war behind them

An update on two vets struggling to put the war behind them

Veterans program director Jim Zenner and client Greg Valentini have forged a respectful truce in the fight for recovery.

By Steve Lopez
July 2, 2011, 6:24 p.m.

Jim Zenner, fresh out of college, was program director at a new veterans recovery program in Hollywood. Greg Valentini, who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, was one of his first clients.

The first impressions they had of each other when they met last August were not positive. Zenner, a reservist, had just gotten back from a mission in Korea to learn that Valentini and some other vets had partied at the residential recovery center, throwing back beers while he was away.

"I was thinking this guy ain't gonna make it," said Zenner, who thought Valentini looked like a hardboiled, hotheaded convict. "But I was thinking I wasn't going to make it, either."

Valentini, meanwhile, thought Zenner was too starched, as if he'd just graduated with honors from officers' school. And Zenner was such a rookie social worker that Valentini began calling him Green. Even today, they see the drinking incident differently.

"Tell him why," Valentini pleaded, explaining that the beers were to celebrate President Obama declaring the end of the combat mission in Iraq.

President Obama? That's another issue.

Zenner, 34, was pro-Bush, anti-Obama. A Republican.

Valentini, 33, was anti-Bush, pro-Obama. A Democrat.

Valentini enlisted in the Army in 2000 primarily for the G.I. Bill and ended up in heavy combat a year later, even though he's generally antiwar. He hung a "Veterans for Peace" sign on his dorm room door at the vet center, and when Zenner objected, Valentini hung it on Zenner's door.
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An update on two vets struggling to put the war behind them

Soldier leaves legacy much larger than 'he was gay'

Soldier leaves legacy much larger than 'he was gay'
By Wayne Drash, CNN
July 3, 2011 6:25 a.m. EDT


STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Andrew Wilfahrt is first known gay soldier killed in war since repeal of "don't ask, don't tell"
Wilfahrt had perfect score on Army aptitude test; Army named combat outpost for him
His parents, Jeff and Lori, have become crusaders for same-sex marriage in Minnesota
Jeff Wilfahrt asks Lady Gaga to come to Minnesota to dance a gay-marriage polka
Rosemount, Minnesota (CNN) -- Andrew Wilfahrt changed his gait in the weeks before going off to basic training. He walked more upright. He bulked up with weights. He spoke with a deep Robocop voice. He acted "manly."

Through the eyes of his parents, Jeff and Lori, it was all a bit strange.

This was the boy who told them he was gay at 16 after being confronted with exorbitant bills from Internet chat rooms. Who lobbied for gay rights in his high school and escaped the fists of football players when hockey players came to his rescue. Who had the courage to wear pink and green even after his car was spray-painted with "Go Home Fag!"

All his parents ever wanted was for Andrew to be Andrew.

At 29, he sat his mom and dad down at the kitchen table and told them his life was missing camaraderie, brotherhood. "I'm joining the Army," he said.

The news surprised them. Why would Andrew enter the military, where he'd be forced to deny a part of who he is?

He was a lover of classical music, a composer, a peace activist, a math genius. He studied palindromes, maps, patterns, the U.S. Constitution, quantum physics.
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Soldier leaves legacy much larger than he was gay

U.S. Marine from Mobile who lost legs in Afghanistan determined to walk

U.S. Marine from Mobile who lost legs in Afghanistan determined to walk
Published: Sunday, July 03, 2011
By Roy Hoffman, Press-Register

Cpl. Christopher Montgomery, a U.S. Marine from Mobile, at the Center for the Intrepid, a rehabilitation facility at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. On Dec. 7th Montgomery was on patrol with the 3rd Battalion 5th Marines in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, when he stepped on an improvised explosive device. "I knew my legs were gone," he says. Montgomery, 23, is determined to walk, and move on with his life. "I have to reinvent myself," he says. (Photo courtesy of Montgomery family)

At Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, Christopher Montgomery, a U.S. Marine corporal from Mobile, is learning to walk on artificial limbs.

Having lost his legs after stepping on an IED in Afghanistan, Montgomery spends arduous days in the hospital’s Center for the Intrepid, a rehabilitation unit.

“Everyone here has the same goals,” he says, “all the Marines, the Army guys, the Air Force. They want to walk again and go on with their lives.

“This place,” he says, “is pretty awesome.”

Since the explosion last December, Montgomery, 23, has received medical attention at several locales, from Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany to Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
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U.S. Marine from Mobile

Homeless raid in Titusville questioned

Homeless raid in Titusville questioned
Titusville officials discussing conflicting reports in the operation
11:58 PM, Jul. 1, 2011
Written by
DAVE BERMAN

TITUSVILLE — Mayor Jim Tulley assured advocates for homeless veterans that he will try to get to the bottom of the circumstances surrounding the recent clearing out of 11 homeless camps on private property throughout the city.

Tulley said he met this week with City Manager Mark Ryan and Assistant Police Chief John Lau to discuss the issue and plans to resume those discussions next week.

He said he has heard conflicting reports from the homeless advocates and police about the removal and disposal of personal items the homeless people had in the camps.

Police say they gave residents of the camps warning that they were trespassing on private property and needed to leave. They also gave the homeless fliers with information about community resources, including the Salvation Army and the National Veterans Homeless Support organization.

Police also said they did not clear out homeless camps at sites where property owners did not mind if homeless people were there.
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Homeless raid in Titusville questioned

Knoxville couple’s battle with effects of war isn't over

Soldiering on: Knoxville couple’s battle with effects of war isn't over, but they're winning
By Amy McRary
Posted July 3, 2011 at midnight

PHOTO BY SUBMITTED

Army Staff Sgt. Bryan Gansner, here in his dress uniform, was six weeks away from coming home when he was severely injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

Three a.m. on a rainy July morning. Her phone rings. Iraq is calling. Cheryl Gansner's heart pounds.

The voice on the phone 6,000 miles away isn't her husband, Army Staff Sgt. Bryan Gansner with the 101st Airborne Division. It's a lieutenant colonel.

A roadside bomb exploded. Bryan is seriously injured.

"All I could do was listen. I just said 'OK, OK, OK,' to everything he said," remembers Cheryl. "I was in shock. I didn't even think to ask if anyone else was injured or was he going to die."

Bryan was on a July 28, 2006, night mission six weeks before he was to come home from his second Iraqi tour of duty. It was a year and two months since he and Cheryl moved their wedding date to marry before he deployed.
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Knoxville couple’s battle with effects of war isn't over

Deltona soldier's pull-tab U.S. flag from Afghanistan wows veterans

Deltona soldier's pull-tab U.S. flag from Afghanistan wows veterans
Don Smith hopes flag can be used to raise money for Give Kids the World

By Gary Taylor, Orlando Sentinel
10:48 p.m. EDT, July 2, 2011

Don Smith considers himself a tough guy.

But as he sat in a hospital in Afghanistan in 2005 guarding military prisoners, he couldn't help but be touched by the children he saw.

"I saw a lot of little kids blown up or sick," he said.

He knows a little bit about kids who are going through a rough time.
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Deltona soldier's pull-tab U.S. flag from Afghanistan

More than 100,000 veterans lost their gun privileges

Many will read the following and think about the increased suicides in the military. While we know they have weapons, it is an easy jump to conclude if we take their weapons away, they won't kill themselves when they are veterans. The truth is, it didn't do any good at all.

We read the reports of standoffs with police and SWAT teams. There is usually a gun involved and usually the standoff doesn't end well for law enforcement or the veteran.

We read about a troubled veteran ending his/her pain when their body is found and a gun laying on the floor.

The truth is a firearm is just a weapon of choice. Take their guns away and some people think that will be the answer but they just find another weapon to use. Threaten to take their guns away and you'll find veterans staying out of therapy. Would you rather have a veteran with a gun in treatment or one with a gun and no treatment? They don't want to give up their guns for a reason. In combat, a weapon was as much a part of them as their right arm and they knew it would save their lives. They come home feeling the same way in case someone wants to hurt them or their family. That is foremost in their minds, so the thought of them being the one to endanger their own lives or their families is quickly dismissed. There is very little evidence that veterans kill their families compared to the general population and rare considering there are 22.7 million veterans in America as of September 2010.

In Florida alone we have over 1.6 million of them.

FLORIDA
Projected Veteran Population by Year

9/30/2010
Total Veteran Population
1,650,900

Female
140,300

Male
1,510,600

Vietnam Veterans
511,100

What's the answer to all of this? The laws did little to help veterans. Do you think that maybe, just maybe, the answer is to make sure there is no veteran left behind and come up with programs that work instead?

"At least a few hundred people with histories of mental health issues already get their gun rights back each year. The number promises to grow, since most of the new state laws are just beginning to take effect. And in November, the Department of Veterans Affairs responded to the federal legislation by establishing a rights restoration process for more than 100,000 veterans who have lost their gun privileges after being designated mentally incompetent by the agency."

"Larry Lamb, a Vietnam veteran from San Diego who has suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, lost his gun rights and his cache of weapons in 2006 when he was involuntarily hospitalized after his dog’s death left him suicidal. A psychiatrist who examined Mr. Lamb wrote that he “is extremely paranoid with a full-blown P.T.S.D., believing that he is still at war in the active military and he is a personal bodyguard of the president and many senators.”"


"In early 2008, a Superior Court judge in San Diego granted Mr. Lamb’s petition to have his firearms rights restored, after his psychologist testified that he was not dangerous. But the judge, without access to Mr. Lamb’s full medical history, was unaware of a crucial fact: the local Veterans Affairs hospital had placed a “red flag” on Mr. Lamb, barring him from the hospital grounds because he was perceived to be a threat to personnel there."

Some With Histories of Mental Illness Petition to Get Their Gun Rights Back

MICHAEL LUO
Published: Sunday, July 3, 2011 at 6:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, July 3, 2011 at 5:17 a.m.
PULASKI, Va. — In May 2009, Sam French hit bottom, once again. A relative found him face down in his carport “talking gibberish,” according to court records. He later told medical personnel that he had been conversing with a bear in his backyard and hearing voices. His family figured he had gone off his medication for bipolar disorder, and a judge ordered him involuntarily committed — the fourth time in five years he had been hospitalized by court order.

When Mr. French’s daughter discovered that her father’s commitment meant it was illegal for him to have firearms, she and her husband removed his cache of 15 long guns and three handguns, and kept them after Mr. French was released in January 2010 on a new regime of mood-stabilizing drugs.

Ten months later, he appeared in General District Court — the body that handles small claims and traffic infractions — to ask a judge to restore his gun rights. After a brief hearing, in which Mr. French’s lengthy history of relapses never came up, he walked out with an order reinstating his right to possess firearms.

The next day, Mr. French retrieved his guns.
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Get Their Gun Rights Back

These Vietnam vets still fight together

John Jimenez, left, and Kenneth "Ollie" Olson embrace after being reunited for the first time in 40 years. Both men served in the 101st Airborne during Vietnam and have stayed in touch over the years but have never met face to face. When Olson learned that his old friend had liver cancer, he traveled from Minnesota and surprised Jimenez by showing up at the front door of his Whittier home.
LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

These Vietnam vets still fight together
By TOM BERG
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

WHITTIER – Next year.
It was always "next year" they'd meet.


Every Memorial Day for 41 years, the two Vietnam veterans promised to see each other. But never did. Until a secret slipped out.

Now Ken Olson, 61, of Nelson, Minnesota, has showed up at the door of John Jimenez, 66, of Whittier, pretending to call from half-way across the country.

If you want to see me, Olson ends the call, open the front door!

Soon, the men are joking about how skinny they once were. How young. How handsome.

"We had some bad times but they turned into good times," say Jimenez, a retired forklift driver who grew up in La Habra. "We saw a lot of action. A lot of our friends died in our arms."

Olson, a Midwest farmer who doesn't cry at funerals, cries.

"I'd still follow you anywhere," he says.

Back in 1968, helicopters dropped them together into enemy territory 77 times. They lived in the jungle with leeches, monsoons, malaria. And most days, bloodshed.

As the oldest guy there, Jimenez volunteered to walk point, assuring his company: I'm going to get you out of here.

"I used to tell the guys, 'Don't get scared because when you get scared you lose your head. You're here to take care of me and I'm here to take care of you."

Olson never forgot. That's why he's here.
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These Vietnam vets still fight together

UCF Veterans History Project

UCF is doing the Veterans' History Project. Featured in the video below is one of the best kept secrets in Orange County. The Vietnam Veterans War Museum. Named after Orange County's only Medal of Honor hero, Corporal Larry Eugene Smedley, the museum is there to honor Vietnam veterans along with the expanding areas for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

THE MUSEUM

The photo above is Corporal Larry Eugene Smedley (March 4, 1949–December 21, 1967) was a United States Marine who was awarded the highest military decoration the "Medal of Honor" for his heroic actions in December 1967 in Vietnam. Our museum honors Corporal Smedley by adding his name to museum.

Welcome to the Larry E. Smedley National Vietnam War Museum, a place full of knowledge, experiences, and memories. Here you will discover many unique and historical artifacts of the Vietnam Era. As you tour our facility, you will encounter exhibits that are on loan from government, as well as those that were both donated and built by members of the Vietnam and all Veterans of Central Florida.



The UCF Veterans History Project
About the Project
The UCF Community Veterans History Project is collecting, preserving, and making accessible to the public the experiences of Central Florida's veterans so that future generations will better understand the realities of conflict. It is a collaborative endeavor supported by multiple departments and offices at UCF. The histories, which students began recording during the fall 2010 semester, will are archived and made digitally available through the UCF library.

The UCF CVHP is a RICHES of Central Florida Project.

Veterans who would like to be interviewed may register to be interviewed.
use link above to their site.

Fireworks trigger stress in war vets

Fireworks trigger stress in war vets
For those with PTSD, festivities are the sounds and smells of combat
By Andy Grimm, Tribune reporter
July 2, 2011

The random pop-pop-pop of firecrackers will reach its seasonal peak with Monday's Fourth of July celebrations, but this most patriotic — and pyrotechnic — holiday can drive many combat veterans away from parade routes and picnics.

Rather than hang around the house for barbecues with friends, some veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder seek out quiet places away from fireworks, which can set off flashbacks, anxiety and hyperawareness.

"If you are lighting off a firecracker in your neighborhood, there's a very good chance that there is a veteran within earshot," said Dr. John Mundt, a psychologist at Jesse Brown VA Medical Center in Chicago, whose PTSD support groups have devoted several sessions in the last few weeks to coping with the July Fourth fireworks barrage.

"To someone with PSTD, it can sound like small arms fire."
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Fireworks trigger stress in war vets

Here's one of my videos that may help you understand this.

VWF Raises Money for Iraq War Vet’s Sick Son

VWF Raises Money for Iraq War Vet’s Sick Son (Video)
July 1, 2011
By Beth Ford Roth

Iraq War veteran Erik Packard racked up piles of medical bills after his infant son Ronan underwent lifesaving emergency surgery seven months ago, according to television station MyFox9. Ronan was born with a hole in his diaphragm, and while the little guy is on the road to recovery, the Packard family is struggle under the weight of their financial burden.
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VWF Raises Money for Iraq War Vet’s Sick Son

Fundraisers to Help Military Family Struggling with Medical Bills: MyFoxTWINCITIES.com