Homeless veteran receives full military honors at Wichita funeral
American Legion Riders participate in the funeral of homeless veteran Brian Mahoney at Resthaven Cemetery.
Mahoney died March 18 and served in the Navy from 1972 to 1976. (April 29, 2015)
MIKE HUTMACHER THE WICHITA EAGLE
It is always powerful to see a veteran laid to rest. It is even more heartbreaking when the veteran was homeless.
This is the backstory on what happened to a homeless veteran in Orlando a few years ago.
Vietnam Vet Andrew Elmer Wright found a home as a homeless vet
Sep 1, 2011
First United Church of Christ proved that miracles can still happen. They took in a homeless Vietnam Veteran, gave him love and gave a family closure. His son was serving in the Marines when he found out what happened to his Dad.
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Kansas University Alumni Football Player Touchdown at 89!
Bryan Sperry, 89, steals show in alumni flag football game
Lawrence Journal
By Benton Smith
April 25, 2015
With time winding down, his younger teammates called Sperry’s number, and then formed a circle of blockers around him as the opposition feigned tackling attempts, complete with dives to the turf.
Wearing his blue No. 28 jersey with khaki pants and some comfy sneakers, 89-year-old Bryan Sperry closed down the flag football showcase by winning over the crowd with a slow-progressing touchdown run on the final play.
Lawrence Journal
By Benton Smith
April 25, 2015
With time winding down, his younger teammates called Sperry’s number, and then formed a circle of blockers around him as the opposition feigned tackling attempts, complete with dives to the turf.
Photo by Nick Krug. Nick Krug.Prior to Saturday's spring football game, Kansas University had about 40 alumni take the field for a flag football contest. While most participants weren’t too far removed from their glory days, it was a Kansas standout from 1946-48 who stole the show.
Former Kansas University football player Bryan Sperry talks with reporters following the Alumni Football game which preceded the Spring Game on Saturday, April 25, 2015 at Memorial Stadium. Sperry played for KU from 1946-1948.
Wearing his blue No. 28 jersey with khaki pants and some comfy sneakers, 89-year-old Bryan Sperry closed down the flag football showcase by winning over the crowd with a slow-progressing touchdown run on the final play.
A World War II veteran who enrolled at KU after serving in the Army, Sperry said it had been quite a while since he ran as far as he did Saturday at Memorial Stadium. As one of the alumni who recommended the event, Sperry wasn’t about to miss out on the action. read more hereBryan Sperry Touchdown in Alumni Game // Kansas Football // 4.25.15 Kansas Athletics
Brooke Baldwin Should Prove What She Really Believes About Veterans
"CNN’s Brooke Baldwin shows rest of media how to apologize" or so Erik Wemple wrote on the Washington Post. Maybe that is what she thinks however, there is far too much yammering and far too little thinking going on.
This is what Baldwin said in the first place.
This is the apology being defended by Wemple.
"Recounting" a conversation she had? Ok, if someone told her in a conversation that the moon was made out of cheese, would she simply repeat that without ever wondering what kind of cheese it was? Would she do some research to find out if the person expressing the thoughts was telling the truth or not? Would she ask experts on the CNN payroll for their thoughts?
Baldwin may have shown how to say "sorry" but didn't do much good for proving being informed in the first place would have prevented her from even repeating those words.
Baldwin isn't just a person stopped on the street for an interview. She's a reporter! She has a job to do. This didn't just hurt the feelings of veterans but it added to the already uninformed believing veterans are dangerous and looking for some kind of a fight.
Guess it didn't matter to her that veterans are more likely to harm themselves than anyone else or the other very underreported fact that PTSD veterans have PTSD because they put their lives on the line over and over again for others and are, in my opinion, some of the best people you'd ever want to meet.
When they come home the number on job they go into is law enforcement followed by firefighting. Both jobs require putting their lives on the line to defend, protect and save lives. And yes, some of them have PTSD but just like the citizens after traumatic events in their own lives, most folks would never know they were suffering. Suffering doesn't mean they are not capable of love, compassion, mercy, forbearance, or lacking anything other than proper help to heal.
Then again maybe Baldwin is just remembering some of the other "reports" CNN has done over the years.
Experts: Vets' PTSD, violence a growing problem, By Ashley Hayes, CNN, Updated 5:02 PM ET, Tue January 17, 2012
And in the same article there was this,
Keep in mind, according to the VA report from 2014 "Living Veterans (Periods of War and Peace) 23,234,000" yet there are few reports compared to those numbers. What we do see more of is veterans committing suicide and trying to on an upward trend at the same time there are more and more "efforts" to "raise awareness" and help veterans. (Don't get me started on that!)
There is way too much bullshit going on all over the country and the last thing veterans need is to hear something like what Baldwin said and they didn't deserve it to be in her mind in the first place. After all, if she didn't think it, she wouldn't have said it.
So, now what? Being one to open my mouth and let the words come out before I can actually think of how it sounds before it is too late, she is not beyond redemption. After all typing something isn't the same as saying something. I can hit the delete button and you'd never know I was about to be a blithering idiot, (Lucky you I usually catch myself) but saying it can't be taken back.
She needs to show that she has really wanted to learn what the truth is. Let her go on CNN and interview experts and veterans with a list of questions and then she'll show she how much she does care. We can judge by the type of questions she asks and if she had any follow-up questions ready. If she really cares then she'd do enough research to be able to do that.
Making mistakes is human, but showing where her heart really is, must now be proven.
This is what Baldwin said in the first place.
“And a lot of these young people … and I love our nation’s veterans, but some of them are coming back from war, they don’t know the communities and they’re ready to do battle.”
This is the apology being defended by Wemple.
On CNN’s “New Day” program Baldwin said:
I made a mistake yesterday. We were in the middle of live TV, I was talking to a member of Congress, and I was recounting a story, a conversation I had had recently just referring to police. And I absolutely misspoke, I inartfully chose my words 100 percent and I just wish speaking to all of you this morning: I wholeheartedly retract what I said. And I’ve thought tremendously about this, and to our nation’s veterans, to you — this is just who I want to speak with this morning — I have the utmost respect for our men and women in uniform. And I wanted you to know that this morning, so to all of you, I owe a tremendous apology. I am truly sorry.
"Recounting" a conversation she had? Ok, if someone told her in a conversation that the moon was made out of cheese, would she simply repeat that without ever wondering what kind of cheese it was? Would she do some research to find out if the person expressing the thoughts was telling the truth or not? Would she ask experts on the CNN payroll for their thoughts?
Baldwin may have shown how to say "sorry" but didn't do much good for proving being informed in the first place would have prevented her from even repeating those words.
Baldwin isn't just a person stopped on the street for an interview. She's a reporter! She has a job to do. This didn't just hurt the feelings of veterans but it added to the already uninformed believing veterans are dangerous and looking for some kind of a fight.
Guess it didn't matter to her that veterans are more likely to harm themselves than anyone else or the other very underreported fact that PTSD veterans have PTSD because they put their lives on the line over and over again for others and are, in my opinion, some of the best people you'd ever want to meet.
When they come home the number on job they go into is law enforcement followed by firefighting. Both jobs require putting their lives on the line to defend, protect and save lives. And yes, some of them have PTSD but just like the citizens after traumatic events in their own lives, most folks would never know they were suffering. Suffering doesn't mean they are not capable of love, compassion, mercy, forbearance, or lacking anything other than proper help to heal.
Then again maybe Baldwin is just remembering some of the other "reports" CNN has done over the years.
Experts: Vets' PTSD, violence a growing problem, By Ashley Hayes, CNN, Updated 5:02 PM ET, Tue January 17, 2012
A coincidence -- two recent high-profile cases? Or a sign of an increase in hostile behavior as U.S. troops complete their withdrawal from Iraq, similar to that seen when U.S. troops returned home from the Vietnam War?
"You're going to see this more and more over the next 10 years," said Shad Meshad, founder of the National Veterans Foundation, who has been working with veterans since 1970. "... There's a percentage that come back, depending on how much trauma and how much killing they're involved in, they're going to act out."
And in the same article there was this,
"What we don't want to do is stigmatize veterans by saying they're walking time bombs," said Elspeth Ritchie, chief clinical officer for the Washington, D.C., Department of Mental Health and a former U.S. Army colonel. "They're not."But then again, Richie had a bad habit of doing exactly that. Had she thought differently about our veterans she would have told the truth that an infinitesimal number of veterans cause trouble to anyone.
Keep in mind, according to the VA report from 2014 "Living Veterans (Periods of War and Peace) 23,234,000" yet there are few reports compared to those numbers. What we do see more of is veterans committing suicide and trying to on an upward trend at the same time there are more and more "efforts" to "raise awareness" and help veterans. (Don't get me started on that!)
There is way too much bullshit going on all over the country and the last thing veterans need is to hear something like what Baldwin said and they didn't deserve it to be in her mind in the first place. After all, if she didn't think it, she wouldn't have said it.
So, now what? Being one to open my mouth and let the words come out before I can actually think of how it sounds before it is too late, she is not beyond redemption. After all typing something isn't the same as saying something. I can hit the delete button and you'd never know I was about to be a blithering idiot, (Lucky you I usually catch myself) but saying it can't be taken back.
She needs to show that she has really wanted to learn what the truth is. Let her go on CNN and interview experts and veterans with a list of questions and then she'll show she how much she does care. We can judge by the type of questions she asks and if she had any follow-up questions ready. If she really cares then she'd do enough research to be able to do that.
Making mistakes is human, but showing where her heart really is, must now be proven.
Awesome Baltimore Veterans Line Up For Police
Awesome Veterans!!
Citizens Line Up to Protect Baltimore Police
Young Conservatives
David Rufful
April 29, 2015
In a very unexpected turn of events, the community that was targeting and injuring police officers is now lining up…. to defend them. Take a look at this:
read more here
Decades After Vietnam, Retired Veterans Get Help for PTSD
The Long Shadow of PTSD
Decades after Vietnam, retired veterans reunite and seek help
AARP Bulletin
by Brian Mockenhaupt
May 2015
After two tours as an infantryman in Vietnam, Dave Dillard came home to a country that he felt didn't understand where he'd been, or how the war had affected him. The Army discharged him with no advice about the lingering mental strains of combat. His family told him to get on with his life.
Some of the World War II veterans he met at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post weren't much help, either. "Just forget it," they told him.
He couldn't forget, but he moved on. He studied theater arts in San Francisco and later taught elementary school. But he gradually withdrew from friends and family. He avoided crowds and standing in lines. While mowing the lawn one afternoon, a loud noise sent him diving under a bush. Sleep was tortured. He dreamed that he'd been sent back to Vietnam for a third tour, and always he saw the same North Vietnamese soldier, his face lit up in the darkness by a rifle's muzzle flash.
In the mid-1980s he started searching for the men with whom he'd fought. He found them one by one over the next three decades. Many of them, he discovered, had been suffering as he had, and most hadn't gotten help until years later, if they'd sought help at all.
This is a common story among older combat veterans, who have contended with both the stigma of appearing weak and the lack of knowledge about the mental effects of combat. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) — characterized by hypervigilance, intrusive thoughts, nightmares and avoidance — wasn't a formal diagnosis until 1980, and effective treatments weren't widely available until the 1990s.
"They came home, stayed quiet and tried to muddle on as best they could," says Steven Thorp, a San Diego psychologist with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "They worked really hard as a distraction, 70, 80 hours a week, so PTSD didn't really hit them full force until they retired, or the kids left the house, or they're reminded of loss through the deaths of their friends."
"What they do know is that they're different," Thorp says. "But they don't know why it happened, and they don't know how to change it."
Dillard didn't know how to right himself, but he knew exactly what had changed him: one long, terrible night in the jungles north of Saigon during his first tour, when Delta Company, his unit from the 101st Airborne Division, was nearly overrun by hundreds of North Vietnamese soldiers. That night he witnessed heroics by his captain, Paul Bucha, and waited with Delta Company buddies like Calvin Heath and Bill Heaney for a dawn they feared would never come.
"That night marked all of us," says Dillard, 66, who now lives on a ranch in Livingston, Texas, and assists other veterans with their disability claims. "It's been the source of lots of nightmares."
read more here
It is never too late to heal!
Decades after Vietnam, retired veterans reunite and seek help
AARP Bulletin
by Brian Mockenhaupt
May 2015
After two tours as an infantryman in Vietnam, Dave Dillard came home to a country that he felt didn't understand where he'd been, or how the war had affected him. The Army discharged him with no advice about the lingering mental strains of combat. His family told him to get on with his life.
Some of the World War II veterans he met at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post weren't much help, either. "Just forget it," they told him.
Dave Dillard, 66, of the 101st Airborne Division. — Brent Humphreys
He couldn't forget, but he moved on. He studied theater arts in San Francisco and later taught elementary school. But he gradually withdrew from friends and family. He avoided crowds and standing in lines. While mowing the lawn one afternoon, a loud noise sent him diving under a bush. Sleep was tortured. He dreamed that he'd been sent back to Vietnam for a third tour, and always he saw the same North Vietnamese soldier, his face lit up in the darkness by a rifle's muzzle flash.
In the mid-1980s he started searching for the men with whom he'd fought. He found them one by one over the next three decades. Many of them, he discovered, had been suffering as he had, and most hadn't gotten help until years later, if they'd sought help at all.
This is a common story among older combat veterans, who have contended with both the stigma of appearing weak and the lack of knowledge about the mental effects of combat. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) — characterized by hypervigilance, intrusive thoughts, nightmares and avoidance — wasn't a formal diagnosis until 1980, and effective treatments weren't widely available until the 1990s.
"They came home, stayed quiet and tried to muddle on as best they could," says Steven Thorp, a San Diego psychologist with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "They worked really hard as a distraction, 70, 80 hours a week, so PTSD didn't really hit them full force until they retired, or the kids left the house, or they're reminded of loss through the deaths of their friends."
"What they do know is that they're different," Thorp says. "But they don't know why it happened, and they don't know how to change it."
Dillard didn't know how to right himself, but he knew exactly what had changed him: one long, terrible night in the jungles north of Saigon during his first tour, when Delta Company, his unit from the 101st Airborne Division, was nearly overrun by hundreds of North Vietnamese soldiers. That night he witnessed heroics by his captain, Paul Bucha, and waited with Delta Company buddies like Calvin Heath and Bill Heaney for a dawn they feared would never come.
"That night marked all of us," says Dillard, 66, who now lives on a ranch in Livingston, Texas, and assists other veterans with their disability claims. "It's been the source of lots of nightmares."
read more here
It is never too late to heal!
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
PTSD Veterans Find Healing With Horses
Equine therapy helping local veterans
Horses help veterans suffering with PTSD
WESH 2 News Orlando
By Dave McDaniel
UPDATED 6:10 PM EDT Apr 28, 2015
ORLANDO, Fla. —You might not know it just by looking at him, but Lance Cpl. Chris Brooking has only recently returned from the battlefield. Sometimes the scars of war can be seen and other times completely hidden.
Brooking's wounds weren't only the visible kind. He suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
“I couldn't bring myself to even walking around the neighborhood, constantly being on guard, on high alert, crazy uncomfortable,” he said.
The recipient of a Purple Heart after being injured in Afghanistan, Brooking wasn't the same when he came home.
“I was very uncomfortable in every day situations,” he said.
“Whenever I talked with him, I felt I had to walk on eggshells, because sometimes anything I said would set him off,” said his wife, Katie Brooking.
read more here
Horses help veterans suffering with PTSD
WESH 2 News Orlando
By Dave McDaniel
UPDATED 6:10 PM EDT Apr 28, 2015
Veterans and first responders receive therapy at S.A.D.L.E.S. free of charge.
ORLANDO, Fla. —You might not know it just by looking at him, but Lance Cpl. Chris Brooking has only recently returned from the battlefield. Sometimes the scars of war can be seen and other times completely hidden.
Brooking's wounds weren't only the visible kind. He suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
“I couldn't bring myself to even walking around the neighborhood, constantly being on guard, on high alert, crazy uncomfortable,” he said.
The recipient of a Purple Heart after being injured in Afghanistan, Brooking wasn't the same when he came home.
“I was very uncomfortable in every day situations,” he said.
“Whenever I talked with him, I felt I had to walk on eggshells, because sometimes anything I said would set him off,” said his wife, Katie Brooking.
read more here
Wisconsin Police Billboard Features Officer Who Shot 2
Thank-you billboard features Wisconsin police officer who shot two men days apart
Washington Post
By Sarah Larimer
April 27, 2015
Last month, Kenosha police officer Pablo Torres was involved in two separate shootings, including one that was fatal.
This month, his face is on a billboard in the Wisconsin city.
“Thank you for your support, Kenosha,” reads the billboard, which pictures a smiling Torres and a dog.
The police association, which paid for the ad, said it was an attempt to thank the local community. But some people connected to Aaron Siler — who was fatally shot by Torres — said they were upset by the display, which went up after a rally in support of law enforcement, the Kenosha News reported.
“I saw it and I was immediately sickened,” Kathy Willie, a Siler family friend, told the newspaper.
read more here
The other call was for a suicidal veteran after his wife called police for help to save him.
Washington Post
By Sarah Larimer
April 27, 2015
This billboard shows police officer Pablo Torres. (Bill Siel/Kenosha News)
Last month, Kenosha police officer Pablo Torres was involved in two separate shootings, including one that was fatal.
This month, his face is on a billboard in the Wisconsin city.
“Thank you for your support, Kenosha,” reads the billboard, which pictures a smiling Torres and a dog.
The police association, which paid for the ad, said it was an attempt to thank the local community. But some people connected to Aaron Siler — who was fatally shot by Torres — said they were upset by the display, which went up after a rally in support of law enforcement, the Kenosha News reported.
“I saw it and I was immediately sickened,” Kathy Willie, a Siler family friend, told the newspaper.
read more here
The other call was for a suicidal veteran after his wife called police for help to save him.
Philadelphia Veterans Get Massive Awareness Resource
Connecting the dots for veterans
Philly.com
DON SAPATKIN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Just four days after coming home to Northeast Philadelphia from Iraq in 2003, Tim Wynn got into a bar fight. The Marine was arrested for the first time in his life.
That wasn't even the worst of it.
"I can remember, my mother and my girlfriend at the time, now my wife, they didn't know what to do," he said. It took five years and six more arrests before he began court-ordered treatment for the PTSD that he didn't know he had.
His homecoming might have been easier if he could have had access to a new website for Philadelphia-area veterans that went live Monday.
It has 200,000 pages of searchable local resources - legal clinics, housing, job openings specifically for veterans - and tens of thousands more about medical conditions, insurance, and veterans organizations.
There are 30,000 pages on assistive devices alone. A diagram of a human lets you click on body parts to begin seeking information about what might be wrong. A keyword search for bills in Harrisburg - "disability" finds 25 bills - allows you to e-mail legislators involved in the effort.
The site is the first local version of www.networkofcare.org for veterans in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Philadelphia hosts sibling sites for inmates released from prison; every Pennsylvania county has one for people with mental health questions.
They were built by Trilogy Integrated Resources L.L.C., a San Rafael, Calif., company that began the local-links concept in its home state more than a decade ago. The early adopters spent millions of dollars developing the sites, Bruce Bronzan, president of Trilogy, said at a City Hall news conference, at which he demonstrated the veterans' website Monday. The local host, the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disabilty Services, paid a $10,000 setup fee; maintenance costs were waived.
Even caseworkers would not otherwise have access to many of the links on the site, Bronzan said. Veterans don't know that many of the services are out there.
"How does somebody find things when they don't even know that they exist to look for?" Bronzan said.
read more here
Philly.com
DON SAPATKIN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Tim Wynn came home from Iraq in 2003, suffering from what he now knows was PTSD. Wynn pictured at the 9/11 Memorial in New York.
Just four days after coming home to Northeast Philadelphia from Iraq in 2003, Tim Wynn got into a bar fight. The Marine was arrested for the first time in his life.
That wasn't even the worst of it.
"I can remember, my mother and my girlfriend at the time, now my wife, they didn't know what to do," he said. It took five years and six more arrests before he began court-ordered treatment for the PTSD that he didn't know he had.
His homecoming might have been easier if he could have had access to a new website for Philadelphia-area veterans that went live Monday.
It has 200,000 pages of searchable local resources - legal clinics, housing, job openings specifically for veterans - and tens of thousands more about medical conditions, insurance, and veterans organizations.
There are 30,000 pages on assistive devices alone. A diagram of a human lets you click on body parts to begin seeking information about what might be wrong. A keyword search for bills in Harrisburg - "disability" finds 25 bills - allows you to e-mail legislators involved in the effort.
The site is the first local version of www.networkofcare.org for veterans in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Philadelphia hosts sibling sites for inmates released from prison; every Pennsylvania county has one for people with mental health questions.
They were built by Trilogy Integrated Resources L.L.C., a San Rafael, Calif., company that began the local-links concept in its home state more than a decade ago. The early adopters spent millions of dollars developing the sites, Bruce Bronzan, president of Trilogy, said at a City Hall news conference, at which he demonstrated the veterans' website Monday. The local host, the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disabilty Services, paid a $10,000 setup fee; maintenance costs were waived.
Even caseworkers would not otherwise have access to many of the links on the site, Bronzan said. Veterans don't know that many of the services are out there.
"How does somebody find things when they don't even know that they exist to look for?" Bronzan said.
read more here
Vegas Station Casinos Chips Homeless Veterans
‘Month of Honor’ casino promotion helps village for homeless vets
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
By KEITH ROGERS
April 27, 2015
With a boost from Station Casinos’ “Month of Honor” promotion in May, Arnold Stalk expects his Veterans Village living center for homeless veterans will soar to a new level.
In addition to augmenting operation of the transitional and permanent residence, the effort by Station Casinos could help lay a financial foundation for a couple more floors that Stalk, founder and an architect, envisions on top of the two that already provide 125 rooms for homeless vets at the former Econo Lodge, 1150 Las Vegas Boulevard South
“When I meet with people, I don’t ask them for checks or donations,” Stalk said Monday after a tour of Veterans Village, a few blocks north of the Stratosphere. “We promote by attraction.
People get attracted to seeing the grassroots effort. They get attracted to our residents.”
The rippling effect of the branding of Veterans Village “has gotten a head of steam. This takes us to another level,” he said.
Through the end of May, all 19 Station Casinos properties and venues including cafes, casino bars, bingo rooms, spas and gaming areas will donate a portion of their proceeds and gaming winnings.
Lori Nelson, Station Casinos vice president of corporate communications, noted this is the first year of the effort and wasn’t sure how much it will generate.
“The more our guests enjoy our patriotic-themed offerings, the more money we can donate,” Nelson said.
The offerings include “patriotic pastries” and “patriotic poker,” as well as certain slot machines, designated blackjack tables and special bingo cards for players who want to help Veterans Village.
“We have obviously taken a deep interest and commitment in the local military community,” Nelson said. She was referring to Operation Thank You and the Military Mondays program that Station Casinos launched last year to thank local veterans with special discounts.
read more here
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
By KEITH ROGERS
April 27, 2015
With a boost from Station Casinos’ “Month of Honor” promotion in May, Arnold Stalk expects his Veterans Village living center for homeless veterans will soar to a new level.
In addition to augmenting operation of the transitional and permanent residence, the effort by Station Casinos could help lay a financial foundation for a couple more floors that Stalk, founder and an architect, envisions on top of the two that already provide 125 rooms for homeless vets at the former Econo Lodge, 1150 Las Vegas Boulevard South
“When I meet with people, I don’t ask them for checks or donations,” Stalk said Monday after a tour of Veterans Village, a few blocks north of the Stratosphere. “We promote by attraction.
People get attracted to seeing the grassroots effort. They get attracted to our residents.”
The rippling effect of the branding of Veterans Village “has gotten a head of steam. This takes us to another level,” he said.
Through the end of May, all 19 Station Casinos properties and venues including cafes, casino bars, bingo rooms, spas and gaming areas will donate a portion of their proceeds and gaming winnings.
Lori Nelson, Station Casinos vice president of corporate communications, noted this is the first year of the effort and wasn’t sure how much it will generate.
“The more our guests enjoy our patriotic-themed offerings, the more money we can donate,” Nelson said.
The offerings include “patriotic pastries” and “patriotic poker,” as well as certain slot machines, designated blackjack tables and special bingo cards for players who want to help Veterans Village.
“We have obviously taken a deep interest and commitment in the local military community,” Nelson said. She was referring to Operation Thank You and the Military Mondays program that Station Casinos launched last year to thank local veterans with special discounts.
read more here
Vietnam Veteran Took Stand Against Baltimore Rioters
Vietnam Veteran took stand against Baltimore rioters and bravo for him. When he said why he did it, he was expressing what a lot of other people feel.
The truth is, the rioters respect nothing but use everything they can to pretend what they are doing has any value at all. It doesn't. They used the death of Freddie Gray to the point where I actually had to look up his name because I couldn't remember it. It solved nothing when they became the story.
His family asked protestors to respect their grief just for one day, but they ignored it. No one knows what happened right now but the one thing everyone should know is the entire police force is not to blame even though it seems as if a few are responsible.
They attacked police officers even though what was done to Gray was not done by all of them, but that didn't matter. It didn't matter that they were destroying businesses and neighborhood property. Nothing mattered.
It never seems to matter that veterans are killed by police officers everyday all over the country because they do not get the help they need to come home and live in peace. Depending on where they live, some officers are trained properly and the veteran is taken to get help. In other parts of the country, they are shot quickly. There are hardly no protests at all for them.
Well, one veteran decided he was going to do something about it and he took a stand against the corrupters of Gray's family in pain. Even London took notice.
Veteran stands up against rioters
Anderson Cooper 360 | Source: CNN
Added on 9:55 PM ET, Mon April 27, 2015
There was a lot of folks showing great courage and those were the folks showing up to do their jobs in spite of the criminals destroying their city instead of working to make it a better place to live. Protesting peacefully is one thing but this, this inflicted more pain on more people.
The truth is, the rioters respect nothing but use everything they can to pretend what they are doing has any value at all. It doesn't. They used the death of Freddie Gray to the point where I actually had to look up his name because I couldn't remember it. It solved nothing when they became the story.
His family asked protestors to respect their grief just for one day, but they ignored it. No one knows what happened right now but the one thing everyone should know is the entire police force is not to blame even though it seems as if a few are responsible.
They attacked police officers even though what was done to Gray was not done by all of them, but that didn't matter. It didn't matter that they were destroying businesses and neighborhood property. Nothing mattered.
It never seems to matter that veterans are killed by police officers everyday all over the country because they do not get the help they need to come home and live in peace. Depending on where they live, some officers are trained properly and the veteran is taken to get help. In other parts of the country, they are shot quickly. There are hardly no protests at all for them.
Well, one veteran decided he was going to do something about it and he took a stand against the corrupters of Gray's family in pain. Even London took notice.
Baltimore riots: Video shows 'hero' Vietnam vet who told looters to go home and study
London Evening Standard
RAMZY ALWAKEEL
Published: 28 April 2015
Veteran: Robert Valentine tells CNN's Joe Johns why he has confronted rioters
(Picture: CNN/YouTube)
A Vietnam veteran who stood up to rioters in Baltimore has been branded a hero.
Robert Valentine was interviewed by CNN after he was spotted confronting rioters in the street after a wave of violence broke out following the death of a black man who was in police custody in the US city.
The war veteran astonished news reporters when he delivered a poignant message on camera denouncing rioters.
Speaking to CNN reporter Joe Johns, he said: "I did 30 years, came out Master Sergeant. I've seen more than all this. I've been through the riots already."
read more here
Veteran stands up against rioters
Anderson Cooper 360 | Source: CNN
Added on 9:55 PM ET, Mon April 27, 2015
There was a lot of folks showing great courage and those were the folks showing up to do their jobs in spite of the criminals destroying their city instead of working to make it a better place to live. Protesting peacefully is one thing but this, this inflicted more pain on more people.
Afghanistan Veteran Killed By Police Had PTSD
Parents of veteran fatally shot seek answers
Victoria Advocate
By Bianca Montes
April 27, 2015
The parents of a 25-year-old Victoria man fatally shot by police officers want answers.
Answers they say Victoria police officials have been reluctant to offer.
Saturday night, officers responded to a disturbance call in the 800 block of Simpson Road behind Academy Sports and Outdoors. At the scene, one of the officers observed a man inside his own residence holding a 23-inch machete.
Police Chief J.J. Craig said at a news conference Sunday that officers ordered the suspect, Brandon Lawrence, out of his residence. He said they also ordered him more than 30 times to drop his weapon.
Lawrence didn't comply and was fatally shot outside his home, Craig said.
read more here
Afghanistan Veteran Killed By Police in Texas
Victoria Advocate
By Bianca Montes
April 27, 2015
Lawrence, a U.S. Army veteran, was diagnosed with PTSD after serving in Afghanistan, his wife, Yasmine Lawrence, told the Advocate. He was trying to get help and had just started a new combination of medication.
The parents of a 25-year-old Victoria man fatally shot by police officers want answers.
Answers they say Victoria police officials have been reluctant to offer.
Saturday night, officers responded to a disturbance call in the 800 block of Simpson Road behind Academy Sports and Outdoors. At the scene, one of the officers observed a man inside his own residence holding a 23-inch machete.
Police Chief J.J. Craig said at a news conference Sunday that officers ordered the suspect, Brandon Lawrence, out of his residence. He said they also ordered him more than 30 times to drop his weapon.
Lawrence didn't comply and was fatally shot outside his home, Craig said.
read more here
Monday, April 27, 2015
Two Navy SEALs Died in Training Accident
2nd Navy SEAL dies after accident in Little Creek pool
Pilot Online
Virginia Pilot
Lauren King
April 7, 2015
A second Navy SEAL involved in an accident at a Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek pool has died.
Petty Officer 1st Class Brett Allen Marihugh, 34, of Livonia, Mich., died Sunday afternoon of his injuries, according to Lt. David Lloyd, a Naval Special Warfare Group 2 spokesman.
Marihugh and Petty Officer 1st Class Seth Cody Lewis were found unresponsive Friday in a swimming pool on base while doing physical fitness training.
Both belonged to Naval Special Warfare Group 2, and Lloyd said in a news release that the two men were discovered at the bottom of the pool by service members assigned to the Combat Swimmer Training Facility, which is used by members of the SEAL team for regular fitness training.
Lewis was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Sentara Leigh Hospital, the news release said. Marihugh had been in critical condition and was transferred to Sentara Virginia Beach General, where he later died.
read more here
Linked from Military.com
Pilot Online
Virginia Pilot
Lauren King
April 7, 2015
A second Navy SEAL involved in an accident at a Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek pool has died.
Petty Officer 1st Class Brett Allen Marihugh, 34, of Livonia, Mich., died Sunday afternoon of his injuries, according to Lt. David Lloyd, a Naval Special Warfare Group 2 spokesman.
Marihugh and Petty Officer 1st Class Seth Cody Lewis were found unresponsive Friday in a swimming pool on base while doing physical fitness training.Both belonged to Naval Special Warfare Group 2, and Lloyd said in a news release that the two men were discovered at the bottom of the pool by service members assigned to the Combat Swimmer Training Facility, which is used by members of the SEAL team for regular fitness training.
Lewis was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Sentara Leigh Hospital, the news release said. Marihugh had been in critical condition and was transferred to Sentara Virginia Beach General, where he later died.
read more here
Linked from Military.com
Afghanistan Veteran Killed By Police in Texas
Victoria police kill man wielding machete (w/Video)
Victoria Advocate
By Bianca Montes
Updated April 27, 2015
At least two Victoria police officers were placed on administrative leave Sunday after fatally shooting a 25-year-old man outside of his home.
The officers will remain on paid leave during the investigation, which is being led by the Texas Rangers, per departmental policies, chief J.J. Craig said Sunday at a news conference.
Craig declined to name the officers involved in the shooting or how many fired a weapon at the scene.
Officers responded to a disturbance call about 11 p.m. Saturday in the 800 block of Simpson Road behind Academy Sports and Outdoors.
A man, who was later identified as Brandon Lawrence, was observed by officers just inside his residence holding a 23-inch machete.
read more here
Man shot by police suffered from PTSD, wife says
Victoria Advocate
By Bianca Montes
April 26, 2015
Victoria Advocate
By Bianca Montes
Updated April 27, 2015
At least two Victoria police officers were placed on administrative leave Sunday after fatally shooting a 25-year-old man outside of his home.
The officers will remain on paid leave during the investigation, which is being led by the Texas Rangers, per departmental policies, chief J.J. Craig said Sunday at a news conference.
Craig declined to name the officers involved in the shooting or how many fired a weapon at the scene.
Officers responded to a disturbance call about 11 p.m. Saturday in the 800 block of Simpson Road behind Academy Sports and Outdoors.
A man, who was later identified as Brandon Lawrence, was observed by officers just inside his residence holding a 23-inch machete.
read more here
Man shot by police suffered from PTSD, wife says
Victoria Advocate
By Bianca Montes
April 26, 2015
Lawrence met her husband while stationed in Alaska.
The two were in the U.S. Army, and their attraction was instant, she said.
"He was a protector; he was sweet."
Lawrence, 23, said her husband deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 while she was pregnant with their first child.
read more here
Veteran Shot to Death Trying to Save Woman
Wife of Marine veteran mourns his death after he was shot to death in Ohio while visiting family
10News Digital Team
Apr 26, 2015
SAN DIEGO - A woman in Oceanside is mourning the death of her Marine veteran husband who was shot and killed in Ohio while he was trying to break up a bar fight.
Lydia McJilton said her husband Josh McJilton saved her life when they met and married five years ago. She said she was lost and he became her best friend. She believes Josh died a hero.
He was visiting family in his hometown of Wauseon, Ohio, and was at a bar when he noticed a fight starting between a man and a woman in a car.
read more here
10News Digital Team
Apr 26, 2015
Lydia McJilton said her husband Josh McJilton saved her life when they met and married five years ago. She said she was lost and he became her best friend. She believes Josh died a hero.
He was visiting family in his hometown of Wauseon, Ohio, and was at a bar when he noticed a fight starting between a man and a woman in a car.
read more here
Vietnam Veteran Dropping Sunflower Seeds?
A vet seeks to make 58,183 U.S. casualties more than a number
The Register-Guard
By Jack Heffernan
APRIL 27, 2015
The seeds — a total of 58,183, the number of U.S. military personnel who died in the Vietnam War — won’t be planted.
They’ll just be sprinkled near roadways, to be blown away by gusts from passing cars or eaten by birds and squirrels.
That’s just fine with Vietnam War veteran Bruce Hindrichs, the Eugene resident who came up with the novel way to commemorate the war.
Hindrichs, along with nine fellow veterans and two family members, plan to drop the seeds along 10 miles of the route on Wednesday.
The entire 11-mile route will begin at Spencers Crest Drive and Willamette Street in south Eugene, then snake north to cross the Ferry Street Bridge and travel along Coburg Road, all the way to the southern city limits of Coburg. The seeds will sit about 1 foot apart along the route.
Hindrichs is then inviting the public to join him to drop the final 5,300 or so seeds on Thursday, the 40th anniversary of the Vietnam War’s end with the U.S. evacuation from Saigon.
read more here
The Register-Guard
By Jack Heffernan
APRIL 27, 2015
Bruce Hindrichs, a Vietnam War veteran, holds a map of the route of the Seed Walk that he has organized as a memorial for the U.S. soldiers killed in Vietnam. He stands in front of the Lane County War Memorial in Skinner Butte Park in Eugene.An 11-mile line of sunflower seeds will stretch from south Eugene to Coburg on Thursday.
(Andy Nelson/The Register-Guard)
The seeds — a total of 58,183, the number of U.S. military personnel who died in the Vietnam War — won’t be planted.
They’ll just be sprinkled near roadways, to be blown away by gusts from passing cars or eaten by birds and squirrels.
That’s just fine with Vietnam War veteran Bruce Hindrichs, the Eugene resident who came up with the novel way to commemorate the war.
Hindrichs, along with nine fellow veterans and two family members, plan to drop the seeds along 10 miles of the route on Wednesday.
The entire 11-mile route will begin at Spencers Crest Drive and Willamette Street in south Eugene, then snake north to cross the Ferry Street Bridge and travel along Coburg Road, all the way to the southern city limits of Coburg. The seeds will sit about 1 foot apart along the route.
Hindrichs is then inviting the public to join him to drop the final 5,300 or so seeds on Thursday, the 40th anniversary of the Vietnam War’s end with the U.S. evacuation from Saigon.
read more here
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