Combat:Shattering of the soul

How can there be a loving God when He allows all of this? This is what they wonder when they have not only witnessed the worst humanity is capable of, they were participants in it. The ability to feel anything sprung from the depth of their souls is an indication that God was right there with them, but they didn't see Him. They stopped looking for Him in the midst of carnage.

To translate the aftermath of combat with what humans have been told about God, never seems to make any sense at all. They fail to see that humans have been provided with freewill and some will use that freewill for good while others use it for evil. Those with the ability to care, to feel compassion and grieve are what is best of mankind. They have the best of what God created within their soul but if they have the wrong image of God, the wrong understanding or a weak understanding of Him, they think it's more of a curse and God is not good. The goodness inside of them came from a loving God. Yet this same goodness is the root of all the pain they feel especially when they do not understand it. The gift of compassion allows them to feel more but they were also enabled with great courage so they could act on that compassion.

What good does it do a man to feel compassion for someone else, but have no courage to act?

A child standing in the middle of a road with a truck heading right for the child needs someone to want to save them. A man with compassion sees this, feels compassion but without the courage to do anything, they will just stand there. With the courage, they rush to save the child without any thought for themselves. Courage and compassion work in conjunction for good. They need to be reminded of this because some think if they have compassion, they are weak instead of the most courageous of all.

When they see this, they see God differently and see themselves differently. When their souls heal and the understand God's love as love instead of a curse, they are transformed and heal.

This is not about one denomination over another, nor is it about one faith over another. It is our own personal relationship with God that we thrive with or suffer from.

'Shattering of the soul'
By
Published: Apr 02, 2006 12:00 am
By Daniel Hartill,Staff Writer
More combat veterans seek help as counselors try to redefine post-traumatic stress disorder.

Take people 6,000 miles from home. Shoot at them. Blow stuff up. Hide the bad guys among the good.

Even normal men and women - brave and strong American soldiers - feel their emotions fray when they return home.

It seems easy to understand, until doctors put it in a medical book, label it "post-traumatic stress disorder" and try treating folks.

After years of clinical study of the way the brain changes under stress, doctors and psychologists have built a vocabulary around the issue. Symptoms are classified. Levels of anxiety are measured. Signs of "disassociation" are determined. Healing is marked by phases.

Maj. Gen. Bill Libby, Maine's adjutant general, issued orders this year for every National Guard member who returns from Iraq or Afghanistan to talk one on one with a counselor.

"We are all Type A's," Libby said. "Lots of us don't like talking about our feelings. We'd rather do something."

However, Libby knows the emotional healing needs to happen.

"These men and women have been forever changed by their experiences," said Libby, a veteran of the Vietnam War. "Thirty-eight years later, I am still struggling with my experiences."
read more here
http://www.sunjournal.com/node/76614

Please stop looking really stupid

Please stop looking really stupid, it's bad use of God's gift of your brain.

I keep getting emails with the claim that Obama wants to make veterans pay for their care, even though it's pretty much already being done and didn't start with him. This is the truth on what happened and it came from the American Legion site. The thought was gone as soon as it was explained to President Obama how it could end up hurting veterans. Given the fact McCain wanted non-combat veterans out of the VA all together, I have to wonder where the Republican mind is? He wanted to hand out cards to any veteran that did not get wounded in combat so they could go get their own care,,,nice guy, not!

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 18, 2009


Statement from Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on the President's Strong Commitment to America's Veterans:

The President has consistently stated that he is committed to working with veterans on the details of the 2010 VA Budget Proposal. The President demonstrated his deep commitment to veterans by proposing the largest increase in the VA budget in 30 years and calling VSO and MSO leaders into the White House for an unprecedented meeting to discuss various aspects of the budget proposal. In considering the third party billing issue, the administration was seeking to maximize the resources available for veterans; however, the President listened to concerns raised by the VSOs that this might, under certain circumstances, affect veterans and their families' ability to access health care. Therefore, the President has instructed that its consideration be dropped. The President wants to continue a constructive partnership with the VSOs and MSOs and is grateful to those VSOs and MSOs who have worked in good faith with him on the budget proposal.

_____________________________________________________________

WASHINGTON (March 18, 2009) - The leader of the nation's largest veterans organization applauded President Obama for dropping his plan to bill private insurance companies for the treatment of military veterans who have suffered service-connected disabilities and injuries.

"We are glad that President Obama listened to the strong objections raised by The American Legion and veterans everywhere about this unfair plan," said American Legion National Commander David K Rehbein. "We thank the administration for its proposed increase in the VA budget and we are always available to assist by providing guidance to ensure a veterans health care system that is worthy of the heroes that use it."

Following a meeting this afternoon with The American Legion and other veterans service organizations, the White House announced that it will no longer be considering billing insurance companies or veterans for their service-connected disabilities.

"Although we disagreed with the proposal, additional revenue streams are needed by VA," Rehbein said. "I strongly encourage Congress and the administration to allow VA to begin billing Medicare for the treatment of Medicare-eligible nonservice-connected veterans. They paid into Medicare for their entire working careers and should be able to use it in the medical system that was built specifically for them."

With a current membership of 2.6 million wartime veterans, The American Legion was founded in 1919 on the four pillars of a strong national security, veterans affairs, Americanism, and the mentoring of youth. Legionnaires work for the betterment of their communities through more than 14,000 posts across the nation.
http://ourvoice.legion.org/story/1451/legion-commander-praises-obamas-change-plan

Next, congress passed a rule in the 90's allowing the VA to collect for "non-service connected" care, but what this did was end up making veterans pay for care because their claim was not approved yet. The insurance companies didn't have to pay for anything a VA doctor diagnosed as connected to military service, even if they were paying for private health insurance. The veteran with a tied up claim had to pay out of their pocket based on their incomes. I don't have a clue why the Legion Commander or President Obama acted as if this is not happening already because we've been handing over our private health insurance cards for years even though my husband had a full disability. We also had to pay with our own money while we were paying for health insurance when his claim was tied up.

Getting back to this stupid email that is still circulating, it's really horrible some people will not use the brains God gave them. It's almost as bad as people screaming they don't want Government healthcare when they are getting their care from the VA or from Medicare or Medicaid, which is government run. They never seem to understand this either. I would love to know why some members of congress want to get rid of these programs if they are so insistent on no government run healthcare? If you have any of your care provided by any of these services, I'd be really angry if I were you that they want you to go out and get your own care. After all, that's what they've been saying all along. Don't get mad at the people trying to make these programs work right and better by expanding them. Get mad at the people saying you don't deserve your's either!

Vets shred uniforms to heal through art?

There are things we do in life that may feel good at the moment but we end up regretting them after. Like having sex with a stranger is powerful, feels good at the moment, later comes regret. You can't undo it later.

Too many veterans came back from Vietnam believing if they got rid of their medals, if they burnt their uniforms, if they got rid of every reminder about Vietnam, the ghost would just go away and leave them alone. That didn't happen.

Nothing worked because the wrong things were done in an attempt to heal the soul and mend the heart.

I met a friend for coffee a couple of days ago and he's an example of how something like turning memories of Iraq or Afghanistan, or any other war, into something else, ends up turning them into someone else for a very short time.

He came home from Vietnam, put his papers, medals, uniform and pictures into a steel trash can. He poured lighter fluid on them and watched them burn. He took the cooled ashes and put them into the soil where he planted a garden. He thought that if he took something he viewed as ugly in his life and turned it into something beautiful, everything would be wonderful again. He was wrong.

The flowers grew but he didn't know how to take care of them right and they died soon after they blossomed. They never had a chance because the soil didn't have what it needed to sustain life and he added nothing to it like proper watering, didn't add fertilizer or even pull weeds. Everything he thought was wrong about his time in combat, serving as a draftee, was still inside of him just as it was in the soil.

My friend sank deeper into despair and soon his family fell apart. He felt lost for years until someone finally told him what he needed to know.

There was no need to get rid of a part of his life because everything in a person's life goes into what they are. All the good and bad are used for a purpose. The reason we were sent to live on this earth. It can break us if we look at it the wrong way. As if God did it to us instead of God gave us what we need to get through what other people did to us or mistakes we made in our own lives. My friend, like so many faced death in Vietnam. Because of the horrors he saw and the way he felt so ugly inside with rage boiling, he thought God had abandoned the whole earth. How could there be a God when all of this evil lived? How could there be any kind of a loving God when so many are blown to bits in a second. People who did nothing wrong except to be born in the wrong place at the wrong time?

It's a speech I've given to veterans a thousand times, but someone else told him what I've been trying to say as well but somehow this other "angel" got the message thru. I don't know the words used exactly or how they were delivered but it came down to, God was there in Vietnam, because he was.

People tend to look at destruction, evil, violence and the wrong mankind can do, then wonder where God is. They think if He exists at all, He must be evil and they don't want to know Him. They cannot see the goodness within themselves anymore. If they could, they would understand that goodness, that care and compassion within them causing them so much pain, came from God. How could they understand this if no one reminded them? The goodness inside of them couldn't have come from a God that was evil. God was in the midst of all that horror because my friend could still care.

God puts the soul within all of us no matter if we believe in Him or not, it's there inside of us. It makes some of us care deeply for other people and equipped with a tremendous level of courage to do what we have been sent to do. It's all there within us, but if we do not listen, do not allow ourselves to be guided and sustained, then we will not grow in the love we have been given. Much like the garden had all it needed to grow, it did not receive what it needed to thrive. It withered away. It became a snarled mess instead of a beautiful garden filled with flowers.

When we do not know much about God or view Him as evil, then we turn from Him and then we turn from ourselves. If we do not see that He sent caring people to give of themselves because there would be so many turning away because of their own freewill, then we cannot see any goodness at all.

My friend ended up getting the message and changed his mindset. He turned back to God, eventually saw the goodness within him and viewed his time in the hell of combat as a part of him. He cannot get back what he destroyed with his act but what he misses the most were the pictures of his friends. Some of them died there. He does find comfort knowing they live on in his heart.

Getting rid of reminders of our life does not remove them from our lives. Turning them into something else cannot be done by simply making them look like something else. They have to be changed from within. Otherwise it's just one more regret that cannot be undone.

Vets shred uniforms to heal through art

By Russ Bynum - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Aug 6, 2009 11:48:18 EDT

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Tired of taking pills prescribed to suppress his pain, Zach Choate decided to wrestle head-on with the trauma that followed him home from Iraq. He began by using a razor to shred his Army uniform to bits.

“I’m hoping I come out of this a little more whole, a little bit more at peace,” said Choate, who was a gunner in the 10th Mountain Division. “I’m not an anti-war, anti-military person. This is just me fixing me.”

He chopped his camouflage jacket into inchlong strips. He diced the American flag patch on its right shoulder, along with a prescription for sleeping pills he found in a pocket. Even the Purple Heart ribbon Choate earned after being wounded by a roadside bomb got torn into tiny threads.

The 25-year-old soldier from Cartersville joined a handful of Iraq veterans at a Savannah art studio last week to destroy uniforms that had become painful reminders of their combat experience, using them to create something new.
read more here
Vets shred uniforms to heal through art

Health care issues raised at Fort Campbell

Health care issues raised at Fort Campbell

By Kristin M. Hall - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Aug 6, 2009 15:10:21 EDT

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — Medical officials at Fort Campbell say they are working to improve access to health care for soldiers and their families and to address complaints about driving long distances to get treatment.

The Army’s medical leaders are trying to balance the needs of a rising number of injured soldiers returning from war with the capacity of doctors and staff at their military hospitals. At Fort Campbell, many units have completed third and fourth tours and the installation has hundreds of soldiers assigned to its wounded warrior unit.

During meetings at Fort Campbell this week, hospital staff and representatives from the Army and Tricare, the military health insurance program, took questions from family members and soldiers.

“We have problems with access,” said Col. Kenneth Canestrini, who works for the Army surgeon general’s office overseeing the Tricare program. “The U.S. Army recognizes that. It’s a fluid environment and we are working on it.”

One complaint from military members and their families was that sometimes they had to drive long distances away from the installation on the Kentucky-Tennessee state line to get certain treatment, officials said.
read more here
Health care issues raised at Fort Campbell

Ministries pave a spiritual path to help veterans with PTSD

Ministries pave a spiritual path to help veterans with PTSD

By G. Jeffrey MacDonald, Special for USA TODAY
Hopelessness haunted Tim Pollock for years after an Iraqi insurgent blew off half his skull during a reconnaissance operation in 2004. Back home in Columbiana, Ohio, the retired Army infantryman drank hard, bought a gun and considered suicide.
But today Pollock, 30, has a renewed sense of purpose despite his seizures and other war-related disabilities. He visits soldiers in hospitals. He coaches veterans who struggle as he does with agitation, anxiety and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). And he's studying for ministry.
Ministries pave a spiritual path to help veterans with PTSD

PTSD: Puts veterans at increased risk of dementia
ARMY: Monitoring faulted in rise of soldier suicides
CATHARSIS: Stressed troops take cues from ancient plays

"I'll always have post-traumatic stress, but I'm learning through God how to control that," says Pollock, who leads a veteran support group through Point Man International Ministries, an independent non-profit. "I'm learning how to change my feelings of anger into feelings of love and help people with their problems."

As soldiers return home from Iraq and Afghanistan, congregations are discovering how spirituality can help veterans afflicted with postwar stress. But many pastors remain unsure how to help when veterans contend with chronic nightmares, outbursts and panic attacks.
read more here
Ministries pave a spiritual path to help veterans with PTSD

Last year I did a video for Point Man Ministries because they touched my heart so much. Please watch it and see the good these people do.

Point Man Ministry Serving Those Who Served - watch more videos

When they can ask no more of us

by
Chaplain Kathie

When they can ask no more of us, why is it that we seem to suddenly be able to find the time to show up? Do we track ICasualties.org to find the latest news? How many of us even know how many have laid down their lives in service doing what we asked of them? Anyone? 4,330 in Iraq and 768 in Afghanistan as of today according to ICasualties. Naturally this is not counting the suicides or the wounded, or those who succumbed to wounds after. We don't keep count of the families that have fallen apart either.

We may never know the true numbers of wounded because PTSD is not reported by every veteran or solider suffering. Some of them get on motorcycles and crash them either speeding and they go out of control, or on purpose to end their pain. Some do it with cars. No one can ever tell for sure if an accident is an accident or a suicide cover-up to spare their families.

The DOD has one count of suicides, but their figures are never accurate simply because so many of them remain "under investigation" so the numbers are easy to hide, but easier because the media really doesn't seem to be able to find the time to demand answers, at least for the sake of the family left to wonder why a son or daughter, husband, wife or parent is not going to be home anymore. The VA has another count on their own, but once again, they don't really work too hard to find out what the numbers are, but even if they did, they simply wouldn't know all the numbers. The frightening thing is, many families do not report it to the VA or the media as a suicide connected to service in combat.

Too many never think of any of this. People living in the same town or city never even try to know what the veterans need, how many homeless veterans live there or how many families are suffering.

These same people may hear of a soldier being laid to rest on a certain day, think about traffic being blocked with a military funeral procession and make sure they avoid the area. Others show up to line the roads, take off their hats, maybe even wave a flag. Then some will go about their own business, never bothering to check to see if anyone else died after that. They will wait until their local media prints a notice in the paper or a friend calls to tell them about it.

How is this happening? How is it that we've come to this point where no one seems to really care on a daily basis? Is it the media's fault people have to bother to look on a site like ICasualties.org to find out? No! It's our own fault. If more people went into this site on a daily basis, the broadcast media would notice and begin to report on Iraq and Afghanistan along with everything else going on. They wouldn't be able to spend weeks covering the death of a celebrity no matter how important they are because the American people would have shown the important issue to them is the men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the veterans all across the country.

What good does it do to acknowledge them when they can ask no more of us?

I received this from Matt Daniels at Great Americans. I'm asking you to read what he wrote and then watch the video. It will only take a few moments out of your day. If you're reading this blog, I know you care or you wouldn't be here. This is not a
lesson you need to learn but I'm sure you know people that need a wake up call to pay attention. Often people are good hearted and only need to be made aware of things. We're all very busy in our own lives, but when people know there is a crisis, they respond.

This is not a matter of politics, but just Americans in this one nation the men and women in the military are serving. It doesn't matter if your friends are Democrat or Republican. If they watch FOX, MSNBC or CNN. This is about the people we're supposed to care about needing us to prove it to them when they are alive and will know how much they mean to us.

The Day Michael Jackson Died

Would you like to know why we’ve labored long and hard to create Great Americans? This video will tell you why.

The day Michael Jackson died was also the day that Brian Bradshaw died in combat in Afghanistan. Bradshaw was honored in his hometown. But the rest of America never noticed.

This video is hard to watch. But it’s worth watching. And CBS deserves a lot of credit for producing and airing it.

A culture that worships celebrities – fawning on every detail of their lives and deaths – implicitly devalues the greatness of the ordinary men and women who make real sacrifices to sustain our society. Some are in uniform. Some are the parents, spouses and family members who support those who protect us – both at home and abroad.

This is the story of the sacrifice of one 24 year old American soldier and his family. But it is also the story of many other families throughout our history. If we forget them, then we cannot survive as a nation. In fact, we don’t deserve to.



Matt Daniels
Creator & Executive Producer

A Day To Remember - watch more videos

19 Year old soldier's death in Iraq under investigation

DoD Identifies Army Casualty


The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Pvt. Keiffer P. Wilhelm, 19, of Plymouth, Ohio, died August 4 in Maysan province, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 13th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas.

The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation.

http://icasualties.org/Iraq/index.aspx

Five bodies pulled from charred wreckage after I-5 crash in CA

Five bodies pulled from charred wreckage after I-5 crash

Witnesses say the SUV blew a tire before skidding off I-5, slamming into a light pole and rolling down an embankment in O.C. The ensuing fire was so fierce witnesses couldn't get near to help.

By Paloma Esquivel and My-Thuan Tran
August 5, 2009
Five people were killed Tuesday morning when a sport utility vehicle skidded off Interstate 5, rolled down an embankment and burst into flames, authorities said.

Witnesses to the Mission Viejo crash said they ran down the embankment to try to help, but the blaze forced them back.

The Orange County coroner's office said the victims were a 37-year-old man, a 33-year-old woman and three other females whose ages were not released.
read more here
Five bodies pulled from charred wreckage

A traffic stop erupts in peril, death in Malden MA

A traffic stop erupts in peril, death in Malden
Chief says killing was self-defense

By Peter Schworm and Travis Andersen
Globe Staff Globe Correspondent / August 5, 2009

MALDEN - The driver of the car, 20-year-old Alexander S. Nesom, had a long history of drugs and violence and was once accused of trying to kill his father with a baseball bat at their Cape Cod home in 2006. Beside him sat Mark Dwyer, 24, of Worcester, a pest-control worker with two drug cases on his record. In the back seat was James Calo, a local man with convictions for larceny and drug trafficking, who police say was carrying capped needles and two bags of heroin in the waistband of his pants.

Police who pulled over the white Toyota Monday evening around 7 knew none of that. On a hunch, a patrolling officer had run the plates on the car, learning it had been reported stolen in Brockton. And as the vehicle came slowly to a stop on Salem Street, a busy residential road, the situation seemed manageable, if not routine.

Yet when the officer pulled Dwyer from the car, the encounter took a dire and ultimately deadly turn. Nesom allegedly chucked the car into reverse and barreled backward, ramming the cruiser and knocking the officer to the ground, allowing Dwyer to escape. As two patrol cars arrived at the scene to box in the Toyota, Nesom gunned the engine and surged forward, striking two officers and their vehicles in an attempt to get away, authorities said. Fearing he would run them down again, authorities said, the officers fired single shots at close range, fatally wounding the driver.

Yesterday, authorities defended the officers who fired on Nesom as well-trained and decorated veterans who used their weapons in self-defense.
read more here
A traffic stop erupts in peril, death in Malden

Police Delve Into Mind-Set of Drunken Woman Whose Crash Killed Eight

Police Delve Into Mind-Set of Drunken Woman Whose Crash Killed Eight

By LISA W. FODERARO and AL BAKER
Published: August 5, 2009

She was a warm, capable executive for Cablevision for more than decade, a working mother with two handsome children and a well-kept home in West Babylon, N.Y., where neighbors said she always greeted them with a wave.

On the weekend of July 25 and 26, when Diane Schuler and her husband, Daniel, were at a lakefront campground in Sullivan County with their children and three nieces, nothing seemed amiss. Fellow campers who have known the family for years detected no signs of conflict.

“We saw them heading down to the beach with their swim tubes and gear,” said Sharon Gregor, whose campsite was near the Schulers’. “At this campground if someone sneezes two campsites down from us, I say, ‘Bless you.’ It’s very quiet up here. You would hear something.”

But between leaving the campground at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday and 1:30 that afternoon, something went drastically awry in the life of Diane Schuler.

Investigators revealed Tuesday that she had been drunk and high on marijuana as she drove a minivan 1.7 miles in the wrong direction on the Taconic State Parkway in Westchester County. She finally collided head-on with a Chevrolet TrailBlazer in one of the worst crashes in the New York region in memory.

She ended up taking her own life and the lives of seven others: her 2-year-old daughter Erin, her three nieces and three men from Yonkers in the S.U.V.
read more here
Police Delve Into Mind-Set of Drunken Woman Whose Crash Killed Eight

Florida: A dangerous place to live

I agree with this! They left out the rain. Coming from New England, I was used to white-outs with snow storms but never once heard of a "rain out" when you cannot see in front of you at all. I've been trapped on many highways when this happens. Not much fun that's for sure. Then there is the fact we moved from Massachusetts in 2004 right before Charlie, Francis and Jean decided to blow thru for a visit. We were told that Central Florida didn't have hurricanes before we decided where to live.

There is much to enjoy about Florida. One thing that's for sure is, there is never a dull moment on the news.

Florida: A dangerous place to live Florida may represent a paradise found for folks escaping frigid, northern climes. Newcomers, however, may not realize that while our state has natural beauty, it is also fraught with natural threats. Consider lightning strikes: Central Florida is the U.S. capital. And, statewide, lightning causes more weather-related deaths than all other kinds of weather events combined, according to the National Weather Service. Florida has been socked by three of the top 10 deadliest hurricanes; eight of the most costly; and five of the most intense, according to historical data compiled by the National Hurricane Center in Miami. We have shark attacks on the coast and sinkholes pock-marking our porous interior.

Destructive tornadoes have raked our region several times. And we 18 million or so Floridians share this uncertain environment with about 1.25 million alligators, a native species known to occasionally attack people, and an estimated "tens of thousands" of Burmese pythons, a non-native species that is proving to live up to its alpha-predator status.
read more here
A dangerous place to live Florida

Mom arrested after 5-year-old daughter shot

Mom arrested after 5-year-old daughter shot

Updated: 5:19 p.m.
A late-night shooting of a 5-year-old girl at an Orlando apartment complex appears to be accidental, Orlando police said this afternoon. Read more...

Volunteers rush to save animals at shelter during flood

Several animals drown as shelter floods, 600 others moved to fairgrounds

05:07 PM EDT on Wednesday, August 5, 2009

WHAS11 coverage


(WHAS11) - Witnesses say it took only minutes for floodwaters to rise nearly waist deep inside Louisville’s animal shelter.


But with only a dozen people, and nearly 600 animals, shelter workers couldn't get them all to safety in time.


Watch this story
Authorities say one dog and nearly a dozen cats drowned Tuesday afternoon as the record breaking rains flooded many parts Louisville and Southern Indiana.


Grabbing as many as they could hold at once, workers and volunteers plucked animal after animal from dark, damp rooms and kennels, trying to rescue as many as they could of the nearly 600 animals that were at the shelter when floodwaters started pouring in.


Volunteers were trying to stack crates on top of each other to get animals out of the water, since the water level rose more than halfway up on the bottom row of cages.


"At this point, the problem is just trying to move everything, dry everything, then bring them back," said Dr. Gilles Meloche, Director of Metro Animal Services.

read more here
Several animals drown as shelter floods

Vietnam Vet, Father Refuses to Take Down Tattered U.S. Flag

Can you understand this kind of sentimental devotion? I can. But it seems rather odd that no one thought the way to keep everyone happy was for the flag to be fixed and hung again instead of allowed to fly in tatters. A flag falling apart is not a sign of respect or honor. Repairing it would be.

California Father Refuses to Take Down Tattered U.S. Flag
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
By Joshua Rhett Miller


A promise is a promise.

A California dad is refusing to take down the tattered and torn American flag that's been flying on his lawn in Fresno for almost a year, despite complaints from neighbors on his military-heavy block and from a national veterans group that says he's mistreating the Stars and Stripes.

Even passersby have phoned Louis Haros, demanding that he take down his weather-beaten flag immediately.

But Haros, a Vietnam veteran, told his son last September that he'd wave that flag until he comes home from Iraq.

And a promise is a promise.

"I made a promise to him that it won't come down until he's home," Haros told FOXNews.com on Tuesday. "Well, it's still there. I feel if I bring it down and something happens to him … I don't know."

Paul Haros is already back on U.S. soil after his second tour in Iraq. He and his dad spoke yesterday when he landed in Wisconsin to undergo medical checks and to relinquish his weapons. But Louis Haros says the flag won't come down until Paul returns to Fresno.


"I told him this flag protected me in Vietnam and I will see that it protects you," said Haros, a former master sergeant in the U.S. Army. "In a normal situation, I would've brought it down a long time ago."
read more here
California Father Refuses to Take Down Tattered U.S. Flag

Fort Hood Stop Loss Soldier ends up in jail?

He went, did what he was expected to do but when the Army had other plans for him he ends up in jail? How many others has this happened to?

Soldier who refused deployment gets month in jail
By ANGELA K. BROWN (AP) – 1 hour ago

FORT HOOD, Texas — A Fort Hood soldier who refused to deploy to Afghanistan over his beliefs that the war violates international law was sentenced Wednesday to a month in jail.

Spc. Victor Agosto, 24, of Miami, pleaded guilty to disobeying a lawful order to report to a site that performs medical, legal and other services for troops before they deploy. The judge also reduced his rank to the Army's lowest level, a private, which also was part of the maximum penalty he faced in his plea agreement with the military.

After the sentence was announced, Agosto immediately ripped the rank patch from his uniform. He later was escorted out of the building and taken to the county jail, where he will start serving his sentence.

Also, Agosto cannot be discharged at a level lower than other-than-honorable conditions, an administrative discharge. A discharge was not mentioned in the hearing, but Agosto is expected to be released from the Army after completing his jail term.

Before he was sentenced during the hourlong military hearing at the central Texas Army post, he told the judge he should not be jailed because he posed no threat to anyone.

He said he had remained on post and went to work every day since refusing to deploy after learning a few months ago that the Army was keeping him beyond his enlistment date.
read more here
Soldier who refused deployment gets month in jail

Beware of the Press Release, when you have a voting record

Why do they do it? They put out a press release as if it will take away years of doing really stupid things.

It looks like Senator Grassely just did that. Doesn't he understand his voting records are able to be seen by everyone? His speeches were heard and recorded? That people are matching up what he claims against what he does?

This is the press release he put out. Please read it and then take a look at what he actually did when it came time to vote.

U.S. Sen. Grassley: Fights for military members suffering from PTSD and traumatic brain injuries
8/5/2009

Grassley Fights for Military Members Suffering from PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injuries

Iowa Marine Brings Attention to Flaw in Procedures for Returning Military

WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley is continuing his work to help members of the military who are suffering from PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injuries. Grassley wrote to the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee expressing his support for a provision included in the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act. The bill is currently in a House-Senate conference committee where the competing versions of the bill are being worked out.

Grassley’s support for the provision included by Congressman Walter Jones was based on a joint effort by Grassley and Jones to help an Iowa Marine who was stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. The Marine was not given proper medical treatment for PTSD following his return from Iraq and Afghanistan and was at risk of being involuntarily separated from the Marines for his conduct.

The proposed legislation would guarantee that PTSD and TBI are diagnosed and those diagnoses are considered in any future discharge proceeding. It would also set up a process for service members who may have already been discharged or dismissed unjustly due to manifestations of PTSD or TBI to have their situation reviewed by a panel that includes a qualified medical professional and have their record corrected if appropriate.

Here is a copy of the text of the letter Grassley sent to the chairman and ranking member.

July 31, 2009

The Honorable Carl Levin, Chairman The Honorable John McCain, Ranking Member Committee on Armed Services 228 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Levin and Ranking Member McCain:

As you begin conference committee negotiations on H.R. 2647, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, I would like to express my support for Section 521 of the House-passed version of the bill, entitled “Medical Examination Required Before Separation of Members Diagnosed With or Asserting Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or Traumatic Brain Injury. This is based on H.R. 1701, the PTSD/TBI Guaranteed Review for Heroes Act, introduced by Congressman Walter Jones.

The situation that this legislation seeks to correct was brought to the attention of Congressman Jones and myself through the experience of an Iowa Marine stationed at Camp Lejeune North Carolina named Jeremy Smerud. As a result of his service to his country in Iraq and Afghanistan, Jeremy suffers from PTSD, but was not given proper treatment upon his return to Camp Lejeune. This, as is often the case, led to problems with alcohol and a series of incidents to the point that the Marine Corps was considering an Involuntary Administrative Separation due to misconduct. Despite the fact that Jeremy’s problems were a direct result of the injury he sustained in combat, this would have meant that he would have no access to military or veterans benefits, including the health care necessary to deal with his PTSD.

Fortunately, after considerable efforts working with Congressman Jones, we were able to work out with the Marines Corps a favorable resolution for Jeremy’s specific situation. However, there are many more service members just like Jeremy who have already faced, or may face a similar situation with a less positive outcome and it is essential that we do right by them.

The proposed legislation would guarantee that PTSD and TBI are diagnosed and those diagnoses are considered in any future discharge proceeding. It would also set up a process for service members who may have already been discharged or dismissed unjustly due to manifestations of PTSD or TBI to have their situation reviewed by a panel that includes a qualified medical professional and have their record corrected if appropriate.

Again, I express my support for this legislation, and ask that the provision in the House-passed bill be retained in the final conference report to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010.

Thank you for your consideration of my request.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Grassley

United States Senator

Don't get me wrong here. This step does go into the right direction but what has he been doing all these years as our veterans were coming back with PTSD and TBI but funding for them was not made until the Demorats took control over the House and the Senate? The VA was cut under Bush and was not increased until 2008, which was the biggest increase in years. All the while the Repubicans kept saying that there was not enough money to take care of the veterans. President Bush told congress if they wanted to increase the VA budget, they had to find the money so the Democrats tried to do that but men like Grassely decided that they wanted to protect the rich instead by not closing loopholes.


Voted against the GI Bill
Iowa Independent

Voting against the new GI Bill affected Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who received a ‘C’ on the report card

Voted against Veterans for the sake of the rich

XML U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 109th Congress - 2nd Session

as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate


Vote Summary

Question: On the Amendment (Akaka Amdt. No. 3007 )
Vote Number: 41 Vote Date: March 14, 2006, 04:22 PM
Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Amendment Rejected
Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 3007 to S.Con.Res. 83 (No short title on file)
Statement of Purpose: To increase Veterans medical services funding by $1.5 billion in FY 2007 to be paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes.
Vote Counts: YEAs 46
NAYs 54

Bill: S CON RES 95 - Vote description: Nelson Amdt. No. 2745; To create a reserve fund to allow for an increase in Veterans' medical care by $1.8 billion by eliminating abusive tax loopholes.
Date/time: March 10, 2004, 9:34 p.m.
NO Votes: John McCain, Lamar Alexander, Wayne Allard, George Allen, Robert Bennett, Kit Bond, Sam Brownback, Jim Bunning, Conrad Burns, Ben Campbell, Lincoln Chafee, Saxby Chambliss, Thad Cochran, Norm Coleman, Susan Collins, John Cornyn, Larry Craig, Michael Crapo, Mike DeWine, Elizabeth Dole, John Ensign, Michael Enzi, Peter Fitzgerald, Bill First, Lindsey Graham, Charles Grassley, Judd Gregg, Chuck Hagel, Orrin Hatch, Kay Bailey Hutchison, James Inhofe, Jon Kyl, Trent Lott, Richard Lugar, Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski, Donald Nickles, Pat Roberts, Rick Santorum, Jeff Sessions, Richard Shelby, Gordon Smith, Olympia Snowe, Arlen Specter, Ted Stevens, John Sununu, Jim Talent, Craig Thomas, George Voinovich, John Warner ·

Voted against Veterans because of contractors

Bill: S 1042 - Vote description: Dorgan Amdt. No. 2476; To establish a special committee of the Senate to investigate the awarding and carrying out of contracts to conduct activities in Afghanistan and Iraq and to fight the war on terrorism.
Date/time: November 10, 2005, 11:35 a.m.
Voted NO: John McCain, Wayne Allard, George Allen, Robert Bennett, Kit Bond, Sam Brownback, Jim Bunning, Conrad Burns, Richard Burr, Saxby Chambliss, Tom Coburn, Thad Cochran, Norm Coleman, Susan Collins, John Cornyn, Larry Craig, Michael Crapo, Jim DeMint, Mike DeWine, Elizabeth Dole, Pete Domenici, John Ensign, Michael Enzi, Bill First, Lindsey Graham, Charles Grassley, Judd Gregg, Chuck Hagel, Orrin Hatch, Kay Bailey Hutchison, James Inhofe, Johnny Isakson, Jon Kyl, Trent Lott, Richard Lugar, Mel Martinez, Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski, Pat Roberts, Rick Santorum, Jeff Sessions, Richard Shelby, Gordon Smith, Olympia Snowe, Arlen Specter, Ted Stevens, John Sununu, Jim Talent, Craig Thomas, John Thune, David Vitter, George Voinovich, John Warner ·

02/02/2006 Tax Rate Extension Amendment
S AMDT 2735 N Motion Rejected - Senate
(44 - 53)
11/17/2005 Additional Funding For Veterans Amendment
S AMDT 2634 N Motion Rejected - Senate
(43 - 55)
10/05/2005 Health Care for Veterans Amendment
S AMDT 1937 N Motion Rejected - Senate
(48 - 51)
05/22/2008 GI Bill and Other Domestic Provisions
S Amdt 4803 N Amendment Adopted - Senate
(75 - 22)

Maybe the most telling report came from this site

Representative Nussle and Senator Grassley Opposed Expanding TRICARE to National Guards and Reserve Volunteers
Both Senator Grassley and Representative Nussle voted against expanding access to the military's TRICARE health insurance program to all reservists and National Guard members. The proposal would have expanded military health care to provide access to TRICARE to members of the Guard and Reservists and their families for a low fee, which would have helped 2,416 in Iowa.

Senator Grassely Voted Against Improving Health Care for Veterans and Representatives Nussle and Leach Refused to Consider $2.6 Billion Increase in VA Health Care Funding.

Senator Grassely voted against making a portion of VA funding mandatory or automatic, like other health related programs. Grassely also repeatedly voted against overall funding for veterans' medical care by almost $2 billion. In addition Representatives Nussel and Leach repeatedly voted to block efforts to increase VA funding by about $2.5 billion.


Republicans break their promises

There are some great people really trying to take care of the veterans on both sides of the political debate, but Grassely has not been one of them. Look up their voting records when they claim one thing but do another. When it comes time to vote again, their record matters more than what they say. They all have a chance to do the right thing, as they have had in the past, but we are where we are because too many didn't want to really support the troops or veterans. We have only ourselves to blame for supporting the wrong people just because they said the right things.

Fort Bliss soldier sought help before fatal shooting

Lawyer: Spc. charged in slaying had issues

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Aug 5, 2009 13:32:33 EDT

EL PASO, Texas — An attorney for a Fort Bliss soldier accused of fatally shooting an El Paso high school student says the soldier sought mental health treatment before the April killing.

Attorney John Convery says Army Spc. Gerald Polanco and his family tried unsuccessfully to get the soldier help through his unit before the shooting.

Polanco is charged with murder in the shooting death of 18-year-old Ezra Gerald Smith and attempted murder in the wounding of an unidentified soldier.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/08/ap_soldiershooting_080509/

VA begins effort to help veterans in jail

VA begins effort to help veterans in jail

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Aug 5, 2009 9:17:19 EDT

DENVER — The Department of Veterans Affairs has started a nationwide effort to find veterans in jails for minor brushes with the law and offer them medical treatment in hopes of preventing repeat crimes.

The Veterans Justice Outreach Program was launched this year before an Army study released July 15 found a possible link between intense combat and 11 slayings allegedly committed by a handful of Fort Carson soldiers returning from deployment.
read more here
VA begins effort to help veterans in jail

101st soldier dies after PFT

101st soldier dies after PFT

Staff report
Posted : Wednesday Aug 5, 2009 11:16:40 EDT

A Fort Campbell, Ky., soldier died Monday after completing an Army Physical Fitness Test with his unit, officials announced Wednesday.

Pfc. Marshall G. Montelus, 24, of Rochester, N.Y., was an automated logistical specialist assigned to B Company, 801st Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.

Montelus joined the Army in March 2004 and had been at Fort Campbell since November 2004.

His awards and decorations include the Army Commendation Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal and Overseas Service Ribbon.

The incident remains under investigation, officials said Wednesday.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/08/army_ptdeath_080509w/

Relatives of ex-Marines' victim lash out at sentencing

Relatives of ex-Marines' victim lash out at sentencing
By Tracy Manzer, Staff Writer
Posted: 08/03/2009 12:54:03 PM PDT

LONG BEACH - Relatives of a 22-year-old Long Beach man killed by a trio of Marines lashed out at two of the convicted killers Monday, branding them liars and cowards.

"Anthony and Trevor you are cowards and liars and Trevor, you are a deserter of the United States Marine Corps," declared a distraught Sheri Pettigrew, the mother of murder victim David Pettigrew.

Sheri Pettigrew's harsh words were part of the Pettigrew family's victim impact statements to Long Beach Superior Court Judge Mark Kim in the sentencing of Trevor Landers, 21, a former lance corporal in the Marines who went AWOL shortly after the Sept. 9, 2007 murder of David Pettigrew and who was convicted of the murder last month.

Landers' cousin, 22-year-old Anthony "Red" Vigeant, a former Marine private, was convicted along with Landers on July 3 and was due to be sentenced Monday as well, though his sentencing was delayed.

"Look, they still don't show any remorse," said Craig Pettigrew, the victim's father, as he gestured at the stone-faced defendants.
go here for more and for video
http://www.presstelegram.com/breakingnews/ci_12983649