Soldiers back from Iraq fighting a battle at home
By Cliff White cwhite@centredaily.com
Posted: 12:01am on Jan 10, 2012
For Sgt. Jim Gaida, the end of the war in Iraq provided a brief moment of respite from the severe anxiety and depression he’s felt every day since he returned home from the conflict in 2003.
Gaida’s unit, the 300th Chemical Company, was one of the first to be deployed to Iraq once hostilities commenced. He spent six months looking for weapons of mass destruction and fighting on the ground during the earliest stages of the war. Since his return, Gaida, 31, has suffered with post-traumatic stress disorder that gives him regular headaches, sapping bouts of depression and crippling anxiety attacks.
“I get a rush of really good feelings and endorphins knowing these people are safe now and with their loved ones,” Gaida said of the homebound troops. “But from my point of view, the things I experienced, the things I had to do because it was my duty to do them — I hope there is enough support to catch these guys, because I know how hard it was to recognize what was going on with me.”
There are 9,000 veterans living in Centre County, according to the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, including Gaida and Maj. Curtis Unger, who served as an aviation officer overseeing air support for the Third Brigade, First Cavalry, from October 2006 through December 2007.
Unger, 31, lives in Bellefonte and attends classes at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business. He said while the last American troops have left Iraq, for thousands of veterans, the battle continues at home.
“The nation needs to realize, while the war in Iraq has ended, there will be lasting effects, both psychological and emotional, that will be around for many years to come,” Unger said. “In their minds, the Iraq war is not over. They’re still feeling the effects of it.”
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Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Bronx Army Vet gives cheer for VA change
Soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan wars reflect on coming home to NYC and transition to civilian life
Bronx Army vet says more aid available now from Veterans Administration
BY CORINNE LESTCH
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, January 10 2012
When Sandra Rolon came home to the Bronx from her first U.S. Army deployment in Iraq in 2005, she was desolate and despondent.
The Mott Haven native was left homeless with two daughters to raise, and there were few services.
“I went to one or two meetings for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” she said. “There wasn’t anything at all.”
When she returned after her second round of duty--during which she helped close down the Camp Bucca detention facility in 2009--everything had changed.
“I got a call from the (James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center in the Bronx) the same day my orders ended,” said Rolon, 53. “They were directly calling all these soldiers, letting them know, ‘you have five years of medical coverage if you want to exercise that benefit.’”
Now, Rolon helps lead Military Women in Power, which operates out of the Bronx VA hsopital, and she said there has been a surge of interest in the group since the last troops returned to American soil in December.
“Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island are taking care of their people, but in the Bronx, I don’t see it,” she said. “I’ve had to go outside of the Bronx to seek assistance.”
That’s a perception the Bronx VA is trying to change with new programs and outreach efforts as it anticipates serving about 4,000 to 6,000 returning soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan, said Jim Connell, director of community and government relations.
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Bronx Army vet says more aid available now from Veterans Administration
BY CORINNE LESTCH
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, January 10 2012
COUTTESY OF SANDRA ROLON
U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Sandra Rolon flies to Qatar in April 2009, during her second Iraq deployment, for some R and R
When Sandra Rolon came home to the Bronx from her first U.S. Army deployment in Iraq in 2005, she was desolate and despondent.
The Mott Haven native was left homeless with two daughters to raise, and there were few services.
“I went to one or two meetings for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” she said. “There wasn’t anything at all.”
When she returned after her second round of duty--during which she helped close down the Camp Bucca detention facility in 2009--everything had changed.
“I got a call from the (James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center in the Bronx) the same day my orders ended,” said Rolon, 53. “They were directly calling all these soldiers, letting them know, ‘you have five years of medical coverage if you want to exercise that benefit.’”
Now, Rolon helps lead Military Women in Power, which operates out of the Bronx VA hsopital, and she said there has been a surge of interest in the group since the last troops returned to American soil in December.
“Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island are taking care of their people, but in the Bronx, I don’t see it,” she said. “I’ve had to go outside of the Bronx to seek assistance.”
That’s a perception the Bronx VA is trying to change with new programs and outreach efforts as it anticipates serving about 4,000 to 6,000 returning soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan, said Jim Connell, director of community and government relations.
read more here
Man Who Shot Deputy a Marine, Author on End Times and UFO
Man Who Shot Deputy a Marine, Author
Updated: Monday, 09 Jan 2012
ANTHEM - Two crime scenes, more than 80 miles apart. One in Sedona, the other in Anthem.
Four people dead, one of them a suspected shooter. Now, investigators are trying to figure out if Drew Ryan Maras is responsible for both deadly scenes.
Investigators say Maras the man who shot and killed Maricopa County Sheriff Deputy William Coleman during a burglary call in Anthem.
Other deputies fired and killed Maras.
But is he also the man who killed Jim Johnson and Carol Raynsford, friends from New Hampshire visiting Sedona over the weekend.
One key piece of evidence has investigators in two counties thinking there may be a link. That piece of evidence is the weapon Drew Ryan Maras used to shoot Deputy Coleman. It’s similar to what was used to kill the two in Sedona.
Adding to the mystery is the emerging details of Maras's background, neighbors describe him as your average guy. A Marine, 30 years old, with a consuming interest in the unexplained -- an author who wrote about the apocalypse, Armageddon, and judgment day.
read more here
Updated: Monday, 09 Jan 2012
ANTHEM - Two crime scenes, more than 80 miles apart. One in Sedona, the other in Anthem.
Four people dead, one of them a suspected shooter. Now, investigators are trying to figure out if Drew Ryan Maras is responsible for both deadly scenes.
Investigators say Maras the man who shot and killed Maricopa County Sheriff Deputy William Coleman during a burglary call in Anthem.
Other deputies fired and killed Maras.
But is he also the man who killed Jim Johnson and Carol Raynsford, friends from New Hampshire visiting Sedona over the weekend.
One key piece of evidence has investigators in two counties thinking there may be a link. That piece of evidence is the weapon Drew Ryan Maras used to shoot Deputy Coleman. It’s similar to what was used to kill the two in Sedona.
Adding to the mystery is the emerging details of Maras's background, neighbors describe him as your average guy. A Marine, 30 years old, with a consuming interest in the unexplained -- an author who wrote about the apocalypse, Armageddon, and judgment day.
read more here
Monday, January 9, 2012
Female Fort Carson soldier's death treated as homicide
Army identifies soldier found dead at Carson
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jan 10, 2012 12:39:01 EST
FORT CARSON, Colo. — A soldier found dead in a barracks at a Colorado infantry post has been identified as 28-year-old Brandy Fonteneaux of Houston.
The Army says Fonteneaux's death is being investigated as a homicide. Her body was found Sunday at Fort Carson outside Colorado Springs.
KKTV in Colorado Springs quoted Fonteneaux's family as saying the soldier had been stabbed and was found unclothed.
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The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jan 10, 2012 12:39:01 EST
FORT CARSON, Colo. — A soldier found dead in a barracks at a Colorado infantry post has been identified as 28-year-old Brandy Fonteneaux of Houston.
The Army says Fonteneaux's death is being investigated as a homicide. Her body was found Sunday at Fort Carson outside Colorado Springs.
KKTV in Colorado Springs quoted Fonteneaux's family as saying the soldier had been stabbed and was found unclothed.
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Carson soldier’s death treated as homicide
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jan 9, 2012 20:10:06 EST
FORT CARSON, Colo. — The Army says it’s investigating the death of a soldier in a Fort Carson barracks as a homicide.
Post officials said Monday the soldier is a 28-year-old woman. She was found dead on Sunday.
No other information has been released.
check back for update
Mother Of Slain Soldier Kills Adopted Granddaughter, Herself
Mother Of Slain Soldier Kills Adopted Granddaughter, Herself
The mother of a soldier who adopted her granddaughter after her son was killed in Iraq in 2005 killed the girl and herself, writing in a suicide note that she didn’t want to leave the 7-year-old behind.
CONWAY, Ark. (January 9, 2012)--An Arkansas woman who adopted her granddaughter after her son was killed in Iraq stabbed the 7-year-old girl and then set fire to their home in what authorities described as a murder-suicide.
Janice Robbins and her granddaughter Abby, who was stabbed once in the chest, both died in the fire Saturday, either of smoke inhalation or from thermal injuries, a coroner said.
Faulkner County, Ark., sheriff's spokesman Maj. Andy Shock said Janice Robbins left a suicide note in her pickup truck in which she said she didn’t want to leave the girl behind.
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The mother of a soldier who adopted her granddaughter after her son was killed in Iraq in 2005 killed the girl and herself, writing in a suicide note that she didn’t want to leave the 7-year-old behind.
CONWAY, Ark. (January 9, 2012)--An Arkansas woman who adopted her granddaughter after her son was killed in Iraq stabbed the 7-year-old girl and then set fire to their home in what authorities described as a murder-suicide.
Janice Robbins and her granddaughter Abby, who was stabbed once in the chest, both died in the fire Saturday, either of smoke inhalation or from thermal injuries, a coroner said.
Faulkner County, Ark., sheriff's spokesman Maj. Andy Shock said Janice Robbins left a suicide note in her pickup truck in which she said she didn’t want to leave the girl behind.
read more here
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