Retired Army Brig. General shares story of alcoholism fight

Retired O-7 shares story of alcoholism fight
By Mitch Weiss - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Jan 15, 2012 9:32:03 EST

ORLIN WAGNER / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Retired Army Brig. Gen. Stanley Cherrie talks with veterans before the start of the Veterans Day Parade in Leavenworth, Kan., on Nov. 11. Cherrie served as the parade's grand marshal.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Retired Army Brig. Gen. Stanley Cherrie flew into machine-gun fire, lost a leg to a landmine and directed tanks against Iraqi forces in his long career. When he walked into a reunion of top brass looking shaky and then collapsed, another side of his military life was revealed: years of hard drinking had grown into alcoholism that nearly killed him.

Cherrie’s breakdown in front of his comrades, who had gathered to mark the 20th anniversary of Operation Desert Storm, triggered his turn to rehabilitation from a habit that started a generation earlier. Now the man who commanded troops in Kuwait and Bosnia despite the prosthetic leg he got in Vietnam is sharing his story, in part as an example for a new cohort of soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I always knew I drank too much. In retrospect, I was the poster boy. If you wanted to build a functional alcoholic, you would follow my model,” said Cherrie, 69, speaking for the first time about his struggle.

The turning point came at a reunion of officers who planned Operation Desert Storm, the 1990 military campaign that ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s invading forces from Kuwait. Minutes after sitting down to eat, Cherrie collapsed at the table. The Army’s highest ranking doctor, Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, was on hand and treated Cherrie before an ambulance whisked him to a nearby emergency room.

At the hospital, Cherrie’s daughter asked to speak to Schoomaker in private. Then she disclosed a family secret: Her father was an alcoholic, and years of drinking had taken a toll.

It was the beginning of Cherrie’s long journey back to sobriety from a thirst that began in Vietnam, where the young officer stepped on a land mine that blew apart his right leg, right hand and part of his left heel.

Despite the injury, Cherrie managed to stay in the military at a time when disabled soldiers were routinely discharged, working his way up the ranks to command troops in Desert Storm and later Bosnia.

As he comes to grips now with the pain he caused his family, he has another even more daunting challenge: caring for his wife, Mary Ellen, who is battling a degenerative arthritic condition. High school sweethearts, they have been married for 46 years.
read more here

1.2 million veterans sought mental healthcare in 2011

Wait time critical in VA care for mental health
St. Cloud Times
Written by
Frank Lee

The number of veterans seeking mental health care has increased since 2006 from about 900,000 to 1.2 million last year, according to a Government Accountability Office study.

Michael Mynczywor is the Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn program manager at the St. Cloud VA.

“If you specifically look at some of these returning combat veterans, we know that, statistically, probably close to around 30 percent are going to have some kind of mental health issues when they come back,” Mynczywor said.

Maj. John Donovan knew something was wrong when he returned from his first deployment to Bosnia.

He felt himself moving and thinking more slowly than he did while he was on active duty, he said.

“I said, ‘Doc, I just feel my head, space and timing is off,’ ” Donovan recalled. “Actually, it was pretty scary.”

During his deployment, “I was working in human resources ... a kind of 24/7 operation ... because if anybody gets injured, if they have to immediately go back to the States, we’re the ones who have to get up in the middle of the night.”

Donovan contacted the St. Cloud VA Health Care System, and was quickly seen. He was diagnosed with adrenaline withdrawal, a temporary problem caused by trying to readjust to the slower pace of civilian life, he said.

With time, he recovered. But for veterans struggling with mental health problems, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, the longer the wait for treatment, the worse things can become.
read more here

"Military veteran" accused of killing Mom and pets

Murder victim identified as community leader
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Sonia Azad

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- We now know more about the victim of Thursday's shooting in southwest Houston.

According to police, a son shot his mother and their family pets.

Police released the victim's identity and it turns out she was a well-known figure in Houston: Reyna Rogers.

Rogers -- known affectionately to friends as "Yuki" -- made her most significant impact in the heart of Houston's Asian American community where she was a leader, and she will be missed.

"She was a fountain of energy," friend Gordon Quan said of Rogers.

A native of Japan, Rogers embraced Houston as home. Her volunteerism is legendary in the nonprofit circle, having served as the executive director of the Asian Chamber of Commerce and the International Trade Center.
read more here

For Army Sgt. Bob Casler, nightmares from the battlefield linger

Wounded veterans: For Army Sgt. Bob Casler, nightmares from the battlefield linger
Published: Sunday, January 15, 2012, 12:00 AM
By IVEY DEJESUS, The Patriot-News

Army Sgt. Bob Casler had been trained to kill.

He just wasn’t prepared to handle how he felt afterward.

Casler spent 16 months as a combat engineer posted to Camp Liberty near the Baghdad airport — once an extremely dangerous place in Iraq.

The threat of ambushes, artillery fire, snipers and improvised explosive devices was relentless.

Casler rode in a buffalo — Army parlance for a vehicle with a retractable mechanical arm used to probe guardrails, garbage and dead animals for booby traps. He got his hands in chemical waste, nonchemical waste and the remains of fellow soldiers.

“It’s not normal to pick up body parts and throw it in the back of a truck. It’s not normal to do stuff like that, to pick up half a guy and throw him in the back of a truck with the rest of them,” Casler said. “That’s stuff we do.”
read more here

Forth victim of serial killer was a homeless Vietnam Veteran

Police ‘extremely confident’ man in custody is responsible for 4 California homeless killings

By Associated Press, Published: January 14

Also Saturday, mourners wept at the scene of death of the latest victim, who was described by friends as a Vietnam War veteran in his 60s named John. They left flowers and signs, one of which read “We love you, John.”

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Investigators are “extremely confident” a man in custody is responsible for all four recent killings of homeless men in Orange County, Anaheim Police Chief John Welter said Saturday, easing a month of worry and fear among the homeless and their advocates.

Investigators have tied the killings to Itzcoatl Ocampo, 23, of Yorba Linda, who was detained Friday night after a fourth homeless man was stabbed to death in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant, Welter said.

Witnesses and bystanders at the crime scene chased Ocampo on foot, and he was captured by a police officer who was part of a perimeter set up in response to dozens of 911 calls and other reports.

Three other homeless men have been found stabbed to death in north Orange County since mid-December, and a task force had been looking for the single suspect they believed was responsible for all three.
read more here

Accused killer is Iraq Veteran

Ex-Marine a suspect in killing of homeless men in Southern California

By NICOLE SANTA CRUZ AND ALAN ZAREMBO
Los Angeles Times
Published: Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012

SANTA ANA, Calif -- SANTA ANA, Calif. - A 23-year-old former marine who some say was distraught following combat service in Iraq has been named a suspect in the serial killings of four homeless men in Orange County.

Itzcoatl Ocampo, of Yorba Linda, was chased bystanders Friday following the most recent stabbing death in the parking lot of an Anaheim fast food restaurant. On Saturday, Ocampo remained in police custody without bail and is expected in court on Tuesday.

"We are extremely confident that we have the man who is responsible for the murders of all four homeless men in Orange County," Anaheim Police Chief John Welter said at a news conference Saturday. Police said they will seek four counts of murder next week.

Authorities did not specify a motive for the killings, which began on Dec. 20 and sent fear through the homeless community. However, a relative and a friend of the suspect described a young man who appeared to be deeply troubled following his return from service in Iraq in the summer of 2010.

"When he came back from Iraq he was sick," said his uncle, Ifrain Gonzalez.

For the last year, he had been telling relatives that he was seeing and hearing things, Gonzalez said.

The last time Gonzalez saw his nephew was at a Dec. 24 Christmas Eve party. Ocampo, he said, had told a cousin: "I did something terrible, but don't worry."

It was four days after the killings had begun.
read more here