Group works to minimize furry war casualties
January 15, 2012 5:42 AM
HOPE HODGE - DAILY NEWS STAFF
During a recent large deployment from Camp Lejeune, the Onslow County Animal Shelter received 22 newly homeless cats and dogs. But one new organization is working to minimize the furry casualties of war.
Marine 2nd Lt. Alisa Sieber-Johnson and her husband, Navy Lt. Shawn Johnson, had the idea to start Dogs on Deployment after the couple had a crisis situation familiar to many military couples: Sieber-Johnson, who is now at training in Pensacola, Fla., received orders to Virginia for six months, where she was expected to live in a military barracks that did not permit pets. With Johnson deployed during that time, they had nowhere to keep their Australian Shepherd, J.D.
“We looked into boarding with a professional boarder,” Sieber-Johnson said. “For six months, we’re talking $1,000 a month. It was just not feasible.”
Finally, the couple found distant relatives who were willing to take in their dog, and the idea for a network of volunteer pet boarders for deployed troops was born.
Dogs on Deployment, which launched in June, is a nonprofit networking site focused on connecting troops in need with willing boarders. There are no requirements to volunteer as a boarder, though the organization provides a contract for boarders to sign, and owners are expected to use their own judgment to find a good home for their pet.
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Sunday, January 15, 2012
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
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.
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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
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.
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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
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
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
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