Marine With Brain-Dead Quadruple Amputee Wife Upset Over ‘My Girl’s A Vegetable’ Cadence
BY PAUL ON JULY 25, 2012
Camp Pendleton, CA – Troops running and singing cadence is a familiar scene at bases across the world, but one Marine says the cadence really needs to end.
Corporal Jason Andreesen is assigned to the famed ‘Dark Horse’ battalion — 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines.
“Every morning I have to wake up, put on my silkies and glowbelt and think ‘Well, here we go again’,” says Andreesen.
His reluctance for physical training (PT) comes not from exertion, but from the cadences that his squad mates usually choose. One in particular is referred to as the “Vegetable Cadence.”
“I mean, I thought it was kind of funny back when I first heard it,” says Andreesen, “but that was before I met Sarah. She’s my dream girl.”
Sarah is Andreesen’s wife of three years — who miraculously survived a car crash last year despite losing all her arms and legs and putting her into a coma.
read more here
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Pick your battles, fight for veterans
by Chaplain Kathie
Wounded Times Blog
July 25, 2012
My Mom always said that I wanted to change the world. She was right. When I was younger it seemed as if I took on everything. She told me that I needed to pick my battles to give it all I had or I'd lose more than I won. She was right again but it took me years to learn that lesson.
For almost 30 years, my passion has been veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because even tough I grew up surrounded by veterans, Combat PTSD became personal to me. I fell in love with a Vietnam veteran. To this day, I'm still in love, but not just with him. I adore all our veterans because of what I've learned from them.
Since 1993 I've been posting on one blog or another, in chats and chains plus too many websites I started but never managed to catch on. This one did and will be 5 years old next month. This is the count as of 9:00 am today.
Not bad considering what this blog is all about. The reason this blog is what it is, is because people are tired of politics getting into everything. No politician is all bad and none of them are all good. This blog was started because a Marine set me straight and snapped me out of the trap I fell into when political ideas meant more than veterans did.
Most of my friends are Republicans but I have Democrat friends as well. When it comes to politics, none of them agree but when it comes to veterans standing by the side of other veterans political differences vanish. Much like troops deployed into combat will risk their lives without ever once thinking about how the soldier they are next to voted in the last election, veterans support each other when it matters and overlook differences when it really doesn't.
What else I discovered in all these years of research and tracking reports is that people, the general public, get confused between the military and defense contractors. Republicans elect people they think will support the military when the truth is most of their politicians support contractors first and troops afterwards. Elected Democrats support the troops first and contractors afterwards. This has been made clear by their bills and votes on the bills. Neither party has done what is needed to take care of all the men and women in the military anymore than they have taken care of all veterans.
Politicians on both sides have done great things for veterans but the problem is not all of them have all the time. That is why fighting for veterans will never be over.
It is also why I am an Independent and ignore political emails from both sides unless they are so outrageous I can't remain silent.
One thing I can't be silent about is the VA and how Romney would get rid of it.
Normally I wouldn't be concerned but considering how many in congress have said it in the past he would be supported in doing it. They have managed to get the general public looking at the deficit while they are the ones that caused it just as they have us thinking about unemployment when they cut the jobs instead of doing something to give jobs back to us in the USA instead of overseas. They very well may be able to pull off selling the VA to private for profit companies.
It is up to us to pay attention to what is really going on since reporters got lazy a long time ago and you won't even hear them ask about this. It is up to us when we get political emails to find out if the claim made is true or not before we hit the forward button. I'm not talking about looking it up on another blog or opinion piece. We're smarter than that. I expect my readers to look up what I say as well in case I made a mistake. This is all too important to allow lies to live and truth to be buried.
It would be wonderful if politicians could manage to do what the troops do everyday. Put each other first and politics second.
Obama's Promise to Exempt Veteran's Benefits Is Bad News for Pentagon
By U.S. News Staff
July 24, 2012
President Barack Obama's Monday announcement that he will protect military veterans' retirement and health care benefits drew applause from a VFW audience, but it likely drew a few grimaces among Pentagon and industry leaders.
That's because exempting veterans' benefits from $500 billion in cuts to planned national defense spending over the next decade would shrink the places in the defense budget where cuts could be made. That would mean whatever reductions are enacted will be deeper than if the vets' benefits also were cut under a complicated process known as sequestration.
During a much-anticipated speech Monday before a Veterans of Foreign Wars audience in Reno, Nev., Obama touted a "promise I made four years ago: Upholding America's sacred trust with our veterans."
read more here
Iraq Vet/Cop wins appeal against Nashville police
Iraq vet wins appeal against Nashville police
By Kristin M. Hall
The Associated Press Posted : Tuesday Jul 24, 2012
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — An Iraq war veteran who filed a lawsuit against the Metro Nashville police department for reassigning him and then firing him after a deployment has won an appeal over back pay and damages.
For the second time in the case, a federal appeals court has ruled in favor of Brian Petty, a former Army reservist who sued the police department in 2005 because they did not reinstate him as a patrol sergeant after returning from a deployment.
Petty argued that he was entitled to his old job under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act and that he faced discrimination because of his military service.
After the first appeal to the 6th Circuit, he was reinstated to his position in 2010. And in a ruling issued Tuesday, the three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court's awarding him nearly $300,000 in back pay and damages.
Petty, who was hired by the police department in 1991, was called up by the Army for a deployment and was sent to Kuwait around February 2004 to support Operation Iraqi Freedom. While in Kuwait, he was accused of making homemade wine, in violation of military rules. He ultimately resigned his commission and the charges were dropped and his separation was determined to be under honorable conditions.
When he returned to Nashville, the department put him through the same return-to-work process for all officers who have returned from an extended leave of absence. During the process, he was questioned about the military charge he faced while in Kuwait.
read more here
By Kristin M. Hall
The Associated Press Posted : Tuesday Jul 24, 2012
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — An Iraq war veteran who filed a lawsuit against the Metro Nashville police department for reassigning him and then firing him after a deployment has won an appeal over back pay and damages.
For the second time in the case, a federal appeals court has ruled in favor of Brian Petty, a former Army reservist who sued the police department in 2005 because they did not reinstate him as a patrol sergeant after returning from a deployment.
Petty argued that he was entitled to his old job under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act and that he faced discrimination because of his military service.
After the first appeal to the 6th Circuit, he was reinstated to his position in 2010. And in a ruling issued Tuesday, the three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court's awarding him nearly $300,000 in back pay and damages.
Petty, who was hired by the police department in 1991, was called up by the Army for a deployment and was sent to Kuwait around February 2004 to support Operation Iraqi Freedom. While in Kuwait, he was accused of making homemade wine, in violation of military rules. He ultimately resigned his commission and the charges were dropped and his separation was determined to be under honorable conditions.
When he returned to Nashville, the department put him through the same return-to-work process for all officers who have returned from an extended leave of absence. During the process, he was questioned about the military charge he faced while in Kuwait.
read more here
Obama continues conversation with veterans
There was a comment on this article on CNN about how someone claimed veterans did not believe the President. I left a comment about what is real and what was available for others to find. Tracking reports around the country has this blog filled with over 15,000 posts and I can tell you that President Obama is better for veterans than President Bush was but while the president sets the agenda, congress funds the programs. Everything wrong in this country is because of congress. McConnell vowed to make Obama a one term president after he was elected and McConnell didn't care how much the people in this country had to suffer. He counted on our ignorance. Look up the facts and see what the budge was during both Presidents.
The long lines were about good changes that happened like PTSD claims and Agent Orange claims made easier at the same time more combat wounded survived what would have killed them during Vietnam, all while congress whined about the deficit. Top that off with each state laying off workers to take care of their veterans and you see them suffering. It isn't always easy to discover what is truth because it requires the time of an open mind and the will to learn.
The long lines were about good changes that happened like PTSD claims and Agent Orange claims made easier at the same time more combat wounded survived what would have killed them during Vietnam, all while congress whined about the deficit. Top that off with each state laying off workers to take care of their veterans and you see them suffering. It isn't always easy to discover what is truth because it requires the time of an open mind and the will to learn.
Obama continues conversation with veterans
Posted by
CNN White House Producer
Becky Brittain
July 24th, 2012
PORTLAND, Oregon (CNN) – One day after delivering remarks to thousands of veterans at the VFW convention in Reno, Nevada, President Obama sat down with a smaller group of veterans for breakfast.
Three veterans from the Portland area sat down at the Gateway Breakfast House to discuss issues such as care for disabled veterans, services in rural areas, and PTSD.
Most of the meeting was out of the view of cameras but pool reporters heard several references to his remarks yesterday in Reno.
read more here
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Deployed military need tailored mental health care
Utah professor: Deployed military need tailored mental health care
By Matt Canham
The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published 2 hours ago
Washington
A University of Utah academic implored members of Congress to rethink a defense policy that relies on deploying the same men and women into war zones over and over again.
It’s "a near guarantee" that a soldier who experiences repeat combat will suffer from post traumatic stress disorder and many will at least attempt to kill themselves.
David Rudd, the scientific director for the U.’s National Center for Veterans Studies, presented the results of his recent study on Tuesday to a trio of lawmakers and about 15 congressional staffers at a meeting of two House caucuses that support veterans.
He attributed at least part of the troubling spike in military suicides to the repeat deployments that have become the hallmark of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"I think we have the best, most superior, professional military in the world," said Rudd, a former Army psychologist, "but the question is how much can one individual take over the course of 10 years? How many times can you be expected to go back into combat and be expected to deal with that?"
He surveyed 244 veterans who experienced heavy combat and found that 93 percent qualified for a PTSD diagnosis and 70 percent had attempted suicide.
read more here
By Matt Canham
The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published 2 hours ago
Washington
A University of Utah academic implored members of Congress to rethink a defense policy that relies on deploying the same men and women into war zones over and over again.
It’s "a near guarantee" that a soldier who experiences repeat combat will suffer from post traumatic stress disorder and many will at least attempt to kill themselves.
David Rudd, the scientific director for the U.’s National Center for Veterans Studies, presented the results of his recent study on Tuesday to a trio of lawmakers and about 15 congressional staffers at a meeting of two House caucuses that support veterans.
He attributed at least part of the troubling spike in military suicides to the repeat deployments that have become the hallmark of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"I think we have the best, most superior, professional military in the world," said Rudd, a former Army psychologist, "but the question is how much can one individual take over the course of 10 years? How many times can you be expected to go back into combat and be expected to deal with that?"
He surveyed 244 veterans who experienced heavy combat and found that 93 percent qualified for a PTSD diagnosis and 70 percent had attempted suicide.
read more here
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