Tailhook whistleblower wants congressional hearing on Lackland
By JENNIFER HLAD
Stars and Stripes
Published: August 1, 2012
A group of basic trainees perform formation and parade drills in preparation of their graduation on Lackland Air Force Base, TX, where at least 31 female recruits reported being sexually assaulted by instructors.
CECILIO RICARDO/U.S. AIR FORCE
WASHINGTON — Twenty-one years after Paula Coughlin-Puopolo went public with the story of rampant sexual assault and harassment at the Navy’s Tailhook convention in Las Vegas, she’s once again stepping forward to demand change to a military culture she said is fundamentally flawed.
Coughlin-Puopolo last month started an online petition demanding the House Armed Services Committee hold a hearing to investigate the sexual abuse scandal at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. More than 10,000 Americans have signed the petition, she said.
Coughlin-Puopolo and four other victims of military sexual assault will deliver that petition to HASC Chairman Buck McKeon, R-Calif., on Thursday, just before a closed-door briefing on the Lackland scandal.
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Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Florida National Guard Soldier back from Afghanistan charged with death of child
Man beat 4-month-old to death, deputies say
Deputies: Man charged with murder in infant's death
UPDATED 6:31 PM EDT Aug 01, 2012
WESH 2 News
WEST MELBOURNE, Fla.
A 22-year old West Melbourne man was arrested Tuesday morning in the beating death of a 4-month-old child.
Gavin Sola is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse. He pleaded not guilty Wednesday.
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Deputies: Man charged with murder in infant's death
UPDATED 6:31 PM EDT Aug 01, 2012
WESH 2 News
Family members and investigators said Sola was just back from Afghanistan. He's a soldier and a military police officer in the Florida National Guard.
WEST MELBOURNE, Fla.
A 22-year old West Melbourne man was arrested Tuesday morning in the beating death of a 4-month-old child.
Gavin Sola is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse. He pleaded not guilty Wednesday.
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Central Florida Army Reservists Home After a Year
200 soldiers return home to central Florida
Soldiers were in Afghanistan for past year
WESH 2 News
ORLANDO
Nearly 200 soldiers returned home to central Florida on Wednesday after spending a year in Afghanistan.
The Orlando-based Army Reserve soldiers were honored in a ceremony to welcome them back.
For Rockledge school teacher Stephanie Clemmer, tears came easily as she awaited the return of her husband from Afghanistan
"It was really hard," said Clemmer.
It's not just Clemmer who showed signs of the stress from the long separation. Her 9-year-old daughter, Emma, was also crying.
The Clemmers are one of 190 families of Army reservists with Orlando's 689th Engineer Company who had been separated from their soldiers since last July.
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Soldiers were in Afghanistan for past year
WESH 2 News
During its time in Afghanistan, the unit received 17 Purple Hearts and seven Medals of Valor.
ORLANDO
Nearly 200 soldiers returned home to central Florida on Wednesday after spending a year in Afghanistan.
The Orlando-based Army Reserve soldiers were honored in a ceremony to welcome them back.
For Rockledge school teacher Stephanie Clemmer, tears came easily as she awaited the return of her husband from Afghanistan
"It was really hard," said Clemmer.
It's not just Clemmer who showed signs of the stress from the long separation. Her 9-year-old daughter, Emma, was also crying.
The Clemmers are one of 190 families of Army reservists with Orlando's 689th Engineer Company who had been separated from their soldiers since last July.
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Death row inmate missing part of brain
Attorney: Death row inmate missing part of brain
BRETT BARROUQUERE
Associated Press
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kevin Wayne Dunlap's decision to plead guilty to killing three children and attacking a woman in her home near Fort Campbell caught his attorneys by surprise. Now, they think they understand why.
Defense attorneys say the former special operations soldier is missing the frontal lobe in his brain that controls impulses and decision making. The damage rendered Dunlap incompetent to plead guilty to a capital offense, defense attorney Kathleen Schmidt wrote in a brief to the Kentucky Supreme Court, which will hear arguments in Dunlap's case Aug. 16 in Frankfort.
Schmidt raised the issue of Dunlap's competency in a brief and also wrote that the motivations behind Dunlap's decision to plead guilty "are murky at best, unfathomable at their heart."
"Dunlap's behavior was perplexing from the start," Schmidt said. "In short, he was willing to plead guilty even though he did not even know for certain what he was pleading to at the time the judge conducted the plea colloquy and he admitted guilt.
What could be more impulsive?"
The judge who sentenced Dunlap to death, as well as prosecutors, say he's been examined and they found no basis for a claim of mental incompetence.
Dunlap, 40, was sentenced to death March 19, 2010. He pleaded guilty to stabbing and killing 5-year-old Ethan Frensley, 17-year-old Kayla Williams and 14-year-old Kortney Frensley when they returned home from school on Oct. 15, 2008, in Roaring Springs, near the sprawling Fort Campbell military installation on the Kentucky-Tennessee state line. Dunlap remains on Kentucky's death row at the state penitentiary in Eddyville.
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BRETT BARROUQUERE
Associated Press
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kevin Wayne Dunlap's decision to plead guilty to killing three children and attacking a woman in her home near Fort Campbell caught his attorneys by surprise. Now, they think they understand why.
Defense attorneys say the former special operations soldier is missing the frontal lobe in his brain that controls impulses and decision making. The damage rendered Dunlap incompetent to plead guilty to a capital offense, defense attorney Kathleen Schmidt wrote in a brief to the Kentucky Supreme Court, which will hear arguments in Dunlap's case Aug. 16 in Frankfort.
Schmidt raised the issue of Dunlap's competency in a brief and also wrote that the motivations behind Dunlap's decision to plead guilty "are murky at best, unfathomable at their heart."
"Dunlap's behavior was perplexing from the start," Schmidt said. "In short, he was willing to plead guilty even though he did not even know for certain what he was pleading to at the time the judge conducted the plea colloquy and he admitted guilt.
What could be more impulsive?"
The judge who sentenced Dunlap to death, as well as prosecutors, say he's been examined and they found no basis for a claim of mental incompetence.
Dunlap, 40, was sentenced to death March 19, 2010. He pleaded guilty to stabbing and killing 5-year-old Ethan Frensley, 17-year-old Kayla Williams and 14-year-old Kortney Frensley when they returned home from school on Oct. 15, 2008, in Roaring Springs, near the sprawling Fort Campbell military installation on the Kentucky-Tennessee state line. Dunlap remains on Kentucky's death row at the state penitentiary in Eddyville.
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DoD outlines impact of ‘irrational’ budget cuts
DoD outlines impact of ‘irrational’ budget cuts
By Rick Maze
Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Aug 1, 2012
An Obama administration decision to exempt military personnel programs from potential across-the-board budget cuts in January does not mean troops and their families would feel no impact from the budget process known as sequestration.
Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter warned of potential widespread effects.
For service members, retirees and families, Carter warned, reductions in health care funding would result in “delays in payments to service providers and, potentially, some denial of service” under the Tricare health care program.
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By Rick Maze
Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Aug 1, 2012
An Obama administration decision to exempt military personnel programs from potential across-the-board budget cuts in January does not mean troops and their families would feel no impact from the budget process known as sequestration.
Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter warned of potential widespread effects.
For service members, retirees and families, Carter warned, reductions in health care funding would result in “delays in payments to service providers and, potentially, some denial of service” under the Tricare health care program.
read more here
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