Is Mefloquine the new Agent Orange?
By Samantha A. Torrence
Aug 6, 2012
During Vietnam troops were exposed to Agent Orange. Later there was Gulf War Syndrome and depleted Uranium exposure. Now the military is dealing with a rash of military members with PTSD, and another chemical agent may be responsible for the diagnosis.
Malaria is a major concern to troops who are deployed around the world where contracting the disease is a risk. It is the Department of Defense policy that service members deployed to these areas must take an anti-malaria drug. There are various drugs available such as doxycycline, chloroquine, malarone, and mefloquine. Each drug comes with its unique problems such as high monetary cost in the case of malarone and photosensitivity, nausea, vomiting, and resistance in the cases of doxycycline and chloroquine. Most anti-malaria drugs must also be taken once a day which causes problems with consistency and potency for the soldiers who miss a dose and for that reason Mefloquine, which is only taken once a week, has been prescribed.
Mefloquine(Lariam®) may have a higher rate of compliance but it comes at a high cost to soldiers and American taxpayers. Mefloquine can cause brain injury, hallucinations, paranoia, psychosis and can predispose service members to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
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Monday, August 6, 2012
Kenny Britt to explain himself to NFL today
Kenny Britt to explain himself to NFL today
August, 6, 2012
By Paul Kuharsky
ESPN.com
The Titans are ready to ramp up Kenny Britt’s rehab, and it sounds like he could be part of practice within two weeks.
Whether his issues off the field land him on the shelf at the start of the season, we don’t know. But he’ll explain himself to the NFL today when he visits the league office, according to John Glennon of The Tennessean.
Britt recently had his eighth incident that required police attention, facing a DUI charge at the Army post at Fort Campbell in Kentucky.
“I don't know what to expect -- a lot of questions,” he said.
read more here
August, 6, 2012
By Paul Kuharsky
ESPN.com
The Titans are ready to ramp up Kenny Britt’s rehab, and it sounds like he could be part of practice within two weeks.
Whether his issues off the field land him on the shelf at the start of the season, we don’t know. But he’ll explain himself to the NFL today when he visits the league office, according to John Glennon of The Tennessean.
Britt recently had his eighth incident that required police attention, facing a DUI charge at the Army post at Fort Campbell in Kentucky.
“I don't know what to expect -- a lot of questions,” he said.
read more here
Army Capt. Will Swenson 'lost' nomination for Medal of Honor questioned
News came out that Ganjgal hero Capt. Will Swenson recommended for Medal of Honor and Dakota Meyer said “I’ll put it this way,” Meyer said. “If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be alive today.”
This happened last year. So why is it news today? Read this and know.
This happened last year. So why is it news today? Read this and know.
14 minutes ago
Army captain’s 'lost' nomination for Medal of Honor questioned
By JONATHAN S. LANDAY
McClatchy Newspapers
Published: August 6, 2012
WASHINGTON — Like other U.S. trainers with the Afghan force that day, former Army Capt. William Swenson had expected light resistance. Instead, the contingent walked into a furious six-hour gunfight with Taliban ambushers in which Swenson repeatedly charged through intense fire to retrieve wounded and dead.
The 2009 battle of Ganjgal is perhaps the most remarkable of the Afghan war for its extraordinary heroism and deadly incompetence. It produced dozens of casualties, career-killing reprimands and a slew of commendations for valor. They included two Medal of Honor nominations, one for Swenson.
Yet months after the first living Army officer in some 40 years was put in for the nation’s highest military award for gallantry, his nomination vanished into a bureaucratic black hole. The U.S. military in Afghanistan said an investigation had found that it was “lost” in the approval process, something that several experts dismissed as improbable, saying that hasn’t happened since the awards system was computerized in the mid-1970s.
In fact, the investigation uncovered evidence that suggests a far more troubling explanation. It showed that as former Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer’s Medal of Honor nomination from the same battle sailed toward approval despite questions about the accuracy of the account of his deeds, there may have been an effort to kill Swenson’s nomination.
Swenson’s original nomination was downgraded to a lesser award, in violation of Army and Defense Department regulations, evidence uncovered by the investigation showed.
Moreover, Swenson’s Medal of Honor nomination “packet,” a digitized file that contains dozens of documents attesting to his “heroism … above and beyond the call of duty,” disappeared from the computer system dedicated to processing awards, a circumstance for which the military said it has “no explanation.”
read more here
Veteran tracks valor medals, stolen and forgotten
Veteran tracks valor medals, stolen and forgotten
By: JULIA LEDOUX
InsideNova
Published: August 06, 2012
For Doug Sterner, it’s not just a matter of stolen valor; it’s also a matter of forgotten valor.
The Vietnam veteran and former Army combat engineer has spent years researching valor medals — including the Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross — that have been presented to the nation’s service members. He’s combed through records and made countless Freedom of Information requests to document who has received the awards and why.
The result of that research is easy to see in a spare bedroom in Sterner’s apartment: Folders and binders are filled with the documentation, some of which the Army itself doesn’t have due to a 1973 fire in St. Louis that burned a records center.
Thus far, Sterner estimates he’s documented about 105,000 of the nearly 350,000 medals above the Bronze Star and up to the Medal of Honor that have been awarded. He is so dedicated to his quest that he and his wife moved from their hometown of Pueblo, Colo., to Alexandria, where they could be closer to records stored at the National Archives, Quantico Marine Corps base, the Washington Navy Yard and other locations holding details.
“We were doing patriotic activities in our home town of Pueblo,” Sterner said. “We were bringing in Medal of Honor recipients to meet with the kids.”
That work led Sterner to establish his own website, Home of Heroes, which focused on Medal of Honor recipients.
read more here
By: JULIA LEDOUX
InsideNova
Published: August 06, 2012
For Doug Sterner, it’s not just a matter of stolen valor; it’s also a matter of forgotten valor.
The Vietnam veteran and former Army combat engineer has spent years researching valor medals — including the Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross — that have been presented to the nation’s service members. He’s combed through records and made countless Freedom of Information requests to document who has received the awards and why.
The result of that research is easy to see in a spare bedroom in Sterner’s apartment: Folders and binders are filled with the documentation, some of which the Army itself doesn’t have due to a 1973 fire in St. Louis that burned a records center.
Thus far, Sterner estimates he’s documented about 105,000 of the nearly 350,000 medals above the Bronze Star and up to the Medal of Honor that have been awarded. He is so dedicated to his quest that he and his wife moved from their hometown of Pueblo, Colo., to Alexandria, where they could be closer to records stored at the National Archives, Quantico Marine Corps base, the Washington Navy Yard and other locations holding details.
“We were doing patriotic activities in our home town of Pueblo,” Sterner said. “We were bringing in Medal of Honor recipients to meet with the kids.”
That work led Sterner to establish his own website, Home of Heroes, which focused on Medal of Honor recipients.
read more here
Orange County Florida Honoring Purple Hearts
If you live in the Orlando area and think I'm busy, Cathy Haynes makes me look lazy.
From Cathy Haynes
From Cathy Haynes
Tomorrow - Tues., August 7 - is Purple Heart Day, recognizing military personnel wounded or killed in combat.
Tomorrow - Tues., August 7 - is Purple Heart Day, recognizing military personnel wounded or killed in combat. Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs with the Orange County Board of Commissioners will issue and present a Proclamation honoring the local Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH) and all Purple Heart medal recipients. The presentation is at 1:30 pm in the Commissioners Chambers of the Administration Building.
You are welcomed to attend with others who have served our country!
Please RSVP to me prior to 9 am if you plan to attend, especially if you wish to have a copy of the Proclamation after the presentation.
chaynes11629@yahoo.com
Promptly at 1:30 pm, Orange County Administration Building, 1st Floor in the Commissioners Chambers, 201 South Rosalind Ave., Orlando.
You will need to go thru the Building Security area - metal detector.
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