Military sexual assault is focus of YouTube series
By JULIE WATSON
The Associated Press
Published: August 12, 2012
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The enormous obstacles and emotional torment that a female solider confronts in reporting a sexual assault in the military is the focus of the three-part Web series "Lauren" debuting Monday on YouTube's new channel WIGS, which focuses on drama for women.
Featuring "Flashdance" star Jennifer Beals and Troian Bellisario, "Lauren" gives a close-up look at the challenges women service members face in trying to find justice after being raped. It's a problem that military leaders have focused unprecedented attention on this year.
The Defense Department has estimated that 86 percent of sexual assaults go unreported, an indication that some women are worried about the effect reporting an assault may have on their career and that they mistrust the military prosecution system. Nearly 3,200 sexual assaults were reported in the military last year.
Military leaders say sexual assault is not only dehumanizing to the victims but threatens operational readiness. The Pentagon has set up hotlines and has been trying to encourage service members to help victims. High-ranking Navy leaders have likened their campaign to the crusade years ago to stop rampant drug abuse, although activists say sweeping institutional changes are needed for victims to find justice.
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Sunday, August 12, 2012
No one is giving up on finding Pfc. Kelli Bordeaux
Volunteers resume search for missing soldier
The Associated Press
Army Times
Posted : Saturday Aug 11, 2012
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Volunteers are again planning to search for a missing Fort Bragg soldier.
The Fayetteville Observer reports that the volunteers are scheduled to gather Saturday to look for Pfc. Kelli Bordeaux.
The 23-year-old was last seen April 14 at a bar where she had gone the night before to sing karaoke.
read more here
The Associated Press
Army Times
Posted : Saturday Aug 11, 2012
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Volunteers are again planning to search for a missing Fort Bragg soldier.
The Fayetteville Observer reports that the volunteers are scheduled to gather Saturday to look for Pfc. Kelli Bordeaux.
The 23-year-old was last seen April 14 at a bar where she had gone the night before to sing karaoke.
read more here
Troubled veterans left without health-care benefits
Troubled veterans left without health-care benefits
By Hal Bernton
Seattle Times staff reporter
August 11, 2012
A few weeks after Jarrid Starks ended his Army service in May, he went to an office in Albany, Ore., to enroll for veterans health-care benefits.
Starks brought medical records that detailed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a twisted vertebra and a possible brain injury from concussions. Other records documented his tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, where his bravery fighting the Taliban was recognized with a Bronze Star for Valor.
None of that was enough to qualify him for health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
That's because Starks left the military this year with an other-than-honorable discharge — his final year of service scarred by pot smoking and taking absences without leave (AWOL).
He was told to fill out a form, then wait — possibly a year or more — while officials review his military record to determine whether he is eligible for health care.
"I was absolutely livid," Starks, 26, recalls. "This just isn't right."
Starks is among the more than 20,000 men and women who exited the Army and Marines during the past four years with other-than-honorable discharges that hamstring their access to VA health care and may strip them of disability benefits.
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This was news on this blog back in 2007.
More than 20,000 men and women exited the Army and Marines during the past four years with other-than-honorable discharges that can restrict their veterans health-care and disability benefits. Critics says those rules leave some troubled combat veterans struggling to find treatment and support.
By Hal Bernton
Seattle Times staff reporter
August 11, 2012
A few weeks after Jarrid Starks ended his Army service in May, he went to an office in Albany, Ore., to enroll for veterans health-care benefits.
Starks brought medical records that detailed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a twisted vertebra and a possible brain injury from concussions. Other records documented his tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, where his bravery fighting the Taliban was recognized with a Bronze Star for Valor.
None of that was enough to qualify him for health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
That's because Starks left the military this year with an other-than-honorable discharge — his final year of service scarred by pot smoking and taking absences without leave (AWOL).
He was told to fill out a form, then wait — possibly a year or more — while officials review his military record to determine whether he is eligible for health care.
"I was absolutely livid," Starks, 26, recalls. "This just isn't right."
Starks is among the more than 20,000 men and women who exited the Army and Marines during the past four years with other-than-honorable discharges that hamstring their access to VA health care and may strip them of disability benefits.
read more here
This was news on this blog back in 2007.
10 discharges a day for "personality disorder"
Many soldiers get boot for 'pre-existing' mental illness
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
September 29, 2007
By Philip Dine
WASHINGTON -- Thousands of U.S. soldiers in Iraq - as many as 10 a day - are being discharged by the military for mental health reasons. But the Pentagon isn't blaming the war. It says the soldiers had "pre-existing" conditions that disqualify them for treatment by the government.
Many soldiers and Marines being discharged on this basis actually suffer from combat-related problems, experts say. But by classifying them as having a condition unrelated to the war, the Defense Department is able to quickly get rid of troops having trouble doing their work while also saving the expense of caring for them.
The result appears to be that many actually suffering from combat-related problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injuries don't get the help they need.
Working behind the scenes, Sens. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., have written and inserted into the defense authorization bill a provision that would make it harder for the Pentagon to discharge thousands of troops. The Post-Dispatch has learned that the measure has been accepted into the Senate defense bill and will probably become part of the Senate-House bill to be voted on this week.
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Fort Benning soldiers team up to help disabled Vietnam Veteran
Fort Benning soldiers roll up their sleeves to help their own
COLUMBUS, GA
WTVM
August 11, 2012
Some Fort Benning soldiers rolled up their sleeves to help one of their own on Saturday.
News leader 9 was at the home and talked to the former soldier who says it's nice to finally have someone do something for him.
At his home on Memphis Street in Columbus that he shares with his wife Katie, 77 year-old Jackie Kirkpatrick Sr. told us old stories of his days as a soldier in Vietnam.
He's a highly decorated veteran who spent 24 years of his life serving in the army.
"His overall spirit was just awesome and to see the struggles that they're going through right now, he's just an awesome energy. He's told me on several occasions that he would be out here doing it himself but unfortunately he's just not physically able," team captain and soldier in Delta Company 146th Infantry, added Lt. E. Thomas Bowen
1st Lt. Bowen and soldiers from 146th Infantry, teamed up with the organization House of Heroes to help Kirkpatrick out around his home.
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COLUMBUS, GA
WTVM
August 11, 2012
Some Fort Benning soldiers rolled up their sleeves to help one of their own on Saturday.
News leader 9 was at the home and talked to the former soldier who says it's nice to finally have someone do something for him.
At his home on Memphis Street in Columbus that he shares with his wife Katie, 77 year-old Jackie Kirkpatrick Sr. told us old stories of his days as a soldier in Vietnam.
He's a highly decorated veteran who spent 24 years of his life serving in the army.
"His overall spirit was just awesome and to see the struggles that they're going through right now, he's just an awesome energy. He's told me on several occasions that he would be out here doing it himself but unfortunately he's just not physically able," team captain and soldier in Delta Company 146th Infantry, added Lt. E. Thomas Bowen
1st Lt. Bowen and soldiers from 146th Infantry, teamed up with the organization House of Heroes to help Kirkpatrick out around his home.
read more here
Dallas-area veterans try to leave battle behind
Dallas-area veterans try to leave battle behind
NECN.com
Aug 12, 2012
DALLAS (AP) — Just after the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, Mike Rials was on track to graduate from Richardson's J.J. Pearce High School and start his freshman year at Texas Tech. But at the last minute, Rials decided he wanted a bigger challenge: He enlisted in the Marines.
Nine years later, Rials, 27, will finally get his diploma when he graduates next week from the University of Texas at Dallas with a degree in psychology. He credits UTD's Center for BrainHealth, and its work with him and other recent war veterans struggling physically or emotionally from their time in combat.
Many recently discharged veterans have difficulty adjusting to civilian life, especially those dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder or a traumatic brain injury, the two signature wounds of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That adjustment can be even more difficult when the veteran goes from the battlefield to the classroom.
"When they come off the battlefield, where they've had to be hyper-vigilant to so much that's going on, it triggers the brain to do the opposite of what you need to do for a higher-thinking job," said Dr. Sandra Chapman, the center's founder and chief director.
"You're hyper-focused, stressed and not sleeping well."
In five years with the Marines, Rials did three combat tours. Assigned to the infantry, Rials was just 19 when he deployed to Iraq during the height of the insurgency. In his first two tours, in 2004 and 2005, he fought in Fallujah and Haditha, two major hot spots.
His last tour of duty, in Afghanistan in September 2007, left Rials physically and emotionally scarred when a roadside bomb destroyed his Humvee. A close friend was badly injured and trapped in the burning vehicle. Rials pulled him out, but the Marine died soon after. Rials, who was briefly knocked unconscious by the blast, suffered second-degree burns to his arm. The wounds to his psyche lasted much longer.
After his discharge in 2008, Rials returned to the Dallas area. But the veteran, who had risen to the rank of sergeant and commanded up to 40 Marines, could barely make it through an average day. He couldn't turn his mind off of potential threats. Going into grocery stores, restaurants or other public places turned into a nerve-racking, heart-pounding experience. He isolated himself and used alcohol to self-medicate.
He hated what he'd become.
read more here
NECN.com
Aug 12, 2012
DALLAS (AP) — Just after the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, Mike Rials was on track to graduate from Richardson's J.J. Pearce High School and start his freshman year at Texas Tech. But at the last minute, Rials decided he wanted a bigger challenge: He enlisted in the Marines.
Nine years later, Rials, 27, will finally get his diploma when he graduates next week from the University of Texas at Dallas with a degree in psychology. He credits UTD's Center for BrainHealth, and its work with him and other recent war veterans struggling physically or emotionally from their time in combat.
Many recently discharged veterans have difficulty adjusting to civilian life, especially those dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder or a traumatic brain injury, the two signature wounds of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That adjustment can be even more difficult when the veteran goes from the battlefield to the classroom.
"When they come off the battlefield, where they've had to be hyper-vigilant to so much that's going on, it triggers the brain to do the opposite of what you need to do for a higher-thinking job," said Dr. Sandra Chapman, the center's founder and chief director.
"You're hyper-focused, stressed and not sleeping well."
In five years with the Marines, Rials did three combat tours. Assigned to the infantry, Rials was just 19 when he deployed to Iraq during the height of the insurgency. In his first two tours, in 2004 and 2005, he fought in Fallujah and Haditha, two major hot spots.
His last tour of duty, in Afghanistan in September 2007, left Rials physically and emotionally scarred when a roadside bomb destroyed his Humvee. A close friend was badly injured and trapped in the burning vehicle. Rials pulled him out, but the Marine died soon after. Rials, who was briefly knocked unconscious by the blast, suffered second-degree burns to his arm. The wounds to his psyche lasted much longer.
After his discharge in 2008, Rials returned to the Dallas area. But the veteran, who had risen to the rank of sergeant and commanded up to 40 Marines, could barely make it through an average day. He couldn't turn his mind off of potential threats. Going into grocery stores, restaurants or other public places turned into a nerve-racking, heart-pounding experience. He isolated himself and used alcohol to self-medicate.
He hated what he'd become.
read more here
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