Vietnam Vet Run draws large crowds
August 18, 2012
AMANDA WILCOX
DAILY NEWS STAFF
More than 200 bikers signed up to ride at the Vietnam Vet Run Saturday, but organizers said before the run that they expected even more to show up at the last minute.
“We’ve got riders that just got here that rode 1,200 miles to be here,” Pat Walker, an organizer of the event, said just 10 minutes before kickstands were scheduled to go up. “I’m so impressed and I’m very, very grateful to everybody for coming and being a part of it.”
Walker said the turnout for the run was incredible, and they’re pretty sure they’ll meet their goal and be able to complete the Vietnam Veteran Memorial near downtown Jacksonville this year, but they won’t know for sure until it’s all over Sunday evening.
“A lot of people want us to do it anyway (next year),” Walker said. “Because this is a place where the brothers can get together and just ride.”
Second to the run, the traveling Vietnam War Dog Memorial drew more attention than any of the other booths. With hundreds of kennel signs strewn across the floor to resemble just a fraction of the dogs lost during the war, people couldn’t help but stop and stare.
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Monday, August 20, 2012
Vietnam Veteran opens home to fellow veterans
Vietnam vet opens his Bellingham home, shoreline, to fellow veterans
By Jessica Trufant
Daily News staff
Milford Daily News
Posted Aug 19, 2012
BELLINGHAM
Disabled veteran Dennis Auger realizes how lucky he is to live along the shore of Lake Hiawatha.
So Auger opens his home to other disabled servicemen and women who are not quite as lucky, and each summer he hosts a day of fishing and barbequing for the patients of the Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center in Brockton.
"For years we used to go into the hospital, and then my friend Mick said, ‘Why don’t you do something at your house? You have the lake and the sand,’ so we started hosting it here, and it’s the eighth year," said Auger, who served in the U.S. Coast Guard and was injured during the Vietnam War.
Mickey Emery, an Army veteran also hurt in Vietnam, died in 2010, but Auger on Saturday carried on the cookout tradition in honor of his friend.
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By Jessica Trufant
Daily News staff
Milford Daily News
Posted Aug 19, 2012
BELLINGHAM
Disabled veteran Dennis Auger realizes how lucky he is to live along the shore of Lake Hiawatha.
So Auger opens his home to other disabled servicemen and women who are not quite as lucky, and each summer he hosts a day of fishing and barbequing for the patients of the Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center in Brockton.
"For years we used to go into the hospital, and then my friend Mick said, ‘Why don’t you do something at your house? You have the lake and the sand,’ so we started hosting it here, and it’s the eighth year," said Auger, who served in the U.S. Coast Guard and was injured during the Vietnam War.
Mickey Emery, an Army veteran also hurt in Vietnam, died in 2010, but Auger on Saturday carried on the cookout tradition in honor of his friend.
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'My Son Trained Somebody to Murder Him'
'My Son Trained Somebody to Murder Him'
Aug 20, 2012
Military.com
by Richard Sisk
The grief-stricken father of a slain Marine lashed out at the U.S. training policies with the Afghan National Security Forces. His son’s death became one of many recent insider attacks leading to high-level meetings between U.S. and Afghan leader to re-evaluate their training methods.
“At the end of the day, what happened is my son trained somebody to murder him,” Greg Buckley Sr. said at the funeral Saturday for Lance Cpl. Gregory T. Buckley, 21, of Oceanside, N.Y., according to a CBS report.
The Afghan recruits “come in, they say, ‘We want to be police officers,’ and we hand them a blue uniform and hand them an AK-47? That’s insane,” the father told CBS as he stood surrounded by family and friends wearing buttons with a picture of his fallen son in uniform.
“If my son died on the battlefield, I would’ve been -- maybe been -- able to accept that, but instead they killed him inside the gym,” said Buckley Sr., according to CBS.
Buckley; Staff Sgt. Scott E. Dickinson, 29, of San Diego, Calif.; and Cpl. Richard A. Rivera Jr., 20 of Ventura, Calif., were shot to death on Aug. 10 while they worked out at a base gym in the southwestern Helmand province.
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Aug 20, 2012
Military.com
by Richard Sisk
The grief-stricken father of a slain Marine lashed out at the U.S. training policies with the Afghan National Security Forces. His son’s death became one of many recent insider attacks leading to high-level meetings between U.S. and Afghan leader to re-evaluate their training methods.
“At the end of the day, what happened is my son trained somebody to murder him,” Greg Buckley Sr. said at the funeral Saturday for Lance Cpl. Gregory T. Buckley, 21, of Oceanside, N.Y., according to a CBS report.
The Afghan recruits “come in, they say, ‘We want to be police officers,’ and we hand them a blue uniform and hand them an AK-47? That’s insane,” the father told CBS as he stood surrounded by family and friends wearing buttons with a picture of his fallen son in uniform.
“If my son died on the battlefield, I would’ve been -- maybe been -- able to accept that, but instead they killed him inside the gym,” said Buckley Sr., according to CBS.
Buckley; Staff Sgt. Scott E. Dickinson, 29, of San Diego, Calif.; and Cpl. Richard A. Rivera Jr., 20 of Ventura, Calif., were shot to death on Aug. 10 while they worked out at a base gym in the southwestern Helmand province.
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Lingering casualties of war, PTSD and suicides
Lingering casualties of war
BY JOSEPH KOHUT
TIMES-SHAMROCK WRITER
Published: August 20, 2012
Even before his twin brother committed suicide in December 2010, former Army Staff Sgt. Earl Granville never liked the holidays.
While getting ready for a party at his girlfriend's workplace, Earl received a call from his mother telling him the news, Staff Sgt. Joseph Granville was dead by his own hand.
It hit him like a brick, throwing him to the floor in a flurry of shock and disbelief and, while the event deepened his aversion to the holiday season, he said the event brought his family closer than ever before.
"We still exchanged gifts but we were more glad to be with each other than ever before," Earl said.
Earl Granville, believed Joe had a "touch" of post-traumatic-stress disorder, a condition behind a deadly epidemic sweeping the nation.
Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that one veteran commits suicide every 80 minutes.
Iraq and Afghanistan veteran suicides represent 20 percent of total suicides in the United States, though only one percent of Americans have served in either war.
The Department of Defense has made it a top priority to identify and prevent suicides, but the numbers are stark.
Suicides among active-duty servicemen and women increased by 87 percent from 2001 to 2011, the Department of Defense reports.
Within the Army alone, there has been a more than 200 percent increase in the 10-year period, from 52 suicides in 2001 to 165 in 2011. In the first seven months of this year, the Army reported there have been 66 confirmed active-duty suicides, with 50 remaining under investigation.
Dr. John McGrail, a former Coast Guard officer and clinical hypno-therapist, said military culture tends to impede motivation to receive help. He said soldiers expect themselves to "suck it up" when troubled and avoid help, believing it to be a sign of weakness.
"Given our society's and the military's culture and traditional attitude toward seeking help for mental heath issues, many of these men and women are both afraid to seek help, and are surrounded by people back home that simply cannot comprehend what it is they are going through," Dr. McGrail said.
"Eventually it becomes such a burden that they see no alternative but to end their own lives."
read more here
BY JOSEPH KOHUT
TIMES-SHAMROCK WRITER
Published: August 20, 2012
Even before his twin brother committed suicide in December 2010, former Army Staff Sgt. Earl Granville never liked the holidays.
While getting ready for a party at his girlfriend's workplace, Earl received a call from his mother telling him the news, Staff Sgt. Joseph Granville was dead by his own hand.
It hit him like a brick, throwing him to the floor in a flurry of shock and disbelief and, while the event deepened his aversion to the holiday season, he said the event brought his family closer than ever before.
"We still exchanged gifts but we were more glad to be with each other than ever before," Earl said.
Earl Granville, believed Joe had a "touch" of post-traumatic-stress disorder, a condition behind a deadly epidemic sweeping the nation.
Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that one veteran commits suicide every 80 minutes.
Iraq and Afghanistan veteran suicides represent 20 percent of total suicides in the United States, though only one percent of Americans have served in either war.
The Department of Defense has made it a top priority to identify and prevent suicides, but the numbers are stark.
Suicides among active-duty servicemen and women increased by 87 percent from 2001 to 2011, the Department of Defense reports.
Within the Army alone, there has been a more than 200 percent increase in the 10-year period, from 52 suicides in 2001 to 165 in 2011. In the first seven months of this year, the Army reported there have been 66 confirmed active-duty suicides, with 50 remaining under investigation.
Dr. John McGrail, a former Coast Guard officer and clinical hypno-therapist, said military culture tends to impede motivation to receive help. He said soldiers expect themselves to "suck it up" when troubled and avoid help, believing it to be a sign of weakness.
"Given our society's and the military's culture and traditional attitude toward seeking help for mental heath issues, many of these men and women are both afraid to seek help, and are surrounded by people back home that simply cannot comprehend what it is they are going through," Dr. McGrail said.
"Eventually it becomes such a burden that they see no alternative but to end their own lives."
read more here
Vietnam vets find war returns when they retire
Vietnam vets find war returns when they retire
By Denise Crosby
Chicago Sun-Times Media
August 20, 2012
Dave Bee led a squadron of Marines through the bloodiest year of the Vietnam War — including the surprise Tet Offensive in 1968. After the war, he moved forward, beyond the horrors of conflict, devoting himself to raising a family, working in the maintenance department at West Aurora High School and doing lots of charity work.
But, like an increasing number of veterans, when Bee retired, the memories of war returned. No longer preoccupied with the business of everyday working life, Bee began experiencing flashbacks from his “14 months in hell.”
Suddenly, this social, outgoing man was struggling with depression. He became increasingly withdrawn from the activities that had given him such pleasure, unable to share his feelings even with his tight-knit family.
“He just never talked about it,” says his 28-year-old son Charlie. “I know how Pops is.
He didn’t want to burden others.”
Bee’s first flashbacks were triggered while playing Santa Claus. There was something about seeing the severely disabled kids on the ground that created images of fallen comrades of long ago. It hit so fast, Bee sent a letter to the Hope Wall School in Aurora giving up his role as St. Nick because of “circumstances beyond my control.”
It’s easy to “push these bad memories to the back of your mind when you’re busy,” Bee says. But when you suddenly have all this time on your hands, “it hits you in the face.”
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By Denise Crosby
Chicago Sun-Times Media
August 20, 2012
Dave Bee led a squadron of Marines through the bloodiest year of the Vietnam War — including the surprise Tet Offensive in 1968. After the war, he moved forward, beyond the horrors of conflict, devoting himself to raising a family, working in the maintenance department at West Aurora High School and doing lots of charity work.
But, like an increasing number of veterans, when Bee retired, the memories of war returned. No longer preoccupied with the business of everyday working life, Bee began experiencing flashbacks from his “14 months in hell.”
Suddenly, this social, outgoing man was struggling with depression. He became increasingly withdrawn from the activities that had given him such pleasure, unable to share his feelings even with his tight-knit family.
“He just never talked about it,” says his 28-year-old son Charlie. “I know how Pops is.
He didn’t want to burden others.”
Bee’s first flashbacks were triggered while playing Santa Claus. There was something about seeing the severely disabled kids on the ground that created images of fallen comrades of long ago. It hit so fast, Bee sent a letter to the Hope Wall School in Aurora giving up his role as St. Nick because of “circumstances beyond my control.”
It’s easy to “push these bad memories to the back of your mind when you’re busy,” Bee says. But when you suddenly have all this time on your hands, “it hits you in the face.”
read more here
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