Motorcycle run honors wounded warriors

Motorcycle run honors wounded warriors
By Susan DeMar Lafferty
August 27, 2012

Riders honor veterans during the 4th Annual Wounded Warriors motorcycle run to get underway at Pipefitters Local 597 Training Center in Mokena, IL on Sunday August 25, 2012.
Matt Marton~Sun-Times Media

Sunday’s rain may have dampened the numbers of motorcycle riders but not their enthusiasm as they gathered for the 4th Annual Wounded Warrior Motorcycle Run at the Local 597 Pipefitters Training Center on 187th Street in Mokena.

Organizer Mike Cozzi, of the Illinois Veterans Foundation, was hoping for 2,000 riders — to surpass last year’s total of 1,800 — but about 500 registered for the 30-mile run to Wilmington. Many more were expected to join the party at the end of the ride at the Operating Engineers Local 150 union hall.

“This is such a great event. The people here are true patriots. It’s raining, and they’re still here,” Tina Hauptman, of West Chicago, a volunteer with the Illinois Veterans Foundation said. “This is my passion. I volunteer to give back to the Americans who fought so hard for us.”

Before the kickstands went up on the bikes, the IVF honored 11 wounded warriors from Illinois, including Army veteran Brian Wilhelm, of New Lenox, who lost a leg in Iraq, and Sgt. Brian Poplin, of Mokena, represented by his wife because he is still serving with the National Guard, despite an 80 percent disability.

The IVF presented each one with a $1,000 check and has partnered with Home Depot of Chicago Ridge to modify their homes as needed.
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2 US Soldiers Die in Alleged Accidental Shooting

2 US Soldiers Die in Alleged Accidental Shooting
Aug 27, 2012
Associated Press
by Heidi Vogt and Mirwais Khan

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Attackers hit international forces, the Afghan army and Afghan civilians in two days of violence that by Monday morning had left 29 people dead -- two of them Americans soldiers killed by an Afghan colleague.

In the deadliest attack, insurgents beheaded 17 Afghan civilian for taking part in a music event in a Taliban-controlled area of southern Afghanistan, officials said. The attack happened Sunday night in Helmand province's Musa Qala district, said provincial government spokesman Daoud Ahmadi. All of the bodies were decapitated but it was not clear if they had been shot first, Ahmadi said.Then on Monday morning, two American soldiers were shot and killed by one of their Afghan colleagues in the east, military officials said, bringing to 12 the number of international troops -- all Americans -- to die at the hands of their local allies this month.

But Afghan officials said Monday's attack in Laghman province was a separate case from the rash of recent insider attacks on international forces, because it appeared to have been an accidental shooting.

When the group of U.S. and Afghan soldiers came under attack, they returned fire and ran to take up fighting positions, said Noman Hatefi, a spokesman for the Afghan army corps in eastern Afghanistan. But an Afghan soldier fell and accidentally discharged his weapon, killing two American soldiers with the errant rounds, he said.
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Penn State riot over Joe Paterno ends dream of joining military

Penn State riot ends dream of joining military
By Michael Rubinkam
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Aug 27, 2012

Stints in jail. Hefty fines and restitution. Clouded futures. The consequences of their bad behavior have been steep for the Penn State students who took to the streets and rioted in the chaotic aftermath of Hall of Fame coach Joe Paterno’s firing last November.

Perhaps none has learned a harder lesson than Justin Strine, a young man from central Pennsylvania whose planned career as an Army officer is over before it began — the casualty of his own split-second decision to put his hands on a news van, and a judicial system that considered him as guilty as classmates who did far worse that dark night in State College.

As the fall semester gets underway Monday, Strine has returned to campus, along with 15 other students found to have taken part in a nationally televised riot that caused tens of thousands of dollars in damage and embarrassed Penn State.

As he resumes his studies, nothing’s the same for the 21-year-old from Hummelstown. He spent part of his summer in jail. Far worse: He’s been kicked out of ROTC, his dream of carrying on his family’s proud military tradition now out of reach.

“I’m losing everything I worked my entire life for,” Strine said.
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Marine Launches Winery Helping Fellow Veterans

Marine Launches Winery Helping Fellow Veterans
CBS Sacramento
August 26, 2012

LIVERMORE (CBS13) – From fighting for our country to fighting to find work, it’s a battle many veterans face when they return home.

After getting out of the military, several men and woman say it’s hard to find a job, but now a group of veterans have found a way to help other vets, with wine.

Like a lot of veterans, when Josh Laine was discharged from the military, he wasn’t quite sure what to do.

He was dating a girl who worked in the wine industry and thought, ‘hey I can do this.’

The thing is, he didn’t know anything about making wine. So, he turned to the same place you turn to for silly cat videos, YouTube.

“We are known as the YouTube winery, a lot of studying YouTube, studying online, reading books,” said Laine.

He took that knowledge plus $1,500, and he and 10 of his marine buddies created Livermore’s Valor Winery.
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When Marine Sergeant Josh Laine returned from fighting in Iraq to his native Livermore, California, he couldn't find a job anywhere. When a girlfriend got him into wine, he decided to take a crack at winemaking and Lavish Laines Winery was born. The winery has since become a place where any returning veteran can find a job, camaraderie, and a sense of purpose. The film follows Josh and his fellow vets as they try to take the winery from a garage startup to a fully-fledged operation, and in the process explores the challenges vets face in transitioning back to civilian life.

In addition to screening in the Documentary Short Film program, No Wine Left Behind will be featured in a program of films honoring Veterans Day at the Lincoln Theater, Friday Nov 11 at 11am. Winemaking vets from Lavish Laines will be in attendance and offering their wine for tasting! This is part of a FREE program for everyone in the festival community.

Missing Marine Noah Pippin likely died of exposure

Missing Marine likely died of exposure during blizzard in Bob Marshall Wilderness
By EVE BYRON
Independent Record

An investigation of the site where Noah Pippin died, 18 miles from the eastern edge of the Bob Marshall Wilderness, makes Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton believe the Iraq war veteran succumbed to exposure.

Dutton said he thinks Pippin, a former Marine described as a large, polite man with a shaved head, was seeking shelter from inclement weather and ducked behind some large boulders in a scree field near the Chinese Wall after being seen near there on Sept. 15, 2010. An icy rainstorm on Sept. 16, 2010, turned into a blizzard during the ensuing days.

“He wasn’t as ill-prepared as we had thought,” Dutton said on Saturday, after using a helicopter to get to the remote site where Pippin died. “We found his sleeping bag, a water jug, his poncho, his hand gun and a small device that plays music (like an iPod). He still had food left, and he did have a map."

“There was no sign of foul play,” Dutton added. “There was an extremely bad storm, and it was readily apparent he had sought shelter under a big rock. He was exposed when animals pulled his remains out from there and scattered them.”

The gun, a 38-caliber revolver, was too rusty for Dutton to determine whether it had been fired. He said it will be sent to the Montana State Crime Laboratory for further investigation.

Pippin, 30, had served three tours of duty in Iraq, and then joined the Los Angeles Police Department. He quit that job, spent a month in Michigan with his family, and then told them he was going back to California to join the National Guard.

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Parents believe remains found in Montana are Noah Pippin