Polk Marine killed in Nevada laid to rest

Polk Marine killed in Nevada laid to rest
By Saundra Weathers, Reporter
April 06, 2013

It’s tragedies like this that sadly brings together former military biker groups like the Lethernecks. They lead the precession for Fenn’s funeral Saturday.

WINTER HAVEN

The family of the Polk County marine killed in a training exercise last month, laid him to rest Saturday.

David Fenn was one of seven men killed when a mortar round exploded.

Seeing the American flag covered casket of 20-year-old Lance Corporal David Fenn being loaded into a hearst, was hard for everyone watching.

“I don’t feel like he’s gone. He can’t be gone,” said Fenn’s sister Melanie Fenn.

His childhood friend Brittany Roberts says she’s just happy to see the support. “This is really amazing how many people have come out to support David, his family,” Roberts said.

Even complete strangers came to give their condolences.

“It touches home this is home. And this is our sadness with their families,” said Marine Family of Central Florida member, Tera Williams.
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With help, Iraq veteran starts rebuilding his life with PTSD

With help, a veteran starts rebuilding his life
By G. Jeffrey MacDonald
Globe Correspondent
April 6, 2013

LYNN — Eight years ago, First Lieutenant Stephen Wood held the pressure-packed job of flying Army generals to Iraq hot spots in his Black Hawk helicopter. When he wasn’t in the pilot’s seat, the Rockland native served as a battle captain from a base in Kuwait, where he plotted missions for some 400 soldiers.

Now 34, Wood faces a different battle: rebuilding his life.

The nonvisible wounds of war, coupled with steep challenges of transitioning back to civilian life, have led him to a nonprofit Lynn facility for psychiatrically disabled veterans. Here at Habitat PLUS, staffers keep tabs on his hygiene, housekeeping, diet, and attitude.

Wood’s journey from decorated officer to struggling veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression has been a humbling one. Always a high achiever, he oversaw teams of analysts at Fidelity Investments before flying for the Army, where testers marveled at his top-rank scores on intellectual as well as physical exams. He signed on for officer training after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, knowing he’d be sent to war.

“I was a very good soldier,” Wood recalled. The Army agrees. He has been honored with six medals.

Despite setbacks in recent years, Wood’s life is once again full of promise. He has transitioned from group home living to a tidy one-bedroom apartment managed by Habitat PLUS. He is now golfing and playing basketball, attending church and Veteran Administration support groups, dating online, and seeking a job as a police officer. He hopes to get a master of business administration degree and is taking Suffolk University classes toward that goal.

Wood hopes his progress will show other veterans what’s possible for those who seek out benefits and get help from supportive professionals, family members, and caring friends.

“There were some pretty dark days there, definitely, where you think things that you never thought you would ever think,” Wood said “But I’ve got a very supportive family, who put me in for the benefits [for combat-related stress]. I’ve gotten the support that I need, and my recovery has come a long way.”
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Rick Warren's son, Matthew, commits suicide, church says

Pastor Rick Warren's son, Matthew, commits suicide, church says
By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer
NBC News
April 6, 2013

The youngest son of Rick Warren, author of "The Purpose Driven Life," has committed suicide, the evangelical pastor said in a letter to members of his church on Saturday.

Matthew Warren, the youngest son of Warren and his wife Kay, died after a long struggle with mental illness, according to the statement from Saddleback Valley Community Church in Lake Forest, Calif. The church asked for “everyone to join us in praying for the entire Warren family” on Saturday.

“At 27 years of age, Matthew was an incredibly kind, gentle and compassionate young man whose sweet spirit was encouragement and comfort to many,” Saddleback Church said in the statement. “Unfortunately, he also suffered from mental illness resulting in deep depression and suicidal thoughts.”

Matthew Warren was found dead of what appeared to be suicide by gunshot in his home in Mission Viejo, Calif., said Supervising Deputy Dan Aikin of the Orange County Sheriff-Coroner’s Department. The estimated time of death was 10 a.m. on Friday morning.
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“In spite of America’s best doctors, meds, counselors, and prayers for healing, the torture of mental illness never subsided,” Warren wrote to church members. “Today, after a fun evening together with Kay and me, in a momentary wave of despair at his home, he took his life.”

Disabled veteran's wife not wanted by country he risked life for 3 times

Disabled War Vet Fights New Battle: His Wife's Deportation
ABC
By EMILY DERUY
April 06, 2013


A disabled war veteran who deployed four times -- three times to Iraq and once to Korea -- and nearly lost his life serving the United States is now fighting a different battle altogether at home in Las Vegas.

James Courtney's wife, Sharon, is an undocumented Mexican immigrant who faces possible deportation. Sharon came to the United States from Juarez, Mexico, as a teenager and the two have been married for more than a dozen years. They have three young sons.

The couple recently joined immigration activists in Washington, D.C., to tell their story and urge lawmakers to take action to prevent the separation of families like theirs.

Sharon was awarded a one-year work visa in the early 2000s, then denied a green card based on a false claim of citizenship.

But James, who suffered a traumatic brain injury during his second deployment to Iraq that resulted in short-term memory loss and other difficulties, disputes that claim and said it has been "the kiss of death."
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We need to pay attention to National Guards and Reservists Suicides

Suicide seen as major threat to National Guard Soldiers
2007


The threat is suicide, which ranked as the No. 3 cause of death for Army National Guard Soldiers through Aug. 13, according to the Army National Guard’s Suicide Prevention Program. There have been 42 cases of suicide in the Army National Guard this fiscal year, and it narrowly trails only combat (47) and accidents (45) in terms of Soldier deaths.

National Guard statistics reveal 60 percent of Soldiers, who committed suicide this year, have been on a previous deployment.

Other National Guard suicide statistics from this fiscal year show that gunshot wounds are the most common method of suicide (67 percent) and lower enlisted ranks make up the majority of suicides (32 of the 42 suicides were committed by the ranks of sergeant and below). Thirty-nine of the 42 suicides this year were committed by male Soldiers.

Guard, Reserves Hit Hardest By Vet Suicide February 11, 2009

A Department of Veterans Affairs analysis of ongoing research of deaths among veterans of both wars - obtained by The Associated Press - found that Guard or Reserve members accounted for 53 percent of the veteran suicides from 2001, when the war in Afghanistan began, through the end of 2005.

According to the VA's research, 144 veterans committed suicide from the start of the war in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, through the end of 2005. Of those, 35 veterans, or 24 percent, served in the Reserves and 41, or 29 percent, had served in the National Guard. Sixty-eight - or 47 percent - had been in the regular military.

In October, the AP reported that preliminary VA research found that from the start of the war in Afghanistan in October 2001 and the end of 2005, a total of 283 troops who had served in the wars and later were discharged from the military had committed suicide.

The VA later said the number was reduced to 144 because some of the veterans counted were actually in the active military and not discharged when they died.

Army Reserve, National Guard Suicides Doubled in 2010
Jan 20, 2011

There was some good news in the data: Suicides among active-duty soldiers dropped slightly, from 162 in 2009 to 156 last year. It was the first such decrease in six years.

But the overall suicide rate across the Army was still up more than 24 percent. The reason was the spike in National Guard and Reservists' suicides. At least 145 such soldiers killed themselves in 2010, nearly twice as many as the year before, when 80 guardsmen and reservists took their own lives. More than half of them were at home in America and never deployed to a war zone, CNN quoted a senior military official as saying.

The rise in National Guard suicides was most pronounced in the Midwest. Missouri and Texas each reported seven suicides among their Guard troops in 2010 and Wisconsin had six, USA Today reported. There were five suicides each in the National Guards of Minnesota, Ohio, Arizona, California and North Carolina.

In some of those states, suicides even outnumbered combat deaths. In Missouri and Wisconsin, more guardsmen committed suicide in 2010 than were killed in action during any year since 2001, Army Lt. Col. Jackie Guthrie of the Wisconsin National Guard told USA Today. For example, in Missouri the highest number of combat deaths since then was three, in 2006. But seven guardsmen took their own lives in 2010.

"All of us are stunned by it, and we wished we knew why," Guthrie said. "It is especially hard when it's suicide, when it's someone hurting in our ranks."

Overall, Army troops -- active or inactive status -- committed suicide at a rate of 25 a month in 2010, the Army figures show. That's 301 suicides altogether last year, compared with 242 in 2009.

In the past five years, 975 U.S. soldiers took their own lives.

Army Releases January Suicide Data
The Army released suicide data today for the month of January. Among active-duty soldiers, there were 12 potential suicides: one has been confirmed as suicide, and 11 remain under investigation. For December, the Army reported ten potential suicides among active-duty soldiers. Since the release of that report, three have been confirmed as suicides, and seven remain under investigation.

During January 2010, among reserve component soldiers who were not on active duty, there were 15 potential suicides. For December, among that same group, there were seven total suicides. Of those, five were confirmed as suicides and two are pending determination of the manner of death.

“In the new year, we won’t just maintain our current focus on suicide prevention, we’re going to sharpen that focus,” said Col. Christopher Philbrick, director, Army Suicide Prevention Task Force. “We’ve made significant changes in our health promotion, risk reduction, and suicide prevention programs, policies, and initiatives. But over the last year, you could describe our Army effort as shining a flood light on the problem of suicide.

Now in 2010, we’re going to move from a flood light to a laser light identifying our most effective programs, so we can target and reinforce what’s working and fix what isn’t.”