Five US soldiers killed in Afghanistan bomb blast
Deaths – thought to have occurred in Kandahar province – take number of US troops killed in Afghanistan this year to 32
Associated Press in Kabul
Saturday 4 May 2013
Five US service members were killed on Saturday by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, the latest deadly attack against international troops since the Taliban announced the start of their spring offensive this week.
The coalition did not disclose the location of the blast, but Javeed Faisal, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar province, said the coalition patrol hit the roadside bomb in Maiwand district of the province, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban.
Captain Luca Carniel, a public affairs official for the US-led coalition in Kabul, confirmed that all five were Americans. With the deaths, 47 members of the coalition have been killed so far this year including 32 Americans.
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Saturday, May 4, 2013
Vietnam veteran visits friend at the wall for the first time
Vietnam veteran visits friend at the wall for the first time
By Kara Rose Staff Writer
Gazette.net
May 3, 2013
‘John’s gonna be 25 in my mind forever’
Friday was a “dream come true” for 65-year-old Doug Cadieux, who finally was finally able to honor the memory of his friend, John, after 44 years.
Cadieux, a Vietnam War veteran from Rocklin, Calif., ventured into Washington, D.C., with members of Silver Spring-based Vietnam Veterans of America to visit the Vietnam Memorial and see John’s name for the first time.
“I had a heck of a time last night getting to sleep in anticipation of coming,” said Cadieux, who served in the Air Force from 1969 to 1970.
He traveled to the area for the weekend with his wife, Joyce, after winning a radio contest.
read more here
By Kara Rose Staff Writer
Gazette.net
May 3, 2013
Dan Gross/The Gazette
Jim Tyson (left) of Silver Spring and Doug Cadieux of Rocklin, Calif., at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., on Friday.
‘John’s gonna be 25 in my mind forever’
Friday was a “dream come true” for 65-year-old Doug Cadieux, who finally was finally able to honor the memory of his friend, John, after 44 years.
Cadieux, a Vietnam War veteran from Rocklin, Calif., ventured into Washington, D.C., with members of Silver Spring-based Vietnam Veterans of America to visit the Vietnam Memorial and see John’s name for the first time.
“I had a heck of a time last night getting to sleep in anticipation of coming,” said Cadieux, who served in the Air Force from 1969 to 1970.
He traveled to the area for the weekend with his wife, Joyce, after winning a radio contest.
read more here
Marine Comforts Bombing Survivors
From Battlefield To Boston: Marine Comforts Bombing Survivors
NPR
by TOM BOWMAN
May 03, 2013
In a video taken just days after the Boston Marathon bombing, Cam West breezes into the hospital room like a coach, trying to inspire the team at halftime. Celeste Corcoran sits in a chair, the stubs of her legs wrapped in gauze. She's holding hands with her daughter, Sydney, who was also injured.
West leans over Celeste and grips the arms of her chair. She dabs away tears. She can barely speak.
He moves in close, and waves a hand above her stubs. "This doesn't matter," he tells Corcoran.
"It's just a change of scenery. It really is."
read more here
Combat veterans visit double amputee in Boston
NPR
by TOM BOWMAN
May 03, 2013
Editor's note: In a story earlier this week, we met Celeste Corcoran, one of nearly two dozen people who lost limbs in the April 15 Boston bombing. Corcoran told NPR's Richard Knox that a hospital visit from two Marines who lost legs in Afghanistan had given her hope. "After I met them, it was like this little spark, this little light," she told Knox, "[that] it's really going to be OK."One of those Marines was Cam West, a young captain whom NPR listeners first met in 2011 in a profile by Tom Bowman. This week Bowman checked in with West again for NPR's All Things Considered; he shares this update with Shots.
In a video taken just days after the Boston Marathon bombing, Cam West breezes into the hospital room like a coach, trying to inspire the team at halftime. Celeste Corcoran sits in a chair, the stubs of her legs wrapped in gauze. She's holding hands with her daughter, Sydney, who was also injured.
West leans over Celeste and grips the arms of her chair. She dabs away tears. She can barely speak.
He moves in close, and waves a hand above her stubs. "This doesn't matter," he tells Corcoran.
"It's just a change of scenery. It really is."
read more here
Combat veterans visit double amputee in Boston
Suicide Rate Spikes in Vietnam Vets Who Won't Seek Help
Suicide Rate Spikes in Vietnam Vets Who Won't Seek Help
ABC News
By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES
May 3, 3012
Every Christmas Rudi Gresham, a former combat soldier in Vietnam, gets a Christmas card from a fellow veteran who was nearly pushed to the brink of suicide because of despair.
"The guy was in his late 50s and his wife had left him and he came down with cancer from Agent Orange, he was broke and he had to move in with his mom and dad--he didn't know where to go from there," said Gresham, who was then serving as senior advisor to the Department of Veterans Affairs under the George W. Bush administration.
"Everything had gone to hell," said Gresham. "But I communicated with him."
Now 68 and retired in South Carolina, Gresham was able to get the veteran the 10 years of back pay he deserved by authenticating his service with a commanding officer. Today, the man's cancer is under control and he has a new woman in his life.
ABC News
By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES
May 3, 3012
Every Christmas Rudi Gresham, a former combat soldier in Vietnam, gets a Christmas card from a fellow veteran who was nearly pushed to the brink of suicide because of despair.
"The guy was in his late 50s and his wife had left him and he came down with cancer from Agent Orange, he was broke and he had to move in with his mom and dad--he didn't know where to go from there," said Gresham, who was then serving as senior advisor to the Department of Veterans Affairs under the George W. Bush administration.
"Everything had gone to hell," said Gresham. "But I communicated with him."
Now 68 and retired in South Carolina, Gresham was able to get the veteran the 10 years of back pay he deserved by authenticating his service with a commanding officer. Today, the man's cancer is under control and he has a new woman in his life.
Annual suicide rates among U.S. adults aged 35 to 64 increased from 13.7 to 17.6 suicides per 100,000 people between 1999 and 2010.
The greatest increases in suicide rates were among people aged 50 to 54 years (48 percent) and 55 to 59 years (49 percent).
read more here
Friday, May 3, 2013
DOD allows free speech to willing audience and that is good thing
Yesterday I was very happy to post Pentagon: OK to talk about faith Hallelujah!
I received a few email questions on why I was so happy, so this is a good time to let more people know my thoughts, especially just coming home from church service for Holy Friday and the Descent from the Cross. I am Greek Orthodox and this is our Holy Week. I attend Holy Trinity but honestly I don't get there as much as I would like to. I was heading there Sunday morning when I opened my email discovering a note from a friend in crisis. I am sure Christ would forgive me for missing the service to take care of my friend. After all, that is what He gave as His greatest commandment.
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:34-35
If we do not love then we are not following Christ. Rightly we cannot call ourselves Christians if we do not help others with compassion, understanding and mercy. If we condemn them or show hatred, we are not acting Christlike.
Most of the time servicemen and women need spiritual healing as much as they need medical healing. When their wound involved Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, they need spiritual healing more and that is why it is essential that Chaplains are not only able to take care of all of them from wherever they are spiritually but with a true understanding of what ills them. To prevent Chaplains and others from talking about their faith does more harm than good but the other side of this is the issue of proselytizing pushing one denomination over others.
There have been reports of soldiers forced to attend Christian concerts and prayer groups. No one should be forced. Forcing them ends up pushing the door against them.
I have a rule that I will not contact a veteran for this reason alone. They have to contact me or the help I can offer will not be heard. It has to be on their time and by their own freewill. I tried it the other way in the beginning and discovered they were not listening to me. They know how to contact me and they know I am here when they need me but again it has to be on their terms, when they are ready.
Getting them to understand they are forgiven for whatever they believe they need forgiveness for, is perhaps the easiest to achieve because of what a day like this means. Christ forgave the hands that nailed Him to the Cross, so they accept His forgiveness more easily than they are able to forgive themselves. It is easier for them to forgive others especially when they have survivor guilt. Forgiving themselves is the hardest and requires the most work but they can do it with the right help.
Once this happens, they are able to heal faster and find peace with what remains of PTSD because they understand it.
I rejoice with the decision of the DOD to allow Christians to talk about their faith as much as they allow others to do the same with a willing audience.
What it comes down to, officials said, is that discussing matters of faith and religious practice with a willing audience is allowed, but pushing religious beliefs on those who don’t want to hear it is a form of harassment forbidden under Defense Department policies.
I received a few email questions on why I was so happy, so this is a good time to let more people know my thoughts, especially just coming home from church service for Holy Friday and the Descent from the Cross. I am Greek Orthodox and this is our Holy Week. I attend Holy Trinity but honestly I don't get there as much as I would like to. I was heading there Sunday morning when I opened my email discovering a note from a friend in crisis. I am sure Christ would forgive me for missing the service to take care of my friend. After all, that is what He gave as His greatest commandment.
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”John 13:34-35
If we do not love then we are not following Christ. Rightly we cannot call ourselves Christians if we do not help others with compassion, understanding and mercy. If we condemn them or show hatred, we are not acting Christlike.
Most of the time servicemen and women need spiritual healing as much as they need medical healing. When their wound involved Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, they need spiritual healing more and that is why it is essential that Chaplains are not only able to take care of all of them from wherever they are spiritually but with a true understanding of what ills them. To prevent Chaplains and others from talking about their faith does more harm than good but the other side of this is the issue of proselytizing pushing one denomination over others.
There have been reports of soldiers forced to attend Christian concerts and prayer groups. No one should be forced. Forcing them ends up pushing the door against them.
I have a rule that I will not contact a veteran for this reason alone. They have to contact me or the help I can offer will not be heard. It has to be on their time and by their own freewill. I tried it the other way in the beginning and discovered they were not listening to me. They know how to contact me and they know I am here when they need me but again it has to be on their terms, when they are ready.
Getting them to understand they are forgiven for whatever they believe they need forgiveness for, is perhaps the easiest to achieve because of what a day like this means. Christ forgave the hands that nailed Him to the Cross, so they accept His forgiveness more easily than they are able to forgive themselves. It is easier for them to forgive others especially when they have survivor guilt. Forgiving themselves is the hardest and requires the most work but they can do it with the right help.
Once this happens, they are able to heal faster and find peace with what remains of PTSD because they understand it.
I rejoice with the decision of the DOD to allow Christians to talk about their faith as much as they allow others to do the same with a willing audience.
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