Fort Hood shooter paid while waiting for trail, victims go broke

Accused Fort Hood Shooter Paid $278,000
While Awaiting Trial
Injured soldier outraged suspected shooter receives salary while his family financially struggles in recovery
By Scott Friedman
Tuesday, May 21, 2013

The Department of Defense confirms to NBC 5 Investigates that accused Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Hasan has now been paid more than $278,000 since the Nov. 5, 2009 shooting that left 13 dead 32 injured. The Army said under the Military Code of Justice, Hasan’s salary cannot be suspended unless he is proven guilty.

If Hasan had been a civilian defense department employee, NBC 5 Investigates has learned, the Army could have suspended his pay after just seven days.

Personnel rules for most civilian government workers allow for "indefinite suspensions" in cases "when the agency has reasonable cause to believe that the employee has committed a crime for which a sentence of imprisonment may be imposed."

Retired Army Spc. Logan Burnett, a reservist who, in 2009, was soon to be deployed to Iraq, was shot three times when a gunman opened fire inside the Army Deployment Center.

“I honestly thought I was going to die in that building,” said Burnett. “Just blood everywhere and then the thought of -- that's my blood everywhere.”

Burnett nearly died. He's had more than a dozen surgeries since the shooting, and says post-traumatic stress still keeps him up at night.

Burnett is now fighting a new battle; only this one is against the U.S. Army.

The Army has not classified the wounds of the Ft. Hood victims as “combat related” and declines to label the shooting a “terrorist attack”,

The “combat related” designation is an important one, for without it Burnett and other shooting victims are not given combat-related pay, they are not eligible for Purple Heart retirement or medical benefits given to other soldiers wounded either at war or during the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon.
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Military's Suicide Scandal and Wounded Times

Military's Suicide Scandal and Wounded Times
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
May 21, 2013

I am so sick and tired of seeing all the hard work that goes into covering the stories on this site turn into a "go to" to make reporters lives easier but never getting mentioned or donated to. The worst part is, when I ask the reporters using it to return the favor, they don't. They can't even manage to kick in a buck or two for the resource they find so valuable.

Friday I was heading to a meeting in Merritt Island and as usual, I was lost. The street I was looking for was not clearly marked, so I kept passing it. My cell phone rang. It was a reporter "working on deadline" wanting to ask questions on Jim Dao's report on the New York Times because links were not working. The reporter was none other than Nancy Goldstein. I told her some basics as I tried to find the address when somehow as I was not really paying attention to where I was going, I found it. I told her that she could call me later on and we could talk since the meeting was suppose to end at 5:00. I received a text from her saying she found what she needed on Wounded Times. That was the last I heard from her. That is until now when I was reading the article she wrote.

The Military's Suicide Scandal
The American Prospect
NANCY GOLDSTEIN
MAY 20, 2013

It’s time for the top brass to stop feigning surprise and start addressing the mounting mental-health epidemic.

What a drag it’s been these past few weeks to watch the military brass—those kings of accountability, at least when it comes to other people’s behavior—huffing and bluffing and outright lying about what they knew and when they knew it. First we had to endure the sight of them gaping over the news that the sexual-violence crisis they’ve done nothing to squelch since the assault of 83 women and seven men at the Tailhook Air Force convention in 1991 has worsened. Now those same Pentagon officials are shocked, simply shocked, by the military’s spiking suicide rates, despite the fact that those numbers, which have been rising steadily for the past 12 years, come from their own reporting system (and some claim are still an undercount).

The only thing worse than the Pentagon’s faux surprise has been the complicity of news organizations willing to echo its talking points. Shame on The New York Times for last week’s “Baffling Rise in Suicides Plagues the U.S. Military.” Disturbing, yes. But there’s nothing “baffling” about the news that more active-duty troops killed themselves in 2012 than were killed in combat in Afghanistan in the same year, and that the number of suicides has doubled from a decade ago.

As the Government Accountability Office (GAO)—Congress’s nonpartisan investigative wing—and a variety of media outlets attest, there’s been only one thing better documented than the military’s unwillingness over the past 25 years to throw any real muscle into ending its culture of widespread sexual assault. And that’s the military’s unwillingness to acknowledge the prevalence of post-traumatic-stress-disorder (PTSD) and other mental-health issues plaguing service members and to enact serious reforms aimed at curbing and treating mental illness in its ranks. The military’s systemic incompetence on this issue continues despite years of analysis and criticism, not only from service member advocacy organizations, but also from within the Beltway.
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I hesitated to put the link up after yet again seeing my hard work on Wounded Times just being used to make the life easier for a reporter being paid to write their articles. The truth is, it is a good report and should be read.

There are almost 19,000 posts on Wounded Times and they come from news reports I track across the country. Each one of them has links to the reports reporters get paid to write because it is their time, energy and talent. The least thing they can do is return the favor by listing Wounded Times as their resource.

This isn't the first time and it won't be the last time but I no longer put up with just taking and and not letting readers know what is going on. Some may say it is unprofessional for me to point this out but it is even more unprofessional for them to just do it. Plus consider that I do not get paid to do this, so when you think about, I am not a professional. I just have more professional standards to live up to when it comes to doing the right thing.

Yep, my day started off really badly. They write stories but we live with them on a daily basis. They report on the lives being torn apart but we are living with them. They are not just some subject of curiosity. They are our family members. Well at least we know our stories matter to some reporters but it really should make all of us wonder, if they are doing something like this, how much do they really care about what we live with?

Marine Combat Vet Jonathan Pablik is missing in the Seattle

Happy update. Police found him and he is getting help for PTSD.

Marine Missing in Seattle Washington
Salem-News.com
May 20, 2013

(SEATTLE) - A Marine Combat Vet named Jonathan Pablik is missing in the Seattle area, his friends and family are concerned, they say Jonathan is suffering from PTSD.

Paul Isaac with Occupy Marines writes, "He is a good friend of mine. If you guys could post this, it would be awesome. If anyone has any information, they can contact his Mother on facebook."

Jonathan's mother, Sandy Pablik, wrote the following in regard to her son's disappearance:

"He was following a personal journey which he called walk of faith. The problem was he was the only one who knew what this all really meant. He suffered a PTSD episode on Wednesday night and that's the last we heard of him.
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Umbrella-gate Marine's family thinks the whole thing is a hoot

Marine holding umbrella for Obama is from Apopka
Beth Kassab
Orlando Sentinel Columnist
May 20, 2013

It's true that Marines are not supposed to carry umbrellas in certain uniforms. But Nathan Previti is assigned to a special unit in the White House that handles all kinds of ceremonial duties.

Every now and then a photo of something relatively mundane takes on a life of its own.

Such is the case for the picture of a frowning President Obama looking up at a rainy sky (how's that for a metaphor about recent White House missteps?) while a young Marine stands by with an umbrella.

The kerfluffle has even taken on its own name. Or several. "Umbrella Marine." "Umbrella Scandal." Yes, even "Umbrella-gate."

Well, the Marine has a name too. He's Cpl. Nathan Previti from Apopka.

And while Sarah Palin and Sean Hannity are using the photo of Previti's white-gloved hand dutifully shielding Obama from rain as more "proof" that the president is aloof (can't hold his own umbrella) and disrespectful of the military (doesn't he know Marines aren't supposed to hold umbrellas?), the Previti family thinks the whole thing is a hoot.
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Jon Stewart attacks the VA again, without a clue

Jon Stewart attacks the VA again, without a clue
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times
May 21, 2013

If you read Wounded Times with any regularity, you know how bad it has been for the men and women willing to risk their lives for this country and each other but if you don't you'd think the rantings of members of Congress on the subjects they want to talk about were all that was happening.

If you watch The Daily Show you'd hear Jon Stewart ranting about the claims backlog. He seems to think the problem just started. He has been going off on the VA for about a month now but as vocal as he was on the 900,000 claims, he didn't seem to know that the majority of those claims were from Vietnam Veterans. Stewart had no clue these numbers have been going up and down for as long as I've been involved and aware, which goes back to 1982.

Where the hell was Stewart when President Bush was advised to cut the VA budget because he was told that the number of veterans being treated by the VA would drop? Yes, that happened and Nicholson said that most of the claims backlogged were for dental appointments. Guess the forgot there were two wars producing more wounded war fighters and veterans.

It isn't as if President Bush was the first to betray the troops and veterans. Every week the VA releases a report on the claims they are handling. Monday Morning Workload Report 60% of the claims are for veterans with approved claims filing supplemental claims. Vietnam Veterans are 38% of the backlog and 37% of Pending Claims. These veterans have waited through all the presidents going back to President Kennedy. Agent Orange claims and Post Traumatic Stress Disorders tied to their service in Vietnam along with the contaminated military bases like Camp Lejeune and Fort McClellan more toxic than Camp Lejeune. If Stewart mentioned any of this it wouldn't be so funny to him. After all, no one cares about Vietnam veterans being the majority of the claims since the only reports Stewart's staff reads are OEF and OIF so they can hit the majority of their viewers.

Pending claims

Backlog claims


The problems didn't just start just because Stewart became aware of them now. It would have been great if he paid attention to the "other than honorable discharges" that were happening years ago and then maybe things wouldn't be as bad as they are now. Total discharges at the eight Army posts that house most of the service's combat units have increased 67 percent since 2009. Then again the military sexual assaults caused over 85,000 treated last year alone. Maybe he could care that 13,000 males were among the victims of sexual assaults?

I have no patience for any administration giving excuses on any of this. I have even less patiences when someone like Stewart blows the opportunity to actually do something about it.

I fully understand that Stewart is a comedian and not a reporter but if he makes the choice to cover a topic this serious, he has an obligation to know what the hell he's talking about.

I used to watch the Daily Show because he made me laugh. Now I think it is too sad to watch because he just doesn't care enough to know what is going on.

Last night he was talking about what a great machine Obama had running for office. What he didn't mention was Congress is responsible for oversight, hearings as well as funding. Obama appoints the heads of the departments and sets the agenda but all of it has to happen with Congress taking action or not. So far no one has been held accountable for any of this throughout any administration other than Nicholson losing his job.

It would be nice if Stewart thought about any of this and then maybe Congress would be forced to not just hold hearings but hold people accountable for a change and fix what is happening to the people we send to fight our battles.

If you want to get caught up on what you haven't been hearing about what has really been going on, read THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR and know how bad it is and how it got this way. I track all these reports and even I didn't know all of this was happening.