Man Charged With Homicide of PTSD Veteran Also Abandoned Service Dog

Montana man charged in homicide case involving missing veteran
The Great Falls Tribune
By: Andrea Fisher
August 17, 2016

The report says Craft also admitted to pawning the rifle he used, selling Petzack’s truck and abandoning the veteran’s service dog somewhere on the way to Valier.

A Great Falls, Montana, man has been charged with deliberate homicide in connection to a veteran reported missing earlier this year.

A $1 million arrest warrant was issued for Brandon Lee Craft on Wednesday morning. He is accused of killing 28-year-old Adam Petzack, who was reported missing by his mother.

Police say Craft is currently in custody in Washington state.

Court documents say Petzack was a veteran on full disability because of a traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder.

According to court records, detectives with the Great Falls Police Department were investigating Craft for suspicious financial activity involving Petzack’s VA benefits. Documents indicate Petzack lived in a rental unit on Craft’s property in Great Falls.
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PTSD Veteran Tried to Commit Suicide By Cop With Air Gun

Huntington Man Sentenced After Triggering Police Action Shooting
WBIW News
Updated August 17, 2016

Peek had admitted in court he was trying "to commit suicide by cop." The U.S. Army veteran told the court he hoped to get treatment for his wounds and for PTSD.

(HUNTINGBURG) - A Huntingburg man who triggered a standoff in February and was wounded in an officer-involved shooting was sentenced last week in Dubois Circuit Court.

In an open plea deal, 27-year-old Zachary Peek pleaded guilty to a Level 5 felony count of intimidation with a deadly weapon. On Friday, Judge Nathan Verkamp sentenced Peek to three years to be served at the Dubois County Security Center. But the court noted Peek can apply to be admitted into an in-patient post traumatic stress disorder program at the Marion, Ill., Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Police later learned the gun was an air gun pistol with a long barrel.

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VA Not Paying for Transplant Donated by Non-Veteran?

VA denies veteran's perfect kidney match
11 Alive News
Andy Pierrotti

Jamie McBride is program manager for the VA transplant system in San Antonio, Texas. After five years working at the VA, he’s blowing the whistle about a broken system.

Photo: Pierrotti, Andy

It doesn’t take long for Tamara Nelson to get emotional watching home video of the day her husband, Charles, received a life-saving kidney transplant this past June.

Their son, Coty, agreed to donate to save his father’s life. “Watching my son is what makes me cry the most,” said Nelson in July.

It’s a surgery that almost didn’t happen. Nelson is an Army veteran. He went through basic training in Fort Benning, Georgia and now lives outside Austin, Texas.

While in the service, Nelson got sick, which infected his kidneys. “He was so sick I didn’t think he was going to make it to transplant,” said Nelson.

This past June, Charles says the VA approved the transplant. So, he and his son prepared for surgery. Two days before the operation, they got unexpected news.

The VA told them it could not pay for the transplant because their son is not a veteran himself.

“That’s just idiotic. Now you’re making it harder on me, limiting the people I can use. It was just unbelievable is what it was,” said veteran.
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Firefighters Raising Alarm of PTSD

Firefighters Raise Alarm About Risk Of PTSD In The Ranks
New research indicates PTSD might be as common among firefighters as military veterans.
Houston Public Media
CARRIE FEIBEL
POSTED ON AUGUST 17, 2016

Three Houston firefighters have killed themselves in the past five years, according to White.

Dave Fehling | Houston Public Media

Volunteer firefighters training at Texas A and M’s Disaster City in College Station

Firefighters from the U.S. and Canada are in Las Vegas this week for the biennial convention of the International Association of Firefighters. One of the main topics of the conference this year is post-traumatic stress disorder.

“We know that it’s increasingly on the rise,” said Alvin White Jr., the union president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association and a conference attendee.

White says it’s not clear what’s contributing to the increase – it could be simply that more firefighters are willing to seek treatment. The 9-11 attacks also helped to de-stigmatize the disorder among first responders.

“Before that we tried to deal with it ourselves,” White said. “We’d self-medicate ourselves with alcohol and try to take care of it that way, because it was a sign of weakness.”

A report released Tuesday from the International Association of Firefighters summarizes the most recent research on PTSD. Estimated rates among firefighters range 9 to 20 percent, which is comparable to the rate in the military.
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New Member of Idaho National Guard, Left NFL?

Special note to reader. Thanks for pointing out wrong state. Goes to show what happens when brain and fingers are having a communication problem.

Super Bowl champion training as a Black Hawk mechanic at Fort Eustis
The Virginian-Pilot
By Brock Vergakis
Published: August 16, 2016

"I'm proud to sign my longest term deal of all time, 8 yrs and have enlisted in the Army National Guard," Daryn Colledge

U.S. Army Spc. Daryn Colledge, 168th Aviation Regiment UH-60 (Black Hawk) helicopter repair student, sits next to a retired Special Forces Black Hawk at Fort Eustis, Va., July 28, 2016. Colledge retired from the National Football League after nine seasons and a Super Bowl Championship, and enlisted in the Army National Guard in March 2016 out of Idaho.
DEREK SEIFERT/U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (Tribune News Service) — Daryn Colledge's time as an NFL player and Super Bowl champion allowed him to frequently travel and meet the troops defending this country, men and women he long admired.

Now he's one of them in Hampton Roads.

Colledge, a 34-year-old former offensive lineman for the Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals and Miami Dolphins, joined the Idaho National Guard in March. He's stationed at Fort Eustis while he trains to be a Black Hawk helicopter mechanic with the 168th Aviation Regiment.

Colledge declined an interview request, but appeared in an internal Army news story at Fort Eustis earlier this month.

He likely didn't need the extra paycheck. During his nine seasons in the NFL, Colledge made more than $24.5 million, according to spotrac.com, a site that tracks professional athletes' pay.
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