POTUS Religious Rule Took Right Away from Wounded!

In 2010 I spent Memorial Day weekend in Washington and had a tour of Walter Reed. As a Chaplain, I received VIP treatment. Between the DAV Auxiliary and the IFOC, Nam Knights and Point Man International Ministries, plus the work online, they knew what I was all about and I knew about their rules on religious items. I respected that and turned over all the religious gifts I brought so that the Walter Reed Chaplain would be able to give them out. They let me give out the pegboard games I brought.

The Administrator knew which of the wounded would be willing to accept a visit from me. I was prepared to pray with them if I was asked. None of them asked for anything more than polite conversation. I prayed for their healing in my head as I hugged those who would accept one.

I had no right to cross the line and push what I wanted to give them when they didn't want it. I had no right to invade their privacy as a stranger if they did not welcome me. I had no right to say anything more to them than "hello" as they walked in the hall while I passed by them. I had no right to try to stop them and speak to them but willingly stopped when they wanted to talk to me.

They paid the price for the freedom we all have to decide on our own what we believe, or what we choose to not believe. They paid the price with their broken bodies and blood. The countless hours of facing death for month after month was a price that came with their jobs for the sake of the rest of us. They paid by being away from their families and friends and those they loved while we were able to enjoy the company of ours and ignore what they were willing to give up for us. 

Had I not understood all that before I walked in the door of Walter Reed, I would have had no business being there, because it would have been all about me and what I wanted to do instead of them and what they were willing to do for me!

This "policy" just took away their rights and gave it over to strangers!

AP FACT CHECK: Trump Misses Whole Story On Hospital Policy
Posted: May 05, 2017

THE FACTS: The policy, in 2011, was a bungled rule that was never enforced, Walter Reed officials said at the time. So it’s unlikely that patients who wanted a Bible or religious item from a visiting family member or friend were denied.

The policy was meant to stop benevolent organizations from bothering patients by proselytizing to them, after complaints surfaced that visitors from some groups were persistent and occasionally even threatening. But it was written too broadly, stating no religious items could be given away or used during a visit.

WASHINGTON - Pitching religious free expression, President Donald Trump accused the former Obama administration Thursday of banning patients at a military hospital from receiving religious items from visitors. That episode is not quite as the president described it.

Here’s what he said and what happened more than five years ago at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland:

TRUMP, citing lawsuits against the Obama administration alleging violations of religious freedom: “The abuses were all over. As just one example, people were forbidden from giving or receiving religious items at a military hospital where our brave service members were being treated, and when they wanted those religious items. These were great, great people. These are great soldiers. They wanted those items. They were precluded from getting them.”
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Veteran Marine Faces Charges--And Maybe Finally Help

Injured West Springfield explosives suspect released from hospital
Decoteau will be placed in the "Emergency Stabilization Unit"
WWLP 22 News
By Barry Kriger
Published: May 5, 2017

LUDLOW, Mass. (WWLP) – An apparently distraught veteran, who injured himself while awaiting arraignment in Springfield this week, was released from the hospital on Friday and taken to the Hampden County Jail in Ludlow.

Hampden County Sheriff’s Department Spokesman Stephen O’Neil told 22News Baystate Medical Center notified the House of Corrections that 30-year-old Robert Decoteau III was being discharged Friday afternoon.

O’Neil said Decoteau will be placed in the Ludlow correctional facility’s “Emergency Stabilization Unit”, pending his transfer to Bridgewater State Hospital; “The ‘Emergency Stabilization Unit’ is for inmates with severe mental health challenges.”

West Springfield Police Chief Ronald Campurciani had previously described Decoteau as a 5-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, who was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.
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UK PTSD Veterans Are Not Victims of Anyone But Politicians

Hey, buddies across the pond...is this guy for real? He really thinks that combat PTSD is the same as what civilians get? Guess he still didn't get the fact that civilians can get hit by PTSD from one event but you guys faced them everyday. Was he even deployed?

Ex-Army captain standing as Tory MP says too many veterans are misdiagnosed with PTSD
The Mirror UK
Chris Hughes
May 5, 2017

“I am actually shocked that Johnny Mercer is downplaying the seriousness of PTSD. It is a serious mental health condition that causes real suffering, and is not just confined to military veterans. His Government talks big words about more funding for mental health services, but Mr Mercer’s words are all too typical. Neither he nor his government take mental health seriously, and they assume that these illnesses are not real." Labour candidate Sue Dann

A former Army captain bidding for re-election as a Tory MP has sparked a row by claiming too many war veterans are misdiagnosed with PTSD.

Conservative Johnny Mercer said post traumatic stress disorder can be “thrown around as an excuse” and that there’s a need to focus on people who are “genuinely ill.”

He said while PTSD is a “chronic condition” he believes misdiagnosis is leading to a culture of “victimhood” among veterans.

He added: “There is a one per cent increase in your likelihood of getting PTSD if you are in combat troops in the military.

“If you’re not in a combat arm, it’s the same as society outside of the military. We’ve got to be realistic about PTSD. I say that not from any lack of sympathy.
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We have the same problem here but remember, there are more of you than there are politicians in your country too! 

Rain Didn't Stop Devotion and Honor at Veterans Reunion

Veterans reunion kicks off at Wickham Park in Melbourne
FLORIDA TODAY
Rick Neale
May 1, 2017

Prior to the opening ceremony, a long line of representatives from more than 80 military and civic groups placed colorful flowered wreaths along the 288-foot-long wall during steady rainfall.

MELBOURNE — The framed photo of smiling U.S. Army Specialist Richard John Key laid on display between a quartet of small U.S. flags beneath Panel W21 of the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall, where his name is etched on Line 53.

The Louisiana native was only 19 when he was killed by gunfire on July 3, 1969, in the Quang Ngai Province of South Vietnam. Nearly a half-century later, the late combat engineer's photo is on display at Wickham Park at the memorial wall, where the first mourners have also placed a bouquet of peace lilies and a coffee can filled with red roses.

Monday night, hundreds of somber spectators flocked to the jet-black wall during the opening ceremony of the 30th annual Florida Vietnam and All Veterans Reunion. Drab gray skies and rainfall mixed with occasional rumblings of thunder, and most spectators congregated beneath three park pavilions to stay dry.

"It's the first step in the healing process of burdens guys have been carrying, or family members have been carrying, for over 50 years," said Doc Russo, traveling wall manager and reunion chairman.

"They may have lost comrades. They may have lost family members. And every place I go — not just here — it helps them lift a big burden. I mean, I have friends that it took me 15 years to get them to come out here to the wall. And now, they're out here volunteering because they have buddies on the wall that they lost," Russo said.

The veterans reunion begins Thursday afternoon. An array of weekend activities kicks off with a massing of the colors and helicopter landing at 11 a.m. Saturday. The closing ceremony begins at 5 p.m. Sunday.
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Navy SEAL Killed Somalia

Navy SEAL killed in fight against al-Shabab militants in Somalia 
STARS AND STRIPES 
By COREY DICKSTEIN 
Published: May 5, 2017

WASHINGTON — A Navy SEAL was killed Thursday in Somalia while accompanying Somali National Army soldiers on a raid targeting a remote al-Shabab compound just outside Mogadishu, U.S. defense officials said Friday.

The SEAL is the first American servicemember killed in action in Somalia in decades, said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, likely since the notorious 1993 Battle of Mogadishu – known as the “Black Hawk Down” incident – during which 18 U.S. military members were killed.

Two other SEALs were injured Thursday in the firefight with the al-Qaida-linked militants during the operation near Barii, about 40 miles west of the Somalian capital, a defense official said. The official was not authorized to identify the service branch to which the U.S. troops belonged and spoke on condition of anonymity.
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