Family Lost Veteran Dad Then Lost Mementos to Thief

Mourning Merced family asks thief to return mementos of veteran father who died this weekend
ABC 30 News
By Nathalie Granda
Tuesday, May 16, 2017

MERCED, Calif. (KFSN) -- A family mourning their father is pleading for help after their final memories of him were stolen.

Lawrence Sarginson died Saturday, and his family says several mementos were stolen from their car just a few days later.

The Merced County Sheriff's Department says they're still looking into the incidents but no arrests have been made yet. The family said several items were stolen from the vehicle, but the only ones they want back are the last few memories of their father.

The Sarginson family should be planning a funeral for their father, but the family had to deal with a theft shortly after he died.

"It twists the knife a little, but more from what already is a difficult situation," Lawrence's son Kevin Sarginson said.
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Billy Ray Cyrus to Honor Vietnam Veteran During Rolling Thunder Ride for Freedom

Billy Ray Cyrus Owes His Career to a Vietnam Veteran
FOX News
By PopZette Staff
May 16, 2017

'Weston Lee died serving our country, and we should all be forever grateful for his service,' said the singer

Billy Ray Cyrus says he owes his success to a Vietnam veteran.

Cyrus will perform on May 28 in Washington, D.C., during the Rolling Thunder Ride for Freedom. It’s an annual motorcycle rally that ends at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and honors fallen servicemen and women.

He will perform the tune “Some Gave All,” which is about serving in the military.

“This is a full-circle moment, because a week after ‘Some Gave All’ came out, I stood at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall during Rolling Thunder with Don Von Tress, who is not only the writer of ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ but also a Vietnam veteran. That man and that song changed my life,” Cyrus said in a press release.
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Tampa Homeless Veterans Relocated After Invasion of Bedbugs

Veterans moved out after bedbug infestation hits Tampa homeless shelter 
Tampa Bay Times 
Howard Altman Times Staff Writer 
Tuesday, May 16, 2017

TAMPA — Nearly three dozen veterans staying at a north Tampa homeless shelter have been temporarily moved to other facilities because of a bedbug infestation, according to the shelter and Department of Veterans Affairs officials.

The outbreak was discovered May 9, according to Ed Drohan, a spokesman for the James A. Haley VA Medical Center, which has a contract with the New Beginnings of Tampa charity to house 33 veterans at 1402 E Chilkoot Ave.

Hospital staff worked with New Beginnings to relocate all the veterans who wanted other local accommodations, Drohan said. A few have elected to stay at the shelter. Relocated residents' clothing and other possessions were treated to prevent pests from being transferred to the other facilities.

The veterans who were moved should start returning Wednesday, according to Tom Atchison, founder and chief executive of New Beginnings.

The decision to move the veterans was made by Haley leadership as soon as they became aware of the scope of the problem, Drohan said.
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Vietnam Veterans Still Fighting For Justice For All Generations

"Vietnam Veterans of American called the GAO report “immensely disturbing” and again called on President Trump to pardon affected veterans." From GAO report on The Hill

But fighting for justice is something Vietnam veterans know all too well. In 2014 the Hartford Courant reported that there were 70,000 Vietnam veterans with PTSD also kicked out. It was because of Conley Monk fighting for justice that then Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel decided to do something about it. In case your wondering, Monk fought for 43 years!!!!

GAO: Thousands discharged for military misconduct had mental health diagnosisThe HillBY REBECCA KHEEL05/16/17

The top government watchdog said Tuesday that nearly a quarter of U.S. troops discharged for misconduct were given other-than-honorable discharges despite previously being diagnosed with a mental health condition.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) in its report faulted branches of the Department of Defense (DOD) for having policies inconsistent with — or poor enforcement of — official Pentagon rules for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI) or sexual trauma. 

Such discharges haunt veterans for the rest of their lives, advocates say, by denying them veterans benefits and casting a stigma that can affect civilian life, such as finding employment.

According to the GAO, 57,141 of the 91,764 troops separated for misconduct from 2011 through 2015 had been diagnosed with PTSD, TBI or another condition at least two years before their discharge.

Of those with a diagnosis, 13,283, or about 23 percent, received other-than-honorable discharges.

Among the inconsistencies found by the GAO, the Navy does not require a medical exam for certain sailors being separated in lieu of court-martial to determine whether a PTSD or TBI diagnosis is a mitigating factor in the misconduct. Such an exam is Pentagon policy.

The Army and Marine Corps, meanwhile, may not follow to their own screening, training and counseling policies, according to the GAO.read more here

Well then, I guess that is supposed to say it all, but not even close to covering how many veterans served, were wounded and then betrayed. You know, the ones members of Congress have known about all along.

Translation: they got kicked out of the military without an Honorable Discharge.

According to data obtained by KPCC from the Defense Manpower Data Center, more than 615,000 Army, Navy, Marine, and Air Force veterans were discharged with less-than-honorable discharges from 1990-2015.

When Will We Stop Paying For PTSD Lab Rats?

Gee do you think if they stop studying rats they may actually learn something about humans with PTSD? It is a hell of a lot more complicated than fear!

“This study, done using a mouse model, expands our understanding of how associative fear memory for a relevant context is encoded in the brain,” said Cho, the lead author of the study and a member of the UCR School of Medicine’s Center for Glial-Neuronal Interactions, “and could inform the development of novel therapeutics to reduce pathological fear in PTSD.”

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