Death of Fort Hood Soldier Under Investigation

Fort Hood: Soldier found unresponsive in on-post residence identified

KWTX News 
Sam De Leon 
July 14, 2017

FORT HOOD, Texas (KWTX) Fort Hood officials identified Specialist Justen Glenn Ogden as the soldier found unresponsive at his home on Fort Hood on July 11.

Spc. Justen Glenn Ogden (photo courtesy: Fort Hood Press Center)

Spc. Ogden, 22, is from Humble, Texas and he joined the army in March 2014 as a motor transport operator. In August 2014 he was assigned to 61st Quartermaster Battalion, 13th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, Fort Hood, Texas.

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Colonel Stood Saluting in Pouring Rain

Soldier’s salute at funeral procession goes viral
WSMV News
Rudy Kalis
July 14, 2017

Col. Jack Usrey got out of his car and saluted a funeral procession on a rainy day in Kentucky. (Photo by Erin Hester/Instagram)

NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV)
A simple gesture of respect became a nationwide viral phenomenon.

That’s what happened on the side of the road in a small town in Kentucky.

A Tennessee National Guard soldier, Col. Jack Usrey, got out of his vehicle and stood at attention and saluting in the pouring rain in Vine Grove, KY.

A passerby was so impressed she stopped and took a picture.

Ask Usrey why he did it, and he will tell you it was just the right thing to do.
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Homeless Veterans Taking Over Motel

Former motel to house homeless veterans in North Charleston
Post and Courier
By Warren L. Wise
Jul 14, 2017

"We decided to redo the motel for vets because we wanted to give a little bit of something back to the men and women who served our country," said John Saukas, a partner in Ankajo Properties LLC, which has a 20-year lease on the site and is pumping $1.3 million into its renovation.

Patriot Villas, a new housing facility for homeless veterans in North Charleston, held its grand opening Friday in the former Catalina Inn on Rivers Avenue. Brad Nettles/Staff

An aging North Charleston motel will soon house some of the Charleston area's homeless veterans.

The former Catalina Inn on Rivers Avenue is being transformed into 74 studio apartments called Patriot Villas, set to open Aug. 1.

Lowcountry leaders and military officials formally launched the project Friday with remarks and a ribbon-cutting.
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Veterans Dying At VA Continues...In A Good Way

No, Gunny, I have not lost my mind with the title. I really believe in the care hospice offers patients on the last part of their journey though their lives. It is really good to know that they do not have to stop medical care to be in this one.

Dying veterans boost participation in hospice care
Reuters
Ronnie Cohen
July 14, 2017

By 2011, they found that 44 percent of veterans who died in hospitals took their last breaths in hospice beds, compared to 30 percent in 2008. By 2012, 71 percent of veterans dying of cancer were enrolled in hospice.

(Reuters Health) - An initiative to enroll dying veterans in hospice care appears to be working, and its success may offer clues for how to persuade others who are terminally ill to join the highly lauded end-of-life program, a new study shows.

After the U.S. Veterans Administration implemented its Comprehensive End of Life Care Initiative in 2009, growth of enrollment of terminally ill male war veterans in hospice care outstripped enrollment growth in hospice programs for elderly men who did not serve, according to the report in Health Affairs.

More veterans likely enrolled in hospice care because the initiative allowed them to continue to have curative treatments, said Joanne Spetz, a professor at the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco. Other hospice programs require participants to cease disease-modifying treatment.

Spetz suspects that being able to use both hospice and concurrent care motivated people to sign up for hospice care "because it wasn’t an either/or decision,” she said in a phone interview.
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Jacksonville Mourns For Fallen 16

Friends, strangers mourn for the fallen 16 at the Freedom Fountain

Jacksonville Daily News
By Amanda Thames
Posted Jul 14, 2017

"But no matter how they leave this world, it’s the fact that a military man is no longer living that was the focus of those gathered Friday."

The only sound in the moment of silence was Jacksonville’s Freedom Fountain.

The fountain’s jets had been turned off -- all but one, the Freedom jet, in honor of 16 men.

The community gathered around the Fountain Friday for an observance to honor the seven raiders and nine reservists who died in an airplane crash this week.

Members of the community stood before the fountain holding photos of the 16 men, flipping a black-backed card up to show a photo of each of the men as their names and biographies were read over the speaker.

As the first name was read, Sydney Mayo and a friend held tissues to their faces, crumpled in their hands, as tears mixed with sweat on their faces.

It was a tragically true statement for two widows, Ami Little and Shari Chaney, whose husbands both died while serving. Sgt. James Little and Master Sgt. Ronald Chaney, both died of suicide after fighting a war against PTSD in the midst of fighting for their country, Chaney said.
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