Vietnam veteran Charles Payne is a true child of the Sixties

Tracking the life of a free spirit
Sauk Valley
Andrea Mills
January 19, 2018

STERLING – Charles Payne is a true child of the Sixties: He’s a Vietnam veteran still struggling with the after-effects of the war, a multimedia artist, and a witch (of the white, or good, variety).

“A Vietnam veteran straightened me out. Survival guilt: If my buddies could come out of the grave, they’d kick my butt up between my shoulder blades for letting their deaths screw my head up. They didn’t die for that.”

It’s the latter two aspects of his life – the artistry and the spirituality – that have helped Payne cope the past 50 years with the former.

“I wasn’t wounded by bullets, but by Agent Orange,” the impish 73-year-old said. “And then here I am. Still plugging away. My eyes are deteriorating, but my spirit isn’t.”
The former California resident, who also battles PTSD, has been a free spirit all of his life, even before volunteering for the Army in October 1967.
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North Ogden Utah without Mayor...he got deployed

Hundreds say goodbye to North Ogden mayor ahead of Afghanistan deployment
Good4Utah
Rosie Nguyen
January 19, 2018

NORTH OGDEN (News4Utah) - Hundreds of residents lined the streets of North Ogden to show their appreciation and wave goodbye to Mayor Brent Taylor Friday morning.

North Ogden Police escorted Mayor Taylor and his family around town before he headed to the airport. The schools he stopped by included Bates Elementary, North Ogden Elementary, Green Acres Elementary, North Ogden Junior High, and Majestic Elementary.

Madilyn Erekson, a 5th grader at Bates Elementary got the chance to meet the mayor for a school project. She calls him a hero.

"I was happy for him, but I was kind of upset because we won't be able to see him for a year," said Madilyn.

One week after he was sworn into office for a second term, Mayor Taylor announced on Facebook Live that he would be training the Afghan Commando Battalion. City officials said this is the first known time in Utah history that a mayor deploys for wartime service.
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Florida National Guard soldier killed, 5 injured in crash

UPDATE

Florida National Guard identifies soldier killed in military vehicle crash

In a Facebook post Saturday afternoon, the Florida National Guard said Spc. Luis E. Garcia, from the 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team's Company G Forward Support Company was killed in the crash.

Florida National Guard soldier killed in chain reaction crash, 5 others injured in Sebring
WFLA 8 NBC News
By Corey Davis and WFLA Web Staff
Published: January 19, 2018

SEBRING, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida National Guard solider is dead and five others were injured after a chain reaction crash involving military vehicles in Sebring, according to officials.

The Sebring Police Department was called to the intersection of US 27 and Hammock Road shortly before 1 p.m.

A preliminary investigation revealed three Palletized Load System (PLS) vehicles, which are assigned to a National Guard unit out of Miami, collided in a chain reaction crash, according to officials.

Officials said the convoy was traveling north on the highway when the third vehicle failed to stop for a red light in time and hit the second vehicle, officials said.

The driver of the third vehicle sustained fatal injuries, according to investigators.

Officials said the passenger had to be extricated from the damaged vehicle.

According to officials, the passenger and four others were taken to area hospitals. Police said they suffered non-life threatening injuries.
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VA Hiring...In other news, Government shut down?

VA Begins Using Expedited Hiring Authority to Fill Array of Critical Positions
Government Executive
By Eric Katz
January 18, 2018

VA hired a total of 40,000 people in 2017, but due to attrition and turnover the department saw a net gain of just 8,300 employees. While Secretary David Shulkin praised VA for that onboarding total, it is actually slightly below the number of net employees it gained annually over the last five years and the department maintains 35,000 vacancies.

The Veterans Affairs Department is opening up an array of job vacancies to a more expedited hiring process, using a new authority to fill longstanding openings.

VA has received approval to move forward with direct hiring for 15 occupations deemed critical, the department’s secretary told senators at a hearing on Wednesday. He received authority to do so when President Trump signed the 2017 VA Choice and Quality Employment Act in August, which tasked VA with using the quicker hiring process for positions with a “severe shortage of candidates.” The department has since worked with the Office of Personnel Management to approve the 15 positions.

Those are: accountants, biomedical equipment support specialists, boiler plant operators, general engineers, specialists for the veterans crisis line, health technicians, histopathology technicians, human resources assistants and specialists, information technology specialists, personnel security specialists, police officers, realty specialists, utility systems operators and repair specialists. The direct hire authority applies to those positions throughout the country.
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Canada:Firefighter treated for PTSD and seizures

Fort McMurray firefighter battling little-known condition brought on by extreme trauma
Doctors accused Nathan Koops of faking his seizures before it was finally diagnosed as PNES
CBC News
By David Thurton
Posted: Jan 19, 2018

Nathan Koops would convulse violently in front of his wife, their five-year-old son and newborn daughter.

One seizure struck while Koops was walking home with son Owen from the grocery store. It left him paralyzed on the sidewalk as Owen ran home to get help.

"Everything in my body wanted to move inwards," Koops said. "My arm would move in. My arm would curl in and the muscles would contract. My leg would do the same thing. My body would arch. And it felt like it would be pushed past its bounds."

Along with these sudden seizures, Koops had begun to be tormented by panic attacks, night terrors and head jerks.

The 32-year-old was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but a therapist suspected he also suffered from a condition not known to many professionals — PNES, or psychogenic non-epileptic seizures.
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