Why would Navy SEALs use drugs?

Navy: SEALs Tested Positive for Illicit DrugsAssociated PressMay 4, 2018

Navy official tells The Associated Press that cocaine is the drug found in Navy SEALs in Virginia.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — The Navy says members of its SEAL teams have tested positive for illegal drugs.

The Navy released a statement Friday saying 11 members of its Naval Special Warfare units on the East Coast tested positive for "controlled substances."

According to a Navy official, the drug was cocaine, and commanders are investigating to determine if all the alleged offenses happened at the same place and time. go here for more

US Special Forces struggle with record suicides, report from 2014

Ret. Admiral William McRaven
No one – not the top warrior nor the highest star admiral - is immune to war’s toll.

“Ever since I’ve come back it’s been like that,” McRaven said later, during a brief interview. “I’ve told one story a dozen times and I still can’t get through it.” from 2015

There are a lot more report here, but, I think you get the point. If SEALs are using drugs, there has to be a reason for it.

Con-Man claimed to be Firefighter on 9-11

Con Man Outed after Claiming to be Ground Zero FF
Palm Beach Post
ELIOT KLEINBERG
MAY 4, 2018

Fairfield Fire Department Deputy Chief Kyran Dunn told The Palm Beach Post this week the agency has no record of Shapiro working there. A photo provided to The Post shows Shapiro wearing a yellow helmet that says "Fairfield Fire Department" with a 4-digit number, his name and "lieutenant." Shapiro's Facebook page has a close-up of the helmet.

PALM BEACH COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE Steven Shapiro.

May 04--WEST PALM BEACH, FL -- When Don Prince saw a news story about Steven Shapiro being arrested on charges of credit-card theft, he recognized him right away. Prince co-founded a substance-abuse treatment center for first responders. Shapiro, he said, worked there for a while. And told people he was a fire lieutenant in Connecticut and had been at ground zero on Sept. 11. 2001.

By all accounts, he wasn't. And he hadn't.

Such hoaxes are rare, but Prince says he and his colleagues have no patience for them.

"There were 343 firefighters who died that day," he said. "And it hits every one of us directly in the heart."

Shapiro, 56, had been booked April 16 on charges he used credit cards he found in the Delray Beach home of a woman from whom he rented a room to buy $1,823 worth of items, including a television.
read more here

No reporter serves on military suicide watch?

UPDATE

U.S. Army Secretary Mark Esper said reducing suicides in the Army is a priority, and he and his staff are working to study and resolve problems leading to them.After spending the day at Fort Riley speaking with soldiers and their families, Esper spoke with The Mercury Friday afternoon.

How long are we going to hear the same claim while they change absolutely nothing!

When will reporters tell us the truth?
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 5, 2018

Why are reporters ignoring the data on military suicides? That is a question we've been wondering about for over a decade, yet, there has been absolutely no answer.

The Department of Defense responds when suicide reports come out, and reporters being what they are, settle for what they are told. They say "most have not been deployed" but then never have to explain how they were supposed to be trained to prevent suicides. If the training did not work for non-deployed, how did they expect it to work for those sent to risk their lives in combat?

No one seems to wonder how it is that when the number of men and women serving in the military has gone down, the number of men and women serving in the military committing suicide remains close to 500 per year.

Active Duty Decreased

That chart shows how the DOD reduced force size.

This chart shows the number of suicides between 2013 and 2015

2013 254 Active, 220 "Reserve Components" Total 474
2014 273 Active, 170  "Reserve Components" Total 443
2015 266 Active, 209 "Reserve Components" Total 475

2016 280 Active, 202 "Reserve Components" Total 482
2017 285 Active, 219 "Reserve Components" Total 504

Congress started to hold hearings and passed bills with their names on it back to 2007. No reporter has bothered to ask then to account for the loss of life increasing at the same time the numbers of those serving decreased.

No reporter has asked the Department of Defense to account for any of this after they implemented mandatory "prevention" training after spending millions on funding programs that did not work.

No reporter has tied that training to the increase of suicides in the younger veterans population after they survived combat and had this training.

No reporter has tied the report of suicides from the VA to the decrease in the number of veterans living in the country while the numbers they know of remained about the same.

The simple truth is, when we say we value the "free press" that should never equate to them being free from responsible reporting.

Had they been paying attention to all the facts, all along, how many lives could have been saved because the American public had the facts? Do you think all the "awareness" raisers out there would have gotten away with using a number that is not even close to real if reporters paid attention?

In April of 2007, I wondered why we had a non-caring media about the non-combat deaths.

When I was searching for reports on suicides it became apparent that more were dying because they served than from combat itself. Why am I still asking the same question?

Camp Lejeune Marines Comp Benefits in hands of convicted felon?

Dr. who cheated government on taxes helps decide which Camp Lejeune Marines get benefits
WFLA
By: Steve Andrews
Updated: May 04, 2018

HOMOSASSA, Fla. (WFLA) - A Florida doctor, convicted of cheating the government, is now working with the Department of Veterans Affairs, helping to determine if sick and dying Marines deserve benefits.

Dr. Sheila Mohammed, from the Pensacola area, pleaded guilty to seven counts of tax fraud in 2015. A federal judge sent her to prison. Dr. Mohammed was also placed on supervised release for two years.

She is now reviewing medical records of veterans exposed to toxic water at Camp Lejeune for the VA.

"The idea of a convicted felon reviewing a veteran's claim. I mean, I'm just at a loss for words," said Mike Partain, a Camp Lejeune survivor and spokesman for The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten, a Camp Lejeune support group.

Over the course of decades, nearly one million Marines, sailors, their families and civilian employees unknowingly drank, cooked and bathed in contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.

The water contained four known cancer causing chemicals, creating a health disaster.

Mike Partain was conceived and born at Camp Lejeune. He developed breast cancer.
read more here

Iraq Veteran shows suicide issue "too big to ignore"

Tulsa veteran creates mural to discuss suicide, an issue 'too big to ignore'
Tulsa World
By Reece Ristau
13 hrs ago

“I want people to know that these real heavy emotions are (OK),” Butts said Friday morning. “You can talk to people about it. You don’t have to be scared of it. When you take off your mask and I take off my mask, it’s, ‘Oh, you’ve got stuff, too.’ We all have stuff.”

As a chaplain’s assistant during the Iraq War, Josh Butts tended to the emotional health of his battalion members, some of whom have since died by suicide.

As a graphic designer in Tulsa, Butts is now using art to bring awareness to the scope of that public health issue.

On Friday, Butts used chalk to create an elaborate mural of an airliner. The mural, called “Too Big to Ignore,” comprises phrases used by those affected by suicide and images representing the pain of such loss. Drawn on the side of the Hardesty Arts Center (AHHA) in the Tulsa Arts District, the airplane represents the 123 people who die in the United States each day by suicide.
read more here