Ron Mosbaugh: Vietnam flashback offers chance to make peace
Joplin Globe
Ron Mosbaugh
May 11, 2018
"Although this flashback was traumatic and disturbing for me to relive, I believe there is a reason this memory has stayed with me. In a strange way, I think it is helping me to better understand what happened so long ago. It is giving me another chance to make my peace with myself, with my life and with my God." Ron Mosbaugh
It’s strange how a memory can be lost for 50 years and suddenly, out of nowhere, a flashback can appear and you’re back in Vietnam. I have been writing stories on Vietnam for more than three years, and I thought there was nothing else I could write that would add to those stories.
After all, one battle or one patrol in Vietnam was not much different than another. More than anything, I didn’t want to be redundant in my writing. I think, however, that flashbacks are topic worth covering.
I have always had flashbacks and nightmares from my time in Vietnam. Most of these have been repeats from previous events, but this recent flashback was from an entirely different trauma. It is strange that I haven’t thought about it since 1967.
The sad story is I don’t live in Vietnam, but Vietnam will always live in me.
Before I recount this flashback, let me give you some of my background. I suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, which is a mental health condition characterized by witnessing and experiencing traumatic events — in my case from the Vietnam War. Common symptoms include nightmares, severe anxiety, flashbacks and uncontrollable thoughts. My PTSD was caused by combat exposure, but many of my symptoms occurred later in life.
This particular flashback involved a battle with the Viet Cong in Nui Dat Son, near Hill 55. It was a fierce battle, and we sustained several casualties. I especially remember treating a young African-American Marine. We were in a rice paddy, and the water was covering the lower half of his body. He was in pain because of a gunshot wound in his upper left leg, and he was yelling in agony. It was difficult for me to locate his exact wound location because of the low light conditions, his dark skin and the muddy rice paddy water that covered and camouflaged his wound.
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Just 15 weeks in, see how KC's tiny-house veteran village is changing lives
Kansas City Star
Rick Montgomery
May 10, 2018
It's been about 15 weeks since the first group of vets moved into the village's 13 houses. The privately funded experiment conceived by local veterans has captured the world's attention, garnering coverage from CNN and Time.
Though they were strangers before they moved in, the residents' military camaraderie is apparent right away: Lots of cussing, rising early, attending classes. Already, a resident known as "the Mayor" has cooked meals for others.
As rain slashed sideways and tornado sirens blared, Army veteran Larry Johnson worried recently that his new tiny house, just 240 square feet, might fly away.
When he stepped out into the next morning's calm, all was fine in the upstart Veterans Community Project in south Kansas City.
One of his 12 neighbors in the community, which provides transitional shelter and other aid to homeless veterans, shouted out to Johnson: "Hey, you still on the ground!"
Grounding is what the veterans village is all about.
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Air Force veteran with ties to Hampton Roads dies alone in Texas, push is on to find her family
KPAX 8 News
TODD CORILLO
Posted: May 10, 2018
DENTON, Texas -- A Texas university is trying to find any family members or friends of an Air Force veteran with ties to Hampton Roads who died on their campus last year.
Margaret Rosa King, 67, was found unresponsive near her car on the campus of University of North Texas on September 14, 2017.
She was taken to Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Denton, Texas where she was pronounced dead. Authorities with the Tarrant County medical examiner's office later classified her death as natural as a result of heart disease.
Unfortunately, neither the University nor the medical examiner's office have been able to locate or identify any next of kin.
King began working for UNT Facilities as a custodian in June of 2016, but she has a long list of degrees, several of which were earned in Hampton Roads. On her employment application, she indicated that after retiring from civil service, she enjoyed taking classes as a hobby.
She served in the Air Force from May of 1971 through September of 1974. King's time in Hampton Roads was spent earning an associate's degree in business from Tidewater Community College and a master's degree in gerontology from Norfolk State University.
Additionally, UNT says King had a bachelor's degree in business from Saint Leo University in Florida, an associate's degree in accounting and information technology from Tarrant County Community College, a master's degree in information science from UNT, and a master's degree in computer education from UNT.
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Police make arrest in 'road rage' killing of Air Force veteran
ABC News
By M.L. NESTEL and JULIA JACOBO
May 10, 2018
Cody Harter, 24, was stabbed to death following a possible road-rage incident on a Missouri highway.
Missouri police have made an arrest in the killing of a 24-year-old Air Force veteran and Missouri Air National Guard reservist who was stabbed in an apparent road rage incident.
Detectives had been working around the clock to solve the death of Cody Harter, Sgt. Chris Depue, a spokesman for the Lee's Summit Police Department, told ABC News over the weekend.
The suspect, 58-year-old Nicholas Webb, has been charged with second-degree murder, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday in Jackson County. On Saturday, two hours after Harter was attacked, Webb was arrested in Liberty, Missouri on charges of possession of dangerous drugs and driving under the influence, the complaint states.
On Wednesday, a detective from the Clay County, Missouri Sheriff's Office obtained body camera footage from the arrest, which revealed that Webb had been driving a gray four-door Mitsubishi Lancer, according to the complaint. The arrest report stated that Webb was in possession of a knife in his right pants pocket, the complaint states.
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Guardsman kills wife, man, then himself, authorities say
FOX News
Dom Calicchio
May 11, 2018
A National Guard member entered a Florida hotel room last weekend and fatally shot his estranged wife and another man before turning the gun on himself, authorities said.
Mark and Amanda Stokes are seen in an image from Mark Stokes' Facebook page. (Facebook)
Police identified the gunman as Mark Stokes, 37, a major in the Army National Guard who was stationed at Fort Rucker in Enterprise, Ala.
His wife was identified as Amanda Stokes, 28, a sergeant in the Army National Guard, also at Fort Rucker.
The other man was identified as Kenneth Walker Krause, 30, formerly of Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
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