Guilty Plea Entered by Man who Fired BB Gun at Navy Seals in Training
San Diego Union Tribune
Pauline Repard
October 11, 2018
First Phase Basic Underwater Demolition/SEALs candidates participate in log physical training at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, July 14, 2016. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Timothy M. Black)
A man who fired a pellet gun at Navy SEALS who were diving near Liberty Station pleaded guilty Wednesday, a day before his trial was to begin. Scott Weaver, 48, pleaded guilty to brandishing a replica firearm and attempting to threaten a witness. A charge of assault with a deadly weapon was dismissed in an earlier hearing. read more here
Former Reality TV Star Gets 16 Years After Crash that Killed Coast Guardsman
Canadian Press
October 11, 2018
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A former reality TV star will serve 16 years in prison for killing a U.S. Coast Guard technician in a drunken wrong-way collision on a Virginia highway. News outlets reported that Melissa Hancock was sentenced Wednesday after earlier pleading guilty to manslaughter, driving the wrong way and failing to obey a highway sign...Daniel Dill was a Logan Township, New Jersey, native who was stationed in Portsmouth, Virginia, as an information systems technician. read more here
The Mustard Seed of Central Florida is helping people get back on their feet, including veterans! They helped a veteran and his family find a place of their own after becoming homeless. That homelessness happened after Marine was discharged for medical reasons after serving 4 years!
I have spent most of my life knowing what the DAV does. After all, my Dad was 100% disabled Korean War veteran and they helped him with his claim. Then they helped my husband. If you have questions or need some answers...or someone to fight for you for a change, contact them! DAV Chapter 16 in Orlando~
The Vet Centers have been able to get veterans understand that they are not taking another veteran's place, but help them understand that they matter just as much. Heck, they helped me back in the 90's in Massachusetts when I was trying to get my husband understand that he paid for his care the day he signed the blank check to Uncle Sam.
No one washes their hands of veterans who choose hospice services from VITAS. It does not matter if you need to be in a facility or, choose to stay home, they will help you when you need it, but also help your caregivers when they need it. They know what you are dealing with and everything that came from your service. It does not matter which war, illness or even if it is from being on a contaminated military base, like Camp Lejeune. If you want to find out more about all the fabulous services they offer, call 407-921-2695
The UCF Veterans History Project is also near and dear to my heart! Since I grew up surrounded by two generations of combat veterans, I am ashamed to admit, I stopped listening to their stories...then I stopped remembering them. This is about documenting the services of veterans so that we never forget those who paid the price for the freedoms we have.
Orlando Veterans Court has a mission to help veterans heal instead of seeing them locked up! It is not a get out of jail free pass, but they set veterans up with the resources they need to begin to heal their lives!
UCF Cares About You
Phone 407-823-5607 Email ucfcares@ucf.edu Location Ferrell Commons, Room 142
UCF Cares is an umbrella of care-related programs and resources dedicated to fostering a caring community of Knights. However, it takes all of us from students to staff, from faculty to friends, to show that we care about one another. The goal of the UCF CARES initiative is to build a culture of care one KNIGHT at a time. We are all UCF and need to do our part in connecting any fellow knights in distress to appropriate resources.
UCF Restores Among other awesome things UCF Restores is doing, they are conducting research on smelling~ Yep! You know how when you smell something, it can bring back memories of growing up. I sure do, because it is chocolate chip cookies out of the oven and right away I remember my Aunt's cookies. I get all warm and filled with great memories. Those smells can also be a trigger for something bad that happened to you. When you survived "it" every part of "you" was involved. That is why sounds and smells can bring things back you do not want to relive. They are trying to understand the association and how it can be treated. Awesome right? For older veterans it is the smell of diesel. You know what that does. Anyway, they are looking for males from 18 and up who are OEF OIF veterans. They want you to call 407-823-3910.
If you are still wondering how to #TakeBackYourLife, then contact all those great groups and START DOING IT!
Charity for veterans' funerals faces federal investigation
Military Times
Geoff Ziezulewicz
October 10, 2018
“Personal purchases” allegedly included tattoo parlor payments, private school tuition for the Walkers’ children, $9,000 at Disney resorts, $5,000 in “food and entertainment expenses” and $7,000 to a law firm representing the couple “in connection with a dispute with the City of Norwood Young America,” according to the affidavit, which Military Times obtained from the U.S. Department of Justice.
To hear Army veteran Troy D. Walker tell it, Dog Tag Furniture’s mission to aid vets began after a service buddy killed himself and the family couldn’t afford a funeral.
The feds are investigating Troy D. Walker, an Army veteran, and his wife for allegedly pocketing proceeds and donations to their organization, Dog Tag Furniture, which raises money for veterans funerals. (Screenshot courtesy KTSP-TV)
The Department of Veterans Affairs can only provide a few hundred dollars, the Minnesota man told “Fox and Friends” on Sept. 23, 2017.
“The body was going to go unclaimed and be put in a baggie,” Walker said.
Walker recalled going into debt to help pay his friend’s funeral costs and then realized no organizations existed to solely help fund veterans' funerals.
read more here
A new study has found that there is a rise of post-traumatic-stress disorder (PTSD) among those who have served the army and military over the past decade. The study reveals that most of the personnel who have been witness to active combat were among those who reported with symptoms of PTSD and 17 percent of these individuals were diagnosed with PTSD.
Image Credit: Emily C. McCormick / Shutterstock
The authors say the lack of support after leaving the army and the natural course of PTSD that manifests much later after the actual events have occurred could be the probable reasons behind these rising instances. The study results were published in the latest issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry.
The study by a team of researchers at the King’s College, London, included around 9,000 veterans and found that there is a rising awareness regarding PTSD and this is caused a rise in number of individuals seeking treatment for this condition. The number of diagnosed cases of PTSD was 4 percent in 2004-05 and it has risen to 6 percent in 2014-16 finds the study. The incidence of PTSD was 17 percent among those who were engaged in active combat roles in Afghanistan or Iraq and 6 percent of the cases were seen among those who were engaged in supporting roles such as aircrew and medical personnel at the battlefields.
According to lead author, Dr Sharon Stevelink, from the Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College, this is the first study that shows that the veterans who have been deployed in combat roles are at great risk of PTSD and these numbers are greater than those who are still serving. She said that one in three of the veterans have been engaged in active combat.
This study, Stevelink explained is the third phase of a major study that began since 2003. This phase looked at veterans in 2014 to 2016 and found that 62 percent of these persons were deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq and were of an average age of around 40 years. Anxiety and depressive illness rates were around 22 percent among these veterans found the study and the authors noted that alcohol abuse reduced from 15 percent to 10 percent over these years. read more here
Rocket carrying space station crew fails in mid air, crew safe Thomson Reuters BY SHAMIL ZHUMATOV Oct 11th 2018
BAIKONUR COSMODROME, Kazakhstan, Oct 11 (Reuters) - A booster rocket carrying a Soyuz spacecraft with a Russian and U.S. astronaut on board headed for the International Space Station failed mid-air on Thursday, forcing the crew to make an emergency landing.
The rocket was carrying U.S. astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin. Footage from inside the Soyuz showed the two men being shaken around at the moment the failure occurred, with their arms and legs flailing.
The rocket was launched from the Soviet-era cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. A Reuters reporter who observed the launch from around 1 km away said it had gone smoothly in its initial stages and that the failure of the booster rockets must have occurred at higher altitude. read more here
