Minnesota soldier committed suicide after assault and cyberbullying

Army Secretary Orders Changes to Policy after Minnesota Soldier's Sexual Assault, Suicide

WDIO News

December 14, 2018

During that time, the documents reveal the 21-year-old suffered from harassment by her attacker and from cyberbullying by fellow soldiers and their spouses.

The Secretary of the U.S. Army has directed staff to update policies regarding the treatment of victims of sexual assault who request to be transferred off-base, according to a letter sent to members of Congress from Minnesota.

The letter comes months after a KSTP investigation into the death of Pvt. Nicole Burnham, a solider from Andover, who died by suicide after being sexually assaulted, harassed and bullied.

Army documents obtained by KSTP show it took 82 days to transfer Pvt. Burnham from her base in South Korea after she reported the sexual assault.
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Man going to jail after stealing veteran's ID...and benefits

Mississippi man gets 3 years for stealing veteran's ID

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 14, 2018

Prosecutors say Bush used the name, Social Security number and other identifiers of the veteran to receive narcotics, medical care, medical equipment and housing help from the VA Department between 2005 and 2018.

JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi man has been sentenced to three years in prison for stealing the identity of a U.S. military veteran and using it to get more than $130,000 in benefits.

G.V. (SONNY) MONTGOMERY VA MEDICAL CENTER/FACEBOOK

News outlets reported Senior U.S. District Judge Tom S. Lee on Thursday also ordered 56-year-old Tierun Bush of Jackson to pay full restitution to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
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29 Year old veteran starving while VA delayed treatment

SPECIAL REPORT: VETERAN BATTLES VA FOR 9 YEARS

KEZI ABC 9 News
Chynna Greene
December 13, 2018

29 year-old veteran, Brandon Donovan has dropped around 50 pounds since 2009. He's still waiting on the VA to help save his life. He has a rare condition that makes it extremely painful to eat.

"How the pain is, is like swallowing cement and it's hardening in your stomach," said Brandon.

Brandon told KEZI 9 News Anchor Bryan Anderson, the pain first started during his deployment in Iraq. Then, it's been appointment after appointment, procedure after procedure with no answers. Brandon and his wife Jennifer, started digging through his VA medical notes. They found the first suspicion of a rare condition in 2014.

They found mention in 2014 of a rare condition called "Mals," also known as "Celiac Artery Compression Syndrome." Four years later, Mals suspicion comes up again.
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Another deported veteran returned to US...to be buried

In death, a deported veteran returns home to Texas

The Statesman 
By Jeremy Schwartz 
Posted Dec 12, 2018 

For nearly a decade, Carlos Jaime Torres dreamed of being allowed to return to the United States, the place he had called home since he was an infant and the nation he had served for four years during the Vietnam War.

Since his 2010 deportation after a conviction on marijuana possession and delivery charges, Torres had lived in a small, concrete home in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the border city of Reynosa, across the Rio Grande from McAllen. His cramped bedroom was decorated with photos from his time in the U.S. Army at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and a large black POW/MIA flag. He scraped by as a security guard, called his mother every morning at 8:30 and tried to avoid the violence that often erupted in the troubled city.

It never felt like home.

“I look American. I act American. I dress American. I am an American,” he said in a 2016 interview with the American-Statesman. “The hardest part is being told you’re not wanted.”

Torres, who died Saturday, returned to the United States this week, to be buried Thursday in the Rio Grande Valley State Veterans Cemetery in Mission. He was 64.
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In April it was Enrique Salas

Rolling Thunder DC Ride Ending After 2019

Rolling Thunder to end annual Memorial Day ride in DC after 2019

STARS AND STRIPES
By NIKKI WENTLING
Published: December 13, 2018

The ride started in 1988 with about 2,000 riders, Muller said. In 2018, there were more than 500,000.

The rain didn't stop motorcyclists from taking part in the 30th anniversary of Rolling Thunder on Sunday, May 28, 2017, in Washington. AMANDA L. TRYPANIS/STARS AND STRIPES

WASHINGTON – Rolling Thunder will no longer hold its annual Memorial Day motorcycle ride through Washington, D.C., after 2019, the group’s founder announced Thursday.

The tradition is ending because of escalating costs and a lack of cooperation from the Pentagon and metropolitan police departments, said Artie Muller, a Vietnam veteran and founder of Rolling Thunder, Inc.

“It has been a hard decision to make,” Muller wrote in a letter that he plans to send to supporters in January. “After much discussion and thought over the last six months, Rolling Thunder National Officers have concluded to end our 32-year annual D.C. Memorial weekend event.”

Rolling Thunder is a nonprofit organization that honors prisoners of war and servicemembers missing in action. Its “Ride for Freedom” through Washington every Memorial Day weekend draws thousands of riders and onlookers.

Costs for the 2018 ride totaled more than $200,000, Muller said. The nonprofit hasn’t been able to recruit a new corporate sponsor, and Rolling Thunder didn’t sell enough merchandise, such as patches, pins and flags.
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