Mike over at Point Man Ministries.org sent this
Monday, June 7, 2010
Veterans to be honored at Fourth of July baseball game
Vietnam veterans needed for local video
By Laura Eastes
Jun 7, 2010, 11:20
Veterans to be honored at Fourth of July baseball game
Army Veteran Ed Poley knows first-hand what it is like to never receive recognition for his service to the country during the Vietnam War.
He also knows other veterans who never received a "thank you" or a standing ovation for their service.
Poley, the executive director for the Whirlwind Career Counseling Center, said he will finally get the recognition he and fellow veterans deserve.
Area Vietnam veterans will be properly recognized and thanked for their service at the Fourth of July Bee Jay's baseball game. After the game, all Vietnam veterans will be asked to step down to the field for a presentation and crowd recognition.
"The stands will be full,” said Poley. “People will be sitting down on the sidelines. It is the best opportunity I know for saying to a group of guys and gals, 'thanks for a job well done.'”
Poley, like many Vietnam veterans, returned back to the United States being advised to change out of his uniform to avoid comments from anti-war protesters. Poley said he returned back to Kansas with no parades, no welcome home ceremonies and no recognition.
The presentation will feature a short video with music, photos and voice clips from area soldiers sharing experiences of coming back to the United States from Vietnam. Currently, Poley is interviewing as many Vietnam veterans as possible for the video presentation.
read more here
Vietnam veterans needed for local video
By Laura Eastes
Jun 7, 2010, 11:20
Veterans to be honored at Fourth of July baseball game
Army Veteran Ed Poley knows first-hand what it is like to never receive recognition for his service to the country during the Vietnam War.
He also knows other veterans who never received a "thank you" or a standing ovation for their service.
Poley, the executive director for the Whirlwind Career Counseling Center, said he will finally get the recognition he and fellow veterans deserve.
Area Vietnam veterans will be properly recognized and thanked for their service at the Fourth of July Bee Jay's baseball game. After the game, all Vietnam veterans will be asked to step down to the field for a presentation and crowd recognition.
"The stands will be full,” said Poley. “People will be sitting down on the sidelines. It is the best opportunity I know for saying to a group of guys and gals, 'thanks for a job well done.'”
Poley, like many Vietnam veterans, returned back to the United States being advised to change out of his uniform to avoid comments from anti-war protesters. Poley said he returned back to Kansas with no parades, no welcome home ceremonies and no recognition.
The presentation will feature a short video with music, photos and voice clips from area soldiers sharing experiences of coming back to the United States from Vietnam. Currently, Poley is interviewing as many Vietnam veterans as possible for the video presentation.
read more here
Vietnam veterans needed for local video
Film crew covers Nam Knights Memorial Day ride to the Wall
Father and son team stayed with the Nam Knights all weekend and went on the rides Saturday and Sunday. Really nice guys.
wprior1 — June 06, 2010 — Interview with Al Molaf of the Nam Knights Motorcycle Club. Filmed Memorial Day Weekend at the Rolling Thunder R... wprior1 — June 06, 2010 — Interview with Al Molaf of the Nam Knights Motorcycle Club. Filmed Memorial Day Weekend at the Rolling Thunder Rally 5/30/2010 Washington D.C. Al talks about his service in the United States Army and his treatment he experienced after returning home from the war in Vietnam. The producers of the "WE REMEMBER" documentary will continue to post more interviews with the veterans from the Rolling Thunder Rally 2010. View more interviews on you-tube under the tag line Rolling Thunder 2010. Special thanks to all the members of the Nam Knights MC. -William M. Prior, William J. Prior.
Adm. Mike Mullen says "Vets need not suffer alone"
Mullen on D-Day: Vets need not suffer alone
By Robert Burns - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Jun 6, 2010 17:04:15 EDT
BEDFORD, Va. — In a stirring tribute to the D-Day sacrifices of American soldiers and their allies, the U.S. military’s top officer said Sunday that World War II’s defining moment should remind all that returning warriors need not “suffer in quiet desperation.”
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke in the peaceful setting of this small town, which is said to have born the heaviest share of American losses in the June 6, 1944, landings on the beaches of Normandy. The National D-Day Memorial was established here in 2001 as a tribute to those who died in the invasion of German-occupied Europe.
Mullen drew a parallel with the needs and aspirations of the men and women returning from today’s battlefields, many with the invisible psychological wounds of war.
“They, too, have seen and done things we cannot know,” he said. “Their lives, too, are forever changed. And just as previous generations of heroes did, they must likewise adjust themselves to peace.”
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/06/ap_d_day_anniversary_mullen_060610/
By Robert Burns - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Jun 6, 2010 17:04:15 EDT
BEDFORD, Va. — In a stirring tribute to the D-Day sacrifices of American soldiers and their allies, the U.S. military’s top officer said Sunday that World War II’s defining moment should remind all that returning warriors need not “suffer in quiet desperation.”
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke in the peaceful setting of this small town, which is said to have born the heaviest share of American losses in the June 6, 1944, landings on the beaches of Normandy. The National D-Day Memorial was established here in 2001 as a tribute to those who died in the invasion of German-occupied Europe.
Mullen drew a parallel with the needs and aspirations of the men and women returning from today’s battlefields, many with the invisible psychological wounds of war.
“They, too, have seen and done things we cannot know,” he said. “Their lives, too, are forever changed. And just as previous generations of heroes did, they must likewise adjust themselves to peace.”
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/06/ap_d_day_anniversary_mullen_060610/
WWII vets, observers mark D-Day anniversary
WWII vets, observers mark D-Day anniversary
The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Jun 6, 2010 13:14:14 EDT
COLVILLE-SUR-MER, France — Veterans and those grateful for their sacrifices have marked the 66th anniversary of the D-Day landings, remembering the invasion that turned the tide of World War II.
U.S. Army veteran William Duane Bush, wearing a military jacket, raised the American flag at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, which overlooks Omaha Beach. It was the first time Bush, 93, of Lincoln, Neb., had returned to Europe since the war’s end.
read more here
WWII vets, observers mark D-Day anniversary
The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Jun 6, 2010 13:14:14 EDT
COLVILLE-SUR-MER, France — Veterans and those grateful for their sacrifices have marked the 66th anniversary of the D-Day landings, remembering the invasion that turned the tide of World War II.
U.S. Army veteran William Duane Bush, wearing a military jacket, raised the American flag at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, which overlooks Omaha Beach. It was the first time Bush, 93, of Lincoln, Neb., had returned to Europe since the war’s end.
read more here
WWII vets, observers mark D-Day anniversary
VA sees sharp rise in sleep apnea cases
VA sees sharp rise in apnea cases
By Tom Vanden Brook - USA Today
Posted : Monday Jun 7, 2010 10:42:20 EDT
WASHINGTON — The number of veterans receiving disability benefits for a sleeping disorder has increased 61 percent in the past two years and now costs taxpayers more than $500 million per year, according to Veterans Affairs data released to USA Today.
More than 63,000 veterans receive benefits for sleep apnea, a disorder that causes a sleeping person to gasp for breath and awaken frequently. It is linked to problems ranging from daytime drowsiness to heart disease. The top risk factor for contracting the disorder appears to be obesity, though a sleep expert at the VA and a veteran’s advocacy organization cite troops’ exposure to dust and smoke in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq as contributing factors.
More claims are likely to be made in the future as Baby Boomers age and get heavier, says Max Hirshkowitz, director of the Sleep Disorder Center at the Houston Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Veterans are four times more likely than other Americans to suffer from sleep apnea, Hirshkowitz said.
read more here
VA sees sharp rise in apnea cases/
By Tom Vanden Brook - USA Today
Posted : Monday Jun 7, 2010 10:42:20 EDT
WASHINGTON — The number of veterans receiving disability benefits for a sleeping disorder has increased 61 percent in the past two years and now costs taxpayers more than $500 million per year, according to Veterans Affairs data released to USA Today.
More than 63,000 veterans receive benefits for sleep apnea, a disorder that causes a sleeping person to gasp for breath and awaken frequently. It is linked to problems ranging from daytime drowsiness to heart disease. The top risk factor for contracting the disorder appears to be obesity, though a sleep expert at the VA and a veteran’s advocacy organization cite troops’ exposure to dust and smoke in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq as contributing factors.
More claims are likely to be made in the future as Baby Boomers age and get heavier, says Max Hirshkowitz, director of the Sleep Disorder Center at the Houston Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Veterans are four times more likely than other Americans to suffer from sleep apnea, Hirshkowitz said.
read more here
VA sees sharp rise in apnea cases/
Vietnam War veteran meets Iraq wounded soldier he helped save
Iraq veteran reunites with rescuer
By AUDREY PARENTE, Staff Writer
June 7, 2010 12:05 AM
Blood-splattered blue jeans -- worn two years ago by veteran photojournalist Jim Wade -- have never been washed.
Wade brought the well-preserved jeans with him from West Melbourne to show former Army corporal and Purple Heart recipient Walter "Matt" Bailey.
The recent reunion in a quiet gated Palm Coast condominium community was their first since an explosion in Iraq on March 30, 2008, wounded Bailey, then 19. He was driving the armored military vehicle in which Wade was a passenger.
Then a private, Bailey was injured by an improvised explosive device that sprayed molten-hot shrapnel.
"The last thing I remember seeing was Jim," said Bailey, 22. "He was wrapping up my foot."
In addition to losing part of his foot, Bailey suffered injuries to both legs, severe nerve damage to his right arm and serious emotional trauma.
The explosion left a crater, said Wade, a 60-plus-year-old Vietnam War veteran -- who leaped out of the back passenger door of the vehicle to help Bailey and others in the Humvee. A retired aircraft mechanic and Seabee, Wade was embedded with Wade's unit, and has been back and forth to the war zone capturing war footage.
read more here
Iraq veteran reunites with rescuer
By AUDREY PARENTE, Staff Writer
June 7, 2010 12:05 AM
Blood-splattered blue jeans -- worn two years ago by veteran photojournalist Jim Wade -- have never been washed.
Wade brought the well-preserved jeans with him from West Melbourne to show former Army corporal and Purple Heart recipient Walter "Matt" Bailey.
The recent reunion in a quiet gated Palm Coast condominium community was their first since an explosion in Iraq on March 30, 2008, wounded Bailey, then 19. He was driving the armored military vehicle in which Wade was a passenger.
Then a private, Bailey was injured by an improvised explosive device that sprayed molten-hot shrapnel.
"The last thing I remember seeing was Jim," said Bailey, 22. "He was wrapping up my foot."
In addition to losing part of his foot, Bailey suffered injuries to both legs, severe nerve damage to his right arm and serious emotional trauma.
The explosion left a crater, said Wade, a 60-plus-year-old Vietnam War veteran -- who leaped out of the back passenger door of the vehicle to help Bailey and others in the Humvee. A retired aircraft mechanic and Seabee, Wade was embedded with Wade's unit, and has been back and forth to the war zone capturing war footage.
read more here
Iraq veteran reunites with rescuer
Accidental overdoses alarm military officials
Short term memory loss plays a big part in this. Often they can't remember if they took their medication or not. They need to use reminders, like pill separators, so they will not think they forgot to take their pills and then take double the amount.
Alcohol is a huge no-no! Drinking will change how the medications work on the brain. Take mind focused drugs, don't drink. Simple as that. Plus the other thing is that when you stop drinking, the medications work better. Is having a lot of beer with the guys worth the price your healing pays? You are trying to not be depressed but alcohol adds to it.
Added to these warnings is the one you cannot control and that is being given drugs that work against the others. Be pro-active and check the warning signs of all medications you are on and talk to your doctor. Do not adjust them on your own. You have to talk to your doctor first.
Alcohol is a huge no-no! Drinking will change how the medications work on the brain. Take mind focused drugs, don't drink. Simple as that. Plus the other thing is that when you stop drinking, the medications work better. Is having a lot of beer with the guys worth the price your healing pays? You are trying to not be depressed but alcohol adds to it.
Added to these warnings is the one you cannot control and that is being given drugs that work against the others. Be pro-active and check the warning signs of all medications you are on and talk to your doctor. Do not adjust them on your own. You have to talk to your doctor first.
The Army deaths have shocked that service’s medical community and prompted an internal review. But despite a “safety stand down” in January 2009, the number of fatalities continued to rise last year — to 15 in 2009, up from 11 the year before. Meanwhile the total number of soldiers assigned to the 29 WTUs nationwide dropped from about 12,000 to about 9,000.
Accidental overdoses alarm military officials
By Andrew Tilghman and Brendan McGarry - Staff writers
Posted : Sunday Jun 6, 2010 18:22:42 EDT
Prescription drug cocktails have lead to at least 32 accidental overdoses among Marines and soldiers since 2007, bringing military medical practices for treating physical and psychiatric problems under scrutiny.
At least 30 soldiers and two Marines overdosed while under the care of Army Warrior Transition Units or the Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Regiment, created three years ago to tightly focus care and attention on troops suffering from injuries as a result of combat.
Most of the troops had been prescribed “drug cocktails,” combinations of drugs including painkillers, sleeping pills, antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs, interviews and records show. In all cases, suicide was ruled out.
Army officials say the deaths are often complicated by troops mixing medications with alcohol, taking their own medications incorrectly or without a prescription.
go here for more
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Search continues for soldier feared drowned in Taylorsville lake
Search continues for soldier feared drowned in Taylorsville lake
Posted by Charles Gazaway
TAYLORSVILLE, KY (WAVE) - Search crews continued patrolling Taylorsville Lake on Friday, hoping to find a Fort Knox soldier who disappeared while swimming on May 29.
High water and debris on the lake continued to hamper the search for 23-year old Specialist Anthony Carter, who was assigned to the Warrior Transition Battalion.
go here for the rest
http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=12597370
Posted by Charles Gazaway
TAYLORSVILLE, KY (WAVE) - Search crews continued patrolling Taylorsville Lake on Friday, hoping to find a Fort Knox soldier who disappeared while swimming on May 29.
High water and debris on the lake continued to hamper the search for 23-year old Specialist Anthony Carter, who was assigned to the Warrior Transition Battalion.
go here for the rest
http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=12597370
Veteran missing in Yellowstone has PTSD
Veteran missing in Yellowstone has PTSD
Gazette Staff Posted: Friday, June 4, 2010
An Oklahoma man missing in Yellowstone National Park is a former Marine suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder he incurred after surviving two bomb blasts while serving in Iraq.
The news is the latest information released by park officials in a search for Peter Louis Kastner, 25, whose car was found parked at the Hellroaring Trailhead on Monday. The investigating ranger found that the red Cadillac STS sedan with Oklahoma plates had been rented a month earlier and was two weeks overdue.
Kastner is 6 feet, 1 inch tall, weighs 185 pounds and has brown hair and hazel eyes.
According to information provided to the Park Service by Kastner’s family, he was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps after serving four years. During his service, he was twice injured by improvised explosive devices in Iraq. He had moved to Oklahoma City from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area to attend college. His family is concerned about his mental state and said he was suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.
go here for more
Veteran missing in Yellowstone has PTSD
Search continues for man missing in Yellowstone
Rangers and investigators are still hoping the public can help with the ongoing search for a man missing in Yellowstone National Park since Monday.
A rental car belonging to Peter Louis Kastner, 25, of Oklahoma City, Okla., was discovered early Monday morning at the Hellroaring trailhead in the northcentral section of Yellowstone.
An investigation revealed the red Cadillac STS sedan with Oklahoma plates had been rented a month earlier and was two weeks overdue.
Family members told investigators they had not been in touch with Kastner in recent weeks. He had been honorably discharged from the Marine Corps after serving for four years and was twice injured by improvised explosive devices in Iraq, according to his family. He had moved to Oklahoma City from the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., area to attend college.
go here for more
Search continues for man missing in Yellowstone
Gazette Staff Posted: Friday, June 4, 2010
An Oklahoma man missing in Yellowstone National Park is a former Marine suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder he incurred after surviving two bomb blasts while serving in Iraq.
The news is the latest information released by park officials in a search for Peter Louis Kastner, 25, whose car was found parked at the Hellroaring Trailhead on Monday. The investigating ranger found that the red Cadillac STS sedan with Oklahoma plates had been rented a month earlier and was two weeks overdue.
Kastner is 6 feet, 1 inch tall, weighs 185 pounds and has brown hair and hazel eyes.
According to information provided to the Park Service by Kastner’s family, he was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps after serving four years. During his service, he was twice injured by improvised explosive devices in Iraq. He had moved to Oklahoma City from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area to attend college. His family is concerned about his mental state and said he was suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.
go here for more
Veteran missing in Yellowstone has PTSD
Search continues for man missing in Yellowstone
Peter Louis Kastner
Courtesy of National Park Service
Rangers and investigators are still hoping the public can help with the ongoing search for Peter Louis Kastner, who has been missing in Yellowstone National Park since Monday, May 31,2010.
Rangers and investigators are still hoping the public can help with the ongoing search for a man missing in Yellowstone National Park since Monday.
A rental car belonging to Peter Louis Kastner, 25, of Oklahoma City, Okla., was discovered early Monday morning at the Hellroaring trailhead in the northcentral section of Yellowstone.
An investigation revealed the red Cadillac STS sedan with Oklahoma plates had been rented a month earlier and was two weeks overdue.
Family members told investigators they had not been in touch with Kastner in recent weeks. He had been honorably discharged from the Marine Corps after serving for four years and was twice injured by improvised explosive devices in Iraq, according to his family. He had moved to Oklahoma City from the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., area to attend college.
go here for more
Search continues for man missing in Yellowstone
As loved ones go to war, military families face private battles
Ten years ago, I decided to write a book about living with PTSD. Nine years ago, after the attacks of September 11th, not having any luck finding a publisher to even think about publishing it, I self-published it. (It's online for free now.) Five years ago, I decided that it was time to try something different. I made videos so that other people could get to where it took me over 20 years to get to. I know what PTSD is and why I ended up married into the war my husband fought in. The following article is one of the biggest reasons why I did it.
I had to make the same decisions spouses make everyday. Do we stay or do we go? Can we stay and fight for them? Do we have what it takes to do it? Can we every break down that wall pain built? Will we ever be happy again? Will today be the day he walks away? So many questions we face each and everyday married to a stranger.
Sitting here, after being married for almost 26 years, I can assure you that you can stay together and help them heal if you love them enough to want to. You need to invest a lot of time in trying to understand PTSD so that you know what is causing all the reactions they have. You will also learn what you can do to help them instead of fighting against them. We can help them heal or we can make their lives worse.
One thing not talked about enough is domestic violence. If they are violent to you or your kids, if they are emotionally abusive to the point where you are in fear, you need to get yourself and your kids out of harms way. You also need to know that if there was no history of violence in them before deployment, PTSD is usually the cause of it after. First be safe then learn. Even if you decide to end the marriage, you should learn why it fell apart, for your sake and for the sake of the kids. You will end up either hating him or blaming yourself when in most cases, neither of you are to blame for PTSD taking over your lives. There is so much damage done to families that lasts a lifetime when we don't know what caused it. Knowing brings the ability to heal and above all, to forgive. Forgive them and forgive ourselves for the mistakes we made simply because we didn't know any better.
If violence is not an issue, then you need to decide if you love him enough to stay and fight to help him get out of the darkness he's in. Before deciding, learn what PTSD is. This will also give you a tool to help you know where all of it is coming from. We can make it worse for them or we can help them heal.
I married into a war that ended long before I came along. It is even harder for you than it was for me because I didn't have the worry about my husband deploying. You need all the help you can get to get through all of this. Invest the time to learn so that your future does not have to be suffering instead of healing.
I had to make the same decisions spouses make everyday. Do we stay or do we go? Can we stay and fight for them? Do we have what it takes to do it? Can we every break down that wall pain built? Will we ever be happy again? Will today be the day he walks away? So many questions we face each and everyday married to a stranger.
Sitting here, after being married for almost 26 years, I can assure you that you can stay together and help them heal if you love them enough to want to. You need to invest a lot of time in trying to understand PTSD so that you know what is causing all the reactions they have. You will also learn what you can do to help them instead of fighting against them. We can help them heal or we can make their lives worse.
One thing not talked about enough is domestic violence. If they are violent to you or your kids, if they are emotionally abusive to the point where you are in fear, you need to get yourself and your kids out of harms way. You also need to know that if there was no history of violence in them before deployment, PTSD is usually the cause of it after. First be safe then learn. Even if you decide to end the marriage, you should learn why it fell apart, for your sake and for the sake of the kids. You will end up either hating him or blaming yourself when in most cases, neither of you are to blame for PTSD taking over your lives. There is so much damage done to families that lasts a lifetime when we don't know what caused it. Knowing brings the ability to heal and above all, to forgive. Forgive them and forgive ourselves for the mistakes we made simply because we didn't know any better.
If violence is not an issue, then you need to decide if you love him enough to stay and fight to help him get out of the darkness he's in. Before deciding, learn what PTSD is. This will also give you a tool to help you know where all of it is coming from. We can make it worse for them or we can help them heal.
As loved ones go to war, military families face private battles
12:18 AM CDT on Sunday, June 6, 2010
By DAVID TARRANT / The Dallas Morning News dtarrant@dallasnews.comYet "there are not enough mental health providers to meet the demand, case managers and providers are overwhelmed, wait times are too long for appointments and between appointments for those in need of mental health and other services," the report stated. The institute's two-year study was mandated by Congress to help veterans readjust to civilian life.
The story of war is not just about combat on the battlefield. It's also about the families who remain behind to fight their own private battles.
It's the story of Aimee Ybarra, a mother of two grade-school children, whose husband came home after his fifth combat tour and told her he wanted to leave their 15-year marriage because he had gotten used to being gone. It's the story of Lisa Bernreuther, who's steeling herself for her husband's sixth deployment; he's only been home from his last tour since April. She keeps his Army boots by the door, she says, "because sometimes I forget I even have a husband."
read more here
Military families face private battles
I married into a war that ended long before I came along. It is even harder for you than it was for me because I didn't have the worry about my husband deploying. You need all the help you can get to get through all of this. Invest the time to learn so that your future does not have to be suffering instead of healing.
Vietnam Veteran Mentors Soldiers in Iraq
Vietnam Veteran Mentors Soldiers in Iraq
13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary)
Story by Sgt. Chad Menegay
06.04.2010 VICTORY BASE COMPLEX, Iraq —As a point man during the Vietnam War, Marine Pfc. Willie Yarbrough guided his platoon through rugged jungles and fierce guerilla warfare near the Ben Hai river. He learned a lot about the North Vietnamese soldiers, developed a knack to sniff out an ambush and a capacity to stay focused on the moment.
As a radio operator in Vietnam, another highly targeted position, he became a skilled communicator under pressure and did what was necessary to stay alive.
Later in the war, as a Marine corporal and squad leader, Yarbrough made battlefield decisions and managed men in his squad.
During his 16-year tenure in the U.S. Marine Corps, Yarbrough served as a platoon sergeant, drill instructor, career counselor and a school instructor.
After a 22-year break in service, Spc. Yarbrough,
a logistics specialist for the 812th Quartermaster Company, 373rd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), and a Beaumont, Texas, native, now works in the Camp Liberty Oasis water treatment facility at Victory Base Complex, Iraq, to make sure Soldiers receive purified drinking water.
Forty years removed from Vietnam, the 59-year-old Yarbrough volunteered to deploy with the 812th, leaving his home unit, the 1002nd Quartermaster Company, out of Beaumont, Texas, which he joined three years earlier.
"A recruiter asked me did I ever think about going back in," Yarbrough said. "I told him, man, at my age, you must be out of your mind. He said, no, you could do it."
He's done it, and he's made an impact along the way, mentoring Soldiers.
read more here
Vietnam Veteran Mentors Soldiers in Iraq
13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary)
Story by Sgt. Chad Menegay
06.04.2010 VICTORY BASE COMPLEX, Iraq —As a point man during the Vietnam War, Marine Pfc. Willie Yarbrough guided his platoon through rugged jungles and fierce guerilla warfare near the Ben Hai river. He learned a lot about the North Vietnamese soldiers, developed a knack to sniff out an ambush and a capacity to stay focused on the moment.
As a radio operator in Vietnam, another highly targeted position, he became a skilled communicator under pressure and did what was necessary to stay alive.
Later in the war, as a Marine corporal and squad leader, Yarbrough made battlefield decisions and managed men in his squad.
During his 16-year tenure in the U.S. Marine Corps, Yarbrough served as a platoon sergeant, drill instructor, career counselor and a school instructor.
After a 22-year break in service, Spc. Yarbrough,
a logistics specialist for the 812th Quartermaster Company, 373rd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), and a Beaumont, Texas, native, now works in the Camp Liberty Oasis water treatment facility at Victory Base Complex, Iraq, to make sure Soldiers receive purified drinking water.
Forty years removed from Vietnam, the 59-year-old Yarbrough volunteered to deploy with the 812th, leaving his home unit, the 1002nd Quartermaster Company, out of Beaumont, Texas, which he joined three years earlier.
"A recruiter asked me did I ever think about going back in," Yarbrough said. "I told him, man, at my age, you must be out of your mind. He said, no, you could do it."
He's done it, and he's made an impact along the way, mentoring Soldiers.
read more here
Vietnam Veteran Mentors Soldiers in Iraq
Former Marine Killed By Off-Duty Police Officer
Former Marine Killed By Off-Duty Police Officer
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ― Click to enlarge1 of 1
A U.S. Marine is dead after being shot by an off-duty police officer.
CBS
A U.S. Marine is killed at the hands of an off-duty Baltimore City police officer.
The big question now is did alcohol play a role in the deadly shooting? Suzanne Collins reports the family has gathered to mourn the loss of the man who was a husband and father.
The family says they can't understand why a police officer would shoot Tyrone Brown.
They say he's a former Marine, he's a hard worker, a father, and a law-abiding citizen.
Brown's family is hugging, crying, and trying to come to terms with his death.
Scott's sister was present around 1:30 Saturday morning outside a tavern on Eager Street when the off-duty officer fired multiple shots at her brother.
read more here
Former Marine Killed By Off-Duty Police Officer
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ― Click to enlarge1 of 1
A U.S. Marine is dead after being shot by an off-duty police officer.
CBS
A U.S. Marine is killed at the hands of an off-duty Baltimore City police officer.
The big question now is did alcohol play a role in the deadly shooting? Suzanne Collins reports the family has gathered to mourn the loss of the man who was a husband and father.
The family says they can't understand why a police officer would shoot Tyrone Brown.
They say he's a former Marine, he's a hard worker, a father, and a law-abiding citizen.
Brown's family is hugging, crying, and trying to come to terms with his death.
Scott's sister was present around 1:30 Saturday morning outside a tavern on Eager Street when the off-duty officer fired multiple shots at her brother.
read more here
Former Marine Killed By Off-Duty Police Officer
Homeless Veterans shine on America's Got Talent
New Directions Choir, ex-homeless veterans, shined on America's Got Talent. They stood up talking about being homeless after serving this country and reached out to all veterans and those serving today to reach out for the help they couldn't find before. They don't want anyone to go through what they did. They managed to do so much more than just sing with beautiful voices. They put the spotlight on homeless veterans as well as PTSD. In the end, they received two standing ovations and lots of tear filled eyes.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Gen. Charles “Hondo” Campbell retires after 40 years
Army Gen. Charles “Hondo” Campbell, the only remaining four-star general in the Army who served in combat in Vietnam, retired June 3, capping a 40-year career in the service.
Forces Command head retires after 40 years
By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Jun 5, 2010 9:53:17 EDT
Gen. Charles “Hondo” Campbell marked the end of a 40-year Army career on Thursday, one that began in the jungles of Vietnam and culminated in a ceremony at historic Fort McPherson, Ga.
Campbell, who was the only four-star general in the Army who served in combat in Vietnam, received his commission in 1970 from Louisiana State University.
He served as the commander of a Special Operations A-team in Vietnam before going on to serve in multiple command positions, including in an armor battalion in the 3rd Armored Division and a mechanized brigade in the 2nd Infantry Division. He also was commanding general of the 7th Infantry Division and later commanded 8th Army in Korea.
Campbell closed his Army career as commander of Forces Command, the Army’s largest organization responsible for training, mobilizing, deploying, sustaining and transforming today’s soldiers.
read more here
Exorcizing the demons of war that come home with the warrior
Brown: Exorcizing the demons of war that come home with the warrior
By BOB BROWN
Special to the Star-Telegram
Our brave men and women in uniform have risked life and limb and made unimagined sacrifices to defend our country. Many return to lead happy productive lives. But for some the horrors of war leave crippling scars on their souls.
This is not new. We called it shell shock suffered by the airborne trooper who jumped in Normandy, battle fatigue for the Navy gunny who piloted boats up the rivers of Vietnam and now post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by the Texas Guard medic after her third tour in Iraq. Among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, PTSD and major depression are as real as a gunshot wound and strike 1 in 5 service members nationally.
These combat veterans deal with their experiences and memories differently, but they all must face them. The effects of their experiences may manifest themselves in nightmares, anger, family violence, criminal activity, job problems, relationship problems, and self-medication with alcohol or drugs. These warriors deserve nothing less than our fully resourced effort to fight those demons they brought home with them. Today we know these problems can be addressed with adequate mental health treatments.
Texas has more than 1.6 million veterans, almost half a million of whom have served in the Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan. In Tarrant County alone, there are more than 125,000 veterans, many of whom need treatment for PTSD, addictions or other mental health problems directly related to their combat service.
Read more: Exorcizing the demons of war that come home with the warrior
By BOB BROWN
Special to the Star-Telegram
Our brave men and women in uniform have risked life and limb and made unimagined sacrifices to defend our country. Many return to lead happy productive lives. But for some the horrors of war leave crippling scars on their souls.
This is not new. We called it shell shock suffered by the airborne trooper who jumped in Normandy, battle fatigue for the Navy gunny who piloted boats up the rivers of Vietnam and now post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by the Texas Guard medic after her third tour in Iraq. Among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, PTSD and major depression are as real as a gunshot wound and strike 1 in 5 service members nationally.
These combat veterans deal with their experiences and memories differently, but they all must face them. The effects of their experiences may manifest themselves in nightmares, anger, family violence, criminal activity, job problems, relationship problems, and self-medication with alcohol or drugs. These warriors deserve nothing less than our fully resourced effort to fight those demons they brought home with them. Today we know these problems can be addressed with adequate mental health treatments.
Texas has more than 1.6 million veterans, almost half a million of whom have served in the Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan. In Tarrant County alone, there are more than 125,000 veterans, many of whom need treatment for PTSD, addictions or other mental health problems directly related to their combat service.
Read more: Exorcizing the demons of war that come home with the warrior
Achy heart, breaky soul
Achy heart, breaky soul
by
Chaplain Kathie
But don't tell my heart, my achy breaky heart
I just don't think it'd understand
And if you tell my heart, my achy breaky heart
He might blow up and kill this man
When we hear God breathed life into Adam, we tend to forget Adam was already formed from the earth,
Genesis 2:7
the LORD God formed the man [a] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
,,,so the image of God is not flesh and bones.
God does not have flesh growing old or becoming ill. God does not have bones that can be broken. God is, as always and always shall be, the same as He created within each of us, the same image as our soul. We cannot see the soul but we can see the results of the soul at work within us. We can see it when we love and rejoice just as surely as we can see it when we are in pain and grieve.
The soul within us came from God and there is a connected relationship we have with Him. When we pray, our soul is crying out to God. I'm not talking about repeating Bible verses or memorizing the Creed. I'm talking about when our souls reach out to heaven for help or offer a prayer of thanks when no words can measure it properly.
We live subjected to events in our lives and subjected to the actions of others. We hear them say things that twist around what we thought we knew to the point where we can question everything we believed. On the flip side, they can feed us and restore faith, hope, remind us we are worthy of being loved and that we matter to someone out there.
When we do the right thing, do what our souls call us to do on this planet and suffer for it, we wonder where God is. Did we do it wrong? Didn't we do what He wanted? Wasn't our "heart" in the right place even though our body was in the wrong one? So many questions fueled by our suffering after doing something unselfishly. How could God want us to do something and then walk away leaving us on our own, letting us fall and suffer without helping us? So we call out to God again as our heart aches for help, for answers, for directions, and perhaps above all, to know we do still matter to Him.
We call out to God over and over and over again while our lives fall apart searching for one sign God hears us but there is only silence. Then we can't feel anything greater than the pain in our heart and we pull back from God. Much like a relationship with an unfaithful friend, we believe we are better off without them but we end up wanting to know what we did wrong, why we were left to suffer when they mattered so much to us, we do the same thing with our relationship with God. Our soul pulls away from God and the connection between us breaks. We are lost, feeling hopeless as a part of us feels as if it is falling so far down into the pit of despair there is no hope of anything getting better.
People we love say the wrong thing at the wrong time trying to make us feel better. When what they say fails to provide relief, they then end up telling us how wrong we are feeling the way we do. As if that's supposed to be helpful? When Job was trying to tell his friends he didn't do anything wrong, they started out comforting him but soon they ended up blaming him so sure he had done something wrong and God was in fact punishing him. Job suffered from what was happening to him just as much as he suffered from what was happening around him but what made him suffer more was losing the connection he felt to God.
Job 1
Prologue
1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.
4 His sons used to take turns holding feasts in their homes, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." This was Job's regular custom.
Job's First Test
6 One day the angels [a] came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan [b] also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."
8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."
9 "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. 10 "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."
Job lost everything and his friends ended up walking away. Soon even his wife couldn't stand it anymore and told him to curse God so that he could die. God ended up restoring everything Job lost plus more but had that been any one of us, we would be remembering that pain and wondering when the next time would come when God was going to test us again. We know how unfair that was to Job but what we know and what we believe in times like this end up at war with each other. This is what is behind the notion "God only gives me what I can handle" meaning God sends all the bad into our lives, or allows it. We get it all twisted around so nothing makes sense. How can God love me at the same time He pulls a temper tantrum against me and sends me all kinds of pain and loss and grief? Satan managed to focus in on Job but we're not Job and nowhere near as perfect in our faith as Job was. We only have to deal with what other people do, say and fail to do. The tiny voices invade their own soul and cause them to ignore God's calling them to help, ignoring the words they need to say and take the actions they need to take in order to fill our requests to God.
The truth is, God is sending us what we need to get through it, to make us stronger, to make us able to ask others for help, just as much as He is wanting us to help someone else in times of need only we can understand. Do you hear Him? Is He telling you that "this too will pass" and your pain will be replaced by rejoicing? Is He telling you that He loves you even if you feel as if there is nothing worthy of love within you? Did you ever feel loved by God or someone else? Then there was something worthy of being loved there once and thus, is still there since your soul cannot vanish as much as you try to vanquish it.
Our hearts/soul can feel so much pain that becomes all we know. We wait for help to find hope again and we get passed by while it seems everyone around us is finding what we need or able to walk away from something that has us trapped, crushing us and killing off the last thread of hope we had. But then something happens. Something unexpected comes into our lives reminding us we do matter even if it is just something as quiet as a glimmer within our soul filling us with a second of warmth.
It is so easy to be thankful when we have all we need, like Job did. It would have been very difficult for him to understand pain, suffering and questioning everything had he never been subjected to it himself. Most of us have a hard time understanding pain if we never experienced it. How can you understand someone falling apart if all you've ever known is a happy life? How can you understand the pain of someone losing everything they had if you have always had everything you needed? How can you understand if you have never been pulled from God sucked into the abyss of doubts.
This is what pain looks like when someone is waiting for prayers to be answered. This is what it seems like as they suffer waiting and wondering when a reason to believe in hope will ever come into their lives again. When they did the right thing for the right reason and ended up suffering for it they wonder what it was all for. Did they matter at all? Did their suffering mean anything to anyone? Did God even notice they did what they were supposed to do? When they are surrounded by people looking for reasons for the suffering instead of searching for what they can do to really help, they add to the suffering instead of being the answer to the prayer.
Hungry people need food, not blame by the well fed. Homeless people need shelter, not people heading off to the other side of the street so they don't get bothered by the wretched beggar. People grieving need comfort, not someone telling them they shouldn't feel the way they do. Survivors of trauma need to be reassured they are loved and worthy of love, not subjected to someone telling them to "get of it" without even trying to help them heal.
God does not snap His fingers to answer our prayers. He calls to others to do the work. He tries to send us to answer the prayers because we understand what it is like to lack hope at times just as much as we remember what it was like when we came out of the darkest despair in our own lives. Do we hear Him? Are we willing to go where He's sending us? Are we willing to re-experience the pain in order to help someone experience the joy again?
If we do not, if we are not willing to help someone, then a soul is being subjected to breaking apart the connection to God. If we refuse to help with the help that is needed, even if it is beyond our own comfort level, then we have just refused God. If we close the calling to our soul because we have something more important to do, then we close off hope to someone.
If someone is in pain, be there to listen and spend time with them without trying to fix them quickly so that you can get back to your own life.
If someone is ill and suffering, show up and visit without looking at your watch to see if you spent enough time there.
If someone has lost someone they love, don't tell them God needed them more than they did.
If someone is hungry, feed them. If they hunger to know God has not forgotten them, don't offer only to pray for them instead of trying to really fill the need they have.
We will all question our lives when our hearts ache and no one tries to strengthen our souls so they do not break. Can you bind up the wounds of others? Can you remember your own pain in your own life long enough to reach out to someone else and help them get to where you are? Is God asking you to do some of the work for Him right now?
If you have come out of the abyss of trauma induced afterlife, then speak out and help someone else. If you are falling into the abyss, reach out for help so that you can heal and then promise to turn around and help someone else out. You may be a Soldier or a Marine, or cop or a firefighter, but you are still just human like the rest of us and like the rest of us, events in your life can have you questioning your life but you feel it deeper because you cared more to begin with.
Friday, June 4, 2010
National Guard's Major's death rule suicide
Guardsman's death labeled a suicide
Last update: June 3, 2010 - 9:45 PM
A Minnesota National Guardsman serving his second tour of duty in Iraq killed himself last October, the Army reported Thursday.
According to the Army's Criminal Investigation Command, Maj. Tad Hervas, 48, died of a self-inficted gunshot wound to the head.
Hervas, of Coon Rapids, was a winner of the Bronze Star for his performance during his first deployment to Iraq.
Previously, the Army had ruled his death was non-combat-related.
Hervas was deployed to a base in southern Iraq and was working in military intelligence, his family has said.
read more here
Guardsman death labeled a suicide
Vietnam vets urged to seek help for emotional scars
Vietnam vets urged to seek help for emotional scars
By Michael King • The News-Record • June 4, 2010
Phil Moore was awarded three Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart for service during the Vietnam War.
But the 63-year-old Menasha man knows he will get no honors for his behavior as a husband and father after the war ended.
Like many Vietnam veterans, Moore didn’t share much about his Army service in the years following the military fighting. It wasn’t until several years ago that he sought help for a variety of mental health issues — torments that originated in the war-torn jungles and villages of Southeast Asia.
Shrapnel from an enemy grenade that exploded near Moore’s head on Dec. 28, 1969, tore some 60 wounds in his shoulder, arms, hands, neck, face and one eye. While his helmet likely saved his life, protective gear and weapons could not shield him from the less-obvious emotional scars that emerged during the next four decades and touched nearly every facet of his life.
“There have been a lot of negative impacts on me personally — my job, my wife, my children, people around me — because of (post-traumatic stress disorder),” Moore said.
read more here
Vietnam vets urged to seek help for emotional scars
By Michael King • The News-Record • June 4, 2010
Phil Moore was awarded three Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart for service during the Vietnam War.
But the 63-year-old Menasha man knows he will get no honors for his behavior as a husband and father after the war ended.
Like many Vietnam veterans, Moore didn’t share much about his Army service in the years following the military fighting. It wasn’t until several years ago that he sought help for a variety of mental health issues — torments that originated in the war-torn jungles and villages of Southeast Asia.
Shrapnel from an enemy grenade that exploded near Moore’s head on Dec. 28, 1969, tore some 60 wounds in his shoulder, arms, hands, neck, face and one eye. While his helmet likely saved his life, protective gear and weapons could not shield him from the less-obvious emotional scars that emerged during the next four decades and touched nearly every facet of his life.
“There have been a lot of negative impacts on me personally — my job, my wife, my children, people around me — because of (post-traumatic stress disorder),” Moore said.
read more here
Vietnam vets urged to seek help for emotional scars
PTSD Soldier Punished by Army
PTSD Soldier Punished by Army
Friday 04 June 2010
by: Dahr Jamail, t r u t h o u t Report
Iraq war veteran Eric Jasinski, after seeking treatment for his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), is being punished by the Army.
Jasinski turned himself in to the Army late last year, after having gone absent without leave (AWOL) in order to seek help for his PTSD. Help, he told Truthout, he was not receiving from the Army, even after requesting assistance on multiple occasions.
He was court-martialed and jailed for 25 days for having gone AWOL, during which time he was escorted in shackles to therapy sessions for his PTSD. After being released from prison, he was informed that he would be given an other-than-honorable discharge, which means he is likely ineligible for full PTSD treatment from the Veterans' Administration (VA) after he leaves the service.
Jasinski enlisted in the military in 2005, and deployed to Iraq in October 2006 as an intelligence analyst with the U.S. Army. He collected intelligence in order to put together strike packets - where air strikes would take place.
Upon his return to the U.S. after his tour, Jasinski was suffering from severe PTSD due to what he did and saw in Iraq, along with remorse and guilt for the work he did that he knows contributed to the loss of life in Iraq.
read more here
PTSD Soldier Punished by Army
Friday 04 June 2010
by: Dahr Jamail, t r u t h o u t Report
Iraq war veteran Eric Jasinski, after seeking treatment for his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), is being punished by the Army.
Jasinski turned himself in to the Army late last year, after having gone absent without leave (AWOL) in order to seek help for his PTSD. Help, he told Truthout, he was not receiving from the Army, even after requesting assistance on multiple occasions.
He was court-martialed and jailed for 25 days for having gone AWOL, during which time he was escorted in shackles to therapy sessions for his PTSD. After being released from prison, he was informed that he would be given an other-than-honorable discharge, which means he is likely ineligible for full PTSD treatment from the Veterans' Administration (VA) after he leaves the service.
Jasinski enlisted in the military in 2005, and deployed to Iraq in October 2006 as an intelligence analyst with the U.S. Army. He collected intelligence in order to put together strike packets - where air strikes would take place.
Upon his return to the U.S. after his tour, Jasinski was suffering from severe PTSD due to what he did and saw in Iraq, along with remorse and guilt for the work he did that he knows contributed to the loss of life in Iraq.
read more here
PTSD Soldier Punished by Army
If you can't see PTSD, you're not looking
If you can't see PTSD, you're not looking
by
Chaplain Kathie
There are many people calling PTSD an invisible wound. Frankly I'm guilty of this too. It's a lot easier to explain it that way without taking the time to really define it. The largest problem with this seems to be the people doing the explaining, don't really understand it. It is only a wound you cannot see if you are not aware of what you're looking at.
If I said childbirth was extremely painful, you may not have a hard time understanding that. After all, pushing a baby out of your body doesn't seem to be very easy and it isn't. We can see the pain in a woman giving birth. She screams, her face turns red as blood pressure fills her head and her body goes through abnormal movements. All in all, the signs of pain are there for anyone to see. You wouldn't have to give birth to understand pain comes with it because you've been exposed to it by people you know or seeing it on TV.
After 9-11 we saw a lot of pictures of people in pain following the Twin Towers coming down.
We didn't have to be there to see it in order to understand the pain other people felt.
The pain caused that day caused two military occupations, over 5,000 fallen troops and over 10,000 wounded treated at Walter Reed Hospital alone. We understood what it was like to see that kind of horror one day, for most of us, just from our TV sets in the safety of our own living rooms. It hit us so hard, for weeks none of us could get our eyes off the news when we were home. Every year on the anniversary, the shock of that day, the pain of that day comes back to everyone across the nation.
So hard should it be for us to understand what we're looking at when it comes to PTSD? How hard should it be to understand what that kind of pain looks like? Perhaps the most important question is; Why aren't we looking for the signs? These men and women are only human so it shouldn't be that hard to understand what it would feel like when it the pain cuts that deeply when we seem to have no problem understanding pain caused by other reasons.
by
Chaplain Kathie
There are many people calling PTSD an invisible wound. Frankly I'm guilty of this too. It's a lot easier to explain it that way without taking the time to really define it. The largest problem with this seems to be the people doing the explaining, don't really understand it. It is only a wound you cannot see if you are not aware of what you're looking at.
If I said childbirth was extremely painful, you may not have a hard time understanding that. After all, pushing a baby out of your body doesn't seem to be very easy and it isn't. We can see the pain in a woman giving birth. She screams, her face turns red as blood pressure fills her head and her body goes through abnormal movements. All in all, the signs of pain are there for anyone to see. You wouldn't have to give birth to understand pain comes with it because you've been exposed to it by people you know or seeing it on TV.
After 9-11 we saw a lot of pictures of people in pain following the Twin Towers coming down.
We didn't have to be there to see it in order to understand the pain other people felt.The pain caused that day caused two military occupations, over 5,000 fallen troops and over 10,000 wounded treated at Walter Reed Hospital alone. We understood what it was like to see that kind of horror one day, for most of us, just from our TV sets in the safety of our own living rooms. It hit us so hard, for weeks none of us could get our eyes off the news when we were home. Every year on the anniversary, the shock of that day, the pain of that day comes back to everyone across the nation.
So hard should it be for us to understand what we're looking at when it comes to PTSD? How hard should it be to understand what that kind of pain looks like? Perhaps the most important question is; Why aren't we looking for the signs? These men and women are only human so it shouldn't be that hard to understand what it would feel like when it the pain cuts that deeply when we seem to have no problem understanding pain caused by other reasons.
Make an effort to bring peace to our troubled veterans
Woolner: Make an effort to bring peace to our troubled veterans
Ann Woolner, BLOOMBERG NEWS
He is wearing an orange prison jumpsuit during the TV interview, so you figure life hasn't turned out so well for this open-faced young man with an engaging smile.
What you can't see is the Purple Heart Jose Barco earned when, as a teenage soldier stationed in Iraq, he ignored his own wounds and pulled burning wreckage off two Army buddies pinned beneath it, even as his own clothes were aflame.
These days Barco lives in a Colorado prison, where he's serving a 52-year sentence for twice shooting randomly at party-goers in Fort Collins, Colo., after his second tour of Iraq. No one was seriously injured, although a pregnant woman was shot in the leg. Barco was convicted of two counts of attempted murder.
Troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have been getting short shrift on several fronts. But, as Barco's case shows, the legal system usually cuts them no slack and sometimes slams them extra hard precisely because they wore a U.S. uniform.
Prison is where "Frontline" interviewed him for the documentary "The Wounded Platoon." He is one of 17 men returning to the Army's Fort Carson in Colorado, who, over a five-year period, were convicted or charged with homicide or attempting it. Most of them seemed to suffer from a condition that has plagued combat veterans as far back as anyone noticed.
go here for more
Make an effort to bring peace to our troubled veterans
Ann Woolner, BLOOMBERG NEWS
He is wearing an orange prison jumpsuit during the TV interview, so you figure life hasn't turned out so well for this open-faced young man with an engaging smile.
What you can't see is the Purple Heart Jose Barco earned when, as a teenage soldier stationed in Iraq, he ignored his own wounds and pulled burning wreckage off two Army buddies pinned beneath it, even as his own clothes were aflame.
These days Barco lives in a Colorado prison, where he's serving a 52-year sentence for twice shooting randomly at party-goers in Fort Collins, Colo., after his second tour of Iraq. No one was seriously injured, although a pregnant woman was shot in the leg. Barco was convicted of two counts of attempted murder.
Troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have been getting short shrift on several fronts. But, as Barco's case shows, the legal system usually cuts them no slack and sometimes slams them extra hard precisely because they wore a U.S. uniform.
Prison is where "Frontline" interviewed him for the documentary "The Wounded Platoon." He is one of 17 men returning to the Army's Fort Carson in Colorado, who, over a five-year period, were convicted or charged with homicide or attempting it. Most of them seemed to suffer from a condition that has plagued combat veterans as far back as anyone noticed.
go here for more
Make an effort to bring peace to our troubled veterans
ND Guard members work to bring PTSD into the spotlight
ND Guard members work to bring PTSD into the spotlight
Fargo, ND (WDAY TV) - It would be easy to get lost in the numbers and percentages. Those returning North Dakota guard members who suffer P-T-S-D. That is until you see a face, a name. Today, the hard work and perseverance of a few North Dakota guard members paid off when Senator Kent Conrad met with them and focused the spotlight on a problem kept in the dark too long.
By: Kevin Wallevand, WDAY
Video
PTSD awareness
It would be easy to get lost in the numbers and percentages. Those returning North Dakota guard members who suffer P-T-S-D. That is until you see a face, a name. Today, the hard work and perseverance of a few North Dakota guard members paid off when Senator Kent Conrad met with them and focused the spotlight on a problem kept in the dark too long.
Friends will tell you Joe Biel was a soldier's soldier. Confident, a battle buddy who served the North Dakota guard in Kosovo with two tours in Iraq.
“He was amazing, just amazing that is one word that wraps it up. He was selfless and would give you the shirt off his back. He would give you the last ten dollars in his wallet.”
But just months after Joe returned from Iraq to the Dakotas, PTSD pushed him over the edge. He took his own life at the age of 36.
“We did not recognize it. We were all going through the same thing and we were all having our own issues and having our own problems at the same time and there just wasn't enough support there for him.”
go here for more
http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/34380/
Fargo, ND (WDAY TV) - It would be easy to get lost in the numbers and percentages. Those returning North Dakota guard members who suffer P-T-S-D. That is until you see a face, a name. Today, the hard work and perseverance of a few North Dakota guard members paid off when Senator Kent Conrad met with them and focused the spotlight on a problem kept in the dark too long.
By: Kevin Wallevand, WDAY
Video
PTSD awareness
It would be easy to get lost in the numbers and percentages. Those returning North Dakota guard members who suffer P-T-S-D. That is until you see a face, a name. Today, the hard work and perseverance of a few North Dakota guard members paid off when Senator Kent Conrad met with them and focused the spotlight on a problem kept in the dark too long.
Friends will tell you Joe Biel was a soldier's soldier. Confident, a battle buddy who served the North Dakota guard in Kosovo with two tours in Iraq.
“He was amazing, just amazing that is one word that wraps it up. He was selfless and would give you the shirt off his back. He would give you the last ten dollars in his wallet.”
But just months after Joe returned from Iraq to the Dakotas, PTSD pushed him over the edge. He took his own life at the age of 36.
“We did not recognize it. We were all going through the same thing and we were all having our own issues and having our own problems at the same time and there just wasn't enough support there for him.”
go here for more
http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/34380/
Kirk, 5 terms in congress shows no respect for combat veterans
There is "misspeak" when a Vietnam Era veteran calls himself a Vietnam Vet, which is debatable and most people consider it a slip up. What most do not understand is that there were other Vietnam Era Veterans that did participate in combat operations and incidences reporters don't seem to have the ability to research on.
Even though the names of the fallen are on the Vietnam Memorial Wall, the veterans of this are not considered "Vietnam Veterans" because they did not enter into Vietnam. Imagine that. When politicians use wrong terms, they should be called out for it and if it's an honest mistake of choice of words, forgiven. However if they deliberately try to pass themselves off as combat veterans, it is beyond forgivable. It looks as if we've just discovered someone wanting to have a political life off of real combat veterans.
It also looks as if he's been at it a long time making claims that are not true but we should be wondering why on earth no one discovered this before now. How is this possible? Didn't anyone check his record before now? 5 terms in Congress?
One of the jobs a senator has is to decide about sending young men and women to risk their lives in combat. Making claims like this, shows a total lack of respect for what it means to be able to risk your life when Kirk decided his real service just didn't look good enough. How is it they manage so well to "respect" them enough to want to pretend to be them but never manage to actually do anything worthy of them?
The Mayaguez incident involving the Khmer Rouge government in Cambodia on May 12–15, 1975, marked the last official battle of the United States (U.S.) involvement in the Vietnam War. The names of the Americans killed are the last names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, as well as those of three Marines who were left behind on the island of Koh Tang after the battle and who were subsequently executed by the Khmer Rouge while in captivity. The merchant ship's crew, whose seizure at sea had prompted the U.S. attack, had been released in good health, unknown to the U.S. Marines or the U.S. command of the operation, before the Marines attacked. It was the only known engagement between U.S. ground forces and the Khmer Rouge.
Even though the names of the fallen are on the Vietnam Memorial Wall, the veterans of this are not considered "Vietnam Veterans" because they did not enter into Vietnam. Imagine that. When politicians use wrong terms, they should be called out for it and if it's an honest mistake of choice of words, forgiven. However if they deliberately try to pass themselves off as combat veterans, it is beyond forgivable. It looks as if we've just discovered someone wanting to have a political life off of real combat veterans.
The furor over Kirk's military record heated up last week when he acknowledged that, contrary to his many statements over the years, he hadn't won the Navy's award for intelligence officer of the year.
Illinois Senate candidate apologizes for misstatements on military service
Republican hopeful Mark Kirk admits to inaccuracies, but declines to characterize them as intentional embellishments.
Times wire services
June 3, 2010 9:16 p.m.
Reporting from Chicago — Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk of Illinois apologized Thursday for making inaccurate statements about his 21-year record as a Navy Reserve intelligence officer and acknowledged more discrepancies between his service and the political rhetoric describing his actions.
Appearing before the Chicago Tribune's editorial board, Kirk would not directly answer questions about whether the misstatements amounted to an effort to embellish his military history as he takes on Democrat Alexi Giannoulias for the seat formerly held by President Obama.
Kirk, a five-term congressman, acknowledged that his campaign's promotion of him coming under fire while aboard an intelligence reconnaissance plane in Iraq may not be correct because there is no record of his aircraft being fired upon.
read more here
It also looks as if he's been at it a long time making claims that are not true but we should be wondering why on earth no one discovered this before now. How is this possible? Didn't anyone check his record before now? 5 terms in Congress?
One of the jobs a senator has is to decide about sending young men and women to risk their lives in combat. Making claims like this, shows a total lack of respect for what it means to be able to risk your life when Kirk decided his real service just didn't look good enough. How is it they manage so well to "respect" them enough to want to pretend to be them but never manage to actually do anything worthy of them?
Man faces charges in death of homeless veteran
Police Charge Suspect In Veteran's Beating Death
Victim Dies 13 Months After Sustaining Injuries
By Steve Tellier/WLKY
POSTED: 8:20 pm EDT June 3, 2010
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Police said a man beat a war veteran to death in a homeless camp. Now, 15 months after the alleged crime, police are charging that suspect with murder.
Police said they found William Brian, 52, a war veteran, severely beaten at a homeless camp near Campbell and Geiger Streets in March 2009.
"Most of his injuries were due to blunt force trauma, he was severely beaten, and then, obviously, that's why we took over the case back then due to the severity of his injuries," said Lt. Barry Wilkerson, with the Louisville Metro Police Homicide Unit.
Police quickly arrested Donald Ulrich, 37, for assaulting Brian.
"He was seen by witnesses at that location shortly after the incident took place. He was arrested a short time later," Wilkerson said.
Police said they don't know what the dispute was about. And for the next 12-plus months, Brian fought for his life. He eventually lost that fight on April 23.
"Mr. Brian was in the VA Hospital for a long time and then went to a nursing home, and then his health decreased and went back to the hospital where he died," Wilkerson said.
read more here
http://www.wlky.com/news/23787463/detail.html
Victim Dies 13 Months After Sustaining Injuries
By Steve Tellier/WLKY
POSTED: 8:20 pm EDT June 3, 2010
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Police said a man beat a war veteran to death in a homeless camp. Now, 15 months after the alleged crime, police are charging that suspect with murder.
Police said they found William Brian, 52, a war veteran, severely beaten at a homeless camp near Campbell and Geiger Streets in March 2009.
"Most of his injuries were due to blunt force trauma, he was severely beaten, and then, obviously, that's why we took over the case back then due to the severity of his injuries," said Lt. Barry Wilkerson, with the Louisville Metro Police Homicide Unit.
Police quickly arrested Donald Ulrich, 37, for assaulting Brian.
"He was seen by witnesses at that location shortly after the incident took place. He was arrested a short time later," Wilkerson said.
Police said they don't know what the dispute was about. And for the next 12-plus months, Brian fought for his life. He eventually lost that fight on April 23.
"Mr. Brian was in the VA Hospital for a long time and then went to a nursing home, and then his health decreased and went back to the hospital where he died," Wilkerson said.
read more here
http://www.wlky.com/news/23787463/detail.html
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Indiana soldier presumed dead after swimming accident
Indiana soldier presumed dead after swimming accident
Fox59
11:36 AM EDT, June 2, 2010
Specialist Anthony Carter along with four other soldiers rented a boat over the Memorial Day Weekend in Taylorsville, Kentucky. Carter's friends said he was swimming and went under as he tried to get back to the boat.
Fox59
11:36 AM EDT, June 2, 2010
Specialist Anthony Carter along with four other soldiers rented a boat over the Memorial Day Weekend in Taylorsville, Kentucky. Carter's friends said he was swimming and went under as he tried to get back to the boat.
Fort Carson Mental Health Crisis: 1,000 New Patients
I cannot emphasize this enough. None of what we're seeing today has to happen and the suffering does not have to get worse. As soon as they begin to get treatment, start to talk about what's happening inside of them, PTSD loses control over their lives. Most of what they are going through can be reversed, but as time goes by, it's harder to do that. While it is never too late, which has been proven by Vietnam veterans seeking help 30-40 years after they knew "something was wrong" they have shown they can heal if not be cured. For the parts of their lives they cannot heal, they learn ways to cope with what is left over. So who is giving them hope now instead just pills and push offs?
Fort Carson Mental Health Crisis: 1,000 New Patients
Written by Staff Reports
Wednesday, 26 May 2010 13:55
Post-Deployment Needs of 4th Infantry Rise Sharply
May 24, 2010 (Army Times) - Nearly 1,000 soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team have been identified as needing special counseling when they get home from their yearlong tour in Afghanistan, Fort Carson officials said.
The impact will be so significant that the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Carson, Colo., may have to expand - just to accommodate the 4-4th combat veterans.
It was a difficult deployment for the 4-4th, which suffered among the heaviest casualties since the start of the war. Thirtynine soldiers were killed and nearly 500 wounded during 12 months in Afghanistan. The now-infamous Combat Outpost Keating battle in October 2009 took eight 4-4th soldiers and left 24 wounded.
Given the rough deployment, medical professionals did one-onone screenings with every soldier in the brigade before they left the war zone. Based upon their answers - and input from commanders - soldiers were classified as red, green or amber, based upon officials’ concerns about their ability to transition back to society after such a difficult deployment.
The Enhanced Medical Exam of the 3,800 soldiers in the 4-4th rated 21 soldiers "red," 917 "amber" and the rest "green." "Red" soldiers are identified as needing immediate help; "amber" soldiers are considered to be susceptible to behavioral health problems, while "green" soldiers are those who seemed less scarred by the deployment. The designation determines what happens when they get home. "The red ones will be met at the ramp," said Maj. Gen. David G. Perkins, commander of the 4th Infantry Division. They will be met by licensed behavioral health providers - psychologists, psychiatrists and clinical social workers to determine if they need special immediate treatment.
read more here
Fort Carson Mental Health Crisis: 1,000 New Patients
Private LaVena Johnson's family still waits for answers
Family of soldier who died in Iraq is still looking for answers
By Sandra Jordan of the St. Louis American
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 11:37 PM CDT
Memorial Day 2010 for John Johnson and his wife Linda Johnson was marked quietly at their Florissant home with a little barbeque shared with a few close family members and friends.
As he does most days, John Johnson thought about justice for his late daughter, Private LaVena Johnson, who was killed nearly five years ago on July 19, 2005 – just a little over a week before her 20th birthday.
She joined the U.S. Army after graduating from Hazelwood Central High School to save money to pay her way to college. She never made it back home from Balad, Iraq.
Her death was not the result of a roadside bomb or an exchange of enemy fire. The Army calls it a suicide. Her family and others working on the case call it rape and murder.
The last five years have been very hard on the entire family, which includes LaVena’s parents; her three older brothers, John, JayVince and Jermaine Johnson; and her sister, LaKesha.
read more here
Family of soldier who died in Iraq is still looking for answers
By Sandra Jordan of the St. Louis American
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 11:37 PM CDT
Memorial Day 2010 for John Johnson and his wife Linda Johnson was marked quietly at their Florissant home with a little barbeque shared with a few close family members and friends.
As he does most days, John Johnson thought about justice for his late daughter, Private LaVena Johnson, who was killed nearly five years ago on July 19, 2005 – just a little over a week before her 20th birthday.
She joined the U.S. Army after graduating from Hazelwood Central High School to save money to pay her way to college. She never made it back home from Balad, Iraq.
Her death was not the result of a roadside bomb or an exchange of enemy fire. The Army calls it a suicide. Her family and others working on the case call it rape and murder.
The last five years have been very hard on the entire family, which includes LaVena’s parents; her three older brothers, John, JayVince and Jermaine Johnson; and her sister, LaKesha.
read more here
Family of soldier who died in Iraq is still looking for answers
Sister wants honor for fallen brother
The sister said she's been fighting for years to convince American Legion Post 575 to add Andrew's name to the memorial, but they refuse because he was not killed in action.
Sister wants honor for fallen brother
Posted: June 3, 2010
By Adam D. Young
Brothers Andrew and Jose "Freddy" Velez may both have died in war zones, but how they've been honored couldn't be more different - a reality their sister hopes to change.
It was 2004 when Freddy, then a 23-year-old Army specialist, was shot in the back of the neck by enemy fire while protecting fellow soldiers as they retreated from an enemy stronghold in Fallujah, Iraq.
The Army awarded him with two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and Silver Star for his bravery and posthumously promoted him to corporal.
It's Andrew, who committed suicide as a 22-year-old Army specialist in Afghanistan, who's gone relatively forgotten. Despite being buried next to his brother, the Estacado High graduate has an unmarked tombstone and his name isn't inscribed in the memorial's African granite.
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Soldiers at risk of getting hooked on heroin
Soldiers at risk of getting hooked on heroin
By Michael Edwards
The revelation that an Australian soldier serving in Afghanistan may have overdosed on drugs comes as no surprise to addiction experts.
One even says a risk of sending soldiers to Afghanistan is that some of them are going to become heroin dependent.
A senior lawyer is set to conduct an official inquiry into how the experienced Australian commando suffered a suspected overdose nearly a week ago.
A bottle of pills and white powder were found in the soldier's room.
He was found unconscious and unresponsive in his room in Tarin Kowt in Uruzgan province last Friday and remains in a serious condition in a military hospital in Germany.
Australian soldiers already face random drug testing, but now there will be testing of the entire Special Operations Task Force in Afghanistan.
By Michael Edwards
The revelation that an Australian soldier serving in Afghanistan may have overdosed on drugs comes as no surprise to addiction experts.
One even says a risk of sending soldiers to Afghanistan is that some of them are going to become heroin dependent.
A senior lawyer is set to conduct an official inquiry into how the experienced Australian commando suffered a suspected overdose nearly a week ago.
A bottle of pills and white powder were found in the soldier's room.
He was found unconscious and unresponsive in his room in Tarin Kowt in Uruzgan province last Friday and remains in a serious condition in a military hospital in Germany.
Australian soldiers already face random drug testing, but now there will be testing of the entire Special Operations Task Force in Afghanistan.
"Life is unbearable," he said. "You don't know whether you're going to be alive in 10 minutes' time or not.
"Life has very few pleasures; you're very uncomfortable, it's either very hot or very cold, the food's pretty awful, the ever-present smell of death and you see some of your closest buddies die before your eyes.
"So life is really unbearable and heroin's cheap."
Afghanistan produces 93 per cent of the world's opium, the key ingredient of heroin.read more here
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Korean War veteran talks about the forgotten war
Korean War veteran wishes for comfort of forgetting the "Forgotten War"
Reported By: Steve Nunez
TUCSON, AZ (KGUN - TV) - For one Tucson war veteran, who fought in two wars, Memorial Day also marks a day to look to the future and not so much to the deadly past. The memories of bloodshed remain constant for 77-year old Alex Romero.
Romero first fought in the Korean War in 1951. But today, he wishes for the comfort of forgetting. Romero said, "I don't want to remember what happened. I never want to remember what happened in those years. I do not want to remember names."
Nine On Your Side's Steve Nunez asked Romero, "How come?" Romero responded, "Because (paused) because they were the ones that made me what I am. I hope you understand that."
And similar to the "Forgotten War," Romero also fought in Vietnam. It's also a war many would like to forget. Romero compares these wars to the often forgotten contributions Mexican-American's, just like him, have made in fighting for our country.
Romero said, "Ohhh, i got an article like that (placing his thumb and index finger about an inch apart). Oh, this sargeant was wounded in Korea and Vietnam, that much (again placing his thumb and index finger about an inch apart) you know. There was no recognition.
read more here
http://www.kgun9.com/Global/story.asp?S=12571985
Reported By: Steve Nunez
TUCSON, AZ (KGUN - TV) - For one Tucson war veteran, who fought in two wars, Memorial Day also marks a day to look to the future and not so much to the deadly past. The memories of bloodshed remain constant for 77-year old Alex Romero.
Romero first fought in the Korean War in 1951. But today, he wishes for the comfort of forgetting. Romero said, "I don't want to remember what happened. I never want to remember what happened in those years. I do not want to remember names."
Nine On Your Side's Steve Nunez asked Romero, "How come?" Romero responded, "Because (paused) because they were the ones that made me what I am. I hope you understand that."
And similar to the "Forgotten War," Romero also fought in Vietnam. It's also a war many would like to forget. Romero compares these wars to the often forgotten contributions Mexican-American's, just like him, have made in fighting for our country.
Romero said, "Ohhh, i got an article like that (placing his thumb and index finger about an inch apart). Oh, this sargeant was wounded in Korea and Vietnam, that much (again placing his thumb and index finger about an inch apart) you know. There was no recognition.
read more here
http://www.kgun9.com/Global/story.asp?S=12571985
Wounded soldier gets 8 surgeries and bill for lost gear?
Oregon soldier shot - then billed
by Pat Dooris
kgw.com
Posted on June 1, 2010 at 5:50 PM
Updated today at 10:28 AM
The U.S. Army is demanding a 33-year-old former Oregon National Guard soldier shot in Iraq, turn in his gear or pay for it.
But Gary Pfleider said he has no idea where the gear is -- he was busy trying to survive.
Back on September 24, 2007, Pfleider sat on an open truck as it began a routine mission. Suddenly, a sniper's bullet hit his left thigh.
"I remember the sound of the bullet hitting my flesh, the smell of it, then me grabbing my grabbing my leg. After that I was out for about 16 hours," said Pfleider.
He was rushed to hospitals in Germany and eventually the U.S. Eight surgeries later, he is able to walk but wears a brace and uses a cane for balance.
Last May, the government sent him a letter demanding he either turn in items he believes were left behind in Iraq or pay more than $3,000.
read more here
Oregon soldier shot then billed
by Pat Dooris
kgw.com
Posted on June 1, 2010 at 5:50 PM
Updated today at 10:28 AM
The U.S. Army is demanding a 33-year-old former Oregon National Guard soldier shot in Iraq, turn in his gear or pay for it.
But Gary Pfleider said he has no idea where the gear is -- he was busy trying to survive.
Back on September 24, 2007, Pfleider sat on an open truck as it began a routine mission. Suddenly, a sniper's bullet hit his left thigh.
"I remember the sound of the bullet hitting my flesh, the smell of it, then me grabbing my grabbing my leg. After that I was out for about 16 hours," said Pfleider.
He was rushed to hospitals in Germany and eventually the U.S. Eight surgeries later, he is able to walk but wears a brace and uses a cane for balance.
Last May, the government sent him a letter demanding he either turn in items he believes were left behind in Iraq or pay more than $3,000.
read more here
Oregon soldier shot then billed
Vietnam veteran says marriage is casualty of war
Vietnam veteran says marriage is casualty of war
June 01, 2010 7:03 AM
Wendy Victora
Daily News
CRESTVIEW -- Freddie Cavett has lived alone for most of the past decade. You could say his marriage was a casualty of the Vietnam War.
He came back from a year-long stint there as a changed man – an angry man – according to his ex-wife Linda.
They stayed married more than 30 years, living apart for a time before finally divorcing in 2007. Freddie and Linda still see each other almost every day.
“It got to be where I could hardly stand to be around him when he was in his crazy places,” says Linda, a licensed mental health counselor whose clients include other veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. “I wish I could have done better with that.”
On his dining room table, Freddie has piled photo albums and binders of all of the documents relating to his military career. He was active duty for 7 years and an active reservist for 20 more.
They are a roadmap for this man, who struggles to create any kind of a timeline of his life.
Linda, who remembers everything, fills in the blanks.
read more here
Vietnam veteran says marriage is casualty of war
June 01, 2010 7:03 AM
Wendy Victora
Daily News
CRESTVIEW -- Freddie Cavett has lived alone for most of the past decade. You could say his marriage was a casualty of the Vietnam War.
He came back from a year-long stint there as a changed man – an angry man – according to his ex-wife Linda.
They stayed married more than 30 years, living apart for a time before finally divorcing in 2007. Freddie and Linda still see each other almost every day.
“It got to be where I could hardly stand to be around him when he was in his crazy places,” says Linda, a licensed mental health counselor whose clients include other veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. “I wish I could have done better with that.”
On his dining room table, Freddie has piled photo albums and binders of all of the documents relating to his military career. He was active duty for 7 years and an active reservist for 20 more.
They are a roadmap for this man, who struggles to create any kind of a timeline of his life.
Linda, who remembers everything, fills in the blanks.
read more here
Vietnam veteran says marriage is casualty of war
4Troops: Live from the Intrepid
Wednesday, June 2 at 9:30 p.m.
4Troops: Live from the Intrepid
4Troops are a new pop vocal group made up of United States combat veterans who served on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their new concert special, filmed aboard the USS Intrepid, features the group performing standards like “Amazing Grace,” pop hits like “You Raise Me Up” and new gems, including 4Troops’ own “For Freedom.”
4Troops: Live from the Intrepid
4Troops are a new pop vocal group made up of United States combat veterans who served on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their new concert special, filmed aboard the USS Intrepid, features the group performing standards like “Amazing Grace,” pop hits like “You Raise Me Up” and new gems, including 4Troops’ own “For Freedom.”
Ceremony pays tribute to soldier, other military heroes
Sgt. Randy Haney, who was 27 when he was killed in September 2009 in Afghanistan. He is holding his son, Austin, and his daughter, Aubry. (COURTESY OF FAMILY / May 31, 2010)
Ceremony pays tribute to soldier, other military heroes
Staff Sgt. Randy Haney was killed in Afghanistan
By Susan Jacobson, Orlando Sentinel
10:26 p.m. EDT, May 31, 2010
For many people, Memorial Day was a day off to relax, shop or have a family barbecue.
For friends and relatives of Staff Sgt. Randy Haney, it was a time to remember the fallen hero who left behind a wife and two young children when he was killed in Afghanistan last September.
On Monday morning, about 100 friends, family and community members attended a rededication of Orange County's War Memorial at the courthouse, where Haney was honored. It was among more than a dozen in Central Florida during the weekend that honored those who gave their lives in military service.
Haney's father-in-law, Andrew Alexopoulos of Fort Lauderdale, attended the downtown Orlando ceremony.
"He gave the ultimate sacrifice — his life — for his family and his country," Alexopoulos said.
Haney was 27, a military police officer and on his third tour of duty in the Middle East when his convoy was attacked by guns and rocket-propelled grenades in Nangarhar Province. He was inspired to join the Army when he visited Ground Zero three months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Alexopoulos said.
go here for more
Ceremony pays tribute to soldier
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Troops in Afghanistan, Iraq mark Memorial Day
Troops in Afghanistan, Iraq mark Memorial Day
By Heidi Vogt - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jun 1, 2010 11:24:14 EDT
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan — U.S. forces serving in Afghanistan and Iraq remembered friends and colleagues Monday in solemn Memorial Day ceremonies to commemorate all of their nation’s war dead.
As some soldiers paused, violence raged on in both places.
In Afghanistan, U.S.-led NATO forces launched airstrikes against Taliban insurgents who had forced government forces to abandon a district in Nuristan, a remote province on the Pakistan border. NATO also said it killed one of the Taliban’s top two commanders in the insurgent stronghold of Kandahar in a separate airstrike.
At the sprawling Bagram Air Field, the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan, about 400 soldiers in camouflage uniforms and brown combat boots stood at attention for a moment’s silence as Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of some 94,000 U.S. troops in the country, led the ceremony.
A bugler played taps and a color guard displayed the U.S. flag and the flags of units serving in eastern Afghanistan where the base is located, about 30 miles north of Kabul.
A steel construction beam from the World Trade Center destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks was unveiled, with the inscription “WTC 9 11 01”. The beam was donated by citizens’ group the Sons and Daughters of America of Breezy Point, a suburb in Queens, New York, where 29 victims of the Sept. 11 attacks lived, according to a letter read out at the ceremony.
go here for more
Troops in Afghanistan, Iraq mark Memorial Day
By Heidi Vogt - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jun 1, 2010 11:24:14 EDT
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan — U.S. forces serving in Afghanistan and Iraq remembered friends and colleagues Monday in solemn Memorial Day ceremonies to commemorate all of their nation’s war dead.
As some soldiers paused, violence raged on in both places.
In Afghanistan, U.S.-led NATO forces launched airstrikes against Taliban insurgents who had forced government forces to abandon a district in Nuristan, a remote province on the Pakistan border. NATO also said it killed one of the Taliban’s top two commanders in the insurgent stronghold of Kandahar in a separate airstrike.
At the sprawling Bagram Air Field, the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan, about 400 soldiers in camouflage uniforms and brown combat boots stood at attention for a moment’s silence as Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of some 94,000 U.S. troops in the country, led the ceremony.
A bugler played taps and a color guard displayed the U.S. flag and the flags of units serving in eastern Afghanistan where the base is located, about 30 miles north of Kabul.
A steel construction beam from the World Trade Center destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks was unveiled, with the inscription “WTC 9 11 01”. The beam was donated by citizens’ group the Sons and Daughters of America of Breezy Point, a suburb in Queens, New York, where 29 victims of the Sept. 11 attacks lived, according to a letter read out at the ceremony.
go here for more
Troops in Afghanistan, Iraq mark Memorial Day
Did you honor or enjoy Memorial Day weekend?
Did you honor or enjoy Memorial Day weekend?
by
Chaplain Kathie
Many good friends talked about what they did this weekend. BBQ food, lots of beer, pool parties and having fun. Not many of them really remembered what Memorial Day weekend is for. This is not unusual considering how few have anyone in their families serving today or have served at one time or another. Forgetting what Memorial Day is for used to get me angry but now, I actually feel sorry for them, for what they are missing out on and for the kind of people they will never know. I don't have the ability to ignore Memorial day and I wouldn't trade with them for a second.
Friday I flew into Washington, took a cab to Walter Reed so that I could have a tour and meet some of our wounded. As tired as I was, thinking my legs would never carry me room to room, one after another rejuvenated me with how inspirational they all are. Young men and women healing from wounds and trying to learn to do things all over again at the same time they worry about their brothers and sisters still deployed and not regretting a second of their service.
When I arrived at the hotel, there were the Nam Knight patches everywhere.
One of them became a Prospect Saturday before the ride.
Hundreds of Nam Knights and their wives headed off to the Wall Saturday morning. The local police did a fantastic job making sure the roads were safe for us and no one tried to cut off the huge pack.
We met at the Wall for a ceremony and prayer, heard taps played and everyone walking near us stopped, took off their hats and waited in silence.
From the Wall we went to the Law Enforcement Memorial for another service. The some of the members went to Maryland while some of us from Orlando went to revisit the Wall. We wanted to be able to get a couple of etchings after all these years. Last year we didn't get close to the Wall but this year, we were finally able to touch it. Standing there everything else in our lives left our minds. All the problems, all the things we have to be concerned about vanished and all we could think about were the lives lost. We went to the statue of the three "grunts" but it was enclosed in a box for renovation. We went to the memorial for the women, also called the Nurses monument.
From there we went to the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean Memorial and to the WWII Memorial.
Back at the hotel there was time to relax and party. Most of them needed to break the emotional time of the day and they cut loose. Everyone was welcomed to join in and there was dancing in the street, laughing, hugging and just enjoying the company of this extended family.
Sunday came and my husband headed off to Massachusetts giving me time to sit and talk with hotel guests. I had a late flight back home and was not going on the Rolling Thunder Ride without him. There was a couple sitting near me and we began to talk. They are the parents of the Marine who stands saluting the Rolling Thunder parade/pilgrimage.
Staff Sgt. Tim Chambers has been doing this for eight years. His parents told me that he was recovering from having pneumonia just two weeks ago. Today I found out that on Saturday, he traveled to Maryland for the BBQ with the Knights and then even sang a song, reportedly, doing a great job. His parents told me that Tim saves his leave every year. He came from Camp Pendleton to make sure he was there, as he puts it, to honor those who sacrificed for him. Amazing! One generation thanking the other and then being thanked in return.
The Commander of Camp Pendleton must understand how much this means especially to Vietnam veterans. After they were pushed away from everyone, everywhere, to have this kind of tribute means a great deal. The Vietnam veterans came home, treated badly, to say the least, but were determined to make sure no generation of veterans would ever, ever leave another generation behind. Tim understands this and they mean a great deal to him.
The Rolling Thunder Story
In the fall of 1987, in a little diner, in Somerville, New Jersey, two Vietnam veterans met to discuss their personal concerns about the prisoners of war (POW) and missing in action (MIA) from the Vietnam War. Having honorably served their country, and having taken an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies..." and to "bear true faith and allegiance to same," they were deeply troubled by the abhorrent neglect of attention given to those who did not make it out with their lives or their freedom. These two veterans discussed the more than 10,000 reported sightings of live Americans living in dismal captivity. Intelligence reports of these sightings were generally ignored by the government and mainstream press. Artie Muller and Ray Manzo were these two veterans.
One more reason why Staff Sgt. Chambers salute means so much to Rolling Thunder as well as the Nam Knights.
There were many stories about tough, leather wearing bikes being brought to tears just seeing him standing there with his salute to them. One young girl who just lost her Dad went over to him with tears in her eyes and told Tim how her Dad died. He pointed to the flowers at his feet and told her they were for her Dad and all the others who died. He talked to her until she was able to smile again. Over the years, there were many stories of how emotionally healing it is for these veterans to see Tim. This year I heard there was a Soldier standing there as well. A wonderful tribute on this very solemn day.
I got back home on Sunday night and then Monday morning headed out to another Memorial service at Glen Haven Memorial Park in Winter Park FL.
Chaplain of the Florida National Guards, Maj. Anthony Clark gave the invocation and then really came the need for tears. Bud Hedinger of 540WFLA introduced the story of Staff Stg. Robert James Miller nominated for the Medal of Honor.
Army Staff Sgt. Robert J. Miller
Died January 25, 2008 serving during Operation Enduring Freedom
24, of Oviedo, Fla.; assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.; died Jan. 25 in Barikowt, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when he encountered small-arms fire while conducting combat operations.
Former University of Iowa student killed in Afghanistan
The Associated Press
IOWA CITY, Iowa — A former University of Iowa student was killed during combat operations in Afghanistan, the Department of Defense announced on Saturday.
Army Staff Sgt. Robert J. Miller died in Barikowt, Afghanistan. He suffered wounds during small-arms fire, according to the Department of Defense press release.
Robert Miller’s mother, Maureen Miller, of Oviedo, Fla., told The Gazette of Cedar Rapids that her son had attended the University of Iowa for one year before leaving school to enlist in the Army Special Forces.
She declined further comment, the newspaper reported. A phone message from The Associated Press was not immediately returned.
Miller worked in Special Forces as a weapons sergeant. He was assigned to Company A, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group Airborne, which was based in from Fort Bragg, N.C.
According to the Department of Defense, he was deployed to Afghanistan in 2006 and awarded with the Army Commendation Medal with Valor for courage in the face of the enemy.
He was awarded eight other medals while in service, including the Army Good Conduct Medal, two Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development ribbons, the Ranger Tab and Special Forces Tab.
During his deployment in Afghanistan, Miller earned a promotion to staff sergeant.
Miller was born Oct. 14, 1983 in Harrisburg, Pa. He enlisted in the Army as a special forces candidate on August 2003, and became a Green Beret in 2005.
Miller is survived by his parents, Philip and Maureen Miller; brothers Thomas, Martin and Edward; and sisters Joanna, Mary, Therese and Patricia, all of Oviedo, Fla.
Fallen Green Beret gets battlefield salute
Staff report
Staff Sgt. Robert J. Miller, who was killed in action Friday in Afghanistan, was honored by hundreds of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who lined the tarmac and roadway at Bagram Airfield on Sunday to pay their last respects.
Miller was a member of A Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne).
According to a press release from U.S. Army Special Operations Command, he was killed by Taliban fighters as he protected his fellow Operational Detachment Alpha soldiers during combat operations near the Pakistan border.
The firefight took place near the village of Barikowt in the Nari district in Afghanistan’s Konar province during a security patrol with Afghan border police in the Chenar Khar Valley, the release said.
On Sunday, Miller’s flag-draped casket was carried in a tactical vehicle to a waiting Air Force C-17 cargo aircraft, and as the vehicle passed the line of his uniformed comrades, each stood at attention and saluted him for the last time.
Soldiers from Special Operations Task Force 33 formed a cordon leading to the ramp as his brothers in arms serving as pallbearers escorted Miller’s remains into the aircraft’s empty cargo area, the release said.
“He was always quick to volunteer and never thought it should be any other way. On numerous occasions when the Detachment was faced with a difficult task, Robby would just stand up and say, ‘I got this one, I’ll do it, send me,’” Capt. John Bishop of Special Operations Task Force 33 and Miller’s former detachment commander, said at the ceremony.
The release stated that on Jan. 25 Miller was leading a team of Afghan security forces and other coalition soldiers during a combat reconnaissance patrol in Konar Province, near the Pakistan border when insurgents hiding in a structure attacked Miller’s team.
A fellow teammate called for close-air support to drop ordnance on the insurgent position, which momentarily disrupted the attack. But when the combined patrol moved toward the structure to check for any remaining enemy threats, the insurgents again fired using heavy weapons.
Miller’s team captain was seriously wounded within the first minutes of the attack, and while he was being moved to safety, Miller returned fire, remaining at the front of the patrol to lay down suppressive fire on several enemy positions.
Even while injured by direct enemy small arms and machine gun fire, Miller continued to fire his M249 Squad Automatic Weapon and grenades to suppress enemy fire and protect his teammates, who gained cover and also returned fire.
Miller, who was one of eight brothers and sisters, enlisted as a Special Forces trainee on Aug. 14, 2003, according to the release.
He graduated from the Special Forces Qualification Course on Sept. 26, 2004, and the Special Forces Weapons Sergeant Course Mar. 4, 2005.
During his last deployment to Afghanistan from August 2006 to March 2007, Miller received two Army Commendation Medals for Valor for his courage under fire, the Army release said.
Miller returned to Afghanistan for his second tour in October 2007, where he served as a weapons sergeant for his team.
There were so many reminders of people doing extraordinary things and the others going off to enjoy themselves instead of knowing what and who this day is for, will never know what they were missing. If they think they have problems, they will never know what it is like to see them fade away in front of the Vietnam Memorial Wall. If they think they are tied or sore, they will never know what it's like to shake the hand of a young soldier in a hospital bed recovering at the same time he says he wants to go back or hear a young female MP missing a leg to say how lucky she feels to be alive. They will spend their days thinking of their own lives, their own problems and never once know what it's like to stand near a hero who was unselfish and risked their lives for all the other things we get to enjoy. Like a day to honor the fallen who gave all.
Maybe it will dawn on them as July 4th comes why we get to celebrate that day as well, but I doubt it.
Orlando VA plans to build a memorial
A 3D model of the new Orlando VA Medical Center at Lake Nona. A local veterans group will announce a fund-raising campaign to create a Central Florida Veterans Memorial Park adjacent to the new VA hospital. (CENTRAL FLORIDA VETERANS MEMORIAL, Orlando Sentinel / September 8, 2009)
As VA med center design revealed, veterans plan memorial park
A sneak peek today at the design of the $665 million Orlando VA Medical Center at the emerging "medical city" at Lake Nona will also include a major announcement just in time for Memorial Day: a plan to build an adjacent park honoring Central Florida's fallen veterans.
During the unveiling this morning at Orlando City Hall of a 3-D model of the 65-acre Veterans Affairs medical campus, a local veterans group will announce a fundraising campaign to create a memorial park for the approximately 1,100 Central Florida service members who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
The group hopes to raise $4.5 million — half of which will be used to construct the 4-acre park and the other half for maintenance and upkeep.
"This park will serve as a reminder to other veterans and the general public that this country is not free by accident," said Lt. Col. Earle L. Denton, a decorated veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars and a vice president of the Central Florida Veterans Memorial Park Foundation. "Everybody today needs to know what's happened in the past in order to enjoy the freedoms they have today."
read more here
As VA med center design revealed
Marine honors the fallen
Local Marine honors the fallen
By Shaun Bishop
Daily News Staff Writer
The gold-colored rubber bracelet on Lance Cpl. Donnie Salas' right wrist serves as a remembrance for his friend, Eric Ward.
In bold red letters, the bracelet bears the name of Ward, who served with Salas in the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines Regiment in southern Afghanistan.
Ward, a 19-year-old lance corporal from Redmond, Wash., was killed by an improvised explosive device, or IED, in February. "Always in our hearts," the bracelet reads.
On Monday — two days after Salas returned to the Bay Area from a seven-month deployment in Afghanistan — he sat in the living room of his East Palo Alto home, reflecting on the need to remember the fallen.
Salas, 19, plans to get a tattoo this week memorializing Ward and another friend — Jacob Ross, 19, of Gillette, Wyo., a member of the same battalion who was shot and killed in March.
"Now (Memorial Day) has way deeper meaning to me, because now I'm considered a 'vet ' — and it's to honor the fallen," said Salas, humble and stoic but occasionally flashing a smile during an hourlong interview. "I figure we should honor them."
Salas' return home Saturday morning came after an intense tour of duty in Helmand Province, a Taliban stronghold on the border of Pakistan. Before touching down in the Bay Area, he received two weeks of training for post-traumatic stress disorder at Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base in North Carolina.
read more here
Local Marine honors the fallen
By Shaun Bishop
Daily News Staff Writer
The gold-colored rubber bracelet on Lance Cpl. Donnie Salas' right wrist serves as a remembrance for his friend, Eric Ward.
In bold red letters, the bracelet bears the name of Ward, who served with Salas in the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines Regiment in southern Afghanistan.
Ward, a 19-year-old lance corporal from Redmond, Wash., was killed by an improvised explosive device, or IED, in February. "Always in our hearts," the bracelet reads.
On Monday — two days after Salas returned to the Bay Area from a seven-month deployment in Afghanistan — he sat in the living room of his East Palo Alto home, reflecting on the need to remember the fallen.
Salas, 19, plans to get a tattoo this week memorializing Ward and another friend — Jacob Ross, 19, of Gillette, Wyo., a member of the same battalion who was shot and killed in March.
"Now (Memorial Day) has way deeper meaning to me, because now I'm considered a 'vet ' — and it's to honor the fallen," said Salas, humble and stoic but occasionally flashing a smile during an hourlong interview. "I figure we should honor them."
Salas' return home Saturday morning came after an intense tour of duty in Helmand Province, a Taliban stronghold on the border of Pakistan. Before touching down in the Bay Area, he received two weeks of training for post-traumatic stress disorder at Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base in North Carolina.
read more here
Local Marine honors the fallen
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