Thursday, July 28, 2011

Florida Patriot Guard has bass waiting for wounded veteran

The Florida Patriot Guard has a great opportunity for a Wounded Veteran who loves to bass fish. They have been asked to find a Veteran who would like to take advantage of this and who is has suffered and sacrificed greatly for their country and us.

This Veteran must:
- lives in central Florida
- loves to fish
- knows all about Bass Pro Tournaments
- is familiar with the top names of professional fishermen
- would like to be in a TV recorded Bass Pro Tournament

AND wants to have a great day of fishing. Sounds like a very good time to me and plus all expenses paid and good benefits to boot.

This event takes place in August 2011 so we must hurry. So, if any of you know of anyone who qualifies please contact Shannon Locke at 813-447-3535.

Let’s try to give a deserving Veteran the time of their life.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Fort Hood Soldier Found Dead In Barracks Room


Fort Hood Soldier Found Dead In Barracks Room
A 41-year-old Fort Hood soldier has been found dead in his barracks room.

FORT HOOD (July 26, 2011)—An investigation is underway into the death of a Fort Hood specialist who was found unresponsive Sunday in his barracks room.

Fort Hood identified the soldier Tuesday as Spc. Ralph Edward Dawson of Trevorton, Pa.

He joined the Army in 2007 and had been assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team since April 2008.

He deployed to Iraq from December 2008 to December 2009.
Fort Hood Soldier Found Dead In Barracks Room

My final project for Digital Video and Sound

This is the reason I went back to college. There are plenty of projects I want to do and more than enough opportunities considering how many veterans there are along with how few people are focusing on them. Their stories are remarkable but few hear them.

When I was trying to decide what the interview project should be, I thought about the "Bunker" otherwise known as Cpl. Larry Smedley National Vietnam War Museum right here in Orlando. Few know it is there. Even less know that we had a 19 year old Medal of Honor fallen hero from the Vietnam War.

I couldn't think of a better subject to interview for this than Harry Scholer. Valencia Digital Media Professor Matt Messenger put the project up on the Valencia web site. As you can see, because of him, I've come a long way in a year.

My Digital Video and Sound Final Project

Widow, children of fallen officer to finally get benefits

Another case when there was a reporter caring enough to report and caused a wrong to be made right.

Widow, children of fallen Fed Way officer to finally get benefits
By Michelle Esteban Published: Jul 26, 2011

SEATTLE -- After a year of denials for a police officer's widow and a Problem Solvers investigation, the state has made a stunning about-face.

The widow of Federal Way police officer Brian Walsh and her children will now get the financial benefits they desperately need.

The Walsh family is beyond relieved. Yesterday, they didn't know how they would make ends meet. Today's news means financial and medical benefits for Vanessa Walsh and her three young children.

"As a cop's wife, you worry every day what's going to happen if something happens. 'How are we going to do it?'" said Vanessa. "He (Brian) always told me, 'You're going to be taken care of don't worry about it.'"

But shortly after her husband died, Vanessa learned she and her three children were on their own.

"I didn't understand being denied," she said.

Because Brian died of a heart attack while guarding a crime scene, the state insisted he didn't die in the line of duty and denied his widow benefits.

The Problem Solvers were the first to expose Vanessa's struggle and question the denial. Then, Vanessa learned if she could prove Brian suffered from "unusual stress", she could collect a portion of his salary and get medical coverage for her family.

At the time of his death, Brian was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after being involved in a prior police shooting. His doctor told the state Brian's PTSD worsened when four Lakewood officers and a Seattle officer were gunned down in 2009 a few months prior to his death.
read more here
Widow, children of fallen Fed Way officer to finally get benefits

Red Cross finds PTSD Conversation Falls On Deaf Ears

With so many suffering the ravages of PTSD on them and their families, you'd think the seats would be filled, but as with most things, it isn't the message but the way it is delivered that causes issues.

I am not sure what the Red Cross is doing in this case but going into this other report, it is easy to see that it is the way they are doing it.

Red Cross Holds Veteran Information Night

The video report shows a couple of people sitting in the chairs. Most of the presentations, hearings and conferences I've attended over the years, were well attended but they were geared toward professionals treating PTSD and not for those with PTSD. What they had in common with programs like the Red Cross is they were all boring.

PTSD Conversation Falls On Deaf Ears
By Jenna Hanchard

July 26, 2011
Updated Jul 26, 2011 at 11:04 PM EDT
Endicott, NY (WBNG Binghamton) A message about post traumatic stress disorder falls on empty seats at the American Red Cross in Endicott Tuesday night.

Since January, the Red Cross has been hosting veteran information nights.
read more here
PTSD Conversation Falls On Deaf Ears

Every group out there trying to help has to adapt to the generation that grew up with the Internet, video games, iTunes and being entertained. They don't want to see a poorly made Power Point with graphs and a couple of pictures. They don't want to hear a presenter reading off a script with no passion in their voice. Above all this, the last thing they want to do is spend a couple of hours sitting in a room paying attention to people not really paying attention to them. If these service groups do not adapt to their world they will continue to show them that they are not willing to go there.

Imagine trying to help homeless veterans but holding the program in an upper scale neighborhood. That may be where the providers live, but it is not where the homeless veterans live. Then try to establish any kind of relationship with them when you avoid the area they live in otherwise. You have to know "where they live" in order to help them live better.

It is the same no matter what help you want to give. You have to get into their world. You have to understand them and speak their language, or at the very least, make it comfortable for them to use theirs freely. If they swear, let them. Your sensitive ears can stand it when you understand the depth of their pain, so if that's the language they need to use to communicate it to you, let them. At least they're trying.

If you have a service group trying to get thru to them, then spend the time to understand their world. Spend a few bucks and get an updated presentation to show. Get someone with a video camera to put together a video to show. While these veterans are showing up more and more at shelters, arrested, divorced and attempting suicide at higher rates, they are screaming for not just help, but people willing to really show they understand every aspect of their lives. Don't just show up as if that's all they need because they won't be there.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Too many wounded still in limbo, senators say

Too many wounded still in limbo, senators say
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jul 26, 2011 15:49:52 EDT
On the eve of a hearing that will focus on the long-term human and financial costs of war, two senators are demanding explanations from the Defense Department about why it is taking so long to discharge severely wounded combat veterans.

Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairwoman, and Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee’s readiness panel, are using the delays that faced Marine Cpl. Todd Nicely, who lost his legs and arms in an explosion last year in Afghanistan, as an example of the human costs of war.

Nicely, whose wife Crystal will testify at Wednesday’s hearing, waited 70 days for a doctor to complete a summary of his medical condition so he could proceed with a disability review. His paperwork was processed only after Murray visited him in the hospital and brought his case to the attention of Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn.

In a Tuesday letter to Lynn, Murray and McCaskill said Nicely is a prime example of what happens to wounded warriors caught in limbo. “They cannot start civilian employment. They cannot enroll in school. They cannot move on with their lives,” the letter says.
read more here
Too many wounded still in limbo, senators say

Would folks in Washington fight this hard for the troops?

I've been listening to all the talk in Washington. Some want to make sure average people don't have to pay for everything on top of losing everything. Then there are some fighting tooth and nail for the sake of the rich in this country. You know who is who. I was just wondering if any of them would fight this hard for the troops and our veterans. See, that's the problem. They get forgotten all the time. When congress can't bring themselves to work together, the troops still have to in Iraq and Afghanistan, no matter what political party they belong to. They get the job done. They get the job done on top of risking their lives everyday. They don't whine about how hard they have to work, the long hours or the stress. They also do it no matter their pay is being threatened, like it is now.


Dempsey: Pay and benefits part of budget debate
By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jul 26, 2011 15:15:52 EDT
The general tapped to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs sounded an increasingly familiar refrain at his July 26 confirmation hearing: Tight budgets and tough choices are looming on the horizon, which means “everything is back on the table.”

Army Gen. Martin Dempsey told senators at his July 26 confirmation hearing in Washington.

“That includes pay, compensation, retirement and health care because it’s important that we place everything on the table, assess the impact, and then request the time to do it in a deliberate fashion so that we can maintain balance,” Army Gen. Martin Dempsey told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Dempsey, a New Yorker and U.S. Military Academy graduate, currently serves as Army chief of staff. He is likely to be confirmed by the Senate to replace Adm. Mike Mullen as Joint Chiefs chairman when Mullen retires this fall.

Dempsey said “a new fiscal reality confronts us,” and said the military must contribute to solving the nation’s financial problems.
read more here
Pay and benefits part of budget debate

The next time you hear the folks in congress talk about who they are fighting for, the troops are fighting for everyone then they have to come back and fight everyone here just to get treated and paid for their wounds. They also have to worry about paying their bills back home so they have a home to come back to.

Could someone please tell me how congress messes up all the time, threatens the pay for the troops and the veterans but they will still get paid no matter what they do?

Blue Water Navy Vietnam Vet fighting to for justice

U.S. Navy Vietnam veterans fight for benefits

By Daniel Lippman | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Doug DeWitt served his country in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, but now he feels abandoned by the nation for which he fought.

Forty years after his service, the 67-year-old Anaheim, Calif., resident suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and other ailments that he blames on exposure to Agent Orange, the main chemical the United States sprayed during the war. He has tried for years without success to get disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"I don't have the strength that I used to have. I can't do the walking I used to because of the pain in my legs," he said. He added that the VA has not been helpful in resolving his claim.

"They won't listen to you. You can talk till you're blue in the face," he said.

DeWitt is one of potentially thousands of so-called "blue water" Navy veterans who have been excluded from easy approval of their Agent Orange-related disability compensation claims by the Veterans Affairs Department. He's in a group of veterans who served on deep-water ships off the coast of Vietnam but didn't touch land or serve on waterways inside the country.



Read more: U.S. Navy Vietnam veterans fight for benefits

Parents of Marine sued over sign of support from association

MARINE’S PARENTS SUED OVER DISPLAYING A SIGN SUPPORTING THEIR SON (BLAZE INTERVIEW)



Corey Burr is a Marine fighting in Afghanistan. Corey’s parents, Timothy and Jodi Burr, are also involved in a fight back home in Louisiana. Mom and dad are battling the neighborhood association over this sign posted in their front yard.

Shortly after L Cpl Burr was deployed to Afghanistan last winter, his parents posted the above sign in their front yard of their home in The Gardens subdivision of South Bossier, LA. Almost immediately the neighborhood association delivered a letter telling the Burr’s that they were in violation of a local rule stating “no signs of any kind shall be displayed to the public view.” (Real Estate signs are excluded but also carry a 2×2 size restriction.) Instead of removing the banner, Timothy and Jodi requested an exception be made to the rule. They wanted to keep the sign on display until their son comes home. (Corey is slated to return in March of 2012)

In February, the Burr’s started sending formal requests to the head of the association, but those letters went unanswered until the media got involved. Jodi and her husband even sent requests for a meeting with the homeowners association via certified mail, but those letters went “unclaimed.”
read more here
Marine parents sued over sign

Fort Carson soldier shot and killed while walking dog

UPDATE August 28, 2011
Police made arrest


UPDATE

Fort Carson soldier's family seeks information about his death near motel
By Jordan Steffen
The Denver Post

Anthony Silva was hoping to be deployed to Afghanistan, but a back injury kept him from going, his mother said.

The family of a Fort Carson soldier who was shot and killed near his Denver motel early Saturday have launched a plea for help in uncovering details about his death.

Anthony Silva, 25, was found shot to death at the north end of the 3800 block of Paris Street, near the Motel 6 where he was staying.

Silva, a specialist stationed at Fort Carson, was planning to meet his father, Dave Silva, at the hotel Saturday morning so they could drive together to Anthony Silva's hometown of Columbia, Ill.

"I came here expecting a road trip home with a great young man," Dave Silva said. "He had his whole life ahead of him, and it was stolen from him and us."
read more here
Fort Carson soldier family seeks information




Police say soldier shot, killed in Denver while walking dog
By Joey Bunch
The Denver Post

The autopsy showed Silva died from multiple gunshots.
A soon-to-be discharged Fort Carson soldier was shot to death early Saturday while he was walking his dog near his motel along Interstate 70 in Denver, police said tonight in their first characterization of the crime.

This afternoon the Denver medical examiner's office said the man was Anthony Silva, 25, who was killed by multiple gunshot wounds.

Witnesses at the nearby Motel 6 where he was staying at North Paris Street south of Montbello said Saturday they heard five to seven shots.

Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said more information will be made public Tuesday.

Silva was a sergeant stationed at Fort Carson.
read more here
Police say soldier shot, killed

Heroes we ignore

Dakota Meyer was a hero before his heroic act, but as with most heroes, we didn't notice. We were too busy making heroes out of movie stars, singers and sports stars. We were focused on celebrities as if anything they did really mattered to our own lives. They entertain us. Military folks, well they are just too busy protecting us most of the time but when a video shows up on YouTube with them dancing or acting silly, it goes viral with millions of people watching what they do. When they are risking their lives, no one wants to pay attention.

Why?



Kentuckian deserves Medal of Honor, said brother of deceased Marine
By Jim Warren — jwarren@herald-leader.com
Jul 26, 2011

Pikeville's Chase Goodman is hoping that Kentucky native Dakota Meyer gets nationwide recognition for the Medal of Honor he's to receive for braving enemy fire to retrieve the bodies of four buddies in Afghanistan in 2009.

And he hopes the medal will make more Americans aware of the military errors and oversights that, Goodman believes, led to the four men's deaths.

Goodman has a personal interest in the story: his half-brother, Marine 1st Lt. Michael Johnson of Virginia Beach, Va., was one of the four men Meyer tried to save.

"I think that at some point Dakota probably knew they were already dead," Goodman said Monday.

"But the simple fact of his determination to rush in there and try to pull them out regardless ... it's just extraordinary. I'd really like for him to get some recognition for what he did."


Read more: Kentuckian deserves Medal of Honor

This is one of the few nominated for the Medal of Honor. The least we can do is pay attention to what they did with their lives for the sake of our lives and not the sake of their own lives.

Read about what happened here and watch video report.

We were pinned down

Marine, father of four killed in motorcycle crash

Tuesday, Jul. 26, 2011

Motorcycle crash in Horry County claims life of Marine, father of four
Deceased a Loris native

By Gina Vasselli - gvasselli@thesunnews.com

A Loris man and active duty Marine died Sunday afternoon after crashing his motorcycle near the Loris airport.

Jeffery Bennett, 29, died about 6 p.m. at Grand Strand Regional Medical Center, said Deputy Horry County Coroner Darris Fowler.

Bennett died from head trauma following the motorcycle accident, which happened about 1 p.m., Fowler said.

Read more: Motorcycle crash in Horry County claims life of Marine

Funeral service scheduled for Tuesday for Neb. National Guard soldier

Funeral service scheduled for Tuesday for Neb. National Guard soldier who died in Afghanistan
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: July 24, 2011

MAYWOOD, Neb. — A Nebraska Army National Guard sergeant who died in Afghanistan will be laid to rest this week.

A funeral service for 28-year-old Omar Jones, of Maywood, is scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday at Fort McPherson National Cemetery in Maxwell.

The guard says Maxwell died of a noncombat injury last Monday at a base in Balkh Province. His death is under investigation by military officials.
read more here
Funeral service scheduled for Tuesday for Neb. National Guard soldier

Homeless Vietnam Vet, Seabee, laid to rest with honors

Homeless Vietnam vet buried with full military honors, paid by funeral home program
By Elinor Brecher, The Miami Herald
9:43 p.m. EDT, July 21, 2011

When William Gaunt returned from Vietnam in the late '60s, he was scarred inside and out. You could see the shrapnel wounds. You could only guess at the emotional damage through his struggles with alcohol and drugs.

A heavy smoker, he died at Fort Lauderdale's Imperial Point Medical Center on July 3, beset by diabetes, emphysema, hepatitis and cirrhosis of the liver.

Gaunt might have been consigned to a pauper's grave. Instead, he was laid to rest with military honors Thursday at the South Florida National Cemetery in Lake Worth through a funeral-home chain's homeless veterans burial program.

Taps was played and three sailors saluted Gaunt's flag-draped casket.

"He deserved it,'' said Ben Harris, one of nine friends who came to mourn Billy Gaunt.

Gaunt was born May 30, 1949, in Newark, N.J., and served with the U.S. Navy's Seabees from 1967 to 1969.

"Billy would have felt very proud and honored to be sent off this way,'' said Ed Stephens, another Navy veteran of the Vietnam War.

"He was a proud Seabee who loved his country,'' said Patrick Birk, his roommate at a Pompano Beach "sober house,'' who accepted Gaunt's folded coffin flag from two sailors in summer whites.
read more here
Homeless Vietnam vet buried with full military honors

Veterans court for troubled vets marks year anniversary

Specialized court for troubled vets marks year anniversary
by Jessica Mador, Minnesota Public Radio
July 25, 2011

St. Paul, Minn. — July marks one year since the state launched its first Veterans Treatment Court, one of several dozen problem-solving courts around the country to help veterans who commit crimes stay out of the criminal justice system.

Veterans who land in trouble with the law can be referred to the Veterans Treatment Court in Minneapolis as an alternative to jail. That's how 56-year old Army veteran Cecil Wooten ended up in the program. He credits the court with helping him get clean.

"I got my third DWI and they had a vets court, and I was fortunate to get involved in it," Wooten said. "And I was thankful from then on."

Wooten lives in temporary Veterans Administration housing and has been sober for about a year now. Hennepin County Judge Charles Porter, who oversees the court, said Wooten's case is typical.

"The original thought was that what we would have is mostly Afghanistan and Iraq veterans," Porter said. "What we have mostly had is Vietnam veterans and they are a little bit of a harder case."

Many of the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans Porter sees have combat-related traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder. Most of the approximately 70 defendants in the program over the past year have serious mental health issues. Many are addicted or chronically homeless or both. Many of whom have cycled through the criminal justice system for decades without treatment.
read more here
Specialized court for troubled vets marks year anniversary

Monday, July 25, 2011

Cycling to battle veteran homelessness

Guest View: Cycling to battle veteran homelessness

Juventino "J" Gomez
Posted: 07/24/2011

For many veterans in the San Gabriel Valley, the price of freedom is felt every night as these heroes pitch a tent, unfurl their sleeping mats and take up temporary residence under a freeway overpass or in a local park.
The number of men and women who return from war only to find themselves homeless, and without proper post-combat mental health care is intolerable.

Experts estimate that 11 percent of the 8,000 homeless veterans in Los Angeles County live in the San Gabriel Valley. According to a 2009 report on homelessness by the Veteran's Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are at higher risk of homelessness induced by mental illness than those from earlier conflicts. Reasons include the length and number of deployments, as well as the nature of the conflict, exposure to roadside bombs and other explosions that cause traumatic brain injury. California alone has welcomed more than 30,000 veterans home - many of whom end up homeless after 18 months of being discharged.

Upon taking office, President Barack Obama committed billions of federal dollars to end the shame of veteran homelessness. The 2012 budget includes $939 million to prevent and reduce homelessness among veterans - a 17.5 percent increase from previous years. However, these funds in past years have sat unused due to bureaucracy and an infrastructure ill-equipped to handle the heavy load of veterans in need of workforce training, housing services and healthcare.

So, to rally support and encourage the distribution of long-overdue federal funding, a local group of strong-willed U.S. service members have taken matters into their own hands. Through aggressive "vet hunting," which includes scouring homeless camps, overpasses and parks for homeless veterans, this group has dedicated themselves to a 1,900-mile bicycle ride in the name of their veteran brothers and sisters. They call themselves Vet Hunters - they are homeless veterans themselves, former service members who have suffered combat disabilities, and active-duty Iraq and Afghanistan service members.

Read more: Cycling to battle veteran homelessness

Uncle Sam wants psychiatrists

Uncle Sam wants psychiatrists
Published: July 25, 2011 at 12:55 AM

FORT KNOX, Ky., July 25 (UPI) -- Uncle Sam wants psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and social workers as well as graduate students entering these fields to consider the U.S. Army.

Col. R. Scott Dingle, the U.S. Army's Medical Recruiting Brigade commander, says the military is one of the largest healthcare organizations in the world and offers behavioral health providers the chance to work in the areas of mental resilience, combat and operational stress control.

read more here
Uncle Sam wants psychiatrists

Helping as fort blacksmith proves therapeutic

Vet finds he’s iron-willed
Helping as fort blacksmith proves therapeutic

By Sue Vorenberg
Columbian Staff Reporter
Sunday, July 24, 2011




Photo by Steven Lane
Stoking the fire at the blacksmith shop at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, Lee Pisarek prepares to work with some hot iron. The disabled Army veteran, who suffers from PTSD, said his time volunteering at the fort has been therapeutic.
Peace and calm radiated from Lee Pisarek’s face as he rhythmically pounded the piece of red hot iron with a mallet wrapped in his large, skilled hand.

A metallic, slightly smoky odor saturated the blacksmith shop at Fort Vancouver National Site, adding another layer to the historic accuracy of the place.

Re-enacting a profession from 1845 is about as far away as you can get from the battlefields of Operation Desert Storm, where Pisarek severely injured his right leg after getting caught between a mine field and artillery fire, which “didn’t go well,” he said with an odd smile.

But for the Army veteran, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, learning to become a blacksmith has been a fulfilling way to use some of the same mechanical and technical skills he worked with in the service, he said.

“I was a lifer, I expected to stay in for 30 years, but in 1992 after my injury I opted for the early-out program,” said Pisarek, who joined the service in 1982.

His military job, as a field expedient weapons instructor, was something he really enjoyed, and it was hard to give it up, he said.

“(It) requires looking at an object for what it’s capable of, not necessarily for what it’s designed to do,” Pisarek said.

Volunteering to work as a blacksmith has given him a new creative outlet, and a way to fulfill the same mechanical and intellectual curiosity, he added.

read more here
Helping as fort blacksmith proves therapeutic

Waiting too long for help from VA

Waiting too long for help from VA
The Virginian-Pilot
© July 25, 2011
Veterans diagnosed with mental health problems also have to cope with dangerously long delays in getting the care they deserve from Veterans Affairs facilities.

That problem is not new. More than 202,000 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan have been seen at VA facilities for potential cases of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Nevertheless, stories of long waits for treatment remain legion, as was clear at a Senate committee hearing earlier this month.

It's perhaps no coincidence that the VA monitors how long it takes for a vet to receive his first appointment but doesn't keep track of how long a vet has to wait for treatment.

As past wars have taught the nation, the number of returning soldiers suffering from mental illness will never be truly known. Some psychiatric problems take years to manifest. Others are buried beneath drugs or drink. Still other mental health problems lead veterans onto the streets and society's margins.

The best opportunity to reach mentally injured veterans comes in the military's own system and in the days, weeks and months following a soldier's rotation back home.

That's not happening enough in the VA system, several veterans told the senators.
read more here
Waiting too long for help from VA

Female soldier raped, then tossed out for admitting she was gay?

We read a lot of stories about gay soldiers being kicked out of the military. We read a lot of stories about female soldiers being raped. This one combines both and it is pretty shocking to discover what happened to this woman after being raped and betrayed over "don't ask, don't tell." In her case, did the military try to tell her she shouldn't have talked about being raped too?

A nightmare that lasted nine years
02:49 PM EDT on Sunday, July 24, 2011
By Lynn Arditi

Journal Staff Writer

Pvt. Valerie J. Desautel swore under oath to an Army investigator that she would tell the truth about the night she was raped.

She was 20, a fresh-faced soldier from Rhode Island who was in training at Fort Lee, Va.

Desautel admitted to the investigator taking her statement that she’d been socializing the previous night at an officer’s club, got drunk, and accepted a ride from a man whom she’d only just met.

The officer sounded skeptical. You went with this man to a hotel, she remembers the officer saying, and you want me to believe that it wasn’t consensual?

Then, before the young private had time to think it through, she blurted out the words she’d been warned never to say in the military: “I’m gay…”

Eight weeks later, plagued by anxiety and flashbacks, she was ordered to pack her bags and was handed a plane ticket home. Her discharge sheet read: “homosexual admission.”

“Instead of rehabilitating me,” she said, “they threw me out like a piece of trash.”
read more here
A nightmare that lasted nine years