Veterans heal mentally with rock 'n' roll

Veterans heal mentally with rock 'n' roll
BY DAN GERINGER
Philadelphia Daily News
Daily News Staff Writer

JERRY GRANTLAND grew up in Lansdowne, enlisted in the Army right out of Cardinal O'Hara High School, deployed to Iraq in 2003 and was on reconnaissance patrol in an armored personnel carrier when a roadside bomb exploded.

He wasn't wounded physically. But after eight months of hypervigilance in Iraq, always ready to run for cover from frequent mortar attacks, Grantland came home to a National Guard assignment in Texas, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I was driving 75 miles-an-hour on I-10 when I saw a couple of guys at the side of the road who looked like they were duct-taping something to the guardrail," said Grantland, now 28 and living in Roxborough.

"I slammed on my brakes and walked across three lanes of interstate highway toward them before I said to myself, 'You're an idiot. They're not taping a bomb to the guardrail.' I walked back to my car."

The "Bands of Brothers" concert will support Give an Hour, a national network of 6,500 licensed mental-health professionals who provide free therapy to veterans with PTSD and their families through giveanhour.org.

"No one's going to get kicked off the island on 'Bands of Brothers,' " said Give an Hour's founder, Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen. "The focus is on music and on healing."

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Canadian Funeral directors say they’re paying to bury war vets

Funeral directors say they’re paying to bury war vets because Canadian gov't help falls short
BY ANDREW DUFFY
OTTAWA CITIZEN
OCTOBER 25, 2012

OTTAWA — Canadian funeral directors say they’re routinely subsidizing the burials of this country’s most impoverished war veterans because the federal government pays so little for the service.

Veterans Affairs Canada provides eligible veterans with up to $3,600 for funeral services through the Last Post Fund.

But that amount — it has remained unchanged for more than a decade — now covers only about half the cost of a veteran’s funeral, according to the Funeral Service Association of Canada.

“It’s mostly the members of our association, or the families themselves, that are making up the difference,” said Phil Fredette, the association’s government relations chair.

Depending on the province, Fredette said, it now costs between $6,500 and $9,000 to provide the funeral services mandated under the Veterans Affairs Canada Funeral and Burial Program.

Among other things, the program requires funeral directors to bury war veterans in wooden caskets of a specified quality.
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Vietnam vet fatally shot by reserve sheriff's deputy

Armed Vietnam vet fatally shot by reserve sheriff's deputy in Washington
The Oregonian
By The Associated Press
October 26, 2012

SPOKANE -- The sheriff's deputy who killed an armed man in Stevens County is a reserve deputy with eight months' experience.

Reserve Deputy Nick Wolfe was identified by the Spokane County sheriff's office, which is investigating the Oct. 19 fatal shooting of John Peterson near the town of Springdale.

The Spokesman-Review reports Wolfe and five-year veteran Deputy Travis Frizzell had responded to a 9-1-1 call from Peterson. He was a Vietnam War veteran who recently moved from Minnesota.
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Former soldier guilty of manslaughter of wife

Former soldier guilty of manslaughter of wife
October 25, 2012 CLARKSVILLE, Tenn.

(AP) — A jury in Clarksville has found a former Fort Campbell soldier guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the death of his wife after he testified that he shot her multiple times when she provoked him. After deliberating for nearly five hours, the jury on Thursday found Jonathan Downing guilty of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, instead of a more serious first-degree premeditated murder charge read more here

Man charged with killing Fort Carson soldier Karen Mamo

Court document describes attempt to cover up shooting death
October 25, 2012
MATT STEINER

An argument between a wife and her estranged husband ended with a fatal gunshot and an attempt by the 26-year-old man to disguise the crime as a suicide, court records show.

Louis Mamo was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of second-degree murder in connection with the death of 25-year-old Fort Carson soldier Karen Mamo.

According to an arrest affidavit, the couple’s roommate described a sequence of events in which Louis Mamo apparently shot his wife late Monday night and told police six hours later that he came home to find Karen Mamo with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Police responded to the aparment at 3210 N. Chestnut St. in western Colorado Springs just before 6 a.m. Tuesday and found the woman lying against the side of her bed. There was a bullet hole in Karen Mamo’s head, but interviews with family members indicated the woman was right-handed while the wound was in the upper left side of her skull.
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Military women's memorial celebrates 15-year anniversary

Published on Oct 26, 2012 by marines
15 years ago the Women in Military Service for America Memorial was dedicated to all female servicemembers who made sacrifices for the preservation of freedom. Lance Cpl. John Tucker brings us the story.

Poll results gone

I had up a poll asking readers if Congress should be held accountable for military suicides. It was over 70% of readers thinking they should be. I had to take it down because it was zeroed out from some kind of glitch.

Triple amputee Marine walks out, throws first pitch, crowd goes wild!

Triple amputee Marine walks out, throws first pitch
Participant in Zito's Strikeouts for Troops Foundation, Kimmel honored before Game 2
By Alyson Footer
MLB.com
10/25/12

SAN FRANCISCO -- Nick Kimmel has been a baseball fan his entire life, but he never could have imagined four years ago that the game he loves would play such an important role in helping him get through recent events that were both tragic and challenging.

In 2008, Kimmel decided to forego a partial scholarship offer to play baseball at Arizona State University, and instead enlisted in the Marines. Today, he's piecing his life back together after losing both legs and an arm in an explosion while on his second tour of duty last year in Afghanistan.
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“Vets Ride 4 PTSD” Bike Ride To Tallahassee To Raise Awareness

“Vets Ride 4 PTSD” Bike Ride To Tallahassee To Raise Awareness George Tice, a Desert Storm veteran who suffers from PTSD, is on a mission to raise awareness and funds for veterans who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and suicide among our military.
PRLog (Press Release)
Oct 25, 2012

George Tice, a Desert Storm veteran who suffers from PTSD, is on a mission to raise awareness and funds for veterans who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and suicide among our military. On Saturday, October 27 at 9 a.m., George Tice has committed to riding a bicycle over 480 miles to the state capital in Tallahassee. He will begin his weeklong journey at the American Legion Post 38 in Downtown Fort Myers at 9 a.m. A public press conference and short ceremony is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. prior to the ride including influential speakers from the community.

Tice hopes to encourage more aid for soldiers who suffer from PTSD. Presently, there are minimal resources and volunteers available to help those suffering from this widespread illness. He plans to meet with active duty family members, veterans and the public along the way to Tallahassee.
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Amid military suicide crisis, TAPS answers the call

'A family healing together:' Amid military suicide crisis, TAPS answers the call
By Bill Briggs
NBC News contributor

The call she placed, and the advice she received, didn’t simply allow Rebecca Morrison to survive one of her worst days. The words she heard, she said, saved her life.

Before a Fort Hood memorial service to honor her husband – an Army chopper pilot who ended his life – Morrison grabbed a scrap of paper from her nightstand, read the scrawled number, and dialed up the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS). In that pitch-black moment, she needed answers to two desperate questions. On the other end, Kim Ruocco listened. Seven years earlier, Ruocco had lost her husband, a Marine major, to suicide.
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