Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Fort Hood Soldier Surrendered After Standoff

Standoff Ends Peacefully after Four Hours 
KAGS 
May 02, 2016 

UPDATE -- The man in the home surrendered Monday afternoon after four hours of negotiations. The man in the home is a Fort Hood soldier. No word on what, if any, charges the man will face. 

KILLEEN -- Police and SWAT team are working a standoff situation at a residence in Killeen. read more here

Navy Seal Killed in Iraq

American killed in Iraq after ISIS broke through Peshmerga lines
CNN
By Barbara Starr and Jeremy Diamond
May 3, 2016

(CNN)An American service member was killed in Iraq as a result of enemy fire about thirty kilometers north of Mosul, Pentagon officials confirmed Tuesday.

The service member was a Navy SEAL, a U.S. defense official told CNN, though the SEAL's rank is still unclear.

The person was an adviser to Kurdish Peshmerga forces that are fighting ISIS and was killed during an ISIS assault "on a Peshmerga position approximately three to five kilometers behind the forward line of troops," Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said Tuesday in a statement.

The Pentagon will provide additional information on the service member's identity after next of kin have been notified.
read more here

Special Forces Soldier Taken For Medical Evaluation After Armory Standoff

Police release name of Special Forces soldier in barricade at National Guard armory
The Baltimore Sun
Ian Duncan
May 3, 2016

(XXXXXX) turned out to be unarmed and did not have access to the weapons, which were locked with a code, a police spokeswoman said. He eventually agreed to come out of the building and was sent for a medical evaluation.
Baltimore County police released the name of the Special Forces soldier who is accused of trespassing at an armory in Glen Arm on Monday.


(XXXXXX) 43, of Virginia, allegedly tripped an alarm at the Gunpowder Military Reservation at about 11 a.m. Monday, starting a standoff with heavily armed police that lasted several hours.

He was taken into custody without incident and released on $7,500 bail, online court records show. He could not be reached for comment on Thursday, and had no attorney listed in online records.

Police responded in force to the facility on Notchcliff Road, unsure if (XXXXXX) had access to the weapons stored there.
read more here


**Name removed**

Monday, May 2, 2016

Why Are Veterans With PTSD On Death Row?

Sometimes I am sure I should have just come home from work and taken a nap instead of reading some of the articles I am sent. After this one, I need a good stiff drink first and then maybe a nap.
An Ex-Marine Killed Two People in Cold Blood. Should His PTSD Keep Him From Death Row? "We are sending to war the most proficient and lethal killers in our nation’s history." Mother Jones, By AJ Vicens, May 2, 2016
The ruling on his case has implications for a question that has concerned the military, veterans' groups, and death penalty experts: Should service-related PTSD exclude veterans from the death penalty? An answer to this question could affect some of the estimated 300 veterans who now sit on death rows across the country, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. But it's unclear how many of them suffer from PTSD or traumatic brain injuries, given how uneven the screening for these disorders has been.

Experts are divided about whether veterans with PTSD who commit capital crimes deserve what is known as a "categorical exemption" or "exclusion." Juveniles receive such treatment, as do those with mental disabilities. In 2009, Anthony Giardino, a lawyer and Iraq War veteran, argued in favor of this in the Fordham Law Review, writing that courts "should consider the more fundamental question of whether the government should be in the business of putting to death the volunteers they have trained, sent to war, and broken in the process" who likely would not be in that position "but for their military service." In a 2015 Veterans Day USA Today op-ed, three retired military officials argued that in criminal cases, defense attorneys, prosecutors, and judges often don't consider veterans' PTSD with proper due diligence. "Veterans with PTSD…deserve a complete investigation and presentation of their mental state by the best experts in the field," they wrote.
That part of the article is right. PTSD is not a get off the hook free pass but justice does require disclosure of it. These cases are still very rare, as indicated by the number of veterans reported to be on death row. We have about 22 million veterans in this country.

If we don't take care of them when they are in the service, which clearly evidence proves we don't, and then can't manage to take care of then as veterans, substance abuse usually follows along with a lot of other things. The very nature of someone in the military is to save people even though they are trained to kill in order do to that, but we tend to skip that part. So how is it they go from being willing to die for the sake of someone else into killing others? That is a good place to start but then we have to add in the other simply fact we also like to forget. It is still happening. When it happened to all the other generations of veterans, we had the luxury of ignorance for an excuse. After all these years, no excuse should be acceptable because since 2007 the military and the VA has had 40 years of research to come up with a better plan than they ended up with.

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Home From War Female Veteran Feels Service Devalued

Home From War, Female Veteran Discovers Not All Military Service Is Valued Equally
KPLU
By GABRIEL SPITZER
APR 30, 2016
As a female vet, she was often mistake for a “real” veteran’s wife or girlfriend. And as someone who did a majority of her service within the confines of that Army base, she discovered that some soldiers played down what she went through.

Marine Corps translator Vanessa Davids (second from the left), on one of her rare trips off base.
COURTESY OF VANESSA DAVIDS
Vanessa Davids did most of her military service “inside the wire,” as an Arabic translator on a base in Iraq. Her job called on her to translate audio and video recordings, in hopes of gathering intelligence, foiling attacks and probing enemy action. She translated bomb plots, beheadings, even in some cases child pornography. As a result, she got an intimate, and dark, perspective on human nature.

“Doing the work that I did, it really seemed to me at the time that evil was in every single person, and it was just a matter of how well they hid it from you,” Davids said.

But upon returning from her deployment, she discovered that not all military service is treated equally by either the military itself, her fellow vets, or the civilians she now moved uncomfortably among.
read more here

Senior Chief Petty Officer Accused of Identity Theft From Sailors

Navy senior chief charged with stealing identities of subordinates
The Virginian-Pilot
By Scott Daugherty
Published: April 29, 2016

In all, investigators linked Pressley to more than $24,000 in loans issued in the names of the two sailors, according to court documents.
NORFOLK, Va. (Tribune News Service) — A 19-year Navy veteran and Bronze Star recipient is charged with stealing the identities of at least two subordinates to secure fraudulent loans.

Senior Chief Petty Officer Clayton Pressley III – who is currently assigned to a Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit in Virginia Beach – is set to appear this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Norfolk for a preliminary hearing.

According to court documents, Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents believe Pressley stole the identities of at least two sailors. The first sailor, identified in court documents only by the initials J.B., told investigators last October he received a letter of denial about two months earlier from Discover Financial Services in reference to a personal loan application he did not complete.
read more here

Bad Weather Didn't Stop Bikers From Raising Funds and Spirit of Double Amputee

Anderson Co. fundraiser for marine, double amputee
WKYT News
By Miranda Combs
Posted: Apr 30, 2016

LAWRENCEBURG, Ky. (WKYT) - The weather wasn't ideal for a bike ride this morning, but dozens still showed up at a gas station in Lawrenceburg to raise money for a double amputee injured in Afghanistan in 2011.

"It's pretty humbling," said Lance Corporal Cody Evans. Evans was 27 years-old when his time at war stopped suddenly. "I led the foot patrol and I sweep a metal detector to find IEDs and I was clearing a compound out one day and stepped on one." Evans had both legs amputated and spent close to year recovering in his new body at Walter Reed Medical Center.

"I guess just needing help with stuff. That's the biggest thing and one of the hardest thing to get accustom to," Evans confided about his new life. But that's why bikers from the area showed up Saturday to raise money. The event was part of 'Defining Forces', a group that helps with a soldier's journey home by building houses for double amputees like Evans. The money raised will go toward furniture for his new home that will be built in May in Tennessee.
read more here

Who Failed Mary Louise Mora and Husband Accused of Murder?

Jesus Mora had sought help for PTSD and was on medication. Did his doctor fail to notice that he was in fact a danger to others? Family members were worried. Friends were worried, especially after he attacked someone and bit off a "chunk" of his face during a party. 

Now his wife is dead. So who failed her? 

Was it the military psychological training service members in what we have been told to be "preventing" and helping them to readjust? Was it the medication he was on? Something like this usually does not happen but when it does, we need to be asking a lot more questions about how someone can go from being willing to die to save someone into being accused of murder.

Veterans are far more likely to harm themselves than anyone else so what happened with Mora?
Warrant: Man with PTSD attempted to detach wife's arms, neck from torso in murder
Fay Observer
By Monica Vendituoli Staff writer
Apr 28, 2016

Crying, Mora explained to the deputies that something bad had happened. "I feel that it's real. I hope that it's not real," Mora told deputies, according to the warrant.
A man accused of murdering his wife in February attempted to detach her arms and neck, a search warrant says.

The court documents also say the suspect told deputies he was taking medicine for post-traumatic stress disorder when the incident occurred.

Jesus Guillermo Mora, of the 8900 block of Steeplechase Drive, was charged with second-degree murder Feb. 6 for the killing of his wife, Mary Louise Mora, the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office said.

He was arrested that day as well.

At 1:23 a.m., Jesus Mora called 911 and asked that deputies come to his residence. They found him in a grassy field near his home talking to the 911 dispatcher. The warrant noted that he appeared to be impaired.

Crying, Mora explained to the deputies that something bad had happened. "I feel that it's real. I hope that it's not real," Mora told deputies, according to the warrant.

Deputies drove Mora back to his residence. During the ride there, the warrant said Mora told deputies that he had been deployed to Afghanistan while in the military and was taking medication for PTSD. Mora also told the deputies he had been drinking.
read more here

Australia "Overwatch" Tracking Social Media to Save Veterans

'Overwatch' group prevents veteran suicides by monitoring social media, sending in the troops
ABC Australia
By Louise Merrillees
Posted Fri April 29, 2016

"I've had my bad moments when I've been pretty low, and they've sent vets to come and find me. From what I can see, they've prevented an awful lot of suicides from happening."

PHOTO: Ex-serviceman Trevor Dineen receives support from veterans at his local RSL. (ABC News: Louise Merrillees)
Trevor Dineen, a 31-year-old ex-serviceman, is talking about Overwatch Australia, a national organisation that intervenes when defence force veterans show mental health warning signs.

Overwatch, a military term that means one unit providing cover or support to another unit, has more than 4,500 volunteers Australia-wide, who have served with the Australia Defence Force.

The organisation describes itself as a "peer-to-peer, boots-on-the-ground, rapid-response organisation formed to assist former ADF members who are at risk or in crisis".

Robert Harris is the national president of Overwatch, while Marc Kirwin is the national coordinator. Both of them served in the Army.

Mr Harris said Overwatch was all about a quick response when warning signs became obvious.

"Once we have someone's address, we can put boots on the ground in 30 minutes," he said.

Overwatch focusing on Rwandan and Somali vets

Mr Kwinan said Overwatch was focusing on veterans from the Rwandan and Somali peacekeeping and humanitarian missions.

"Those guys are wracked with guilt. The rules of engagement were totally different - they couldn't engage unless they were in direct harm's way or fired upon.

"They saw women and children slaughtered in front of them. And the militia are standing there looking at them smiling and knowing they couldn't do anything about it.
read more here

Saturday, April 30, 2016

Austin Police Warn Public About Charity Claiming to Support Troops

Police warn of group claiming to raise money for soldiers
By WSLS.com Staff
Published: April 29, 2016

“It’s almost like an act of stolen valor. They [are] basically taking people’s patriotism and taking advantage of it,” said Alvarez.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Neighbors and police are raising concerns about a group claiming to raise money in order to send care packages to military members deployed overseas.

“Just the fact that we have somebody out here that’s portraying that they want to do that and that’s preying on the heart strings of our community is just unacceptable,” said Leander Police Chief Greg Minton.

Callers in Leander, Texas reported someone soliciting donations earlier this month for a group called United Soldier Outreach. Minton noticed a few red flags. First, the organization was willing to accept cash. They also seemed willing to break city rules. Minton says Leander requires a permit for solicitors and the city does not allow going door-to-door on a Sunday. He says United Soldier Outreach didn’t have a permit and they were soliciting on a Sunday.

Leander is hardly the only community raising concerns about United Soldier Outreach. Media in the Houston and San Antonio areas also found neighbors and police reporting similar interactions. Now, potential donors report seeing them in Steiner Ranch, Leander, Cedar Park, Georgetown and Wells Branch.
read more here