Friday, February 17, 2017

Fort Bragg Solider's Body Returns Home

HEARTBREAKING VIDEO CAPTURES FALLEN SOLDIER'S HOMECOMING
ABC 13 News
February 16, 2017

RALEIGH, N.C. (KTRK) -- They are the sniffles heard around the world.

When Lisa Williams' plane arrived at Raleigh-Durham Airport, passengers were asked to wait to let someone off the plane first.

When she looked out the window, there were several soldiers unloading a flag-draped coffin from the cargo hold. For minutes, the plane remained silent, aside from the sniffles coming from the passengers.

A woman walked over and placed her hand on the casket to say her final goodbyes, and others -- presumably family members -- joined her.

Then, seven Green Beret soldiers dressed in full uniform carried the casket off the plane and loaded it into a black hearse, paying their respects as they marched away.

Eventually, a pilot came on the intercom to thank the passengers for waiting.
read more here

Army: Green Beret dies in non-combat accident in Niger
Army Times
By: Meghann Myers
February 9, 2017

A Special Forces warrant officer has died from injuries he suffered in a vehicle accident while serving in Africa, a U.S. Army Special Operations Command spokesman confirmed to Army Times on Thursday.

Warrant Officer 1 Shawn Thomas, of 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, died Feb. 2, Lt. Col. Robert Bockholt confirmed. His death was first reported by U.S. Army W.T.F.! Moments.

"Our deepest condolences go out to Warrant Officer Thomas' family, friends and colleagues," 3rd Special Forces Group officials said in a statement.

Officials couldn't specify the type of vehicle or any other details of the accident because of the ongoing investigation, said Sgt. 1st Class Victor Aguirre, a USASOC spokesman.
read more here


Thursday, February 16, 2017

St. Paul Cop Just Couldn't Leave Homeless Veteran Alone...Became His Friend

Skeptical cop befriends homeless veteran
KARE
Boyd Huppert
February 15, 2017

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Not everyone comes to Xcel Energy Center to feast on hockey. William Tentis comes to get dinner.
Homeless veteran William Tentis and St. Paul police officer Eric Reetz
(Photo: Eric Reetz)
As fans of the Minnesota Wild stream through the arena’s entrances, William has perched himself on a landscaping stone next to the sidewalk.

“Got to get something to eat,” he says softly. “Get food in my belly.”

Most fans walk past, barely acknowledging his presence. A woman stops and pulls a couple of bills from her pocket. “Thank you ma’am,” William tells her sincerely. “God bless.”

William, 64, has been at this awhile. He’s good at it - friendly, humble and unthreatening.

“It's been about five years since I've had a job,” he reveals.

Sir William, as he’s known on the street, tells his story on a small cardboard sign he holds. “Veteran,” it reads. “10 yrs Army.”
read more here

American Veteran Love Story Started at the Long Beach VA

This Paralyzed Veteran’s Love Story Began In The VA Hospital
Huffington Post
By Elyse Wanshel
February 15, 2017

Sometimes you find love where you least expect it.
BETTER THAN FICTION PRODUCTIONS
Sgt. Nick Mendes met Wendy Eichler while he was being treated at the VA hospital in Long Beach, California.

Sgt. Nick Mendes, a veteran who was paralyzed from the neck down by an IED in Afghanistan in 2011, found love in an unexpected place — a Veterans Affairs hospital.

Mendes had been at the VA hospital in Long Beach, California for five months when he met Wendy Eichler, a medical caregiver who specialized in paralyzed patients.

The pair hit it off, and Eichler began visiting Mendes during her off hours and continued to see him when he was released from the hospital. Their friendship turned into a romantic relationship and they soon fell in love.

The two are the subjects of a new documentary by filmmaker Julie Cohen called “American Veteran.”
ENDY EICHLER
Mendes and Eichler on their wedding day on Sept 28, 2014.
“American Veteran” will be screened five times in New York in early March as part of the ReelAbilities Film Festival, which promotes awareness and appreciation for the disability community through film, and will then travel to a number of other cities through the ReelAbilities tour.
read more here

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Canada: PTSD Veteran Survived 3 Tours, Sought Help... Then Killed Himself

Military veteran’s suicide preceded by calls for help
The Star Canada
Allen Woods
February 14, 2017
Carl Jason Dunphy, 39, wrote of frustration with Veterans Affairs Canada before ending his life in Feb. 11 confrontation with Quebec police
MONTREAL—A Canadian military veteran with post-traumatic stress syndrome killed himself Saturday in a confrontation with police just hours after complaining about the government’s handling of his case.

Carl Jason Dunphy, 39, wrote on his Facebook page Saturday morning that he had been fighting with Veterans Affairs Canada for additional help with operational stress injuries after serving three combat tours in Afghanistan.

“It’s eating away at my resources and my strength. It’s not up to friends and spouses to deal with this because a government organization doesn’t act,” the native of Edmunston, N.B., wrote.

That night, the Sûreté du Québec responded to a tip from the Edmunston police force about a suicidal man headed into their jurisdiction.
Paul Nichols met Dunphy in Edmunston during the tail end of a horseback ride across Canada in 2015 to raise awareness about veterans’ issues.

Nichols said in an interview that Dunphy had suffered multiple concussions as a result of roadside-bomb strikes over the course of three deployments in Afghanistan and was left struggling with short-term memory as a result.
read more here

Vietnam Veteran Dennis Gray Laid to Rest with Honors

‘Unclaimed’ Vietnam veteran who died in December buried with honors in Higginsville
FOX 4 KC
BY MICHELLE PEKARSKY AND MARCUS OFFICER
FEBRUARY 15, 2017
HIGGINSVILLE, Mo. — A Vietnam War veteran who died in December and whose body remained unclaimed until a Missouri coroner got involved, was laid to rest with honors Wednesday afternoon in Higginsville, Mo., surrounded by some of his relatives.

Pettis County Coroner Robert ‘Skip” Smith found Dennis Gray’s discharge papers at Gray’s home in Sedalia, Mo., after the veteran passed away.

Initially, no one knew how to contact Gray’s family members but with the help of the coroner and other strangers, they were located and attended the service.
read more here

Ralph Jesters 3 Tour Vietnam Veteran Passed Away Homeless

Homeless veteran to be honored at Beaumont funeral home
KFDM 6 News
by Brandon Scott
Wednesday, February 15th 2017

BEAUMONT — A Beaumont funeral home is inviting the public to support a deceased homeless veteran at a service to be held in his honor Thursday.

Claybar Funeral Home will host a service to honor Ralph Jesters, an Army veteran who served three tours in the Vietnam War.

Jesters was found dead Jan. 22. Investigators found that Jesters was homeless and did not have any local relatives.

They later learned of his military service.
read more here

Man killed by plow at Bedford VA hospital identified

Man killed by plow at Bedford VA hospital identified
Lowell Sun
By Robert Mills
UPDATED: 02/13/2017

BEDFORD -- A 60-year-old man was killed in a parking lot at the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital in Bedford Sunday night when he was struck by a Veterans Administration plow truck as it was backing up.

On Monday, the Middlesex District Attorney's office identified the victim as Gerald Flynn, a resident of 100 Pride Way on the VA hospital's property.

Bedford police Chief Robert Bongiorno and fire Chief David Grunes said in a press release that emergency crews were called to a parking lot on the hospital grounds for a report that a man was in cardiac arrest after being struck by a plow truck about 6 p.m.
read more here

Will Staff Sgt. Cory Griffin Get Justice and Help?

Judge considers shortening ex-soldier's sentence due to PTSD
By: Associated Press
Posted: Feb 13, 2017
Staff Sgt. Cory Griffin
COLORADO SPRINGS - A judge in central Colorado is considering reducing a former soldier's sentence for drunkenly shooting his friend based on whether he is receiving adequate mental health care in prison.

The Gazette of Colorado Springs reports that 4th Judicial District Judge Lin Billings-Vela said on Thursday that reports that former Staff Sgt. Cory Griffin's mental health is deteriorating while he serves his eight-year sentence may rise to the level of an extraordinary circumstance that merits a sentence reduction.
read more here

Dog Has Afghanistan Veteran's Back...On Motorcycle

Dog Loves Going On Motorcycle Rides With His Veteran Dad
The DoDo
Christian Cotroneo
February 14, 2017

"With my PTSD, I don't do well in crowds and with unfamiliar people and places. She watches my back."
When the crowds got to be too much for Keith Campeau, he had a friend to take him away from it all: his motorcycle.

Campeau would get on the open road in Edmonton, Alberta, and feel the sanity-saving grace of being alone. It's been like that ever since the Canadian soldier came back from a tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2011 with a crippling case of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Crowds made him painfully anxious.

"When I first got back, that was my one escape — to jump on the bike and take a ride when I was getting out of hand," Campeau tells The Dodo. "That was a kind of self-induced therapy."

But the motorcycle couldn't always be there for him. And the crowds — on busy sidewalks and in teeming malls — never seemed too far behind.

"It was like World War 3 every night getting home from work," he explains. "When I went out in public, I started bumping into people. In crowded areas, I started knocking people over."

A psychologist recommended Campeau find another friend: a dog.
read more here

Soldiers in Afghanistan Send Valentines to 5 Year Old

Soldiers in Afghanistan among hundreds who sent valentines to New Castle boy battling cancer
CBS 4 Indy
BY CBS4 WEB
FEBRUARY 14, 2017

NEW CASTLE, Ind. – A New Castle boy battling brain cancer is feeling the love from people across the world this Valentine’s Day.

The family of 5-year-old Jace Griffin has been encouraging others to send the kindergarten student cards to distract him from his pain.

Jace’s father told CBS4 that the little boy “is doing GREAT!” after receiving over 1,400 valentines. He said they had received some as far away as Japan.

A group of soldiers stationed in Afghanistan even sent the little boy a video message to lift his spirits.
read more here

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Army Investigating Death of Fort Bragg Soldier Found in Woods

Army investigating death of Fort Bragg soldier 
Fay Observer 
By Amanda Dolasinski 
Staff writer 
Feb 14, 2017 Updated 2 min ago 

The Army Criminal Investigation Command is looking into the death of an 82nd Airborne Division soldier whose body was found in a wooded area more than a week ago. 

Spc. Victor Aponte-Rosado, 31, of Caguas, Puerto Rico, was found in woods near Preachers Road on Fort Bragg around 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 6, according to Chris Grey, a spokesman for the Army's CID. Grey said someone found something suspicious in the woods and reported it. 

He declined to give any details about possible injuries or details surrounding the death. read more here

Orlando Veterans Make the News In a Good Way

News 6 gives voice to veterans The Veteran's Voice debuts on ClickOrlando.com 
Click Orlando
February 14, 2017
ORLANDO, Fla. - WKMG-TV News 6 this week launched "The Veteran’s Voice," a section of ClickOrlando.com dedicated to those in Central Florida who have served our country. "The Veteran’s Voice" is designed to be a platform that gives veterans an opportunity to be candid about the daily challenges they face.  
Over the next year, News 6 will interview local veterans in an effort to understand more clearly how our community can help make Central Florida a model when it comes to veterans’ needs. To see their stories, go to ClickOrlando.com/veteransvoice.

Yogi Saved Ryan

‘He hit me to make me drop the knife’: How Ryan’s dog saved his life
News.com Australia
Emma Reynolds
February 14, 2017

AFTER Ryan Geddes served two terms in Afghanistan, he was left with serious post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
The 30-year-old from Newcastle says
his dog Yogi has been his lifeline.
Source:news.com.au

The 30-year-old from Newcastle in NSW found a fly-in-fly-out job, but only lasted a few months, crippled by panic attacks and a phobia of leaving the house.

He says his dog is the reason he’s alive today.

“If I hadn’t met Yogi, I’d be dead by now,” he said. “He hit me once, hard enough to bleed, to get me to let go of a knife. He’s saved my life a few times.”

Ryan met his six-year-old wolfhound cross back in 2010, after his first nine months in Afghanistan, while posted in Brisbane. He returned for five more months in 2013, serving in mobility support on patrol searches for IEDs and weapons.

“When you go to war you see all these horrible things,” he said. “Then your whole idea of humanity is clouded. “It didn’t really hit me until I got out of the army.”
read more here

Army Ranger Facing Charges After Shooting Another Soldier

Army Ranger arraigned in shooting of fellow JBLM soldier
The Olympian
Kenny Ocker
February 13, 2017
One witness said Popek had returned to JBLM from a deployment five days earlier.

An Army Ranger assigned to Joint Base Lewis-McChord was arraigned Monday in Pierce County Superior Court, charged with shooting a fellow soldier in the neck Saturday in Parkland.

Spc. Thomas Patrick Popek, 22, faces one count of second-degree assault for the incident, which charging documents say left a JBLM soldier on life support with a bullet lodged in his neck.

The 23-year-old is in critical condition in an area hospital and unable to breathe on his own.
read more here

Monday, February 13, 2017

Marine Mom Helped Stranded Marine

Stranded marine on a trip across the US gets help from local military mom
Thanks to a Facebook group, he got the help he needed
Your Central Valley.com
Posted: Feb 12, 2017

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. - While most were preparing to watch the Super Bowl last Sunday, a marine driving a truck through Colorado was stuck when his it broke down on his journey home.
His truck broke down, and he was stranded for four hours until a stranger whose son is also a marine learned of his troubles and offered a hand.

"You talk about it, and you just get goosebumps. It's just a wonderful feeling that I was able to help him and get him off the road," Shauna Zelenka said.

Zelenka was browsing through a Facebook page for marine families -- missing her deployed son -- when she came across a post from a mother in Iowa.

It mentioned New Castle, Colorado -- a town only 10 minutes east of Zelenka's home in Silt.

"I saw that this marine who had just been discharged from the military was stuck on I-70," Zelenka said.

The Marine was Chris Sims.

"I was like, 'I'll take all the help I can get,'" Sims said.
read more here

Fort Hood Staff Sergeant's Death Under Investigation

Fort Hood: Iraq war veteran found dead in off-post residence 
KWTX News 
By Staff 
Feb 13, 2017
Staff Sgt. Christie Marie Anderson. (Fort Hood photo)
FORT HOOD, Texas (KWTX) Fort Hood Monday identified a soldier who was found dead on Feb. 6 in her off-post residence as Staff Sgt. Christie Marie Anderson, 44 of Hazen, Ark. 

Killeen police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death, Fort Hood said, but no details were released. 
read more here

Body of Missing Minnesota National Guard Soldier Found

Body Of Military Member, Joel Costa, Discovered
FOX 21 News
by Dan Hanger
February 12, 2017

DULUTH, Minn – Just before 9 p.m. Sunday, the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office notified the media that the body of missing Minnesota National Guard member Joel Costa, 32, had been found.
The discovery happened around 7 p.m. on a rural road just north of Duluth. Costa’s vehicle, comparable to the picture below, was also found at that location, according to authorities.

The cause of death will be determined by the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office.

No foul play is suspected, according to the Sheriff’s office.
read more here

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Veterans ask, "Do you really want to hurt me?"

Veterans ask, "Do you really want to hurt me?" Yes, some politicians just don't care if ending the Affordable Care Act can hurt veterans.
A preliminary review of 2006 data shows little change in the number of uninsured veterans since 2004, Woolhandler noted. Woolhandler's team found that 645,628 uninsured veterans were old enough to have served in Vietnam. More than 1 million (1,105,891) served at other times, including in Iraq and the first Gulf War -- 56.5 percent were older than 44. Among uninsured veterans, 26.5 percent said they couldn't get medical care because of costs, 31.2 percent delayed care due to costs, and 49.1 percent hadn't seen a doctor within the past year. In addition, two-thirds didn't receive preventive care. Yet, almost two-thirds were employed, the researchers found.
More than 600,000 veterans will go without health insurance next year unless 19 states stop holding out against expanding Medicaid, researchers said Wednesday.
Not all U.S. veterans receive health care through the VA's Veterans Health Administration, but the massive system does serve about two-thirds of the 9 million veterans who currently qualify. (To be eligible for VA care, a veteran must have a service-related physical or mental health condition.) Trump has proposed solving the VA's problems of long waits and poor care by allowing veterans to see private doctors, with Uncle Sam picking up the tab. But that program -- which would cost as much as $500 billion over 10 years, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget -- is controversial, with some veterans groups seeing it as partial privatization that could ultimately weaken the VA.

The truth is, about 80% of the veterans in this country do not use the VA for all of their healthcare. Most do not go for a lot of reasons. Some won't go because they believe the VA is for veterans worse off than they are. If a veteran has a job and is insured under the Affordable Care Act, this will harm them and frankly, they want to know why? They really want to know why because the politicians talking about ending it are also talking about privatizing the VA and sending them into the same mess that is about to get a lot worse.

Accident in Niger Claimed Life of Special Forces Soldier

Special Forces soldier dies in accident in Niger
STARS AND STRIPES
By ALEX HORTON
Published: February 11, 2017
SAN ANTONIO — An Army Special Forces officer was killed in a non-combat accident in Niger on Feb. 2, the Army said Friday.

Warrant Officer 1 Shawn Thomas, 35, was killed in a vehicle accident in Niger, according to a statement released by U.S. Africa Command. Another soldier was injured in the accident, which occurred during a “routine administrative movement” between partner force outposts, the release stated.

“Our hearts and prayers go out to their families during this difficult time,” the Africa Command release stated.
read more here

Veteran Committed Suicide in Tennessee Storage Unit

Veteran kills himself in storage shed in Murfreesboro
USA TODAY NETWORK
Chris Smith
Tennessee
Published Feb. 10, 2017
"Suicide is a tragic outcome and hurts not only the victim’s family, but also the caregivers and the larger veteran community. VA is committed to ensuring the safety of our veterans, especially when they are in crisis."
A Murfreesboro veteran killed himself in a storage unit Thursday afternoon, according to Murfreesboro Police.

At about 5:25 p.m., police were called to Ideal Storage on South Church Street, according to an incident report.

Dinah Walker, a Veterans Affairs case worker, directed police to the storage unit where she found the man, who had hung himself.

The officer checked for a pulse but found none, the report said. Responding Murfreesboro Fire Department workers performed CPR, but the man was not responsive. He was pronounced dead at St. Thomas Hospital.

Walker said the 62-year-old veteran was a client of hers, the report said. She had last spoken to him at about 3 p.m. that day.

The VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System confirmed the suicide in a news release Friday afternoon.
read more here