Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Air Force Major Died After Physical Training at Buckley

Air Force Major dies after physical training test at Buckley AFB
KUSA
Amanda Kesting
June 19, 2017

BUCKLEY AIR FORCE BASE, COLO. - An Air Force Major has died following after becoming unresponsive during a physical training test at Buckley Air Force Base on Friday.

Major Elgin "Rick" Ross was pronounced dead at 9:22 a.m. on Saturday at the University of Colorado Hospital.

He had been completing a physical training test the day before on base when be became unresponsive and was transported to the hospital.

The cause of his death is still under investigation.
read more here


Another Phony With Veteran's Charity Busted by Good Guys

Earlier today my buddy Gunny (not the guy in the following article) told me about a guy claiming to be a "highly decorated Marine." As usual, I went to This Ain't Hell, and found the link to MilitaryPhony.com

You really need to read the rest for yourself, so check out the link.
"For some reason he rocketed from E-2 all the way to E-1 and was sent to discover his land legs again." Military Phony wrote after a lengthy wait for this guys records.

This is what really got me,,,,

During the time we have been waiting on his records we have had multiple reports of him claiming to suffer from the PTSD.
We have no idea what causes him to suffer from such a thing, but we know strange things can happen in Fan Rooms aboard ships. Maybe something went bump in the night…we may never know. 
In summary, his FOIA response has no Navy Cross, Silver Star, NMCM(equivalent to a Silver Star for heroism while not directly engaged with the enemy), Purple Heart, Prisoner of War Medal or any other award with the exception of the National Defense Service Medal.   
According to his records he was on the opposite side of the planet during Vietnam. No RECON assignments or training of any kind. His records show he was most certainly not a United States Marine of any rank. 


Monday, June 19, 2017

Stigma of PTSD Lives On, and So Does Education

This is a really good article to read. "An unfair stigma for vets with PTSD" By Sol Wachtler on Newsday.
Fifty years ago, 550,000 U.S. troops fought in Vietnam. At war’s end, more than half of all veterans diagnosed with PTSD had been arrested — more than one multiple times mostly for drug-related crimes. Many suffered from undiagnosed and untreated combat-related PTSD and, tragically, many were issued less-than-honorable discharges from the service. For years, the military underdiagnosed and did not treat the problems and then cursed the sufferers with discharges for misconduct.
There were no Veterans Courts for Vietnam Veterans. Reporters only covered them when they were arrested, so no one really gave a damn. Really sad considering they ended up changing the way people surviving trauma were treated!

Great reminder right there that this is not new. It happened to Vietnam veterans when no one care, yet they were the ones who did not give up on themselves or any other generation. They fought for all the funding, research and yes, even understanding. 

This is the part that got me,
“There is a coming tsunami of . . . veterans who have been wrongly discharged for conduct that was, in fact, PTSD-related at a time when PTSD was not well understood,” Ken Rosenblum, a Vietnam vet and former Army officer who ran the Touro Law Center Vets Clinic, told Newsday.
Nice to be quoted but would be nicer to actually have someone mention it.

Still, as I wrote above a great article to read but putting up almost 28,000 posts on this site alone, plus the other decades of writing about it, most of the time, folks use quotes and don't even remember where they came from. Hmm, I wonder if someone used it before me? Then again, the research has been going on for over 40 years, so I wouldn't doubt it. Besides, there were a lot of people out there before I came along. I learned from them!


Hundreds Ride to Escort Vietnam Memorial Wall in Michigan

Motorcyclists escort Vietnam Memorial Wall replica to honor veterans
Up North Live
by NEWSROOM
June 19th 2017
"We have a lot of things to overcome, but to me, this is one sign of brotherhood camaraderie coming together to support."
Richard Quinlan
MANISTEE COUNTY, Mich. (WPBN/WGTU)-- Hundreds of motorcyclists rode in honor of our Vietnam veterans on Friday. It was the eighth annual Vietnam War Memorial Escort.

Richard Quinlan is a Vietnam war veteran. He says when he served, he was just doing what needed to be done. "Somebody has to stand up for what America believes in, and at that time, we were the ones that had to stand up," said Quinlan. 

Fred Nelson, also a Vietnam war veteran, now works with the group Rolling Thunder, an organization dedicated to helping veterans with events such as the wall escort.
read more here

American Legion Riders and Community Join Forces to Help Vietnam Veteran

Community comes together to help family of Vietnam War veteran
KESQ CBS 2 News
Alexandra Pierce
Posted: Jun 18, 2017

DESERT HOT SPRINGS, Calif. - It's been nearly a month since a Palm Springs man lost his home and his family's belongings in a fire. Days later, Mike Salazar, the owner of the home, lost his battle to cancer.
Salazar was a Vietnam War veteran and a local motorcyclist. Saturday, the Palm Springs American Legion and Legion Riders hosted a fundraiser to help Salazar's family get back on their feet.
read more here

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Will There Ever Be An Investigation Into Congress Funding Suicide Prevention?

What did Congress Do With What They Knew? 
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
June 18, 2017

Members of Congress have been holding hearings on suicides tied to the military for over a decade, yet nothing changed. As a matter of fact, it has gotten worse considering there were a lot less serving recently than during the "surges" of forces heading into Afghanistan and Iraq.

In 2006 the Army had this report,
U.S. soldiers serving repeated Iraq deployments are 50 percent more likely than those with one tour to suffer from acute combat stress, raising their risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Army's first survey exploring how today's multiple war-zone rotations affect soldiers' mental health.
Thankfully Ann Scott Tyson, reporter from The Washington Post cared enough to cover it.
"When we look at combat, we look at some very horrific events," said Col. Ed Crandell, head of the Army's Mental Health Advisory Team, which polled 1,461 soldiers in Iraq in late 2005. "They come back, they know they're going to deploy again," and as a result they don't ever return to normal levels of stress, Crandell said. 
How many were redeployed back then?
More than 650,000 soldiers have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001 -- including more than 170,000 now in the Army who have served multiple tours -- so the survey's finding of increased risk from repeated exposure to combat has potentially widespread implications for the all-volunteer force.  
Ever since then, members of Congress have been pushing through bills and funding them, we should have been demanding a change in direction for our servicemembers sake and all who came after them.
Suicide Named Third Leading Cause of Death Among National Guard Soldiers
Army
By Sgt. 1st Class Erick Studenicka
August 20, 2007

ARLINGTON, Va. (Army News Service, Aug. 20, 2007) - In terms of a threat to Army National Guard Soldiers, it easily rivals rounds from a concealed sniper, the devastation of an improvised explosive device or a blast from rocket-propelled grenade.
Master Sgt. Marshall Bradshaw, the Army National Guard's Suicide Prevention Program manager, posts a suicide prevention placard at the National Guard's joint headquarters at Jefferson Plaza One in Arlington, Va., Aug. 17. Statistics reveal suicide is the third-leading cause of death among National Guard Soldiers. (Photo Credit: Sgt. 1st Class Erick Studenicka)
The threat doesn't stem from any foreign armed forces or military power, and casualties resulting from this threat are often the saddest and most heartbreaking of deaths for the Family and friends of these Soldiers.

The threat is suicide, which is the No. 3 cause of death for National Guard Soldiers so far this year, according to the Army National Guard's Suicide Prevention Program. In Soldier deaths this fiscal year, there have been 42 cases of suicide in the National Guard, narrowly followed by 47 combat deaths and 45 accident-related deaths.

The Army Suicide Event Report, released Aug. 16, reported 99 confirmed suicides among active-duty Soldiers in calendar year 2006, its highest number since 1991. The National Guard's total of 42 is already 17 more than the 2006 total and marks the highest total since the National Guard began keeping suicide statistics in 2004.
read more here
Seven years later...
Suicide Prevention GENERAL FRANK J. GRASS CHIEF, NATIONAL GUARD BUREAU, April 8, 2014

One of the strengths of the National Guard is that we are representative of our great American society. Unfortunately, this also means that the suicide trends our society struggles with are also present in the National Guard. While suicides in the Air National Guard are 14 decreasing, the Army National Guard rates remain high. Although there have been a below average number of Army National Guard suicides year to date in 2014, there were 119 suicides in 2013, the highest per year number over the past six years.
By the end of 2016 there were 123 National Guardsmen, 80 Reservists and 275 Active Duty servicemembers.

So what exactly did they do with what they knew and who was held accountable? 

When do we demand Congress stops funding what does not work and find what does? 

Will there ever be any investigations into where all the money went? 

Who got it? 

Who got another grant? 

Where is the GAO on this?

PTSD Australia: Police Officer Talks About Moment Everything Changed

'I just wanted to wrap my arms around her': Police officer reveals the moment she climbed into the boot of a car with a dying mother who had been trapped for four days
Daily Mail Australia
By Sam McPhee
18 June 2017
Narelle Fraser had a breakdown following the discovery of Maria Korp and developed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result. She has quit the police force and is speaking out on PTSD in an attempt to encourage others to address the illness.
Narelle Fraser (pictured) was the first police officer on the scene and could not find Maria Korp's pulse
Policewoman has opened up about finding a near-dead woman in 2005
Narelle Fraser discovered mother-of-two Maria Korp in the boot of a car
Fraser cradled Korp who she thought was deceased after being in car four days
She felt Korp breathe and immediately rushed her to hospital
Korp was placed in coma but passed away several months later
A Victorian policewoman has relived the moment she discovered what she thought was the lifeless body of a missing woman in the boot of a car.

Narelle Fraser found mother-of-two Maria Korp in the back of a Mazda 626 in Melbourne on the 13th of February, 2005.

An emotional Fraser climbed in the boot to cradle the body, only to feel Korp breathe before rushing her to hospital.

Maria Korp was placed in a medically induced coma but would never regain consciousness and died several months later.

Police allege her husband, Joe Korp, and mistress, Tania Herman, plotted killing Maria. Joe committed suicide on the day of his wife's funeral, while Tania pleaded guilty to her murder.
read more here

Vietnam Veteran's Wish to Fly P-Model Cessna Granted

Vietnam War Veteran Gets Flight Of His Dreams
OPB FM
by Molly Solomon
June 17, 2017
Rowland was diagnosed with lymphocytic cancer in January. Doctors told him he only had a pint of blood left in his body. After trips to four different hospitals and two stints in rehab, Rowland was finally healthy enough to get on the plane.

It was a special day for a Vietnam War veteran in Vancouver, Washington. Simon Rowland, 66, has always wanted to fly in an old P-Model Cessna plane. And this weekend, he got his wish.
Veteran Simon Rowland peering out
the window of the Cessna plane as 
it flies across parts of southwest 
Washington. Molly Solomon/OPB

A crowd of friends who helped organize the flight met him at the runway Saturday morning. One of them is Meredith McMackin, an art therapist who met Simon while teaching a class at the VA Portland Community Living Center on the Vancouver campus.

“We were outside because it was a beautiful day and I had art supplies out there,” remembers McMackin. “And this fellow, Simon, looks up and sees a small plane and says, ‘I want to fly in one of those before I die.’”

That planted a seed for McMackin and she started making calls to the nearby Pearson Field. She got in contact with a local pilot, Bill Rollin, who was happy to help. When McMackin told Rowland she had secured a plane, he broke down in tears.
read more here

Vietnam Veterans Deal With Memories of Those They Lost 50 Years Ago

Hard-Hit Marine Unit from Vietnam War Celebrates 50th Reunion
Military.com
by Richard Sisk
17 Jun 2017
They grappled again, mostly in silence, with the question that has no answer -- why am I here when so many aren't? Libraries can be filled with books on the subject, going back to Homer.
The 6/67 Memorial at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia commemorates The Basic School's sixth graduating class, which suffered more than 250 casualties, including 43 officers killed in Vietnam. (US Marine Corps photo)
In the fall of 1967, The Basic School in Quantico, Virginia, finished training 498 twenty-something Marine second lieutenants. By the end of the year, nearly all were in Vietnam.

Before Christmas, the first of them was killed in action: 2nd Lt. Michael Ruane, of Mike Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, on Dec. 18, 1967. The TBS class that began in June 1967 (TBS 6/67) would have a casualty rate of more than 50 percent -- the highest of any Marine officer class during the Vietnam War.

For those second lieutenants and their platoons, the pace was unrelenting. They would go past the wire -- when there was wire -- on daily patrols through terrain that ranged from paddies and dikes along the coast, through the scrub brush and elephant grass of the interior, and into the triple-canopy jungles of the high ground reaching into Laos.

The New York Times declared that "the era of big battles" had come to Vietnam in 1967. Le Duan, the real power in Hanoi, ordered North Vietnamese Army regulars into South Vietnam to support the Vietcong. The battles became bigger in 1968.
read more here

Marine Married for Just 10 Days, Died in Motorcycle Crash

Family Mourns Newlywed US Marine Killed in Motorcycle Crash
NBC Los Angeles
By David Summers and Monica Garske
Lance Corporal Brandon Laughman and his wife had only been married 10 days before he died
An active duty United States Marine who was killed in a motorcycle crash in Mission Valley this week had gotten married to his high school sweetheart just 10 days before the accident.

"He has a big heart and [is] very independent. Love for his family, if he had his mind set on something, he had his mind on it,” said Kaytlin Laughman, wife of Lance Corporal Brandon Laughman, 20, in a phone interview with NBC 7 Friday.

The couple had wed in Urbana, Ohio, where Laughman was born and raised. Days after marrying his bride, Laughman returned to active duty in San Diego.
read more here