Oops! Texas Politician "Duped" or Confused?

State Rep. Matt Schaefer said his office was "grossly misled" about white nationalist rally
Tyler Morning Telegraph
Written by ROY MAYNARD
20 June 2017

State Rep. Matt Schaefer says his office was duped by a group portraying itself as a veteran’s organization, but was later found to have ties to the “alt-right” and racist views.

“No good deed goes unpunished,” said Schaefer on Tuesday. “My office was contacted by a man who wanted some logistical help in getting approval and a microphone set up on the Capitol steps for a rally. My staff did what it is there to do - help constituents. But as soon as we found out what this group is, we withdrew the request.”

State Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, on the House floor on Jan. 11, 2017. Photo by Marjorie Kamys Cotera

“We were asked, with rather short notice, to accommodate a party to be hosted Sat June 17,” the post reads. “The group represented themselves to our staff as ‘TBT’ and that they were a ‘Veterans group.’ While we searched for information on ‘TBT Veterans’ we found nothing good or bad and confirmed the booking. There was no mention of participating in a march or their actual name. Based on today’s events we now understand they misrepresented themselves and misled our Scholz events team, management and staff. Please rest assured we would never give any group on the side of hate a platform for any reason.”

Jim Brennan with the Texas Coalition of Veterans Organizations said this is a distressingly common problem.

“We represent about 600,000 Texas veterans,” Brennan said. “The challenge, over the years, has been people claiming their group is representing veterans. Now they may have individual members who had served in the military, but that doesn’t mean the group is legit, or that it’s doing anything at all on behalf of veterans.”

He said his own organization serves as a clearinghouse for information on legitimate veterans groups.

“If you have a question about a group, come to us,” he said. “We make an effort to check out every organization, to make sure they’re helping veterans.”
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Ex-Special Forces Soldier Captured on Video Saving Child

UPDATE 7/19 NEWS REPORT FROM
JOURNAL SENTINEL

Milwaukee Navy SEAL veteran shot while helping humanitarian group rescue girl from ISIS gunfire 
Maddie Koss 
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 
Published 9:21 a.m. CT July 19, 2017 

Check out the story and video here, then look at the one reported a month ago.

Am I out of my mind or is this the same story with different names and dates?

Video shows ex-Special Forces soldier-turned-aid worker dodge ISIS sniper fire to save little girl during battle for Mosul
FOX News 
By Maryse Godden
Published June 19, 2017

A former U.S. Special Forces soldier has been captured on camera braving ISIS gunshots to rescue a young Iraqi girl from the line of fire.

David Eubank, who works as an aid worker, was in the worn-torn northern Iraq city of Mosul when he saved the youngster’s life.

The 56-year-old, who founded the Free Burma Rangers, told the Los Angeles Times he spotted the small child among bodies of dozens of civilians killed by ISIS snipers as they tried to flee.
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Staff Sergeant Travis Mills Opens Retreat for Other Wounded Veterans

Quadruple amputee soldier transforms an old Maine country estate into a vacation destination which will give 56 veterans and their families FREE holidays this summer
Daily Mail
By Darren Boyle for MailOnline
PUBLISHED: 12:16 EDT, 20 June 2017

Staff Sergeant Travis Mills was blown up on April 10, 2012 in Afghanistan While on patrol, Mills placed his backpack on the IED which exploded He is one of only five solders in Iraq or Afghanistan to survive losing four limbs. His retreat for wounded veterans in Maine will open on Sunday afternoon

According to Mills, the property will open this Sunday following its extensive makeover

Quadruple amputee soldier Travis Mills will open his transformed Maine estate this weekend which will allow 56 veteran families to have free holidays this summer.

Mills, who was a Staff Sergeant in the 82nd Airborne was critically wounded by an improvised explosive device while on patrol on his third tour of Afghanistan on April 10, 2012.

The 16-bedroom mansion in Readfield, Maine will be officially opened by the retired veteran this Sunday.

In 2014, he created the Travis Mills foundation to help fellow veterans and the project was made possible by an incredible fundraising drive. He told People magazine he managed to raise the $2.75 million to restore the historic 11,000 square-foot house.
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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.
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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. 

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.
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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.
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