Camp Lejeune Marine saved couple in Nigeria

Marine awarded for saving couple
WNCT News
By Angela Green
Posted: Apr 14, 2014

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - Sergeant Stephen Lowe, an armory custodian with 2nd Marine Division has been awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal.

This honor comes nearly a year after he swam through waves nearly six feet tall to help rescue a couple in distress at a beach on Snake Island, Nigeria.

Lowe said he risked his life in such conditions because he believes that everybody's life is more important than your own. "That’s the way I was raised that if someone needed help you helped them, even if it was giving them the shirt off of your back. So you should never get or expect a prize for saving someone’s life.

That’s a prize in itself,” he said.
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20th deployment to Afghanistan Army Rangers

Rangers train for 20th deployment to Afghanistan at Fort Knox
WDRB
By Lindsay Allen
Posted: Apr 16, 2014

FORT KNOX, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Rangers are the Army's most elite soldiers who are put into some of the most dangerous situations in Afghanistan.

It's just training, but in real life this is what the Army Rangers do best.

"The most intense is the constant tempo that we do it," said First Sgt. Nathan Dunn.

In Afghanistan they do special operations, ambush attacks -- taking out high-level members of Al-Qaeda.

"We have a lot of focus on working on those enemy networks," explained Lt. Col. Patrick Ellis, 3rd Ranger Battalion Commander.

It's a job for the most elite and mentalLY tough. In fact, some of the equipment the Rangers use can't be shown because it's classified.

So why is this happening At Fort Knox? At Fort Benning, the Rangers share training facilities with other more conventional units.

"It can get crowded at times with a lot of the elements there as you know the armor school used to be here but moved to Fort Benning," explained Ellis.
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What is the story on 22 million veterans?

How many Veteran in the USA?

21,973,000 Veterans in the USA

7.3 Million of them are Vietnam Era Veterans, the highest group.

The VA only pays 3.79 million veterans disability compensation.

Less than 9 million veterans are being taken care of for one thing or another.

How many served in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Since the U.S. went to war in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, about 2.5 million members of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard and related Reserve and National Guard units have been deployed in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, according to Department of Defense data. Of those, more than a third were deployed more than once.

How many have PTSD? By the last percentage used it is one out of five. For Vietnam veterans it was one out of three. Now go back and look at the number of veterans. Seems pretty high but then think of this.

Considering how many veterans we have in this country the news accounts of veterans in trouble are out of line with what the facts are. The number of PTSD veterans involved in any type of crime is also out of line when you consider how many of them we're talking about.

So enough with the stupid headlines.

That is what reporters should honestly remind readers about and if they do not, then it means their have another agenda to achieve. Like destroying the rest of the veterans.

At least 22 veterans commit suicide everyday but the headline should be about the 1,000 more attempting suicide every month. Why? Because those are just the veteran in the VA system.

More veteran are doing more to make sure they help other veterans than hurt anyone. More are serving their communities as first responders, firefighters and police officers but why talk about them? More do more and more do whatever they can whenever they can but hey, why report on them since doing good is what the majority of them always do?

Veterans slam New York Times

Dumb gets dumber. None of what is happening in the press is new. Absolutely none of it. They report what people tell them especially military brass and never know enough basic information to begin to know who is full of BS and who is telling the truth.

It happened last week, last month, last year, last decade and throughout the history of this country. Up until Vietnam veterans came home, the reports were more respectful of service folks. Even if it was a terrible story they at least tried to respect the fact the person was a veteran. After that, respect went out and headline grabbing was in.

This is nothing new. You read it all the time right here. The really deplorable-disgusting-disgraceful-reporting going on is what they are not reporting on. Who has been held accountable for the rise in suicides? Who has been held accountable for the money spent while producing more suicides all these years later? Who had been held accountable for being in leadership and blaming the soldiers for suicides along with their families? For calling soldiers committing suicides as being "selfish" then ended up being rewarded for reducing suicides after discharges? Any clue? Nope because they don't want to do their jobs. It is just too easy to attack veterans than to put veteran status in proper perspective to the story matter.

Veterans slam New York Times piece linking vets to hate groups
Military Times
By Jeff Schogol
Staff Writer
Apr. 16, 2014

Veterans advocates are denouncing an opinion piece in the New York Times that draws links between veterans and white supremacist groups in attempting to explain the actions of the suspected gunman in a recent and deadly shooting outside a Kansas Jewish center.

Frazier Glenn Cross, also known as Frazier Glenn Miller, is accused of killing three people outside a Jewish community center and Jewish retirement community on April 13, according to media reports. The Fayetteville Observer reported that Miller is a former Ku Klux Klan leader as well as a retired master sergeant who served in Army Special Forces. He was forced to retire in 1979 for distributing racist materials.

In the opinion piece published in the New York Times, Kathleen Belew wrote that while the majority of veterans are neither violent nor mentally ill, veterans have a history of joining right-wing extremist groups. She cites a 2009 Department of Homeland Security Report linking the return of combat veterans to Ku Klux Klan membership.

“During Mr. Miller’s long membership in the white power movement, its leaders have robbed armored cars, engaged in counterfeiting and the large-scale theft of military weapons, and carried out or planned killings,” wrote Belew, a postdoctoral fellow in history at Northwestern University.
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Camp Lejeune Marines and Sailors Run for 24 Hours to Save Lives

Marines, sailors run for 24 hours to raise suicide prevention awareness
WCTI
By Alison Parker
Apr 16 2014

CAMP LEJEUNE, ONSLOW COUNTY
Marines and sailors aboard Camp Lejeune are running for 24 hours to raise awareness for suicide prevention.

"They're our brothers, so we need them right beside of us and care for them as our own family," said Sgt. Dequane Smith.

It's a R.A.C.E. that could save lives.

"Recognize Marines and sailors that are in distress," said Capt. Jimmy Lindemann. "Ask them if they're having thoughts of harming themselves, show that compassion and the Care, and Escort them to the appropriate outlet whether that's the chaplain or a counseling service."

Groups of 10 are running in relays. The units that run the most laps in 24 hours wins.

"We have higher incidents and higher instances of suicide and I think it's from the experiences that the service members have had," said SSgt. Matthew Jones.

Smith says he's lost several fellow service members in his own company.
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OEF OIF Veterans Riding for Vietnam Veterans

Veterans bike through Vietnam to help heal wounds of war
McClatchy News
BY CHARLIE REED AND DREW BROWN
McClatchy Foreign Staff
April 16, 2014

HUE, Vietnam — Whenever Army Maj. Yancy Baer deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan _ and when he came home the last time in 2009 to face the amputation of a leg _ Vietnam veterans were always there to greet him and lend their support.

Baer is now returning the favor. He and six other cyclists, including three other wounded Afghanistan and Iraq war vets, completed a 320-mile journey earlier this month through the former battlefields of central Vietnam.

Their mission: to raise money for Vietnam veterans who want to return to this southeast Asian country for the first time since the war but can’t afford to make the trip.

“If it wasn’t for Vietnam vets standing up and lobbying for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, I truly believe we wouldn’t have the care or the warm homecoming that most of us have experienced,” said Baer, 42, of Choctaw, Okla. “It’s a shame their generation didn’t support them the same way.”
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Dog owner killed after argument over letting dog run around

Dog owner called police after shooting neighbor: 'He doesn't look well. Send the ambulances!'
Detroit Free Press
By L.L. Brasier
Staff Writer
April 16, 2014

The 911 call came in shortly before 10 p.m. that cold snowy night last December.

“Somebody help!” the man shouted to the operator. “There’s been a shooting. Send them quick. Call them quick...he’s on the ground.”

The man making the call, Charles Simkins, 28, had just shot his neighbor, Edwin Criswell, 45, in the leg, following a dispute over Simkins’ dog, which had been running their Walled Lake neighborhood.

Criswell eventually bled to death on his front porch.

The seven-minute tape was played in open court this afternoon, as Simkins, dressed in orange jail garb and shackled at the waist, sat and listened at the defense table.

The preliminary examination, before Novi District Judge Dennis Powers, will resume next Wednesday to determine whether there is enough evidence to send Simkins, an Iraq war vet, to trial. He is charged with open murder.

Criswell complained about the dog, and the two began to fight, Simkins hitting Criswell, and knocking him to the ground.
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Florida Marine Shot After Trying to Help Strangers

Military veteran shot in the face when helping others
First Coast News
Michelle Quesada
April 14, 2014

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A local military veteran is recovering from a gunshot wound to the face after he was shot while trying to help others.

Ralph Tackett, 49, spent hours in surgery Monday.

"They got the bullet out, he's got three plates in his jaw, three titanium plates and he's going to need more surgeries," said Sandy Tackett, the victim's wife.

According to a Jacksonville Sheriff's Office police report, Tackett heard a car crash outside his home on Fort Caroline Road Saturday morning. He got in his car to drive out and help when he saw the crashed Silver Pontiac Grand Prix and three men walking towards him, waiving him down.

"They asked him for a tire, he said 'a tire? I think you need more than a tire,'" said Richard Tackett, the victim's son.

The report states that's when one of the suspects shot him in the left lower jaw.

"They didn't ask for the car, didn't ask him to get out or anything they just shot him," said Sandy.
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Another Marine's car was stolen.

Marine Lance Cpl. Cory Coumbes dies in car crash

Marine Lance Cpl. Cory Coumbes dies in car crash
The Desert Sun
Brett Kelman and Colin Atagi
April 15, 2014

Another Twentynine Palms Marine is injured in a separate crash on Highway 62.

A High Desert Marine was killed in a car crash in Twentynine Palms early Saturday. One day later, another crash in the neighboring city of Joshua Tree left a military policeman severely injured and fatally wounded his wife.

Lance Cpl. Cory Coumbes, 24, a rifleman stationed at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, was killed in a two-car collision at the intersection of Lear Avenue and Two Mile Road about 3 a.m. Saturday. Coumbes was a passenger in a Kia Soul hit broadside by a Honda Fit that ran a stop sign, said Cindy Bachman, public information officer for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

The following day, another car crash, this time along Highway 62 in Joshua Tree, left five people hospitalized, including Angela G. Matthews, 25, who died Tuesday afternoon from her injuries.

Her husband Marine Lance Cpl. Christopher Matthews, a 28-year-old military policeman stationed in Twentynine Palms was wounded in the crash as was the couple's 1-year-old daughter.

One week prior to that crash, a third Marine, Cpl. Elmer VanHoorebeke Jr., died in a motorcycle collision in Joshua Tree National Park.

All three crashes occurred within three weeks of an extensive, three-day Desert Sun series on the untimely deaths of local Marines.
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Vietnam Veteran made headline but other interest didn't

The fact the man charges in killing people is a Vietnam veteran made the headline but the fact he is a White Supremacist didn't? Read the story and see which one would have more to do with what he is accused of doing.

Murder Charges Against Vietnam War Veteran Filed in Shootings at Kansas Jewish Sites
Murder charges filed in shootings at Kansas Jewish sites
NTD
2014-04-15

WASHINGTON, April 16, 2014 (AFP)

US prosecutors filed a death penalty murder charge Tuesday against a white supremacist accused of fatally shooting three people at Jewish sites in Kansas over the weekend.

Frazier Glenn Cross, 73, also known as F. Glenn Miller, was charged with one count of capital murder for the deaths of a 69-year-old physician and his teenaged grandson outside the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City.

He also faced one count of first-degree premeditated murder for the death of a 53-year-old woman at the nearby Village Shalom retirement community where she was paying a weekly visit to her mother.

Riding in a wheelchair and wearing a dark sleeveless outfit, Cross made his first court appearance later via video link from a county jail, where he was being held in lieu of $10 million bail.

With his arms crossed, and a copy of the charges in his clinched hand, he accepted a court-appointed defense lawyer, saying he had no money to pay for his own attorney.

Magistrate Judge Dan Vokins told Cross to return on April 24 for a scheduling conference.

Sunday's bloodshed -- on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Passover -- occurred in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park. All three victims were Christian.
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J. R. Martinez all smiles with donation to Operation Finally Home

Dancing with the Stars Champ, Iraq War Vet J.R. Martinez and Operation Finally Home Moved by Wall Street Rocks' Donation to Help Wounded and Disabled Vets
Latin Post
By Melissa Castellanos
April 16, 2014

Dancing with the Stars Season 13 champion, U.S. Army veteran, actor, motivational speaker and best-selling author J.R. Martinez receives a $50,000 check from Wall Street Walks on behalf of Operation Finally Home.
(Photo : Sunny Norton)

Former Iraq War veteran-turned actor and Dancing with the Stars Season 13 champion, J.R. Martinez has wowed audiences with his slick dance moves alongside Karina Smirnoff, acting roles on ABC's All My Children, Lifetime's Army Wives to the nationally syndicated drama series, SAF3.

He's even nabbed the cover of People Magazine, been featured in their Sexiest Man Alive issue and one of the magazine's 25 Most Intriguing People of 2011.

But there's so much more to him than the spotlight he's received in Hollywood.

Like the Dancing with the Star's mirror ball trophy, there are flickers of light that have reflected off his onscreen success, transcending into incredible opportunities that help fellow wounded and disabled vets and burn victims like himself, who are in desperate need of financial and emotional support.
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Soldier found dead in Capitol Forest

Soldier found dead in Capitol Forest has uncle missing in Oso slide
The Olympian
BY JEREMY PAWLOSKI
Staff writer
April 15, 2014

Thurston County search and rescue crews have found the body of a JBLM soldier who went missing in Capitol Forest Sunday night.

Chris Dombroski, 20, was found dead about 10 a.m. Tuesday, in an area of Capitol Peak near where his motorcycle had been found just hours earlier.

"It's not suspicious," Thurston County Sheriff's Lt. Greg Elwin said of the soldier's death. Elwin added that the evidence at the scene suggests Dombroski suffered a "traumatic, non-accidental death," but he would not elaborate further.

"There's no indication anyone else did this," Elwin added.

The investigation into Dombroski's death will be turned over to the Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Office, because his body was found in Grays Harbor County, Elwin added.

The coroner in Grays Harbor County will conduct an autopsy.

Dombroski has an uncle and an aunt who are missing in the Oso mudslide, an Everett Herald reporter confirmed Tuesday.
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Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem empty?

Salem VA’s new mental health center still empty
The Roanoke Times
By Laurence Hammack
April 15, 2014

Nearly half a year after the planned opening of a new psychiatric building at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem, the facility still sits empty.

It could be July or August before the 38-bed inpatient treatment center is occupied, according to VA officials who said the delay comes as they await delivery of furnishings for the newly completed building.

The $9.5 million building was scheduled to open in the fall of 2013, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Nov. 20.

Since then, some of the specialized furnishings needed for patient safety “have required more time in production than was originally anticipated,” Salem VA spokeswoman Marian McConnell wrote in an email Tuesday.

Details on the types of furnishings involved were not available.

Only about a third of the ordered items have been delivered so far. Once the furnishings arrive, workers must install wiring for a system that will provide communication between patients in secure rooms and a nursing station.
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Afghanistan Veteran Marine Amputee Taking on Mt. Everest

Boise veteran, wounded in Afghanistan, climbing Mt. Everest
KTVB.COM
by Brady Moore
Posted on April 15, 2014

Credit: The Heroes Project

BOISE -- More than 7,000 miles away from the City of Trees, U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sergeant and Boise native Charlie Linville is making the climb of his life.

In January 2011 Staff Sgt. Linville was conducting an IED sweep in Afghanistan when he was hit by an explosive device. That blast caused head trauma and devastating injuries to his right foot and hand.

Two years later, despite multiple attempts at rehabilitation, his right leg was amputated below the knee. But now, he's climbing 29,029 feet to the summit of Mt. Everest.
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UPDATE

If you think this is not dangerous,,,,,,
At Least 13 Sherpas Dead as Avalanche Sweeps Mount Everest

An avalanche swept down a slope of Mount Everest on Friday along a route used to ascend the world's highest peak, killing at least 13 people in the mountain's deadliest disaster.

NBC News confirmed that all of the dead were Sherpa guides.

The guides had gone early in the morning to fix the ropes for hundreds of climbers when the avalanche hit them just below Camp 2 around 6:30 a.m. local time, Nepal Tourism Ministry official Krishna Lamsal told The Associated Press.
click link for more on avalanche

Marine vet not caught in Everest avalanche