Authorities sent divers and sonar-equipped boats Wednesday to the sunken wreckage of a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter that crashed in Alabama’s Mobile Bay on a training mission, leaving one crewmember dead and three others missing.
The MH-65C helicopter crashed Tuesday evening near Point Clear, Ala. One crewmember was found unresponsive and later declared dead, the Coast Guard said.
The man who died was a rescue swimmer, said Capt. Don Rose, commanding officer of Coast Guard Sector Mobile. The three missing crew members were the pilot, the co-pilot and the flight mechanic.
I think that this has to be one of the hazardous jobs in the Coast Guard and the fact that these crews going out regardless of the conditions or danger. So far the only silver lining is that the three missing had the possibility to turn into recovered safety. I will be following any new development of this story. Here is to hoping for thier quick safe return. ALso our thoughts and prayers to go out the fallen diver.
Here is a quick video of what these crews do to help those on the high seas.
Since I post here and most of the readers here are ex-military that this would seem the best place for this.
I will not be re-enlisting and will be ETSing to Texas in April 2013. It was something that my wife and myself have talked about and both agreed on is the best course of action. We have a good plan and support from both of our families that should help with getting established. If all goes well we should have house by the end of 2014 if not sooner.
So with that being said, I was hoping to ask for advice and suggestions from those who have left the military service. Any comment would be welcomed.
There has been a on going drama that has been going to for a few years. I had been following this but because of the lack of coverage. I am still working on finding out more from them. Here is the short version.
I first heard of this group when I first PCSed to Alaska. They had people that would raise money near the Fredd Myers and had a visible building near Fort Richardson. They were featured on the local news about how they are trying to help the local Veteran community.
Vets Help Vets is in a strip mall just off the Glenn Highway, down from the Whaler Bar and a Hmong grocery. Butler, a middle-aged guy with a warm Louisiana accent, greeted me and photographer Erik Hill as we came through the door and started right in explaining what he was about.
“I tell it like this, ‘It takes a vet to help another vet,’ ” he said. “I’m trying to take care of those that fall through the cracks.”
But the problem is that Butler took off after taking most of the organization’s funds along with the creditability. Since then the group has been trying to repair since.
“Everything was in default. We almost lost the building,” Anderson says. A lack of money left a stack of bills unpaid, rent backed up, and threatened putting people back on the streets.
“Our homeless veterans would have been homeless all over again,” says Anderson.
The alleged incident prompted a complete makeover from uniforms and money management, to selecting new board members. Vets Helping Vets also has a new license as a nonprofit for protection against theft.
That was in September, since then they have had nothing but bad fortune. I know that they had to relocate due to the problems with the previous owner/founder.
Donations are down, and the group is in danger of having electricity shut off Thursday, Sept. 29.
Organizers said a power shutdown would impact their effort to help the hundreds of homeless veterans who walk through their doors with job and education opportunities, and two meals a day.
“We put our guys out on the line for community donations and things like that. The money that comes back in, we turn around and spend it back on the veterans or the organization to keep it up and running,” said Calista Anderson, president of Vets Helping Vets.
Shortly after that the local news reported the video above an the related link. I was very much surprised about their situation. I knew it was bad, but not this bad. Also I think that the fact that I live in Anchorage and still surprised by this. I think that the lack of coverage did not help with this. But I think the main thing that made me want to write this was the following statement below.
But Anderson is working to improve its image.
“Money is being managed well. That’s why we say anyone can come in and check it out,” she said.
The organization continues to feed nearly 20 homeless veterans each night, even without the lights or heat in the building.
The main cook, Marcus Coval, a Navy veteran, says he’ll continue cooking so that veterans can have a little light in their lives.
The group says it’s also considering changing its name and even potentially moving to another building if the situation doesn’t improve.
Which brings us to this post. I do not expect anyone to give money, but if these people are doing so much with so little to help the large number of veterans in need, we should help them out by spreading the word about them. I will try to contact them to see if their luck has turned.
More like a minor addition. The last time that we talked about SPC Jasper Lake back in December. Also trying to figure out what the Kayenta Veterans Organization knows about it. But also more about what they are going to do next. Well it seems that we have something worth noting.
So does this mean that the Kayenta Veterans Organization has given up the notion that Jasper Lake was ever a Medal of Honor Nominee. Since they had made it their intention of not talking to me, I cannot ask, but I would as about this link that is still referring to Lake as a Nominee. Time will tell.
Well what makes it even funnier is that that is the password to at least one email account of top aides to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Yes it was literally 12345. Also seems that I am not the first person to make the connection between this and Space Balls.
Expatriate Syrians pounced, gleefully delving through this treasure trove and pulling out newsworthy gems (some even joked about sending replies from the accounts, for example, “Curse your soul, Hafez”). There were few smoking guns, but one email, from U.N.-based press aide Sheherazad Jaafari to Damascus-based press aide Luna Chebel, was particularly interesting. It advises the presidential office on how to best handle Assad’s Dec. 7 interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters. If this is the quality of staff work Bashar al-Assad is getting… well, it explains a lot:
So now would be a good idea to see if your password is strong enough. Oh and to stop everything you are doing if you have not seen Space Balls. Seriously right now. Ludicrous Speed. GO!
“kind of thing an idiot would have on his luggage!”
Coming this Monday the military will be starting a program called Respect.mil. The goal of the program is to incorporate additional screening for mental health issues that are affecting the military. The idea is that if the screening is in place, there would be a greater chance of identifying those who would go to behavior health. According to page six of the PCC plan this is how it is expected to work at the initial visit.
Soldiers • attending primary care clinics for sick call and other reasons are routinely
screened for depression (two questions) and PTSD (four questions);
• Those with positive screens complete appropriate diagnostic and severity instruments
before seeing the PCC;
• If the instruments suggest that behavioral health issues require exploration and the
PCC’s diagnostic interview confirms the diagnosis of depression or PTSD, treatment is
initiated by the PCC who will continue to follow the patient closely;
But that is not how it is going to happen. You come to the clinic to check into your appointment and receive a colored questionnaire about symptoms from lost of interest to thinking about hurting yourself or others. Once you do that if you answer any questions that say you are given another different colored paper when you get into the room with more detailed questions. Then if you answer a certain way then you fill out another color paper which goes to the provider who will judge if you need to see a specialist in behavior health.
How this will be incorporated so that it does not increase a already long wait time for patients will be interesting to watch. So expect some longer wait times in the near future before these problems have been ironed out. But I have some personal concerns about a disconnect between getting to get men to open up against women. Something that I see a lot since I have been working in a clinic.
A guy is going to act defensibly if you put him in a closed off space, in a unfamiliar/unconformable place talking to a person who he does not really know. What makes it worse is the different concepts and jargon of day to day life. If you have to explain minor details in their story about what is troubling them, the person will not want to continue the story. Once that happens it does not matter how many questionnaire you give him, he will just answer the “correct” answers so that he can be left along. I have been told this directly by a patient. This is a big problem. If you want to reach him you need to be mobile. How many times have issues have come up where one guy tells the other “lets take a walk”. I know it is something that will not happen, but this is the best way for a guy to communicate.
I want to expand more on this problem. It comes when the person telling the story may be reluctant to tell it in the beginning. So the restarts from the listener not understanding or not relating can be frustratingly distracting. This giving the person talking more an more reasons to want to say “Forget it”. Also is a discontent over coping methods. The use of tobacco is the biggest on that I have seen. If you are deployed and used it to help with hairy situations like oh say using your vehicle that your in to roll over a possible IED to test that theory then no one is going to give you a hard time if you light one up after the mission. But in CONUS you will be lectured on quitting regardless of what anti-stress benefits it gives. Also it does not help getting a lecture on why people smoke due to it’s effects on stress reduction from a non-smoker makes me want to light up one right there. If I am feeling this way about tobacco, then imagine the thoughts going inside the person’s head who is reading these forms. It is another person slipping though the cracks.
Also another concern that may not be written on the website is that during the briefing, it was asked what role would the screener (medic) play in all of this. The reply was that the medic was not expected to or asked to perform additional roles in giving behavior health support. That if a person was positive that they would be handed off to the provider who would manage the issue from there. My concern is that is will create a attitude of “that is not my problem” or “That is not in my scope of practice”. I have seen this first hand during a deployment when a person had voiced a honest intent of wanting to hurt himself that another person present looked at me and told me and I quote; “Sounds like your problem” and “Sucks to be you”. That kind of attitude should not be encourage be it direct or indirect. But moving on.
Also as a guy, there will be a reluctance to mention anything that is viewed as unnecessary. For example if they are here for flu symptoms that they may be questioning why you are asking things that are not directly related to the visit. Also they may view the questions about their mental health as offensive or trick questions. For example it would be like someone asking you if you had thoughts about cheating your your spouse or had fantasies about cheating on your spouse every time you entered the clinic would be frustrating. Because it could be said that this would be valid due to the high rate of divorces in the military. The person would just not be actively listening/reading and give the “correct” answers again. Similar to the way most people read the licensing agreement to most computer software so they can install it. The speakers claim that the repeated visits will break though this but I refer to any women about the endurance of the stubbornness of the male ego and see if that logic has worked for them.
All in all, in the fight to find and help those who need it, it must fall on the medic. To listen to their gut and being willing to break away from the conventional to reach them. But most of being a person with genuine concern and kindness. But also be able to call BS on someone when they know they are hiding something. Because a person will reply to a person acting like a person rather then one that is imitating a power point presentation.
Yep, with all the talks of cuts within the military and ending of the operation in Iraq, the military of Australia is looking into number of people that are being affected by it. That is, they are looking to enlist them for their military experience.
With the Iraq War officially over and the Army downsizing in the face of defense budget pressure, more troops will be making the transition back to civilian life — a potentially challenging prospect given the state of the economy.
But for those who want to stay in uniform, there may be a new option emerging — just not an American one. Australia has put out the “Help Wanted” sign for foreign national veterans.
“We are looking for serving or ex-serving foreign military personnel, who can directly transfer their job and life skills to whichever Service they join, with limited training and preparation,” the Australian Defence Force has announced on its website.
Also it seems that you do not have to lose your US citizenship for serving in the Australian military. What makes it more interesting is that is seems to have some level of support from the VFW.
According to the U.S. State Department, the U.S. and Australia each recognize dual citizenship. Serving in the military of one is not listed as a cause for losing citizenship in the other. The Australian defense site also notes that security clearances acquired while in the U.S. military are transferable to the Australian military.
“Australia is a great country and staunch ally, and aside from a common language, we share the same values and beliefs,” said Joe Davis, a spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. “As our military begins to downsize, it could be a great opportunity for those who want to continue serving.”
I may email them to see what is going on with this program. I will post anything that I get back.
Just read further to find out more about our amusing diet.
In the mean time. I made a mistake of looking on Youtube for I@D. It is amazing how little people understand about medical procedural. It is even worse why people try to play doctor. This is a example of how to do it right.
Then there is this.
0:15 Sterile field? On a regular paper towel? Who are we kidding. 0:26 Sterile gloves go on. 1:06 Sterile gloves are no longer sterile by not having a assistant to open the needed items. Refereed to having pair of dirty hands. 1:10-1:18 If you are going to be the person doing the procedure then take charge. Unless they are equal or superior in medical training/knowledge then tell them to back off. 1:20-1:24 This is why a digital block is needed because you prevent additional pain to the patient and prevents the nerves from causing the jerks from the said pain. Also not to mention the fact you have a sharp object in you hand. In which you should not be doing with a needle. 1:35 Why you need a digital block. 1:40 perhaps you should clear out the room and telling the person not to look is going to do anything. 2:30-2:45 What is that, if your doing to do something then DO IT. Also see reason while you should have used a scapula. 3:33 The Iodine is not going to work unless you let it set. But then again that much iodine is not going to do anything. 3:59 Again WTF? 5:00 Yet again? 5:57 No he does not “need another one” He would be able to “handle” it if he had a digital block. 6:00 You are just using words from the ER episode that you watched last night, just stop talking.
But here is another example wit the title “ObamaCare in Vermont – Infected Thumb” Again stresses the need for a digital block. Oh and before you pat yourself on the back before doing this hack job. That it is what happens if something goes wrong.
If you are still reading this looking for the diet advice, I recommend re-reading/watching the above. If that does no work I would recommend looking up the related videos. If that does not help you lose/keep off the weight you ether have a iron gut or in the medical field.
So Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good diet.
