Many of us believe PTSD is being overdiagnosed at epidemic levels.
Category: Military issues
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Parris Island first sergeant to face hearing over $1.5 million razor theft
A Marine first sergeant previously stationed at the Corps’ recruit depot aboard Parris Island, South Carolina, will face a preliminary military hearing over his alleged involvement in a razor blade theft ring.
The first sergeant was named by his initials in an Oct. 10 indictment that purported the Marine noncommissioned officer conspired with three Defense Department civilian employees, working at the recruit store and warehouse at the depot, to steal nearly $1.5 million in Gillette razors.
I had no idea there was that kind of money in the Gillette business. Maybe all of this could be avoided if they just have recruits join the Dollar Shave Club.
Parris Island has a store that sells razor blades at a discount price to recruits aboard the depot.
The Parris Island razor blade racket was detailed in a federal indictment:
Chambers allegedly had approached Brutus “and asked her to steal boxes of high-end Gillette razors, razor blades and other items” from the recruit store, according to the indictment.
Brutus then allegedly introduced two other employees, Harrison and Byson, to Chambers to help steal the razors.
Harrison and Byson allegedly were able to steal boxes of the razors from the warehouse on a weekly basis and avoided detection by evading or disabling the security cameras, according to the indictment.
The stolen merchandise allegedly was delivered in person to Chambers until he was transferred in March 2018 to Florida. The razor blades were then transported via U.S. Postal Service.
Chambers allegedly would sell the blades and split up the proceeds through wire transfer from his Navy Federal Credit Union account.
The Post and Courier reported that the use of the postal service may have caused the scheme to come apart when Chambers called about the status of boxes containing 720 packages of Gillette blades that were sent to New York.
Federal Investigators then found wire transfers to one of the DoD civilian employees, according to The Post and Courier.
Source: Parris Island first sergeant to face hearing over $1.5 million razor theft
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“No One Left Behind” tries to rescue Iraqi and Afghan Terps | The American Legion’s BurnPit
Saw this on CNN the other day and it’s always been something that resonated with me, having had some pretty great interpreters in Afghanistan who risked everything to help us:In 2008, Matt Zeller was serving in Afghanistan as a captain in the US Army. One day while out on a routine mission, he and his squad were attacked by Taliban insurgents.
In 2008, Matt Zeller was serving in Afghanistan as a captain in the US Army. One day while out on a routine mission, he and his squad were attacked by Taliban insurgents.
Zeller would have been killed, he said, had it not been for his Afghan interpreter, Janis Shinwari.
“He shot and killed two Taliban fighters who were about to kill me,” Zeller said.
When Zeller thanked him for saving his life, Shinwari told him, “You are a guest in my country. It is an honor to protect those who are fighting for us.”
“That day we became brothers,” Zeller said.
After that, the Taliban placed Shinwari at the top of their hit list. Before Zeller returned home, he promised he would do everything he could to bring Shinwari and his family to safety in the US. It took Zeller more than four years to help them get their Special Immigrant Visas.
The interpreter and the soldier realized thousands like Shinwari remained vulnerable in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2013, they co-founded the nonprofit No One Left Behind to help other interpreters who’ve put their lives at risk to work with US troops.
You should click on over and watch the video of Matt at CNN in their Heroes segment linked above. Unfortunately I can’t embed that video here, but Matt has been on CNN before discussing it, and it is quite a compelling story:So far they are having some success according to figures they’ve released:
- Provided 161 families with rental assistance;
- Provided furnishings for 1,209 families in need;
- Provided 66 car grants to Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) holders;
- Helped 943 individuals with employments services;
- Advised more than 4,000 clients on the SIV process;
- More than 500 visas issued to clients we’ve assisted;
- Helped 8,329 individuals and 1,410 families overall.
Like I said, this one hits fairly close to home because of the danger I know most of them were in for helping us. At least when our deployments were over we could head home and see loved ones and not really worry overly that someone would kill them or take them hostage for what we were doing, but these Terps and others didn’t really have that option.
Check out the link above to CNN and if you want more on NOTB hit up their WEBSITE or TWITTER or FACEBOOK. They are Top 10 in CNN’s Hero Program thing, with the winning organization receiving $100k.
Source: “No One Left Behind” tries to rescue Iraqi and Afghan Terps | The American Legion’s BurnPit
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Military plane inadvertently drops Humvee over Harnett County neighborhood
A C-17 military plane dropped a Humvee prematurely over a neighborhood in Harnett County Wednesday afternoon, Fort Bragg officials confirmed.
No one was injured.
The neighborhood is in the town of Cameron. This incident occurred around 1 p.m. during a training exercise.
“A load of some kind was released early and we’re looking into how it happened,” said Michael Novogradac, a spokesman for the USArmy’s Operational Test Command.
The C-17 aircraft carries supplies and equipment into war zones and, on Wednesday, the special operations team was practicing that type of scenario when the accident happened.
Only two items were aboard the aircraft, which was flying at about 1,500 feet in altitude — the Humvee and a new heavy drop platform.
About a mile from the drop zone at Fort Bragg, the platform went out the back of the C-17.
“Everything went as planned except for the early release,” said Fort Bragg spokesperson Tom McCollum.
“Close” only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
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Navy blocks benefits for SEAL wrongly convicted: Attorney – Washington Times
The Navy is balking at restoring benefits and back pay to a former Navy SEAL whose sexual assault conviction was overturned by the military’s highest court due to unlawful meddling by the services’ top legal officer, a defense attorney charges.
Attorney David P. Sheldon, who represents former Senior Chief Keith E. Barry, released a statement on Thursday accusing the Navy of ignoring an order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. In September, it threw out Mr. Barry’s conviction and singled out for misconduct now-retired Vice Adm. James Crawford, who was judge advocate general.
Mr. Sheldon said the Navy at first started to comply with the Oct. 10 court order, but then stopped.
“When a decorated war hero, who served his country for decades and risk his life in countless combat missions, is wrongly convicted, confined, and punished as a result of the Judge Advocate General’s unlawful conduct, even one day is too long him to wait for it to be made right,” Mr. Sheldon said. “For Senior Chief Barry, he has been waiting not for days or weeks, but for years. And he continues to wait while Navy attorneys ignore the [court’s] order and pretend like VADM Crawford did nothing wrong.”
Mr. Barry received a dishonorable discharge and spent three years in prison until his release in April 2017. He is still officially listed as an offender even though the court, voting 3-2, dismissed the conviction over a month ago, with no retrial possible.
In 2014, Mr. Barry was convicted by a judge at court-martial on a charge of non-consensual anal intercourse. He and the accusing girlfriend had engaged in weeks of intense sexual contact, according to the woman who made the complaint after conferring with friends.
Patrick Lorge, the admiral who was overseeing the case in San Diego, decided to overturn the guilty verdict for lack of evidence. But Adm. Crawford intervened. Guilt-ridden, the now-retired admiral filed a sworn statement that suggested Adm. Crawford committed unlawful command influence.
A majority of the appeals court agreed.
“In this case, because the impact of RADM Crawford’s unauthorized guidance on RADM Lorge’s action is undeniable, we cannot escape the conclusion that actual unlawful influence tainted Appellant’s case,” the three judges wrote.
Source: Navy blocks benefits for SEAL wrongly convicted: Attorney – Washington Times
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Why today’s troops fear a new war is coming soon
Nearly half of all current military troops believe the United States will be drawn into a major war soon, a jarring rise in anxiety among service members worried about global instability in general and Russia and China in particular, according to a new Military Times poll of active-duty troops.
About 46 percent of troops who responded to the anonymous survey of currently serving Military Times readers said they believe the U.S. will be drawn into a new war within the next year. That’s a jarring increase from only about 5 percent who said the same thing in a similar poll conducted in September 2017.
Another 50 percent think the country will not end up in a major conflict during the next year. But that number is falling, down from more than two-thirds of those surveyed last fall who said a war was unlikely.
The fears of war come as President Donald Trump in the last year has repeatedly emphasized improving military readiness in the face of growing threats from foreign adversaries, both loosely affiliated terrorist groups and traditional major power rivals. At the same time, top Pentagon officials have spoken publicly about the need to prepare for a conflict against a “near-peer” adversary.
When asked about specific countries, troops said Russia and China were among their top concerns. The poll showed a big increase in the number of troops who identify those two countries as significant or major threats: About 71 percent of troops said Russia was a significant threat, up 18 points from last year’s survey. And 69 percent of troops said China poses a significant threat, up 24 points from last year.
According to their study, the Air Force supports the President the least and the Marine Corps supports the President the most. How shocking is that? I doubt their study actually reflects what most “Troops” think but the data is interesting to play with.
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Veteran convicted of threatening N.J. congressman
A veteran has been convicted of threatening to kill New Jersey congressman Frank LoBiondo and members of his staff.
Thirty-nine-year-old Joseph Brodie of Millville was convicted in Camden federal court on Wednesday of making threats to officials and employees of the United States.
Prosecutors say Brodie was unhappy with his healthcare treatment from the VA, when he reached out to LoBiondo’s office.
They say he became angry and made the threats when the Congressman’s chief of staff refused to arrange a meeting between him and the lawmaker.
The jury deliberated for approximately six hours before returning the verdict.
I go to one of the best VA facilities in the country. They have been amazing. Going there later today on a 6 month follow up after they cut out parts of my throat to save me from dying. I will have to sit around for a short while and listen to a few other constantly bitch about the free healthcare they are getting and why they should be getting $10,000 a month for their service-related injury that went undocumented for 30 years.
My doctor is 82, an old retired Navy guy that knows how to say STFU. He is the greatest.
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1st Lt. Katie Blanchard seeks $3.5 Million
We first wrote about Katie Blanchard HERE. She has filed a $3.5 million case against the Army Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
One year ago, an Army civilian who tossed a water bottle full of gasoline onto his supervisor and lit a match was sentenced by a judge to 20 years in prison for attempted murder.
For the nurse who survived the attack, the fight is not even close to over.
The Feres doctrine prevents service members and their families from suing the Defense Department in the event of injury or death, but for 1st Lt. Katie Blanchard, that is beside the point. In September, she filed a personal injury claim against the Army Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where she was working at Munson Army Health Center at the time of the September 2016 assault.
“Is it okay for us to have gross negligence and zero accountability in the military? Because if you look at my case, that’s what it is,” Blanchard told Army Times in a Wednesday phone interview. “Zero accountability for the way they treated me and the things that they missed that will forever affect my life.”
Blanchard, 28, is asking for just under $3.5 million to cover some of the costs of the permanent disabilities she faces, after more than 100 surgeries to date and an intense battle with post-traumatic stress.
She had, for months before the Sept. 7, 2016, attack, warned her supervisors and security personnel at the hospital that she believed Clifford Currie, the civilian employee, would try to kill her. Their relationship had deteriorated over the previous year, as she tried to implement an administrative plan to get his work progress on track.
A link to The Feres Doctrine is HERE. Lt Blanchard had repeatedly tried to get her command to take action concerning her attacker. I doubt Blanchard is perfect and from what I can gather seems to be more than capable of becoming a First Class Bitch at times. After what she has been through…I can not say that I blame her in the slightest.
While she’s fully insured with Tricare, she said she still fights constantly to get the treatments she needs. She has to fight for a temporary duty order to see specialists they don’t have at JBLM, or to fill a prescription for an extra-strength, non-irritating body moisturizer she applies daily just to be able to comfortably wear clothes and move around.
They kept it stocked at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, she said, where she recovered from the initial attack in their specialized burn unit.
“Here they’re like, ‘Nope, sorry, we don’t provide it,’ ” she said. “Well, it’s $20 for a tub of it, and I go through that every three or four days. This is not cosmetic. I don’t like just putting on a ton of lotion every day just to feel pretty.”
“That’s for comfort,” was Tricare’s response, she said.
So instead, she sleeps in a recliner in her basement after surgery, keeping herself in position with pillows that shift all night, waking up regularly to rearrange them.
“Yes, you give me medical care, but how much of a fight do I want to do for that?” she said.
The damages she’s seeking from Fort Leavenworth would cover those medical costs that are denied by Tricare, she said, as well as for child care for her sons while she’s in surgery and recovering, and her active duty officer husband isn’t available.
“My husband is currently out in the field and then he’s deploying,” she said.
Lt Blanchard deserves better than this. I am not a big fan of those who file cases for money as if it will change the behavior of those who do not actually write the check…this is an exception.
Please read the entire Article HERE.
