Iraq: U.S. Fighters to be Disarmed???

August 24, 2008

WTF??

If this is what is going to happen, it is time to get our folks out of that god forsaken crap hole ASAP. I don’t want any of our folks there if they cannot fire back or carry a weapon. From the AP, Read Below:

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s government is grateful to U.S.-allied Sunni fighters but won’t allow them to keep their weapons indefinitely, the prime minister said Saturday, hinting at a more intense crackdown on the Sunni groups.

In recent weeks, the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has gone after Sunni fighters despite their alliances with the Americans. Some leaders have been arrested, while scores of others have been disarmed and banned from manning checkpoints except alongside security forces.

Al-Maliki’s government has mixed feelings about Sunni tribes that rose up against al-Qaida in Iraq, starting in 2007, and joined the Americans in the fight against the terror network.

The groups, known as Awakening Councils, Sons of Iraq and Popular Committees, have helped rout al-Qaida in some parts of Iraq. But Shiite leaders fear the Sunnis’ switch of allegiance is just a tactic, and that they could one day turn their weapons against the Shiite majority.

The U.S., which put many of the Sunni fighters on its payroll, has urged al-Maliki to incorporate them into his security forces, but the government has been slow to do so.

In a speech to Shiite tribal leaders in Baghdad on Saturday, al-Maliki mixed praise for the Sunni fighters with a warning. He said armed groups, alongside security forces, were tolerated for a limited period because their weapons were “aimed at the chests of the terrorists.”

“So they (the Sunni fighters) deserve our gratitude and the inclusion (into the security forces) because we adhere to a policy that there are no arms but the arms of the government,” he said.

In other developments Saturday, a suicide bomber struck a car bazaar in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, killing at least five people and wounding at least seven others, according to the U.S. military and Iraqi police.

Among those killed was a senior member of a U.S.-allied Sunni group from nearby Diyala province, said Brig. Gen. Sarhat Qadir, a senior police official in Kirkuk. The bomber also was from Diyala, which has been an insurgent stronghold and is the site of ongoing U.S.-Iraqi military operations, Qadir said.

In the capital, gunmen killed an adviser to Iraqi Culture Minister Mahir al-Hadithi in a roadside ambush. A bodyguard was wounded in the attack along a main thoroughfare in eastern Baghdad, police and hospital officials said.

Two cars were involved in the killing of the adviser, Kamil Shiya, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the media. One vehicle blocked Shiya’s car and gunmen opened fire from the second vehicle.

Shiya’s death was confirmed by officials at nearby Kindi Hospital.

Something has to be done now. Leave a comment below what do you think?

Filed Under Air Force News, Army News, Coast Gaurd News, Corpsman.com News, Marine Corps News, Military Information, National Guard News, Navy News, Recruiting Information, Service Internet Links · Comments

PFC Dwyer loses Battle with PTSD

July 3, 2008

Soldier in photo dies after PTSD struggle

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jul 3, 2008 17:03:09 EDT

During the first week of the war in Iraq, a Military Times photographer captured the arresting image of Army Spc. Joseph Patrick Dwyer as he raced through a battle zone clutching a tiny Iraqi boy named Ali.

The photo was hailed as a portrait of the heart behind the U.S. military machine, and Doc Dwyer’s concerned face graced the pages of newspapers across the country.

But rather than going on to enjoy the public affection for his act of heroism, he was consumed by the demons of combat stress he could not exorcise. For the medic who cared for the wounds of his combat buddies as they pushed toward Baghdad, the battle for his own health proved too much to bear.

On June 28, Dwyer, 31, died of an accidental overdose in his home in Pinehurst, N.C., after years of struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder. During that time, his marriage fell apart as he spiraled into substance abuse and depression. He found himself constantly struggling with law, even as friends, Veterans Affairs personnel and the Army tried to help him.

“Of course he was looked on as a hero here,” said Capt. Floyd Thomas of the Pinehurst Police Department. Still, “we’ve been dealing with him for over a year.”

The day he died, Dwyer apparently took pills and inhaled the fumes of an aerosol can in an act known as “huffing.” Thomas said Dwyer then called a taxi company for a ride to the hospital. When the driver arrived, “they had a conversation through the door [of Dwyer’s home],” Thomas said, but Dwyer could not let the driver in. The driver asked Dwyer if he should call the police. Dwyer said yes. When the police arrived, they asked him if they should break down the door. He again said yes.

“It was down in one kick,” Thomas said. “They loaded him up onto a gurney, and that’s when he went code.”

Dwyer served in Iraq with 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment as the unit headed into Baghdad at the beginning of the war. As they pushed forward for 21 days in March 2003, only four of those days lacked gunfire, he later told Newsday. The day before Warren Zinn snapped his photo for Military Times, Dwyer’s Humvee had been hit by a rocket.

About 500 Iraqis were killed during those days, and Dwyer watched as Ali’s family near the village of al Faysaliyah was caught in the crossfire. he grabbed the 4-year-old boy from his father and sprinted with him to safety. Zinn grabbed the moment on his camera. The image went nationwide and Dwyer found himself hailed as a hero.

He did not see it that way.

“Really, I was just one of a group of guys,” he later told Military Times. “I wasn’t standing out more than anyone else.”

According to Dwyer, he was just one of many who wanted to help after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He’d grown up in New York, and when the towers came crashing down, he went to see a recruiter.

“I knew I had to do something,” he said. Just before he left for Iraq, he got married.

But when he returned from war after three months in Iraq, he developed the classic, treatable symptoms of PTSD. like so many other combat vets, he didn’t seek help. In restaurants, he sat with his back to the wall. He avoided crowds. He stayed away from friends. He abused inhalants, he told Newsday. In 2005, he and his family talked with Newsday to try to help other service members who might need help. He talked with the paper from a psychiatric ward at Fort Bliss, Texas, where he was committed after his first run-in with the police.

In October 2005, he thought there were Iraqis outside his window in El Paso, Texas. When he heard a noise, he started shooting. Three hours later, police enticed him to come out and no one was injured.

Dwyer promised to go to counseling, and promised to tell the truth. He seemed excited about his wife’s pregnancy.

But the day he died, he and his wife had not been together for at least a year, Thomas said.

And almost exactly a year ago — June 26, 2007 — Dwyer had again been committed to a psychiatric ward. Thomas said police received a 911 call that Dwyer was “having mental problems relating to PTSD.” “We responded and took him in,” Thomas said. “He’s been in and out.”

Military Times could not reach Dwyer’s family, but his wife, Matina Dwyer, told the Pinehurst Pilot, “He was a very good and caring person. He was just never the same when he came back, because of all the things he saw. He tried to seek treatment, but it didn’t work.”

She told the paper she hoped his death would bring more awareness about PTSD.

In 2003, Dwyer was still hopeful about the future, and about his place in the war.

“I know that people are going to be better for it,” he told Military Times. “The whole world will be. I hope being here is positive, because we’re a caring group of people out here.”

Filed Under Air Force News, Army News, Coast Gaurd News, Marine Corps News, Military Information, National Guard News, Navy News, Retired Veteran News, Seperated Vets News, Service Internet Links, Vets Issues · Comments

President Bush helps with New Walter Reed Hospital Groundbreaking.

July 3, 2008

Bush seeks new start for troubled hospital

By Deb Riechmann - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jul 3, 2008 20:16:27 EDT

BETHESDA, Md. — President Bush helped break ground Thursday for a new military medical center to replace Walter Reed hospital, whose reputation was soiled by allegations of shoddy care for war veterans.

Bush didn’t talk about the institution’s problems, instead lauding the work of the military medical staff. The new Walter Reed National Medical Center will merge the duties of the existing Army facility in Washington, which came under harsh criticism last year, with the operations of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.

“You soothe the pain and fear of patients, you console families who keep constant vigil over their loved ones, you share the joy of a neurology patient’s first recovered words and an amputee’s first steps,” Bush said at the groundbreaking ceremony in Bethesda.

“When required, you can show tough love, but you also like to remind patients that laughter is the best medicine,” Bush said. “And we look forward to the day when the joy of recovery echoes through the halls of a new medical facility that will be built here.”

When construction is completed in 2011, the 6.7 million-square-foot facility will have 345 beds. It will merge the resources of the Army, Navy and Air Force, and make it easier for medical professionals from the three services to collaborate and treat patients.

The image of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, which had already been listed for closure in 2005, was tainted by news of squalid conditions and inadequate outpatient care. The disclosures stunned the public, outraged Capitol Hill and forced three high-level Pentagon officials to step down.

Bush met with soldiers once housed in Building 18, who endured moldy walls, rodents and other problems that went unchecked until reported by the media. Bush later apologized to troops, saying that the problems at Walter Reed were caused by bureaucratic and administrative failures.

At the groundbreaking, Bush didn’t criticize Walter Reed, saying only that the new complex will benefit from the work done by the Dole-Shalala wounded warriors commission, which issued recommendations for modernizing and improving the nation’s military health care system. Bush created the commission, led by former Sen. Robert Dole, R-Kan., and Donna Shalala, President Clinton’s secretary of health and human services, to make recommendations following the Walter Reed disclosures.

The facility in Washington first opened in 1909 as Walter Reed General Hospital, named after Maj. Walter Reed, an Army physician and research scientist credited with discovering that mosquitoes transmit yellow fever. The hospital became famous over the years for its care of war veterans, as well as presidents, senators and foreign leaders.

In Bethesda, Bush was joined by military officials and U.S. troops for the outdoor event at the naval hospital, which was dedicated by President Franklin Roosevelt in the early years of World War II. Roosevelt, Bush said, called the military surgeons, nurses, scientists and technicians the “anonymous heroes” of the war.

“More than six decades later, our nation is engaged in a very different battle for our freedom, yet our success still relies on these anonymous heroes — the heroes who care for the troops, those troops who keep the American people safe,” Bush said.

Filed Under Air Force News, Army News, Coast Gaurd News, Marine Corps News, Military Information, National Guard News, Navy News, Recruiting Information, Service Internet Links · Comments

A Challenge to you… I ask you to support our “1″ Corpsman.com Charity..

July 1, 2008

Happy July “1″ Folks!!

We at Corpsman.com have never picked a charity to support, until yesterday.

A bit of history:

My wife who used to be a FMF Doc herself got out of the Navy and went to school for her nursing degree, she is now a RN and works as a Stem Cell / ICU Nurse at the Cancer Treatment Center of America, and she is devoted to those who are afflicted with this terrible disease. This Nurse has made it her life’s work to help those out who are dealing with this sickness.

So one of my loved ones deals with this on a daily basis and I hear the stories of what she see’s and deals with every day. You can read her Write up’s over at her site “Everyday Memoir” and read about how she deals with the up’s and down’s of this tragic disease. I honestly don’t know how she does it. She gets the “Bravery Medal” from me, I would be in a puddle sucking my thumb with despair.

Not her, she goes each day with a smile on her face no matter how her day is. This RN Loves taking care of these diverse patients from all walks of life.

Next you have Brian Gardner who is the Gentleman (Who lives up in IL btw who knew?) who created our templates we use for Corpsman.com. Self taught and is very helpful not only to his family, but all of us entrepreneurs who are trying to create content. He works out of a “Starbucks’ A couple hours a day and is self taught in this business. He is quick to help out those of us who are new to this whole world.

Well Brian is going to be doing the 3 Day Chicago Walk for Breast Cancer. He will be doing 60 miles in 3 days. We at Corpsman.com have already donated to him, what I am asking you all to do is to Sponsor him too! Just Wack the link above and it will bring you to the official site for donations.

You might ask “Why isn’t Da-Chief doing it?” Well Folks my days of doing 25 mile humps in a day etc are over. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and my knee’s, ankles and other joints would not be able to take it.

But Brian Can, and we can help him during this event to support him. We at Corpsman.com can show that Doc’s do care!! Read what he wrote about below and why he is doing the walk….

Join Me in the Fight Against Breast Cancer

From time to time, I will be posting this on the front page on my blog. The reason is simple. I get a lot of new visitors each week, and need to raise a large amount of money.It’s a great cause, so please read on…

I’m asked by many people how they can repay me for my help with WordPress Themes. Whether it be solving bugs, customizing themes that I make free to the public, or simply taking the time to respond to emails and comments. If you want to know how you can repay me, read below and you’ll see.

It’s all about karma, and making the world a better place.

On August 8th of this year, I will once again lace up my shoes for the Chicago Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk, and start an emotional journey that will take me 60 very long and grueling miles from the suburbs to downtown Chicago. This walk will be hot, this walk will be painful. There will be sweat, and there will be tears.

Most importantly, this walk will benefit women and help to save lives.

I am required to raise a minimum of $2,200 to participate in the event. By the time that you finish reading this, two more women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and another one just died from it. In fact, while I am walking those 60 miles, 110 women will die from this horrible disease. 110 families will lose a mother, or a daughter, or a best friend.

That is why I walk.

I don’t walk to get recognition. I don’t walk because I want people to think of me a hero. I walk so that a little girl can grow up and spend time with her mother. I walk so that a mother can watch her daughter walk down the aisle at her wedding. I walk so that I don’t have to console another friend while a part of her life was taken too soon. I walk because I am physically able to, while others are not. I walk because I have been given so much, and I want to give back as much as I can.

I walk, because I cannot walk away…

So I ask that you help us in this cause. When you go to the page to sign up, please put in the comments area that you are a member of Corpsman.com. This is the only “OFFICIAL” Chartity I will be soliciting for each year. As long as Brian is walking we will try to support him.

Thanks!!

You can Donate here!

$Support Brian Gardner in the \$