Salem-News.com Veterans articles Page 55

Afghanistan Needs A Hero: How A Unifying National Leader Can Bring Peace

Nearly a decade has passed since the U.S. bypassed the king, and at this instant national unity and government legitimacy seem like pipe dreams.

(SEATTLE) - There is only one prescription for peace in Afghanistan - a formula clearly laid out to me recently by renowned experts and authorities on Central Asia, including the former highest ranking officer of Pakistan's armed forces.

What Afghanistan requires is a legitimate leader who can unify the nation - one that is chosen by the Afghan people according to Afghan custom, as opposed to being handpicked by U.S. diplomats or as the result of fraudulent elections.

Bob Etheridge, North Carolina and Camera Crew Fraud

A similar 'fake' camera crew changed the course of the entire world in September 2001.

(SALEM) - There is one state where politicians stick up for the right things, that is the state U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge calls home, North Carolina. It is also the home of Camp Lejeune, where men and women have been stationed for many years, drinking water that is just simply deadly.

Army Lynch Mob Meeting at Officer Club Bar: Oregonian Exposes Medical Torture

A story about why Americans should not join the military.

(MOLALLA, Ore.) - When I see a spade, I call it a spade. Finally the Oregonian prints a story by Julie Sullivan telling it right. They have done this very rarely in the past ten years.

Their headline Thursday, June 10, 2010, hits the nail right on the thumb, Oregon Guard Soldier’s Use of Medical Marijuana Runs Into Army’s Drug Abuse Policy.

Danger Looms if Afghan Vice President & Warlord becomes Country`s President

Mr. Fahim was involved in criminal activities, including kidnapping for ransom; as well as human rights abuses during Afghanistan’s decades of war.

(SEATTLE) - What some Afghan natives and analysts call the most dangerous part of the world has reached a critical juncture, “a tipping point”. Per Guardian and New York Times reports, “President Hamid Karzai has lost faith in the US strategy in Afghanistan and is increasingly looking to Pakistan to end the insurgency.”

Rest assured that this is wishful thinking on Mr. Karzai’s part; it is a pipedream.

Members of C-130 Crew Recovered From Vietnam War

Since late 1973, the remains of 927 Americans killed in the Vietnam War have been accounted-for and returned to their families.

(WASHINGTON D.C.) - The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of nine U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been accounted-for and returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

On May 22, 1968, these men were aboard a C-130A Hercules on an evening flare mission over northern Salavan Province, Laos. Fifteen minutes after the aircraft made a radio call, the crew of another U.S. aircraft observed a large ground fire near the last known location of Mason’s aircraft.

PTSD, PTSD, PTSD, Continued: Battle Veterans Cruel Deadly Plague: Alcoholism is the Result

The VA is still not taking proper care of any PTSD Vets of all wars. Alcoholism is killing hundreds of thousands because VA drugs have bad side effects and are not tolerable.

(MOLALLA, Ore.) - I had heard of SHELL SHOCK and BATTLE FATIGUE which are “waste basket diagnoses” even before I went into the WWII Army.

In 1943, I even read that there were about 15% “”Battle Neurosis” casualties in America’s invasion of N. Africa. The Army even sent a medical doctor Brigadier General to N. Africa to investigate...

Require US Businesses to Hire Wounded Warriors

It does not matter whether you consider the wars these young men and women were injured in as just or unjust. You must realize that each of them believed that they were serving our country.

( Harrisville, N.H.) - The Wounded Warrior Mentor Program was initially organized to match volunteer mentors to wounded warriors. Several members of the West Point class of 1958 founded the program when it became apparent that many wounded warriors needed more attention than the Army could provide.

The program includes Walter Reed, Bethesda Naval Hospital, Ft. Meade, Ft. Belvoir, Ft. Gordon and other areas.

Only a Fool Would Let Their Kid Play in Irvine`s `Great Park`

Our Environmental Writer Roger Butow describes the conditions at our old base; MCAS El Toro, as "Toxic Soup de jour".

(IRVINE, Calif.) - I can't believe we're still talking about this, and that somehow, some way, the city of Irvine is still trying to place a kids park atop one of the deadliest and most contaminated military bases in the world.

In the past, El Toro was used to kill... I mean, facilitate aviation Marines, like myself and Roger Butow, featured in the interview below.

PTSD in World War II Vets: Direct Relation to Alcoholism & Drug Abuse

The alcoholism rate of Veterans is at least twice that of non-Veterans, the relative risks are appalling...

(MOLALLA, Ore.) - There has been a lot of Bull Roar that WWII Vets do not/did not have PTSD as did Vietnam and Middle East Vets. I say Bull Roar. We WWII Vets got it too. In a previous article, I wrote that a WWII Ranger still had it 64 years later.

I can say the same about myself. I still have it and I don’t believe it will ever go away despite what some of the pseudo psychiatrists at the VA have been bleating, for instance “You’ll get over it in a few months. Take these Valiums”.

Afghanistan: - Karzai`s Bargaining Chips are Running Out!

The people of Afghanistan would love you forever if you returned them to the kind of leadership that they know and understand; the kind of Afghan leadership that they themselves have chosen for and among themselves for thousands of years.

(LOS ANGELES) - It’s ludicrous that in a matter of weeks Mr. Karzai has gone from being a frail, faltering, unqualified leader hampered by a deceitful family, to the man who will magically bring together the disparate welfare of Afghans with his commendable leadership.

The boosting of President Hamid Karzai’s credibility that now paints him as a true national leader not only shows the West’s insincerity in Afghanistan but exposes the futile inconsistencies in efforts by the United States to accomplish its goals.