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Maryland cemetery to offer burial of military working dogs, service dogs alongside owners

Rachael Kalinyak — Fri, 09 Jun 2017 15:33:01 +0000

A new section in a Maryland cemetery will be open to veterans who wish to be buried alongside their service animals or military working dogs.

Resthaven Memorial Gardens, on the northern edge of Frederick along the Monocacy River, has opened the Faithful Companions Honor Garden, which features larger burial spaces designed to accommodate such final requests.

“Resthaven has been doing pet burials since 1970,” said Jon Cody, the cemetery’s vice president of operations. “We were already doing it for all families and their pets,” but the new honor garden is a first for the cemetery.

The cemetery provides what it calls “courtesy space” to veterans, and will make the same offer to their animals. Maryland law requires money to be set aside for the care and maintenance of each plot, Cody said, so Resthaven asks for a $239.50 contribution for any space in the Faithful Companions Honor Garden. The money goes into a trust fund that has been set up for the future care and maintenance of the cemetery, Cody said.

The “courtesy space” offer will apply to military working dogs and service animals that are adopted by nonmilitary caregivers, he said.

“Our idea was to provide a courtesy space for those combat dogs, giving them the same honor that we would a human veteran,” Cody told the Frederick News-Post.

“It’s an extension of what we do — to memorialize with honor, commitment and dignity,” he added. “We want to make sure the dogs themselves are being honored, and the soldiers, and the bond between them.”

The memorial garden sits empty between the cemetery’s third veterans’ section, called the Veterans Garden of Valor, and its section reserved for pets, called the Garden of Faithful Friends. Commemorative bronze artwork planned for the garden is a “work in progress,” Cody said.

A rendering of the proposed dedication plaque for the Faithful Companions Memorial Gardens at Resthaven Memorial Gardens in Frederick, Maryland.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Resthaven

U.S. combat veterans in Africa turn skills to protecting rhinos, fighting PTSD

Rachael Kalinyak — Thu, 08 Jun 2017 18:50:33 +0000

A group of combat veterans has formed a non-profit organization that helps combat both poaching and post traumatic stress, according to The Guardian.

Ryan Tate, 32, a former U.S. Marine, founded the organization called Veterans Empowered to Protect African Wildlife, or Vetpaw. They are trying to protect rhinos and other game in the bush around their base in South Africa.

The former service members have gone through extensive training and are experienced enough to “resist the temptation” of using lethal force against poachers, The Guardian reported.

Rather, the veterans are using “textbook counterinsurgency” according to the British-born former U.S. Special Forces member, Kevin, a former Green Beret who did not want his full name used.

The organization seeks to employ combat veterans and giving them a similar level of brotherhood, intensity and purpose they knew during deployments. That also may help offset the PTSD that Tate told The Guardian “everyone gets” after returning from war.

“[There are] all these veterans with billions of dollars of training and the government doesn’t use them. I saw a need in two places and just put them together,” Tate said.

Soldiers deter simulated tank assault with cyber, electronic warfare

Rachael Kalinyak — Thu, 08 Jun 2017 15:43:40 +0000

A simulated tank assault was deterred using cyber weapons and electronic warfare technology during a training exercise, according to Defense Systems.

Trainers stopped a simulated assault by targeting the tank crew’s radio and communication systems during the exercise at the Army’s National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California.

“These tanks had to stop, dismount, get out of their protection, reduce their mobility,” Capt. George Puryear, an Irregular Operations Officer at Fort Irwin told Defense Systems in the report. The vulnerability allowed the tanks to be easily defeated.

The Army Rapid Capabilities Office and U.S. Cyber Command are working on technology to protect against cyber and electronic warfare attacks.

The broad category of cyber warfare includes jamming communication signals and infiltrating networks, both of which were demonstrated during the exercise. If a network is successfully infiltrated, it can be disabled or manipulated, allowing enemies to halt communication or relay false information to troops.

The demonstration allowed the Army to explore the possibilities of infiltrating civilian networks to subdue the populace and invade territories, an official told Defense Systems.

These exercises help the Army determine the technology that is needed in the field, and the Army RCO helps to develop and distribute the needed technology. The technology is not only focused on offensive and defensive strategies, but also part of an effort to obtain protection capabilities using EW and cyber, as well as having GPS alternatives, which are being explored.

Fort Irwin and Europe will continue to test and train cyber offensive and defensive weapons because “if we don’t win the cyber and EW fight, then the [next] maneuver may not matter, because we may not get it,” Maj. Gen. Wilson A. Shoffner, director of operations at the Army RCO, told Defense Systems.

New documentary highlights 75th anniversary of the Montford Point Marines authorization

Rachael Kalinyak — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 23:46:02 +0000

June 1 marked the 75th anniversary of the Montford Point Marines authorization, which first allowed African Americans to serve in the Marine Corps.

The U.S. Marine Corps Twitter page recently announced a new documentary that explains the history of the Montford Point Marines and their contribution to the United States Marine Corps.

“Between 1942 and 1949, roughly 20,000 African Americans decided to enlist.,” Capt. Lisa Lawrence, public affairs officer of the 1st Marine Division, said in the documentary.

Initially, according to the official website of the Montford Point Marines, the Marine Corps intended to discharge the newly accepted African American service members after the war, forcing them to return to civilian life and leaving the Marine Corps an all-white organization.

In the documentary, retired United States Marine Corps aviator Maj. Gen. Charles Bolden, former NASA administrator, said “everybody expected … they’ll quit. They won’t stick it out, yet they did, and they kept coming.”

Soon it became impossible to deny that the Montford Point Marines were just as capable as their white counterparts.

“Those Marines did everything the white Marines did, whether it was segregated camps or whatever, they were not going to be denied the title of U.S. Marine,” Col. Grover Lewis III, at the time the director of security and emergency services at Camp Lejeune, said in the documentary.

The camp was renamed in April 1974 to Camp Johnson in honor of the late Sgt. Maj. Gilbert H. “Hashmark” Johnson. Johnson was one of the first to enlist, a veteran of World War II and Korea, and a distinguished Montford Point drill instructor, according to the website.

Recognizing contributions of these Marines is important, because, as Lawrence states within the documentary, the Montford Point Marines “took the first steps to making the Marine Corps what it is today.”

Today marks the 75th Anniversary of the Montford Point Marines authorization.

Watch a just-released documentary: https://t.co/2NtucU3Xjv pic.twitter.com/vMsHCODw78
— U.S. Marines (@USMC) June 1, 2017

7,000 letters in 6 years, one woman gives deployed troops a connection to home

Rachael Kalinyak — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 17:54:07 +0000

A 98-year-old woman has written 7,000 letters to troops overseas in the past six years, WGN Chicago reports.

Alleen Cooper of California first started writing letters to troops during World War II. She sent her son letters when he served in Vietnam and hasn’t stopped since, sending letters to troops serving overseas and to those who have been injured.

“One in Florida, he had to have a new ear. And I’m sure he was very, very depressed,” she told WGN Chicago.

She decided to start counting her letters six years ago and has officially sent 7,000 letters since then. The letters are all hand-written, about four pages in length and each is unique.

WGN Chicago set up a meeting for Cooper to meet one of her correspondents over Skype, Chris Cantos. Cantos is a Marine she began writing to years ago. When he first received her letters, Cantos was deployed to a remote area of Afghanistan where the only method of communication available to him written letters.

During the Skype meeting, Cantos told Cooper and WGN Chicago that he would look forward to her letters. “She would always send us clippings and jokes. She would tell us about her day.”

Although her hands are getting tired, she said her letters will continue. “I decided I’m going to write as long as I can,” she told WGN Chicago.

Suspect accused of punching man with cerebral palsy was convicted of stealing from veterans cemetery

Rachael Kalinyak — Thu, 01 Jun 2017 20:18:44 +0000

A man previously arrested for an unprovoked attack outside a 7-Eleven in West Chester, Pennsylvania, has also stolen from veteran cemeteries, according to The Smoking Gun.

Barry Baker, 29, was charged with battery for attacking a 22-year-old man with cerebral palsy on May 10. The incident was caught on surveillance video and shows Baker mocking the victim before punching him.

Baker’s criminal records, obtained by The Smoking Gun, reveal that he was placed on probation for three years after violating a previous probation sentence for theft of a vehicle. In addition, Baker was convicted of theft in 2007 when he confessed to stealing nearly 250 bronze flag holders from the marked graves of veterans. The holders, estimated to be worth $10,000 total, were taken from two cemeteries in Pennsylvania. Baker sold them to a state scrap company as scrap metal, Smoking Gun reports.

For the 2007 crime, Baker received a sentence with a minimum of eleven and a half months in jail to a maximum of 23 months in custody. He was also ordered to take part in a treatment program for alcohol or drugs and get a mental health evaluation. For his most recent crime, he was charged with assault, harassment, and disorderly conduct, but made the $25,000 bail.

Veterans group condemns Kathy Griffin’s photo depicting Trump’s decapitated head

Rachael Kalinyak — Wed, 31 May 2017 18:35:43 +0000

The group Veterans of Foreign Wars has condemned comedian Kathy Griffin’s photograph, widely shared on social media, depicting her holding a bloody, decapitated head of President Donald Trump.

“The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. strongly condemns comedian Kathy Griffin’s incredibly revolting attack on the president of the United States. Her apology is not accepted. What she did was not humorous nor should it be protected speech or expression. Playing to an audience with a severed head is what our enemies do. The USO should immediately end its relationship with her,” VFW National Commander Brian Duffy said in a statement.

Griffin issued an apology, posting on her Instagram account: “I am sorry. I went too far. I was wrong.” But the backlash has been swift and serious. CNN announced that it would no longer feature Griffin on its New Year’s Eve coverage with CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, who posted to Twitter that he was “appalled by the photo.”

“It is clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate,” Cooper said.

Trump tweetedabout the photograph on Wednesday: “Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11 year old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!”

Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton,

also weighed in on Twitter

: “This is vile and wrong. It is never funny to joke about killing a president.”

Army creates crash test dummy to improve vehicle safety for soldiers

Rachael Kalinyak — Wed, 31 May 2017 15:52:10 +0000

The Army is developing a mannequin that researchers call the world’s first crash test dummy for under-body vehicle blast testing.

A prototype of the Warrior Injury Assessment Mannequin, or WIAMan, is expected to be delivered in 2018 and accurately show the affect of a blast on soldiers in new vehicle systems, according to a release from Army Research, Development and Engineering Command.

WIAMan will be used to evaluate the effects of under-body blasts involving vehicles, and assess the risk to soldiers in ground vehicle systems. The goal is to help design vehicles and personal protective equipment that may better protect soldiers and save their lives.

Army Materiel Command is sponsoring the project.

WIAMan and the platform created to simulate an IED explosion are undergoing testing, putting the project closer to its goal, according to a report from WHNT News 19.

A challenge for the Army has been to develop a crash test dummy that moves enough like a human body to get an accurate result.

The Army is working to make the mannequin “bio-fedelic,” meaning it can match human movement, Frederick Hughes, director of the WIAMan Engineering Office, said in the report.

“It’s difficult, it takes some time in trying to characterize a human being’s bones in battle,” Mark Angelos of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, told WHNT.

WIAMan will be 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weigh 185 pounds, based on the size of an average soldier.

Stranger buys plane ticket to reunite soldier with his family

Rachael Kalinyak — Tue, 30 May 2017 18:34:51 +0000

A 19-year-old soldier was reunited with his family for Memorial Day weekend thanks to a good Samaritan, according to Good Morning America.

Keaton Tilson had not been home since Christmas. He received approval on Thursday to go home for the Memorial Day weekend, but because of the short notice, he was put on standby for a flight home to Granite City, Illinois.

KTVI, the local Fox channel near Tilson’s hometown, reported that the soldier is a mechanic stationed at Fort Hood, Texas.

The TV station reported Tilson was stuck at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport for two days and missed a few flights because they were full, at which point a good Samaritan noticed and jumped into action.

“I didn’t go over there thinking I was going to buy a ticket,” Josh Rainey, of St. Louis, Missouri, told Good Morning America.

Originally, Rainey simply intended to trade tickets with the soldier. But when staff notified him that Tilson was not next on the standby list, he decided to simply buy him a one-way ticket instead.

“It didn’t look like he just wanted to go home, it looked like it was for a reason,” 35-year-old Rainey told Good Morning America. “This is so much more about him. He has chosen to give up at least the next four years of his life. He got the week off. Instead of choosing to travel or see another country, he had to get home to his family.”

Jennifer TIlson, the soldier’s mother, expressed her thanks to Good Morning America, saying, “You don’t hear of that all the time of a complete stranger willing to spend all that money.”

“We are super appreciative that Josh did this so Keaton could come home,” she added. “I know it was short, but it was better than nothing.”

Another tug-of-war win for the Navy

Rachael Kalinyak — Tue, 30 May 2017 18:13:39 +0000

For the seventh year in a row, the Navy beat the Marines during the New York Fleet Week’s annual tug-of-war competition on May 28, according to the Defense Department.

Each team was comprised of five participants.

Four out of five Marines were body bearers, who “carry caskets at ceremonial funerals in Arlington Cemetery,” Marine Capt. Evita Mosqueda told the Defense Department.

As a result, these Marines receive serious training to meet physical standards. Despite a training regimen that favored the Marines, however, the Navy team came out on top.

Photo Credit: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Carla Giglio

Ensign Jared Smoot told the Defense Department that their secret to success was studying tug-of-war videos and identifying “what angles and physics worked best [for handling the rope].” Smoot, a 6-foot-10 Crown Point, Indiana native added, “It was great to see the fruits of our labor, and see all the time we put in come to fruition.”

The week-long celebration has been held almost every year since 1984. Events included the tug-of-war competition, a performance by the U.S. Coast Guard Silent Drill Team and a performance by Navy Band Northeast.

The celebration provides the citizens of New York and the surrounding region with the opportunity to witness the latest capabilities of maritime services while meeting service members from the Coast Guard, Navy and Marine Corps. More information on the event can be found at www.fleetweeknewyork.com.