Guest post by Chicher (I wish he’d move in)

Remember this photo? Sadly this soldier died from PTSD related huffing incident in North Carolina. He was never the same after his war experience and his friends could not help him. May he now find peace.

A US army medic who became a symbol of American heroism and integrity in the Iraq war has died of an apparent drugs overdose.

The premature death of Joseph Dwyer at the age of 31 has highlighted the neglect many American veterans believe they face once they return home.

He was made famous by a photograph, taken in March 2003 during the first week of the war, in which he is seen running to a makeshift hospital.

In his arms, the soldier was cradling an injured Iraqi boy who he had rescued from crossfire.

More at the Telegraph

Anyone who thinks of the children and the toll war takes on them is a hero in my book. Kudos to Staff Sergeant Joseph Cox and his Mom!!! In the meantime, 4 Marines were killed in Iraq this weekend.

Staff Sergeant Joseph Cox is home on leave visiting his family and friends in Nacogdoches. But Tuesday he will go back to Iraq where his mother has already sent thousands of dollars in school supplies for the kids. “Started off myself just throwing pens out of my pocket to the kids and just seeing their reaction to the pens and pencils so I called my parents and had them send me some extra pens and pencils and from there it just took off,” Cox explained.

His mother has gotten all of East Texas involved and started her own campaign for the Iraqi children. It’s an effort that Cox says has helped with the relationship between the soldiers and the Iraqi people. “If someone had come over here and started to fight of course our parents are gonna tell the kids that they’re bad people stay away from them of course these kids have been told the same thing and through the interaction not only are we winning over the kids but the adults are learning now Americans aren’t as bad as everyone makes them out to be.” Staff Sergeant Cox says the kids have bonded with them and his mother wants to make sure they aren’t forgotten in the war. “They can’t help the situation they’re in and if we don’t help them and get them educated today they will be our terrorist tomorrow,” His mother Jo Cox said. And that’s why she’ll continue sending school supplies for as long as they need them.

If you would like to help with school supplies you can make a donation at First Bank And Trust or make donations at the Nacogdoches Public Library.

Source

Lt. Col. Billy Hall, one of the most senior officers to be killed in the Iraq war, was laid to rest yesterday at Arlington National Cemetery. It’s hard to escape the conclusion that the Pentagon doesn’t want you to know that.

The family of 38-year-old Hall, who leaves behind two young daughters and two stepsons, gave their permission for the media to cover his Arlington burial — a decision many grieving families make so that the nation will learn about their loved ones’ sacrifice. But the military had other ideas, and they arranged the Marine’s burial yesterday so that no sound, and few images, would make it into the public domain.

That’s a shame, because Hall’s story is a moving reminder that the war in Iraq, forgotten by much of the nation, remains real and present for some. Among those unlikely to forget the war: 6-year-old Gladys and 3-year-old Tatianna. The rest of the nation, if it remembers Hall at all, will remember him as the 4,011th American service member to die in Iraq, give or take, and the 419th to be buried at Arlington. Gladys and Tatianna will remember him as Dad.

More at the Washington Post

Thanks to TOB for sending this to me. My sincere heartfelt sympathy to Eric’s family and friends. I know how heart breaking it is to have a loved one suffer from PTSD, and not be able to make it go away.

PARENTS OF MARINE FOUND DEAD SEEK PTSD AWARENESS

Becky and Kevin Hall, parents of Eric Hall, address the media with Eric’s brother Justin, center, and confirm that the human remains found in a culvert on Sunday were those of their son Wednesday, March 12, 2008.

“It would come and go. He would have real good days. He would have bad days. PTSD is real. Believe me. Everybody believe me.”

Becky and Kevin Hall addressed the media in front of the Deep Creek home where their son, Eric, was living when he disappeared. The Halls and Eric’s brother, Justin, came out at 12:20 p.m. to speak in front of eight television crews and other media.

Kevin Hall talked about his son’s injury in Iraq, which required 17 to 20 surgeries, noting that, regardless of their opinion on the war, “it seems like the American people is in favor of the warriors.”

“Being his advocate, I tried to do the best that I could do.”

“He was on pain medication for a long time.”

“Supposedly when the mind-changing, altering drugs are not there, the bad dreams start to come back.”

Kevin Hall talked about a vehicle wreck Eric caused in Indiana when he hallucinated a road block in front of the jeep he was driving.

“I’m almost positive now that there was several other episodes that I’m not aware of.

“It would come and go. He would have real good days. He would have bad days.

“He was hurt in Fallujah. He was carried off the battlefield.”

Kevin related how Eric Hall passed through hospitals in Iraq and Germany before returning to the United States.

“PTSD is real. Believe me. Everybody believe me.

(more…)

So sad……..

Charlotte County Sheriff’s detectives have notified the family that the Medical Examiner has identified the body found Sunday in a culvert as that of ex-Marine Eric W. Hall.

A Major Crimes Unit detective told Hall’s family around 10:00 a.m. Wednesday morning that the 24-year-old’s body had been officially identified. Officials say the cause of death has not been determined at this time.

More here

God love them for this!

A loose-knit group of volunteers, most of them former Marines who faced combat in Vietnam, has assembled this week to continue a ground search for a fellow Marine veteran who fled - apparently from phantom enemies - into a sparsely developed area of Deep Creek more than a week ago.

The volunteers are patrolling along the Peace River, checking vacant buildings and conducting foot patrols on remote trails through the brush.

They-re searching for any sign of Eric W. Hall, 24.

Originally from Indiana, Hall fled from his aunt’s Deep Creek house Feb. 3. Medically retired from the Marine Corps in 2005 after a roadside bomb caused a traumatic injury to his left leg, Hall suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

He was experiencing a “flashback” and thought people were “after him” at the time he disappeared that afternoon, his family told police.

Equipped with flashlights and maps, some of the former Marines have even paired up to walk remote trails at night. They were out until well after 3 a.m. Tuesday, said searcher Charlie Shaughnessy, a Port Charlotte resident who served in Vietnam with the U.S. Marines.

“He’s a Marine,” Shaughnessy said. “It takes a Marine to find a Marine.”

The volunteers have pointed out Hall would have been trained on survival tactics. If he didn-t want to be found, he-d lay low during daylight hours and scavenge during the night.

More at Naplesnews.com

I haven’t done a “Know a Hero” post in some time. I saw Eric Hall’s family on the news this morning. If anyone reading this lives in the area and can provide any kind of help to this family in locating their loved one, here’s the info. All I can say is war sucks……and a needless war sucks even more. And I hope there’s a special place in hell for the officials who have decided to fuck our veterans upon their return from this needless war. I hope Eric Hall is found safe.

Relatives think wounded Iraq war veteran Eric W. Hall, missing for a week, may be wandering in the woods, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and under the impression that he is still fighting in Iraq.

Family and friends who spent Saturday searching for Hall fear the 24-year-old is covering his tracks, thinking he is in a war zone.

Courtney Birgle said if Eric Hall does not want rescuers to find him, they won’t.

On Saturday, Hall’s family printed fliers, drove around and talked to anyone who may have seen him.

“He’s a Marine,” said Birgle, who is married to Hall’s cousin. “He knows how to survive off the land and find food. We don’t feel he is dead. We want him back with us.”

The family is planning a search party today and is asking for help. The group will gather at 8 a.m. at Gilchrist Park, 400 W. Retta Esplanade, Punta Gorda.

(more…)

Fernando Suarez is a hero in my book. After his son Jesus Suarez died in Iraq in 2003 he spearheaded an effort to stop the recruitment of young, vulnerable, financially strapped hispanics and formed the Aztec Warrior Project. We all know when the rich wage war, it’s the poor who die. I’ve worked in the schools. I’ve watched the recruiters in action. I know who they target. This is a great project, as is Leave My Child Alone.

I wish these people continued success!!

His mother describes Lt. Michael Murphy as “someone who always stuck up for the underdog.” His father says he was “honest, kind, caring — probably the antithesis of what you would call a warrior.”

Murphy is the first U.S. service member to receive the Medal of Honor for action in Afghanistan.

Two years after he was killed in a firefight in Afghanistan, Dan and Maureen Murphy and their son John on Monday received Lt. Murphy’s Medal of Honor for heroism on the battlefield from President Bush.

Murphy’s honor is the first to be awarded from the war in Afghanistan. Two Medals of Honor have been awarded to soldiers serving in Iraq.

In June 2005, Murphy, 29, led his four-man Navy SEAL team into the 10,000-foot peaks of Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush to search for a terrorist thought to be in the region. But they were soon spotted and started taking fire from more than 40 insurgents.

According to a Navy report on the incident, the insurgents held the advantage of terrain and launched a well organized, three’sided attack on the team, forcing them deeper into a ravine.

More about Lt. Michael Murphy here and here

While we’ve had our eye on Iraq, what’s going on in Afghanistan? R.I.P. Army Spc. Ciara Durkin. I hope your family gets the answers they so rightly deserve.

Three things that stink about this:

1.) Canavan told the Quincy, Mass., Patriot Ledger on Wednesday that when her sister was home three weeks ago, she told her about something she had come across that raised some concern with her: “She was in the finance unit and she said, ‘I discovered some things I don-t like and I made some enemies because of it.’”

and

2.) The family is also wondering whether Durkin’s sexual orientation — she was gay — played a role in her death.

3.) Initially the Pentagon reported that Durkin, part of a finance unit deployed to Afghanistan in November 2006, had been killed in action, but then revised its statement to read she had died of injuries “suffered from a non-combat related incident” at Bagram Airfield. The statement had no specifics and said the circumstances are under investigation.

Full story at AOL News