Patriotic Federalist

Published February 03, 2013

Chris Kyle, a former U.S. Navy SEAL credited with the largest number of confirmed kills, was one of two people fatally shot at a North Texas shooting range Saturday, Texas Highway Patrol confirmed to Fox News.

Eddie Ray Routh of Lancaster was arraigned early Sunday on two counts of capital murder in the deaths of Kyle, 38, and Chad Littlefield, 35, at the shooting range about 50 miles southwest of Fort Worth.

Capt. Jason Upshaw with the Erath County Sheriff’s Office said Routh used a semi-automatic handgun, which authorities later found at his home. Upshaw said ballistics tests weren’t complete Sunday, but authorities believe the gun was used in the shootings. Upshaw declined to give any more details about the gun.

Routh has not made any comments indicating what his motive may have been, Upshaw said. Sheriff Tommy Bryant said Routh was unemployed and “may have been suffering from some type of mental illness from being in the military himself,” but he didn’t know if Routh was on any medication.

“I don’t know that we’ll ever know. He’s the only one that knows that,” Upshaw said. Continue reading

“Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand,

the spines of others are often stiffened.”

From 2008, but still good today.

Justice Delayed But Not Denied: Kerry Ally Stripped of Silver Star

In 1992, Capt. Wade Sanders was awarded the Silver Star for actions in Vietnam years earlier. In 2004, he introduced Democrat presidential nominee John Kerry at that year’s convention and was a big supporter throughout the campaign. As we all know, a group of some 200 fellow Swift Boat veterans eventually helped sink Kerry’s presidential campaign by blowing up the Vietnam “war hero” facade that the Massachusetts senator had meticulously and misleadingly put forth. Contrary to Kerry’s boasting, he committed treason in Vietnam. Sanders was a lead attack dog for Kerry, and he worked to tarnish the Swifties’ reputations, slandering them as “Nazi propagandists.”

In a case of poetic justice, the Navy recently stripped Sanders of his honor. The Navy’s tersely worded statement indicated that “subsequently determined facts and evidence surrounding both the incident for which the award was made and the processing of the award itself” led to the revocation of his Silver Star. Sanders, by the way, is also serving 37 months for possession of child pornography, and we doubt that helped his case. He claimed it was research for a book he was writing.

Kerry made quite the issue of his military record, using it as both a crutch and a stick throughout his campaign. How ironic that one of his lead witnesses was found to be so wanting in character. Kerry should hope the Navy doesn’t come after him, too.

via Digest for Friday, July 29, 2011 – Editions – PatriotPost.US.

http://www.disabledveterans.org/

http://www.thevetset.org/

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2010
Notebook: Reporting on Disabled Vets
Wyatt Andrews and Jill Rosenbaum Describe How They Found Problems Within in a Key VA Program for Wounded Veterans
After eight years of war, you might think the system for delivering benefits to America’s most disabled war veterans would be well organized, efficient and as caring as possible. It’s not.

A two-month CBS News investigation of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs’ (VA) most important benefit program helping disabled vets return to work, a benefit most vets call “Voc Rehab,” revealed a program which is beset with contracting and staffing problems — which often throws needless roadblocks in front of eligible veterans, and which either tolerates or can’t prevent wrongful benefit denials for some of the nation’s most deserving former warriors.
Continue reading

Veterans Find Getting Vocational Training Sometimes Means Fighting a New Battle.

(CBS) Former Army medic Jeremy Smith was wounded and paralyzed in Afghanistan. Clearly qualified for both medical and pension benefits, Smith was surprised when a Veteran’s Affairs counselor told him he wasn’t disabled enough for vocational benefits.

“How can I not be disabled enough? How much more disabled do I need to be,” Smith asked. “Should I go throw myself under a bus real quick?”

Brandon Frazier has a similar story. A veteran of the 2004 Marine assault on Fallujah, Brandon suffered hearing loss and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD.

But as CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports, a VA counselor wrongly told him the VA would not help disabled vets study pre-law.

Notebook: Reporting on Disabled Vets

“It didn’t seem like he was in there to find a way to help me. He was there to tell me I couldn’t,” Frazier said.

“Looking for a way to turn you down,” Andrews asked?

“Right,” he replied.

Then there is Kenny Lyon. A Marine sergeant, whose miraculous battlefield rescue in Iraq – and 2 year fight to recover – was profiled on “60 Minutes.”

60 Minutes: A Fighting Chance

Lyon had to fight the VA for five months – but after being finally told he would get vocational benefits to study at Gettysburg College, the VA called to say stop.

“I was on my way to classes and I got a phone call saying it was not approved,” Lyon said.

“You weren’t getting the tuition,” Andrews asked.

“Yes,” Lyon replied.

The VA benefits these veterans requested are from a program called Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment, or Voc Rehab benefits. Separate from the GI Bill, Voc Rehab helps disabled vets get whatever training they need to live on their own or get a job. When it works, which is most of the time, Voc Rehab services range from sign language lessons to technical classes to Harvard Law School.
Continue reading