The Valour-IT Auctions [Greyhawk - November 7, 2009 1:07 AM]

...with some fantastic, rare, and one-of-a-kind items end this weekend (many today).

If you can't find something for yourself, you'll probably find something for someone on your Christmas list - and 100% of the proceeds goes to help wounded troops through project Valour-IT.

Browse and bid here.

Comments (if any):

Ft Hood: the view from Iraq [Greyhawk - November 6, 2009 8:06 PM]

From one of the many deployed soldiers with family at Ft Hood:

I've been deployed to Iraq for the past four months, and I've figured out how to cope with the stress that comes from being thousands of miles away from my family.

But I wasn't prepared for what happens when violence intrudes on my loved ones, who are supposed to be safe at home while I am in a combat zone. It flipped all of my attitudes toward deployment upside down. And the aftermath of the attacks at Fort Hood, allegedly committed by a fellow Muslim, also raised a different set of concerns -- not just about my family's safety, but about the perceptions of my faith.

I was working late on Thursday and decided to call my wife, at home on post in Fort Hood, Tex., to check in. She didn't answer. I tried again.

The story continues here.

Comments (if any):

Aftermath (part 2) [Greyhawk - November 6, 2009 6:21 PM]

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is pushing back a trip to Capitol Hill aimed at discussing the proposed health care overhaul with lawmakers.

Obama had planned to head to the Capitol on Friday. Now the White House schedule shows Obama planning to visit the Capitol on Saturday.

On Friday afternoon, Obama plans to visit Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

The trip report:

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama spent nearly two hours visiting wounded U.S. soldiers Friday afternoon.

The president met with 19 soldiers being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital, as well as the families of three soldiers in intensive care, and hospital staff. He also awarded two Purple Hearts.

The president's visit came a day after an Army psychiatrist who once trained at Walter Reed hospital allegedly killed 13 people at Fort Hood. The White House says the hospital visit was planned before the shootings.

Friday's visit was Obama's first to Walter Reed since taking office, though he visited as a presidential candidate.

The president also cautioned Americans not to jump to conclusions regarding the shootings at Ft Hood, and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announced a memorial service would be held.

Obama will attend a memorial service that will be scheduled at the convenience of the victims' families, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Gibbs added that a memorial service is keeping Obama's schedule next week in flux. The president is scheduled to leave for Asia on Wednesday but wants to attend a memorial before starting the 10-day trip. Gibbs says the White House would not rule out delaying the trip because of the service.

With families of fallen soldiers living throughout the United States, the logistics of the mission could prove complicated.

However, it appears the effort to simplify may be under way:

A U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft will arrive at Dover Air Force Base the night of Nov. 6 with the remains of 12 U.S. Army soldiers and one U.S. Army civilian employee killed Nov. 5 during a gunman's rampage at Fort Hood, Texas.

Upon arrival the bodies will be transported to the Air Force Mortuary Operations Center.

The families of the Fort Hood servicemen have not authorized media coverage and media access to the base will be restricted.

A forensic investigation, including a complete autopsy, will be performed by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology's Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner. The autopsy results will be made available to the appropriate federal agencies active in the ongoing investigation into the shooting.

Army Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations is working closely with affected families to determine their wishes regarding final preparation of their loved ones remains.

Transportation to Dover is not standard protocol for military members killed in the United States.

*****

Previously: Aftermath

Comments (if any):

The fallen [Greyhawk - November 6, 2009 1:58 PM]
*****

From a story on one of the soldiers wounded at Ft Hood: "Lunsford is in stable condition at the hospital in Temple, Tex., where hundreds waited in line to give blood for the wounded."

First responders use a table as a stretcher to transport a wounded soldier to an awaiting ambulance at Fort Hood Nov. 5, 2009. U.S. Army photo.

Staff Sgt. Joy Clark, 27, was standing in line when shots rang out, says her father, Jerry Nelson of Des Moines.

"She heard some noise and the soldier in front of her went down," he says. She tore off her jacket and knelt to apply it to his wound.

"That's when she got shot," Nelson says. The bullet tore through her left forearm and broke two bones. A soldier for seven years who was a medic before becoming an occupational therapist, his daughter reacted instinctively, Nelson says.

She was about to deploy to Afghanistan. Clark's husband, Josh Clark, drove all night to Temple, Texas, where his wife is hospitalized, Nelson says. He and his wife, Danise, are flying to Texas today.

"I'm glad that she's alive ... and very disappointed for those who lost their lives," Nelson says.

Cpl. Nathan Hewitt was hit by two bullets as he led other soldiers out of the Fort Hood building during the rampage, says his uncle Rex Deaton, who spoke with him two hours after the shooting.

Deaton told USA TODAY that Hewitt described one bullet grazing his hip and another hitting his calf.

They are among the wounded. Some might say "lucky" - but others would disagree.

In an interview with CBS' "The Early Show", Lt. Gen. Robert Cone said soldiers caught in the hail of bullets at an on-base medical facility were "really remarkable in terms of their reaction."

Witnesses told Cone that the suspected gunman, military psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, walked into the Soldier Readiness Center and opened fire in a "very calm, measured approach." Thirteen people - 12 of them military personnel - were killed and at least 30 were injured.

One soldier, who was wounded four times, told Cone that when he was on the ground, he "made the mistake of moving," and was shot again.

But the carnage could have been worse if not for soldiers' reactions.

"As the shooter would change directions, the soldiers would scramble on the ground and try to help each other to carry each other outside the building," Cone told "Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith.
<...>
After realizing some of the soldiers were escaping, Cone said the gunman followed them outside where he continued to fire at them. He was eventually brought down by civilian police officer Kimberly Munley, who was the first responder on the scene. She shot the suspect four times while sustaining a gunshot wound herself, though she was in stable condition.

First responders carry a victim to an ambulance during the deadly shooting on Fort Hood, Texas, Nov. 5, 2009. Thirteen people were killed and 30 were injured in the incident. DoD Video Screengrab.

*****

The toll may still rise:

W. Roy Smythe, head of surgery at Scott & White, said six of the wounded at the hospital remain in intensive care, while four have been moved to regular rooms. Smythe said the patients were shot in various parts of the body, and several had multiple gunshot wounds. Of the six still in intensive care, he said, two require additional surgery.

Although all the patients are stable at the moment, Smythe said, it was possible that the death toll could mount.

"I don't think there is an excellent chance that everyone will recover," he said. Several of the patients are "not at all out of the woods."

Names have not been officially released, but around the country family members have been notified. And the story isn't just about Ft Hood, it's about a cross-section of Americans - men, women, old, young - united by service to the country in which they fell. The youngest was 19, the oldest, 62. Many were health care professionals. One, 51-year old Russell Seager, was described by his uncle as a man who "joined the Army a few years back because he was a psychiatrist who wanted to help returning veterans adapt back to civilian life."

Their stories follow.

Chicago:

A woman from Chicago was one of the 13 people killed in a shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas, on Thursday.

Pfc. Francheska Velez, 21, had just returned from Iraq because she was three months pregnant, according to her family. She had served in the Army for three years.

Chicago:

An Army private first class from southwest suburban Bolingbrook was one of the 13 people killed in the rampage at Fort Hood, his family said.

Michael Pearson, 21, joined the Army slightly more than a year ago and was training to deactivate bombs, said his mother, Sheryll.
<...>
About 10 p.m., an Army surgeon called to say that Mike hadn't made it. He said doctors had brought Mike back to life twice on the operating table but were unsuccessful the third time.
<...>
She said she last talked to her son two days ago about him coming home for Christmas. She told him she had already gotten his room ready. She was particularly excited because she hadn't seen her son in a year. He had been training for a year in the Mojave Desert.

"He was always upbeat and looking forward to coming home," she said.
<...>
"He was the poster child of what any mother wanted in a son."

At Pearson's Bolingbrook family home on Friday, a yellow ribbon was tied to a porch light and a sticker stamped with American flags on the front door read, "United we stand."

"He was a genius as far as we were concerned," Kristopher Craig told CNN affiliate WGN-TV in Chicago, Illinois, late Thursday, reeling from the news that his 21-year-old "little kid brother" was among the 12 soldiers and one civilian killed in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas.

Pearson grew up in Bolingbrook, Illinois, with two brothers and a sister. "He was really living his life playing guitar," Craig said. "When he picked up a guitar, we all understood that he was expressing himself."

Pearson enlisted in the Army more than a year ago so he could some day go to college to study music theory, his brother said. Basic training toughened him up and matured him, Craig said, adding, "Even though it's hard and it hurts, he loved every minute of it."

Pearson was scheduled to return home in a week or two to catch up with family and friends before deploying to Iraq or Afghanistan in January, his brother said.

"He was accepting the possibility of what might happen over there, but we were completely blindsided by this," Craig told WGN. "He didn't even get the chance to leave."

Utah:

A 19-year-old Utah man was killed in Thursday's massacre at Fort Hood, Texas.

Aaron Thomas Nemelka is among the dead, relatives at his family's West Jordan home confirmed.
<...>
Ogden native Joey Foster, 21, was shot in the hip, but is expected to recover.

More:

In a prepared statement, Michael and Teena Nemelka said they were "devastated" by their son's death but "so proud to have him serve our country in the military."

Nemelka is the youngest of four children. His aunt, Alesa Forrest, told the Deseret News that Nemelka was supposed to come home on leave during Christmas and planned to propose to his girlfriend before being deployed to Afghanistan in January.

"His family was everything to him," Forrest said.

The yard of Nemelka's West Jordan home was covered with at least two dozen American flags Friday morning. Numerous vehicles were parked in the driveway and along the street, including one with U.S. government license plates.

Gloria Nemelka, grandmother of Aaron Thomas Nemelka, who was killed at Fort Hood, Texas, on Thursday, talks to reporters in front of the Nemelka home in West Jordan on Friday. Michael Nemelka hugs his daughter Bridget in the background. (Rick Egan / The Salt Lake Tribune)

Frantic over her brother as the night drew on, Ashlee Brewer sent a note to friends on Facebook. "We sit and stress and they can't tell us anything," Brewer wrote. "I guess I can take comfort in the fact he cannot possibly be injured because then I would know where he is."

She was right...

The West Jordan teenager, an Eagle Scout and the youngest of four children, had enlisted in the Army after graduating from West Jordan High School last year. He was a member of the 510th Engineering Company, 20th Infantry Battalion, 36th Engineering Brigade. He told his family and friends that he wanted to go to war so that he could help dismantle the powerful roadside bombs that have accounted for so many fellow soldiers' deaths.

His first combat tour was scheduled to begin in January. In December, family members said, he was planning to return home to propose to his girlfriend. "He was excited," said Lindsey Nemelka, his sister-in-law. "He had the ring."

Aaron Nemelka and girlfriend Kristin Whittle

Wisconsin:

A second Wisconsin resident died in the shootings at Fort Hood in Texas, according to a family member.

Russell Seager, 51, of Racine was killed in the shootings, according to a person answering Seager's phone who said he was a relative. The family member declined to answer other questions and referred all other questions to public affairs officials with the military.

Family members of Amy Krueger of Kiel say she was also killed. The Army said 13 people were killed by a shooter on the Texas base Thursday afternoon.

State records indicate Seager was licensed as a registered nurse and advanced practice nurse prescriber.

More:

Seager's family received a call at around 12:00 a.m. Friday.

He was listed in the Army reserves as a mental health specialist, serving as a nurse who treated veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder at the Veteran's Administration hospital in Milwaukee.

His uncle says the 51-year old Seager "joined the Army a few years back because he was a psychiatrist who wanted to help returning veterans adapt back to civilian life."

Detectives assigned to the Fort Hood Directorate of Emergency Sevices respond Nov. 5, 2009, to a shooter barricaded in the post's deployment readiness center. Thirteen people died and 30 more were wounded in the incident. U.S. Army photo

Also killed was 29-year-old Amy Krueger of Kiel. The injured included 23-year-old Army Reserve Spc. Grant Moxon of Lodi and 19-year-old Amber Bahr of Random Lake.

In Amy Krueger's home town:

Krueger, a sergeant with the Army Reserve's Madison-based 467th Medical Detachment, died in the shooting that left 12 other people dead and about 30 injured, including Random Lake native Amber Bahr, who was shot in the back, and 23-year-old Army Reserve Spc. Grant Moxon of Lodi who was shot in the leg.

Krueger was a 1998 graduate of Kiel High School and joined the military soon thereafter, principal Dario J. Talerico said.
<...>
Flags still stood at full staff at Kiel Veterans Memorial on a nearby bridge over the Sheboygan River.

A drive through Kiel's neighborhoods paints a picture of its patriotism: military banners flew beneath Old Glory outside a number of homes.

Talerico said Krueger's years of service alone showed her love of country. And sentiment was evident from neighbors on a signboard outside the 11th Frame Sports bar in nearby New Holstein that read, "In memory of Amy Krueger."

"She was very proud to serve in the military," Talerico said.

Friends share memories of Kiel woman killed at Fort Hood:

Krueger, a sergeant with the Madison-based 467th Medical Detachment, had arrived at Fort Hood on Tuesday and was scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan in December, said her mother, Jeri Krueger. She had previously spent three months in Afghanistan in 2002.

Amy Krueger and a friend, Kristin Thayer, went to a recruiter to enlist together the day after Sept. 11, 2001, Thayer said.

Post police take cover when a gunman fires shots at the Fort Hood Soldier Readiness Processing Center Nov. 5, 2009. U.S. Army photo.

Oklahoma

A Tipton soldier killed Thursday during a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, was a quiet boy who thought the military would help him grow into a man, his family said Friday.

Spc. Jason Dean Hunt, 22, was one of 12 soldiers killed when a gunman opened fire at a soldier readiness center on the post.
<...>
"He never gave his mother one minute of heartache in his whole school life," Smith said. "He was a good student. He was so embarrassed if someone thought he did something wrong."

Hunt was married two months ago, Smith said. His wife, Jenna, was finishing a class in Oklahoma City and planned to move to Fort Hood, where Hunt recently bought a home.

Leila Willingham, Hunt's sister, said one of the family's fondest memories was when Hunt's mother, Gale Hunt, had to drive to the high school and give her permission for him to sit out of a cat dissection for a science class because he didn't feel right about it.

Hunt joined the Army a year after graduating from Tipton High School and served for three and a half years, including a tour in Iraq, where he celebrated his 21st birthday.

Willingham recalled her brother once likened his feelings for his military family to the love a parent feels for their children.

"He said, 'I would die for your children.' He said, 'I would die for a stranger to save them.' And he said he would dive in front of a bullet for a soldier."

Hunt, who was stationed in Fort Stewart in Georgia after high school, transferred to Fort Hood to be closer to his family.

Texas:

A Cameron man was among the 13 fatalities from yesterday's shooting at Fort Hood. Mike Cahill, who worked as a physician's assistant for Dr. Sid Richardson from 1997 until 2000, and who stilled lived in Cameron, was killed during the Thursday afternoon incident.

The alleged shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, is blamed for the deaths of 13 soldiers and one civilian, military officials said.

Another 30 people were wounded in the incident. About half of them required surgery, and all were in stable condition Friday morning, said Col. Steven Braverman, hospital commander at Fort Hood.

If early reports are correct, Michael Grant Cahill, a 62-year old physician's assistant, was the only civilian killed in the murder spree. Cahill was formerly a resident of Spokane, and leaves behind his wife, Joleen, three children, Keely, Kerry, and Jaime, and a grandson, Brody.

...and Washington:

SPOKANE, Wash. -- A Spokane native was among those killed during a rampage at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas.

Michael Grant Cahill, 62, was a physician assistant who worked at the base as a contracted civilian.

His daughter, Keely Cahill Vanacker, said Cahill was among 13 killed in the shooting spree.

Michael Cahill graduated from Spokane's Rogers High School in the 1960s and Eastern Washington University in 1973.

Cahill suffered a heart attack two weeks ago, but had already returned to work. He and his wife, Joleen, had been married 37 years.

The family's typical Thanksgiving dinners ended with board games and long conversations over the table, said Vanacker, whose voice often cracked with emotion as she remembered her father. "Now, who I am going to talk to?"

SWAT team members approach a building with a gunman inside. Thirteen people were killed and 30 more wounded in an attack by a lone gunman at Fort Hood, Texas, Nov. 5, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jason R. Krawczyk

California:

SAN DIEGO -- A county government employee who recently deployed with the Army was among those killed Thursday at Fort Hood in Texas.

John Gaffaney, a supervisor in the county's Adult Protective Services department, was one of 13 people killed when Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire in a crowded medical building. Thirty others were injured, making it the nation's worst-ever attack on a stateside military base.

Gaffaney was 56 and lived in Serra Mesa.

Capt. John Gaffaney, US Army Reserve, was a North Dakota native who had also served in the Navy and the California National Guard.

Minnesota:

A young St. Paul man who loved fishing in the St. Croix River with his brother was one of the 13 people shot and killed Thursday in the attacks at Fort Hood.

Specialist Kham Xiong, 23, had been at Fort Hood for five months preparing for a New-Year's deployment, according to his family.

His relatives said he was in line waiting for a physical.

His wife Shoua texted him a message saying, "Come home for lunch and go back later."

But he wrote back, "No, I'll stay. It's almost my turn."

Moments later he was shot.

Xiong's father Chor Xiong is upset none of the soldiers were armed. Only police are allowed to carry weapons on base.

Chor Xiong said, "The sad part is he had been taught and trained to protect and fight, yet it's a tragedy he didn't have the chance to protect himself at the base."

The Xiongs have a history of serving the U.S. in war.

Kham Xiong's 18-year-old brother Nelson is a marine in Afghanistan.

Chor Xiong is from Laos and fought the Vietnamese alongside the CIA in 1972.

Kham is survived by his wife, three children and ten siblings.

Emergency personnel carry a victim to an ambulance in the deadly shooting on Fort Hood, Texas, Nov. 5, 2009. Thirteen people were killed and 30 others were injured in the rampage. DoD Video Screengrab.

Pennsylvania:

Juanita Warman, 55, a military physicians's assistant, was among the 13 people who have died so far, said her sister, Margaret Yaggie of Roaring Branch, Pa.

Ms. Warman attended Pittsburgh Langley High School and put herself through school at the University of Pittsburgh, her sister said. She had spent most of her career in the military. The family was notified of her death early this morning.

Ms. Warman had two daughters and six grandchildren, her sister said.

According to this story Warman was "originally from Pittsburgh, but she lived in Maryland in the Havre De Grace area for the last ten years."

Indiana:

The family of an Indiana soldier said they were told Friday that their son was among 13 people killed in the shootings at Fort Hood.

The father of Staff Sgt. Justin M. DeCrow, 32, of Plymouth, told WSBT-TV in South Bend that representatives from the Army visited the family on Friday to tell them of DeCrow's death.

After 13 years in the Army, DeCrow, who was married and had a 13-year old daughter, was scheduled to be medically discharged:

...last month, Thompson said, DeCrow was told to report to work at Fort Hood until the paperwork for his medical discharge came through.

After anxious hours of trying to call her son and sending him text messages, Thompson received a call early Friday from her sobbing daughter-in-law. Justin had been shot. No, he wasn't one of the people in the hospital.

His wife said Friday night that she wanted everyone to know what a loving man he was. She paused frequently during a phone interview, crying as she talked about him.

"He was well loved by everyone," MaryKay DeCrow said. "He was a loving father and husband, and he will be missed by all."

DeCrow had been stationed at Fort Hood since returning from a year stationed in Korea, said his father, Daniel DeCrow of Fulton, Ind. Before that, DeCrow was stationed at Fort Gordon, Ga., where he and his wife and daughter had a home, his father said.

The family planned to live in Georgia after his discharge.

Tragically, more to follow

A first responder to a lone gunman's attack at Fort Hood Nov. 5 renders honors at retreat after aiding his fellow soldiers. U.S. Army photo.

Comments (if any):

Know your mass murderer: Nidal Malik Hasan [Greyhawk - November 6, 2009 12:24 PM]

A "socially awkward, quiet type":

Hasan was born in Arlington to Palestinian immigrants from near Jerusalem who later settled in Vinton.

Neighbors on Vinton's Ramada Road remembered him as a "studious" boy who went by "Michael."

While his brother Eyad -- "Eddie" -- would play football with Zachary Garlick, 21, who lived across the street, Michael didn't come out to play much.

"Michael was more school and less play," said Zachary Garlick. "He'd get home and he'd have his book bag, and he'd go straight inside."

That quiet demeanor and apparent social awkwardness would follow Hasan into adulthood.

Hasan's family settled in an apartment on Lancelot Lane off Cove Road in Northwest Roanoke, the 1987 Roanoke City Directory shows.

Hasan's father, Malik Awadallah Hasan, immigrated from Palestine to Virginia in 1962, when he was 16, stories in the Times' archives show. He moved to Roanoke in 1985, with his wife, Hanan Ismail "Nora" Hasan, following in 1986. Neighbors on Ramada Road said they moved to the Vinton neighborhood in the early 1990s.

The Hasans ran the infamous Capitol Restaurant on the Roanoke City Market from 1987 to 1995. It was a dive beer hall and diner with a bad reputation and a lot of down-and-out regulars. The Hasans closed the Capitol to open the short-lived, Mediterranean-themed Mount Olive on Jefferson Street.

Other details of his later years are emerging.

Great comment here: "To me, this is just a guy that, for whatever reason, decided to cut ranks and join the other side." I agree.

And this appears to be the now-frequently mentioned message board comment - allegedly from the Major - that supposedly brought him to the attention of authorities:

There was a grenade thrown amongs a group of American soldiers. One of the soldiers, feeling that it was to late for everyone to flee jumped on the grave with the intention of saving his comrades. Indeed he saved them. He inentionally took his life (suicide) for a noble cause i.e. saving the lives of his soldier. To say that this soldier committed suicide is inappropriate. Its more appropriate to say he is a brave hero that sacrificed his life for a more noble cause. Scholars have paralled this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers. If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory. Their intention is not to die because of some despair. The same can be said for the Kamikazees in Japan. They died (via crashing their planes into ships) to kill the enemies for the homeland. You can call them crazy i you want but their act was not one of suicide that is despised by Islam. So the scholars main point is that "IT SEEMS AS THOUGH YOUR INTENTION IS THE MAIN ISSUE" and Allah (SWT) knows best.

Comments (if any):