Category: hard to grasp

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Back in the Saddle Again

Military News….

US, British strike at least 60 targets, 28 locations in Yemen
The Houthis have vowed to retaliate for the strikes.

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US Military Can’t Sustain Arctic Operations, ‘Let Alone Dominate,’ Experts Say

US airstrike kills Iranian-backed militia leader in Baghdad
Iranian proxies wage war on land and at sea.
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It has been over three months since I last posted. I doing some whining and move on.

Back in October, I went to sleep on a Sunday night. I woke the next morning screaming in pain. My wife didn’t know what to do to help me so she called 911.

The ambulance took me to the ER. They checked me out and sent me to the hospital.

I was in the hospital for six days. On the fourth day. I had a near death experience. I was laying on my bed, and the nurse left me check the main monitor in the other room. She left instantly and came back with three doctors and several nurses.

They all were checking my blood pressure monitor. What happened was that my blood pressure dropped from a normal 125/65 in less that five minutes to 80/50. They did some things, and my blood pressure went back to normal eventually.

I was told later that I was going to die if it kept dropping.

Two days later I was sent to a rehab facility. There I learned to walk again with a walker. It was slow and painful. I progressed a little each day. I was working with PT and OT specialists. They did a wonderful job helping me.

I got out of rehab 30 days later, and was sent home. That was a total of one month!

I have done a lot of progress since then. This is my first time at the computer in three months.

I thank all the people who worked with me to get me back to a living person.

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I was close this now, as I am having trouble sitting in chairs for very long.

I will post again on Monday.

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An Incredible Interview With a VA Nurse With Forty Years of Service.

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know.

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Military news…

Legally Blind U.S. Army Veteran Sets Personal Best at Boston Marathon

Rob Sanchas, 54, ran the entire 26.2 miles with the assistance of his guide, Jeremy Howard.

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U.S. Soldiers Took Her Birthday Cake in 1945. They Finally Replaced It.

As Meri Mion prepared to celebrate her 90th birthday, U.S. soldiers based in Italy “returned” the birthday cake that was taken from her windowsill in 1945.

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Air Force Wants Big Increase for 2023 Budget to Improve On-Base Housing for Military Families

Funds to improve the dwellings provided by privatized housing companies doubled in the budget request, with around $110 million requested in 2022.

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Military Veteran Receives New Rank at 101 Years Old

More than 55 years after he retired, Chief Warrant Officer Thomas Adams Jr. is now Major Adams. 

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The Navy’s First Medical Ship In 35 Years Will Be Unlike Any Before It

While not a one-to-one replacement for either of the Navy’s huge medical ships, the new vessels will go places they can’t.

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Ukrainian military confirms ‘The Ghost of Kyiv’ is made up

“The Ghost of Kyiv is alive and embodies a collective image,” a Ukrainian military spokesman said.

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NATO fighter jets scrambled ‘multiple times’ this week in response to Russian aircraft

It’s not the first time pilots had to intercept Russian planes.

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Here is another interview for my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life. A VA Nurse.

VA Nurse

Thank you so much for allowing me to interview you. How long were you a nurse?

Nurse: I worked 40 years with the last six as a VA nurse.

Did you like working for the VA?

I loved it much more than the regular nursing. I was able to make my own decisions.

I had to understand that they were not going to get well. I helped a man who was a double amputee. It was very rewarding.

How did you know what to do with each patient?

Had to find out what they needed through texting other nurses, and what their doctor shared as far as their basic needs. In other words; VA was “live.”

You said the work was rewarding. Can you explain that a little more?

My heart grew with each patient.

Tell me about some of the patients?

I had on patient that had wounds all over his body. He was tortured by testing his skin with different bacteria.

Another patient was traumatized. Yet another committed suicide.

That must have been hard. Are there other stories you can share?

There was another tortured veteran. They put rats in his mouth. They did waterboarding on him. They kept him awake with blaring music. They played the same songs over and over again. This made him sleep deprived.

These stories had to affect you. Did some veterans share with you how they felt when coming home from Vietnam?

Taxis wouldn’t even pick them up if they knew they were veterans. There were people waiting at the airport for the veterans to land, and they screamed at them as they came through their lines.

Were most of your veterans Vietnam veterans?

No one veteran was only thirty years old. He had PTSD and TBI (Traumatic brain injury.) His wife now has to take care of him and his mental wounds. He was shot in the head.

I am not sure how you could do this day after day.

I wouldn’t have done nursing for 40years if I didn’t think it was rewarding.

I have heard there are some sexual harassment, and sexual abuse in the military. Have you had to deal with that?

There was a female soldier who was raped and got pregnant. She is now raising the child.

Another woman was raped and got military compensation. She has PTSD and cannot function.

Yet another woman from WWII was raped. She got syphilis and died from it.

(If you or anyone you know have faced sexual harassment, or sexual abuse in the military, there is now a number you can call for help: 1-800-692-966… You can get help and even compensation.)

MST (Military sexual trauma) even has a course that is six weeks long that can help people.

Any other interesting stories you can share?

I took a trip to Normandy Beach, France. I walked the beach to see all the graves around the towns. They showed us where to boats came in. We saw the trenches and the fox holes. I went to a WWII museum. They had bombers.

This is an amazing story of your life as a nurse. Do you have any feel good stories to wrap this up? 

A Vietnam veteran adopted a child from Vietnam, because they came home without their parents.

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Incredible interview! I have more to share in future posts so keep coming back. Better yet…go to the top of this page and click on Subscribe. When you do all future posts will come directly to your inbox.

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Checking in on you. How are you doing? Is everything going OK, or are you struggling?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 14,572 veterans on this site who have your back.

Here is what I am asking you to do…please share this site with as many other veterans as you can. It has helped so many.

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If you are battling mentally, but you are losing, GET HELP!!

Here is a toll free number that you can call 24/7. There are highly qualified counselors there to help you, and they will not hang up until they know you are OK.

1-800-273-8255…texting 838255.

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

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Getting a “Dear John Letter,” While in the Military is Very Tough.

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know.

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Military news…

Austin won’t rule out sending more US troops to Europe as Russia’s war on Ukraine nears one-month mark
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is not ruling out sending additional U.S. troops to Eastern Europe as Russia’s war on Ukraine nears its one-month mark, a senior U.S. defense official said Tuesday.

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US poised to have three armored brigades in Europe at once as troop numbers climb 

The Army soon is likely to have three armored brigades in Europe for the first time in well over a decade.

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Russia sends more warships through Japanese strait, halts peace treaty talks after sanctions

In a move Japan’s prime minister called “totally unacceptable,” Russia has halted talks over a post-World War II peace treaty with Japan and ended visa-free entry for former residents of four Russian-controlled islands.

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Ukraine thwarts Russian advances; fight rages for Mariupol

Ukrainian forces fought off continuing Russian efforts to occupy Mariupol and claimed to have retaken a strategic suburb of Kyiv on Tuesday, mounting a defense so dogged that it is stoking fears Russia’s Vladimir Putin will escalate the war to new heights.

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CMC Berger: Russian Logistics Failures in Ukraine ‘Should Give Pause’ to Taiwan Invasion Planners

The stalled advance of Russian forces in their invasion of Ukraine “should give pause” to Chinese military planners eying a potential invasion of Taiwan, the Marine Corps commandant said last week.

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Slovakia Preliminarily Agrees to Send Key Air Defense System to Ukraine

Slovakia has preliminarily agreed to provide Ukraine with a Soviet-era air defense system to target Russian aircraft. The US and NATO are still grappling with how to backfill that country’s own defensive capabilities.

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Inside The Transfer of Foreign Military Equipment to Ukrainian Soldiers

With Ukrainian factories closed by the conflict, the country’s troops rely increasingly on ad hoc supply chains in Eastern Europe for vital gear, including body armor, medical supplies, and the pickup trucks and SUVs they use as fighting vehicles.

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Here is another excerpt from my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

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There’s a Tear in My Beer Since You Left Me My Dear

The title for this chapter is actually some lyrics from a Country Western song. Country Western songs always tell a story, and unfortunately one person dropping the other person like a rock, is an all too common story in the military.

One of the hardest things for a soldier to go through is receiving what they call a, “Dear John Letter.” This is a letter where their significant other is telling them they no longer love them and have moved on to someone else.

I certainly went through that while I was in Korea. I personally got a letter from a girl that I was very much in love with that said her parents felt I wasn’t good enough for her. So this was a double whammy. I lost my true love at the time, and I was told I wasn’t good enough.

This was devastating to me. I loved this girl so much I had the picture of her she sent me. I had a local painter paint an eight by ten size painting of her that I kept by my cot to look at every day. After I got the letter and stop having pity parties for myself, I put the picture in my trunk I kept at the foot of my cot. I put it in the bottom part so I wouldn’t be able to see it unless I tried to find it.

This “tragedy” led me to having some hard times with drinking. I thought that drinking would get my mind off of what was happening to me. The opposite happened. The more I drank the sadder I got. Drinking brought out my inner feelings of self-doubt, anxiety, failure, and rejection.

After a month or so of that, I turned to prayer, and God helped me get back on the right track. I bought a Bible, and read it every day. It was my connection to finding the courage to go on and be a productive person again.

I am sure some of you faced that while you have been in the military. There is not a way to get around the pain of facing it, but please realize that there is always someone who loves you very much no matter what happens on this not so friendly planet. God will be there for you. He will wipe away the tears, and give you comfort.

He did it for me, and I went on to getting married and having three wonderful children. I now also have seven grandchildren.

I look back on what I had to go through in Korea often. Believe it or not, I thank God for the storms I had to face while there. I was beaten up mentally several times, but I came out a much stronger person because of it.

IWILL

During your time in the military, there may be times of disappointment and hurt. Much of that can be avoided if you turn all your worries and hurt over to God. Many times life is too much of a burden to carry. If you let God guide you through the trenches of life, you will be able to withstand all the garbage that seems to come up.

Think about This

Isn’t it interesting that you can’t have a positive life and a negative mind?

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I may share some more excerpts in the future. Keep coming back to check it out. Better yet…go to the top of this page and click on SUBSCRIBE. When you do all future posts will come directly to your inbox.

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Checking in on you. How are you doing? Did you face tough times while in the military?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 14,190 veterans on this site who have your back.

Here is what I am asking you to do…please share this site with as many other veterans as you can. It has helped so many.

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If you are battling mentally, but you are losing, GET HELP!!

Here is a toll free number that you can call 24/7. There are highly qualified counselors there to help you, and they will not hang up until they know you are OK.

1-800-273-8255…texting 838255.

_______________________________________________________________

Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

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+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know.