Ilona 's Bookmarks

My name is Patty and I have lost my Son SSGT Steven Logan to Suicide on Feb 28th, 2005. He was 26 years old.





My son was a Marine and thought it was better to go out with Honor then to go out with Dishonor so took his own life, not thinking of the pain he would leave behind for his family and friends.





Steve was an honor roll student and very bright, he excelled in everything he did, he made his father and I very proud.





But having to become a recruiter was not for Steve, he didn't want to talk these young people into joining the service and having to serve in a war where he would not know if they come home again or not.





Steve was forced to recruite no matter how hard he tried not to, and his worse nightmare had come true. He recruited a young man who did in fact die while serving in the Iraq War.





The boys parents came to my son, cussing and yelling at him. And held my son responsible for their sons death, saying it was his fault, not realising he too did not want to do this job, but being a Marine he had to no matter how hard he fought not to.





My son could not live with the fact someone got killed or hurt because of him, he was a loving, caring person. He made friends everywhere he went.





People were attracted to him, he knew no stranger. And would help anyone in need.





The Marines knew what had happened as he told his commanding officer but he didn't care. Steve argued with him but because of that his commander decided he was going after my son to give him a dishonorable discharge. He went into a depression state, the Marines knew this, sent him to their doctor and said he was Suicidal but did not give him the help he so needed.





My son could not live with the fact of this boygetting killed, and now this too? It's not proper for a Marine to be dishonored, so he shot himself in the head with his Marine issued weapon.





Steven was stationed in Tenn with his wife and son, his wife also being a Marine but was finished with her term.





He wanted to make the Marines his life dream, this was going to be his lifelong career. All he thought and talked about was the Marines.





Now his wife and little boy have to go on without him. His father and the rest of the family must go about our lives never seeing his smiling face again.





This has been the hardest thing to say Good Bye to your child. It's not suppose to be this way. He was suppose to say Good Bye to his Dad and I first.





Why didn't we see this? Why didn't we hear it in his voice? When he mailed his things home to his sister why didn't we think????





Thank you for allowing me to express and tell alittle of my sons story.





Steve you are missed We Love you so much....

Authorities say a Marine who is missing after reportedly injuring his head while hiking in Colorado's Eldorado Canyon last week staged his disappearance.

Boulder County officials say they're still looking for 21-year-old Lance Hering, who was back at Camp Pendleton, California, after being on leave from Iraq.

Kevin Shakel

BRITISH Private Jason Chelsea committed suicide after he was allegedly told by his commanders that he could be ordered to fire on child suicide bombers in an upcoming tour of duty in Iraq, newspapers reported today.

Vet charged with trying to kill wife

The Kenai Grand Jury last Friday indicted three Homer people — including a recent Iraq War veteran — on charges related to an alleged kidnapping and beating of a Homer woman on Aug. 6 in Homer.

The Iraq Centre for Research and Strategic Studies (ICRSS) is an independent" think tank in Baghdad. The Centre was established in May 2003 by Saadoun al Duleimi, the Centre's director, "who has a PhD in social psychology from Keele University."

The problems faced by today’s vets rarely receive ongoing, let alone substantive, press coverage. Meagher’s Website, “PTSD: Winning the War Within,” not only covers this story in-depth, but also provides resources for returning combat veterans, as well as action alerts that encourage readers to learn more and to get involved.

In nearly 3 1/2 years of war, more than 137,000 female troops have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, some exposed to the most profound stresses of combat: ambushes, mortars, bombs, fallen comrades. They have fired M-16s and grenade launchers, killed people and been shot at.

Since the accused battalion in Haditha was on its third tour in Iraq in three years, some have blamed repeated deployments for sparking the killings. Seven Marines and a sailor from another battalion also on its third Iraq tour are accused of unjustifiably killing a man in the western town of Hamdania. Both battalions took part in the storming of Fallujah in Nov. 2004.

President Bush, having repeatedly linked Saddam Hussein to the terrorist organization behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, said yesterday there is no evidence that the deposed Iraqi leader had a hand in those attacks, in contrast to the belief of most Americans.

A phased withdrawal would save $416 billion on the deficit over the next four years and $1.28 trillion over the next decade. On the other hand, a strategy of “stay the course” will increase the deficit by $313 billion over the next four years and $1.3 trillion over the next decade.

Iraq isn’t Vietnam. America can’t just walk away without horrendous consequences. But “stay the course” isn’t a strategy. And the longer the bleeding goes on there, the harder the electorate will dig for answers—and the tougher they’ll be on those who got us in, and aided, abetted and apologized for them.

robert millis of american microphone interviews 1st lt. paul rieckhoff founder of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america, george bush responds to a question about private contractors, audit finds u.s. hid actual cost of iraq projects, contractors in iraq make costs balloon

My friend (and grassroots champion for our Vets and Troops) Ilona Meagher (waves 'n a huge shout~out to her ;p) out Dixon way just posted this on SoapBlox-Chicago. So took the liberty of cross-posting it here for our local audience.

Army Spec. Kyle Hemauer, 21, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound May 23, 2005, according to the investigative report issued by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command in Virginia.

The number of vets receiving compensation benefits for the illness rose nearly 80 percent between 1999 and 2004 — from 120,265 to 215,871. During the same period, benefits for all types of disabilities grew by just 12 percent, to about 2.5 million.

The Army has launched an investigation into claims by the parents of a young soldier from Utah that recruiters used false promises and forged documents to enlist him.

An analysis of the 1,666 bombs that exploded in July shows that 70 percent were directed against the American-led military force, according to a spokesman for the military command in Baghdad. Twenty percent struck Iraqi security forces, up from 9 percent in 2005. And 10 percent of the blasts struck civilians, twice the rate from last year.