MARINE COLONEL’S DEATH MURDER NOT SUICIDE: WIDOW SUES MILITARY TO REOPEN INVESTIGATION CITING NEGLIGENCE AND COVER

Exhausting all other efforts, Kimberly Stahlman, the widow of Col. Michael Ross Stahlman, has filed a precedent-setting Complaint under The Administrative Procedures Act (APA) asking a Federal judge to force the reopening of her husband’s death investigation and to change his Manner of Death from “suicide” to “homicide.”

Read the entire story here.

Dead GI's Mom Upset in Quick Draw Killer's Parole

A Massachusetts woman whose son was shot and killed in Iraq in what was described in court as a game of “quick draw” gone bad said she is angry and stunned that the killer is up for parole just 10 months after being sentenced to four and a half years in jail.

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Death Memorial

Matthew Brandt

Read his story here.

2012 military suicides hit record high of 349

Pentagon figures obtained Monday by The Associated Press show that the 349 suicides among active-duty troops last year were up from 301 the year before and exceeded the Pentagon's own internal projection of 325. Statistics alone do not explain why troops take their own lives, and the Pentagon's military and civilian leaders have acknowledged that more needs to be done to understand the causes.

Last year's total is the highest since the Pentagon began closely tracking suicides in 2001. It exceeds the 295 Americans who died in Afghanistan last year, by the AP's count.

Read the entire story here.

Another take on the information can be found here, thanks to Lois Vanderbur for the link.

Texas military assault scandal prompts congressional hearings

"Victims will tell you there has been command influence, undue command influence when they come forward to report," Parrish said. "They, the victims, are investigated. They are put in psych wards, on psychotropic drugs and investigated other than for the sexual assault."
 

Read the entire story here.

Death Memorials

Ryan Maseth

Staff Sgt. Ryan D. Maseth, 24, of Pittsburgh, Pa., died in Baghdad, Iraq, on Jan. 2, 2008 of injuries suffered in a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Campbell, Ky. The incident is under investigation. According to the family, he was electrocuted while in the shower.


Spc. Donald Anthony Wilder died Jan. 8, 2006, in Manheim, Germany. He was 21. He died after hazing (beating) by a Masonic group within the military. Official cause of death was acute alcohol poisoning.
Tribute video

A Navy Seal's Tragic Secret

PTSD and Suicide
VIDEO

Insight into Military Cover-up of Murders

Sgt. who was murder witness sues National Guard, says retaliation

The article above makes me wonder why the Military is so eager to maintain its "reputation" that it would pervert the cause of justice.  Military members have the same responsibility to report wrongdoing that civilians do.  They should be able to give court testimony without the imprimatur of a Military Service.  They should not be protecting murderers for the sake of a public profile.

In many cases, families are not given information about the deaths of loved ones for this reason.  This has got to stop. 

Honor implies truth telling.