More Service Dogs refused service

Back in September, I shared the story of  Canadian Veteran Kevin Berry and his Service Dog Tommy being denied access to a gym in eastern Canada. 

What happened to them is not only inexcusable, but also illegal.  Sadly, that incident was not a 'one-off' and seems that almost every week we hear of Veterans and patrons being discriminated against by businesses who are seemingly ignorant of the laws of the land. 

Here's a couple just from the last few days.  In a Dartmouth, NS hospital ER, where you would think they would know better, from the CBC:

PTSD service dogs not welcomed at Dartmouth ER: owners

Capital Health looking into incident

Nov 16, 2013  

Two Afghanistan war veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder are upset after a doctor told them their service dogs weren't welcome in the Dartmouth General Hospital's emergency room.

When John Leight is feeling overwhelmed by the symptoms of PTSD, he said his service dog Gypsy moves in.

His wife Keri Snow gets the same help from her service dog Littlefoot.

Their PTSD stems from time serving in Afghanistan at the air base in Kandahar.

“We lost a lot of friends, comrades, people we worked with very closely. It was tough,” said Snow.

Leight went to the Dartmouth General Hospital on Thursday night with pain and numbness in his arms....

For what happened next, go here.    


A Texas restaurant did not leave out the welcome mat got an American Veteran.  From Ktre:

Service dog causes dispute between vet and East Texas restaurant

Nov 20, 2013
By Leigha Hughes 

CENTER, TX (KTRE) -

A disabled veteran is speaking out after he says he was harassed and told to leave an East Texas restaurant because his service dog was not welcome. 

House Bill 489 was signed into Texas law on September 1^st, 2012 allowing individuals with disabilities to use their service dogs in all public places, including restaurants but the owner of Steaks & More Buffet and Grill in Center said he didn't know about the law. 

Mike Cowden is a Marine suffering with PTSD and hearing loss from the Vietnam War and for three years he has had Janie, a service dog. 

"This is what this dog is to him. His freedom in America," said Cowdens wife, Brenda Cowden.

Mike and Brenda Cowden say they are accustomed to receiving questions about the dog but never had to deal with anything like what happened at T/R's Steaks & More in Center. 

"We were standing in line and one of the waitresses came up and asked us to leave because we had the dog and Mike said it's a service dog and she said you still have to leave," said Brenda....

More details of the ignorance on display - plus a video clip - here. 


The Winnipeg Sun has a video that introduces a few Veterans who describe how crucial Service Dogs are to their quality of life.


Seems we still have lots of education to do.

Video - President Bush (# 43) Unplugged: For the record

Everybody I know watched President George W. Bush on The Tonight Show last week.  Since I don't DO television, I was able to find that broadcast on the internet - with a little help from more than a few friends. 

Military friends of mine who have met the man, tell me that the private President Bush is very different to the public POTUS that the msm ridiculed for years.  So, because I have always enjoyed the second hand glimpses of this Chief, I wanted to ensure I have a record of his visit with Jay Leno.

Courtesy of Twitchy:

Red Shirt Friday Video: Boone Cutler discussing American WarFighters

'Support the Troops' is what Red Shirt Friday is all about.  The concept is not just restricted to Canada; it reaches across America too.  One American Veteran who is speaking out,  reaching out  on issues facing our Troops - our WarFighters - is Boone Cutler.  Take a look and really LISTEN!


Host of Tipping Point, Boone Cutler, discussing American Warfighters from John Foss on Vimeo.

Boone Cutler has become a very public face for WarFighters - Veterans - everywhere.

If you really believe that 'Support the Troops' is more than putting a sticker on your car, and wearing something red one day a week,  there are groups you can join on social media, and beyond, to be pro-active in joining the battle at home for these Combat Veterans.

Check out Tipping Point with Boone Cutler on FaceBook, for Boone's radio schedule.  Join the community there. Be part of the solution.Not just on Fridays, but every.day.of.the.week.

As he says in this video: (and I know my regular readers hear me say this all the time):

 PAY ATTENTION!

UPDATE: Gurkha Warrior the lastest to feel the government budget knife

It is well known that throughout history, Gurkhas have been fearless Warriors. They have fought alongside our British Troops most recently in Afghanistan, and now - like other Coalition Veterans everywhere - they are being totally screwed by the governments.

This picture was from a couple of days ago:

E-Pals for Heroes says:

A picture that speaks a thousand words. Two Army Veterans plead with the awe inspiring man. This is a Gurkha Veteran currently on hunger strike opposite Downing St. When this picture was taken last night it was day 12. As you can see he does not look well. We cant allow this great man to die so we need to get this story out there. All they want is equal pensions so they can look after their families. Thats the least we owe them as they have fought for our country alongside our Forces for 200 years. Shame on the Government for ignoring these loyal Gurkhas. Please share this picture everywhere you can think of and lets get these fantastic lads what they deserve. Thank you.

For a snapshot of the Gurkha contribution to British fighting forces there is this from 2010:

An End to the Ghurkas?

August 30th, 2010 in Current Events by Frank Chadwick

Britain faces daunting budget challenges. It currently runs a budget deficit worse than that of Greece and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has ordered the Ministry of Defense to cut its budget by between ten and twenty percent. Britain’s 69 billion dollar defense budget in 2009 is the third largest in the world, after second-place China (99 billion) and of course first-place United States (663 billion).

The most likely place for the axe to fall is an elimination of the Brigade of Gurkhas. The Gurkhas are an odd part of the British armed forces in any case. The recruits are Nepalese, not British subjects, and one reason (aside from tradition) for maintaining the Gurkas in the face of budget problems in the past was their lower cost. Retiring Gurkha soldiers returning to their homeland were paid a pension only about one third that paid retiring British nationals. A second reason was a shortage of British nationals willing to volunteer for the armed forces.

The cost differential changed last year when British actress Joanna Lumley spearheaded a public drive to allow retired Gurkhas to settle in the United Kingdom with a full pension. Fair’s fair, and in my view the reform was long overdue and is one more thing to like about Lumley, not that one is needed. It did make the Gurkha’s a bit less of a bargain, and the upsurge in British recruiting for the last few years has all but sealed their fate.

Even if Britain eliminates its Gurkha battalions, the tradition will continue. When India gained its independence, the British and Indian armies split the Gurkha regiments between them. Since then the British contingent has contracted while the Indians added a seventh regiment and numerous battalions to each of the parent units.  The Indians currently have 42,000 Gurkhas (”Gorkhas” in Indian service) under arms in forty-six battalions, a strength which dwarfs the approximately 3,500 men still in British service.

(source)



 What is also well known in Britain, Canada and the US is that those governments are progressing at breakneck speed to cut their deficit budgets by massive cuts to the defence budgets: on the backs of our Veterans.  It seems that almost daily, we hear rumbling of whole units of Warriors in all three countries being thrown on the cutting room floor. The various government publicly award highest honours to our Combat Troops - the most recent Ghurka to be ceremoniously recognised for his heroics under fire. 

Privately, behind closed doors, our Veterans continue to feel the deepest cuts of the budget knives by governments determined to make our Veterans continue their battles on the home front. 

So we now have a Gurkha on a hunger strike, with echoes of a Canadian Veteran on a hunger strike in an effort to force his government to behave honourably. 

THIS Gurkha is camped outside Number 10, Downing Street, and the government response?  David Cameron says he "will consult..."


That our Veterans have to resort to such dangerous tactics is beyond outrageous. That even ONE of our Veterans feels they must risk their lives to force our politicians to behave honourably, is beyond obscene.   Our politicians should be ashamed of themselves.  They should be.

PAY ATTENTION! 


*** UPDATE:  From British Forces News

Gurkha veteran ends hunger strike

WW1 quilt comes home

Another precious artifact makes the long journey home, and what an amazing journey it is.  Read on at The Independent Free Press:

November, 07, 2013

First World War quilt returns … almost 100 years later

 

By Ted Brown
Staff writer

The year was 1915.

Like the rest of the British Commonwealth, Canada was at war, as countless soldiers were shipped overseas to fight the enemy on the trenched battlefields of Europe.

Back home in Georgetown, various groups were thinking of ways to support those who had signed up and marched off to that faraway war in Europe.

The Georgetown Women’s Institute (WI) decided to create a quilt for those soldiers who had been wounded and were recuperating in hospital in England.

The quilters would never have guessed that nearly 100 years later their labour of love would find its way home.

With war already raging for a year, the WI decided to ‘sell’ space on the quilt, charging everyone 10 cents per name, to have their name embroidered on the quilt.

In an excerpt from The Georgetown Herald’s July 28, 1915 issue, (ironically published one year to the day after war had been declared in Europe), the notice went out to the WI members, asking for help with the quilt.

The excerpt read:...

This really IS a must read vignette of WW1.  Go here. 

Lest we forget the price of freedom paid by so many....


[H/T Jane]

GITMO: Today's *torture* story

Everybody knows how abused the poor misunderstood residents of GITMO are on a daily basis.  From Jihad Watch, comes the latest evidence of why the camp of torture MUST be closed ASAP:

Your tax dollars at work: U.S. spends millions on landscaping, art classes for jihad terror detainees at Gitmo

 Gitmo lunch -- torture!

Torture! "Gitmo good life: U.S. spends millions on landscaping, art classes for terror detainees," by Jim McElhatton for the Washington Times, November 18[...]

Thanks to a multimillion-dollar federal contract, Guantanamo Bay prisoners can enroll in seminars to learn all about basic landscaping and pruning, calligraphy and Microsoft PowerPoint while the U.S. figures out what to do with them. 
 
Prisoners also can get in touch with their artistic sides.

“At a minimum, the art seminar shall include water color painting, charcoal sketching, Arabic calligraphy, acrylic painting and pastel painting,” contract records reviewed by The Washington Times state.

The documents surfaced last week in a U.S. Court of Federal Claims lawsuit stemming from a dispute over a more than $5 million contract to provide library and seminar services to detainees at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The papers offer a glimpse at just how military detainees can pass the time while officials decide their fates.

President Obama is pushing once again to make good on his promise to shut down the prison, hoping to make it easier to transfer detainees out of the facility as part of the upcoming debate on the annual defense policy bill....

Because landscaping skills will certainly be a useful life skill for those recidivists among the released GITMO residents.  


Read the rest here. 

Wednesday Hero

This post was suggested by Michael



MSgt. Woodrow Keeble64 years old from Waubay, South Dakota
May 16, 1917 - January 28, 1982


For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty: Master Sergeant Woodrow W. Keeble distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with an armed enemy near Sangsan-ni, Korea, on October 20, 1951.

On that day, Master Sergeant Keeble was an acting platoon leader for the support platoon in Company G, 19th Infantry, in the attack on Hill 765, a steep and rugged position that was well defended by the enemy. Leading the support platoon, Master Sergeant Keeble saw that the attacking elements had become pinned down on the slope by heavy enemy fire from three well-fortified and strategically placed enemy positions. With complete disregard for his personal safety, Master Sergeant Keeble dashed forward and joined the pinned-down platoon. Then, hugging the ground, Master Sergeant Keeble crawled forward alone until he was in close proximity to one of the hostile machine-gun emplacements. Ignoring the heavy fire that the crew trained on him, Master Sergeant Keeble activated a grenade and threw it with great accuracy, successfully destroying the position. Continuing his one-man assault, he moved to the second enemy position and destroyed it with another grenade. Despite the fact that the enemy troops were now directing their firepower against him and unleashing a shower of grenades in a frantic attempt to stop his advance, he moved forward against the third hostile emplacement, and skillfully neutralized the remaining enemy position. As his comrades moved forward to join him, Master Sergeant Keeble continued to direct accurate fire against nearby trenches, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy. Inspired by his courage, Company G successfully moved forward and seized its important objective. The extraordinary courage, selfless service, and devotion to duty displayed that day by Master Sergeant Keeble was an inspiration to all around him and reflected great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army






You can read more about MSgt. Keeble here


These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives just so others may get to enjoy freedom. For that I am proud to call them Hero.


Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look
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