Veterans
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- Written by: Editor
COLUMBUS, Ga. – Army Pvt. Eufracio Madueno Jr. has graduated from the Infantryman One Station Unit Training at Fort Benning, Columbus, Ga.
The training consists of Basic Infantry Training and Advanced Individual Training.
During the nine weeks of basic combat training, the soldier received training in drill and ceremonies, weapons employment, map reading, tactics, military courtesy, military justice, physical fitness, first aid skills, and Army history, core values and traditions.
Additional training included development of basic combat skills and battlefield operations and tactics, and experienced use of various weapons and weapons defenses available to the infantry crewman.
The Advanced Individual Training course is designed to train infantry soldiers to perform reconnaissance operations; employ, fire and recover anti-personnel and anti-tank mines; locate and neutralize land mines and operate target and sight equipment; operate and maintain communications equipment and radio networks; construct field firing aids for infantry weapons; and perform infantry combat exercises and dismounted battle drills, which includes survival procedures in a nuclear, biological or chemical contaminated area.
He is the son of Eufracio Madueno Ayon of Lakeport, Calif., and nephew of Maria Madueno of Ukiah, Calif.
The private is a 2009 graduate of the Kelseyville Adult Education Program, Calif.
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- Written by: Department of Veterans Affairs
WASHINGTON, DC – The Department of Veterans Affairs is partnering with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to award $6 million in grants for research examining the link between substance abuse and military deployments and combat-related trauma.
"VA has a commitment to meet the full range of our veterans' physical and mental health care needs, and that includes addressing substance abuse," said Dr. Joel Kupersmith, VA's chief research and development officer. "This coordinated research effort is one more way we are turning that commitment into action."
NIH agencies taking part in the initiative are the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Cancer Institute.
Several studies will look at treatment seeking patterns – why and when veterans ask for help, and why many don't.
Scientists also will explore treatment strategies, including cognitive behavioral therapy and Web-based approaches, as well as the most effective therapies for soldiers who have other disorders, such as depression and substance abuse.
Researchers will also determine if early intervention can improve outcomes. Other projects will focus on how veterans readjust to their work and families after returning from war.
Institutions receiving the grants include Brandeis University; Dartmouth College; the Medical University of South Carolina; the National Development and Research Institutes in New York City; the University of California, San Francisco; the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; the University of Missouri in Columbia; and the VA medical centers in West Haven, Conn.; Philadelphia; Little Rock, Ark.; and Seattle.
"These research projects will give us important information about the ways that combat stress and substance abuse affect returning military personnel and their families," said NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow. "This knowledge will be used to improve our prevention and treatment approaches, which we hope will reduce the burden of combat-related trauma. Working cooperatively with VA and other partners will help in finding solutions for this shared concern."
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WASHINGTON, DC – Mortgage loans guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) continue to have the lowest rate for serious delinquency and foreclosures in the industry, the agency reported.
"The continued high performance of VA loans is due to the dedication of VA's loan professionals, the support of our partners in the mortgage industry and most notably, the responsibility of our veterans and their desire to maintain home ownership," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. "VA is making good on its promise to help veterans achieve the American dream of owning a home."
There are currently about 1.3 million active home loans that have been obtained using VA's Home Loan Guaranty Program.
The program makes home ownership more affordable for veterans, active-duty service members, and eligible surviving spouses by permitting low or no down payment loans and by protecting lenders from loss if the borrower fails to repay the loan.
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association National Delinquency Survey, VA's foreclosure rate for the last eight quarters and serious delinquency rate for the last five consecutive quarters have been the lowest of all measured loan types, even prime loans.
Much of the program's strength stems from the efforts of VA employees and loan servicers nationwide, whose primary mission is to "ensure all veterans receive every possible opportunity to remain in their homes, avoid foreclosure, and protect their credit from the consequences of a foreclosure," added Shinseki.
Depending on the situation, VA's loan specialists can intervene on a Veteran's behalf to help pursue home-retention options such as repayment plans, forbearances and loan modifications.
When home retention is not an option, sometimes VA can help arrange a sale, or a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, both of which are better options for Veteran borrowers than foreclosure.
Since 1944, when home-loan guaranties were first offered under the original GI Bill, VA has guaranteed more than 18.8 million home loans worth $1.06 trillion.
To obtain more information about the VA Home Loan Guaranty Program, veterans can call VA at 1-877-827-3702.
Information can also be obtained at www.homeloans.va.gov.
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- Written by: Editor
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Army Pfc. Michael D. Gaylor-Layton has graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C.
During the nine weeks of training, the soldier studied the Army mission, history, tradition and core values, physical fitness, and received instruction and practice in basic combat skills, military weapons, chemical warfare and bayonet training, drill and ceremony, marching, rifle marksmanship, armed and unarmed combat, map reading, field tactics, military courtesy, military justice system, basic first aid, foot marches, and field training exercises.
He is the grandson of Dennis Layton of Kelseyville, Calif., and nephew of Chad Layton of Lakeport, Calif.
Gaylor-Layton is a 2009 graduate of Clear Lake High School, Lakeport.
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WASHINGTON, DC – New research is shedding light into the connection between head injuries and chronic traumatic encephalomyopathy.
Researchers with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE) at Boston University School of Medicine have provided the first pathological evidence of a link between repeated head injuries – such as those experienced by athletes in contact sports such as boxing, football, and hockey – and chronic traumatic encephalomyopathy, which resembles amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
The results will appear in the September issue of the Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology.
“This initial research shows great promise for further understanding what people go through after a traumatic brain injury, whether sustained on the battlefield, during a contact sport, or from other injury,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki. “Advancing our knowledge in this area is the key to better treatment outcomes.”
The brain has long kept scientists baffled, as its elaborate structure makes it uniquely difficult to study.
Brain biopsies are too risky as general practice, and diagnostic images often fall short of providing the desired details for full understanding of brain function.
So, neurology researchers rely heavily on brain banks, including some housed at the Bedford (Mass.) VA Medical Center, for collecting clues about the biological nature of brain-related medical conditions.
For the new study, Dr. Ann McKee and colleagues at the CSTE examined the brains and spinal cords of 12 athletes donated by family members to the CSTE Brain Bank at the Bedford VA Medical Center.
The researchers found that all 12 athletes showed evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by repetitive trauma to the brain.
The condition can result in large accumulations of tau proteins, killing cells in regions of the brain responsible for mood and emotions.
In addition to CTE, three of the athletes had been afflicted by motor neuron disease, with severe and progressive muscle weakness and deterioration for several years before their death.
The brains from patients with CTE and motor neuron disease showed a unique pattern of tau and deposits of another protein, TDP-43, in the spinal cord and brain. The pattern was different from that found in the most common form of ALS.
Previous epidemiological studies have suggested a possible link between repetitive head trauma experienced by athletes and combat veterans and the development of motor neuron diseases such as ALS.
“This is the first pathological evidence that repetitive head trauma might be associated with the development of an ALS-like disease,” said McKee. “Although much more work is necessary to completely understand this association, if repetitive head trauma can trigger this kind of neurodegeneration, then by studying the effects of repetitive mild brain trauma, we can learn about the early triggers of ALS and how to slow, reduce and reverse them.
“Future work based on these observations offers a significant opportunity to develop treatments to benefit Veterans and all Americans well into the future,” McKee said.
McKee and her colleagues are also studying whether military troops with traumatic brain injury from blasts or other exposures on the battlefield experience the same types of effects.
“We can't treat what we don't understand,” says McKee. “The idea with these brain banks is to learn as much as possible about brain diseases, including their origins and any environmental or genetic triggers.”
McKee is director of neuropathology at the Bedford (Mass.) VA Medical Center, where this research was conducted. She is also director of the Bedford-based VA brain banks, and CSTE co-director, as well as an associate professor of neuropathology and neurology at Boston University School of Medicine.
ALS affects about 30,000 people in the United States. It is relentlessly progressive and is nearly always fatal. The disease causes degeneration of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that leads to muscle weakness, muscle atrophy, and spontaneous muscle activity. The cause of ALS is unknown and there is no effective treatment.
In 2008, VA established ALS as a presumptive compensable illness for all veterans with 90 days or more of continuously active service in the military.
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- Written by: U.S. Pacific Fleet Public Affairs
PEARL HARBOR – Second generation San Franciscan native Jonathan A. Yuen was recently promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral (lower half) in the United States Navy.
Yuen is now one of nine U.S. Navy flag officers of Asian and Pacific American heritage. He currently serves as the deputy chief of staff for logistics, fleet supply and ordnance at the U.S. Pacific Fleet headquarters in Hawaii.
A ceremony marking his promotion to one-star naval rank, which is similar to that of a brigadier general in the Army or Air Force, took place Aug. 9 at Pearl Harbor.
A 1979 graduate of Lowell High School in 1979, Yuen also attended Herbert Hoover Jr. High and Columbus Elementary.
He has had a variety of Navy assignments, ranging from serving as a supply officer on a ship to director of the Navy Working Capital Fund.
“My story is that I have had a wonderful career in the Navy where I have been afforded opportunities of leadership, education, and service to country, Yuen said. “I have felt value in my service and there has been a balance between what I have given to service to my country and the adventures I have shared with my family.”
Yuen said that he is just an average guy who was blessed to have two parents who taught him to value education and discipline and to believe in service, God and his country.
“My parents instilled the traditional message of most San Francisco Chinese Americans in the 1960s, put education first and work hard,” he said. “The family sang patriotic songs at home, and attended church regularly because his parents thought it was important to believe in something that would lead to good choices later in life.”
The son of an educator, Yuen’s beginnings were not humble by any means, nor where they extravagant.
His father, Jack Yuen, was born and raised in Nevada City, Calif., earned his masters at the University of California and his doctorate at Stanford University.
The younger Yuen said he still remembers going to the Stanford versus West Point football game as a youngster, laughing at the haircuts in the program pictures.
Yuen senior, who served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, corrected him and explained the importance of the military on the way home from the game.
“My dad was very proud of his service,” Yuen reflected. “Dad said this is where he grew up and matured. He got his life’s direction as well as opportunity from the Army.”
Yuen’s mother was born and raised in the heart of San Francisco’s Chinatown. She graduated from San Francisco State University and then worked for the city and county of San Francisco as a recreation and park director in Hunter’s Point and then J. Serra. Together, Yuen’s parents worked to provide a nice home to raise their two children in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Heights neighborhood.
His decision to attend the Naval Academy, where he graduated in 1983, came at a time when most of his peers were all trying to figure out their way in the world, Yuen said. “It was a time when the world was just recovering from the Vietnam War.” His choice to join the Navy was not the most popular amongst his peers, but Yuen felt confident that the Navy was “calling him.”
“I’ve been very blessed,” Yuen said of his Navy career. “Service in the Navy has afforded me opportunities for personal and professional growth, and has also given my family an opportunity to experience the world and become global citizens.
“On a personal level, the Navy's investment in me has given me a great education,” he said. Since graduating from the Naval Academy, Yuen has received an MBA from The Wharton School of Business and attended Senior Executive Training from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
“My Navy opportunities have refined my skill sets and allowed me to do three things: be relevant, be involved and make an impact,” Yuen said. What kind of impact? Yuen rode a nuclear powered submarine in the 80s during the midst of the Cold War. He was part of a great team that helped bring this to pass. And then came the Gulf War and subsequently, Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Through what the military calls an “Individual Augmentee” assignment, Yuen recently completed a tour of duty as the Deputy Commander/Chief of Staff of the Joint Contracting Command – Iraq/Afghanistan, headquartered in Baghdad, Iraq. (See Yuen reflect on his assignment in Iraq: http://www.youtube.com/USPacificFleet#p/u/16/0E0sLKMakz0.)
“I’ve been given an opportunity to be a part of history through service to my country,” Yuen said.
His current focus is to provide the leadership for the supply support ensuring that his fleet is combat ready and capable to respond to any contingency in the Pacific, which is an area of 100 million square miles, more than half the Earth’s surface, with more than 170 ships, nearly 2000 aircraft, and 125,000 Sailors, Marines and civilians.
Thirty-one years after graduating from Lowell High School, Yuen said he is reconnecting with his old buddies through social networking sites. Most have children now and are more settled. When asked about his experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, Yuen is happy to talk about his impressions, his experiences and his journey.
“The greatest opportunity that the Navy has given me is the opportunity to give back through mentoring, sharing my experiences with others and in my own way help to shape the future of the Navy.”
Yuen currently lives in Hawaii with his wife and two children. He plans to take part in a “homecoming” so to speak when he returns to San Francisco to attend his eight-year old nephew’s Special Friends’ Day at school in November.
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- Written by: Ginny Craven
LAKE COUNTY – News from the front lines is always welcomed by Operation Tango Mike supporters.
Recently, Sgt. James Mullins sent a letter thanking the Lake County community. Along with the letter came a group photo, signed by the soldiers of his team, some of the beneficiaries of Operation Tango Mike care packages.
Sgt. Mullins wrote, “First and foremost, thank you for supporting the troops overseas. Being away from family and friends for so long is hard on a soldier and we sometimes feel forgotten. I have received an enormous amount of care packages from Operation Tango Mike, and it reminds me there are people out there who still care and think about us, and when we are down it boosts our spirits and we thank you for that. Our company has an area that allows me to place items received in care packages for all to use. I do so with the items in your care packages, so there are 200+ soldiers who thank you for your contribution.”
He continued, “A little bit about us: My platoon (THOR 3-3) is the only known Army dismounted Route Clearance Package in Southern Afghanistan, if not all of Afghanistan. Attached to the 2nd Marine Division and now the 1st Marine Division, our job is to hunt down and dispose of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and Unexploded Ordnance (UXOs) on the battlefield to provide freedom of movement for coalition forces and local nationals. Our mission has been a huge success.”
Sgt. Mullins closed, “So on behalf of my team and I, we thank you again for supporting the 162 Engineer Company in Southern Afghanistan. And to Bonnie Mullins, I love you Mom!”
James’ proud mom Bonnie works at Kelseyville Lumber where she helps host an Operation Tango Mike “Drop Zone” barrel and encourages donations. Bonnie Mullins attends monthly packing parties to prepare the boxes shipped to her son.
James DuWors, an Army chaplain, also sent a recent letter. He wrote, “We are so grateful you thought of us and I am personally grateful that when my guys come into my offices needing something it is there.”
Chaplain DuWors is assigned to the 4th Squadron of the 2nd Stryker Calvary Regiment and is currently near the Pakistan border.
He also wrote, “Very little comes to us here by way of typical military sales as a PX or AAFES. So much of what my guys use comes from generous folks like you. Knowing that someone is thinking of them and sending the things – even if they don’t know you–does a lot to boost a soldier’s morale. It’s more than just free stuff for guys who are too busy or don’t have access to regular stores. It’s about connecting soldiers to people back home and letting them know they are cared about. So whether you send a lot or a little, it doesn’t matter. You are helping me take great care of my guys and that means a lot to me and them. So, again, thank you and God bless!”
If you would like to help ensure that deployed troops, such as Sgt. Mullins, Chaplain DuWors and their comrades, continue to receive care packages and support you can.
Donations of goods are welcome at one of the many “Drop Zone” barrels at merchant locations throughout Lake and Mendocino Counties.
Monetary donations may be remitted to Operation Tango Mike, 5216 Piner Court, Kelseyville, CA 95451.
For further information or to add your deployed loved one to the care package recipient list please call 707-349-2838 or e-mail
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
LAKEPORT, Calif. – There was a full house of troop supporters for the June packing party for Operation Tango Mike.
Members of the Xi Rho Psi sorority of Beta Sigma Phi presented a donation, saying they hoped to make the contribution a quarterly event.
Sgt. Nelson Gonzalez dropped by for a visit, much to the delight of everyone, but most especially to the young children who were very excited to meet the soldier.
He graciously posed for pictures with his young fans and, giving the limited information he is allowed, let the crowd know that our local soldiers will be deploying in the near future.
He expressed his gratitude for everyone’s support and continued participation in Operation Tango Mike.
Many members of 4-H joined in the fun, packing boxes and decorating them with messages of support. Several veterans, including members of the Military Funeral Honors Team pitched in alongside folks from all walks of the Lake County community. It was another joyous evening of folks coming together for a common good.
If you wish to contribute to Operation Tango Mike, there are many ways to do so. “Drop Zone” barrels are located at businesses throughout the county. Look for these donation locations:
Lakeport: Umpqua Bank; Bruno’s Shop Smart; Dollar Tree Store; Kerrie’s Quilting; The Ink Spot; and Sutter Lakeside Hospital.
Upper Lake: Judy’s Junction.
Nice: Sentry Market.
Clearlake Oaks: Red & White Market.
Clearlake: Griffin’s Furniture; American Legion Post; and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post.
Middletown: Hardester’s Market.
Kelseyville: Kelseyville Lumber and Kelseyville Fire Department.
Unfortunately, difficult economic times have taken their toll in many ways, including a sharp drop in donations of goods for the troops. The “Troop Wish List” is available at each donation location, making it quick and easy to choose an item or two to send to our deployed service members. As the thank you cards and letters we receive prove, our troops are grateful for every item they receive and truly appreciate support from home.
Monetary donations are always welcome and assist in covering shipping fees. They may be sent to Operation Tango Mike, 5216 Piner Court, Kelseyville, CA 95451.
For further information please call 707-349-2838 or e-mail
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- Written by: Editor
SAN ANTONIO – Air Force Airman Anthony M. Tavares graduated from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas.
The airman completed an intensive, eight-week program that included training in military discipline and studies, Air Force core values, physical fitness, and basic warfare principles and skills.
Airmen who complete basic training earn four credits toward an associate in applied science degree through the Community College of the Air Force.
He is the son of Denise Tavares of Clearlake, Calif., and brother of Mike Tavares of Dublin, Calif.
Tavares is a 2009 graduate of Lower Lake High School, Calif.
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