Post-9/11 veteran creates smartphone app

By Anthony Cave, News21

At the memorial for a fellow Marine, Iraq and Afghanistan combat veteran Jacob Wood happened into several Marines who he didn’t know lived nearby.

As they gathered to honor a Marine who served in combat with Wood, but committed suicide in March 2011 shortly after coming home, Wood saw the need for them to connect.  That gave Wood the idea for Position Report (POS REP), a smartphone application that connects veterans via GPS to an interactive social network.

On POS REP, veterans can pop "flares," sharing local events with other connected veterans. (Courtesy of Anthony Allman)

On POS REP, veterans can pop “flares,” sharing local events with other connected veterans. (Courtesy of Anthony Allman)

Wood hopes his app, in a test phase now with more than 4,000 users, can prevent veteran suicides. But he realizes there is no easy solution.

“It’s very complex, there is certainly not any silver bullet to the issue,” he said.

However, POS REP, in Wood’s words, “leverages technology.” It allows veterans to communicate with one another, set up events through location-based “flares” and even list their service record and awards.

Post-9/11 veteran Keith Finkle, 30, has used the app since January. Finkle, who did two tours in Iraq from 2005 to 2009, appreciates the sense of community the app brings.

He used it while finishing a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies in the spring semester at Arizona State University.

Finkle has made initial contact with just one veteran so far, but the access itself is rewarding, he said.

“It was more of a ‘hey, here I am,’” he said. “It’s just good to know that you have that connection, it kind of validates the idea.”

And Wood hopes a federal agency feels the same way. He has shared his app in Washington, trying to garner support.

Meanwhile, Wood projects a full launch in “three to four months.” And Finkle, too, will be ready. “The content is right at the forefront of what we should be trying to do,” he said.

Marine rapper and photographer reflects on service

Anthony Cave, News21

Marine Sergeant Raymond Lott rapped about war when his camera lens wasn’t focused on battlefields.

Lott is a Marine photographer who was deployed in Iraq in 2006 and Afghanistan in 2008. He is now finishing his service in New Orleans.

The 30-year-old California native often reflects on his time overseas. But he unleashes the day’s “stresses” in a studio, rapping about his experiences.

In “Here Now,” Lott raps that he joined the military because he realized that “a little boy needed change in his life.”

When he wasn’t rapping, Lott was photographing – Iraqi women, firefights, Marines bandaging civilians and carrying out military duties. But Lott’s raps soothed him.

Marine photographer Raymond Lott received a 2007 Thomas Jefferson media award for this picture of an Iraqi woman. The awards are presented by the Department of Defense. (Courtesy of Raymond Lott)

Marine photographer Raymond Lott received a 2007 Thomas Jefferson media award for this picture of an Iraqi woman. The awards are presented by the Department of Defense. (Courtesy of Raymond Lott)

“It’s reflective therapy. You need to get out these emotions in any form; I use therapy through music,” said the man whose rap name is RSonic.

Lott has uploaded more than 50 videos on YouTube. He has more than 2,400 subscribers and his most popular video has almost half a million YouTube views.

“I’m helping people,” he said of his raps. “It helps them see the world in a different way.”

His photography also offers a worldview. Lott won a Thomas Jefferson media award presented by the Department of Defense in 2007 for his photo of an Iraqi woman.

Arizona State Marine veteran fills sandbags in Yarnell

By Anthony Cave, News21

Post-9/11 veteran Luis Camacho (far right) filled "hundreds" of sandbags for Yarnell, Ariz. residents facing potential flash floods. (Courtesy of Luis Camacho)

Post-9/11 veteran Luis Camacho (far right) filled “hundreds” of sandbags for Yarnell, Ariz. residents facing potential flash floods. (Courtesy of Luis Camacho)

Marine Corps veteran Luis Camacho spent more than two years in Iraq, logging three tours of duty from 2004 through 2008; he knows what it is like to fill sandbags.

When he heard that residents of Yarnell, Ariz. – where a raging forest fire killed 19 men June 30 – faced possible flash floods, Camacho, 27, took action.

“If there is something that veterans know about, its filling sandbags,” the public service and public policy major at Arizona State University said.

He used Facebook to ask ASU student veterans to volunteer to take the 90-minute ride north with him over the July 20 weekend. Only one responded, but that did not deter him.

A few Marines were among the fallen Granite Mountain HotShots. Camacho wanted to “honor their memory” through service.

“There’s a brotherhood there. There was that extra incentive to go help out,” he said. “Had they not died, that is the type of work that they would have done for their community – filling up sandbags.”

The two ASU veterans spent nearly six hours, taking a half-hour for lunch, filling “hundreds” of sandbags, he said.

And they were needed. With no vegetation, water and ash from the fire easily could flood houses. Residents took up to 30 sandbags each.

He also met with the Yarnell Fire Department captain and talked to residents.

“Their stories are just heartbreaking, and I’ve experienced a lot more than people should have,” Camacho said, reflecting on his volunteer weekend and his Iraq war experiences.

What We’re Reading: Week 7

By Chad Garland, News21

Texas Monthly's July 2013 cover story is a photo essay about soldiers returning home from war.

Texas Monthly’s July 2013 cover story is a photo essay about soldiers returning home from war.

What We’re Reading:

The Call of Battle (Matt Cook, 7/2013, Texas Monthly) After two Iraq deployments, Matt Cook left the Army in 2006. He found success writing and making films, where he “mined” his memories — some that haunted him, some that slipped away. Eventually, he no longer recognized himself as a soldier, and that’s when he felt the need to return, “to feed on the pain of war again.” In November 2012, he embedded with his old unit, then in Afghanistan.

4th of July Fireworks a Nightmare for Shell-Shocked War Veterans (Susan Donaldson James, 7/3, ABC News) On the eve of Independence Day, some veterans are looking for alternatives to the customary fireworks displays. Startling noises, such as fireworks, can be a trigger for veterans who served in combat zones where frequent mortar shelling, gunfire and other explosions ingrained second-nature reactions or traumatic memories.

Troops still wary of admitting mental health problems (Gregg Zoroya, 7/3, USAToday) A confidential survey of troops in Afghanistan last year reveals that nearly half of Army troops and 60 percent of Marines who reported psychological problems feel they would be seen as weak if they sought help. A review of previous versions of the survey shows these attitudes have changed little since the first was conducted in 2003.

Former U.S. Marine and amputee brings the heat as rising underwear and fitness model (Nina Golgowski, 6/18, New York Daily News) Alex Minsky, a 24-year-old Marine Corps veteran who lost his right leg below the knee in an explosion in 2009, turned to alcohol to cope with the challenge of recovery. When he finally went sober, he was discovered in a Southern California gym just two days later, launching his career as a fitness and underwear model.

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Casualty Who Became a War Hero (Clay Tarver, 7/2, The New York Times) Before he joined the Army, before he became a member of the elite U.S. Army Special Forces, before he fought the Taliban in Afghanistan, Jason Everman was in a rock band. In fact, he was in two. They just happen to be Nirvana and Soundgarden, two of the most well-known alternative rock groups from the 1990s era grunge movement, and Everman just happens to be the one guy who was kicked out of both.