Clearing the Fog of War

Iraq turmoil troubles parents of dead G.I.s

SAN ANTONIO — For the parents of U.S. service men and women who died in Iraq's long war, the latest news about advances by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is a trigger for powerful memories and a sense of profound loss.

At kitchen tables, in their living rooms and on visits to the cemeteries where their children rest under white marble headstones, the stories of Iraq's disintegration spark long talks, anger, tears and even laughter.

But they also share a dreadful, sinking feeling that things will get so bad in Iraq that President Barack Obama will yield to critics calling on him to save that nation, even if it means sending thousands of troops back.

Read more here: http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/military/article/Iraq-turmoil-troubles-parents-of-dead-GIs-5588380.php#/0

Marine from New Braunfels killed in Afghanistan remembered

SAN ANTONIO — Thomas Spitzer and John Felix Farias were tight, playing football together at New Braunfels Canyon High School before joining the Marines.

They went in on the buddy system five years ago, training alongside each other in boot camp and graduating from infantry school before going their separate ways.

When they died, it was in the same place — restive Helmand province, Afghanistan — and almost three years to the day apart.

Spitzer, a sergeant, was killed Wednesday during a combat mission there.

He was 23.

A lance corporal, Farias, 20, died on June 28, 2011.

Read more here: http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/military/article/Marine-from-New-Braunfels-killed-in-Afghanistan-5585804.php

Air Force to add up to 1,400 jobs to S.A. cyber mission

SAN ANTONIO — The Air Force said Wednesday it would dramatically expand its cyber mission in San Antonio, relocating up to 1,440 troops and civilian workers to the city this fall.

Joint Base San Antonio was selected to host three cyber protection squadrons and a command group to operate under the 24th Air Force, which is based at Port San Antonio.

Long home to the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency, the city has evolved into a center of cyber and intelligence agencies that include the 24th Air Force, Joint Reserve Information Operations/Intelligence Center, the Air Force Electronic Warfare School and National Security Agency.

Read more here: http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/military/article/Air-Force-to-add-up-to-1-400-jobs-to-S-A-cyber-5580078.php

Probe finds problems at Valley VA

SAN ANTONIO — Federal investigators have found that a Veterans Affairs clinic in Harlingen didn't comply with rules on the credentialing and privileging of surgeons and didn't pay private-practice physicians quickly enough, causing them to stop treating veterans.

The investigation, revealed Monday in a letter by the Office of Special Counsel to President Barack Obama, found issues at VA hospitals and clinics across the country.

The counsel's office, an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency, uncovered the problems while visiting the Harlingen-based Texas Valley Coastal Bend Health Care System in early 2012. A system spokesman, Hugo Martinez, conceded that his clinics had seen problems.

Read more here: http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/military/article/Probe-finds-problems-at-Valley-VA-5573672.php

Bergdahl staying in S.A. as outpatient

SAN ANTONIO — The Army said Sunday that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the sole American prisoner of war of the Afghanistan War, is no longer an inpatient at Brooke Army Medical Center.

Yet even as his status shifted to that of an outpatient, visiting his medical team daily while living on Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, little else has changed.

Bergdahl still undergoes treatment in a highly structured program designed to help him overcome years of captivity and isolation. The Army hasn't said if he was tortured or mistreated.

Read more here: http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/military/article/Bergdahl-to-stay-in-S-A-as-outpatient-5571138.php

Audit shows VA waiting times worse than reported

 SAN ANTONIO — A new VA audit shows the agency last week miscalculated the number of veterans who waited more than 30 days to see a doctor, with the number of long waits more than double what the VA first reported — including sharp increases in San Antonio and elsewhere in Texas.

The updated report released Thursday said 621,985 veterans across the country waited more than 30 days to get into a hospital, up from 242,059 from a May 15 survey.

In San Antonio, 5,016 VA patients, or 81/2 percent of 59,000 appointments, waited more than a month, up from 842 in mid-May.

Read more here: http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/military/article/Audit-shows-VA-waiting-times-worse-than-reported-5565609.php

Long wait times at VA are a sign of the times

Veterans trying to schedule their first visits to a VA doctor wait longer in some cities than new patients seeing private physicians, but experts say the government is neither the problem nor the exception in patient access.

Long waits are a sign of the times, they say, and things likely will get worse for everyone — not only those relying on the Veterans Affairs Department.

“The big part of the problem is that we have a more or less infinite demand for medical services and a limited supply of physicians,” said Phil Miller, vice president of communications for Merritt Hawkins, an Irving-based physician recruiting firm that has studied waiting times in different cities. “That graph, the difference between demand and supply, keeps widening.”

Read more here: http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/military/article/Long-wait-times-at-VA-are-a-sign-of-the-times-5556711.php

Bergdahl starts recovery at BAMC

SAN ANTONIO — Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, on American soil for the first time after five years of captivity, joined the ranks of patients Friday at Brooke Army Medical Center, but he wasn't a typical soldier on the mend there.

The Army won't allow a television in his hospital room, and he isn't allowed yet to mingle and talk with other soldiers. Bergdahl is surrounded by experts trained to help former captives readjust. He hasn't asked to talk with his parents, who waged a well-publicized campaign to secure his freedom.

And after 12 days at an Air Force hospital in Germany, Bergdahl also isn't aware of the controversy that has exploded across the country about the circumstances of his capture and release.

Read more here: http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/military/article/Bergdahl-starts-recovery-at-BAMC-5551837.php

Bergdahl starts recovery at BAMC

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl arrived early Friday in San Antonio and was escorted by local police across town to begin his continued recovery after nearly five years as a Taliban prisoner.

He arrived at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland at about 1:40 a.m. in a KC-135 refueling plane and was escorted by a team of caregivers that had been with him throughout a two-week stay in Germany.

Bergdahl, wearing Army camouflage fatigues, was greeted by Maj. Gen. Joseph DiSalvo, commander of U.S. Army South.

Read more here: http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/military/article/Bergdahl-starts-recovery-at-BAMC-5550650.php#/0

Ex-soldier guilty in Guard recruiting fraud

SAN ANTONIO — A Texas National Guard soldier is the latest of nearly two dozen people to plead guilty in a nationwide scheme in which tens of millions of dollars were skimmed from a recruiting program.

Former Spc. Christopher Renfro, 26, of Houston pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in Houston. He'd already pleaded guilty to conspiracy and one count of bribery in the same case, and will be sentenced Jan. 9.

Federal prosecutors in Houston and San Antonio have charged 25 people, most of them soldiers, with defrauding the Recruiter Assistance Program. So far, 23 have been convicted, including a former local Marine who rescued American prisoners of war during the Iraq invasion.

Read more here: http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/military/article/Ex-soldier-guilty-in-Guard-recruiting-fraud-5550187.php