Clearing the Fog of War

Sequester kills San Antonio air show

The budget sequester has claimed another casualty — this year's San Antonio air show.

Joint Base San Antonio cited the Air Force's decision to cancel the Thunderbirds' 2013 season, which starts April 1, in making the announcement Tuesday. It noted the Air Force's participation in such public events as air shows and flyovers at military funerals already had been dropped.

“We knew that, we knew it was coming,” said Richard Perez, president and CEO of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, which has spearheaded Celebrate America's Military Week for 43 years. “It was disappointing. It was such a fantastic event for families in particular, but we will move on.”

The Air Force Thunderbirds or Navy Blue Angels often are the highlight of the annual show, which usually takes place in the fall and draws more than 100,000 spectators.

Previous budget cuts grounded last year's air show, and officials here had planned to hold the event every other year starting in 2013. But the Air Force training command doesn't know if there will be a local air show in 2015.

The show had been in limbo since $46 billion in across-the-board cuts mandated by the budget sequester took effect Friday. Those cuts will affect services ranging from border protection to air traffic control, and will trigger 22 furlough days for civilian Defense Department employees.

The furloughs begin next month and will affect 20,127 civilian employees at Joint Base San Antonio. The first furlough letters go out March 21, and employees will start four-day work weeks April 25.

With the air show gone, U.S. Army North and other commands were reviewing options on how they'd support San Antonio's annual Fiesta, now six weeks out.

Joint Base San Antonio spokesman Brent Boller said he'd heard no official word about the matter. Army North's Col. Wayne Shanks said the services were talking about what they could and couldn't do this year.

“Those that don't cost a lot of resources we'll try to support as best we can,” he said. “It doesn't cost much for a band to march in a parade.”

San Antonio singer gives tearful apology over war stories

A tearful Timothy Michael Poe apologized Friday for outrage over disputed accounts he gave on a TV talent show over his war service, including claims that he was shot in Iraq.

Poe's fiancee, Carrie Morris, told the San Antonio Express-News that he's had memory problems since a 2005 training accident and that he incorrectly believed he had served in Iraq. She said Poe had not “gotten the proper help.”

Poe, meanwhile, told WOAI-AM's “Joe Pags Show” he had set an appointment with a VA psychiatrist to “find out what's going on in my head.”

In a tearful interview, he apologized to “anyone I have offended in any way. I never intended to hurt anyone. I just wanted to put out there that, look, there's life after accidents. I love what the soldiers do for this country and I did my best for my country, and I apparently need help, and I want to say to everyone God bless you.”

Poe performed Monday on NBC's “America's Got Talent.” Occasionally stuttering, he told the judges and a national audience about suffering back and head injuries in a 2009 firefight in Afghanistan.

Morris wouldn't say if he would be in the contest's next round.

It also wasn't clear what he was apologizing for in the brief radio interview. Morris wouldn't let him talk but said he was sorry “for everything's that's been going on.”

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/article/S-A-singer-gives-tearful-apology-over-war-stories-3621131.php#ixzz1ylm4yVsW

 

San Antonio singer did not go to Iraq, officer claims

Timothy Poe, a country crooner from San Antonio accused of lying on national television about being badly wounded in Afghanistan, was challenged Thursday over claims that he was shot in one leg while in Iraq.

The Minnesota National Guard charged that the story, told last month to a Dallas television station, wasn't true, saying its records showed that Poe, 35, reported to training at Camp Shelby, Miss., in 2005 but didn't go to Iraq because of a “medical condition” that officials didn't identify.

“There is no official record that Mr. Poe deployed to Iraq and sustained injuries in combat,” said Lt. Col. Kevin Olson, a Minnesota Guard spokesman.

Poe became an overnight sensation Monday when he was featured in a segment of NBC's “America's Got Talent.” He told the judges and the national television audience at an Austin audition of suffering back and head injuries in a 2009 firefight in Afghanistan.

The Guard said Poe went home with an ear problem after just more than a month in the war zone, and others who said they served with him called his story an outright lie.

Poe could not be reached despite multiple calls during the past two days. The Express-News asked him to allow San Antonio Military Medical Center, where he was treated from September 2009 until his medical discharge in May 2011, to release information about his treatment. So many messages had been left on the phone that its storage capacity was full.

SAMMC has yet to release any documents, but the Minnesota National Guard provided records that in some cases appeared to support parts of Poe's story and undermine other claims he has made.

The Guard said Poe gave the records to the media. After examining them, Olson said, “He appears to lack the required justification to conclusively prove his injuries are combat-related. Absent this lack of supporting justification, it's impossible to prove Mr. Poe's injuries resulted from combat action.”

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/article/S-A-singer-did-not-go-to-Iraq-officer-claims-3617018.php#ixzz1ylkdK3TS

 

'Talent' singer's injuries in war disputed

A San Antonio singer who told viewers of “America's Got Talent” on Monday that he was flown out of Afghanistan after being badly injured in a grenade blast was actually evacuated for an ear problem, according to the National Guard.

Timothy Michael Poe, a sergeant who delivered supplies, had been in Afghanistan for just over a month in summer 2009, Master Sgt. Daniel Ewer, a Minnesota National Guard spokesman, said Wednesday.

“There's a medical issue with his ears,” he said, adding he had no additional information.

A news release issued by the guard countered Poe's claim of having been injured in Afghanistan, sparking a flurry of stories, blogs and comments on the Internet accusing him of manufacturing the tale.

Neither Poe nor two family members returned phone messages.

Poe was treated at San Antonio Military Medical Center, but spokesman Dewey Mitchell said he could not reveal the content of medical records without Poe's permission.

Mitchell said Poe was assigned to Fort Sam Houston's Warrior Transition Battalion and was there from September 2009 until he was medically retired in May 2011.

U.S. Army North spokesman Don Manuszewski confirmed that Poe used the Warrior and Family Support Center. The director of the facility, Judith Markelz, said she vaguely remembered him.

The San Antonio Express-News left a message on Poe's phone asking him to give SAMMC permission to release his records.

Another Minnesota Guard spokesman, Lt. Col. Kevin Olson, said Wednesday that Poe told him in a message that “he would like to discuss with me his case and provide more information.”

“I returned his call and he did not pick up and he did not return my call,” Olson said.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/article/Talent-singer-s-injuries-in-war-disputed-3614673.php#ixzz1yliMGUz3