Long Island

sp-soldier stories

For Army veteran Brian Martin, the past few days have been an emotional whirlwind. 
 He was shocked and saddened Thursday when his car was stolen from his <a href="/topics//Coram,_NY">Coram</a> driveway. On Saturday, he was elated -- overwhelmed by a wave of community support. "It's just amazing to see how people actually care; how they actually look out for each other," he said. "I definitely don't feel as alone." 
 The <a href="/topics//Holtsville,_NY">Holtsville</a> native, 25, was injured during a 2010 tour in <a href="/topics//Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> with the 173rd Airborne Brigade. The corporal spent the past 18 months in <a href="/topics//Physical_Therapy">physical therapy</a> in Italy, returning to <a href="/topics//Long_Island,_NY">Long Island</a> with his wife, Dana, and their 5-month-old son, Treyson, in June. 
 The family was looking forward tosuburban normalcy: They rented a house and began looking for work. Brian Martin bought a dark-blue 2002 <a href="/topics//Jeep_Liberty">Jeep Liberty</a> with his $6,000 Army severance check. 
 Two weeks later, it was stolen. Inside was Treyson's stroller and a lower-back brace that Martin uses because of degenerative disc disease. The condition stems from injuries suffered when he was on patrol and the ground beneath his vehicle suddenly gave way, causing it to roll down a hill. 
 "I was disgusted," Martin said of the theft. 
 "That was his one gift to himself, and it was taken from him," said Dana Martin, 24. 
 But after the crime was reported on <a href="/topics//News_12">News 12</a> <a href="/topics//Long_Island,_NY">Long Island</a>, the community responded in a big way. The FealGood Foundation based in <a href="/topics//Nesconset,_NY">Nesconset</a> gave the couple $1,000 toward a new car and Treyson a $250 Toys R Us gift card. 9-1-1 Veterans offered to replace the stroller. 
 When Joe Amodei Jr., owner of the auto-repair chain The Collision Centers in <a href="/topics//Suffolk_County,_NY">Suffolk</a> County, saw the story online, he scanned the <a href="/topics//Facebook">Facebook</a> comments and saw that Brian Martin's sister, Kelly, had posted something. He messaged her immediately. 
 Amodei's shops participate in Recycled Rides, a community service project of the National Auto Body Council that repairs banged-up cars and donates them to needy families. Amodei arranged to have the <a href="/topics//Long_Island,_NY">Long Island</a> chapter of Recycled Rides have a car ready to give to the Martins this week. "You want to help out someone that needs the help -- you want to do it for a vet," Amodei said. "The guy put his life on the line for us, for our freedom." 
 Grateful, Dana Martin called the outpouring of support "overwhelming." 
 <a href="/topics//Suffolk_County,_NY">Suffolk</a> police said Saturday they haven't recovered the <a href="/topics//Jeep">Jeep</a> or made any arrests. If he gets the car back, Brian Martin said he'll return all the charity his family received this week. So others in need can be helped.

Suffolk

LIVET05

Help pours in after Army vet's car stolen

liSOLD

Six years removed from being critically wounded in <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a>, Marine Sgt. Ryan Donnelly had a homecoming of sorts Wednesday. 
 A groundbreaking ceremony was held for his new home in <a href="/topics/Lake_Ronkonkoma%2C_NY">Lake Ronkonkoma</a>; and the Purple Heart recipient -- who lost a leg during his third deployment -- should be unpacking this November, in time for Veteran's Day. 
 Donnelly, 28, Newfield High School's 2002 male athlete of the year who was deployed to <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a> and <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a>, was wounded in 2006 when his Humvee vehicle drove over a roadside bomb. He was one of five marines in the vehicle and the only person injured in the blast. After weeks of infection, his right leg was amputated above the knee. 
 Now, Donnelly and his fiancee, Tina McGrory, 34, are planning to move from their single-bedroom home in <a href="/topics/Middle_Island%2C_NY">Middle Island</a> into a three-bedroom, two bath ranch home on Clarendon Road. 
 "It's amazing; everyone is helping out and doing the right thing," said Donnelly, minutes before shoveling the dirt in his future front lawn. 
 "This is an opportunity to stay on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> where we both grew up and to put down roots and start a family. This is a chance of a lifetime, it really is," McGrory said. 
 The <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> Home Builder Care Development Corp., the charitable arm of the Long Island Builders Institute, is erecting the home through its "Building New Homes for Returning Veterans" program. The corporation built a home last year in <a href="/topics/Sound_Beach%2C_NY">Sound Beach</a> for another Purple Heart recipient, Omar Domenech. 
 The group is also developing plans for a home or a small subdivision in <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> County for veterans who have served in Iraq or <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a>, officials said. 
 The Donnelly home is being built on donated land transferred from <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> County to the Town of <a href="/topics/Brookhaven%2C_NY">Brookhaven</a>, officials said. 
 "Sometimes saying thank you for your services isn't enough, and today reflects that fact," said town Supervisor Mark Lesko. "This site and this outpouring reflects our thanks for your incredible service." 
 Suffolk County Executive <a href="/topics/Steven_Bellone">Steven Bellone</a>, who was among officials on hand, lauded Donnelly's sacrifice and work to build a family and career. 
 "You build great communities around veterans. And we have an obligation to people on the home front [and] to these vets who have sacrificed so much," <a href="/topics/Steven_Bellone">Bellone</a> said.

TOVETS07

Purple Heart recipient receives new home

Ryan Donnelly

Nassau is gearing up to help hundreds of returning U.S. veterans, many of whom are not using the services available to them, County Executive Edward Mangano said. 
 "A lot of these men and women don't know what is available, can't bring themselves to ask for help, or, sometimes, don't even know they need such services," Mangano said in an interview last week. 
 "While their service to our nation cannot be repaid, the county . . . [and its partners] offer a variety of free services to our hometown heroes -- services they deserve," Mangano said. 
 Mangano said the Nassau Veterans Services Agency will help veterans find employment or housing and apply for financial, educational or disability benefits. 
 Nassau also is working with the federal Department of Veterans Affairs, the Mental Health Association of Nassau County and the Veterans Health Alliance of <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> "to help returning soldiers suffering from PTSD, depression or other disorders to re-establish themselves back into civilian life," Mangano said. 
 The county will hold a jobs and support services fair for veterans next month at <a href="/topics/Nassau_Community_College">Nassau Community College</a>, and also will send "welcome home" packages of service information to veterans expected to return to Nassau. 
 <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a>, which has a battery of veterans programs, held its first veterans and service members jobs fair earlier this year and, "because of its success," plans a second one in May, said Vanessa Baird-Streeter, spokeswoman for County Executive Steve Bellone. 
 Precise numbers of <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a> and <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> veterans were not available. Some 4,500 of them -- 1,700 from Nassau and 2,800 from <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> -- currently are obtaining services at the <a href="/topics/Northport%2C_NY">Northport</a> VA Medical Center, according to the VA. 
 Those seeking information about veterans services in Nassau may call 516-572-6565 or 631-853-8387 in <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a>.

Nassau

POVETS08

Nassau gearing up to aid returning war vets

poLEGhs

Bracing against a growing surge of veterans needing psychological care spawned by a decade of war in southwest Asia, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced Thursday it will boost its mental health staff by nearly 10 percent. 
 The agency will add 1,600 mental health practitioners and 300 support personnel to its existing workforce of 20,590, according to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. 
 It's not yet known how the increase nationwide will impact staffing on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>. The VA Medical Center at <a href="/topics/Northport%2C_NY">Northport</a> is currently funded for 184 full-time mental health positions, including psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, <a href="/topics/Nurses_%28musician%29">nurses</a> and therapists. 
 "History shows that the costs of war will continue to grow for a decade or more after the operational missions in <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a> and <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> have ended," Shinseki said in a statement. "As more veterans return home, we must ensure that all veterans have access to quality mental health care." 
 Veterans advocates cite several recent cases -- including the killing of 17 Afghan civilians, allegedly by an <a href="/topics/United_States_Military_Academy">Army</a> staff sergeant in March, and the <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> County jail suicide of Marine Sgt. Bart Ryan in February -- as indications that the wars are stressing troops to the breaking point. 
 Military leaders and veterans advocates warn that untreated war stress is contributing to high rates of joblessness, family problems, and unchecked rage and depression among current and former troops. 
 After a soldier shot up an apartment complex near <a href="/topics/Fort_Bragg">Fort Bragg</a>, N.C., in January, Lt. Gen. Frank Helmick said there had been six suicides by <a href="/topics/Fort_Bragg">Fort Bragg</a> soldiers in the prior six weeks and at least 25 cases of spousal abuse at the post in the previous month. 
 The <a href="/topics/Northport%2C_NY">Northport</a> facility has experienced a 30 percent increase in its mental health patient load since the <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> War started in 2001. It has seen a nearly 14 percent increase in such patients in the past four years alone. 
 In addition to providing emergency-room psychological care, the facility usually is able to offer psychological or substance-abuse appointments for veterans "within 14 days of a desired date," a Northport spokesman said.

News

Health

LIVA20

Feds boost mental health funds for veterans

bart ryan cropped

Marine Sgt. Bart Ryan returned from eight months of combat in <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a> in October 2005 a tormented man. 
 Although he had won acclaim from his <a href="/topics/US_Marine_Corps">Marine Corps</a> superiors for his service and good conduct, the man who arrived back on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> was never able to regain his balance. 
 On Feb. 24, alone in a <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> County jail cell, Ryan hanged himself. He was 32 years old. 
 According to family members, close friends and a lawyer who assisted Ryan during several post-combat brushes with the law, the former Marine experienced a frustrating and humiliating string of drug-related arrests and auto accidents after his 2005 return. His marriage evaporated. He couldn't hold a job. His once-vibrant personality was buried under myriad self-inflicted problems. 
 "He was the kind of guy who brightened the room," Ryan's brother Tom said. "But when he came back, he was not so lighthearted. He wasn't the same person." 
 Military experts and political leaders have expressed increasing concern that many of the estimated 2.3 million Americans who have served in <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a> or <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> struggle as they try to reintegrate themselves into civilian life. 
 They say high rates of divorce, joblessness, depression, suicide and anti-social behaviors among returning veterans pose potential risks to them, their families, and others with whom they share neighborhoods, roadways and workplaces. 
 A 2010 Rand study of <a href="/topics/New_York_%28state%29">New York</a> State's <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a> and <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> veterans found that one in six exhibited post-traumatic stress disorder or depression. One in five said they had sought mental health services in the past year but had not received it. 
 Tom Ryan said his brother was at least twice turned away from Veteran's Administration facilities when he sought outpatient help. He said once was in September 2009, after Ryan's father Thomas' death from cancer, when Bart and Tom Ryan visited the VA facility in <a href="/topics/Bay_Ridge%2C_Brooklyn">Bay Ridge</a>. 
 He said he and his brother waited for nearly 12 hours for a bed in the facility's inpatient drug treatment program. He said his brother was turned away for lack of space. And in February, Ryan's mother, Lilyann Ryan -- alarmed when her son said he was contemplating suicide -- took him to the VA facility in <a href="/topics/Northport%2C_NY">Northport</a>, where she asked that he be admitted as an emergency inpatient. When Bart Ryan told staff he was not suicidal, he was not admitted, Tom Ryan said. 
 Sal Thomas, a spokesman for the VA facility in <a href="/topics/Northport%2C_NY">Northport</a>, said, "While we cannot discuss the specifics of an individual patient's care, I can tell you that any veteran presenting to the Medical Center with thoughts of suicide is thoroughly assessed by a psychiatrist, and a medical determination for the appropriate level of care is made. No veteran assessed as in need of inpatient care is ever turned away from the Medical Center." 
 A spokesman for the Bay <a href="/topics/Ridge%2C_NY">Ridge</a> facility said no veterans are turned away from medical care. 
 &nbsp; 
 His death in the jail 
 One week after his visit to <a href="/topics/Northport%2C_NY">Northport</a>, Ryan hanged himself with a bedsheet. It happened the night after he was jailed on misdemeanor charges stemming from a 2010 traffic stop in which he was found to have prescription narcotics in his system. His mother, Lilyann Ryan, has filed a $22 million wrongful death suit against the county. Her son's suicide was the fifth reported at the jail in the past two years. 
 The Ryans' attorney, Raymond Silverman, said: "The family is ultimately doing this because Bart served his country and was let down by the system as a whole, and by a country that was supposed to keep him safe." 
 Many experts question whether support networks designed to help veterans cope -- Ryan was receiving $127 per month in federal veterans disability payments for post-traumatic stress disorder -- are adequate to handle the number and degree of problems faced by these ranks of war veterans. 
 "With so many Iraq and <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> veterans returning, the question is, are we ready?" said <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> County Legis. Steve Stern (D-<a href="/topics/Dix_Hills%2C_NY">Dix Hills</a>), chairman of the Veterans and Seniors Committee. 
 He said more than 13,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have returned to <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> County alone since troops were first sent to the region in 2001. Similar numbers have returned to <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> County. 
 "This challenge can grow exponentially," he said. 
 Ryan's relatives say that before he hanged himself, the U.S. military, the federal Department of Veterans Affairs, and other entities expected to assist America's recent combat veterans proved ineffective. 
 "He always had a smile on his face," said Tom Ryan as he stood in a <a href="/topics/Hicksville%2C_NY">Hicksville</a> funeral home at his brother's wake, attended by more than 100 friends and family, in February. "That's why it is so hard to see him like this, see him hurt." 
 Bart Ryan was so highly regarded by his <a href="/topics/US_Marine_Corps">Marine Corps</a> superiors that he was awarded an honor graduate designation because of his near-the-top ranking in basic training. He was also made an instructor in his chosen field of electrical work. He was promoted to corporal within two years of completing boot camp, and was awarded the Navy/<a href="/topics/US_Marine_Corps">Marine Corps</a> Achievement Medal -- "based on sustained performance or specific achievement of a superlative nature" -- early in his Iraq deployment. 
 &nbsp; 
 'Marines were good for him' 
 Tom Ryan said his brother thrived in the Marines. "Before Iraq, the Marines were good for him," he said. "They gave structure to his life." 
 But within weeks of his return from combat, Ryan began showing signs of emotional problems that family members and close friends found alarming. Tom Ryan had delayed his own wedding until October 2005 so that Bart Ryan could attend. But by then, he said, his brother was a changed person. 
 Born in <a href="/topics/Rosedale%2C_NY">Rosedale</a>, Queens, Bart Ryan moved with his family to <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>: first to <a href="/topics/North_Bellmore%2C_NY">North Bellmore</a> when he was 6, then to <a href="/topics/East_Meadow%2C_NY">East Meadow</a> in 1987. 
 Friends described him as a charming and popular teen who showed a knack for skateboarding and in-line skating. Considered a natural leader, during high school he was a counselor at Woodward, a summer camp in central <a href="/topics/Pennsylvania">Pennsylvania</a> known for grooming skateboard and in-line skating performers. 
 He graduated from <a href="/topics/East_Meadow%2C_NY">East Meadow</a> High in 1998, and enrolled at <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> County Community College. But Ryan withdrew within a few weeks after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system. 
 He spent the next few years doing odd jobs while regaining his strength. Then, at 22, he enlisted in the Marines. 
 Thomas and Lilyann Ryan were less than enthusiastic about his decision, though both Ryan's father and a grandfather had been in the military. But life in the Marines seemed to suit him well. 
 He excelled at boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., married a childhood sweetheart, and settled into a home they bought near his new base at <a href="/topics/Camp_Lejeune">Camp Lejeune</a>, N.C. Disappointed when a painful groin injury suffered in boot camp prevented him from deploying to Japan with his fellow Marines, he found renewed enthusiasm in being chosen to teach the skills of an electrician to new recruits. 
 Ryan recovered from the injury and, cleared for combat, he was sent to Iraq in February 2005 with the 26th Combat Logistics Battalion. 
 &nbsp; 
 Served at field hospital 
 Good with his hands, Ryan was assigned to help maintain the electric generators at a field hospital at Al Taqaddum air base, west of <a href="/topics/Baghdad">Baghdad</a>. But in regular telephone calls to his brother, Ryan let on that he was also expected to help with the often gruesome task of assisting as ambulances arrived with victims of bombings, gun attacks or other war trauma. 
 "He was pulling in people who had been hit by roadside bombs, and not just U.S. soldiers, but Iraqis also -- insurgents or just Iraqi citizens who had been caught up in the fighting," Tom Ryan said. "I guess they teach you to be hard, but he was definitely affected by it." 
 He also began asking people back home to send him over-the-counter sleep aids. One of the people he asked for the aids, who asked not to be identified, said Ryan appeared to have been emotionally overwhelmed by his deployment. 
 Once back from Iraq, Ryan found it impossible to sleep, and would get only a few minutes of rest a night for days, this person said. His work habits slipped. He started getting speeding tickets on his base in <a href="/topics/North_Carolina">North Carolina</a>. Superior officers disciplined him for showing up late. 
 Throughout this period, the person said, Ryan became increasingly dependent on prescription painkillers, which Marine doctors authorized because of pain related to Ryan's groin injury. 
 A <a href="/topics/Camp_Lejeune">Camp Lejeune</a> spokeswoman said commanders there were unfamiliar with details of Ryan's experience and could not comment. 
 Nationwide, the Marine Corps offers several programs to help troops struggling with psychological programs, including a Marine and Family Services Center at each base. 
 Marine officials have acknowledged that many of their troops do not get the help they need. They say troops often worry that seeking psychological help can harm their careers. And they acknowledge that the culture incubated by some corps leaders discourages Marines from expressing vulnerability. 
 Locally, the U.S. Department of <a href="/topics/Veterans_Affairs_Medical_Center">Veterans Affairs Medical Center</a> at Northport has been praised for the quality of programs geared toward Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, particularly in the area of post-traumatic stress disorder. 
 But some experts say the rising number of new war veterans with mental health issues means waiting periods for appointments at Northport can be excessive. 
 "They're good -- they know what they are doing," said Richard Gales, of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, who helps individuals file VA benefits claims. "But they are so backed up, it's not funny. They don't have the manpower." 
 &nbsp; 
 Moves back in with parents 
 By August 2007 Ryan's four-year enlistment was up. After a troubled marriage, he and his wife parted. The home near <a href="/topics/Camp_Lejeune">Camp Lejeune</a> where Ryan had been an enthusiastic host of neighborhood parties before leaving for Iraq was sold. He loaded a U-Haul trailer with a few belongings, including a powerful new motorcycle, and headed north. 
 Ryan moved back in with his parents in <a href="/topics/East_Meadow%2C_NY">East Meadow</a>. But his newly erratic behavior alarmed them, and his struggles to acclimate to civilian life seemed to intensify. 
 To Matt Curiale, a close friend who grew up with the former Marine, Ryan was a changed man. 
 "Here's a guy who wanted to do the right thing, so he joins the Marines, wanted to do right by his girlfriend, so he marries her," Curiale said. "But after he started having troubles, he would simultaneously lash out at people who tried to help him . . . [and] would be miserable that he was so angry at the people who loved him." 
 He had repeated vehicle accidents, including one that totaled a car, and another in which he nearly killed himself in a motorcycle crash, records and interviews show. 
 The motorcycle accident, which badly injured Ryan's leg and shoulder, took place less than a year after his discharge from the Marines. Ryan was riding the new motorcycle -- a Yamaha R1 -- when he crashed on the <a href="/topics/Southern_State_Parkway%2C_NY">Southern State Parkway</a> while swerving to avoid a car. 
 "The bone in his leg was showing," said Stephanie Sniffen of <a href="/topics/Hicksville%2C_NY">Hicksville</a>, who had been dating Ryan since 2007, and who saw the accident while following in another vehicle. 
 Experts say veterans suffering from war-related psychological trauma are particularly likely to engage in potentially deadly driving behaviors, including extreme speeding, driving while high on drugs or alcohol, or road rage incidents. 
 On June 17, 2008, while Ryan was recovering from the motorcycle accident, Nassau police spotted him driving on the wrong side of the road on Rifton Street in <a href="/topics/Elmont%2C_NY">Elmont</a>, according to the Nassau district attorney's office. Police said he looked nervous and sweaty, and was seen trying to stuff several bags of heroin in the pocket of the driver-side door. 
 &nbsp; 
 Disorderly conduct plea 
 Police also found six bags of crack cocaine and a crack pipe beside the car seat, records show. A Nassau County judge allowed Ryan to plead guilty to disorderly conduct a year later, after Ryan completed an outpatient treatment program at Department of Veterans Affairs medical facilities in Northport and Brooklyn. 
 Ryan was arrested at least three more times, according to records and William Shanahan, a lawyer who represented him. 
 On the morning of Aug. 12, 2010, a state trooper clocked Ryan doing 90 mph on the <a href="/topics/Meadow_Brook_Hall">Meadowbrook</a> Parkway and he failed a field sobriety test. A drug test revealed a dangerous assortment in his system, including oxycodone and oxymorphone -- two powerful prescription painkillers -- and methadone, according to records and the Nassau district attorney's office. 
 The test also indicated the presence of the sleep and anxiety drug <a href="/topics/Ambien">Ambien</a>. According to a <a href="/topics/National_Institutes_of_Health">National Institutes of Health</a> website, people who have taken the drug have been known to engage in sleepwalking and even driving without being fully awake. 
 One year later, on Aug. 3, 2011, he was arrested after a heroin buy in Ridgewood, Queens, Shanahan said. 
 Twelve weeks later, Ryan was arrested after he swerved past a stopped police car on Spur Drive in <a href="/topics/Bay_Shore%2C_NY">Bay Shore</a>. Shanahan said Ryan agreed to enroll in a yearlong drug treatment program at Phoenix House that began last December. 
 But on Feb. 5, Ryan left Phoenix House, saying the program there did not address his PTSD, Shanahan said. 
 A hearing before Nassau District Judge Andrew Engel was scheduled for Feb. 23. 
 Ryan hoped Engel would allow him to remain free while the judge arranged for Ryan's case to be transferred to Nassau Veterans Court, a new judicial division that handles nonviolent cases involving veterans. But Judge Engel imposed a $5,000 bail, which Ryan could not post. 
 The next morning, Ryan was dead. 
 To Ryan's childhood friend, his death was a sad ending to a good man's short life. 
 "He was like the friend everybody wanted to have: He was funny, he was smart, he was tough, he was loyal, a fun guy to hang out with," said Matt Curiale, of Sea Cliff, who was born a month before Ryan and knew him all his life. 
 But as Ryan struggled following his return from Iraq, Curiale said, "He would look around and not be able to account for why he was using [drugs], why he couldn't hold a job, why he was the way he was."

LISOLD01

War experience changed Marine, family says

On a Tuesday night in April, the phone rang at the Fitzpatrick home in <a href="/topics/Coram%2C_NY">Coram</a>. 
 The voice on the other end of the line was Rosemarie Fitzpatrick's only son, Marine Lance Cpl. William Fitzpatrick. The conversation was short, she recalled. 
 "We're leaving," he said. 
 And with those words, Fitzpatrick knew her son was going to war. 
 "I told him to keep his head down and to be careful," she said. "And then he told me I had the power of attorney over his affairs in case something happened to him." 
 Since that day last spring, when her 19-year-old son boarded a plane bound for <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a>, the Fitzpatrick household did what all families of deployed troops do while their loved ones are in harm's way -- wait anxiously for the day they return home safely. 
 &nbsp; 
 Bearing the Blue Star 
 "Blue Star" families of deployed military personnel go through emotional stresses that are almost unimaginable among nonmilitary families. Unlike parents sending children off to college, Blue Star families say goodbye fully conscious that the next phone call, the next news flash, could be devastating. At least 16 military personnel from <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> are known to have died in <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a>. 
 During holidays, the absence of a loved one who is serving at war is even more acute. But last Wednesday night, William Fitzpatrick returned to <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>, his <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> tour finished in time for him to go home on leave and celebrate <a href="/topics/Thanksgiving">Thanksgiving</a> with his family. 
 Rosemarie Fitzpatrick's story, and those of the community of Blue Star parents she joined to share emotional support, provide a window into the anxieties encountered by the small portion of American families with military children in harm's way. 
 An estimated 50 families are active members of the <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> chapter of Blue Star Mothers of America, according to president Cynthia Ventura, of <a href="/topics/Holtsville%2C_NY">Holtsville</a>. And there are Blue Star fathers, as well. 
 One Blue Star dad is Fred Seitz, of <a href="/topics/East_Islip%2C_NY">East Islip</a>, who on Monday helped other Blue Star parents at a <a href="/topics/Knights_of_Columbus">Knights of Columbus</a> hall in <a href="/topics/Center_Moriches%2C_NY">Center Moriches</a> pack gift boxes for deployed troops. 
 The father of an Air Force sniper, Seitz said he tries to help his son, Air Force Sgt. Rick Seitz, shoulder the emotional burdens. 
 He shares a close relationship with his son. So when Rick confided in his father about having made his first battlefield kill, Seitz sought to comfort him, while grappling with his own emotions. 
 "Yes, it bothered me a lot," Seitz said. "He's putting rounds into another human being and ending his life. He wanted to know, 'Is God going to have a problem with that?' " 
 Experts on military culture say military families feel particularly isolated now, in part, because a smaller share of the public is serving than at any time since the start of <a href="/topics/World_War_II">World War II</a>. 
 Over the past decade, as the military has been engaged in its longest-ever period of sustained conflict, just 0.5 percent of American adults have served on active duty at any given time, according to the <a href="/topics/Washington%2C_D.C.">Washington D.C.</a>-based, nonpartisan <a href="/topics/Pew_Research_Center">Pew Research Center</a>. And although 78 residents of Fitzpatrick's <a href="/topics/Coram%2C_NY">Coram</a> neighborhood were serving in <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a> or Afghanistan as of last August, according to a <a href="/topics/US_Department_of_Defense">Department of Defense</a> count, more than a third of ZIP codes on Long Island had fewer than 10 residents in combat then: Only two were listed from <a href="/topics/Cedarhurst%2C_NY">Cedarhurst</a> in <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a>. 
 Laura Fuchsius, of <a href="/topics/Sayville%2C_NY">Sayville</a>, also came to the <a href="/topics/Knights_of_Columbus">Knights of Columbus</a> to share the company of fellow Blue Star parents. 
 Her son, Marine Cpl. Scott Fuchsius, left for Afghanistan in September, and Fitzpatrick said that for a while she didn't want to hurt Fuchsius' feelings by letting her know William Fitzpatrick would be home for <a href="/topics/Thanksgiving">Thanksgiving</a>. 
 She said when she told Fuchsius, "She giggled at me. She said, 'Your son did his time, now it's my son's time.' " 
 &nbsp; 
 A steadying presence 
 Fuchsius said that, although there is no dodging the worry of having a child at war, being among people going through the same thing, particularly around holidays, has helped steady her. 
 "This will be my first <a href="/topics/Christmas">Christmas</a> without my whole family, and it's going to be the toughest," Fuchsius said, pausing near a table piled high with thermal socks and bars of soap waiting to be carefully packed and shipped. "But you're not alone here, because they all know what you're going through." 
 Military commanders say the families of deployed personnel face myriad challenges, ranging from anxiety to financial hardship. Spouses must learn to run households and raise children on their own. Children often struggle in school or display aggressive behaviors as they work out feelings of anger, rejection or fear. 
 "When a soldier deploys, his whole family deploys," said Col. Michael Foster, who leads 1,300 troops from the 1st Ranger Battalion, based in Savannah, Ga. He said families who live in communities associated with large military bases have access to family networks, understanding school officials, recreational programs, and other supports that the military makes available, while parents and siblings living farther away can feel no one understands what they are going through. 
 &nbsp; 
 The toll on loved ones 
 Rosemarie Fitzpatrick's daughter, Ashley, became angry and depressed when her brother went off to boot camp two years ago. Her grade average in school went from around 90 into the 60s. She became frustrated with teachers she felt didn't understand what she was feeling. She snapped at classmates who refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance. 
 "Sometimes I would just put my head down on my desk and cry," she said. "My teachers didn't know what I was going through, so they didn't know what to do. It messed up my whole school year." 
 Rosemarie Fitzpatrick has also struggled emotionally. She started smoking more heavily while her son was away. She put on weight. She went to bed each night with two phones on her pillow -- a land line next to one ear, her <a href="/topics/Cellular_Phones">cellphone</a> next to the other -- their ringers cranked to their highest volume. 
 Her doctor prescribed <a href="/topics/Xanax">Xanax</a>, an anti-anxiety drug, to help her sleep, she said, but she refused, fearful she would miss a call. 
 Her anxiety eased last Saturday. The phone rang at 2 a.m. Her son was on the line. 
 "He said, 'My boots are off the sand,' " Fitzpatrick said. "Which meant he was no longer in Afghanistan."

LISOLD27

Military families find comfort together

fitz

One by one, they filed into the <a href="/topics/US_Marine_Corps">Marine Corps</a> facility in <a href="/topics/Garden_City%2C_NY">Garden City</a>, each bearing the burden of his military service, each hoping for a bit of relief.
One man, Eric Reilly, 23, of <a href="/topics/Shirley%2C_NY">Shirley</a>, squirmed with anxiety. He said he still struggles with memories of the death of a fellow soldier in the Humvee they had been riding in <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a> on New Year's Eve 2008. He vows never to forget his friend, whose name he wears on his wrist.
"I still never take his bracelet off," Reilly said.
Another man, <a href="/topics/Robert_Nelson">Robert Nelson</a>, 64, of Newark, said he has wrestled with drug abuse issues since his days on <a href="/topics/Vietnam">Vietnam</a>'s "Hamburger Hill" 42 years ago.
Still another, Gregory Whitehead, 63, of <a href="/topics/Hempstead%2C_NY">Hempstead</a>, survived a hand grenade explosion in Vietnam that eventually cost him his eyesight, and is now trying to outrun poverty.
They and more than 140 others came to a "stand down" services fair Monday organized by the <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> County Veterans Agency and the United Veterans Organization of Nassau County.
The fair brought together some two dozen government and nonprofit provider agencies, including the <a href="/topics/Salvation_Army">Salvation Army</a>, the <a href="/topics/New_York_%28state%29">New York</a> Department of Labor, the Veterans Health Alliance of <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> and the <a href="/topics/Northport%2C_NY">Northport</a> <a href="/topics/Veterans_Affairs_Medical_Center">Veterans Affairs Medical Center</a>.
Because the transition from military to civilian life can be overwhelming for individuals who have been traumatized by combat or who lack job skills, veterans sometimes struggle with homelessness or substance abuse, according to social workers.
"If you don't have a strong support structure of family or friends, reintegrating into civilian life can be very challenging," said <a href="/topics/Andrew_Roberts">Andrew Roberts</a>, director of military and veterans services at the Rosen Family Wellness Center, part of the <a href="/topics/North_Shore-Long_Island_Jewish_Health_System">North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System</a>, which counsels returning veterans. 
Visitors to the fair were assisted by 200 volunteers -- many of them wearing the emblems of groups such as the <a href="/topics/Veterans_of_Foreign_Wars">Veterans of Foreign Wars</a> -- who distributed donated clothing and toiletries, turkeys for <a href="/topics/Thanksgiving">Thanksgiving</a> and other groceries. 
As he left with a bag of clothing and a frozen <a href="/topics/Turkey">turkey</a>, Whitehead, tapping his way with a cane, said he lives on a fixed income of $2,773 per month in veterans benefits and an insurance annuity. 
"I'm so broke, I don't even have a penny," Whitehead said. "I shouldn't have to do this."
<a href="/topics/Robert_Nelson">Nelson</a> came from an inpatient drug treatment program at a Veterans Affairs facility in St. Albans, Queens, where he said he had checked in several weeks ago.
He survived the May 1969 assault on Ap Bia Mountain in Vietnam -- "Hamburger Hill" -- where scores of American troops perished during a 10-day battle. 
"It either made you or broke you," Nelson said. He said two cousins and three high school classmates perished in the war. "There was nothing but death."
Reilly was among only a handful of recent veterans from the wars in Iraq and <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> who came to the fair. He is one of the 30.4 percent of veterans under 25 the U.S. <a href="/topics/Bureau_of_Labor_Statistics">Bureau of Labor Statistics</a> says is unemployed, and said the blanket, boxer shorts and other items he left with will help.
Reilly is also a patient at St. Albans, where he said he is being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder. He said he is determined to repair his life.
"I'm getting myself together," he said.

LIVETS23

Military veterans get a helping hand

livets22

Former <a href="/topics/United_States_Military_Academy">Army</a> <a href="/topics/National_Guard">National Guard</a> Lt. John Jennings battled anxiety, flashbacks, depression and chronic pain after returning home from <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a> in 2005. 
His drinking had begun to alarm his friends, he told Newsday in a 2010 interview. He began having car crashes, including once in his parents' garage and a collision with a telephone <a href="/topics/Pole_%28musician%29">pole</a> that broke his nose. And Jennings would disappear for days, refusing to take calls on his <a href="/topics/Cellular_Phones">cellphone</a> even from loved ones. 
"You come back from an experience like that and you clearly are not the same person," Jennings, a 2001 <a href="/topics/Hofstra_University">Hofstra University</a> graduate, told Newsday last year. "I just needed to be numb." 
Jennings said after his drinking caused his girlfriend to leave him, he worked to get his life in order. He found a new love, Hatty <a href="/topics/Baldwin%2C_NY">Baldwin</a>, whom he planned to marry. They settled in a home in <a href="/topics/Calverton%2C_NY">Calverton</a>. 
But when <a href="/topics/Baldwin%2C_NY">Baldwin</a> found Jennings dead on their bed when she returned home from work on the morning of Jan. 10, she and his parents wondered whether post-traumatic stress disorder might have driven him to suicide. 
"He had a bagful of prescription drugs, I'd say 15 or more, that he would take every day," said his mother, Patricia Jennings, of <a href="/topics/Holtsville%2C_NY">Holtsville</a>. "I don't think he wanted to live like that. He wanted to be fine, back to the way he had been before." 
An autopsy report concluded Jennings' death was accidental. But it raised troubling questions about another threat that is an increasing concern among military and veterans groups: accidental poisonings by painkillers and other legally prescribed drugs. 
&nbsp; 
Painkillers cited in death 
The report, which <a href="/topics/Baldwin%2C_NY">Baldwin</a> gave to Newsday, said Jennings died of "accidental intoxication" from two opiate painkillers, methadone and tramadol. 
Military doctors nationwide wrote nearly 3.8 million prescriptions for painkillers in 2009, compared with about 866,800 in 2001, the year the war in <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> began, according to the <a href="/topics/The_Pentagon">Pentagon</a>. Doctors at the <a href="/topics/Northport%2C_NY">Northport</a> <a href="/topics/Veterans_Affairs_Medical_Center">Veterans Affairs Medical Center</a>, where Jennings was an outpatient, wrote 18 percent more prescriptions for opiate painkillers in 2010 than they did four years ago, according to VA figures. In that time span the number of patients being treated at <a href="/topics/Northport%2C_NY">Northport</a> increased by 1 percent. 
His family said Jennings was taking more than a dozen legally prescribed drugs for pain and other conditions at the time of his death. 
"I'm angry," <a href="/topics/Baldwin%2C_NY">Baldwin</a> said. "It's nice to know it wasn't suicide, but it's upsetting and frustrating that he was on so many medications. It's much easier to prescribe stuff than to figure out what's wrong." 
While declining to talk about Jennings' case, Dr. Hussein Foda, acting chief of medicine at the <a href="/topics/Northport%2C_NY">Northport</a> VA hospital, said doctors there have taken measures to curb prescribing painkillers to veterans. 
They have sharply reduced the number of dosages patients may receive at once, and patients suspected of abusing prescription drugs are subject to urine screenings and pill counts, he said. 
"Someone coming in for a broken ankle will get a prescription for acute pain, but I think it is quite difficult to get a prescription for long term," Foda said. "We have a very vigorous narcotic pain management policy." 
Regina <a href="/topics/Labelle_%28band%29">LaBelle</a>, <a href="/topics/Barack_Obama">President Barack Obama</a>'s drug policy director, said her office is aware the increased use of prescription drugs by troops and veterans is a problem. 
She said a military culture that often discourages soldiers from complaining about physical ailments may encourage individuals to become dependent on painkillers. 
"You may think you are tough," <a href="/topics/Labelle_%28band%29">LaBelle</a> said. "So you take prescription drugs to dull the pain rather than get treatment, because there's still that stigma attached to asking for help." 
She said the <a href="/topics/US_Department_of_Defense">Defense Department</a> ordered its doctors nationwide to limit more strictly how long patients may use opiate painkillers before seeking authorization for refills. 
But veterans advocates say they are alarmed by the increased use of pharmaceutical drugs to treat soldiers for chronic pain. And with nearly one in five returning troops showing signs of PTSD or major depression, according to a 2008 Rand Corp. study, advocates say drugs are too often used to treat those affected by repeat combat tours or battlefield experiences. 
&nbsp; 
Several meds needed 
John Javis, projects director of the Veterans Health Alliance of <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>, said veterans frequently incur war injuries that require multiple therapies. He said a soldier hurt in an explosion might be taking painkillers for a broken limb, anti-seizure medications to counter effects of a concussion, and anti-anxiety and <a href="/topics/Sleep_%28musician%29">sleep</a> drugs for PTSD. 
"We have clients who find it hard to stay awake during their meetings with us, and when you ask them, they are heavily medicated," Javis said. "On top of that, drinking is often a problem, and the interactions can be deadly." 
Before Jennings' death, Newsday had been preparing an article on his struggle with PTSD. 
In the interviews Jennings described being tormented by his experiences, including the aftermath of a suicide bombing in which the attacker's dismembered body was left near a checkpoint for several days. 
Jennings showed a reporter a scrapbook of grisly photographs from <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a>, including portraits of more than a dozen fellow soldiers he knew who had been killed, and horrific images of Iraqi suicide bomb victims. 
He described being traumatized by guilt over the deaths of two subordinates in his platoon -- Pfc. Francis Obaji, 21, of Queens, and Spc. Alain Kamolvathin, 21, of Blairstown, N.J. -- who drowned in a canal. 
Baldwin said she found in Jennings' medicine chest more than a dozen prescribed drugs, including prazosin, used to curb PTSD nightmares; flurazepam, for insomnia; divalproex, for <a href="/topics/Bipolar_Disorder">bipolar disorder</a>, and bupropion, an antidepressant. 
Jennings' mother said prescription drugs cast a cloud over her son's once vibrant personality.""He wasn't smiling anymore. Once or twice you would see the kind of person he was. But it wasn't often."

LISOLD19

Concern raised about meds and PTSD in vets

jennings

The black limousine was greeted with thunderous applause and salutes as it crawled through the parking lot of Greenlawn Memorial Park. Inside, Marine Lt. James Byler, seriously wounded last year in <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a>, looked on in awe as neighbors, friends and countless strangers waved American flags and shouted, "Welcome home."
A hometown hero had returned.
More than 150 residents turned out at the start of the <a href="/topics/Memorial_Day">Memorial Day</a> weekend Saturday at the Tri-Village Little League field to honor one of their own.
Byler, an infantry platoon leader, lost both legs after stepping onto a bomb in the Northern <a href="/topics/Helmand_Province">Helmand Province</a>. He now walks using prosthetic legs and a cane.
The 25-year-old Huntington High School graduate and Purdue University alum was presented with a plaque and a flag pin. He also threw the ceremonial first pitch of the weekend's Little League games.
"It's just so humbling for me," said the soft-spoken Byler after spending 30 minutes signing autographs for youngsters and offering hugs to military brethren. "To see all this is just amazing."
Byler stood only once during the ceremony -- lifting himself out of his wheelchair for the Pledge of Allegiance.
 
Bittersweet day for mom
His mother, Janet, said the day was bittersweet. "I know what he's endured to get labeled a hometown hero," she said. "But he's so strong, and he's pulled us through."
Military service runs in the Byler family. James' older brother, John, an Army captain, served two tours in <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a> and one in Afghanistan and will deploy there again next year.
John plans to use his brother for emotional support. "You can't not feel that you have something more behind you," he said at the ceremony.
Organizers of yesterday's event, which included dozens of raffles, hoped to raise $10,000. The money will go toward renovating the Byler family's Colonial home in Huntington to make it more accessible for James. A first-floor bedroom will be built by extending the garage; a wheelchair ramp must be constructed and bathrooms retrofitted to become handicapped-accessible.
The project, through the nonprofit Building Homes for Heroes, is expected to cost $300,000. Through several local events, along with corporate and individual donations, the group has raised $50,000. More fundraising events are scheduled throughout the summer, and construction is expected to start in September.
 
Rehab is continuing
Byler, a Purple Heart recipient, is continuing his rehabilitation at <a href="/topics/Walter_Reed_Hospital">Walter Reed Army Medical Center</a> in <a href="/topics/Bethesda">Bethesda</a>, Md. He plans to return home for good by the end of the year.
"James selflessly put himself in harm's way," said Huntington Councilman Mark Mayoka, who helped organize the event. "And we are forever grateful for his sacrifice."
Byler's journey, not unlike those of countless wounded veterans, has been one of immeasurable pain and small steps of healing. He was in Afghanistan only one month when the bomb exploded. Byler's legs were amputated above the knee and he also lost both pinkie fingers. 
After nearly 20 surgeries to his legs, hands and ears to address hearing loss, Byler appears to have turned the corner.
He recently walked a mile on a treadmill, has begun playing the guitar again and is planning to enroll in graduate school to earn an MBA.
James' heart, however, remains with soldiers fighting overseas. "I don't have any regrets," he said. "It was a privilege to serve, and if I could, I would still be there."
 

<h3>HOW TO HELP</h3>

Donations to help renovate a home for Lt. James Byler can be made by mailing checks to:
Building Homes for Heroes
65 Roosevelt Ave., Suite 105
<a href="/topics/Valley_Stream%2C_NY">Valley Stream, NY</a> 11581
(Indicate that donation is for Lt. James Byler)
Donations can also be made by calling 516-684-9220 or at buildinghomesforheroes.org/donation 

<h3>MEMORIAL DAY EVENTS</h3>

Amityville. Parade begins at Broadway Triangle gazebo, 9:30 a.m.
Baldwin. Parade begins on Grand Avenue and Linden Street to Silverlake Park, 9:30 a.m., 516-623-6295.
Bay Shore. Parade starts at 10 a.m. at Lanier Lane/Main Street and proceeds to Oakwood Cemetery. Memorial services at 8:30 a.m. at Bay Shore <a href="/topics/LIRR">LIRR</a> station, 631-665-5946.
Bayville. Parade begins at village hall, down School Street onto Bayville Avenue and to Soundside Beach, 1 p.m., 516-628-1285.
Bethpage. Parade begins at Central and Park avenues, ends at Bethpage Community Park, Stewart and Cherry avenues, 10 a.m.
Blue Point. Parade begins on Blue Point Avenue from Middle Road to Blue Point Fire Department, 11 a.m., 631-363-6310.
Bohemia. Parade begins at Hubal Street and Ocean Avenue to firehouse on Pearl Street, 10 a.m.
Bridgehampton. Service at the war memorial on Montauk Highway, 9 a.m.
Brookhaven. Parade begins at Bellport High School, onto Beaver Dam Road, to South Country Road, north to Fireplace Neck Road and Gillespie Path for ceremony, 9 a.m.
Calverton. Service at 1 p.m., Calverton National Cemetery, 631-727-5410.
Center Moriches. Parade begins at Lake Avenue and Main Street, east to Mount Pleasant Cemetery for ceremony, 9 a.m.
Centerport. Parade begins at Harrison Drive to Park Circle, 10:30 a.m., 631-351-3012.
Central Islip. Parade proceeds up Carleton Avenue from Irving Street and ends with ceremony at Veterans Memorial at Anthony Alfano School, 10 a.m., 631-234-5440.
Commack. Parade from Jericho Turnpike and Larkfield Road, east to Cannon Park at Jericho and Veterans Memorial Highway, 10 a.m., 631-368-9463.
East Hampton. Parade starts at <a href="/topics/Guild_Hall">Guild Hall</a> to Hook Mill; ceremony takes place at 9 a.m. at main beach, parade at 10:30, free.
East Islip. Parade begins at Main Street and Greenwood to town hall, 9 a.m., 631-273-3974.
East Meadow. Parade begins at East Meadow High School, ends at Veterans Memorial Park at Prospect and East Meadow avenues, 10 a.m., 516-359-4269.
East Northport. Parade from Clay Pitts and Larkfield Roads north to Pulaski Road to John Walsh Memorial Park adjacent to East Northport Library, 12:15 p.m.
East Norwich. Parade begins at Walnut Avenue and Route 106 and ends at fire department, 900 Oyster Bay Rd., 9 a.m.
East Rockaway. Parade begins at 164 Main St., to East Rockaway Village Hall, 10 a.m., 516-887-8170.
East Setauket. Parade begins at Memorial Park, then on Main Street to Route 25A to East Setauket Memorial Park, 10 a.m., 631-751-5541.
Farmingville. Reading of names at <a href="/topics/Vietnam">Vietnam</a> Memorial, Bald Hill; rain location is Chalet at Bald Hill Ampitheater; 5 p.m., 631-751-1813.
Floral Park. Parade begins on Elizabeth Street, to Memorial Park for ceremonies; rain location is Our Lady of Victory School; 10 a.m.
Freeport. Parade begins at South Brookside Avenue, concludes with wreath-laying at library, 10 a.m.
Garden City. Parade begins on Cherry Valley Avenue at 10th Street, to the middle school at Cherry Valley and Stewart avenues for ceremony, 10 a.m.
Glen Cove. Parade begins at Monument Park, 11 a.m. 
Glenwood Landing. Parade begins at fire station 1 on Grove Street, ends at fire station 2 on Glen Head Road, 9 a.m.
Great Neck. Parade begins at Susquehanna Avenue and Middleneck Road to Veterans Memorial at village green, 9:30 a.m., 516-466-2199.
Greenlawn.&gt; Parade begins at East Maple Road, south on Broadway to Memorial Park at Pulaski and Broadway, 9 a.m., 631-351-3012.
Greenport. Parade begins at Adams Street behind the arcade store to the railroad dock by the ferry, 8 a.m.
Hicksville. Parade begins at Sears on North Broadway to Hicksville Middle School on Fourth Street, 9 a.m., 516-933-6445.
Holbrook. Parade goes south on Main Street from Holbrook Bagel Shopping Center, west on Furrows Road, south on Grundy Avenue to Alex Diguardia Memorial, 10:30 a.m., 631-471-2725.
Huntington. Parade goes north on New York Avenue from Big H shopping center and ends on Main Street at reviewing stand, 11:30 a.m., 631-351-3012.
Kings Park. Parade, sponsored by American Legion Post 944, begins at RJO School, Old Dock Road and Church Street, proceeds west on Old Dock Road, east on Main Street to Veterans Plaza at corner of Church Street and Route 25A for flag ceremonies, 9 a.m., 631-269-4140.
Levittown. Parade begins at Island Trees Middle School, west down Hempstead Turnpike to Levittown Library, 10 a.m.
Locust Valley. Parade begins at 280 Forest Ave., ends at athletic field on Bayville Road, 9 a.m.
Long Beach. Parade starts at <a href="/topics/Ohio">Ohio</a> Avenue and Beach Street, ends at Kennedy Plaza in front of Long Beach City Hall, 9:30 a.m., 516-889-7516.
Massapequa Park. Parade begins on Front Street, to Park Boulevard, Clark Boulevard and Broadway, to Klestinec Park, for wreath-laying ceremony, 10 a.m.
Mastic Beach. Parade begins at Neighborhood and Commack roads, east to Mastic Beach Road, west to Washington Road, 11 a.m.
Medford. Parade begins at school on Tremont Avenue, north on Route 112 to Medford Memorial Park, 11 a.m.
Merrick. Parade starts at Veterans Plaza between Merrick and Brooklyn avenues, north on Merrick to Veterans Monument at Lee Avenue for ceremony, 9:30 a.m., 516-521-6989.
Mineola. Parade starts at Wilson Park, west on Westbury Avenue, north on Roslyn Road and west on Jericho Turnpike. In event of rain, ceremony at Mineola Village Community Center, 11 a.m., 516-747-5291.
Montauk. Parade starts at Montauk post office, then west to Second House Road, noon.
Mount Sinai. Display of Old Glory, state, territory and local flags with educational signs, sponsored by Volunteers of the Heritage Trust, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., North Shore Heritage Park, County Road 83 and Route 25A, 631-509-0882.
North Haven. Service at village hall, 11:45 a.m.
Northport. Parade begins on north end of Laurel Avenue, proceeds to harbor, then to village park, 9:30 a.m., 631-261-6242.
Orient Point. Parade begins at 7:30 a.m. at the firehouse, 2300 Main Rd.
Plainview. Parade begins at Old Country Road, east to Plainview Community Park on Washington Avenue for ceremony, 9:30 a.m., 516-931-7030.
Port Jefferson. Service begins at Veterans Memorial Park across from village hall, Port Jefferson Harbor, 9 a.m., 631-473-9774.
Port Washington. Parade and ceremony begins on Main Street, 10 a.m., 516-944-9151.
Riverhead. Parade begins on Pulaski Street and Osbourne Avenue, 10 a.m.
Rockville Centre. Parade begins on Maple Avenue, to Veterans Memorial Park on Oceanside Road for ceremonies, 10 a.m.
Sayville. Parade along Main Street from Handsome Avenue to Lincoln Avenue, 9 a.m.
Seaford. Parade begins at Verity Plaza, north on Washington Avenue, ends at Four Chaplains Monument, memorial services follow, 9:30 a.m., 516-785-9429.
Smithtown. Parade begins at Singer Lane, west on Main Street to town hall, ceremony follows, noon.
Southampton. Parade and service begins 10:45 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 2 S. Main St., down Jobs Lane to Agawam Park, Pond Lane, for service at 11 a.m., 631-283-1623.
Southold. Parade starts at American Legion Hall on Wickham Avenue, 10 a.m.
St. James. Parade and services start at Woodland and Lake avenues, north on Lake to St. James Elementary School for services, 10 a.m.
Stony Brook. Parade begins at Stony Brook Shopping Center, east on Main Street to Veterans Memorial Park, 10 a.m.
Valley Stream. Parade begins at Rockaway Parkway and Wheeler Avenue, ending at Veterans Monument at Hicks and Valley Stream boulevards, 9:30 a.m.
Wantagh. Parade begins at Beltagh and Wantagh avenues, ending at American Legion Post 1273, 3484 Park Ave, 10 a.m.
West Babylon. Parade starts at Arnold Avenue and Route 109, proceeds to American Legion Hall Post 1634, 10 Bruce St., 9:30 a.m.
Westhampton. Memorial at cemetery, 11 a.m.
West Hempstead. Parade begins at Nassau Boulevard and Hempstead Avenue, along Hempstead Avenue to Roosevelt Boulevard, ends with ceremony at Echo Park, 10 a.m.

LIHERO29

Wounded warrior returns to Huntington

Halfway though a Monday evening forensics class at the <a href="/topics/Riverhead%2C_NY">Riverhead</a> campus of <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> County Community College, a telephone buzzed in the pocket of a former Army staff sergeant with the <a href="/topics/82nd_Airborne_Division">82nd Airborne Division</a>. 
Chuck <a href="/topics/Chuck_Taylor">Taylor</a>, 28, pressed the phone to his ear, then bolted from the room, scattering a desk in his wake. 
His toddler daughter had fallen down a flight of steps and was in a hospital emergency room. Amplifying his anxiety as he sped west toward Southside Hospital in <a href="/topics/Bay_Shore%2C_NY">Bay Shore</a>, Taylor would recall later, were memories of the first soldier he had seen shot in <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a>. 
An AK-47 round had ripped through the soldier's lungs. "And we didn't know what to do but keep taking turns putting our fingers in his chest, trying to keep any more blood from coming out," Taylor said. "I had a little of that helpless feeling as I was trying to get to my daughter." She turned out to be fine. 
Taylor is among the <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a> and <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> veterans returning to <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> who, though generally older and often burdened with responsibilities not yet encountered by their campus peers, are trying to make the transition from combat warrior to college student. 
Many have found that their detour into military life -- and often deadly combat -- has left them with service-related anxieties, along with expanded responsibilities and social attitudes that leave them feeling like campus outcasts. 
"My first year, I was too anxious to do anything and it took a lot of calming down," said former Army Spc. Pat Edouard, 26, of <a href="/topics/Wyandanch%2C_NY">Wyandanch</a>, a mother of two who said she received psychotherapy after enrolling at <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> Community in 2006. She said she had previously depended on alcohol and prescription drugs to ease memories of nightly mortar attacks during her 2003-04 deployment with the 82nd Airborne at Camp Falcon, <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a>. 
"I didn't know anyone on campus," said Edouard, who graduated from <a href="/topics/Hofstra_University">Hofstra University</a> last December with an accounting degree. "And I didn't want to be around people." 
Several veterans said they have felt judged by students who ask, often within minutes of meeting, "Have you ever killed anyone?" 
"It's frustrating," said former Marine Sgt. Bob <a href="/topics/Cuba">Cuba</a>, 28, of <a href="/topics/Copiague%2C_NY">Copiague</a>, a <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> Community business student who eventually left the service because of injuries he sustained after being thrown from a truck in <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a>. "Your first impulse is how about I punch you in the nose and cut out your tongue." 
Some find it easier, when not in the classroom, to go off by themselves. 
"For the first year I was here, when I didn't have class, I would just go to the parking lot and sit in my car," said Taylor, who said there were details of his multiple tours in <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> and Iraq that he will not discuss. 
"Some things I've been able to make peace with, but other things, I don't have the means to deal with right now," he said. 
Encouraged by expanded student aid provided by the Post- 9/11 GI Bill, and deflected from the workplace by high <a href="/topics/Unemployment">unemployment</a> rates, many of the returning veterans are showing up on community college campuses. 
Precise numbers are difficult to come by, as many students do not identify themselves as former troops. But enrollments of students who self-identify as veterans at <a href="/topics/Nassau_Community_College">Nassau Community College</a> rose from 178 in the spring 2009 semester to 286 this spring. There are 117 vets at Hofstra, up from 70 two years ago. At Suffolk County Community College, 444 veterans are enrolled this year, said a spokesman. 
Some of the veterans excel, often crediting their military backgrounds with providing the discipline to succeed. Others founder, overwhelmed by various combinations of war-related anxieties and grown-up responsibilities younger students may not have, such as child care or mortgage payments. 
"A lot of them have PTSD and pretty crazy stories to tell," said Richard Bailey, 27, of <a href="/topics/Levittown%2C_NY">Levittown</a>, a former Navy seaman who is editor of <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> Community College's Vignette student newspaper. "A lot of them are on pills." 
Nearly all of the veterans who were interviewed said they were shaped by a military culture that stresses teamwork. 
Having survived firefights or marched for hours with loaded packs, campus veterans say they are mostly dismissive of student excuses for poor academic performance, such as oversleeping. 
Navy veteran Pierre Salas, 27, of <a href="/topics/Huntington%2C_NY">Huntington</a>, said once when he and a fellow seaman missed bed check, they were forced to perform calisthenics until the room's rising humidity dripped from a metal ceiling. 
"They called it 'making it rain,' but things like that changed my whole attitude," said Salas, a second-year student studying business administration at <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a>. "It makes you grow up and realize you can't make excuses. Then you come here, and students have excuses for everything."

LIVETS20

Vets take good, bad with them to college

liVETS

Not long ago, when Spc. <a href="/topics/Michael_Ryan">Michael Ryan</a> of <a href="/topics/Kings_Park%2C_NY">Kings Park</a> was nearing the end of his one-year tour of duty in <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a>, he got a package from some of the residents at the Arbors Assisted Living Community in Hauppauge. 
The cookies were immediately raided by the guys in his platoon. 
The sheaf of letters that came with them he kept. 
They were written by the 25 veterans who live at the Arbors. They contained flashes of old wars - what it was like fighting at <a href="/topics/Iwo_Jima">Iwo Jima</a>, what it was like to see a man dead by your hand, what it was like to walk into the Nazi concentration camp in Dachau, Poland. What it was like coming home after. 
"I took it as advice," said Ryan, who returned to the United States last month and was guest of honor at a Veterans Day ceremony held in the Arbors' community room Thursday afternoon. "These are my seniors. These are guys who've been through war and can relate. They said it's a tough transition, but not an impossible transition." 
Ryan's own transition is just beginning. He is 25, back on Long Island on leave, but an Army man until June 11, 2011. He plans to take a spot in the steamfitters union, take night classes at <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> County Community College, propose to a young woman, Stacey Tuckman, who was at his side as he spoke Thursday. 
But he misses the closeness he shared with the platoon, the feeling he got when it was time for a mission. "Like, if you play football, that feeling you get just before kickoff," he said. 
Even while driving on American roads, he still finds himself scanning for explosives; when he sits in a public place, he still likes his back against the wall and his eyes on the door. 
Some of this - maybe all of it - will pass, in months or years. "I know what you're going through," Sal Bucolo, 80, a Korean War veteran, recalled writing in his letter. "Just take it slow and you'll adjust to American surroundings." 
The ceremony was brief and simple, the brainchild of Ashley King, the Arbors' director of community relations and a childhood friend of Ryan's since long before they attended <a href="/topics/Kings_Park%2C_NY">Kings Park</a> High. 
"It's like how we play 'God Bless America' at the end of a program so the residents know it's over. This is so you know it's over and you know it's time to go forward with your life," she said of the ceremony for Ryan. 
The roughly 100 residents and their relatives who were gathered recited the Pledge of Allegiance and presented Ryan with an American flag blanket. Ryan shook hands around the room, bending to take the hand of Sebastian Brusca, 90, a <a href="/topics/World_War_II">World War II</a> vet who was in a wheelchair. 
Another <a href="/topics/World_War_II">World War II</a> veteran, Tony Misa, 83, took the podium. "Thank you for all you have done," he said. "You will always be our adopted soldier. May you always feel welcome in our home."

LISOLD12

Iraq War vet honored by older vets in Hauppauge

By the coffin bearing the body of Sgt. Jason Santora at <a href="/topics/Calverton%2C_NY">Calverton</a> National Cemetery, a father, a mother and a sister wept. 
Close by during the military ceremony honoring the Army Ranger, a cross section of <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>ers choked back tears - a high school friend now with the 106th Air Rescue Wing at <a href="/topics/Westhampton_Beach%2C_NY">Westhampton Beach</a>, a father whose son is stationed at the same fire base in <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> where Santora was killed on April 23, a classroom teacher who played football with Santora when they were in junior high school. 
Under a sky whose threat of rain gave way to sunshine, Santora, 25, was buried with military honors shortly after noon Monday. 
&nbsp; 
'Always been a hero' 
"He has always been a hero to all of his friends," said Staff Sgt. Ryan Helf, 25, of the Air <a href="/topics/National_Guard">National Guard</a>, who lives in <a href="/topics/Holbrook%2C_NY">Holbrook</a> and knew Santora from high school. "He's the kind of guy you never worried about being at war. Jay would say, 'It's not even a question - I will always come home.' " 
Santora, who grew up in <a href="/topics/Farmingville%2C_NY">Farmingville</a>, became the 12th <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>er to die during the war in <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> when he and another soldier were mortally wounded during a firefight south of <a href="/topics/Kabul">Kabul</a>. 
Jason Shea, 30, who went through basic training and Army Ranger school with Santora, and later served with him in <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a>, lauded Santora as a "top-notch soldier" who was caring and strong-willed. 
"He was the greatest guy," Shea said, "but not a guy you would want to mess with." 
Faces of those at the cemetery showed how intimately war has touched <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>. 
One man there was Terry Kruger, 49, whose youngest son, Richard, knew Santora from the combat outpost in Afghanistan where the two men were stationed. Richard Kruger returned to Long Island on leave nine days before Santora was killed, and is now back in Afghanistan. 
"It makes you scared as a parent," said Kruger, who has three children in the Army, including a 22-year-old daughter who likely will be deployed to Afghanistan within the year. "It could very well be me here next week, next month, next year." 
Matt Ventimiglia, 25, a teacher at Half Hollow Hills West High School, stood with several of Santora's childhood friends as the hearse slowly made its way into the cemetery. He had last seen his friend at Helf's house during the Christmas season. Now he was saying goodbye. 
&nbsp; 
Friends hadn't worried 
"He's the kind of guy you never worried about," Ventimiglia said, echoing a sentiment shared by many of Santora's friends. 
Moment's later, the military ceremony began. 
The crack of rifles broke the silence, followed by a bugler's mournful melody. 
Then Santora's mother, sister and father - Theresa, Gina and Gary - each accepted a folded U.S. flag, as the sound of sobs mingled in the springtime breeze.

LIFUNE04

Fallen Army Ranger from LI remembered as 'greatest guy'

It's big news when a local soldier dies in combat. Sad news. 
<a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>'s latest casualty was Jason Santora, 25, a U.S. Army Ranger who grew up in <a href="/topics/Farmingville%2C_NY">Farmingville</a>. He looked so fit, so handsome on Newsday's front page Monday. 
Santora was brave, too. Brave enough to serve six tours combined in <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a> and <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a>. Dedicated enough not to leave his comrades for home, even when his grandmother fell ill, according to his family. 
By now, Santora's face, his story and his sacrifice are well known. That's not so for local veterans who survive to make their way back home. 
On Friday, veterans arrived early for the 2010 Veterans Stand Down at the <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County_Police">Suffolk County Police</a> Academy in <a href="/topics/Brentwood%2C_NY">Brentwood</a>. The event, the fourth in <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> County, helped veterans with everything from housing and employment to food and finances. Two veterans were waiting when the first organizers arrived at 7:30 a.m. By the time doors opened at 10 a.m., there was a line outside. Two hours in, more than 150 veterans had been through. 
The men and women included baby-faced veterans of <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a> and <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a>, as well as soldiers from the Korean and <a href="/topics/Vietnam">Vietnam</a> wars. Inside the academy gym, there was no rank. 
Instead, veterans who were brave enough to seek help got help, one by one, with assistance from volunteers - many of them veterans, too - who carried checklists of every service, from haircuts to eyeglasses, available. 
Mary McCue, 29, of <a href="/topics/Syosset%2C_NY">Syosset</a>, a Marine who served two tours in <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a>, picked up materials at one table. "I'm thinking about going back in," she said. "I miss it, and with this economy, it's rough out here trying to get a job." 
A few tables later, she bumped into Lillian Denby, 59, of <a href="/topics/Kings_Park%2C_NY">Kings Park</a>, a post <a href="/topics/Vietnam">Vietnam</a>-era veteran who served in the Army. They'd met once before at the veterans hospital in <a href="/topics/Northport%2C_NY">Northport</a>. 
"Find out all the benefits they have," Denby told. "There's opportunities for school, housing. A lot's changed since I was in. There's a lot for women veterans now." 
Civilians know almost nothing about a soldier's life. That was clear from snippets of conversation overheard during several trips around the room. 
"Were you exposed to Agent Orange?" a woman asked a veteran at one table. 
He said yes. 
"Radiation?" A soldier answered yes to that one, too. 
On the surface, the gym was full of goodwill and good people, volunteers and veterans alike. But lurking beneath is an awful truth. 
There are more than 3,000 homeless veterans on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>, <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> County officials said. And the <a href="/topics/Unemployment">unemployment</a> rate for veterans, traditionally a high employment group, is an astronomical 15 percent for <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a> and <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> veterans, even in <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> and <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a>, officials said. 
The colorful plastic bags carried by some veterans in the gym contained food and clothing they had picked up from other rooms at the facility. And in the hallway outside, there was a pile of duffel bags with towels and toiletries for veterans who needed showers. 
Outside, there were vans, some of which ferried veterans between <a href="/topics/Brentwood%2C_NY">Brentwood</a> and homeless shelters. According to Thomas Ronayne, director of <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a>'s veterans service agency, veterans, 11 percent of the population, account for 27 to 35 percent of the homeless in <a href="/topics/New_York%2C_NY">New York</a>. "These are proud people who do not easily ask for help," he said. 
In <a href="/topics/Vietnam">Vietnam</a>, stand down was a time for combat soldiers to escape to safer territory. To rest. Get cleaned up. Get good food and new clothes or whatever else they needed. All of which made the stand down in <a href="/topics/Brentwood%2C_NY">Brentwood</a>, which attracted more than 200 veterans, all the more sobering. 
Because veterans, back and safe from war, shouldn't need to stand down, shouldn't need to keep fighting battles when they should be safe at home.

Columnists

Joye Brown

LIJOY27

An awful truth: Thousands of homeless LI military vets

veterans

As she awaited a bus on May 22, 2005, in <a href="/topics/Brooklyn_Bridge%2C_NY">Brooklyn</a>'s Sheepshead Bay, Adriana Coffey's life changed in an instant: A drunken driver mowed her down, crushing her right leg and leaving amputation the only alternative for the Dix Hills resident. 
About two months later and thousands of miles away, Sgt. Sam Cila, an American soldier on patrol outside the Green Zone in <a href="/topics/Baghdad">Baghdad</a>, stepped on an explosive device. Shrapnel ripped through his left side. Ultimately, Cila, of Riverhead, decided to have his left hand and wrist amputated. 
Now, Coffey and Cila are members of a new breed of amputees outfitted with robotic limbs that are covered with lifelike, silicone skin. Driven in part by the needs of wounded veterans from the <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> and <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a> wars, a new generation of artificial body parts has arrived, embedded with sophisticated electronics that can anticipate a wearer's movements and duplicate some of the graceful gestures of human limbs. 
Wearers of hand prosthetics can operate a computer keyboard, pat a friend on the back or pour a cup of coffee. Those with robotic legs can walk over cobblestones, or run and pivot in a game of basketball - even leap for a jump shot. 
"It's a whole new world out there now," Cila said of computerized prosthetic devices. "For guys like me, coming out <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> and <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a>, there's the myoelectric arm. This is a huge difference compared to guys out of the Korean War and <a href="/topics/Vietnam">Vietnam</a>, who had some pretty prehistoric devices." 
Myoelectric devices move by responding to electric signals in the muscles. 
Coffey's leg was amputated above the knee; Cila chose amputation after more than 40 surgeries failed to restore his hand functions. 
&nbsp; 
<a href="/topics/Hicksville%2C_NY">Hicksville</a> company a leader 
Their artificial limbs, sculpted and programmed at A Step Ahead, a <a href="/topics/Hicksville%2C_NY">Hicksville</a> prosthetics practice, were made as mirror images of their healthy leg and hand, providing aesthetically sound and technologically advanced replacements. With high-tech "skin" added, a replacement leg can cost up to $60,000 but can provide a sense of normalcy and increase function for people who've experienced horrific trauma. 
Yet, these all-but-bionic body parts, they say, are not greeted with unfiltered joy. 
"The first time you see it you get emotional, because this is not your leg," said Coffey, 26, the mother of a 5-month-old daughter. "Even when they put the skin tone on it, it really hits you that it's not your leg, and you get emotional all over again. 
"But it's different now. I paint my toenails," Coffey said of the acrylic nails on her robotic foot. "After five years, it feels like my own leg. You almost forget what it's like to have two [natural] legs." 
Cila, 36, who now makes his living as a competitive cyclist and sponsored triathlete, doesn't mince words: "I'm a firm believer that it's fake," he said of his hand with silicone skin. He switches among four prosthetics depending on what he's doing, including a cycling arm that allows him to maneuver his bike. 
Coffey and Cila found their replacements at a practice that has become a global hub for people in need of new body parts. 
&nbsp; 
From around the world 
"People come from all over the world," said Dr. Joseph Lane, chief of metabolic bone diseases and associate director of the trauma service at the Hospital for Special Surgery in <a href="/topics/Manhattan">Manhattan</a>. 
Erik Schaffer, A Step Ahead's chief prosthetist and president, "has developed a worldwide reputation," said <a href="/topics/Tim_McCarthy">Tim McCarthy</a>, president of iWalk Inc., a prosthetics technology company in Cambridge Mass., founded by world renowned biomechanical engineer Hugh Herr, a professor at the <a href="/topics/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a>. 
"People are flying in from <a href="/topics/Israel">Israel</a> and <a href="/topics/China">China</a> and at least 45 of the 50 states," <a href="/topics/Tim_McCarthy">McCarthy</a> said. "He has optimized the technology, which means he fully customizes it to the needs of the individual." 
Although <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> is home to numerous private prosthetics practices, A Step Ahead is the only one in the region with a large research and development department, an in-house artificial skin workshop and proprietary processes for the skin. 
"Everybody who loses a limb wants it replaced, no question about that," said Schaffer. He holds a bachelor's degree in prosthetics and orthotics. "Think of what we do as the art and science of anaplastology," he added, referring to the branch of medicine involved in the recreation of human body parts. 
The Hicksville workshop is a menagerie of human anatomy: Rows of silicone legs and arms are mounted on walls, and shelves of feet and hands, even noses and ears, await owners who've lost theirs to accidents, war and disease. Silicone skin, 1-millimeter to 1.5-millimeters thick, is fit by hand over the robotic prosthetics. 
Schaffer and his staff of 18 technicians and artisans make a mirror-image mold of patients' healthy limbs to create the silicone shell. The process starts with making a cast of the opposite limb, which is improvised for double amputees. Then a series of silicone limbs are developed in-house until the final shell is done, which takes 100 to 150 hours. 
Dr. David Feldman, chief of pediatric orthopedics at NYU Medical Center in <a href="/topics/Manhattan">Manhattan</a> describes the work at Schaffer's practice "state-of-the art. ... The field of prosthetics is changing and they keep up with the trends, and they are always looking for the next big development." 
Artists use a range of nonfading coloring agents to create skin tones for the prosthetic that are virtually identical to the patient's natural color. Hair, warts, scars and tattoos can be added upon request. 
The robotics might be a C-leg, made by the Otto Bock company, based in Germany, or the newly developed i-Limb, the robotic hand made by Touch Bionics, headquartered in <a href="/topics/Scotland">Scotland</a>. 
The i-Limb myoelectric device can detect electric signals in people's muscles. An amputee controls the hand by moving his or her shoulder in various positions, which fire electrical signals to electrodes on the skin and are connected to the prosthetic. One shoulder position might trigger the hand to open, another to close. And when the hand is settled around an object - a bottle for example - it will sense the object's weight and apply the correct grasping pressure. 
The i-Limb must be fully charged for its microprocessor to function, and it must be recharged daily. 
Similarly, the C-leg, (technically, a microprocessor-controlled knee) gathers data 50 times a second from the device's network of sensors, Schaffer said. This allows the prosthetic to anticipate the wearer's next move while walking. 
Another prosthetic, known as the Rheo knee, is even smarter with an integrated artificial intelligence system, he said. The Rheo adapts to an individual's walking style by gathering data much faster, at 1,000 times a second. 
Not surprisingly, the costs of these advanced devices are steep. "The price tag varies for each person," Schaffer said. "A microprocessor-controlled knee can range from $40,000 to $60,000 on average. That's very conservative. But I can take a $50,000 system and put an $8,000 skin on it. 
&nbsp; 
Cost can be an obstacle 
While noting that the silicone skin is an "outstanding cosmetic accomplishment," however, a Selden prosthetist says the added cost can be an obstacle. 
"I feel that maximizing function is my first priority," said Bruce Goodman of Progressive Orthotics Ltd. The company fits patients with a wide range of prosthetic devices, including C-legs and myoelectric arms. "Unfortunately, these skins are so expensive, and are not usually covered by insurance, they are not available to most." 
Veterans Affairs hospitals also fit amputees with C-legs and i-Limbs and can cover them with a silicone skin. For vets, the cost can be less because the VA gets the materials in bulk, said Kenneth P. Breuer, chief prosthetist at the VA hospital in <a href="/topics/Manhattan">Manhattan</a>. Still, many choose not to have the silicone skin. 
"We can [fit] the myoelectric i-Limb for $27,000, whereas an outside vendor would charge about $54,000," Breuer said. "For a C-leg, the VA will charge about $19,500, compared to the average outside vendor that will charge about $48,000." 
Because of the large number of wounded vets, the VA receives volume discounts from the manufacturers of high-tech prosthetics. 
Many insurers flatly refuse coverage for the high-tech limbs, declaring the devices experimental, said Dan Ignaszewski, government relations coordinator for the Amputee Coalition of America. Still, he said, 18 states require insurers to reimburse patients to some degree for prosthetic devices. A bill pending in the <a href="/topics/New_York%2C_NY">New York</a> State Assembly would require coverage equal to or above Medicare and Medicaid rates for any prosthetic device. The measure has not advanced past the insurance committees of either house. 
Schaffer said he's had many successes securing coverage for patients, a process that can take weeks to months. His team helps convince some insurers that patients need prosthetics that function close to that of their lost limbs. 
Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield of <a href="/topics/New_York%2C_NY">New York</a> covers the devices when deemed medically necessary. Even then, patients must meet strict criteria, which include frequent use of stairs and "a documented need for daily long-distance ambulation." The company defines that need as walking more than 400 yards a day at variable rates. It will not pay if the device is to be used strictly within the home. Like other insurance companies, it will not pay for the silicone skin. 
&nbsp; 
Not all features covered 
Coffey, a stay-at-home mom, said her insurance company covered the C-leg but not anything "that has to do with cosmetics, like getting my skin done, or my toenails. All of that is out-of-pocket." 
The rapid advancements in prosthetics in recent years, experts say, were spurred largely by the growing number of wounded veterans. Active and otherwise healthy, he added, the young vets want to remain fully mobile and productive. Dr. Jeffrey Cohen, a clinical professor of rehabilitation medicine at NYU's Langone Medical Center in <a href="/topics/Manhattan">Manhattan</a>, said many of the robotic developments have been driven by military researchers. 
"What's coming out now is a new rugged C-leg developed at Walter Reed [Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.], which can go for days without charging," Cohen said. 
Shaffer said he's excited about the range of new developments coming down the pike. "Neurobionics is the next step," he said of devices that will tap into signals from the central nervous system, allowing the brain to control the prosthesis. 
"It's all about helping patients achieve better function," Shaffer added. "There are a lot of exciting things ahead." <object width="512" height="288"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.newsday.com/swf/newsday/newsdayVP.v.2.08.swf?videoId=15016"> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"> <embed width="512" src="http://www.newsday.com/swf/newsday/newsdayVP.v.2.08.swf?videoId=15016" allowfullscreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="288"> </object>

LILIMB29

LI company makes prosthetics even more lifelike

May Brown, 82, held fast to seven "Welcome Home" balloons. 
Her grandson Marine Cpl. Lamarr Jackson was coming home. 
He had jarred her awake more than once, calling briefly, sweetly, from somewhere in <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> to tell her he was all right. 
Late Wednesday afternoon, Jackson, 25, of Central <a href="/topics/Islip%2C_NY">Islip</a>, stepped through a security checkpoint and into the lobby of <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> MacArthur Airport. Flanked by his parents and siblings, who had met him at the gate, he was beaming as he bent and squeezed his grandmother hard and long. Her eyes filled with tears. 
"You're taller!" she said. 
Members of the airport staff - colleagues of Jackson's father, <a href="/topics/John_Jackson">John Jackson</a>, who works for the <a href="/topics/Transportation_Security_Administration">Transportation Security Administration</a> - clapped and cheered. Then the ceremonies began. 
With Cpl. Jackson's arrival, the Town of <a href="/topics/Islip%2C_NY">Islip</a> launched its Hometown Heroes Welcome program, greeting service members who fly home to MacArthur. 
<a href="/topics/Jerry_Ferrara">Jerry Ferrara</a>, 67, a Navy veteran, blew a call on his boatswain pipe. "Welcome home, U.S. <a href="/topics/US_Marine_Corps">Marine Corps</a>!" he shouted. 
Standing in two lines, some 50 veterans, civilians and TSA employees saluted. Jackson walked between the rows, accepting hugs, handshakes and thanks. At the end, friends and relatives reached out to grab him, squealing and laughing. 
Islip Councilman Gene Parrington, a <a href="/topics/Vietnam">Vietnam</a> veteran, gave Jackson a framed town citation and a backpack intended to contain local coupons and references for veteran support services. But because his <a href="/topics/Southwest_Airlines">Southwest Airlines</a> flight arrived early, the inaugural backpack had not been fully assembled. 
Jackson said that in his year in <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> he survived a close call with a roadside bomb. 
"It's been a difficult year for me," he said. "I'm just glad to be home. I wasn't expecting all of this." 
And there was more. 
Members of the Patriot Guard Riders, a motorcycle group that honors military service members and veterans, handed him a helmet, goggles, gloves and a leather jacket, which he donned over his fatigues. His sister, Tiffany, 21, giggled as Parrington helped cover his nose and mouth with a bandanna. 
"I know he loves this," she said. "He deserves it." 
He hopped on the back of a bike and the Patriot Guard Riders rumbled off, carrying him home.

LIHOME26

Hero's welcome for Marine at MacArthur Airport

liHOME26

Lance Cpl. Alex Cafaro stepped through the security checkpoint at <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> MacArthur Airport into a cheering cluster of friends, family and strangers who gathered <a href="/topics/Thanksgiving">Thanksgiving</a> eve to welcome the Marine home. 
Cafaro, who graduated from Sayville High School in 2007, has been serving in an outpost in <a href="/topics/Helmand_Province">Helmand province</a>, Afghanistan, since March. 
"I'm so happy he's home," said his father, Joseph Cafaro, 67, of Sayville. "He's home, he's a kid again. When he's over there, you don't hear from him. You wait for the satellite phone to be handed to him. You don't know what's going on." 
MacArthur, which offers a Hometown Hero Welcome to service members whose families alert <a href="/topics/Islip%2C_NY">Islip</a> Town in advance, has celebrated the return of more than 100 service members. 
"I had no idea," Alex Cafaro said of the surprise welcome. "It means a lot to know that people back home appreciate what we do."

LISOLD25

Sayville Marine welcomed home from Afghanistan

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Keith Wagenhauser, originally denied emergency leave to see his firstborn after the baby girl was born more than two months prematurely, is coming home. 
A spokesman for Sen. <a href="/topics/Charles_Schumer">Charles Schumer</a> (D-N.Y.), one of several <a href="/topics/New_York%2C_NY">New York</a> lawmakers who appealed to the Marines to allow the <a href="/topics/Middle_Island%2C_NY">Middle Island</a> native to return to his family, said Wagenhauser is expected to arrive on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> late Tuesday. 
"I didn't know if I was going to cry or scream when he called to let me know," said Wagenhauser's wife, Cristal, who learned of her husband's pending return when he called from abroad late Sunday. "The connection was scratchy, but it sounded like he was excited. He told me he was ecstatic." 
The infant, Madison Rose, weighed 2 pounds, 11 ounces when she born nearly 10 weeks early at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in <a href="/topics/Smithtown%2C_NY">Smithtown</a> on Oct. 3. Doctors considered her condition so precarious that she was transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit at <a href="/topics/Stony_Brook_University">Stony Brook University</a> Medical Center, where she continues to receive assistance with breathing. 
<a href="http://www.newsday.com/news/military-life-takes-its-toll-on-a-long-island-family-1.1526494">&gt;&gt;VIDEO: Click here to see baby Madison and his wife, Cristal talking about the toll on their new family.</a> 
Capt. Clark Carpenter, of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit in which Wagenhauser serves, said Wagenhauser's command had initially refused Wagenhauser's leave because it had been informed that the infant's prognosis was "excellent." He said Wagenhauser's commander reversed that decision "based on updated information" from the baby's physician, which was relayed by the <a href="/topics/American_Red_Cross">American Red Cross</a> over the weekend. 
"The commander does not balance his decision against media attention or outside intervention," Carpenter said in an e-mail. 
Military officials had initially resisted allowing the Marine, who is assigned to an overseas shipboard unit that stands ready to back up troops in <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a> and <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a>, to return home before his deployment's scheduled end this winter. They would not specify exactly where the ship is based. 
Carpenter told Newsday last week that personnel are typically granted emergency leave only in cases of imminent or actual death in their immediate family. 
He said since the unit deployed May 15 to its undisclosed overseas location, 16 Marines have been notified of the birth of a child. He said none has been granted leave. 
The couple's story brought an outpouring of concern from other <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> residents, including a U.S. Army <a href="/topics/National_Guard">National Guard</a> soldier whose child was born prematurely last year. The guardsman, who lives a short distance from where Cristal Wagenhauser has been staying with family in <a href="/topics/Lindenhurst%2C_NY">Lindenhurst</a>, offered to lend assistance. 
Schumer, Sen. <a href="/topics/Kirsten_Gillibrand">Kirsten Gillibrand</a> (D-N.Y.) and Rep. <a href="/topics/Tim_Bishop">Tim Bishop</a> (D-<a href="/topics/Southampton%2C_NY">Southampton</a>) urged the Marines to reconsider their decision on humanitarian grounds. 
"I want to personally thank the U.S. <a href="/topics/US_Marine_Corps">Marine Corps</a> <a href="/topics/U.S._Senate">Senate</a> Liaison for their swift response to our request," Schumer said in a statement. "They went above and beyond to ensure Cpl. Wagenhauser made it home and can now be reunited with his family during this difficult time." 
With John Valenti 
<a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/marine-lance-cpl-keith-wagenhauser-and-his-family-1.1549308">&gt;&gt;PHOTOS: Click here to see photos of Marine Lance Cpl. Keith Wagenhauser and his family</a> 
&gt;&gt;MORE COVERAGE: Click to read <a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/marine-denied-leave-to-see-premature-baby-daughter-1.1533424">"Marine denied leave to see premature baby daughter"</a> and <a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/liers-show-concern-for-marine-denied-leave-for-newborn-1.1535802">"LIers show concern for Marine denied leave"</a>

LIHOME27

LI Marine will come home to see his premature baby

liMARINEav

President Barack Obama met the family of slain <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> Green Beret Keith Bishop early Thursday, at one point dropping to a knee and consoling Bishop's 11-year-old nephew, family members said. 
The meeting took place during the president's surprise pre-dawn visit to the military mortuary at Dover, Del., where the bodies of 18 Americans killed in military action Monday and Tuesday arrived in the <a href="/topics/United_States">United States</a>. 
<a href="http://www.newsday.com/news/raw-video-obama-honors-fallen-soldiers-1.1556602">&gt;&gt;VIDEO: Click here to see Obama at Dover Air Force Base</a> 
"He knelt down and put his hand on his shoulder and took his hand," Bishop's father, <a href="/topics/Robert_Bishop">Robert Bishop</a>, of Carlisle, Pa., said of the president's intimate exchange with his grandson, Tristen Bishop. "He said he felt bad that we lost our son." 
"It was comforting that he came to meet the families, even though it is hard to remember everything he said because it felt almost like a dream," said Tristen's father, Stephen Bishop, of <a href="/topics/Middle_Island%2C_NY">Middle Island</a>, a brother of the dead soldier. "He didn't act like a president. He acted like a regular person - very caring. You could tell he really meant it." 
<a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/politics/keith-bishop-and-the-u-s-war-in-afghanistan-1.1232463">&gt;&gt;PHOTOS: President Obama, Keith Bishop and the U.S. war in </a><a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> 
Keith Bishop, 28, a staff sergeant in the Army's elite Green Beret special operations group, was among seven U.S. troops and three Drug Enforcement Agency personnel killed Monday after a predawn raid on a drugs and arms-dealing operation near the border with <a href="/topics/Turkmenistan">Turkmenistan</a> in <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a>'s west. 
Also Thursday, the <a href="/topics/US_Department_of_Defense">Defense Department</a> confirmed Staff Sgt. Luis M. Gonzalez, 27, of South Ozone Park, as one of seven soldiers who died Tuesday in Arghandab Valley, in the south. 
In the crash in which Bishop died, the helicopter crew was blinded by dust kicked up by propeller wash as it lifted away after completing a successful mission, the <a href="/topics/The_Pentagon">Pentagon</a> said. It clipped a tall structure and fell to the ground. The raid was part of a wide-ranging U.S. effort to stem the sale of heroin-producing opium, the proceeds of which are often used to pay for bombs, guns and other support of the <a href="/topics/Taliban">Taliban</a> insurgency. 
"I said 'I hope God gives you the answer on how to end this,' " <a href="/topics/Robert_Bishop">Robert Bishop</a> said of his exchange with Obama. "If he pulls out, it is as if they won. But if he stays in, it's like a meat grinder for the men and women who he will have to send there." 
Staff Sgt. Bishop was a 1999 graduate of <a href="/topics/Patchogue%2C_NY">Patchogue</a>-<a href="/topics/Medford%2C_NY">Medford</a> High School who joined the Army in 2002. He lived just outside of <a href="/topics/Fort_Bragg">Fort Bragg</a>, N.C., with his wife, Maggie. 
Members of Bishop's family plan to commemorate his life at a gathering organized by some of Bishop's childhood friends at 8 Friday at a playground behind the Barton Avenue Elementary School. 
The playing fields were a favorite hangout for Bishop and friends during their teen years. 
<a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/politics/keith-bishop-and-the-u-s-war-in-afghanistan-1.1232463">&gt;&gt;PHOTOS: President Obama, Keith Bishop and the U.S. war in </a><a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> 
<a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/medford-man-killed-in-afghanistan-helicopter-crash-1.1554920">&gt;&gt;MORE:&nbsp;Long&nbsp;Island native Keith Bishop killed in action</a>

LISOLD30

Obama meets with family of slain LI Green Beret

Obama Fallen Soldiers

More than 100 participants and observers at a D-Day commemoration Saturday across from Islip Town Hall took away a bit of World War II history, portrayed by some of its heroes and a historian. 
"I didn't actually hit Omaha Beach on D-Day but on June 8," Anthony Marchione, 87, of East Islip told a small group before the morning ceremony. "A lot of bodies, bloated or their clothes puffed up, were still floating in the water. We couldn't pick any of them up - we weren't allowed to because some bodies had been booby-trapped." 
Marchione, who was attached to the 990th Signal Battalion, was one of five participants in the Allied invasion of Normandy - on June 6, 1944, and several days following - who were honored at the town's Veterans Memorial Park. 
The others were former Suffolk GOP leader and State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Cromarty, 89, of Lindenhurst, an Army Air Forces captain and bombardier; Dominic Deluca, 85, of Islip, a recipient of the Purple Heart and five Bronze Stars; Cpl. Dennis O'Doherty, 85, of Sayville, who has five Bronze Stars; and his next-door neighbor, Bill Venegas, 84, a former member of the Merchant Marines. 
A Merchant Marine flag waved in the wind with those of the other services and veterans' groups, and many American flags. Retired Army Lt. Col. Melody Thomas noted the Merchant Marines lost the highest percentage of personnel of any service in the war: One out of every 26 who went to sea was killed, she said. In the largest single-day amphibious invasion recorded - about 150,000 troops from several Allied countries - she said 10,000 Allied troops were killed or wounded that day. 
The ceremony was put together by the Islip Veterans Service Organization, which this year welcomed home eight local veterans; and the town, through Councilman Gene Parrington, a <a href="/topics/Vietnam">Vietnam</a> veteran. 
"D-Day was one of the great moments in American history, a good-versus-evil confrontation," said Islip Supervisor Phil Nolan, whose father, the late Phil Nolan Sr., was an Army Air Forces veteran of World War II.

ny-lidday0712852405jun06

Islip's D-Day ceremony honors local veterans

She spent six months in <a href="/topics/Baghdad">Baghdad</a> wearing combat boots and a uniform. 
She came home clad in sandals and a fuchsia T-shirt, the letters "USMC" printed across the chest. 
All eyes were on Staff Sgt. Kristen Erario Saturday as she walked through two flag lines formed by veterans, who surprised Erario upon her arrival at <a href="/topics/Long_Island">Long Island</a> MacArthur Airport in <a href="/topics/Islip">Islip</a>. 
Dozens of veterans joined Erario's relatives in welcoming home the Marine, who had been stationed near Sadr City since October as part of the Multi-National Security Transition Command-<a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a>. 
Erario, 32, handled logistics for the command, which works with the Iraqi Interior and Defense ministries to train and equip the country's military and police forces. 
Carrying her niece, Samantha Nunziata, 2, Erario beamed at the reception and offered effusive thanks. 
The time in Iraq taught her patience, she said. "With Iraqis and their culture, everything's not the American way," she said. "There are other ways." 
She learned to greet others by placing her right hand over her heart and saying "as-salaam alaikum," or peace be with you. 
Though she will miss some Iraqi foods, like pastries, Erario said she's ready for some of her mom's cooking. Yesterday's menu: chicken Parmesan and spaghetti. 
"I didn't say a word to her," her mother, Janet Erario, 51, of Holbrook, said. "We just hugged and cried." 
"That's something she'll remember," Islip Town Councilman Gene Parrington said. 
A <a href="/topics/Vietnam">Vietnam</a> veteran who served in the Marines, Parrington helped launch a program with the airport to host homecomings for local servicemen and women. 
"When we came back, it was a different type of war. You weren't really welcomed home," he said. "It doesn't matter what the war [is] . . . the veteran should be welcomed like a hero and treated as such." 
After relaxing with family in Holbrook, Erario will head upstate to Monroe, where she works as a state trooper. 
Outside the terminal Saturday, a convoy of Patriot Guard Riders, a veterans group, came up the street on motorcycles. 
Erario's sister, Danielle Aiello, 34, of Holtsville, had helped arrange a special ride home. 
Erario slipped on a helmet, tapped it against Aiello's, and mounted the back of a bike. Moments later, the roar of the engines revving announced the departure of the latest Long Island vet.

ny-limari1912670625apr18

A surprise welcome home for Marine

Returning to <a href="/topics/Long_Island">Long Island</a> Sunday after a 15-month tour in Iraq, Army Spc. Ryan Dickinson knew a couple of friends might show up to greet him at the airport. 
Instead, a couple of hundred friends, family and complete strangers, many waving American flags and cheering Dickinson as if he were a celebrity, filled the lobby of MacArthur Airport to welcome home the 21-year-old soldier from Ronkonkoma. 
"This is a complete shock," said Dickinson, beaming in his camouflage Army fatigues, one arm around the waist of his wife, Heather. 
The rock-star welcome included a white limousine for Dickinson, his wife and their children, Luke, 2, and Nevaeh, 1, and a boisterous escort from the Patriot Guard Riders - a motorcyclist organization that supports veterans' causes. The Town of Islip approved a citation in honor of his safe return, politicians attended and he shook hands and stood for photographs for nearly an hour during the festive airport rally. 
"This is how every service member should be welcomed home," said Gene Parrington, an Islip Town councilman and a Marine Corps veteran of <a href="/topics/Vietnam">Vietnam</a> who, along with Dickinson's mother, Donna, organized the rally. 
"I am so proud of him," said Donna Dickinson, president of the American Legion Auxiliary Post 651 in Sayville. 
His uncle, Vincent Liebenow, of <a href="/topics/Manhattan">Manhattan</a>, was the first to grab Dickinson by his crewcut head to hug and kiss him. 
"It's unbelievable. I prayed every single day for him," Liebenow said through tears. "We're just glad he came home in one piece." 
Dickinson, of the 572nd Mobile Augmentation Company, had a dangerous mission, clearing the roads of explosive devices near <a href="/topics/Mosul">Mosul</a> in northern Iraq. He carried a picture in his pocket Sunday of a fellow soldier who was killed, his mother said, though he did not want to talk about it. 
"You know, it's war," Dickinson said. "I saw a little bit of everything." 
Going to Iraq fulfilled a dream for Dickinson, who idolized his grandfather, Francis Liebenow, a veteran of the Army 82nd Airborne in Korea. "When they told me I was going to Iraq, I said: 'Great.' " Dickinson said, adding: "I will have to go back." 
For the next two weeks, before he and his wife fly back to his base at Fort Hood, <a href="/topics/Texas">Texas</a>, the peaceful suburbs of Long Island will do. He said he'll have a few drinks with friends and will spend time with his daughter, who was born while he was gone. 
Before leaving the airport, Dickinson stopped to address the crowd, noting all the care packages and letters he'd received in the last year. "I just want to say thank you for coming out and showing support," he said. 
Outside, he pulled on his black Army beret and went home.

ny-lisold1612552074mar16

Hundreds cheer Ronkonkoma soldier's return from Iraq

Returning to <a href="/topics/Long_Island">Long Island</a> yesterday after a 15-month 
tour in Iraq, Army Spc. Ryan Dickinson knew a couple of friends might show up 
to greet him at the airport. 
 Instead, a couple of hundred friends, family and complete strangers, many 
waving American flags and cheering Dickinson as if he were a celebrity, filled 
the lobby of MacArthur Airport to welcome home the 21-year-old soldier from 
Ronkonkoma.
 "This is a complete shock," said Dickinson, beaming in his camouflage 
fatigues, one arm around the waist of his wife, Heather.
 The rock-star welcome included a white limousine for the Dickinsons and 
their children, Luke, 2, and Nevaeh, 1, and a boisterous escort from the 
Patriot Guard Riders - a motorcyclist group that supports veterans' causes.
 The Town of Islip approved a citation in honor of his safe return, and 
politicians made the scene. Dickinson shook hands and posed for photographs for
 nearly an hour during the festive rally.
 "This is how every service member should be welcomed home," said Gene 
Parrington, an Islip Town councilman and a Marine Corps veteran of <a href="/topics/Vietnam">Vietnam</a> who,
 along with Dickinson's mother, Donna, organized the rally.
 "I am so proud of him," said Donna Dickinson, president of the American 
Legion Auxiliary Post 651 in Sayville.
 His uncle, Vincent Liebenow, of <a href="/topics/Manhattan">Manhattan</a>, was the first to grab Dickinson 
by his crewcut head to hug and kiss him.
 "It's unbelievable. I prayed every single day for him," Liebenow said 
through tears. "We're just glad he came home in one piece."
 Dickinson, of the 572nd Mobile Augmentation Company, had the dangerous task
 of clearing the roads of explosive devices near <a href="/topics/Mosul">Mosul</a> in northern Iraq. He 
carried a picture in his pocket yesterday of a fellow soldier who was killed, 
his mother said, though he did not want to talk about it.
 "You know, it's war," Dickinson said. "I saw a little bit of everything."
 Going to Iraq fulfilled a dream for Dickinson, who idolized his 
grandfather, Francis Liebenow, a veteran of the Army 82nd Airborne in Korea. 
"When they told me I was going to Iraq, I said, 'Great,'" Dickinson said, 
adding, "I will have to go back."
 For the next two weeks, before he and his wife fly back to his base at Fort
 Hood, <a href="/topics/Texas">Texas</a>, the peaceful suburbs of Long Island will do. He said he'll have a
 few drinks with friends and will spend time with his daughter, who was born 
while he was gone.
 Before leaving the airport, Dickinson stopped to address the crowd, noting 
all the care packages and letters he'd received in the last year. "I just want 
to say thank you for coming out and showing support," he said.
 Outside, he pulled on his black Army beret and went home.

LISOLD16

Soldier's surprise

He arrived at his Holbrook home Saturday via a parade that swept him there from <a href="/topics/Long_Island">Long Island</a> MacArthur Airport, a smiling soldier who waved from a vintage <a href="/topics/Jeep">Jeep</a> and who was mobbed by thousands of neighbors, friends and total strangers. 
Army Cpl. Christopher Levi, who promised that he would learn to walk again after losing both legs in a <a href="/topics/Baghdad">Baghdad</a> bomb attack last year, climbed from the Jeep on prosthetic limbs, then thanked the crowd for their outpouring of support. 
"It's almost to the point of being totally overwhelming," said Levi, a member of the 10th Mountain Division, who arrived home for the first time since the bombing. "It's so great to finally be able to come home. I don't think I could be any happier without crying." 
Levi, 26, had both legs amputated above the knee during a <a href="/topics/St._Patrick%27s_Day">St. Patrick's Day</a> 2008 attack, when a shaped-charge explosive shattered the Humvee in which he was riding through <a href="/topics/Baghdad">Baghdad</a>'s infamous Sadr City neighborhood. Part of a bone in his right hand also was blown off during the incident while he was holding a radio to his ear. 
He has spent more than a year at <a href="/topics/Walter_Reed_Hospital">Walter Reed Army Medical Center</a>, in <a href="/topics/Washington%2C_D.C.">Washington, D.C.</a>, healing from his wounds, undergoing corrective surgeries, and acquainting himself with the nuances of balance and endurance needed to get around on knees, shins and feet crafted from metal and plastic. 
While he was away, volunteers organized by members of the Holbrook Fire Department built a handicapped-accessible apartment in the lower level of his parents' home. 
Donations ranging from lumber to labor helped pay the estimated $150,000 value of the renovation, which included a new kitchen, a widened bathroom, and a lounge area complete with flat panel TV, surround sound and a video intercom. The bedroom was wired with remote switches so he can turn out the lights once he sits on his bed and removes his prosthetic legs. 
"This is awesome," Levi said. "I don't think I'm ever moving out." 
"Next year, <a href="/topics/Super_Bowl">Super Bowl</a> at your house," said Mike Barhold, Holbrook fire commissioner, who did carpentry during the renovation. 
Levi is among the 33,084 U.S. troops who the <a href="/topics/US_Department_of_Defense">Department of Defense</a> categorized as of last week as having sustained battlefield wounds in <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a> or <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> since late 2001. That data exclude military personnel sent back to the <a href="/topics/United_States">United States</a> because of muscle tears, injured joints or other injuries not inflicted by an enemy. 
Levi, who estimates that his medical care will cost the government several million dollars, joins a growing wave of veterans who for the rest of their lives will need often costly rehabilitative care, including medical treatment, <a href="/topics/Physical_Therapy">physical therapy</a> and replacement prosthetics. More than 860 U.S. troops who served in the <a href="/topics/Iraq">Iraq</a> and <a href="/topics/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> conflicts have had at least one limb amputated. 
Even now, Levi will return to <a href="/topics/Walter_Reed_Hospital">Walter Reed</a> in three weeks for more care, including additional surgery to increase movement in his mangled right hand. He is expected to receive a medical discharge from the military in about a year. 
Friends and relatives say he has remained upbeat, despite occasional emotional setbacks. 
Saturday, Levi described a flashback he encountered while doing physical therapy at Walter Reed several months ago. He said he imagined he was back in the Humvee with his legs - severed and bleeding - strewn about. He calmed himself by counting aloud until the image went away. 
Levi said the outpouring of support from across Long Island - neighbors helped serve hot dogs at a spontaneous block party outside his house, a stranger pulled a floral lei from her neck and strung it around his as he arrived home - reminded him of the hometown values that helped persuade him to join the military. 
"Wherever I've traveled, I've always told people what a wonderful place Holbrook is," Levi said. "This is what I was fighting for."

ny-enchris1712772836may16

GI who lost legs to bomb comes home to Holbrook

LI soldiers coming home

Newsday

liHERO- cropped

Most Popular

Latest Videos

Latest videos

Las Vegas Sands wants to add one lane on each side of a stretch of the Meadowbrook Parkway in order to blunt the impact of a new casino-resort.

Las Vegas Sands proposes Meadowbrook Parkway expansion 

A tipster says he told the state about buried drums at Bethpage Community Park nearly a decade ago. Newsday's Ken Buffa reports.

Uncovering the truth about the chemical drums

The family of accused Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann will be moving out of their Massapequa Park home. NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa reports.

Heuermann's wife 'no longer feels connected' to their family home

Darius Paduch, a former LI urologist, was sentenced to life in prison by a federal judge for repeated sexual abuse of his male patients. NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa reports.

Former urologist gets life sentence 

Brian Cordovano, of Ronkonkoma, was sentenced by a Suffolk judge to 30 years for killing a friend and another man over a loan. NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa reports.

LI man killed longtime friend and another person over a loan

Sign up for the NewsdayTV newsletter

Long Island Newsletter Widget

County spending on outside law firms has more than doubled since 2022.

'Spiraling out of control:' Nassau County spending on private law firms to get audit

Long Island Article Bottom Module

Long Island's driest autumn in decades has sparked dozens of brush fires and questions about what it could mean over time.

Rain on LI not enough to end region's drought

Of 261 requests by federal immigration enforcers so far this year, the Adams administration has rejected all but 11.

NYC used to help deport thousands. This year's total: 11

The rain brings temporary relief to a historically dry fall season.

Rain continues through Friday, as LI's drought status goes to 'severe'

The suit said the Moab police department failed to protect Gabby Petito when they responded to a 911 call shortly before her killing.

Wrongful death suit filed by Gabby Petito's parents against Moab police dismissed

Projects would include upgrades to roads, Nassau Community College and the county's sewer and stormwater systems.

Nassau County lawmakers review $1.7B infrastructure plan

The property was listed for sale over the summer, only to be pulled from the market. Now, town and county officials are weighing an effort to preserve the building, which was built in 1910. 

'Great love on the corner': Future of historically Black church property uncertain

Long Island Video Playlist

An NYPD officer shot and killed a robbery suspect Tuesday in Queens during a gunfight that left both the officer and a bystander wounded.

Gunfight leaves suspect dead; cop, bystander wounded

The mother of a man who died of a fentanyl overdose at the Nassau County jail alleges correction officers failed to provide adequate care for her son before he died.

Lawsuit alleges jail staff failed in overdose death

Southold Police Chief Steve Grattan said three people who were inside the house at the time of the fire made it out safely. Those residents reported that a fourth person who was on the second floor of the home may have been trapped inside.

One dead in Mattituck house fire

New York City officials said a homeless man allegedly went on an unprovoked stabbing spree across town in Manhattan Monday, killing two men and a woman.

NYC stabbing suspect arrested by cop who hails from LI

Brookville Village Police Chief Kenneth Lack says license plate readers are an essential tool for law enforcement. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn reports. 

More eyes on the roads

Nassau and Suffolk police on Saturday night shut down illegal street takeovers at a Uniondale parking lot and the Ronkonkoma train station, where more than 40 cars had gathered. NewsdayTV's Andrew Ehinger reports.

'Crazy to do it in the train parking lot'

Newsday education reporter Dandan Zou talks about how some LI school districts are dealing with the financial strain of sex abuse settlements. 

'The taxpayers need to know what you are doing'

Clarke field hockey player Rebecca Palumbo was diagnosed with Stage 3 Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. She has since beaten cancer and returned to the sport. NewsdayTV's Jolie Katzen reports.

'When I found out it was cancer, it was scary'

NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano got a sneak peek at "Disney on Ice: Let's Dance," which is at UBS Arena through Nov. 17.

'One big Disney dance party'

Here's how these Long Island content creators use TikTok to build their careers.

Meet the Long Islanders making it big on TikTok 

A Newsday investigation shows that about 70% of tickets issued by Suffolk County for school bus camera violations in 2023 took place on roads that students don't cross. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.

'Ridiculous tickets that are illogical'

Charges again North Merrick's James Luca were upgraded after he allegedly tried to blow up the Nassau Department of Social Services building using a propane tank. NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa reports.

'Allegedly placed several propane tanks ... at the doors of the DSS building'

Homepage Trending

Trump's picks for key positions

Thanksgiving on LI

Newsday's Holiday Gift Guide

Newsday's Feed Me Magazine

<a href="https://www.newsday.com/video/newsdaytv-top-stories">Get more on these and other NewsdayTV stories</a>

Newsday TV

NewsdayTV Top Item

More rain for LI ... Thanksgiving travel ... Penny trial continues ... FeedMe: Holiday pies

More rain for LI ... Penny trial continues ... FeedMe: Holiday pies

Long Island - megaslot

Find out what's happening with Nassau & Suffolk news, Long Island schools, plus the latest crime, courts, politics. Coverage includes Fire Island, the Hamptons & North Fork.

Most Popular

Latest Videos

Stay logged in.