First of 3 L.A.-area care facilities for veterans to open

The first of three new long-term care facilities for veterans in California will open today in Lancaster, filling what officials say is a pressing need for basic care and assistance for military veterans.

The other facilities will open next month in Ventura and West next year in Los Angeles.

The William J. “Pete” Knight Veterans Home of California in Lancaster, which was built by the state Department of Veterans Affairs, will offer long-term care, assistance with daily activities and provide a place for veterans to socialize.

“It’s incredibly important because veterans need this help,” said Thomas Craft, a retired Navy captain and chairman of the nonprofit Lancaster Veterans Home Citizens' Committee, which pushed for the facility to be established in the Antelope Valley.

“They realize they need help, but they don’t want to go away from their families,”  he said.

Antelope Valley to unveil mobile Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall

A mobile Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall is scheduled to be unveiled this evening at Joe Davies Heritage Airpark in Palmdale.

The wall is designed to honor Vietnam veterans, including those from the Antelope Valley, and is a replica of the original in Washington, Palmdale officials said.

“We are very proud and honored to have this,” said Palmdale city spokesman John Mlynar. “It’s a community monument. It was everyone in the Antelope Valley coming together. It’s a healing wall.”

Standing about 6 feet high at its apex and measuring about 250 feet in length, the Antelope Valley wall is engraved with the names of service personnel who were killed or went missing in action during the Vietnam War.

Palm Springs man charged with wearing unauthorized military medals to surrender

A Palm Springs man who has never served in the military is expected to surrender to authorities Thursday to face charges of wearing military medals he did not earn, authorities said today.

Steve Burton, 39, has agreed to surrender at the U.S. District Court in Riverside. He was charged Friday by federal prosecutors in L.A. with the unauthorized wearing of military medals after he was allegedly seen and photographed wearing military uniforms and decorations.

The FBI was contacted by a Navy commander after she attended her high school reunion and saw Burton wearing a Marine Corps uniform displaying several medals, including the Navy Cross, the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and others, according to an affidavit filed in United States District Court.

Veterans Day events planned across Southern California

--The sixth annual San Fernando Valley Veterans Day Parade will include the participation of more than 60 veterans groups, the San Diego-based Navy Band Southwest, the 1st Marine Division Band from Camp Pendleton, the Air National Guard Band of the Southwest and at least five high school marching bands, according to organizers. The parade is set to begin shortly after 11 a.m. at Laurel Canyon and San Fernando Mission boulevards in Mission Hills.

-- Forest Lawn will conduct its 50th annual Veterans Day program, with the theme, "A Celebration of Heroes." U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Eric Mejia, who has been deployed to Iraq four times, Sheriff Lee Baca and Army Maj. Gen. John S. Harrel, commander of the California Army National Guard, are scheduled to speak. The program starts at 11 a.m. at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills.

Joint Chiefs chairman pulls out of Valley Veterans Day parade

A scheduled appearance by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at this week's San Fernando Valley Veterans Day parade has been canceled because of the Ft. Hood shootings, officials said today.

Navy Adm. Michael Mullen had been set to serve as grand marshal of the Wednesday parade. Mullen was raised in North Hollywood and had been looking forward to joining veterans from his former stomping grounds, he said in an interview before the tragedy in Texas.

But the shootings that left 13 people dead and dozens wounded forced Mullen to change plans, said Gene Smith, a spokeswoman for Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Valley Village).

"He wanted to do it,'' Smith said. "But all things considered, I don't think it would be appropriate for him to be riding in a parade."

Search ended for nine missing military air crew members off San Clemente Island

The Coast Guard has called off its rescue effort for nine missing military air crew members from a midair collision off San Clemente Island, officials said this morning.

"I have concluded that hope is no longer viable," said Rear Adm. Joseph Castillo in San Diego. "We no longer believe there is any chance anybody could be alive."

The Coast Guard and Navy have searched continuously since Thursday night for the seven crew members aboard a Coast Guard C-130 transport and the two pilots aboard a Marine Corps Super Cobra helicopter.

The two craft collided at 7:10 p.m. Thursday about 20 miles east of San Clemente Island.

Castillo said searchers have found debris but no bodies or signs that anyone has survived. An investigation has been launched into the cause of the collision.

The Coast Guard will now shift to a "recovery mode," Castillo said.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Rescuers find debris but no survivors in area of midair military collision [Updated]

Rescuers searching the coast off San Clemente Island where a midair collision occurred have found debris but no survivors, officials said today.

The collision between a Coast Guard C-130 Hercules transport plane and a Marine Corps AH-1 Super Cobra helicopter occurred about 7:10 p.m. Thursday, 20 miles east of San Clemente Island. A nearby pilot reported a fireball in the sky.

[Updated at 3:50 p.m.: The search for nine military crewmembers off San Clemente Island will continue throughout Saturday night and into Sunday morning, Coast Guard officials told reporters at a 3 p.m. news conference in San Diego.]

The Coast Guard plane from Sacramento, with seven crew members, was searching for a 12-foot skiff reported adrift near the island, which is owned by the Navy and used for training.

Rescue efforts continue in military midair collision off San Diego coast

Multiple aircraft and ships from the Coast Guard and Navy are searching this morning for nine people off the San Diego County coast after two military aircraft collided midair.

A Coast Guard C-130 Hercules aircraft from Air Station Sacramento had seven people aboard when it collided with an AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing stationed at Camp Pendleton, which had two pilots.

The collision occurred about 7:10 p.m. Thursday about 20 miles east of San Clemente Island. The C-130 was on a search mission.The Super Cobra was on a routine night exercise, the Marine Corps said.

Debris has been spotted in the water, and Coast Guard and Navy crews searched through the night, using four cutters and several aircraft. Reported visibility in the area is unlimited, “allowing for ideal search conditions,” the latest release stated.

Navy helicopter crashes off Southern California coast

The Associated Press is reporting that a Navy helicopter has crashed into the sea 17 miles from San Clemente Island. Here is the story:

SAN CLEMENTE ISLAND, Calif. (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard says a Navy helicopter has crashed into the sea off the Southern California coast.

Petty Officer Henry Dunphy says the Navy reported the crash around 7 p.m. Thursday. The helicopter went down about 17 miles east of San Clemente Island, the farthest south of the Channel Islands.

Coast Guard and Navy vessels are searching for the helicopter.

Dunphy did not immediately have any other details about the crash.

Marine from Twentynine Palms killed in Afghanistan

A Marine from the base at Twentynine Palms has been killed in Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced today.

Lance Cpl. Cody R. Stanley, 21, of Caldwell County, Texas, was fatally injured when a roadside bomb exploded near him while he was on foot patrol in Helmand province, on the Pakistani border.

A rifleman, he was assigned to the Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

Stanley enlisted in the Marine Corps in October 2006 and had served a deployment in Iraq. His unit had only recently arrived in Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold.

—Tony Perry in San Diego

Marine killed in Afghanistan remembered as strong, dedicated to saving lives

A Marine killed in Afghanistan while hunting for the roadside bombs that are the top killer of U.S. troops was memorialized at Camp Pendleton on Wednesday as the "epitome of a Marine leader."

Staff Sgt. Aaron J. Taylor, 27, of Two Harbors, Minn., was killed when he stepped on a buried bomb as he was checking a bridge in the Helmand province for explosive devices.

"His mission was not to find and defeat IEDs [improvised explosive devices], his job was to save lives," Lt. Col. Matt Puglisi told 300 people gathered in the base chapel. "He was a hero."

Taylor had reenlisted in 2006 for a chance to become an explosive ordnance demolition technician. He had deployed to Iraq in that capacity before his Afghanistan mission.

Hawthorne mother of two is killed on duty in Afghanistan

A Hawthorne woman with two young daughters died Sunday in Afghanistan when the vehicle in which she was traveling was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

Army Sgt. Eduviges G. Wolf, 24, of Hawthorne, was killed in Afghanistan's Kunar province when insurgents attacked the vehicle, military officials announced Tuesday.

Wolf's husband also was serving in Afghanistan at the time of her death and was returning home to be with their daughters, ages 1 and 3, according to the Long Beach Press-Telegram. 

Wolf, who enlisted in the Army in 2003, had been deployed to Afghanistan since June, according to officials at Ft. Carson, Colo., where her unit, the 704th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, is based.

At least 54 U.S. service members have been killed in Afghanistan this month, according to the independent website icasualties.org, making it the deadliest month for Americans in the eight-year war.

Since late 2001, The Times has chronicled the lives of military personnel who have died while serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their stories, photos, personal websites and additional material have been collected in the California's War Dead database. Readers are invited to leave memories of their loved ones and colleagues.

-- Maloy Moore

Here are some recent posts:

"My Family and I had the privelage of knowing Michael,We all attended the same place of worship.I will always remember him by those beautiful eyes of his so serious when he looked at you,he will be forever in our hearts and thoughts and for the family our prayers and love go out to you! Love Irene Martel, Ray Espinoza, Victor Moreno Jr. Lorena Moreno"
— Irene Martel posted today on Army Specialist Michael A. Dahl Jr., 23, of Moreno Valley, who was killed Oct. 17, 2009,  in Arghandab, Afghanistan, when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb.

***

As war drags on, so does the battle against roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan

As Marines train at Camp Pendleton, Twentynine Palms and the Bridgeport mountain center for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan, much of the effort is aimed at thwarting the improvised explosive devices that are the top killer of U.S. troops.

The U.S. has spent billions of dollars studying the insurgents' use of so-called IEDs and looking for ways to detect and detonate the bombs before they can cause destruction.

But the best technology for spotting a buried bomb continues to be a sharp-eyed Marine, soldier or sailor.

To find out what characteristics good bomb-hunters share, the Pentagon-based Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization studied 800 military personnel, putting them through a series of tests, a kind of "Where's Waldo?" with a serious purpose.

What they found is that two groups were particularly good: personnel with rural backgrounds that included hunting, and those from tough urban neighborhoods.

For the full story, see here.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: An Iraqi soldier watches as an improvised explosive device is detonated. Credit: Department of Defense

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Four Marines from Camp Pendleton killed in Afghanistan

Four Marines from Camp Pendleton were killed in a midair collision of two helicopters in Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced.

The four were assigned to Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold. The collision between a Cobra and a Huey helicopter was during a combat mission, officials said.

The Marines were identified as Cpl. Gregory M.W. Fleury, 23, of Anchorage; Capt. Eric A. Jones, 29, of Westchester, N.Y.; Capt. David S. Mitchell, 30, of Loveland, Ohio; and Capt. Kyle R. Van De Giesen, 29, of North Attleboro, Mass.

Fleury, Jones and Van De Giesen were part of Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169. Mitchell was part of Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 369, Both squadrons are part of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

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Doctor who joined the Navy after his son's death in Iraq returns from deployment

When his son was killed in Iraq, Dr. Bill Krissoff decided to honor him by enlisting in the Navy medical corps and seeking an assignment in a war zone. At age 60, he needed an age waiver.

With some push from the White House, the waiver was granted. Now at 63, Krissoff is back from a deployment to a military hospital in Anbar province, not far from where his son, Marine Lt. Nathan Krissoff, was killed in December 2006.

Bill Krissoff said the assignment, with a medical unit from Camp Pendleton, gave him with a sense of what Nathan had experienced in Iraq. He said he had no regrets about closing up a lucrative practice in Northern California to join up.

"If anything, I wish I had joined the Navy five years ago," he said last week at his new home in Rancho Santa Fe.

For the full story, look here.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: Austin, Christine, Nathan and Bill Krissoff. Credit: Krissoff family

Marine reservist sentenced for mishandling secret documents, possessing machine gun

A senior enlisted Marine at Camp Pendleton was sentenced today to a reduction in rank and 60 days confinement after a court martial found him guilty of removing classified documents from files and possessing an unauthorized machine gun.

The same jury on Thursday acquitted Master Sgt. Reinaldo Pagan, a reservist, of other counts involving the alleged mishandling of intelligence files about possible terrorist activities in Southern California.

Pagan, a police officer in the Northern California city of Hayward, is the latest Marine to stand trial in a case involving the alleged leaking of files to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Pagan was ordered reduced in rank to gunnery sergeant and fined $597.

Four other Marines have been charged in the case. Two are awaiting preliminary hearings; a third pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing; and a fourth was convicted and sentenced to 26 months in the brig.

Pagan was the senior non-commissioned officer at the intelligence cell of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton. Among other counts, he was found guilty of dereliction of duty for not preventing the sharing of passwords to classified and unclassified computer systems.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Marine from Camp Pendleton killed in Afghanistan [Updated]

A Marine from Camp Pendleton has died from injuries suffered during a combat patrol in Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced today.

Lance Cpl. David R. Baker, 22, of Painesville, Ohio, was on foot patrol in Helmand Province when he was fatally injured by a roadside bomb. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment, part of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

He enlisted in the Marine Corps in August 2006. His older brother was already in the Corps.

[Updated at 8:39 p.m.: "They just grow up before your eyes and then, and then they're gone," Baker's father, Mark Baker, told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "He was a Marine. He had a job to do and he did it. He was just a great kid."

Baker's battalion is set to return to Camp Pendleton by late December.

"He was on his last lap," his father told the newspaper. "As far as my family is concerned, he is a hero."]

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: Lance Cpl. David R. Baker. Credit: Baker family

Marine Corps tries to help families of reservists cope with war stress

For the stay-behind spouses of Marines deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Marine Corps has developed a support system to combat loneliness and stress.

But reservists called to active duty often leave their families far away from Camp Pendleton or another base where support services are centered. Spouses like Jenn Bommarito of Simi Valley, above, whose husband was recalled to active duty and deployed to Afghanistan, can feel isolated and angry.

Now the Marine Corps is trying an outreach to those families, including a video that warns of the difficulties the Marine and his family may face upon return to civilian life.

Here's the full story.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: Jenn Bommarito, dog Buffy with a picture of Sgt. Michael Bommarito. Credit: Ringo H.W. Chiu / For The Times

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Bill would allow widow of Marine killed in Iraq to stay in the U.S.

The widow of Marine Sgt. Michael Ferschke Jr. paid a visit to Camp Pendleton last month to show her young son to the Marines who served with his father before his death in Iraq.

Now those same Marines are supporting an effort to let Hotaru Nakama Ferschke stay in America with her 8-month-old son, Michael "Mikey" Ferschke III.

Michael Ferschke met his future wife, a Japanese citizen, while he was stationed in Okinawa. After he deployed to Iraq they were married in a ceremony conducted by telephone. Hotaru was three months pregnant.

A month after the ceremony, on Aug. 10, 2008, Ferschke was killed outside Fallujah, without having returned to Okinawa. He was 22 years old.

Marine from Camp Pendleton killed by roadside bomb in Afghanistan

A Marine staff sergeant from Camp Pendleton was killed in combat Friday in Helmand Province,  Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced today.

Aaron J. Taylor, 27, of Two Harbors, Minn., was assigned to Marine Wing Support Squadron 372, Marine Wing Support Group 37, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, part of the Camp Pendleton-based 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

Taylor, an explosive ordnance technician, was killed when he stepped on a buried bomb while checking a bridge for explosive devices, his father, Clifford Taylor, told Minnesota Public Radio.

Taylor had been in Afghanistan for six weeks, assigned to a province known as a Taliban stronghold. He  deployed in 2008 to Iraq. Among his citations is the Navy/Marine Corps Overseas Service Ribbon.

Taylor's father said he talked to his son a week before his death.

"We were really worried about him," Taylor told the MPR reporter. "He said he was going to be fine, that this unit he joined was really good, that they knew how to watch out for themselves."

Two Harbors (pop. 3,600) is located on the shore of Lake Superior, north of Duluth.

After graduating from high school in 2000, Taylor studied law enforcement and enlisted in 2002. He was initially trained as a rifleman but switched to the explosive ordnance detail.

In high school, Taylor was on the wrestling team and participated in drama and the jazz band.

"He just connected with everybody," his father said. "I think if the Taliban had met him, they'd have liked him too."

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: Aaron Taylor and his grandmother Adeline Taylor

Central Valley Marine died last week in Afghanistan

Marine Lance Cpl. Alfonso Ochoa Jr., 20, of Armona, Calif., died Oct. 10 in Farah province, Afghanistan, while supporting combat operations. Defense Department officials announced his death today. No other details were immediately available.

Since late 2001, The Times has chronicled the lives of military personnel who have died while serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their stories, photos, personal websites and additional material have been collected in the California's War Dead database. Readers are invited to leave memories of their loved ones and colleagues.

-- Maloy Moore

Here are some recent posts:

"I have great memories of SFC Gutierrez. I served with him when he was in HHC 2nd BDE, 1st ID. He would always show up with his trademark smile and joke about what the PT uniform of the day would be. He was a wonderful NCO and a great mentor. I can't remember anyone who didn't look up to him. The day still haunts me back in 2007 when I opened up the 'Army Times' and saw his picture... simply devastating."

— Sgt. Jesus S. Miranda posted Tuesday on Army Sgt. 1st Class Luis E. Gutierrez-Rosales, 38, of Bakersfield, who died July 18, 2007, in Adhamiya, Iraq.  Gutierrez-Rosales was one of four soldiers killed when their vehicle was attacked by insurgents using an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire.

***

Marine Corps bans pit bulls, Rottweilers at Camp Pendleton, other bases

The Marine Corps is moving to ban dogs with aggressive temperaments from Camp Pendleton and other bases under a policy developed after a 3-year-old boy at Camp Lejeune, N.C., was fatally bitten by a pit bull.

The banned breeds are pit bulls, Rottweilers and wolf hybrids.

Families moving into base housing are no longer allowed to bring those breeds. Families already in housing can keep their dogs until Sept. 30, 2012, but only if they receive a "good-dog" waiver.

In Camp Pendleton housing units, there are 190 pit bulls and 30 Rottweilers, according to officials. The base has more than 7,300 housing units for families.

No dogs are allowed in barracks or enlisted or bachelor officer quarters. All dogs -- and cats -- in family housing must be registered. No family is allowed more than two pets.

Camp Pendleton has yet to determine how dogs will be evaluated to see if they qualify for a waiver.

At three Marine bases in South Carolina, 83 of 85 dogs from the targeted breeds qualified for waivers after passing a test by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: A Rottweiler owned by civilians. Credit: Los Angeles Times

For Marines at Camp Pendleton, it's goodbye Iraq, hello Afghanistan

In a quiet ceremony a week ago in Iraq, U.S. Marines turned over responsibility for Anbar province to the Army -- ending a six-year presence in the province for Marine regimental combat teams.

And several days later at Camp Pendleton, there was another ceremony: reestablishing the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade. Early next year the brigade will assume command of Marine forces in Afghanistan, now numbering more than 11,000.

For Marines at Camp Pendleton, Twentynine Palms and the other area bases, the drawdown in Iraq means a shift of emphasis to the war in Afghanistan.

Most Marine forces in Afghanistan are in Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold and the center of the nation's poppy crop, which is used in the heroin trade that provides funding for the insurgency.

Marines say progress is being made in Helmand in protecting the civilian population and winning them away from the insurgency.

Marine avoids jail in killing of unarmed Iraqi prisoner

A Marine sergeant was demoted to lance corporal today and given a 150-day suspended jail sentence for his role in the killing of unarmed Iraqi prisoners.

In exchange for a guilty plea to dereliction of duty, prosecutors dropped a murder charge against Jermaine Nelson, 28.

Nelson told the court martial judge at Camp Pendleton that he killed a prisoner during the battle for Fallouja in November 2004 on the orders of his squad leader. A psychiatrist testified that Nelson now suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

The squad leader, former Sgt. Jose Nazario, was acquitted in federal court in Riverside. Sgt. Ryan Weemer was acquitted at a court martial in the same incident.

Prosecutors had alleged that the three Marines killed four prisoners rather than take the time to process them.

Nazario was dropped as a probationary police officer in Riverside when federal charges were brought. Weemer was recalled to active duty to face charges.

The case against the three came from an investigation launched after Weemer mentioned the killings during a job interview with the Secret Service.

Weemer and Nelson were jailed for contempt of court for refusing to testify against Nazario.

—Tony Perry in San Diego

Navy midshipman sentenced for drug smuggling

A 24-year-old Navy midshipman was sentenced Tuesday to 118 months in prison and a dishonorable discharge after pleading guilty to conspiracy to import and distribute drugs.

Juan D. Alonso was arrested June 10 while trying to smuggle 150 pounds of marijuana into the United States through the San Ysidro border crossing. Alonso, a former enlisted sailor, pleaded guilty at a court-martial in San Diego.

A third-year student at the Naval Academy, he was in San Diego for summer training when he was arrested.

-- Tony Perry

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