Author: Nick Walter
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Area players love softball and it shows with a title
RENO, Nev. — Timothy Hall never gave a thought to dying when he awoke in Walter Reed National Military Medical Center with his legs gone from a mortar blast in Afghanistan. He’d been there and done that — more than once. “The helicopter flight from the base I was at, they lost me three times,”…
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Youngsters, veterans play for pool glory
A local charity is asking members of the public to cheer on World War II veterans as they embark on a trip to Washington, D.C., in May. Honor Flight of Southern Colorado, a Colorado Springs-based nonprofit that sends World War II and terminally ill veterans on free trips to the Capitol to tour war memorials,…
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Defying her age by leaps, bounds
STUTTGART, Germany — In order to assess the strength of Afghan government forces, the U.S. should wait until summer or later before deciding how many troops to keep in Afghanistan after the combat mission ends in December 2014, the U.S. military’s top officer said Friday. “I’m not in any particular hurry” to come up with…
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Horse play provides some added inspiration
The Army, Air Force and Marine Corps will be forced to reopen their tuition assistance programs — and the Coast Guard likely will be pressured to follow — under a Senate amendment to a stopgap budget bill. The bill HR 933, renamed the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, will fund the government through Sept.…
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One last time together
The last living 4th Infantry Division recipient of the Medal of Honor claimed it was never really his. Vietnam veteran 1st Sgt. David McNerney died in Texas in 2010 and left his Medal of Honor to troops at Fort Carson, where it now resides. McNerney, who served in Vietnam’s Ia Drang Valley with the division’s…
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Carpenter conquers Barr Trail to win
Friends remembered Fort Carson’s Sgt. Mark H. Schoonhoven as a top marksman and perpetual ray of sunshine at a Wednesday memorial service on the post. Eulogists said the Army truck driver stayed upbeat, even during a 2007 deployment to Afghanistan that lasted more than a year. Schoonhoven, 38, died Jan. 20 at Brooke Army Medical…
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Talent shines in blowout wins
Staff Sgt. David Dunlap lived in Colorado only about two months before he and his wife were gunned down by a burglar at his home Monday. The Fort Carson soldier, who was shot to death in his southeast Colorado Springs house, was a helicopter mechanic for the post’s new combat aviation brigade, the post said…
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Area stars take field
In real life, a hero rarely dons a cape. Maybe one wears a uniform, and the younger ones might dash around in a cape when they’re playing dress-up. But most heroes walk around in street clothes, because really, they’re just everyday people who seize an opportunity to do amazing things. They’re not in it for…
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Competitors unhappy with judges’ scores
A baby shower isn’t in the cards for many pregnant service members and spouses stationed far away from family and friends. But 21 local military mothers-to-be were dealt a lucky hand Dec. 13 when the Southern Colorado March of Dimes hosted its annual Mission: Healthy Baby Shower at Fort Carson. “With you moving here and…
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Guettler thinks outside, over the box on final trick
House-Senate conferees have agreed to the more modest House-passed plan for raising drug co-payments on military family members and retirees who fill prescriptions at Tricare retail outlets or through mail order. The fee increases are scheduled to take effect Feb. 1, Tricare officials said as the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill, with many other provisions…