Wounded Iraq vet missing from Fayette home (MSM won't cover this)

[RamboLiberal]

I'm posting this because we all know how MSM will cover a missing bride or a pregnant woman, but a wounded vet whose life has been depression and trouble since his return - only local media, if that, will cover. This kid has had trouble with the law and family since his return. I fear his story will end tragically.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05130/502070.stm

State police and Fayette County officials were searching the Hardy Hill area of Dunbar Township for a former soldier who was severely injured in Iraq.

Police said Salvatore "Sam" Ross, 23, has been missing from his home since last night. A search began this morning.

Family members said they fear Ross is depressed.

The former Army paratrooper was gravely injured two years ago this month when a small bomb blew up while he and other soldiers were working to disarm it.

[DearAbby]

1. So sad, just one of many stories of those returning wounded with no help

for them, those that claim to support the troops slash programs designed to do that. I hope they find this young man and get him the help he needs.

[soup]

2. I hope they find him

and that he is safe.

This young man has been through hell, and it's a long way back.

[soup]

3. Bothering me - so I did a search hoping for an update -

Found this from April -

By Judy Kroeger
DAILY COURIER
Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Iraq War veteran Salvatore "Sam" Ross Jr., 22, of 178 Brick Road, Dunbar, has been ordered to stand trial in Fayette County Court.

Ross was charged with allegedly assaulting a Uniontown police officer and another man in January.

Magisterial District Judge Mark Blair held to court the charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment, two counts of criminal mischief, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. A second charge of aggravated assault was dropped because a witness did not appear at the hearing.

The charges stem from altercations Ross was allegedly involved in on Jan. 29 in Titlow Alley, Uniontown.
>more at link:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/newssummary/s_326178.html


--- And this - not good - a suicide note was found:

Troubled Ex-Soldier Missing; Note Found

POSTED: 1:00 pm EDT May 10, 2005
UPDATED: 7:21 pm EDT May 10, 2005

DUNBAR, Pa. -- Authorities in Fayette County searched Tuesday for a retired soldier who lost his sight and a leg in Iraq.

Former Army Pfc. Salvatore "Sam" Ross, 23, of Dunbar, has been missing from his home since Monday night.

Relationship troubles with an ex-girlfriend had left Ross feeling despondent, according to family members.

He wrote a suicide note claiming that no one would ever find him, according to his brother.

State police, sheriff's deputies and bloodhounds searched the Dunbar area but had not found Ross as of early Tuesday evening.
>more at link:
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/4471927/detail.html

[stillcool]

4. Christ, this shit is getting hard to take.....

course i can't even imagine what its like to live. i hope he finds peace...anyway he can.

[bleedingheart]

5. Oh everyone was more than happy to parade him around after he got back

but he needed more than just a pat on the back.

I too fear this will end tragically.

[saigon68]

6. ITS AN OLD TUNE---Used UP--Thrown Away.

Ask any Vet of any war--

This shit is common


Tommy

The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country," when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
But Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool - you bet that Tommy sees!

-- 1899 Rudyard Kipling was, in his grand style, the bard of British Imperialism, and in his dialect poems, the voice of the common soldier

[soup]

7. They found him - alive.

Blind vet found after manhunt

By Liz Zemba, Patti Dobranski and Lori Heller
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, May 11, 2005

A Fayette County man who was blinded and lost a leg while serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq sparked a daylong search Tuesday when he went missing after calling a mental-health crisis hot line for help, only to be found late last night by a fellow veteran.
>snip<

(his aunt Tina) Pifer said Sam Ross' girlfriend of 15 months recently had ended the relationship.

Thomas Ross said his brother also was depressed because the injuries he sustained overseas have left him unable to play football, baseball and basketball or to ski, hunt and fish -- all favorite pastimes before he was wounded.

"Anything you can think of to do, that boy did," Thomas Ross said. "Now he can't do nothing. He sat at home, and he was depressed."
>much more:
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/fayette/s_333196.html

---

This young man's story just tears the heart right out of me.


Thank you for the Kipling, truly pegs it.

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy wait outside";

But it's "Special train for Atkins," when the trooper's on the tide-

The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,

O it's "Special train for Atkins," when the trooper's on the tide.

[ninkasi]

14. The throwing away of soldiers after they are used up

is, indeed, an old story. Also from Kipling, "The Last of the Light Brigade"

THERE were thirty million English who talked of England’s might,
There were twenty broken troopers who lacked a bed for the night.
They had neither food nor money, they had neither service nor trade;
They were only shiftless soldiers, the last of the Light Brigade.

So it has been ever since. We have only to look at vets from Viet Nam, and now Iraq, and Afghanistan, to see that "supporting the troops" means supporting the rich man's war, and to hell with the troops. They do the fighting, and dying, and make the sacrifices, and the greedy men who send them pile even more money into their vaults.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

8. this is so so sad and there are thousands more just like him......

:cry: :cry: :cry: i HATE HATE HATE bush*


God, help this soldiers and remove this hatred* from the planet and my heart

[NNN0LHI]

9. They only cover the smiling ones n/t

[Rose Siding]

10. The link has been updated. They found him

snip>
Joe Basinger, a U.S. Army veteran from Connellsville, and four of Ross' relatives and friends riding all-terrain vehicles found Ross, 22, at about 9:30 p.m. in the Wheeler Bottom section of Dunbar Township. Ross, who walks with a prosthesis, did not appear to have new injuries, but authorities were not sure how long he'd been there, Dunbar Borough Police Chief Mike Garlowich said.

[meganmonkey]

11. How devastating - and you're right about the MSM

This case has so many deeper implications on society than all the runaway bride-type of crap, and that is why it won't get national coverage.

Because then they would have to address how the vets are getting screwed when they return from their tours, that so many of them are physically and emotionally scarred for life and aren't getting the support they need (and deserve). How sad. I am glad this guy was found, alive, and I pray that he starts to get what he needs to find some semblance of peace in his life.

:patriot:

[xxqqqzme]

12. it is CMC

corporate media clique - there is NOTHING mainstream about corporate news.

[meganmonkey]

13. You're right

I usually don't use 'MSM' anymore - I've mostly conditioned myself out of it. I was following the lead of the OP, I guess.

[Theres-a]

15. .