Michigan soldier wounded in November blast in Iraq dies

[saigon68]

Posted on Fri, Mar. 03, 2006
Michigan soldier wounded in November blast in Iraq dies
Associated Press

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special...

FLUSHING TOWNSHIP, Mich. - A Michigan soldier who was badly burned when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations last year in Iraq has died, the military announced Friday.

Army Sgt. Joshua V. Youmans, 26, of Genesee County's Flushing Township, died Wednesday at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, of injuries he sustained in Habbaniyah on Nov. 21, the Defense Department said in a statement.

The same blast instantly killed Army Pfc. John Dearing, 21, of Hazel Park, and burned three other Michigan soldiers. One of them, Army Sgt. Spencer Akers, 35, of Traverse City, died Dec. 8 of his wounds."He was a nice looking boy," Fox said. "A very nice kid."

Youmans was married with a baby daughter.

[deutsey]

1. RIP

[rodeodance]

2. he must have been burned badly.

[saigon68]

5. They will keep you alive for a long time

sadly the results are usually fatal

link; http://tarynrobinson.com /

This woman was kept alive for almost 5 months at Brooke after being burned over 90% 3rd degree burns in a plane crash

[Missy M]

3. Do these horrible deaths get reported in the total deaths....

of our soldiers in Iraq? What a tragedy.

[niallmac]

10. Oh you don't want to go there.

I asked the same question as a neophyte DUer and was clobbered with affirmations that yes indeed deaths such as this are added to the count.
I considered myself corrected at the time but now I think no way are these deaths included. It's not the way the daily weekly count progresses.
Maybe I'll be corrected once again but I don't see how if someone dies 6 months later of combat wounds this gets into the tally. I just don't see
it happening.

[alcibiades_mystery]

11. These deaths are counted in the total count

Here's a list:

http://icasualties.org/oif/Dow.aspx

Moreover, this very death appears in the newspaper, and we're sitting here commenting on it on a public forum. This is hardly the way to run a conspiracy.

Last month, at least 3 deaths were counted in the monthly total that occurred stateside. How much more evidence do you need? Perhaps you were "clobbered" because these lies are spread on DU every day, without regard for the obvious evidence against them. Needless to say, no evidence is ever presented for the idea that wounded soldiers who die stateside or in Germany are NOT counted. No. No evidence at all...just vague notions and suspicions, the notorious "I wouldn't be surprised if..." innuendo. Nada. Zip. Zero. This may be a fine way to run a paranoid little program in the mind, but insinuation without evidence is hardly the way to argue in public, and anyone who does so argue should be 1) debunked openly and 2) otherwise ignored. Arguing without reasons or evidence is selfishness disguised as public participation.

[niallmac]

13. I have a suggestion to squelch the innuendo.

Advise in the news accounts how many deaths each day or week occurred as a result of an INCO combat related event or outside Iraq.
I submit that the deaths I read of are always associated with the most recent violence in Iraq like a roadside bomb etc. This article is
of note to me because I really do not get this kind of reporting daily or weekly about the eventual demise of vets.
I am not a conspiracy theorist or malcontent. I am just relating my perceptions as a daily news reader.
What happens to vets who commit suicide within a year or two of coming home? Are those stats related
as avidly and in the face as the violent same day stats I receive from the war front? No. That's not the way
news works.
I would spend less time attacking me and more time with the question; 'If this guy isn't totally nuts then why does he have this perception?'
I'm not saying I am not totally nuts but I'd like to think I have my moments of lucidity.

[alcibiades_mystery]

16. There is usually a local news item associated with each stateside death

The simple fact is that it doesn't make the national news. But that's a different standard. You were initially saying that you didn't think the DoD counted these deaths as theater of operations-related deaths. they do, and they report them as such. That it doesn't make the nightly news when a soldier dies three months later from wounds shouldn't necessarily be a surprise to anyone, but iyt has nothing to do with whether these deaths are counted.

Veterans who subsequently commit suicide have never, ever been counted as theater-of-operations related deaths, ever. For somewhat obvious reasons, I think: one would have to make some excruciating judgments as to "cause" of the suicide. So, for instance, if a Vietnam veteran commits suicide today, do we put his name up on the Wall? How do we know that it was the war as the efficient cause and not the fact that his wife left him? You want the DoD making decisions like that, be my guest, but reasonable people would be dubious of such an operation. Now, that said, there is plenty of good reason to track and assess PTSD, but one would have to drastically update and transform the notion of "war death" in general to add people to that category who die from suicide 3, 5, or 10 years later. As it stands, you are counted as a war-related death if you 1) die in theater (any cause) or 2) die out of theater as a result of wounds or injuries sustained in theater. Period. That's it. Any suggestion that 2) does not apply is debunked by the evidence.

Why do you have the perception? Probably because you haven't the faintest idea of how such things work, and you've imagined some plot.

[Divernan]

21. Try to lighten up on accusing other DUers of being paranoid.

In light of the daily lies, both large and small, coming from the Pentagon and the Administration about Iraq, it is a reasonable concern to voice. Try providing factual information without the hostility and sarcasm. Do you have a link, for instance, to some group independent of the Pentagon or the Administration, which is keeping a list of Iraq "theater of operations related deaths", which one could go to to see if names of specific soldiers have in fact been added to the total count? And if information in that detail is not available, then you must be relying on the Pentagon.

[alcibiades_mystery]

22. I've already provided a link

Follow the thread, ace. And sarcasm is a proper response for foolish claims made without evidence.

[saigon68]

14. This death is counted !!! this person died in a military facility

The man or woman who blows their brains out 2 years from now because of PTSD is not counted

And their families go through hell to get a dime from the VA

(The VA won't consider a suicide death, war related)

and many many veterans also heap derision on the suicider as a weak person.

I know I am a part time veteran's service officer.

[Ecumenist]

17. I looked at your list and I don't see Taryn Robinson's name...

She died on the January 10 2006 and I can't find her. Where's her name? Is there another list?

[alcibiades_mystery]

19. Since 2 LT Robinson was injured in Pleasanton, Texas

I don't expect she would be on an Iraq casualties list. Do you have any reason for thinking that somebody who was injured in Texas should be on a list of Iraq casualties?



http://www.pleasantonexpress.com/display.asp?story_id=1...

http://www.usafatoday.com/?story=222

[PuraVidaDreamin]

12. yup you were right

doncha wish people could be just a tad nicer

[WhiteTara]

20. the US soldier death count was

2299 last night. Today it is 2300
http://icasualties.org/oif/

[Faygo Kid]

4. Horrific. RIP, from a fellow Michigander.

Bush and his cronies lied us into war. There is no pit of hell too deep for this crowd for what they have done.

[acmejack]

6. 2301

RIP

[boobooday]

7. Youmans was married with a baby daughter.

26 years old.

Sympathy to his family. RIP, young man.

[Fluffdaddy]

8. When will this nightmare end ?

[atreides1]

23. Who says it will????

I don't see this ending anytime soon, and as long as there is one party rule, as long as those with the R's and some with D's keep propping up this tyrant, and as long as people vote because they are more Republican then they are American, this war will continue.

We just all better get use to it and to the numbers of dead and wounded troops that will increase as this evil lie continues.

I'm not trying to throw cold water on things, but let's face facts, all the polls being done now mean nothing. The only thing that counts is what happens the day after November 4th, and if the R's are still in charge, get ready for the BIG FIREWORKS!!!!!

[Divernan]

9. What a horrifyingly drawn out suffering and death.

Hope he was kept sedated enough not to suffer. I know burn victims who contemplated suicide because the debriding treatments were so painful.

[5thGenDemocrat]

15. Co. B, 125th Inf Rgmt, 38th Inf Div (Saginaw's own)

Company B has been a part of Saginaw since around WW I. I believe Sgt. Youmans is the fourth Co. B troop killed in Billy Bob Hitler's nasty little war.
John
As soon as I saw the hometowns of the guys in the vehicle, I got a sinking feeling that they were going to be ours.

[libodem]

18. What hugh personal tragedy

What horrible human suffering the poor man must have endured while he struggled to sustain life. Burns are so painful and tough to heal. His poor wife and baby daughter. The grief each and every family must experience is beyond me. It must be why they HAVE to believe, the war means something is being accomplished, by the US, being over there. Is the United Arab Eminence(sp) a Democracy???? Maybe we should 'fix' their government before we trade with them?