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  • Walking in an Army Veteran’s Shoes

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    By Neil A. Carousso

    Rance Mangum enlisted in the U.S. Army on March 15, 1988, proudly serving the United States of America for over 5 years.

    Rance Mangum at 34-years-old.
    Rance Mangum at 34-years-old.

    “People’s lives depended on you,” said Mangum.

    When he returned home to Long Island in 1992 from his tour in Germany, Mangum was homeless, moving in with his grandmother, who raised him since he was 3-years-old. His grandmother, who died in 2012, was his inspiration for dedicating himself to life of service. He spent 14 years as a firefighter, upwards of 30 years in various medical roles, including an EMT, EKG technician and a Certified Nursing Assistant in private Army duty in Florida.

     

    Mangum holds a picture of him and his grandmother that was taken months before she died in 2012.
    Mangum holds a picture of him and his grandmother that was taken months before she died in 2012.

    “She made sure that I had my principles and know right from wrong,” said Mangum. “My grandmother says that you have to help others to help yourself.”

    About 11 percent of the adult homeless population are veterans, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. 39,471 vets are homeless on a given night, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Furthermore, homeless vets are younger on average than the total veteran population with 41 percent of homeless vets between the ages of 31 and 50, according to the VA.

     

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    “The transition [from military service to civilian life] depends on the person, their educations, their situations, their past,” said Mangum, adding, “Sometimes all a person needs is a chance, just a chance to start their life over. Just don’t look at them as a homeless person or a street person walking around, you have to look at the person themselves.”

    Mangum, 62, recently signed a rental lease at a home in West Babylon, NY and is seeking employment in the MTA, driving New York City buses after he completes his Class B driver’s license test in December.

    “We had a lot of training, because we didn’t know if we were going to Iraq,” said Mangum, who finds civilian work more difficult due to the lack of respect for military members by some employers.

    “In the military, you’re in charge of millions and millions of dollars worth of equipment, you are, and you come back here to the United States and civilians look at you for a couple of thousands of dollars, because they don’t think you can handle it,” adding that some employers have a condescending attitude towards veterans who say they can handle tasks.

    “Take a couple steps in my shoes.” – Rance Mangum, U.S. Army Veteran

    There are 495,000 unemployed veterans in the United States as of the end of last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Vets over the age of 45, like Rance, account for a 57 percent unemployment rate in their age group. Furthermore, female veterans are more likely to be unemployed than males.

    Mangum also suffers from some medical conditions, including a benign tumor on the side of his head. With much national discussion centered around the treatment of veterans at the VA, Mangum, who lived at the United Veterans Beacon House at the Northport VA on Long Island for a few months until he moved to West Babylon, said he was treated well and views situations in an optimistic manner, a lesson he has learned in his lifetime.

    “Some of these [vets, living and being treated at the VA], you don’t know how intense it was in Iraq [and] Afghanistan,” said Mangum, who added that those veterans who “come back to the United States and don’t have a job, don’t have a place to live, have alcoholic problems, have drug problems and also have symptoms from post-war syndrome” oftentimes just need someone to talk to in order to feel better.

    Carol Klein, co-founder with her husband of “Our Heroes Night Out,” supports homeless veterans by hosting gatherings at the Beacon House in Nortphort.

    “Sometimes it’s just easier for people to say ‘well, I’ll give you a check for 25 dollars’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t want your money, I want your time,’” said Klein to which Mangum nodded in agreement. “I just say, could you please just come and spend a little bit of time with these guys. It’s all they need – share your talent, share your time.”

    Klein’s brother served in the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam, her son-in-law is a Marines veteran and her nephew is going into the U.S. Navy this month.

    Carol Klein, right, devotes much of her time and energy giving back to those who keep us safe.
    Carol Klein, right, devotes her time and energy giving back to those who keep us safe.

    “Carol is a big part of happiness there,” recalled Mangum. “Everybody loves this lady, they look forward to her.”

    Veterans are overjoyed when they receive visits to the VA and letters from people, expressing their gratitude and talking about subjects unrelated to the military and war. Mangum enjoys talking about sports, especially his favorite NFL team, the New York Jets, and even engage in civil political discussions and debate.

    Rance's first great-grandchild.
    Rance’s first great-grandchild.

    Mangum has family he is close with, including one of his sisters, his two kids and several grandchildren, one who just welcomed in Rance’s first great-grandchild into the world. Many veterans, though, find comfort in their military peers.

    “Military has a family-type situation,” said Mangum, who has befriended vets who he has lived with at the Northport VA and continues to keep in contact with Army veterans who he served with via Facebook. “I don’t care if you’re a Navy, Army, Air Force guy, you have that camaraderie of military person.”

    There are 21,681,000 veterans living in the United States, according to the latest VA data. New York ranks fifth on total veteran population with three-quarters of the Empire State’s vets having served in wartime.

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    New York’s veteran population is highly concentrated east of the City, where roughly 20 percent of vets live on Long Island, where Rance has called home for the better part of 50 years, between duty overseas and private duty service in other states.

    “Let them know that you care,” said Mangum about how people can help those who served to protect our nation’s freedom, sovereignty and values. “It gives them inspiration to do better to help themselves. Sometimes people don’t want to take the time to do that.”

    One can get involved in supporting our veterans through “Our Heroes Night Out” by contacting Klein via her website.

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  • Independence Day 2: Donald Trump Elected President Against All Odds, Vows to Return Power to the American People

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    By Neil A. Carousso

    In an unprecedented upset, Republican nominee, businessman Donald J. Trump won the 2016 presidential election, his first political campaign, over Hillary Clinton, being elected the 45th President of the United States of America by the American voters.

    President-elect Trump shakes hands with Vice President-elect Mike Pence (R-IN) at the New York Hilton Midtown as they declared victory. (Getty Images)
    President-elect Trump shakes hands with Vice President-elect Mike Pence (R-IN) at the New York Hilton Midtown as they declared victory. (Getty Images)

    Most political pundits didn’t give Mr. Trump a chance to win in the primaries in which he had to overcome 16 GOP candidates in a hard-fought, contentious campaign in which Trump tapped into the anti-establishment wave with a successful nationalist, populist message of making America strong, safe, wealthy and great again. Trump was given little to no chance to defeat Mrs. Clinton in the general election, but the real estate mogul did so decidedly with a “silent majority” of enthusiastic Trump supporters, who voted to “take back our country” from a big government, political establishment which has teetered on corruption optics.

    The President-elect received big wins in swing states such as Florida, North Carolina and Ohio. Trump shockingly won traditional blue states Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and was competitive in Michigan, which is still too close to call as of Wednesday afternoon. Trump also won in Maine’s 2nd congressional district, Utah, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and Vice President-elect Mike Pence’s home state of Indiana. Alaska’s 3 electoral votes, announced in the 3 AM ET hour, put the Trump/Pence Republican ticket over the top to clinch the presidency with the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win.

    This reporter covered election night outside Mr. Trump’s election headquarters at the New York Hilton Midtown, surrounded by enthusiastic Trump supporters of all races, ethnicities, cultures and backgrounds. As the night progressed and states like Florida, Ohio and North Carolina were called, Trump supporters cheered with hope for the non-establishment candidate, given little to no shot of defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton. The live reports are below, in a playlist, including interviews with supporters and the group “Blacks for Trump,” discussing substantive issues and their reasons for supporting the political outsider from Queens, and capturing the surreal atmosphere in the heart of New York City.

    Featured image courtesy of VOA News.

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  • Nassau Police Puts Emphasis on De-Escalation

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    By Neil A. Carousso

    Nassau County has revamped their policy to emphasize de-escalation of situations with the national spotlight on police officers’ use of force in the wake of a number of incidents caught on camera, sparking protests, leading to riots in communities like Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

    So far this year, 776 people have been shot and killed by police officers, according to the Washington Post, which is tracking every death at the hands of the men and women in blue, whether justified or not. In 2015, 991 people died in police-involved shootings.

    The issue of race has been brought into the national conversation about police use of force, but according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there is not a large differential between racial groups and use of force by police, not enough to make a strong correlation. The latest data available indicates that 3.5 percent of Blacks describe their most recent encounter with police to be forceful compared to 2.1 percent of Hispanics and 1.4 percent of Whites. Moreover, 44 percent of people who experienced force by police have had 2 or more encounters with law enforcement.

    The Nassau Police Department’s major tweaks to its “Use of Force Policy” comes roughly 2 years since the Department embarked on the first significant overhaul of its use-of-force policy in more than 3 decades in the aftermath of a pair of high-profile shootings involving Nassau officers.

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  • WATCH Neil’s Presidential Debate Preview, Discussion & Analysis

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    As Seen On header-small Eyewitness News

    Neil A. Carousso covered the first presidential debate on WABC-TV New York by joining an on-location live stream, Facebook Live, hosted by reporter Kristin Thorne.

    Later, Carousso reports from Hofstra University on Long Island, NY – the site of the first presidential debate of 2016 between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

    WABC also became a pioneer when they live streamed a professional-quality hour long newscast, anchored by Sade Baderinwa and Bill Ritter.

    Carousso was a field and social media producer for the #1 news team in New York City. His report on millennials’ opinions of the election, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump has been published by ABC 7 NY.

     

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  • How Millennials Could Determine the Next President

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    By Neil A. Carousso

    As Seen on Eyewitness News  header-small header-large

    Millennials, people born after 1980, have already surpassed baby boomers as the largest living generation in the United States, and they are now essentially tied for 31 percent of the nation’s electorate, according to Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. There is an estimated 69.2 million voter-age millennials in the U.S. and approximately 69.7 million baby boomers. Millennials will overtake boomers by 2020.

    The first presidential debate will be held on the campus of Hofstra University where there is excitement, enthusiasm and a plethora of opinions from millennial students, who can determine the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, like America’s youth did in 2008 when 48.5 percent of young voters turned out in a year when the first black president, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), was elected over Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).

    Hofstra student Shannon Spada proudly wears her Trump/Pence t-shirt.
    Hofstra student Shannon Spada proudly wears her DonaldTrump/Mike Pence t-shirt.

    “I hate Hillary Clinton,” said Shannon Spada, a senior political science major at Hofstra, who is also a member of the Hofstra chapter of College Republicans. “She has blood on her hands from Benghazi, she’s untrustworthy, she has 30 years of experience that doesn’t prove she’s been successful in anything.”

    Fifty-five percent of Americans see Hillary Clinton unfavorably to Donald Trump’s 55% unfavorable rating, according to the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll.

    “Both candidates aren’t the best that we’ve chosen,” said Hofstra student Solangie Diaz, who is voting for Mrs. Clinton despite “agreeing” with Mr. Trump and the GOP on some issues, namely conservatives’ pro-life stance on abortion.

    “I was hoping we’d have a third party candidate, but it’s not going to happen,” added student Mirjavolon Kurbonov, a Gary Johnson supporter.

    Johnson, the Libertarian Party’s nominee, slipped from 9 percent to 5 percent, among likely voters in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, conducted from September 19-22. Jill Stein of the Green Party is polling at 1 percent.

    While a dead heat between Clinton and Trump, percentages within the poll’s margin of error, the Republican nominee is winning with enthusiasm. Fifty-five percent of Trump supporters are “very enthusiastic” about his candidacy to 46 percent of enthused Clinton supporters.

    “It’s hard for me to trust [Clinton], but I rather her than Trump,” remarked Chris Virsner, a junior at Hofstra.

    “I definitely think we need to secure the borders,” Spada said. “One of the main things that drew me to [Trump] is that we need a wall and we need a way to prevent people from coming in at their will.”

    The first presidential debate at Hofstra University on Long Island begins at 9 PM ET. Eyewitness News’ pre-debate special, “The Countdown: The Hofstra Debate” is live at 8 PM on abc7ny.com and on Facebook.

     

     

     

     

     

     

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