Stay with fox news for all the latest news. Good evening, id henfully washington. British David Cammeron to call for new terror laws. David wants to revoke pass torts. President obama was in milwaukee today where he did not mention either isis or the terror threat. Instead he talked to a friendly crowd about the economy and promised to press congress for a raise about the minimum wage. The administration is doing all he can to it win the earliest possible release of three americans being held in north korea. The three were allowed to speak to foreign media today under the watchful eye, of course of north korea officials. Prorussian rebels in ukraine are backing off for full independence. Now they are willing to deal. Vice president said talks should focus on what he
called understood in eastern ukraine. Im ed henry in washington. Next up, Greta Van Susteren in an on the record special. I have done combat deployment. Disposal officer. We had naval soldiers with us. One of them was taliban. Iraqi behind vehicles. Ak shot me. Ptsd. Ied blast. We had a lot of problems sleeping, nightmares. The person that came home was not the person who left. He was more distant. He wasnt the man i married. We have had them come off the airplane fighting. I wanted to leave the situation. You wonder how in the world are you going to get through the week with this. We havent had a chance to get away and work on our relationship. Their bodies are broken but these marriages can be
healed. World seen jungles and deserts just paradise. Welcome to alaska, a very special kind of retreat created to heal our patriots and their spouses. Im Greta Van Susteren were going to take fishing, kayaking and even bear watching as some of the bravest heroes and their spouses try to put their pasts behind them and try to find new beginnings. These heroes and their families have made enormous sacrifices for all of us. Its our turn to try to help them. We came here to alaska to see what one organization, samaritans bur a purse is doing to help heal our patriots. This is samaritan lodge, alaska, cabins nevada in the park. 150 miles from anchorage by air which is the closest place to buy a quarter of milk. It is mommy for the next week for these couples. Nice to meet you, sir. Thank you, guys. If we can send people to space. If we can do all of these things that we have done as a nation, certainly we audited to be able to find ways to deal with the pain that these men and women are going through because of the injuries they have suffered defending our nation. Reverend Franklin Graham is the president of samaritans purse which funds the lodge. My youngest son served seven tours. He was wounded on his third deployment. So jane and i understand just a little bit of what these families go through. And the hardship it is on the family. Do you remember the date you were injured . I do. Like it was yesterday. 2 may of 2009. Sergeant first class Chuck Armstead was injured on third combat tour in iraq. We want we were on a come
battalion outpost south of mosul it was iraqi training compound also. It was my day to pull guard and i happened to be upstairs initially and i heard a gunshot. But and soldiers knew if something happened to call me on the radio and let me know what was going on. No one ever called. I walk outside im going to find out whats going on to check on him to make sure he was okay. I walk outside. I didnt see anybody at the gate. I didnt see him. And so i started to proceed to walk further and out steps an iraqi from behind the vehicle with an ak and he just shot me. Shot me in the stomach. One went through and shattered my hip. Pretty much came out othe other side of my butt cheek. Pretty much paralyzed me from the waste waist down. They gave me no more than two hours to survive. They shot an artery. I bled out and they couldnt get any circulation to my
leg anymore. They had had to cut it away. Anyone killed. Three wounded. I was one of the three wounded and two others did not make it that day. Unfortunately, chucks story is far from rare. The department of defense estimates a 2,000 u. S. Service members have been wounded in iraq and afghanistan. What happened to you . I just didnt run fast enough. I mean, thats all you could say. The building that we had got hit by stray mortars. And i had some damage to my head and i lost my vision in one eye and my knees were messed up. They just got busted up more. Now we just try to keep everything held together the best we can. How do you describe what came home to you . Well, michael, like the others have said, the person that came home was not the person that left. And michael, he couldnt
remember simple things. And it was just it was like the light in his eyes had gone out. As a wife, the same person doesnt come back and oftentimes broken physically. Thats correct. They are emotionally different. They are physically different. And this is the that is so hard for the couples to deal with. And there is a lot of guilt with the soldier because is he not the person that his wife married. When i left, i was in charge of everything. And then when i got home, i have to have someone tell me when to bathe. I mean, because you dont remember if you took a bath or not, you know. You cant drive anymore. Because, you know, you forget where the car is. And now you are dependent on everybody for everything. And it just you are mad at the world because thats not who you were. And its just difficult to overtom that. Its hard on her because you tend to blame your spouse for everything. Because you just dont know whats going on. Your world is turned upside down. There is a lot of programs for the soldier. And activities for soldier to go do. There wasnt anything that included the spouses. Thats why we decided okay, let dance something. I dont want to duplicate something u greta, that somebody else is doing. Lets try to do something different. Focusing on the marriage is different. Everybody is like oh, yea, mike, the hero, whatever. They dont see stefanie behind the scenes. She was the one doing the bills. She was the one signing the paperwork. She was the one tracking things down and making sure my recovery went well. Master Sergeant Mike trough says his wife steaf any is the real hero in their marriage. She took the lead when mike was injured in afghanistan in 2012. We were escorting International Development representative. She wanted to see the school
to see if there was school being taught. We are in a Little Village called robot. And we had had had six al banian nato soldier us with us. 8 afghannians. One of them was a taliban plant. He turned the machine gun on me and two other al gannian soldiers shot five times with a machine gun. I lost my thumb and forefinger and shot both legs and both buttocks and it was a long road. When military member comes home injured, dynamics change. And we werent sure how to deal with it we had no clue how to deal with it we had put up walls. We quit communicating. The wife is trying to explain to her husband or the husband is trying to explain to the wife if thats the case what they had been through and so forth. But the spouse doesnt
understand what the soldier has gone through and the soldier doesnt understand what the spouse has gone through. What happens is these marriages are beginning to drift apart. Sergeant met her husband Gunnery Sergeant edward merits in the marine corps. She retired. He stayed. In she said his four combat deployments changed him. He was a completely different man when he returned. In what way . He was more distant. He didnt seem to care anymore about himself or others. It was it just wasnt the man i married. And he wasnt as loving as he was before he left. There was some really dark times, you know, where i was i would drink all the time. You know, i would come home from work and i would drink a 20 pack of beer. You know, on the weekends i would sit on the couch or sit outside and thats all i
would do is drink all day. It took her leaving me for me to truly understand what i had. Marriage is tough. Even under the best of circumstances. But you take an injury that now changes that person, thats not the person you married. And you have had these long deployments where you have been separated. These marriages, greta, need help. They need help. Our brave soldiers and marines put their lives on the line for us every day. Their spouses know the risk of injury or death is always near. But nothing can prepare them for that dreaded phone call. Certify, how did you hear that mike was hurt . He called me from the operating room when he was in recovery and he wanted to tell me himself. He didnt want me finding out from the army. He had one of his troops get a cell phone for him and he called me very morphined up. Sergeant who just got in from leave holding my hand he said how are you doing, sergeant, i said fine, get a
phone because i wanted to tell my wife. What were the words that came across . I cant say on air. [ laughter ] but i actually when i came out of the spa, i had 19 missed calls from a restricted number. 19 . Yeah. So they kept calling me over and over. So i knew when i looked at the phone i knew something had happened. I just sat in my car and waited and it was probably about a minute and the phone rang again and i answered it and i heard his sergeant in the background say master sergeant, she answered. Answer then it took him a while to speak because of the medication he was on. He finally came up and told me. Were you comfortable that you thought he was going to it live or did it cross your mind he might not live . His injuries were very serious. And when i first talked to the doctors at kandahar, their first medical reports he was critical. I was actually in conversation playing softball when i got the phone call. Who called you and what was said . One of his battle buddies. I guess he was one of the people that that comes to
your house. So, since i wasnt there, he talked to my oldest. And my oldest, he gave her the phone and she was like mom, i got some bad news. And i lost it because im like why is she calling me saying she has got bad news about dad. I knew i had just talked to him earlier that morning. And one of my other friends got the phone and thats when they told her that chuck had been shot. Did they tell you how seriously . Yeah. Yeah. Told me was shot in the abdomen and it wasnt good. And once i actually got to talk to the doctors, thats when they told me they was going to give him two hours. Two hours to live . To live, yes. My daughterinlaw, when she got the phone call that my son was was injured,
greta, you dont know. You are not talking to the doctor right then. So you dont know and you are left in a vacuum of darkness for hours. You just dont know. And for me as a dad, its tough. Its tough for me. But just think what it does for the wives and the children of these soldiers and the injuries and the pain and suffering they have been through. Thats why we want to help them here. I cant help them all, but these 10 a week that come here. These 10 couples, i can do something about that. We were on our last leg, i mean, we had had exhausted everything. And i mean, its like a pilot running out of fuel. You either ditch the plane or you eject the only problems we didnt have room for both of to us eject. You know, i wanted to just leave the whole situation. And just let her get on with
her life. We have seen, greta, by the end of the week, couples that had not talked to each other, had not held each others hand, had not slept together for the first time in the same room in the same bed and no distractions, no television, no internet, and they are kind of forced to talk. And i think once they Start Talking and all of a sudden i think they kind of remember what it was like when they first met each other. A lot of these soldiers come up here and they think that theyre the only ones that are kind of going through what theyre going through because they dont have that kind of support group of other Wounded Soldiers to hang with. So, when they are up here, they are sitting around this room right here discussing their problems that theyre facing with their marriages, the problems they are facing with their kids or the problems theyre facing with their meds that they are taking. And they didnt know that there were other people that they could caulk to. Did you find out why your spouse is so weird . You know, you kind of watch
them do things and then all of a sudden you feel like thats why they are like that. The classes that the content is all professionally done and its by the military, by chaplains who have served in the military. Mark lang is the Program Manager for samaritans lodge, alaska. These guys really connect with all of our staff and especially with the chaplain. Men, what do we do . We dont like that implies we are wrong. That implies we have failed. And what the is men that men fear the most . Shame and dishonor. Most of these couples dont know each other when they come up here and so they get new friends and the women have a chance to talk to the other women. The guys have students to share with each other, which is really awesome to talk about their injuries and Different Things they go through. So, its they gain knowledge, you know are from each other and there is a
comradery that develops throughout the course of the week. Its life changing for people. Experts believe as many as 20 of iraq vets suffer from ptsd. Hear about the struggles they experience. Plus we have had them come off the airplane fighting. And you just wonder how in the world are you going to get through the week with this . Can these marriages be saved . All that, when this on the record special, the next battle, when our heroes come home returns. I love alaska. I have since the first time i came here in 1973. Its a land of breathe taking beauty and excitement. So when samaritans purse
franklin county gave me a week to spend there with Wounded Warriors i didnt hesitate. I grabbed my hesitate and Griff Jenkins and he grabbed his camera and we headed to alaska. We are headed to brook falls this morning with five of our veteran couples from operation heal our patriots and bricks falls is the most photographed area for alaska brown bears. We are excited and ready to go. There are some big sows with cubs. Its kind of like being in the zoo without the fences. Pretty cool. It is nature. Oh, yeah. Its not entirely without some danger. Well, thats true. The plan is, we have all flown in on these c planes. We are going to go bear hunting. We all have our cameras and we are going to get up
close, not too personal, but up close with all bears. Currently here at the bear trails waiting for a bear to leave the area outside of the auto yard line from the bridge that why we can reapproach the bridge. Thats a pretty big size bear. A yawn is a sign they are stressed out. Go back. Move their head back and forth. Their jaw pops. Uhoh he yawned. Get ready to walk rapidly if he comes this way. Amazing, isnt it . Beautiful. All right, folks. We can now head up to the corners. You will be pretty close to them its a wonderful time where the couples are just hand in hand
concentrating on each other. The focus is not fishing or bear viewing. The focus is on the couples. This is awesome, unreal. These couples, these long deployments and the difficulty that it is for the marriages that we needed to do something and this was something that samaritans purse could do. So i thought about bringing soldiers up here just to take them fishing and bear viewing. We had other people say franklin, why dont we think about the marriage enrichment. You see, the first day they come, in there is a little trepidation, by thursday you see these folks just really developing relationships. For instance, this morning, i i had one of the veterans
tell me he and his wife have slept together in the same bed in over seven years. The first time that they have held hands and walked on one of their boardwalks. And so you hear stuff like that is really encouraging. You know, when you look around, this you see gods creation. And and the beauty. You are away from the distractions of the world and you are seeing nature in its purest form. It really sets the stage. Coming up next, the Wounded Warriors challenge me to take the polar plunge. Beat me you have to jump in the lake with us. Am i brave enough to actually do it . Moderate to severe Crohns Disease is tough,
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and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. If youre still just managing your symptoms, ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, remission is possible. A[announcer]when we make beyond natural dry dog and cat foods. We start with real meat as the first ingredient. We leave out corn,wheat and soy. And we own where our dry food is made100 percent can other brands say all that . For nutrition you can trust and your pet will enjoy. Does your food go beyond . Learn more at purinabeyond. Com. Live from americas news headquarters im kelly wright, getting on terrorism, the uk now taping steps aimed at keeping british citizens from going along fight terror groups. Prime minister David Cammeron expected to win the approval of parliament. They include a plan to block suspected jihadi fighters from reentering the country. Intelligence suspect 500 britains had gone to fight in syria and iraq. Cammeron describes extremism posed by the Islamic State group as the biggest Security Threat of modern times. Here at home, the chips are down in Atlantic City as another gambling resort begins folding. It will close its doors for good by tomorrow. The show boat closed yesterday and the trump plaza goes b