Does it offend you because you did not ask for it?
PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
January 31, 2019
When someone offers to pay for something you need, do you allow your pride to reject the offer? Does it offend you because you did not ask for it?
Too many times we do not believe we deserve help, even though we know we need it. If we decide to go-it-alone, we remain where we are, suffering within the darkness we created. It suffocates hope.
The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:1-5
We have been conditioned to believe that we need to get right with God in order for Him to hear us, see us suffering and then solve our problems. The truth is, God does hear you, see you and He also knows what you are going through.
read it here
The rest of this post is about how Jesus changed the life of someone who did not ask for it. That man was Saul of Tarsus. He could have rejected the offer, but he made the choice to accept the change he never knew he needed.
If you have been suffering, do not reject the hope that you need but may believe you do not deserve it. Saul did not deserve it, in the eyes of other humans...but Jesus saw more within him.
When you know how long people have been openly talking about PTSD, discovering a widow seems to think it is just males who need to speak up...it proves we failed!
Anil wasn't diagnosed with PTSD until four years after he left the armed forces (Image: Hull Daily Mail)
Army veteran Anil Carbon took his own life in February 2019 after finding it hard to adjust to civilian life.
Anil was suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder, but wasn't diagnosed with it until four years after he left the armed forces.
Despite having symptoms, he would always say "I'm fine, it's nothing".
Now his wife Myshelle Carbon wants to raise awareness of men's mental health and how important it is that men feel they can speak up, reports Hull Live. read it here
First-line Psychotherapies for Military-Related PTSD
JAMA
Maria M. Steenkamp, PhD1; Brett T. Litz, PhD2,3; Charles R. Marmar, MD4
Published online January 30, 2020
Two well-established first-line cognitive-behavioral psychotherapies for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), prolonged exposure therapy (PE) and cognitive processing therapy (CPT), are used in the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and US Department of Defense (DoD) based chiefly on good outcomes in randomized clinical trials (RCTs) with civilians. PE and CPT are manualized (ie, protocolized in a session-by-session manner) trauma-focused therapies that are based on processing the emotional and cognitive aspects of the traumatic event.
Consequently, these treatments are emotionally demanding for patients because PTSD is characterized by a strong motivation to avoid talking about the trauma and rekindling negative emotions associated with it. The prominence of PE and CPT in treating individuals with military-related PTSD has been increasingly challenged in recent years because RCTs of veterans and military personnel have yielded mixed results, with patients often not obtaining clinically meaningful symptom improvement.
These findings have led to questions about the extent to which these therapies should be prioritized and how military-related PTSD is best conceptualized, namely as a disorder that can be reliably managed by brief (approximately 12 session) monotherapies or as a highly complex and multiform condition requiring more individualized and comprehensive intervention. read the report here
So they finally figure out they do not work? Now, will they focus on what does work?
The headline was "Soldiers seeking routine medical care now get PTSD screening as well"
There were 63,000 soldiers who went to the doctor for all kinds of things and during the checkup, they tested positive for mental health problems!
First-Of-Its-Kind Bill Would Cover Annual Mental Health Checkups: ‘This Is A Game Changer’
CBS News Denver
By Shaun Boyd
January 29, 2020
“Rather than dealing with an epidemic of opioid addiction and alcoholism, we’ll be dealing with these issues at the primary care level where they are much less expensive,” said Larson.
DENVER (CBS4) – Rep. Dafna Michaelson Jenet has a radical idea: to make mental health care just as routine and relevant as physical health care.
“This is a game changer. This is history.”
She says mental health care is currently crisis management.
“Imagine you go to your doctor, and your doctor says ‘Hey your blood pressure is up. Give me a call when you have a heart attack.’ That is how the behavioral health care system is set up right now.”
Michaelson Jenet introduced a bill with Rep. Colin Larson that would change the system, starting with annual mental health checkups covered by insurance just like annual physicals. If it passes, it would be the first law of its kind in the country.
The lawmakers say the goal of the bill is to identify and treat mental health issues before they’re in a crisis. Just as a physical screens for things like high cholesterol, a mental health checkup would screen for things like depression.
“Rather than dealing with an epidemic of opioid addiction and alcoholism, we’ll be dealing with these issues at the primary care level where they are much less expensive,” said Larson.
The bill would also give people a primary care provider to turn to if they do find themselves in crisis. read it here
Many soldiers thinking about suicide show no signs
REUTERS
Linda Carroll
January 29, 2020
Combat trauma wasn’t predictive, Ursano said. “In the theater, they’re all being exposed to combat trauma,” he explained. “So it didn’t distinguish who was at risk.”
(Reuters Health) - Nearly half of deployed soldiers thinking about suicide show no obvious signs that would help mental health professionals identify them, a new study finds.
Researchers poring through data on almost 4,000 soldiers serving in Afghanistan in 2012 found that 40% of those who said they had contemplated suicide in the past 30 days had not been diagnosed with a major mental health problem and did not show any other signs that would help health providers to identify them as being at risk, according to the report in JAMA Network Open.
“These soldiers wouldn’t have been picked up if they were just screened for mental health disorders,” said coauthor Dr. Robert Ursano, director of The Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress at the Uniformed Services University.
Identifying which soldiers are thinking about suicide, known as suicidal ideation, is very important, Ursano said. read it here
NH Airman Among 2 Killed in Afghanistan Plane Crash
NBC 10 Boston
Published 2 hours ago
A wreckage of a U.S. military aircraft that crashed in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, is seen Monday, Jan. 27, 2020.
A New Hampshire man was one of two airmen killed when an Air Force plane crashed in Afghanistan, the Department of Defense has confirmed.
U.S. forces recovered the service members' remains Tuesday from the site of a plane crash in Afghanistan the day before. Wednesday, the deceased were identified as 30-year-old Capt. Ryan S. Phaneuf of Hudson, New Hampshire, and 46-year-old Lt. Col. Paul K. Voss of Yigo, Guam.
Phaneuf was assigned to the 37th Bomb Squadron at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. Voss was assigned to Headquarters Air Combat Command at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia. Both men were on board the U.S. Bombardier E-11A aircraft that went down Monday in Ghazni Province. read it here
Critically injured soldiers have high rates of mental health disorders
by University of Massachusetts Amherst
JANUARY 28, 2020
In addition, Chin found that the risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is higher—not lower, as previous investigators have assumed—among combat soldiers with more severe TBI.
This chart compares the incidence of various mental health diagnoses among soldiers with TBI vs other serious injuries. Credit: UMass Amherst
U.S. combat soldiers who suffered a moderate or severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) are more likely than soldiers with other serious injuries to experience a range of mental health disorders, according to a new retrospective study by University of Massachusetts Amherst health services researchers.
"A central takeaway is that severe TBI is associated with a greater risk of mental health conditions—not just PTSD," says lead investigator David Chin, assistant professor of health policy and management in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences. "Our findings suggest that patients who are critically injured in combat and sustain severe TBI have particularly high rates of mental health disorders."
Mining data from the U.S. Department of Defense, Chin found that 71% of all the severely injured soldiers were diagnosed in follow-up care with at least one of five mental health conditions: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and mood disorders, adjustment reactions, schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, and cognitive disorders. read it here
UPDATE
Brain injuries from Iran air strike highlight military's failure to care for its own
USA Today
Stephen N. Xenakis Opinion contributor
Febuary 1, 2020
The medical campaign to treat psychological problems and brain injury has fallen short. Hundreds of thousands suffer the invisible injuries of war.
First the Pentagon said no U.S. troops were injured in Iran's missile strike last month on an Iraqi air base hosting Americans. Then it rose to 11 with brain injuries, then 34, then 50, and by Thursday the number was up to 64. That's upsetting, as was President Donald Trump's recent comment that "it's not very serious."
Shameful failure to help war fighters
Many years passed before the Pentagon acknowledged IED blasts as a game-changing combat injury. In 2004, I alerted the senior leadership in Army medicine. The young amputees at Walter Reed Army Medical Center complained of headaches, sleep problems and “not thinking right.” Any blast powerful enough to take the legs off a ground trooper would certainly rattle his brains. But, then again, the conventional mentality across the country did not acknowledge the damage from repeated concussions, as too many professional football players have tragically experienced. read it here
Group says they are raising awareness...but not why they are not doing it for free?
When you read what this ad on Facebook says, to "raise more awareness for the 22 veterans who take their lives." When you think about it, raising suicide awareness is actually dead language!
It also turns out they are using the money to "deliver" memorial plaques after it happened to a grieving family after someone they loved took their own life BECAUSE THEY DID NOT BECOME AWARE THEY COULD HEAL!
Are they raising awareness it is happening? Why? Has anyone asked them? What is the point of doing frickin pushups?
Too bad they do not know how many times it actually happened today...or any other day!
What is worse in all of this, is it got worse for our troops and veterans since all this suicide awareness started!
The "number" remained an average of 500 a year, even though the number of those serving went down!
2012
The total number of military personnel is over 3.6 million strong, including DoD Active Duty military personnel (1,388,028); DHS’s Active Duty Coast Guard members (41,849); DoD Ready Reserve and DHS Coast Guard Reserve members (1,086,447); members of the Retired Reserve (212,314) and Standby Reserve (16,327); and DoD appropriated and non appropriated fund civilian personnel (907,121). DoD’s Active Duty and DHS’s Coast Guard Active Duty members comprise the largest portion of the military force (39.2%), followed by Ready Reserve members (29.7%) and DoD civilian personnel (24.8%).
2018
U.S. military force numbers, by service branch and reserve component 2018
Published by Erin Duffin, Nov 12, 2019
The U.S. Army had the highest number of active duty personnel in 2018, with 471,990 troops. In the same year, the Coast Guard had the fewest number of active duty members, with 41,132.
Active and reserve U.S. military force personnel numbers by service branch and reserve component in 2018
For known veteran suicides, look at the percentages going up.
This is the last respectable report before the VA started to "adjust" how our veterans are counted.
So, now that you are more aware of how this stuff does not help those who are thinking about suicide, being reminded of more who gave up on themselves, do you think you may want to start supporting people raising healing awareness instead?
The data analyzed went back 25 years, but no one seems to be able to explain why they still used Comprehensive Soldier Fitness, which fueled the notion that if they were mentally tough enough, they could prevent PTSD.
‘Macho’ Identity Linked to More Severe PTSD in Vets
Psych Central
By Rick Nauert PhD
Associate News Editor
28 Jan 2020
“These values can promote self-confidence and skill-building in the field, but when a service member is confronted with physical or mental trauma, they can also contribute to more severe PTSD.”
Traumatic experiences, including combat and sexual trauma, can lead to feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness, both of which are in direct opposition to what society expects of men: That they should be strong and in control.
Military training includes learning to suppress emotion and the development of self-reliance. These skills are believed to help service members perform better in the field. New research suggests that when veterans return home, strict adherence to these traits can become detrimental, leading to more severe post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms that are more difficult to treat.
Researchers at Morehead University discovered that veterans with rigid adherence to traditional masculinity may be at increased risk for developing post-traumatic stress disorder. Moreover, veterans “may have more severe PTSD symptoms and may be less likely to seek mental health treatment for PTSD,” said Elizabeth Neilson, Ph.D., the lead author on the study.
The research appears in the journal Psychology of Men and Masculinities.
Neilson and her co-authors analyzed data from 17 studies, comprising more than 3,500 military veterans. The data, obtained over the last 25 years involved, at least in part, measuring the relationship between adherence to traditional masculine ideals and trauma-related symptoms.
The studies primarily focused on men, but one included both male and female participants. While most studies were conducted in the United States, the researchers also included studies from Canada, the United Kingdom, Israel and Vietnam.
“Overall, we found that strict adherence to masculine norms was associated with more severe PTSD symptoms in veterans, but more detailed analysis suggests that the association may specifically be caused by the veterans’ belief that they should control and restrict their emotions.
In other words, they should be tough,” Neilson said. This held true for both male and female veterans.
read it here
On the flip side, there are facts to destroy the assumptions about PTSD
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 28, 2020
While leprosy had been reported within the Bible, there are scientific proofs of it and what cures it, as much as there is news it has not been "cured" all the way.
The first known written mention of leprosy is dated 600 B.C., but skeletal evidence of leprosy has been found dating back to 2000 B.C. Throughout history, those with leprosy have often been ostracized by their communities and families.
Ancient people thought it was a judgement from God, instead of an infection. Most assume it has been cured and no one has it anymore...but that is not the truth.
That may be a bit surprising — leprosy seems to be a disease of the past. Indeed, in 2006, the World Health Organization issued a report on "elimination of leprosy as a public health problem," stating that the number of cases had dropped by 90 percent since 1985.
But more than a decade later, leprosy persists. According to a report in The Lancet: Infectious Diseases, some 200,000 new cases, including 25,000 in children, are reported each year. About half of these new cases are in India.
What it took was for someone to think about the facts behind leprosy, to attempt to treat it for what it was, and help the patient heal. How many others thought the healer was wrong to go against what they presumed to be true...that God sent it to the person?
There are a lot of presumptions on all kinds of things. On the flip side, there are facts to destroy the assumptions.
The stigma of PTSD is allowed to live on because too many believe things that are simply not true. Those assumptions infect those who are suffering instead of helping them to become healed. Too many believe there is no hope for them, and they give up. At least that is what we have been led to believe, but the truth is, many more find healing because they know the facts. They understand what PTSD is, what caused it, the different types of it, as well as, the different levels of it.
They also know that to heal it, how they think about themselves and treat themselves is vital in living a better quality of life, if not entirely cured.
Self‐Compassion, Trauma and Post‐traumatic Stress Disorder: A Systematic Review
Sarah‐Jane Winders Orlagh Murphy Kathy Looney Gary O'Reilly
First published: 27 January 2020
Abstract
Self‐compassion has emerged as an important construct in the mental health literature. Although conceptual links between self‐compassion and trauma are apparent, a review has not been completed to examine whether this association is supported by empirical research findings. To systematically summarise knowledge on the association between trauma and/or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and self‐compassion. Searches were conducted in PsycINFO, PubMed, Ovid Medline, Web of Science, Embase and PILOTS databases and papers reporting a direct analysis on the relationship between these constructs were identified. The search yielded 35 studies meeting inclusion criteria.
Despite considerable heterogeneity in study design, sample, measurement and trauma type, there was consistent evidence to suggest that increased self‐compassion is associated with less PTSD symptomatology and some evidence to suggest that reduced fear of self‐compassion is associated with less PTSD symptomatology. There was tentative evidence to suggest that interventions based, in part or whole, on a self‐compassion model potentially reduce PTSD symptoms. While findings are positive for the association between increased self‐compassion and reduced PTSD symptoms, the precise mechanism of these protective effects is unknown. Prospective and longitudinal studies would be beneficial in clarifying this. The review also highlighted the variability in what is and should be referred to as trauma exposure, indicating the need for further research to clarify the concept. read it here
Courage and Combat PTSD
393 views•Oct 21, 2012
Kathie Costos DiCesare
252 subscribers
There are many things that keep getting missed when we talk about Combat and PTSD. This is to clear up the biggest one of all. What is courage and how does it link to being "mentally tough" so that you can push past what you were told about "resiliency" training. Chaplain Kathie "Costos" DiCesare of Wounded Times Blog tries to explain this in interview done by Union Squared Studios. woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"That's one of the parts most of you forget about. PTSD didn't happen to you because you are "mentally weak" but because your courage and compassion made you care enough to act. That is not weakness. That, that comes from strength of character."
Maybe you told yourself there is no hope for you. Maybe you convinced yourself that you deserve to suffer from what PTSD is doing to you. Maybe, if you think about it long enough, you will see that what it is doing to you, has more to do with how you see yourself, than the power PTSD should have over you.
Someone must have told you that PTSD has something to do with "what is wrong with you" instead of reminding you that it came because of what is strong within you. The very thing that gave you the desire and ability to risk your life for the sake of others, it what was strongest within you. That is where PTSD entered and that is where you have to fight it.
Among other things, like making you think you are a victim of "it" or "damaged" because of all you survived, it wants you weaken what you know to be true. It wants you to be afraid and hide your wounds, to be silently suffering, masquerading as if you have been untouched by what you lived through. In other words, it feeds off all you have forgotten about yourself, in order to destroy what was, and still is, best about you...that magnificent spirit God sent to this earth for the sake of others.
He put it within you to want to serve others. You had the courage to risk your life and the ability to endure the hardships that came with your job. He also put within you all you would need to recover from what you had to go through to do everything you had to do.
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord,
“plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give
you hope and a future."
Two Arkansas Army National Guardsmen take their own life this week
Author: Ashley Godwin (THV11)
January 24, 2020
LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — It's been a tragic week for the Arkansas Army National Guard, as two guardsmen took their own life.
A statement sent to us by the Arkansas Army National Guard says they are "grieving with the families and loved ones of the two soldiers who are no longer with us. The Guard is like one big family."
The grief can be felt throughout as several people reached out on social media to share their condolences, including service member Melody Daniel. read it here
VA releases updated DOD list identifying Agent Orange sites outside of Vietnam
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) released in January an updated Department of Defense (DOD) list of locations outside of Vietnam where tactical herbicides were used, tested or stored by the United States military.
“This update was necessary to improve accuracy and communication of information,” said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. “VA depends on DOD to provide information regarding in-service environmental exposure for disability claims based on exposure to herbicides outside of Vietnam."
“DOD will continue to be responsive to the needs of our interagency partners in all matters related to taking care of both current and former service members,” said Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper. “The updated list includes Agents Orange, Pink, Green, Purple, Blue and White and other chemicals and will be updated as verifiable information becomes available.”
Veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange or other herbicides during service may be eligible for a variety of VA benefits, including an Agent Orange Registry health exam, health care and disability compensation for diseases associated with exposure. Their dependents and survivors also may be eligible for benefits.
Vehicle belonging to missing Scottsdale Marine Jesse Conger found in eastern Arizona
Author: 12 News
January 25, 2020
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The Toyota Camry that belongs to Jesse Conger, the Marine who went missing last year, has been found, Scottsdale police confirmed Saturday.
The Scottsdale Police Department said the car was located in San Carlos, about 105 miles from the city where Conger was last seen.
No other details were immediately released. The case remains under investigation. read it here
Screen war veterans for PTSD to end 'tragedy' of suicides, retired major demands
The Mirror
BySean Rayment
25 JAN 2020
EXCLUSIVE: Retired Major Richard Streatfeild spoke out after Jamie Davis, 30, took his own life, making him the fourth rifleman from the same unit to do so
Maj Streatfeild, who was awarded an MBE for his service in Afghanistan, claimed defence chiefs are too frightened to screen for PTSD “because of what they might find and the impact it would have on recruitment and retention”.
Retired Major Richard Streatfeild wants all war veterans to be screened for PTSD (Image: Adam Gerrard/Sunday Mirror)
A former officer who saw his troops dragged through hell in Afghanistan today demands Government action on PTSD after the suicide of yet another hero.
Retired Major Richard Streatfeild wants all war veterans to be screened for post-traumatic stress disorder in a bid to save hundreds left feeling suicidal.
He spoke after Jamie Davis, 30 – who served with A Company, 4 Rifles – took his own life this month.
Maj Streatfeild – who has battled post-traumatic stress himself – said: “Jamie is now the fourth Rifleman from A Company from my two years in command 10 years ago to have died at home, not abroad, in similar tragic circumstances.
“Almost as many as were killed on operations. A figure that is fast becoming a stain on post-operational care.”
Jamie was the first veteran to have died this year and is the 160th former soldier to have committed suicide since January 2018.
read it here
I listen to oldies...since that is the music I grew up with. The song I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW came on, and I thought about doing a video on it, since it is perfect to explain what it is like to heal with PTSD. As I went to find the lyrics, I came across a video that was already perfect.
With all obstacles out of the way, you can see that your life can be a lot better than you thought it could be. First you need to stop seeing what others think PTSD is, and actually know what it is.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event.
It is natural to feel afraid during and after a traumatic situation. Fear triggers many split-second changes in the body to help defend against danger or to avoid it. This “fight-or-flight” response is a typical reaction meant to protect a person from harm. Nearly everyone will experience a range of reactions after trauma, yet most people recover from initial symptoms naturally. Those who continue to experience problems may be diagnosed with PTSD. People who have PTSD may feel stressed or frightened, even when they are not in danger. National Institute of Mental Health
In other words, something you survived caused it.
You need to know that you are not alone.
Anyone can develop PTSD at any age. This includes war veterans, children, and people who have been through a physical or sexual assault, abuse, accident, disaster, or other serious events. According to the National Center for PTSD, about 7 or 8 out of every 100 people will experience PTSD at some point in their lives. Women are more likely to develop PTSD than men, and genes may make some people more likely to develop PTSD than others. National Institute of Mental Health
You also need to know that most people heal, with the right help. That can only begin when you get all the roadblocks out of your way and know that you stopped being a victim of whatever "it" was and became a survivor when you walked away after it tried to kill you.
And for more on what healing is like...read the lyrics and know that rainbow is out there.
Johnny Nash - I Can See Clearly Now - YouTube
www.youtube.com
Lyrics
I can see clearly now the rain is gone
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It's gonna be a bright (bright)
Bright (bright) sunshiny day
It's gonna be a bright (bright)
Bright (bright) sunshiny day
Oh, yes I can make it now the pain is gone
All of the bad feelings have disappeared
Here is that rainbow I've been praying for
It's gonna be a bright (bright)
Bright (bright) sunshiny day
Look all around, there's nothing but blue skies
Look straight ahead, there's nothing but blue skies
I can see clearly now the rain is gone
I can see all obstacles in my way
Here is that rainbow I've been praying for
It's gonna be a bright (bright)
Bright (bright) sunshiny day
It's gonna be a bright (bright)
Bright (bright) sunshiny day
Bright (bright) bright (bright)
Bright sunshiny day
It's going to be a bright (bright)
Bright (bright) sunshiny day
It's gonna be a bright (bright)
Bright (bright) sunshiny day
It's gonna be a bright (bright)
Bright (bright) sunshiny day
Veterans' charity Combat Stress stops new referrals over funding crisis
BBC
By Jonathan Beale
Januray 25, 2020
All new referrals will now be redirected to the NHS, which Combat Stress said "needs to demonstrate" it can deal with the additional demands.
A leading mental health charity for military veterans says it will not be able to take any new cases in England and Wales, because of a funding crisis.
Combat Stress said its income has fallen from £16m to £10m in the current financial year partly due to cuts in NHS funding support.
The charity had been receiving around 2,000 referrals for treatment a year.
The NHS said new specialist services for ex-soldiers have helped more than 10,000 people to date.
The NHS said in a statement its "number one priority is providing the best care for veterans".
NHS England had previously commissioned Combat Stress to provide a six-week residential programme, providing them with more than £3m funding a year.
After consulting veterans and their families as part of a review, it has decided instead to use this money on new services, including community-based help. read it here
UPDATE
Their Son’s Heart Saved His Life. So He Rode 1,426 Miles to Meet Them.
Bicycling.com
BY A.C. SHILTON
Jan 24, 2020
What she did not yet know was the way those heavy words would ripple outward like a stone dropping into a still pond: allowing a man to return to work, a veteran to get his health back, and an ailing cyclist to get back on his bike. And how those little waves would slowly smooth out the edges of her own grief.
Lt. James Mazzuchelli in an undated photograph.
Courtesy U.S. Navy
It took several drafts to get the letters right. To capture her boy who, just a few short months before, had been so full of life, energy, and love. To distill him into the two dimensionality of words on paper.
Three weeks earlier, the thread that held Christine Cheers’s world together had been ripped clean away, sending her whole life spinning like an off-balance top. On Wednesday, February 21, 2018, someone on the other end of the phone had said the words that bring any parent to their knees: “There’s been an accident.”
Her son, 32-year-old Navy flight surgeon James Mazzuchelli had been injured in a helicopter training mission at Camp Pendleton. If she wanted to see him while he was still alive, she needed to get on the next flight from Jacksonville, Florida, to San Diego—and she needed to pray.
James was still breathing when Christine and her husband, David, arrived at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California, the next morning. But it soon became clear that his condition would not improve. Machines were keeping him alive, and the doctors told Christine that what she was seeing was likely his future—that her scuba-diving, world-traveling, over-achiever of a son was never going to wake up. read it here
Veteran takes a long journey down the road in Slamdance documentary
Park Record
Scott Iwasaki
January 25, 2020
In the opening scene of Brian Morrison’s “Bastard Road,” a documentary feature in this year’s Slamdance Film Festival, Jonathan Hancock, a former Marine and an Iraq War veteran, recounts an incident where he killed a young boy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The boy’s death is part of Hancock’s post-traumatic stress disorder, which has prevented him from transitioning back into civilian life when his service in the Marines ended in 2009.
Six years later, Hancock, after sliding into a pit of depression, anger, substance abuse and a suicide attempt, decided to walk cross-country from Maryland to California to visit some of his 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines brethren, nicknamed the “Magnificent Bastards,” to cope with his PTSD.
Although Morrison didn’t know Hancock personally, the two shared high school friends, and it was one of those friends who put the two in touch with each other.
“The thing is, I wasn’t aware of Jon’s walk until he was a couple thousand miles into it, and he started popping up on local TV reports,” Morrison said. “I knew he was a Marine who was struggling with PTSD, and I was so curious as to why he was walking.” read it here
Pappas talks with VA community about veterans healthcare
Union Leader
By Bea Lewis
Jan 23, 2020
LACONIA — First District Congressman Chris Pappas met with VA community care providers on Thursday and heard about the hurdles veterans and their care providers face, in their efforts to give and receive effective medical treatment.
Louie Fladger, left, of Northwood, was among a group of veterans who met with Congressman Chris Pappas, center, about the benefits of acupuncture when Pappas held a listening session at Gate of Life Acupuncture and Wellness Center in Laconia on Thursday to learn more about the difficulty VA community care providers are having in obtaining reimbursement from the VA.
Bea Lewis/Union Leader Correspondent
When veterans need health care that the VA cannot provide, they can obtain services through community care providers. Gate of Life Acupuncture and Wellness in Laconia contacted Pappas’ office because they said they were not receiving payments from the VA in a timely manner for treating veterans for a variety of health issues.
Kathy Twombly, the acupuncture practitioner and massage therapist who runs the Main Street business, said the stalled payments were not only creating a financial hardship, but that billing system obstacles were interrupting the care veterans needed.
“It took three months to get the first payment and represents thousands of dollars,” Twombly said.
Once veterans get a referral for acupuncture, they are allowed 12 visits within 45 days, then eight visits within 83 days and then eight more over 173 days. read it here
Top VA hospital lacked full-time gynecologist, facilities serving women veterans for years, report says
Military Times
Leo Shane III
January 24, 2020
In the report, investigators criticized officials at the Dallas-area veterans hospital for “ a long-standing deficiency related to resources for women veterans healthcare, such as equipment, supplies and space that were required to ensure gender-specific care.”
One of the largest veterans medical centers in the country went almost two years without a full-time gynecologist and lacked private, secure spaces for women patients for even longer, according to a new report released by the Veterans Affairs Inspector General this week.
Investigators this week found widespread problems with staffing and facility space for women veterans at the VA North Texas Health Care System. (Photo courtesy of the Department of Veterans Affairs)
Department officials insist most of those issues at the North Texas VA Health Care System have been resolved now, but lawmakers are saying the shortfalls are indicative of larger cultural and leadership problems within the federal agency in their response to the rising number of women veterans.
“The lack of space, privacy, and provider shortages are widespread, and these problems result in inconsistent, inadequate, and insufficient care for our women veterans,” said Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Cal.f. and chair of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s task force on women veterans.
“We owe all of our veterans the highest quality care. As this report points out, when it comes to equity for women veterans, we're clearly falling short.”
read it here
‘It’s OK to cry’: Emotional Newport News police chief calls officer killed in line of duty a hero
WAVY
by: Sarah Fearing
Posted: Jan 23, 2020
“There is a lot of healing that needs to take place. There is no timetable for that,” said Chief Drew.
Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew holds a news conference to provide details about a deadly traffic stop Thursday night. Officer Katie Thyne died in the line of duty.
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) – Speaking through tears, Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew identified the officer who died in the line of duty Thursday night as Officer Katie Thyne.
Chief Drew provided new information about the investigation and Officer Thyne during a Friday morning news conference.
Officer Thyne was originally from New Hampshire. She was a Navy veteran and a reservist. She joined the Newport News Police Department in 2018 and was assigned to the South Precinct. She leaves behind her mother and stepfather, a brother, her two-year-old daughter, and a loving partner. She was 24-years-old.
While the driver’s side door was open, Chief Drew said the driver accelerated. Officer Thyne was unable to get out of the way and was dragged for about a block. The driver crashed into a tree at Walnut Avenue, pinning Officer Thyne. She died from her injuries at Sentara Norfolk General.
read it here
UPDATE
‘Raegan will know her mother’: Friend, day care provider remembers Officer Katie Thyne
WTKR
BY CHELSEA DONOVAN
JANUARY 27, 2020
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - "When I leaned her over the casket, I said, 'Kiss your mommy,' and she did and it broke my heart," said Jenifer Locey.
Locey has been providing day care for 2-year-old Raegan Thyne since she was born and had also become great friends with Officer Katie Thyne.
"It's so hard to look at Raegan and know she is not going to see her anymore," said Locey.
Locey described the toddler as innocent, bubbly and always smiling.
Thailand veterans contend they are scientific evidence VA claims it needs to grant benefits
WFLA 8 News
by: Steve Andrews
Posted: Jan 23, 2020
Because their job descriptions didn’t place them on base perimeters, the VA denied their claims for disability.
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – A top VA official in the Tampa Bay area told 8 On Your Side this week the Department of Veterans Affairs has come a long way.
Margarita Devlin, principal deputy undersecretary for veterans benefits contends there is no longer a huge back-log of veterans waiting for their claims to be processed and completed.
However, claims languish for veterans who served in Thailand during the Vietnam War and were exposed to a dangerous herbicide known as Agent Orange.
Most U.S. bombing missions over North Vietnam originated in Thailand.
Tampa Veterans like Dan Tolly and Paul Devane supported the war effort from Thai bases.
At Korat, Paul remembers the toxic herbicide Agent Orange landed on him as he worked near the flight line.
Dan Tolly served in the Air Force in Thailand. read it here
Veterans Affairs considers expanding vaping options for medical marijuana
CBC News
Kevin Yarr
Posted: Jan 23, 2020
With new products for consuming cannabis coming on the market last month, Veterans Affairs is looking into whether it should expand the options it covers.
Vaping cannabis oils became legal in December. (CBC)
Oils for vaping, along with edibles, became legal in Canada last month. The cost of vaporizers for dried marijuana has been covered by DVA since 2014. Sandie Williamson, senior director of healthcare programs with Veterans Affairs, said that change has prompted a review.
"We regularly review different products and different therapies, different benefits that are coming onto the market," said Williamson.
"These products have just hit the market as of last month. There's still an evolution as to what will be available."
Veterans Affairs will be consulting with Health Canada on whether to include the new products in its rebate program. Williamson said if the product is approved, Veterans Affairs would not be involved in the choice of treatment of any individual. read it here
The only way I could understand what PTSD was doing to my Vietnam veteran husband, was because I knew what surviving trauma had done to me.
I am a ten time survivor of traumatic events that could have taken my life just living as a civilian. Most of the time, someone like you responded to rescue me. Knowing what surviving did to me, it is also easy to understand what responding to people like me...did to you.
I had nightmares, flashbacks, mood swings, paranoia and questioned everything I believed. I understood the need to hide what I was going through, so that no one would feel sorry for me, or judge me as being damaged.
On the flip side, my family understood that they needed to show me that no matter what, they loved me and they were there for me, no matter what I had to say, and they wanted to help me through it.
They did not give up on me. One of the reasons why I was not about to give up on my husband, or anyone else. It is also the reason why I am writing this now. You need to stop giving up on yourself!
If you are dealing with PTSD, then you need to stop looking at yourself as a victim. You are a survivor of all of it. Within the first 30 days after "it" happened, your mind was fighting it off.
In all of the times I faced the "afterwards" there was only one time, it followed me, but did not control me. That is because I fought back, helping my mind by arming it with talking about it. When I needed a professional to talk to, I went.
I also trusted God and stopped questioning why I survived. It became a matter of what I could do afterwards...for the rest of my days on earth.
In The Shelter of Your Arms is a song that has been healing for me during hard emotional times...like right now. No matter what I am up against, I know this is the work I was sent to do and the glory goes to Jesus because He loved me enough to show me the way to help those who have my heart.
This is for anyone who is going through painful times. It is OK to feel pain, no matter who you are, but take the shelter of His arms until your pain in gone and you smile again.
So now I sing a song for You beyond the tears that came because I know, if I share this with those I am supposed to reach, they may know that others go through the same dark times, even if they believe, as I do, that nothing is beyond Your love. RISE AND START AGAIN
It is OK to hurt to feel pain, to cry and to lose yourself for a time. Survivors never walk away the same way they walked into it. Everyone changes to a certain extent, but you control the way you change and how much you change from one point to the next.
You would think that I would not need help from anyone considering how long I have been doing this work, but everyone I know, also needs help from time to time or they would not be able to be there to help anyone else. Besides, if I needed help but refused to ask for it, how could I ever tell someone else to ask when they needed it? I couldn't.
If you think that it is hopeless for you, then it will be, but if you imagine what is possible, you will find it and rise again!
Back in 2002 I finished writing my first book and last year I did an interview with a friend for his radio show. No matter what we went through, keep in mind that we have been married since 1984 because while we did not understand what the other survived, we understood how to lean on each other to heal!
This is part of the interview of us talking about my book FOR THE LOVE OF JACK and what it was like living with PTSD when no one was talking about it.
Want to know if you have what it takes to fight this battle? Listen to what I was willing to do and know that you can do the same and defeat it! #BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife
If you are afraid of being judged by those around you, notice that you are judging them without giving them a chance to help you #BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife
Connecticut State Police Create Program to Help First Responders Manage PTSD
NBC Connecticut
By Siobhan McGirl
January 22, 2020
Dillon said he will never forget responding to the scene of the school shooting in Sandy Hook in December of 2012. Twenty students and six adults were killed. Dillon spent one week processing evidence on the scene, but he struggled to process the event on a personal level.
The state is taking new measures to help first responders who may be struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
"When you see it on television, that is difficult. It is a lot tougher when you are there," said Sgt. Troy Anderson.
Anderson retired from the Connecticut State Police after more than 20 years of service, but he is coming out of retirement. Anderson is filling a newly created position, heading up a wellness and resiliency program. The veteran law enforcement officer will be tasked with creating programs and finding resources to meet the wellness needs of all six divisions of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection. read it here
Former Dept. of Veterans Affairs employee sentenced for leaking medical records of Richard Ojeda and more
WVVA
Bailey Pace
January 22, 2020
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – A Huntington man was sentenced to six months in prison for illegally accessing the medical records of six veterans including those of Richard Ojeda as the former Army major was running for Congress in West Virginia, announced United States Attorney Mike Stuart.
Jeffrey Miller, 40, a former Veterans Benefits Administration employee, was also sentenced to one year of supervised release.
Miller previously admitted that he illegally accessed the medical records of six veterans between January and May of 2018.
Miller further admitted that he took a picture of the medical records of former West Virginia State Senator Richard Ojeda, and then sent the picture to an acquaintance.
read it here
Memorial a fitting tribute for all Vietnam War veterans
Observer Dispatch
Posted Jan 22, 2020
On May 27, 2019, Phase 1 of a Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated at Griffiss Business and Technology Park. Several hundred people turned out for the solemn ceremony and tribute that Memorial Day as the monument was dedicated at the intersection of Griffiss Veterans Memorial Highway and Ellsworth Road.
Now begins Phase 2.
It is fitting that we honor our Vietnam War veterans whenever possible. Those who remember the turbulent times of that war will recall the general lack of respect shown our returning soldiers by a country that was deeply divided.
The Vietnam War claimed more than 58,000 American service members and wounded more than 150,000. Even those numbers pale when compared to the more than 300,000 who later died as a result of Agent Orange and those who suffer other last lasting effects from that war by way of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
But instead of the parades and accolades that greeted returning veterans of World War II, many who returned from Vietnam were met with hostility.
“We were spit on,” said Vietnam veteran Jerry Miller of Camden, who attended last May’s Memorial Day dedication ceremony, saying that it was about time Vietnam veterans were remembered in an appropriate way.
He’s absolutely right.
Memorials like the one in Rome can help with the healing. It’s a project that was undertaken by The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Inc., said Rick Falcone, one of the original six veterans who initiated the effort more than 20 years ago. They raised between $130,000 and $140,000 to complete Phase 1, and figure it’ll cost nearly $100,000 for Phase 2.
Falcone says they have about $35,000 for Phase 2 so far, and hope to ramp up fundraising efforts and begin work in the spring. It will include a stone remembering the 300,000 victims of Agent Orange as well as a stone honoring the women who served in Vietnam. Centerpiece for the display will be a restored Vietnam era UH-1 Huey helicopter. Five flagpoles displaying military service flags will surround the helicopter.
read it here
Congressman Lamborn explores veteran care at El Paso County Jail
FOX 21 News
by: Brandon Thompson
Posted: Jan 21, 2020
COLORADO SPRINGS — It was a busy day at the El Paso County Jail, but far from it’s busiest. The around 1,450 inmates Tuesday were much more comfortable than this time last year when the average daily population reached 1,800, according to Sheriff Bill Elder.
“There are a lot more people here than I realized,” said Congressman Doug Lamborn, a Republican representing El Paso and Teller Counties in Washington.
Lamborn was visiting the jail Tuesday, the largest jail by inmate population, outside of the state’s Department of Corrections and it is specifically interested in veteran care.
“They might have mental health issues based on PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] or they might have things like that,” said Lamborn. “So, being able to treat that population differently from everyone else, I think makes a lot of sense.”
The veteran inmates in minimum security are housed with other inmates and have programs available to them. The deputies who oversee the veterans’ pods are veterans as well.
“One thing I see the veterans do is watching out for each other,” Lamborn said. “There’s a spirit of respect where they take some of the military traditions that they served under when they were in active service.” read it here
and what they got wrong!
Lamborn was on hand for a daily tradition: 22 pushups at 3:00 p.m. to honor and remember the 22 veterans who take their own lives each day.
