The story came out of Seattle. A three tour Iraq veteran was shot by police due to a domestic dispute. At least that is what the headlines said when it added the words "angry man" trying to describe this veteran.
His father said John LaBossiere joined the Marines after high school and after September 11th, so this proved he was patriotic as well as willing to give up his life for the sake of the country. He was deployed twice with the Marines. He was not done yet. John ended up going into the National Guards after. Imagine that! He had a wife and three children but his marriage fell apart. The article went on to say his family said "turned into someone his family hardly recognized." This is all too common because they didn't understand PTSD or what to do to help.
You can read more of this here
Man shot by police a Iraq three tour veteran
The problem is not that his family didn't care, they didn't know. No one told them. This is not just about one veteran, but thousands of veterans across the country needing help from the people of this country. It's about stepping up to fill in the gaps.
For every claim tied up in the VA backlog, there is a veteran and a family waiting for the wounds created by service to be taken care of as well as compensated for in far too many cases when the veteran is unable to earn a living to pay their bills.
While some groups only seem interested in the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, Brave Aid wants to care for all veterans.
Operation Warrior support is about raising funds to do this. Much like many charities and foundations are funded by business ends, this group is funded by cause marketing. Members make a tax deductible donation of $20.00 a month and then the membership is grown by caring people. These funds support Brave Aid. Brave Aid supports veterans in need. The really great thing is that members also gain by being fundraising donors. You can go here for more information about it.
http://www.braveaid.org/
http://chaplainkathie.warriorsupport.us/
There is a lot to learn about this group and here is a start. There are many who will read this and think it's a scam but I know it isn't. I've met most of the people in this out of Florida. They have already cut checks to help veterans, gotten me involved in helping and this group has not even had the offical kick off yet which will happen on Veterans day. This is all about veterans and for veterans we are all supposed to care about.
Convention Tickets Are Free!
In keeping with the “donation” concept of Operation Warrior Support’s program, we have decided not to charge for attendance.
However, due to limited seating, you should still reserve seating early.
This will be such a terrific event, so plan on being there, let’s show the world who we are and what we stand for, so please invite everyone you know
Click Here To Reserve Seating Now!Please click the above link to send a reservation email to:jborger@warriorsupport.us
Remember!
You don't want to miss tonights conference call. You will hear a special preview of our introduction of"Operation Warrior Support's Lead Management System"
Guest speaker will be Gale Farup, consultant for PM Marketing. Join us and invite guests, this system will become a tremendous sales tool in promoting the simplicity of building your business.
The call WILL START promptly at 9:00 PM (EST)
"Call To America"
Phone Blitz
(712) 432-1699 Access Code: 1078608 #
John was my brother-in-law and the military failed him, his family but more importantly his children. There is a little girl who will not have her Daddy there when she gets married. His two sons, who were 2 and 8 months at the time will only remember John through photo's.
ReplyDeleteIt was until after John died that I learned about PTSD. John had every single one of the sysmptoms.
We also later found out that John was having serious problems while on his last tour in Iraq and the military and his CO did NOTHING!
Something has got to be done to prevent another family living through the horror, pain and yes quilt that we feel!
Amy,
ReplyDeleteMy deepest sympathy to you and your family. I wish I could say that your brother-in-law was the last one to suffer without help, but that would be a lie. I wish I could say that what happened to him was totally out of the ordinary, but again, that would be a lie as well.
I've watched PTSD claim many lives over the years and I've watched even more suffer needlessly. When a nation loses more after combat than during it, that is a tremendous unacceptable loss, but that is the way it has been for many years. We just never seem able to get it right for them when they come home after doing what we send them to do.
Along the way, there is a family like your's asking "why" but there are no adequate words to defend the indefensible.
When Vietnam veterans came home, they suffered in silence, just as every generation before them did. It was as if they were supposed to be ashamed for being human. That only lasted a short time and by 1978, there was a name for it, PTSD. There were also 500,000 Vietnam veterans diagnosed with it. When I think of how many we lost because they were not and still are not properly taken care of, I also think of the families grieving for a death that did not have to happen. Another price of war no one counts other than the families left behind.
The hopeful thing I can tell you is that as time goes by, more and more families are stepping up to tell their stories and put a human face on the numbers we read about. Veterans are stepping up more and more to say this is a price of war that is being paid in cities and towns across the nation and more has to be done. Because of all the people speaking up it is forcing the rest of society, the VA and the DOD to acknowledge that this wound is a price of war and it is a debt we owe to all of them for having done what was asked of them, but never seemed to have the same honor paid back to them.
God willing we will get this right soon and we will stop seeing so many die needlessly because they didn't receive the help they needed as soon as they needed it.
I don't know if anyone still reades this but this puts a face to those that have been lost ... not just those that have been lost but those that have been left behind!!!!
ReplyDeleteNEVER forget what they gave ... what those left behind gave!!!
http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/view_shared?p=a8375a15a0435baf1f397e&skin_id=1702
I am not sure what you were trying to say with this comment. There are over a hundred subscribers here and thousands of hits a month, so yes, people are still reading this. A lot of people care about what is going on with our troops and veterans. Not that the TV and cable media care. They have been too busy jumping on whatever they want to make news instead of reporting on it.
ReplyDeleteThis is a slideshow that I made from my brother-in-law who left behind three children all under the age of five. His name is John LaBossiere and he LOVED his childre. He was/is a good solider and FATHER!
ReplyDeleteI have tried to explain my response but am having problems getting this to post
ReplyDeleteMy name is Amy and John LaBossiere was/is my brother-in-law. What I posted is a slideshow that I made of John and his children ... To put a face of not only the soldier who was lost but of the children he left behind.]
for some reason I cannot get my google id to reg.... my email is glennbaxterfamily@hotmail.com
It is a great tribute to him and so very sad for you and your family.
ReplyDelete