625,384 sought VA health care after they got out of uniform

625,384 – sought VA health care after they got out of uniform and we sit here waiting for Congress to get this right? We now know the drugs used for PTSD don't help any more than street drugs do but what has been working, they won't fund.

Suicides, PTSD and Drug Abuse Among Combat Vets
Posted by Mark Thompson Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Between 2002 and 2010, 1,250,663 veterans who served in the two wars left the service. About half of them – 625,384 – sought VA health care after they got out of uniform.

Once again, the Congressional Research Service has badgered a federal agency – in this case the Department of Veterans Affairs – and come up with snapshots about how U.S. vets seeking VA services are faring (CRS reports are not officially released to the public – dammit, you paid for them, and Congress works for us, so why does Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy have to release them after snagging them from his own secret Deep Quote?)
Read more: Suicides, PTSD and Drug Abuse Among Combat Vets

We know that half of the men and women serving need help to recover from where they were sent.

A cry for help: The increase in military suicides calls for the nation to address issue
Published: Tuesday, August 09, 2011
By Patriot-News Editorial Board

The helicopter downed in Afghanistan is the latest reminder of the constant danger our troops face in that country and Iraq.

Unfortunately, American soldiers are dealing with more than insurgents and the Taliban. Finding it difficult to cope with the memories of combat upon their return to the states, a growing number of soldiers are taking their own lives. The sad truth is the armed forces suicide rate is double the national average. To put it into starker terms: More American troops committed suicide in 2009 than died in combat in Afghanistan that same year. In 2010, 111 National Guard soldiers killed themselves, a rate that is 78 percent higher than the total in 2009 when 62 returning troops committed suicide.

This troubling trend is new. Before 2008, the rate of military suicides was lower than that of the general population. Those who have studied the problem are coming to agreement: The repeated and longer tours of duty and family problems at home when they return are catalysts for members of the military deciding to take their own life. More needs to be done to alleviate those pressures and provide assistance.

But if there can be a positive side to this issue, it is that the problem is no longer something talked about in hushed conversations. More people are realizing that being open about suicide and post-traumatic stress might be the first step in finding ways to help troops.

In the Sunday Patriot-News Ivey DeJesus wrote a compelling story about Pennsylvania National Guard Staff Sgt. James C. Wilson who committed suicide on March 20. He served back-to-back tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He saw fellow soldiers die right in front of him in those countries and came back to the midstate a changed man.

In the same day’s newspaper, Mike Reid, who grew up in the Harrisburg area and served in the Army for six years, wrote the second of a two-part series on military suicide. Among his concerns is the belief that military leaders cause undo anxiety on troops who already are dealing with incredible stress. He believes for some soldiers this makes them snap.
read more here
A cry for help

We know the number of servicemen and women attempting suicide has gone up just as the number of successful suicides has. Some reporters have finally started to take a look at the un-reported numbers known. The men and women no longer in the military and not in the VA system taking their own lives but not being counted by anyone other than their families and friends. What if I told you none of this had to happen? What if I told you that the answer will cost a fraction of what is being spent right now and has been proven to reverse much of what PTSD does?

I am sure you're interested but Congress isn't. With all the talk coming from folks in politics about this being a "Christian Nation" when it comes to the sins they see, like gay rights and marriage along with abortion, they don't seem to manage to be able to support any kind of spiritual relief that has been available and working since the 80's.

Point Man International Ministries has been "walking point" back home since 1984. What they do isn't funded by the government but is used by VA hospitals, veterans and active military folks across the world.

Matthew 10

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

1 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,[a] drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
9 “Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts— 10 no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. 11 Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. 12 As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13 If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. 15 Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

Christ told the disciples to not go to the Gentiles but that was before St. Paul went out and converted them to Christianity. He told them to not accept pay for what they did but that was when the people they spoke to fed them and gave them a roof over their heads while they stayed there. Now it's almost as if anyone doing this work is expected to just do it with no one ever thinking about the state of their lives. Bills need to be paid, but the hours spent doing this work take income away from them. Facing the truth the men and women being helped spiritually have very little of their own to give, no one expects them to provide income to the givers.

The millions spent each year on medication that has been found to do little good has been funded but the price of supporting people doing what has been found to actually heal has not been funded. New programs popping up across the nation dealing with just the new generation of veterans have been funded but few have been proven to work.

The word "trauma" is Greek for "wound" in other words, something that harmed someone. It was not caused by them but done to them and they survived it. There are physical "traumas" and physicians are specially trained to respond right after it happened. There are emotional "traumas" and there are people specially trained to respond to the emotional needs. Point Man and other groups taking on the spiritual crisis are directly tied to the healing while drugs are directly tied to the numbing of the veteran. Which one does Congress want? Which one will cost the tax payers less?

Is it worth more to keep veterans on medications for the rest of their lives or is it better to heal them as soon as possible and as deeply as possible so they can get on with their lives better? When we heal the soul of a veteran, we heal the family. We can reduce the number of homeless veteran by helping the families to stay together and help the veteran heal instead of just allowing all that comes with PTSD to break the family apart. When there is no strong family standing by the veteran's side, we can help their friends understand or at least provide the veteran with enough emotional support until they get stronger. Given the fact there is such a huge backlog of claims, meaning there is no income until the claim is approved, it is adding a lot more stress onto their shoulders and more reason to give up. We see the numbers of suicides and attempted suicides going up for these reasons.

One more thing about Point Man is that it is not trying to convert anyone. They respond with the compassion of Christ to every veteran in need. If they accept Christ into their lives, wonderful, but they are not turned away if they don't. No one will tell them they have to join this branch of Christianity over another. Their mission is to heal a special group of people in a way few others understand, veterans and their families.

So we will keep reading reports like this,,,,,

State should keep vet counseling going
Aug 9, 2011
With war veterans facing a host of psychological issues, counseling hotline should be maintained.

We applaud a contingent of South Jersey legislators, including retiring Assemblyman Jack Conners -- a longtime advocate for military veterans -- for their efforts to secure funding for a peer counseling program for war veterans suffering mental and emotional problems.

Legislation sponsored by Conners, D-Pennsauken, along with fellow Democratic South Jersey lawmakers Sens. Fred Madden and Jim Beach and Assemblyman Paul Moriarty, would ensure more permanent funding from the state for Vet-2-Vet. It's a toll-free confidential help line that works as one form of early intervention for veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who struggle with psychological distress and need help reintegrating back into civilian life.

The Army Times reported last year that, on average, there are about 950 suicide attempts each month from veterans who receive some type of treatment from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Of those, about 7 percent succeed in killing themselves. And 11 percent who don't die try killing themselves again within nine months.

During the 12-month period of October 2008 through September 2009 there were 1,621 suicide attempts by men and 247 by women who served in Iraq or Afghanistan, with 94 men and four women dying.

read more here

Funding for what works not being given but funding for drugs increasing. Some in Washington are paying attention and trying to make sure that programs proven to help continue but more folks in Washington ignore them. We should all be asking why. When the rates of suffering go up and the healers live in obscurity there is something seriously wrong in this country. It is not that the help the veterans need is not there. It is the fact that no one wants to support it financially in Washington. Where are the Tea Party folks on this one? Do they know how much money could be saved every year funding groups like Point Man? Who is holding the "Religious Right" in congress accountable for not supporting these groups? Something like this should not be a problem to any group of politicians if they really cared about our veterans. Given the fact they have spent in the billions over the last ten years on what has not worked, this should be supported across the political divide. Free help given is expensive to the givers but cheaper than for profit takers.