Wounded Times Blog
Kathie Costos
June 29, 2013
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| For the Love of Jack, His War My Battle Kathie Costos |
They grieve. They grieve for their buddies. They grieve for civilians. Some even grieve for their opponents. Evil people do not grieve for others. It requires a tremendous capacity to care for others to feel the depth of their pain but few understand that.
It is a war that has been going on since the beginning of time when man first went to fight against others.
NBC Washington News did something few other news stations think of doing. They did a report on what is really going on with our veterans, PTSD and suicides.
Finally a news report about PTSD, suicide and Vietnam veterans. When it comes to them and families like mine, we are dealing with being left behind. The worst part is, Vietnam veterans started all the research into PTSD back in the 70's. Had it not been for them, nothing would have been ready for the new veterans. They are also the biggest percentage of the claims and appeals in the VA. The rest of the news stories have people thinking PTSD and suicides are new. That should freak everyone out because of how long the government has been spending billions on but not learning much from. One more point to make here is that Point Man International Ministries started in 1984 long before other groups. It takes mind-body-spirit healing to really heal the veterans and Point Man does the spiritual part. When all three are taken care of, they are not cured but they thieve and live better lives.
I-Team Reports: Suicides From a Long Ago War
NBC Washington
By Tisha Thompson and Rick Yarborough
Friday, Jun 28, 2013
In a city dedicated to honoring those who served, there's a long black wall. It displays the names of fallen men and women who fought with Tom Mahany in the Vietnam War.
As Mahany traced the names craved into the stone, he said, "It's like a shadow that follows you around."
For this former soldier, there are thousands of names missing: Those of men who committed suicide long after their military careers ended. Men like his brother-in-law.
"He put the rifle in his mouth,” Mahany explained. “That's how my sister found him. That’s twenty years after he got back."
Mahany said even though they were both veterans from the same war, they never talked about Vietnam. Never spoke about suicide or "shellshock," what we now call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD.
"There was no diagnosis then,” Mahany said. “There wasn't any such thing as PTSD in Vietnam. There was no treatment from the V.A."
Janet Kemp is the Director of Suicide Prevention at the Department of Veterans Affairs. “The group we are very concerned about are our Vietnam-era veterans," she told the News 4 I-Team.
read more here
In 2003 FOR THE LOVE OF JACK, HIS WAR MY BATTLE, the story of how we had to fight for what was right, was published. Like most self published books, it didn't make it into many book reviews. It sold for a while but was most read when it was put up online for free. Last year it was re-released for many reasons. The main reason was the delusion too many had that PTSD was something new within Afghanistan and Iraq veterans. There is nothing new about it. It wasn't even knew when Vietnam veterans came home like generations before them. The battle they were willing to fight was in fact new. Vietnam veterans forced the government to begin research into how to treat it and compensate veterans for this wound no one could see with their eyes.
Families like mine were fighting war in the shadows and in secret. We felt there was actually a need to feel ashamed. Ashamed our veterans drank to get numb so they could fall asleep and calm their bodies down. Ashamed they stopped going places with us and we had to use lies to cover our own pain and confusion. Ashamed our love was not enough to make them happy. Oh the list goes on and on but back then, back when they came home, there was very little known about the enemy we had to fight for sake of the men we loved.
It is really stunning to think that we were the pioneers in this war of secrets. We learned by making mistakes. We learned from those who had given up. Mostly we learned from our veteran husbands. My generation had excuses. That is something that causes so much pain in us now. There are no more excuses.
This is the end of PTSD awareness month. Funny when you think about it. With all the publicity PTSD and suicides tied to military service, billions spent every year, charities popping up all over the country, we have arrived in a time when there are now more suicides, attempted suicides, divorces and so many veterans getting into trouble they had to start special courts for them to provide true justice for combat veterans. Stunning!
Veterans crisis phone lines, phone applications, social networking, videos and books, yet just over half of the veterans needing help seek it. It was fascinating to see so much happening yet infuriation with the results took over. How can it be with so much being done they are still taking their own lives? How can it be that with so much information they are still ending up losing hope of healing?
Point Man started in 1984. They took on the spiritual aspect of healing, which researchers across the county admit is a vital part of living better lives. They took on supporting families so they too would understand what it is and how to help their veterans heal along with healing their whole families. Next year it will be the 30th anniversary of this amazing group of dedicated volunteers fighting in the shadows.
Thinking about what we knew and how long ago we knew it, if you are not armed with this knowledge by now, get angry enough to take action and contact members of congress so that they start to actually hold people accountable for the massive loss of life in this war back home.
This is the first video I made on PTSD back in 2006
None of what we read today is new and that is why the news report from NBC is so important. It shows that just because wars end, needing to heal from them is an ongoing battle.
This is Hero After War, one of my earlier videos on PTSD.
Hero After War from Kathleen "Costos" DiCesare on Vimeo.
This is Nam Nights of PTSD Still
Nam Nights Of PTSD Still from Kathleen "Costos" DiCesare on Vimeo.
Coming Out of the Dark was one of the first ones back in 2006. This is what we already knew back then. Had the DOD or the VA used what all they years of research proved, more would have healed instead of losing hope.
Coming Out of the Dark from Kathleen "Costos" DiCesare on Vimeo.
You can see more of my videos here
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