When does Wounded Times earn support from the veterans community?

When does Wounded Times Earn Your Support?
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 21, 2014

When does Wounded Times earn support from the veterans community? That is a question I struggle with daily. Has 7 years been long enough? Has over 22,0000 posts been enough? With over 15,000,0000 views on my profile, over 1.7 million pages views on the site, sure, Wounded Times is clearly getting attention but I wonder what kind of attention. Is it good or bad?

When I was attending events, most the complaints I heard from veterans was that the media didn't care about them anymore. So I decided to do something about it. Researching reports on PTSD I was frustrated with the fact I had to search for hours to discover what was happening in towns and cities veterans called home. The national news dropped covering your news so long ago I can't even remember when they actually decided veterans no longer mattered. When they decided to dedicate a couple of minutes to a hero receiving the Medal of Honor at the end of the broadcast right behind a story of a celebrity getting airtime between commercial breaks. (That really ticks me off)

In 2003 I self-published by first book FOR THE LOVE OF JACK, HIS WAR MY BATTLE and re-released it in 2012. Why? Because when I wrote it, no one was telling our story. The secrets we kept from the public because most veteran families thought PTSD was something to be ashamed of. Top that off when we dared to talk to members of the press about what had become America's secret war after war, they didn't want to hear any of it. They told families like mine it was all old news.

They didn't care when they had a chance to fix what was wrong in the 80's for Vietnam veterans, or the 90's for them plus Gulf War veterans. Yes, they had the chance to make a difference as we were dealing with VA long waits to see doctors for treatment as many died before they could be seen, having claims in a pile of other backlog claims, being sent home from the hospital trying to be admitted to the rehab because there were not enough beds and above all, dealing with PTSD with no support from anyone.

People think all of the problem Afghanistan and Iraq veterans have today are new. I supposed it helped them sleep better at night to think they were actually paying attention so they could wash their hands of what they did not do decades ago.

In 1982 I went from being a veteran's daughter and niece of WWII veterans to advocate for Vietnam veterans. That's how long I've been researching PTSD caused by combat after I fell in love with one of them.

In 2006 more research on how veterans learn caused me to create videos so they could learn the easy way.

The first one was Wounded Minds telling their story and ours. It was up on YouTube for a long time until they started blocking music. It was followed by years of more videos.


Years ago it was one site after another but 7 years ago a Marine serving in Iraq actually caused me to rethink what I was doing. I fell into the political trap so many others seemed more involved with than the original mission they had. After responding to his complaint, which I am still ashamed of, defending my right to post what I wanted, he asked me a simple question. "Are you doing this for yourself or us?"

When I stopped crying, realizing he was right, after my eyes cleared up enough to see the computer screen, I sent him an email with a promise. That I would start this site to stay focused on all veterans and servicemembers without being political. I kept my promise.

They only time I get political is when a politician does something positive for you or against you. Really tough holding back because most days I want to explode on some kind of rant. I usually type it to get it off my chest then delete it so I can get back to the story.

By 2010, after two years of training on Crisis Intervention, I decided to go back to college for Digital Media so that I could make better videos and film the events the media didn't think was worthy of air time when they bothered to show up at all.

These are the videos on YouTube for veterans events

One of them was for Orlando Chief Petty Officers.
7 new Navy Chief Petty Officers were pinned today in Orlando at the Reserve Center with a couple of really funny moments.

Last night my husband and I were at the VFW for dinner when I found out there was a Chief's party going on in the hall. I went out to tell an officer I met early about the video and then met the Chief standing near the podium in the video. I actually had a chance to tell him about the video being seen thousands of time and gave him a hug. (Actually the thousands of times is more than 10,000 but who is counting? ha ha)

Last year it was THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR about military suicides, why they happen, why what has been done failed and what we can do about them. I wrote it after families asked me to. They were torn apart learning to late why they had to bury someone they loved and lost to suicide. Few people understand they blame themselves for something they had no control over. I know that feeling as well because we lost my husband's nephew over a decade ago to suicide. He was another Vietnam veteran, uncounted even by today's press as the majority of the suicides.

Sometimes being ahead of the crowd can leave someone behind and that is exactly how I feel when some yahoo steps out of the covers, gets some attention from the press then suddenly becomes an expert on what was happening before they were even born. Instead of giving real answers, they give slogans. Instead of actually helping a veteran, they pass them off with a fix all answer like "I'm prayin' for you" when what they are really saying is, give me your money because I am preying on you.

It isn't my job to watch them or out them. I leave all that up to you. It is only my job to make sure you understand some very simple facts starting with the one that hurts the most. When you don't feel as if you matter at all. This site and the hours I put in are here for you, so you do matter. Trust me, if you didn't, I'd be doing what everyone else is doing in their free time. I have no clue what most of my coworkers are talking about when they watch some kind of apparently popular TV show.

Coworkers? Yes, I have to work for a living because everything I do is free to veterans and their families. I couldn't even break even with donations or ads from Google and lose a few thousand a year out of my own pocket. But the way I look at it, how much does it cost me to do what I am doing right now? Electricity, phone, internet, gas and tolls, the price for attending events and camera equipment aren't really that expensive. Ok, there is the tiny matter of paying back student loans, but I didn't have to do that. I wanted to.

If you read Wounded Times can you take a minute and let me know why? Can you tell me the types of things that matter to you the most? Let me know if you let other people know this site is there for them or why you don't pass it on. I have no clue why there are so many people reading this or what you think.

That is how you can support what I do. Tell me! Share with me the way I share with you. What does this mean to you?