American Indians have highest per capita of service but get less benefits

Share recognition with American Indian veterans
September 5, 2008

An estimated 100 people gathered at the Royal Scandinavian Inn in Solvang, Calif., Santa Barbara County, to honor fallen American Indian veterans at the U.S. Native Warrior exhibit on Aug. 23.

The 30-panel exhibit primarily honors World War II veterans, but does list the numbers of those who served and died in each major war, according to the Santa Ynez Valley Journal. One panel pays tribute to the estimated 95,500 American Indians who have served since World War II, with a total of 1,119 lives lost, the Journal said.

It is a little known fact that, historically, American Indians have the highest record of service per capita when compared with other ethnic groups. Unfortunately, while they hold the highest record of service per capita in comparison with other ethnic groups they are the least likely to receive veterans benefits.

I'm not sure if there is a breakdown in communication, or if there is blatant discrimination occurring, but it makes no sense at all that these veterans are not being taken care of when they risked life and limb for this country.

I was devastated to learn that benefits are not the only rewards being kept - inadvertently or not - from American Indian veterans. Many are not receiving their earned medals. Veterans from the Persian Gulf War in 1991 who were gassed are not being given Purple Hearts, especially the disabled who could no longer work and were discharged honorably out of the military within a few years. If veterans in World War I were given Purple Hearts for mustard gas, then veterans from the Persian Gulf who were exposed to mustard gas and sarin most certainly should be. If you agree, please sign the petition to Congress at www.petitiononline.com/vc6v4564/.

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American Indians come to rescue again

It's Thanksgiving Day. We all know what it means to us and the traditions we have. What we fail to remember is that it was the American Indians compassion that provided us with the bounty. Most Indians regard this day as Genocide Day. Yet these Americans come to the rescue over and over again. They are still doing it with their ancient healing for the war wounded warriors.


American Indian wisdom could help non-Indian war veterans

By Laurie SwensonBemidji Pioneer

A scholar of American Indian studies wants to see American Indian rituals inspire non-Indians to develop their own rituals to welcome home war veterans and help curb post-traumatic stress disorder among war veterans.
“This is a critical part of our history,” said Larry Gross, a visiting scholar at Bemidji State University. “We have these veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Gross, who has a master’s degree from Harvard University and a doctorate from Stanford University, is a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe enrolled with the White Earth Band. He is conducting research in the Bemidji area on storytelling and cultural survival among the Anishinabe. Part of his research includes the writings of Jim Northrup, a noted Anishinabe writer and a Vietnam veteran affected by PTSD.
Gross and Northrup presented a joint lecture Thursday night for about 40 people in BSU’s Crying Wolf Room, the first installment of a series sponsored by A.C. Clark Library. The lecture was arranged by Ron Edwards, university librarian.
“When I look around Indian country, Indians have their ways,” Gross said, noting that Indians welcome home veterans, honor their service, reintegrate them and make use of their experiences, but non-Indian communities do not have similar rituals.
“I have a vision,” he said. “My vision is that by the time the Minnesota National Guard unit comes back from Iraq in July … churches all around the state will have these rituals set up. I’m hoping to find people who will work with me on this.”
He also envisions a national movement that would bring a Veterans Day ceremony to the Washington National Cathedral.
Battling memories
Northrup’s talk Thursday was peppered with humor, which he said is another survival tool in the ongoing battle against post-traumatic stress disorder.
“I had PTSD before I knew it had a name,” he said. “I knew I wasn’t the same person I was before I went there.”
Northrup, born on the Fond du Lac Reservation and who lives in Sawyer on the reservation, entered the U.S. Marine Corps after high school in 1961. He went to Vietnam in September 1965, serving with India Company, 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines.
http://www.rlnn.com/ArtMar07/AIWisdonCouldHelpNonIndianWarVets.html


TRAUMA & METAMORPHOSIS II: ART AND POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)HISTORY OF PTSD
There is documentation of PTSD in medical literature of the American Civil War (a similar disorder was called “Da Costa’s Syndrome”).
Soldiers in our Civil War who developed PTSD were said to have “soldier’s heart” or “nostalgia.” Freud’s pupil Kardiner was the first to describe the symptoms that came to be known as PTSD in the scientific community. But the first to “specifically diagnose mental disease as a result of war stress and try to treat it” were the Russians during the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905.In World War I, PTSD was called shell shock. It was named by medical officer Charles Myers, as it was initially believed to be a physical injury to the nerves due to close proximity to bombs, etc. The symptoms included sympathy pains (seeing/inflicting a gruesome face injury resulted in a person developing tics in their own faces, for example).
During World War II it came to be known as battle fatigue. Throughout both world wars, developing knowledge of the condition, its causes and treatments was slight at best and fraught with misunderstanding. Both the military command and medical professionals were highly skeptical of it, to put it mildly. Military leaders felt that a soldier’s first battle should “steel the combatants against any ‘future stresses’”.
Civilians, leaders and doctors could neither understand nor sympathize with those suffering, and believed combat stress reaction (the military’s term for PTSD) was due to the sufferer’s weakness and/or cowardice.PTSD was brought to the world’s attention as a legitimate disorder only after Vietnam veterans vocally insisted on the condition’s recognition. The veterans’ success can mostly be seen in the disorder’s addition to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)...and the reason that PTSD is mostly associated with them. For years, it was actually called “Post-Vietnam Syndrome.” It is this inclusion in the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM that brought the research and recognition of medical professionals that allows them to successfully diagnose and help treat those suffering from PTSD.
http://www.nvvam.org/education/trauma/historyptsd.htm

They helped us out throughout history. This is a picture of some Code Talkers.

Prevalence of PTSD 45 to 57% American Indian Vietnam Veterans

If you want an answer, it is a good place to begin where the most answers can be found. If you look at the Native Americans, dealing with PTSD since they first set foot on this land, then had to deal with other tribes as well as the "whites" coming to take their land, you have hundreds, if not thousands of years to look back on. While non-Indian veterans returned from Vietnam and scattered across the country, most Native Indians returned to their communities.

There are many psychology students trying to understand the relationship between mind, spirit and body. The documented evidence between war and the consequence paid by the spirit have been found within ancient documents across the globe. We can learn a great deal from ancient cultures. The American Indians are a living history of the answers we need to find.

The American Indian Vietnam Veterans Project found lifetime prevalence of PTSD to be 45 to 57% among AI veterans, rates significantly higher than among other Vietnam veterans.

http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/cre/fact4.asp

PTSD and the Legacy of War Among American Indian & Alaska Native Veterans
For Mental Health Care Providers
Run time: 54 min, in 9 parts

Contains interviews with native veterans and family members, providing powerful personal examples of military experience and readjustment to civilian life. Also describes experiences and perceptions about problems that occur when seeking or obtaining assistance from the VA, the Indian Health Service (IHS), community and tribal resources.

Will help staff recognize the cultural impact on the veteran and enable them to interact with the veteran in a manner that demonstrates respect for the cultural and social values, as well as the spiritual and emotional needs of those suffering from PTSD.
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Part 1: Introduction
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Part 2: Overview
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Part 3: Interviews
(4:09)
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Part 4: The Nature of PTSD
(5:40)
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Part 5: Cultural Formulation
(8:45)
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Part 6: Cultural Factors
(7:27)
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Part 7: Factors, Families
(7:05)
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Part 8: Traditional Medicine
(5:27)
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Part 9: Psychotherapy
(6:47)
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Also available in version for:

General Audiences

Native Veterans and their Families

Health Care Providers * (*with web based electronic guide)

Native Americans and Military Service
American Indian and Alaska Native veterans have a proud history of service in the United States military. Unfortunately, the stereotype that American Indians are members of a martial race is at least as old as the U.S. itself. For example, Colonel James Smith, held captive by an unnamed Indian tribe between 1755 and 1759, wrote an account of American Indian modes of warfare that was accurate enough to popularize the idea that Indians were uniquely brave and adept warriors. Later, Secretary of the Interior Ickes furthered these ideas in his writings for a national magazine, saying that, "the rigors of combat hold no terror for American Indians and, better than all else, they have an enthusiasm for fighting." Thus, by the end of World War II, the stereotype of the American Indian as a martial race, with special propensities and desire for warfare, was firmly and pervasively entrenched in the American mind.
From the American Indian perspective, war is viewed as a major disruption of the natural order of life and of the universe. Native American peoples conceptualize no separation between mind, body, spirit, and "religion," while the western society world-view (that of the U.S. majority) embraces a reductionistic/separatist conceptualization of a mind, body, and spirit. Thus, a more holistic paradigm of self, spirit, and nature is embraced by American Indian and Alaska Native peoples. Warriors are viewed as people who are placed not only in physical danger, but also in spiritual danger by their participation in war. All tribes see the warrior as sacrificing self (purposefully exposing oneself to trauma or even death) on behalf of the people; it is a role and an undertaking worthy of the highest respect. Thus, only the most serious reasons legitimize war.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
The risk of exposure to trauma (e.g., combat or rape) is a risk of the human condition. A possible consequence of trauma is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Historical accounts and world literature provide us with many illustrations of trauma and its sequelae. One example is Homer's ancient story of the battle between the Greeks and the Trojans. In a more modern-day work, Shakespeare's Henry IV appears to have met many, if not all, of the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. Yet, as familiar as clinicians and the general public have become with PTSD in general, knowledge about its prevalence, incidence, comorbidities, treatments, and cultural aspects specific to American Indian and Alaska Native peoples remains relatively underinvestigated and undisseminated.
This section contains information about PTSD and various topics:
What Causes PTSD
Making the Diagnosis
Is PTSD Different for Native Veterans?
Social Readjustment
Quality of Life
Relationships
Mental Health
PTSD, Alcohol Problems and Drug Abuse
PTSD and Physical Illness

Native American Healing
Native American healing encompasses a very broad spectrum of practices and beliefs. These practices and beliefs vary throughout the different tribes of Native American, yet they all are generally based on spirituality, herbs, religion or a combination of all three. Native American healing practices and rituals were used to treat not only medical conditions but emotional and spiritual conditions, too.
There are many different Native American tribes. It would be impossible to list all of them in this article. It should be noted that some Native American healing practices are not even known by the general public. Many healing practices and rituals are kept as closely guarded secret among the tribes. They are only passed down from healers to the next generation of healers. What is known about Native American healing and rituals is very general and remains part of the mystery which continues to surround Native Americans.
The concept behind Native American healing is much different than Western medicine. Native Americans looked at the person as a whole and treated the individual’s entire person, instead of focusing on just the illness or ailment. As many of you know, Native Americans believe that everything is interconnected – nature, plants, animals, the Earth, sky and so on. Many Native Americans believe that everything has a spirit. If a person had an illness it was thought to be due in part to a spiritual problem.
An important part of Native American healing involved cleansing and purifying the body. Sweat lodges, special drinks and herbs were often used by tribes for the purpose of cleansing the body. Another ritual was called smudging. This is when they would “smoke” a person or a place with the smoke from a sacred herb or plant. Sometimes the entire tribe was involved in ceremonies that were supposed to promote healing for an individual or the tribe as a whole. These ceremonies sometimes included painting their bodies, singing, praying, dancing, chanting, or taking substances that were reported to alter the mind.
Native American healing is very old. It is said to have roots in ancient East Indian and Chinese traditions. When the United States was settled many of the ancient healing practices became lost or were hidden from the whites. It was until the United States passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1978 did many of these rituals and practices become “legal.”
To put it plainly, because many of the Native American healing practices are shrouded in mystery and spirituality there are few scientific studies to prove whether it is a valid form of medicine that actually heals the body. However, many people swear by Native American healing. They say it not only heals, but it calms and relieves stress. Many people who have disease or illness will incorporate it in with their Western medicine plans.
http://www.native-languages.org/composition/native-american-healing.html

Native American veterans seen at greater risk for PTSD

Native American veterans seen at risk
Region lags in efforts to help stress-afflicted
By Anna Badkhen, Globe Correspondent September 17, 2007
Mental health workers are looking for new ways to help Native American service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. In some parts of the United States, specialists are combining modern treatments with traditional healing methods, employing medicine men, participating in sweat lodges, and asking tribal elders to encourage veterans to seek professional medical help.

But in New England, the effort to reach out to Native American veterans is lagging, mental health specialists and some Native Americans say. At risk, they say, are thousands of Native American veterans, who historically are more susceptible to combat trauma than other troops, but who also are less likely to seek, and receive, mental health help from government-operated agencies as their non-Indian comrades.

Studies of Native American veterans who fought in Vietnam showed that they were twice as likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder as other veterans. Although no one has studied the prevalence of trauma among Native American veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, mental health workers anticipate that those troops may suffer from similarly high levels of trauma.

At least 18,000 of the 22,000 Native Americans currently in uniform had been deployed at least once to Iraq or Afghanistan as of July, according to the US Department of Defense. Recent Army studies have found that up to 30 percent of soldiers coming home from Iraq suffer from depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder. The studies did not include other branches of the military.
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