PTSD Patrol Finding Your Keys

Lost key ring
PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
May 20, 2018

You are ready to go on a journey. You gather up everything you need. Ready to head out the door, you discover your keys are not where you thought they were. Frantically, you search the clothes you had on the day before. You look all over, and then as your heart begins to race, you look again.

When you do not find them, you start to wonder if you left them someplace else. Well, considering you got back home with them, they have to be where you are, but must be hiding.

Sooner or later, you decide it is best to retrace your steps. Best place for that to start is at the beginning...in your car.

You soon discover your keys are still in the ignition.

It is the same as with your life. All too often, we forget to turn the key and turn our imagination on.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 New International Version (NIV)

If you spent your time risking your life for others, that desire had to have come from somewhere. Right? After all, it is not "normal" for humans to rush toward danger instead of running from it. It is not what the majority of the other humans do. It is what the people we call heroes do.

Thinking about what it takes to do that, you should also understand that other than courage and a fast thinking brain, you are also equipped with what it takes to heal from doing it.

This weeks empowerment message comes from OEF-OIF veteran helicopter pilot Bob Roebuck served seven full tours. He spent time showing me around to see the huge vehicles at Spikes Tactical  earlier this week. 
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Fort Campbell Soldiers Hurt After Helicopter Caught Fire

Helicopter Training Incident Injures Four Fort Campbell Soldiers
WKMS News
By NICOLE ERWIN and MATT MARKGRAF
JAN 31, 2017

Tuesday Afternoon Update: The helicopter caught fire during a training exercise and was extinguished by Fort Campbell Fire and Emergency Services personnel.

Soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team aided in the extraction of the aircraft personnel. The soldiers suffering injuries were transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Blanchfield Army Community Hospital. Their families are still being notified.
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Vietnam Veteran Receiving Medal of Honor After Saving 8 Lives 48 Years Ago

Vietnam War veteran to receive military's highest decoration for daring rescue of 8 soldiers
MLIVE News
By Tom Perkins
Special to The Ann Arbor News
on October 29, 2015

Against the odds, Kettles got the helicopter airborne, saving the eight men and his crew.

Charles Kettles poses for a photo in front of the demonstration of his stories at the Ypsilanti Historical Museum, Sunday, October 25, 2015 in Ypsilanti(Junfu Han | The Ann Arbor News)

Now, 48 years later, Kettles is up for the Medal of Honor, the US Military's highest decoration, for the rescue. Sec. of Defense Ash Carter recently approved the action, and it only needs Congress's approval before President Obama's signature makes it final.

The daring rescue was something off of a movie screen – the type of war flick where one thinks "That was cool, but there's no way it ends like that in real life."

On May 15, 1967, northwest of Duc Pho Airfield in Vietnam's central highlands, orders came in for Charles "Chuck" Kettles, commander of the 176th Assault Helicopter Company's first platoon, to evacuate 44 soldiers pinned down by the North Vietnamese Army in a battle that wasn't going well for the Americans.

Eight choppers landed, the soldiers scrambled aboard, and the helicopters were airborne with minutes - mission accomplished.
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In addition to the courageous rescue, Kettles flew more than 600 missions over two tours in Vietnam while earning 27 air medals and a Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest decoration a soldier can receive.

Vietnam Veteran Came Home in 1970, Survived Then Surcumbed

Murphy came home from Vietnam in 1970. He survived combat plus decades here. We can only wonder how long he could have survived had he been granted the promises made "to care for him who shall have borne the battle" as President Lincoln said. To read the beginning of the fine article on Savannah Now, it would not do proper justice to this life gone too soon.

"Robert Lloyd Murphy Jr. was born in Newport News, Va., but spent his childhood in Virginia and in Florida. His father was a Baptist minister, Townsend said, and “they moved around a lot.”

Murphy’s parents are both dead now. So is his sister, his only sibling.

For his senior year in high school, Murphy attended Oak Hill Academy, a private, Baptist-affiliated boarding school in Virginia. His fellow seniors in the Class of 1966 voted him “Best Personality.”

“Bob, you have so much potential,” a teacher named Edith Hough wrote on a page of Murphy’s “Hilltopper” yearbook. “Live up to your potential.”

In Murphy’s case, that meant serving his country.

The Vietnam War had been raging for two years when Murphy got his high school diploma. By the end of 1966, the number of American troops in Vietnam reached 385,000 men.

On May 7, 1967, Murphy started on a path to join them by enlisting in the U.S. Army. His superiors trained him to fly helicopters. He arrived in Vietnam on Oct. 20, 1968, on the heels of the huge battle at Khe Sanh. Murphy must have been good at his job, as he became a commander for his rotary wing unit.

“He made captain when he was 22,” Murphy’s nephew said. “He got shot down once, and he said he was lucky to get out with only a few injuries. But he was hard core. He wanted to do his duty.”

He served 19 months in Vietnam and returned to the states in May 1970. He was honorably discharged in 1971 from Fort Stewart."

Tom Barton: VA scandal hits home: Vet hooked on morphine, takes own life
Savannah Now.com
Tom Barton
Posted: November 22, 2014

My morphine addiction is a necessary evil that prevents my death by suicide. I know it is inevitable and the increase of the dosage is without a doubt a foregone conclusion. I don’t look forward to it.
— Bob Murphy on Veterans Day, 2013
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Representative-Veteran Double Amputee Duckworth "thrilled" to be pregnant

Iraq veteran U.S. Rep. Duckworth 'thrilled' to be pregnant
Daily Herald
Mike Riopell
September 1, 2014

U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth says she six months pregnant and expecting a daughter.

The Hoffman Estates Democrat, Iraq veteran and double amputee broke the news this morning on NBC's "Today" in a segment describing how four amputees who came home from the Iraq War are now pregnant or have recently had a baby.

Shortly after the news broke online, Duckworth posted a photo of a pink baby shirt with blue lettering saying "heli baby" and a plastic cup reading "Helicopter Pilot in Training."

"I am so thrilled I'm going to be a mother here in just four months," she told "Today."

Duckworth said the time she and other veterans have taken to start families speaks to the tough road faced by many soldiers who've come home from recent conflicts.

"We're the best-case scenario, and it's taken us 10 years to put our lives back together, to get into a good place where we could think about having children," she told the Daily Herald last week.
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Retired Medevac pilot reflects on 27-year Army career

Medevac’s memories: Retired pilot reflects on 27-year Army career
Harker Heights Herald
Bob Massey
Herald correspondent
March 28, 2014

Retired Col. Otis Evans remembers the very long and harrowing day of Dec. 1, 1968, like it was yesterday. The day began at 4:30 a.m. with a mission to extract a wounded soldier from Vietnam’s trenches.

“We received fire, but it didn’t disable the aircraft. We tried another route in and it was the worst choice we could have made,” he said. His rescue mission suffered a barrage of enemy fire, destroying the tail rotor system of his helicopter and causing the chopper to crash.

Not willing to abandon their mission, Evans and his crew loaded up another helicopter and made another attempt to that same location later in the evening when there was very little action.

Unfortunately, the soldier they were sent to retrieve was dead.

“Regardless, we were still bound and determined to bring the soldier out,” Evans said.
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Veterans reunited with chopper that flew in Vietnam

Veterans reunited in Plant City with chopper that flew in Vietnam
Tribune Staff
By Dave Nicholson
Published: March 17, 2014

PLANT CITY — Jay Hays remembers the day he left Vietnam and paused to take a last look at the helicopter that had taken him into combat zones dozens of times.

“I thanked God and the helicopter that I’d survived my year and that I was going home in one piece,” he said. “I thought back about what I’d gone through and knew how lucky I was to have made it.”

Hays, 66, said he figured he’d seen the last of the UH-1 “Huey” that had the call sign Bandit 113, when he left Vietnam Nov. 7, 1968.

On Sunday, the former crew chief was reunited with the aging chopper at the Plant City home of Lance Ham, who served with Hays in Vietnam in the 281st Assault Helicopter Co. Hays, Ham and other veterans helped prepare the helicopter for its final mission: a trip to a military museum in Texas.

“It brings back a lot of memories,” said Ham, 68.

The helicopter had decades of service in the Army and Florida National Guard until the fall, when it was declared surplus. Ham stored the helicopter behind his home until Monday, when representatives of the H.E.A.R.T.S. Veterans Museum of Texas picked it up to truck it to Huntsville.

About a half a dozen members of the 281st from various times in Vietnam were on hand as a huge wrecker from Brewington Towing Service loaded it up on a trailer for its journey west.
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Vietnam Combat Pilot Veteran retires from National Guards

Vietnam Veteran Combat Chopper Pilot Retires
The State (Columbia, S.C.)
by John Monk
Jan 06, 2014

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- More than 150 people turned out Sunday to bid a fond and formal goodbye to Command Chief Warrant Officer Eric Seymore, who with 43 years in the military, is the last Vietnam War combat helicopter pilot in the S.C. National Guard.

Seymore was a legend both to his superiors, who depended on his multiple expertises, and to those who served under him, who regarded him as an inspiration and a mentor, said speakers at the hour-plus ceremony at the Guard's headquarters off Bluff Road.

Seymore, 61, was one of those "who would do extra of whatever was required of them," the Guard's No. 2 commanding officer, Maj. Gen. Les Eisner said in a speech.

Sunday's tributes to Seymore included an affectionate mix of homage to his wife of 40 years, Peggy, who endured numerous separations while he was on military duty, praise for Seymore's work ethic and mentoring abilities, and jokes about Clemson (he graduated in 1976) and age (few serve into their 60s as Seymore did)

Seymore was also given three statuettes -- of an American Revolutionary War Minute Man, a bald eagle and golden eagle.
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Army IDs 2 pilots killed in Benning helo crash

Army IDs 2 pilots killed in Benning helo crash
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Aug 10, 2011 11:27:47 EDT
FORT BENNING, Ga. — The Army has identified two special operations pilots killed when their helicopter crashed during a training exercise in Georgia.

An Army news release Wednesday said the soldiers killed in the crash were 30-year-old Capt. John D. Hortman of Inman, S.C., and 37-year-old Chief Warrant Officer 3 Steven B. Redd of Lancaster, Calif. Both men served in the 1st Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment stationed at Fort Campbell, Ky.

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Huey added to Warhawk Air Museum

A group of Vietnam Veterans get long overdue recognition
By Eric Fink
CREATED JUL. 30, 2011

On this summer weekend the Warhawk Air Musueum in Nampa played host to a group of men who so proudly served on the Vietnam battlefields.

More than 40 years after returning home, the pilots and fighters who captioned the "Mustang Gunship Huey Helicopter," in Southeast Asia, were recognized for their service. The "Huey" was unveiled at the Air Museum and veterans from across the country attended the ceremony.

"It brings back memories, what we saw what we did, what our job was. I can't help but get emotional, it's a very emotional thing," Sid King, a former fighter pilot said. "Too many memories, too many good times. Too many hard times."
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A group of Vietnam Veterans get long overdue recognition

Vietnam Vet Edward Freeman, Medal of Honor, died at the age of 80

Medal of Honor helicopter pilot dies

By Jessie L. Bonner - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Aug 21, 2008 6:09:22 EDT

BOISE, Idaho — Edward Freeman, a former Army helicopter pilot awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroics during the Vietnam War and portrayed in the Mel Gibson movie “We Were Soldiers,” has died. He was 80.

Doug Freeman said his father died Wednesday in Boise from health complications due to Parkinson’s Disease after spending several weeks undergoing treatment.

The Mississippi native braved intense enemy fire in the Ia Drang Valley as he carried out rescue missions on Nov. 14, 1965, during what was considered one of the fiercest battles of the Vietnam War.

After an Army battalion was surrounded by enemy forces, Freeman flew his unarmed helicopter through enemy fire to evacuate 30 seriously wounded soldiers and bring them to safety. He also delivered water, ammunition and supplies.

Actor Mark McCracken portrayed Freeman in the 2002 film.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/08/ap_freeman_moh_082008/

FREEMAN, ED W.

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress,
March 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of The Congress the Medal of Honor to

CAPTAIN ED W. FREEMAN
UNITED STATES ARMY

for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty:

Captain Ed W. Freeman, United States Army, distinguished himself by numerous acts of conspicuous gallantry and extraordinary intrepidity on 14 November 1965 while serving with Company A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). As a flight leader and second in command of a 16-helicopter lift unit, he supported a heavily engaged American infantry battalion at Landing Zone X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley, Republic of Vietnam. The unit was almost out of ammunition after taking some of the heaviest casualties of the war, fighting off a relentless attack from a highly motivated, heavily armed enemy force. When the infantry commander closed the helicopter landing zone due to intense direct enemy fire, Captain Freeman risked his own life by flying his unarmed helicopter through a gauntlet of enemy fire time after time, delivering critically needed ammunition, water and medical supplies to the besieged battalion. His flights had a direct impact on the battle's outcome by providing the engaged units with timely supplies of ammunition critical to their survival, without which they would almost surely have gone down, with much greater loss of life. After medical evacuation helicopters refused to fly into the area due to intense enemy fire, Captain Freeman flew 14 separate rescue missions, providing life-saving evacuation of an estimated 30 seriously wounded soldiers -- some of whom would not have survived had he not acted. All flights were made into a small emergency landing zone within 100 to 200 meters of the defensive perimeter where heavily committed units were perilously holding off the attacking elements. Captain Freeman's selfless acts of great valor, extraordinary perseverance and intrepidity were far above and beyond the call of duty or mission and set a superb example of leadership and courage for all of his peers. Captain Freeman's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.
http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/vietnam-a-l.html