Dallas-area veterans hospital “ a long-standing deficiency related to resources for women veterans healthcare

Top VA hospital lacked full-time gynecologist, facilities serving women veterans for years, report says

Military Times
Leo Shane III
January 24, 2020

In the report, investigators criticized officials at the Dallas-area veterans hospital for “ a long-standing deficiency related to resources for women veterans healthcare, such as equipment, supplies and space that were required to ensure gender-specific care.”

One of the largest veterans medical centers in the country went almost two years without a full-time gynecologist and lacked private, secure spaces for women patients for even longer, according to a new report released by the Veterans Affairs Inspector General this week.

Investigators this week found widespread problems with staffing and facility space for women veterans at the VA North Texas Health Care System. (Photo courtesy of the Department of Veterans Affairs)

Department officials insist most of those issues at the North Texas VA Health Care System have been resolved now, but lawmakers are saying the shortfalls are indicative of larger cultural and leadership problems within the federal agency in their response to the rising number of women veterans.

“The lack of space, privacy, and provider shortages are widespread, and these problems result in inconsistent, inadequate, and insufficient care for our women veterans,” said Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Cal.f. and chair of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s task force on women veterans.

“We owe all of our veterans the highest quality care. As this report points out, when it comes to equity for women veterans, we're clearly falling short.”
read it here

Shooting at Dallas VA hospital left man dead after seeking psychiatric help last night

Man With Knife Shot and Killed at Veterans Affairs Hospital in Dallas: Police

NBC 5 News
Published 2 hours ago • Updated 1 hour ago

A man was shot and killed by Veterans Affairs officers at a hospital in Dallas Wednesday night, police said.

Police officers opened fire on the man who was armed with a knife at about 10:22 p.m. at the Veterans Affairs Hospital at 4500 S. Lancaster Road.

The man was at the hospital seeking psychiatric help, police said. At some point during the interaction, the man started to walk off and the VA officers followed him and tried to disarm him, according to the VA police. Their attempts to disarm him were unsuccessful and two officers opened fire, police said.
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Southwest pilot brought to tears carrying Vietnam MIA remains home...his Dad!

update Vietnam War pilot whose son flew remains to Texas laid to rest: "Dad has come home"

Family members of Col. Roy Knight Jr. stand as the National Anthem is played during Knight's memorial service Saturday in Cool, just outside of Mineral Wells August 10, 2019. Knight was shot down over Laos in 1967 while serving as a U.S. Air Force pilot in the Vietnam War. In February, Knight's remains were recovered and identified, then flown home last week for burial at Holders Chapel United Methodist Church. (Photo: Ronald W. Erdrich/Reporter-News) read it here

Airline pilot flies dad's remains home from Vietnam 52 years after seeing him off at same Dallas airport

USA TODAY
Doug Stanglin
Aug. 8, 2019

Proskow said the story Knight, who was subsequently promoted to colonel, and his son, Bryan, who also served in the Air Force, was announced over the airport intercom as the moving scene unfolded.

When Air Force Maj. Roy Knight, Jr., left Dallas for Vietnam 52 years ago, his 5-year-old son, Bryan, came to Dallas Love Field to see him off. On Thursday, Bryan, now a captain for Southwest Airlines, brought back his father's remains aboard a flight to the same Dallas airport.

Knight, born in Garner, Texas, was 36 when he was shot down while attacking a target on the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos on May 19,1967, according to White’s Funeral Home in Weatherford, Texas. Jackson Proskow, Washington bureau chief for Canada's Global News, was on a layover from El Paso to Washington on Thursday when he witnessed the moving ceremony at the airport. Proskow watched as the flag-draped casket was delivered into the arms of a military honor guard.

In a series of tweets, Proskow reported that the Dallas Love Field terminal came to a standstill.

"Incredible moment to watch," Proskow wrote. "The entire airport fell silent."

Southwest Airlines Captain Bryan Knight flew his father back home to Dallas Love Field for the final time more than 50 years after he was killed in action during the Vietnam War in 1967. (Photo: Ashlee D. Smith, Southwest Airlines)

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Lawyers take on suicide prevention through veterans experiences

Lawyer uses military experience to destigmatize suicide and encourage camaraderie

Daily Campus
ALEXA VICKARYOUS
OCTOBER 30, 2018

A Dallas lawyer explored suicide prevention through the lens of a veteran and its importance in the law field in his lecture “Battling Suicides and Depression: How Lawyers Can Help Each Other.”

Twenty-nine students attended the lecture and heard how Brian Farlow’s 27 years of active and reserve military service was connected to his mental health as a lawyer.

“We are the most educated profession, with the possible exception of doctors, and yet we are struggling to maintain a decent mental health,” Farlow said. “We are struggling with suicides.”

According to a 2012 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the lawyer occupation had the 11th highest suicide rate with 19 suicides per 100,000 professionals.

President of the Student Bar Association Brooke Adams, the SBA Mental Health Awareness Committee and Assistant Dean for Student Affairs Stephen Yeager planned this event as part of Dedman Law Wellness Week which coincided with National Law Student Mental Health Day.

“As a law student, it is hard, and Brian Farlow talked about the pressure you are in,” Adams said. “Here you learn it is okay to take a knee. It is okay to not be the best.”

Farlow played a video called “Shoulder to Shoulder,” which told the story of a soldier who attempted suicide. A fellow soldier prevented the suicide when he noticed that after a divorce his friend was not playing his guitar very much or talking to many people. This soldier saved his friend’s life by noticing the red flags and by removing the firing pin from his gun.
read more here

Baird Asher from Air Force, to homeless veteran, to discovered artist

Homeless Air Force veteran and street artist receives national attention after stranger buys his work

ABC 13 NEWS

Deborah Wrigley

October 11, 2018

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- As cars travel over a creek on a Katy Freeway service road, yards beneath out of view, a homeless vet applies paint to plywood, creating art.

It is where Baird Asher has lived for two months after he caught a ride to Houston from New Orleans, where he was a street artist. As an Air Force veteran who was an aircraft mechanic, "I can put an engine together," he said, but his real calling is his art.

"I'm an artist, and this is what I do," he said. "I don't necessarily refuse to do anything else, but this is what God gave me the talent to do."

Technically, Asher is homeless.

"I live under a highway bridge," he said with a laugh. But he needed the kindness of strangers to eat.

Two days ago, he was standing at an intersection with a sign that read, "Hungry Vet." That caught the eye of Suzanne Coppola, who was stopped at the light. At his feet was one of his paintings. It got Coppola's attention.

"I parked illegally and talked to him," she said. "He had an amazing story, and he's an amazing artist and I put it on my Facebook page, asking the creative community if we could do something for him."

The response amazed Coppola.

"I have artists contacting me about ideas they have for him, and a gallery owner from Dallas, who also has a gallery in Miami, asked to buy all his paintings," she said.
read more here

250,000 radiology orders at VA canceled?

‘I knew something was not right’: Mass cancellations of diagnostic test orders at VA hospitals draw scrutiny
USA TODAY
Donovan Slack
Oct. 1, 2018

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Radiology technologist Jeff Dettbarn said he knew something was wrong at the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Iowa City, Iowa, when a patient arrived in February 2017 for a CT scan, but the doctor’s order for it had been cancelled.

“To have a patient show up for a scan and not have an order – you’re like, ‘What the heck is going on?’” he told USA TODAY in an interview.

Dettbarn started collecting cancellation notices for diagnostic procedures such as CT scans, MRIs and ultrasounds.

“I knew something was not right,” he said. “Because none of them were cancelled by a physician.”

Cancellations of more than 250,000 radiology orders at VA hospitals across the country since 2016 have raised questions about whether – in a rush to clear out outdated and duplicative diagnostic orders – some facilities failed to follow correct procedures. At issue is a concern over whether some medically necessary orders for CT scans and other imaging tests were cancelled improperly.

The VA inspector general is now auditing mass cancellations at eight VA medical centers “to determine whether VA processed radiology requests in a timely manner and appropriately managed canceled requests,” VA Inspector General Michael Missal said.

Those hospitals are in Tampa and Bay Pines, Florida; Salisbury, North Carolina; Cleveland; Dallas; Denver; Las Vegas; and Los Angeles.
read more here

13 Unclaimed Veterans to be buried with honors

Do you know them? Burial set for homeless veterans

Dallas

The 13 unclaimed veterans are identified as:

• Army Specialist Joseph David Dobson, 84
• 
  
• Army Private Ned Carlston King, 56
• 
  
• Army Specialist Dennis Wayne Moore, 63
• 
  
• Marine Private Edward Charles Gipson, 60
• 
  
• Marine Private Grant Wells, Jr., 63
• 
  
• Navy Veteran Glenn Allen Gatton, 65
• 
  
• Navy Ensign Patrick Michael Kelly, 62
• 
  
• Navy Veteran Daniel Ray McKinley, 46
• 
  
• Navy Veteran Michael Snyder, 58
• 
  
• Navy Veteran Elbert Louis Wilson, 79
• 
  
• Air Force Staff Sergeant William Brugemann Beeson, 86
• 
  
• Air Force Master Sergeant Bobby Ray Gleason, 71
• 
  
• Air Force Veteran Jerry G. Marshall, 81

Community Refuses To Give Up On Blind, Homeless Vet

Grace In Action: Community Refuses To Give Up On Blind, Homeless Vet
CBS News
By Robbie Owens
August 25, 2016

DALLAS (CBS11) – With hugs and smiles all around, Willie Curtis King, Jr. is enjoying a homecoming of sorts.

“I had thought there weren’t no more really good people in the world,” said King. “I was so down on my luck. But, every day, I woke up. Every day I woke up, these people helped me.”

His visit to the MLK Community Center Thursday was made even more special when you consider that this time last year, King had no home. He was a card-carrying member of the angry, hard-to-help homeless, existing on the kindness of those at the center.

“I didn’t have to be outside that dumpster,” said King. “I was just belligerent… out of control.”

Those at the MLK Center would be inclined to agree.

“I reached out to his brother,” said Officer Terry Brookins. “He cursed his brother out. Everybody tried to help him; but, he refused.”

But, Officer Brookins was patient… and he was persistent, telling CBS11 that it was “heartbreaking” to see the veteran “digging in the trash cans, trying to find food to eat.”
read more here

Police Officers Know Their Jobs Can Kill Them

Stepping Up For Those Who Show Up
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 12, 2016

When we go to work, we worry about traffic and if we are going to do something to get fired.  When police officers go to work, they worry about traffic too. They also have to worry about getting killed on their jobs.  We never manage to think of that very much. It comes with their jobs.

They usually have pretty "normal" days considering what their jobs demand. 

They may have to respond to an accident, robbery, domestic violence calls and stopping idiot drivers.  Then they may have the rare days like in Dallas when they were protecting protestors. Five were killed and nine were wounded but all were changed.

Senior Cpl. Lorne Ahrens’ children had already gone to bed Thursday night when the Dallas police officer was wheeled into the emergency room at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.

On Friday morning, the kids woke up to the news that their father was dead.

Cedar Hill Public Information Officer Lieutenant Colin Chenault places his hand on the shoulder of police chaplain Victor Jackson during a prayer service at the Cedar Hill Government Center in Cedar Hill, Texas Friday." Dallas Morning News

They were there to protect the protestors. Parents brought their kids because they thought it would be safe for them to march against what a few police officers do because other officers were there to make sure no one got out of control.

A mother tries to calm her daughter as Dallas Police respond to shots being fired at a Black Lives Matter rally in downtown Dallas. (Maria R. Olivas/Special Contributor)

After all that is what police officers do but we do not notice that until we need them.

To blame all police officers instead of what is happening all over the country ends up heating up anger all the way around. We need to stop putting people into groups we can blame instead of the person who decided to do it.


In Orlando, hate caused a man to open fire at the Pulse nightclub. Over a hundred people were shot and forty nine were murdered.  They thought their biggest worry would be how to get home if they had too much fun drank too much.

"For those who were gay, for those who were tortured and stigmatized throughout their lives, I am just praying that now they're in heaven and they're together and that they'll know they didn't die in vain. Hopefully, they will see all the people coming together to honor them and show them love." Kristine Rosendahl

“Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.” Maya Angelou

It was police officers showing up to prevent more from being gunned down. 

When they were on their way to the massacre, they did not know what they were going to have to do or if they would go home at the end of their shift.

Even most of the protestors appreciate the fact police officers are there because they do not blame all of them. Dallas police officers were seen in pictures supporting the protestors as well as being there to protect them. People are stepping up for those who show up to protect all of us.

“We actually felt like they were protecting us.” one demonstrator wrote.

All of us have jobs to do. All of us do the best we can everyday no matter what we have to do. So do police officers. Most of the folks in Dallas understand that. Most of the folks all across the country understand that and appreciate their willingness to keep doing their jobs.

Hate Lost Every Time Love Showed Up

Police Officers Show Up To Protect No Matter What They Face
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 9, 2016

There are some wanting to blame all in the Black Lives Matter group for what happened in Dallas. Some want to blame all police officers for what has been happening involving shootings. The thing is, both are wrong. We need to blame hate itself.

In Boston at the marathon it was the hate of two that caused the bombs to blow up but love responded by the hundreds. One bomb blew up and folks ran to help victims not knowing if there would be more bombs blowing up.  When the second one went off, more ran to help not knowing if there would be a third. 

It happened right here in Orlando when the hate of one caused the deaths and woundings of over 100 but love responded by the thousands.

When some police officers are involved in shooting citizens and the reason is questionable, it involved that officer but some want to blame all police officers. Yet again, the actions of a few are always responded to by acts of love by the thousands.

Think about all this for more than a second or two.

The Dallas police officers were protecting the protestors even as gunshots were being aimed at them. The next day, after eleven of their own were shot and five of them died in the line of duty, they showed up for work the next day to, yet again, protect protestors. They showed up all over the country to do what they always do, protect others.

It happened in Georgia when officers responded to a call from a man claiming someone broke in and they were ambushed.

VALDOSTA, Ga. (AP) -- Authorities say a man called 911 in south Georgia to report a break-in, then ambushed and shot the officer who came to investigate. Both men were wounded in the ensuing gunfire, and both are expected to survive.

People line up to hug police officers in Dallas

After an interfaith prayer service, crowds lined up to hug police officers in downtown Dallas. Five officers were killed in a sniper attack on Thursday.

Profiles in courage

Dallas police offer a somber salute as fallen officers are transported into vans in the early morning of July 8, 2016 after shots were fired at a Black Lives Matter rally in downtown Dallas on Thursday, July 7, 2016. Demonstrators were at a Black Lives Matter rally, protesting the killing of Alton Sterling by police in Baton Rouge, La., and Philando Castile in Minnesota, when gunshots rang out from a Dallas building overlooking the march route. Police officers were deliberately targeted, officials said.
(Rose Baca/The Dallas Morning News)

In a Dallas hospital's chapel after shooting, 'hope in a time of chaos'
Dallas Morning News
By Sabriya Rice
Business of Healthcare Reporter
Published: 08 July 2016

Sabriya Rice/Staff

Arlene Williams, in black dress, hugs an unidentified woman in the chapel of Baylor University Medical Center. The woman is the wife of a Dallas police officer who was working Thursday night.

As she likes to do on most days during her lunch break, Arlene Williams knelt to say her daily prayers on Friday, in a small chapel tucked away on the campus of Baylor University Medical Center.

Some days, she prays all alone. On others, Williams, a 59-year old African-American who works at the dentistry school located on the medical center campus, comforts others seeking solace from the chaos of life.

Friday was one of those days when life would intrude unexpectedly on the chapel’s calm. As Williams stood to leave, the sound of sobbing flooded the hallway. Then hospital staff escorted in a woman whom they described as the wife of a Dallas police officer.

She was trembling with emotion. Her glasses were pushed upward to hold back her blond hair, thus revealing her eyes, which were puffy from crying and lack of sleep.

“Does she need a prayer?” Williams asked without hesitation. Within moments, the woman was crying in Williams’ arms.

The two had not previously met. And it’s unclear which officer the woman, whose full name was not provided, was with. However, the shared moment between these strangers offered a glimmer of hope after a night of fear.

Outside the chapel walls, there was division and distress as the city and nation face the aftermath of the shooting that left five officers dead and seven injured downtown. Inside, there was only connection and solace.

“You can still love,” Williams said to the woman. “Dry her tears, God. Don’t let hate in during these trying times,” she prayed.
read more here

Dallas Sniper Was Facing Other Than Honorable Discharge

Dallas Sniper Was Loner; Army Sent Him Home From Afghanistan
ASSOCIATED PRESS
By WILL WEISSERT, REESE DUNKLIN AND MITCH WEISS
MESQUITE, Texas — Jul 9, 2016

In May 2014, six months into his Afghanistan tour, he was accused of sexual harassment by a female soldier. The Army sent him stateside, recommending an "other than honorable discharge," said Bradford Glendening, the military lawyer who represented him.

The Dallas sniper had been sent home from Afghanistan after being accused of sexually harassing a female, and was described as a loner who followed black militant groups on social media.

Micah Xavier Johnson, who fatally shot five officers and wounded seven more before police killed him with a remote-controlled bomb on Friday, lived with family members in the blue-collar suburb of Mesquite, where he played basketball for hours at a time.

Friends there said the 25-year-old black man didn't seem interested in politics, but his Facebook page suggests otherwise: He "liked" black militant groups including the African American Defense League and the New Black Panther Party, which was founded in Dallas.

His photo showed him wearing a dashiki and raising his fist over the words "Black Power," and his cover shot carried the red, black and green Pan-African flag.

For six years starting in 2009, Johnson served in the Army Reserve as a private first class with a specialty in carpentry and masonry, the military said.
read more here

UPDATE

Army soldier accused Dallas gunman of sexual harassment
Associated Press
Published: July 9, 2016

DALLAS — A military lawyer says the man who fatally shot five officers in Dallas was accused of sexual harassment by a female solider when he served in the Army in Afghanistan in May 2014.

Lawyer Bradford Glendening says Micah Johnson was sent back to the U.S. with the recommendation he be removed from the Army with an "other than honorable" discharge.

Glendening, who represented Johnson at the time, said Friday that the recommendation was "highly unusual" since generally counseling is ordered before more drastic steps are taken.

Johnson, who was killed by a police remote-controlled bomb early Friday, had learned about the military in the ROTC program at the high school he attended in Mesquite, a blue-collar suburb east of Dallas. During his military service, he was a private first class with a specialty in carpentry and masonry, according to the military. Officials said he served in the Army Reserve for six years starting in 2009 and did one tour in Afghanistan from November 2013 to July 2014.
read more here

Officer Patrick Zamarripa Survived 3 Tours in Iraq, Gunned Down in Dallas

Officer Patrick Zamarripa survived three tours in Iraq before being killed in Dallas
Washington Post
By John Woodrow Cox
July 8, 2016

He just liked to help people, his father said.

Patrick Zamarripa (left), one of five officers killed in a shooting incident in Dallas, Texas. (Family photo)

It had been 12 hours since he’d lost his son to one of the country’s worst mass police shootings, and he still couldn’t understand why.

Dallas police officer Patrick Zamarripa, 32, had survived three tours in Iraq, one of the world’s most dangerous places, his father, Rick Zamarripa, said Friday. And then this.

“He comes to the United States to protect people here,” his dad said. “And they take his life.”

Rick was watching television Thursday night when news broke that someone had opened fire in downtown Dallas around 9 p.m. at the end of a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest in the city. He knew that his son had recently begun working as a bike officer in the downtown area, an assignment he enjoyed.
read more here


The murderer was an Army Reservist and Afghanistan veteran.

Johnson served as an Army reservist until April 2015, defense officials said. He was trained and served in the Army Reserve as a carpentry and masonry specialist, they said. Johnson deployed to Afghanistan from November 2013 to July 2014, according to his service record. He had the rank of a private first class.

Wounded Warrior flap is as heartbreaking as stolen valor

Wounded Warrior flap is as heartbreaking as stolen valor
The Dallas Morning News
Jim Mitchell
Published: March 11, 2016

To me, the betrayed trust of donors is every bit as bad as stolen valor, people who fraudulently claim heroic military accomplishments. Most of us give to charities because we have a heart and want to do our bit to help, no matter how large or small. And what we want to know is that we’re making a difference and not supporting individual lifestyles or marketing juggernauts.

The Wounded Warrior Project fired CEO Steve Nardizzi (above) and its chief financial officer but contends that media reports of problems with accounting procedures and controls are inaccurate. (2009 File Photo/The Associated Press)

I’ve never served in the military. My father, uncle, cousin and grandfather served. So did various members of my wife’s family.

You don’t need a military record to be outraged by the accusations of financial misdeeds at the Wounded Warrior Project. The more I learn about the Wounded Warrior Project controversy, the madder I get. Badly injured servicemen and women seem to have been used as fundraising props.

The charity’s board of directors this week fired chief executive officer Steven Nardizzi and chief operating officer Al Giordano after an independent review found serious problems with internal policies, procedures and controls. These were the guys on whose watch the project seemed to lose its bearings. They took the fall.

However, the investigation findings make it sound as though the problems were traceable to lax accounting. Deeper allegations from CBS and The New York Times indicate that money was wasted on lavish parties (and other things) to bolster the lifestyles of top charity leaders. That’s not an accounting mishap; that’s a cultural mindset.
read more here

UT Dallas Gets More Millions for PTSD Study?

With all this "study" work going on do you think they will finally learn?

UT Dallas awarded $6.4 million grant to study PTSD treatment
Project will explore vagus nerve stimulation as a treatment for PTSD
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS

A federal agency has awarded a four-year grant that could result in funding of up to $6.4 million to the Texas Biomedical Device Center at UT Dallas to study a potential new therapy for individuals who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) grant began Sept. 15 and will continue for four years. The project will explore a PTSD treatment that uses targeted plasticity therapy. Targeted plasticity therapy uses vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) during exposure therapy to reduce the fear response.

VNS is an FDA-approved method for treating various illnesses, such as depression and epilepsy. It involves sending a mild electric pulse through the vagus nerve, which is in the neck, and relays information about the state of the body to the brain.

UT Dallas researchers already have demonstrated the safety and potential efficacy of targeted plasticity therapy as potential treatments for stroke patients and individuals suffering from tinnitus, which is constant ringing in the ears. Those treatments are in trial and review.
read more here

OK and what about this money?

The Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas was awarded a $3 million grant from the Department of Defense in 2011 to further investigate the effectiveness of a paired treatment for PTSD. This no-cost, non-drug treatment combined Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS).

Fort Hood Warrior Transition Unit Improves Care But Complaints Increased

Soldier Describes Improvement at Fort Hood's WTU After NBC 5 Investigation Exposes Complaints of Mistreatment 
Internal Army memo still shows increase in “dignity and respect” complaints Army-wide in 2014, not just at WTUs
NBC 5 News Dallas
By Scott Friedman
September 4, 2015

There are signs of change at Fort Hood where an NBC 5 investigation uncovered serious concerns about the mistreatment of injured soldiers.

James Moffatt hoped for a lifelong career in the Army, but his plans changed on the battlefield in Afghanistan and Iraq when he suffered head and spinal injuries and developed post-traumatic stress.

• INVESTIGATIVECongressional Committee Orders Investigation of Army WTUs

"PTSD is like a monster that lives inside of you. You can contain it for a little while,” said Moffatt. “It’s going to rear its head eventually.”

read more here

But NBC 5 Investigates obtained an internal Army memo written last summer by outgoing Army Inspector General Peter Vangjel.  The memo said, “In the first half of (Fiscal Year) FY14, the Army recorded 23,975 complaints and requests for assistance. Command and leadership issues comprise a third of those complaints. Within the command/leadership complaint spectrum, there has been an increase this FY in the number of dignity and respect complaints …”

According to the memo, those complaints are Army-wide, not just issues at WTUs.

The memo goes on to say that soldiers have more “ … confidence that their complaints will be heard and acted upon.  What was tolerable language by most soldiers before — shouting, cursing and name calling — is simply no longer acceptable. Junior and senior leaders must demand excellence without verbally or personally attacking the soldier.”

Tensions High During Standoff At Dallas Police Headquarters

Dallas police HQ shooting: Suspect killed during standoff
By Jason Hanna and Joe Sutton, CNN
Updated 2:44 PM ET, Sat June 13, 2015

UPDATE
Dallas police HQ attack: Suspect shot after standoff
By Jason Hanna, Ben Brumfield and Joe Sutton, CNN
Updated 11:29 AM ET, Sat June 13, 2015
Video Source: CNN
Standoff continues after Dallas Police HQ attack
WFAA
WFAA Staff
9:25 a.m. CDT June 13, 2015

"Witnesses observed what they believed to be multiple suspects firing guns at the Dallas Police Department's headquarters," Chief Brown said. "The suspects were parked in front of police headquarters. As police officers arrived, the suspects rammed Dallas police officers' squad cars and began shooting at the officers, striking the squad cars but missing the officers."

The area around Dallas police headquarters was sealed off after suspicious packages were found following a shootout. (Photo: WFAA)

DALLAS — Dallas police were in a standoff Saturday morning after suspects in an armored van opened fire on the department's headquarters before leading officers on a chase to Hutchins, about 10 miles southeast.

Just before 9 a.m., police executed a planned detonation on the vehicle as the standoff reached roughly eight hours.

The armored van was "disabled" by police at 5:40 a.m. Sources told News 8 that the suspect in the armored van may have been injured in the initial shootout Saturday.

Police had not communicated with the suspect for quite some time, as of 8:30 a.m. Police were using robots to examine the suspect's vehicle.

The South Side on Lamar apartment complex in the 1400 block of South Lamar was evacuated as a precaution after one or more bombs were discovered outside police headquarters. read more here

National Award for Warrior Transition Units Scandal Reporting

NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth Wins National Journalism Award 
The Society of Professional Journalists Recognizes NBC 5 Investigates Team
By Brian Hocker
Apr 24, 2015

"Our NBC 5 Investigates team and The Dallas Morning News were relentless in pursuing a Texas story with national implications that has helped many soldiers. We couldn't be prouder of these journalists."

"Injured Heroes, Broken Promises," the six-month-long investigative partnership between NBC 5 / KXAS-TV and The Dallas Morning News, has been awarded the prestigious 2014 National Sigma Delta Chi Award for Investigative Reporting under the Large Market Television category by The Society of Professional Journalists.

"Injured Heroes, Broken Promises" uncovered complaints from hundreds of injured, active-duty soldiers claiming they were mistreated, harassed and verbally abused by commanders of the U.S. Army's Warrior Transition Units, or WTUs. These units were created to improve care for injured soldiers after the 2007 Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal.

Just nine days after the first NBC 5 report aired and appeared in The Dallas Morning News, the Army issued orders requiring staff at all 25 of the Army's WTUs located worldwide, to undergo new training.

NBC 5's coverage about the treatment of soldiers injured in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting resulted in the NBC 5 Investigates team discovering the difficulties that soldiers faced years after they had left the WTUs. NBC 5 filed a comprehensive Freedom of Information Act request seeking Army complaint records at several Texas military installations.

"Our viewers depend on us to dig for information and sources not available to the average citizen," said Susan Tully, NBC 5 Vice President of News. read more here

Army Investigating Fort Hood Wounded Soldiers "Dirtbag" Malingerers

This is one of those times when reporters gave a damn and told the truth about what was happening to wounded in the Warrior Transition Units. They were more willing to believe soldiers than the military and their efforts may end up saving lives of soldiers as well as reducing the number of veterans committing suicide in the future.

If you want to know why suicides have gone up after "all the Army did for them" then here's a huge part of it. Leaders allowed ranking soldiers to call PTSD wounded soldiers "Dirtbags" and treat the with such disrespect they were regretting trying to get help. Others noticed. So much for the Army getting it.

Army to investigate mistreatment claims by injured, ill soldiers at Fort Hood
Dallas Morning News and NBC5
By DAVID TARRANT, SCOTT FRIEDMAN AND EVA PARKS
Published: 20 February 2015

Ilana Panich-Linsman/The New York Times
Soldiers fold a lowered flag at Fort Hood on Dec. 30 to mark the official end of the war in Afghanistan.

But at a recent Pentagon media briefing, Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Patricia D. Horoho responded to questions about an investigation involving a soldier found to have been mistreated by behavioral health professionals at Fort Carson, Colo. Horoho said that the soldier had not been treated with dignity and respect but that there wasn’t a systemic problem.

The Army has ordered an investigation into allegations of harassment and mistreatment inside the Fort Hood unit where wounded or ill soldiers are sent to heal, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the inquiry.

Two Army officers were assigned recently to look into the problems first raised in a joint investigation published in November by The Dallas Morning News and aired on KXAS-TV (NBC5).

An Army spokesman would not provide details, saying, “We do not comment on pending investigations so as not to prejudice the integrity of the investigation.”

Complaints from wounded soldiers at Fort Hood and two other Texas Army bases described constant friction between their medical requirements and the demands of a military culture based on order and discipline. The News and NBC5 focused on three Texas Warrior Transition Units where injured or ill soldiers go to heal. The Army has 25 such units for recovering soldiers.

Soldiers taking high-dosage medication at night for sleep disorders complained of being forced to make early-morning formation, which entailed driving to work while sedated. Others said they were required to pull 24-hour guard duty despite medical orders requiring them to get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Still others described a drill-sergeant-type culture within the WTUs where words like “dirtbag” and other slang terms for malingerers were used by some staff.
read more here

Thankful for NBC and Dallas Morning News Cover Mistreatment of PTSD Soldiers

Dallas VA Conference Clergy’s Role in Suicide Prevention

The Dallas Morning News has done it again. They put out a story that shows something that does not work along with the report of what has been working for decades. Spiritual healing for Combat PTSD.

It works so well that Point Man International Ministries, a group I am proud to be associated with, started doing it in 1984. We've been doing it because veterans and their families support each other with a commitment that is measured with love.

I've been living with and working on PTSD since 1982 but back then, without a computer, I didn't know about Point Man. I didn't hear about them until the 90's. After many years of watching what they do, I joined them.

We talk about the stuff in the news but then again, we also talk about the history of where we were and how we got to where we are now. We walked in darkness and confusion feeling lost and alone. We saw our lives fall apart. Then we were found, led to understand, found hope and became part of a family we could turn to.

It isn't about getting butts in the pew. It's about keeping souls here on earth and showing them they are not stuck where they are.

The VA, as you'll read, has been connecting to others but you hardly ever hear about it. Easier for reporters to bash what they got wrong instead of helping veterans find what they do have working right.

Dallas VA conference discusses clergy’s role in suicide prevention
Dallas Morning News
By JASMINE AGUILERA
Staff Writer
Published: 08 February 2015

“Typically, people don’t come to you and say, ‘Hey, doc,’ or ‘Hey, chaps, I have a religious problem, or I have a mental health problem,’” he said. “They come to you because they are suffering; they are in pain. Chaplains [always provide] a safe place to turn to so the healing process can begin.”

Ashley Landis/Staff Photographer
Chaplain Bill Cantrell spoke about suicide prevention efforts aimed at military personnel during a recent Veterans Affairs conference in Dallas. Since 2008, the VA and the U.S. Department of Defense have incorporated spiritual guidance into service members’ mental health care.

Reginald Robertson, an Army veteran, was at the lowest point in his life. He was angry about being homeless and dealing with a divorce, alcoholism, unemployment and post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

He tried to commit suicide by swallowing much of his medication. “Anger comes in, because you feel like you’ve just let yourself and your family down,” he said.

The pills weren’t enough to kill him, but were enough to push him to reach out for help — including spiritual guidance.

He is one of thousands of veterans nationwide who have turned to clergy. A 2013 report published by the Journal of Religion and Health found that 12 percent of veterans surveyed sought spiritual consultation. About 47 percent said they were very likely to seek help from spiritual counselors.

With that in mind, since 2008, the VA and the U.S. Department of Defense have been exploring ways to incorporate spiritual guidance into service members’ mental health care. Many soldiers returning from war describe feelings of guilt or an inability to forgive themselves for things they’ve seen or done.

About 59 percent of chaplains in the VA system and 79 percent in the active-duty military said they perceive that veterans and service members commonly seek help from clergy instead of a mental health care provider, according to a 2013 report published by the VA and the Pentagon.

“Typically, people don’t come to you and say, ‘Hey, doc,’ or ‘Hey, chaps, I have a religious problem, or I have a mental health problem,’” he said. “They come to you because they are suffering; they are in pain. Chaplains [always provide] a safe place to turn to so the healing process can begin.”

Latest suicide rates published by the Pentagon show that there has been an increase in the rate of suicides per 100,000 service members in the nation’s reserve component, from 19.3 percent in 2012 to 23.4 percent in 2013.

The rate of suicides in the National Guard has also increased slightly from 28.1 percent in 2012 to 28.9 percent in 2013.
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Suicides went up. Plain, simple and underreported, after "prevention" started in the military. They also went up in the Veterans' population after all the bills on "prevention" and countless charities popped up all over the country at the same time thousands of calls went to suicide prevention hotline.

The best experts say PTSD has to be addressed with a triple play, mind, body and spirit. If you leave out the spiritual part, then they do not heal. Add in that part, they heal, then turn around to make sure others heal too.

Iraq veteran with PTSD and TBI missing in Dallas

Authorities searching for missing Dallas-area Iraq Veteran with PTSD, TBI 
KETK News
December 30, 2014 - 4:54pm

JOHNSON COUNTY, TEXAS (KETK) — Johnson County officials are asking for the public's help locating a missing Iraq veteran suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury.

Joseph Jennings, 33, was last seen at around 7 p.m. in the 14000 block of County Road 511 Venus, Texas, wearing a dark blue jackets, overalls, black duty boots and an Iraqi Freedom ball cap. He is described as 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighs 220 pounds and has hazel eyes with brown hair.

Authorities stated the veteran was depressed at the time of his disappearance. The Johnson County Sheriff's Office is asking for everyone to be on the lookout for this veteran who served our country. If you know the whereabouts of Jennings, please contact 911 or the Johnson County Sheriff's Office at (817) 556-6060. Venus is located about 30 miles southwest of Dallas.
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