A sniper's struggle with PTSD

'You deny, deny, deny until it becomes untenable': A sniper's struggle with PTSD

Watch the video on CNN

Kyle Prellberg was deployed twice to Iraq and Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012. When he got home to the United States, a whole new war began.

Why should you watch the video about a sniper struggling with #PTSD if you aren't one? Why would it matter to you if weren't a sniper? The thing is if you ended up with PTSD from serving, it should matter to you. 

Most of the time they are part of a unit but they are trained, aside from the obvious to hit the person they aim at, to be focused for however long it takes to achieve the mission. They do that part alone.

Nowhere is it written they, or you must try to heal all alone. No one heals alone.

You don't and shouldn't have to fight the battle as a survivor to heal alone. Doing it alone does not work. Holding it in, trying to cover the scars you carry and the burden on your back will only cause you to push people away when you need them in your life the most. The people around you are your unit to fight this battle as much as you had others helping you fight the battles in combat. This isn't a battle to save the lives of others or those deployed with you. This is a battle to save your life so that you can help others find hope. In this battle, you fight with the courage to open your mouth and speak the simple words that you need help. You fight it with the weapon of knowledge, knowing that PTSD is not a sign of weakness or any kind of punishment. No one can punish you more than you are doing to yourself. PTSD is not something you were born with. It is something that you survived the cause of, no matter what that cause was. YOU ARE A SURVIVOR of it. Find strength in that.

If you take nothing else away from the video about Kyle Prellberg, let the fact that he suffered until he sought help to heal and know that he is passing that on to others so they, and you can find healing too!

Kathie Costos author of Ministers Of The Mystery Series The Scribe of Salem The Visionary Of Salem and 13th Minister Of Salem

"VA officials overlooked or were unaware that a doctor was on the data bank’s list" and veterans suffered

Wichita VA fires doctor who medical board accuses of botching operations in Missouri

Kansas City Star
BY MIKE HENDRICKS
DECEMBER 30, 2019

The Government Accountability Office earlier this year faulted the VA for not always doing a good job checking the credentials of the doctors and other health professionals it hires. The report did not single out the Wichita hospital, but said that in some cases VA officials overlooked or were unaware that a doctor was on the data bank’s list.

Jim Guillaume of Independence blames the 2013 death of his wife, Susan, on a surgeon’s incompetence. Missouri officials agree that urologist Christel Wambi-Kiesse was out of his depth in the operating room. RICH SUGG RSUGG@KCSTAR.COM

The Department of Veteran Affairs hospital in Wichita has fired a doctor who Missouri regulators say botched operations while he was in private practice in the Kansas City area several years ago.

The VA began its investigation of Christel O. Wambi-Kiesse in September after The Kansas City Star reported that Missouri’s Board of Registration for the Healing Arts was seeking to discipline the 44-year-old urologist for allegedly harming patients while performing robot-assisted surgeries that were beyond his abilities.

The board cited three examples, all during 2013, while he was working for a now-defunct urology clinic associated with Centerpoint Medical Center in Independence. One woman died from a massive infection two months after Wambi-Kiesse punctured her bladder while performing a biopsy and failed to repair the damage, according to the complaint. The Star independently confirmed her identity as Susan Guillaume, who was 69 and lived in Independence.

“He poked two holes in her bladder, and then he said ‘we’re just going to let it heal naturally,’ “ her husband, Jim Guillaume, said in August. “Heal naturally? All that poison went into her abdominal cavity.”
read it here

Jason Kander "I'm really enjoying life" while healing PTSD

Jason Kander is back after quietly working through PTSD

The Associated Press
By: Margaret Stafford, The Associated Press and Jim Salter
July 28, 2019

"I feel the best I've felt in a very, very long time. I'm really enjoying life." Jason Kander

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Not so many months ago, Jason Kander was spending his life on airplanes. The picture of youth and energy, Kander was in demand from Democratic groups across the U.S., a military veteran from middle America making a powerful case for generational change in his party, possibly with an eye toward a 2020 presidential run.

In this Nov. 9, 2016, file photo, Democrat Jason Kander concedes to Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., during an election watch party at the Uptown Theater in Kansas City, Mo. (Orlin Wagner/AP)

But beneath the swagger, something inside Kander's head weighed on him — nightmares, paranoia, even suicidal thoughts. Like so many veterans, he was carrying the unspoken burden of post-traumatic stress disorder, and suddenly last fall he detailed his personal struggles and dropped from public view .

Now, Kander is re-emerging with a healthier mental state and a new focus on helping other veterans, leading the national expansion of a program in his hometown of Kansas City, Missouri, called Veterans Community Project. At the same time he’s easing back into the fringes of politics — doing national TV interviews, appearing with Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg during the candidate’s visit to Kansas City (though he hasn’t endorsed any specific candidate), and talking candidly about his experience reconciling trauma, healing and political ambition.

"I feel the best I've felt in a very, very long time," Kander told The Associated Press. "I'm really enjoying life."

But as he campaigned last year, Kander failed to seek help "for the same reasons I hadn't in the past — I was worried about the stigma, I was worried about how it would affect my political career. That just allowed things to get much, much worse," he said.

One night, things got so bad that he phoned a suicide hotline for veterans. Days later, on Oct. 2, he dropped out of the race with a statement acknowledging his PTSD.
read it here

80 years later, Tuskegee Airman received diploma

Tuskegee Airman receives diploma 80 years after high school

By: The Associated Press

July 1, 2019

   

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Missouri man who was unable to finish high school but went on to serve as crew chief

A Tuskegee Airman displays a Congressional Gold Medal given to all Tuskegee Airmen during a ceremony commemorating Veterans Day and honoring the group of World War II airmen on Nov. 11, 2013, in Washington. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The Jefferson City News-Tribune reports that James Shipley got the diploma in a Sunday ceremony.
read it here

Missouri's National Veterans Memorial in Perryville now open

Grand opening of Missouri’s National Veterans Memorial in Perryville

St. Louis Post Dispatch
May 20, 2019

A Huey helicopter flies over the visitors center during the grand opening weekend celebration of Missouri's National Veterans Memorial in Perryville, Mo., on Sunday, May 19, 2019. Photo by David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com

Missouri's National Veterans Memorial in Perryville, Mo. held its grand opening this weekend. The memorial features a permanent full-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. The 46-acre site has a visitors center and museum space designed to honor all the nation's veterans, from all conflicts. Missouri's Vietnam Wall uses the same black-granite as the Washington, D.C., memorial, and is etched with the names of the nearly 59,000 men and women killed during the Vietnam War.

Navy veteran Shawn Jeager, from St. Charles, points out planes on the deck of an aircraft carrier etched into a granite memorial to his sons Adam Jeager (left) and Daniel Jeager during a visit to Missouri's National Veterans Memorial in Perryville on Sunday, May 19, 2019. Photo by David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com

The nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that runs Missouri's National Veterans Memorial does not charge admission but is hoping suggested donations of 10 dollars from the planned 30,000 visitors a year will help grow and sustain the memorial.
read more here

Missouri firefighters caught pushing around disabled veteran in wheelchair

Now that I have your attention...it was in a very good way~

Missouri firefighters push disabled veteran home after electric wheelchair battery dies

ABC 13 News
Thursday, April 18th, 2019

RAYTOWN, Mo. -- A group of Missouri firefighters lent a helping hand to a fellow citizen after his motorized wheelchair battery died, leaving him stranded far from his home.

Video shared to Facebook by the Raytown Fire Protection District showed three firefighters as they pushed the man's wheelchair down the side of the street as their fire engine followed behind them.

In an interview with Yahoo, deputy chief Mike Hunley said the man was an elderly veteran whose chair became trapped in muddy grass. By the time he was freed, the battery had begun to run low, so firefighters pushed him seven blocks home and set him up to recharge the battery.
read more here

Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Peoria

'The Wall That Heals': Hundreds visit traveling replica of Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Peoria

Arizona Republic
Nathan J. Fish
March 16, 2019

Ballman walked over to another section of the wall, getting down on his knees and pointing to another name near the bottom, Alton L Staples III. Ballman knew him as Tony.

Staples and Ballman were in the Boy Scouts together before Staples dropped out of high school to join the military at age 17.

George Ballman looks at the name of his fallen friend at a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Pleasant Harbor at Lake Pleasant in Peoria on March 16, 2019. Nathan J. Fish/The Republic

As hundreds of visitors walked along the traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Peoria to search for the names of their family and loved ones, George Ballman, an Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam, held back tears as he remembered his fallen friends.

"You stand back and you walk through and you look at all these names," Ballman said. "They had a life, they had a family, they were real people. They played baseball, they played golf, they were kids."

Ballman gestured to one name in a sea of thousands on the wall, Harvey M. Reynolds — Mike, he called him.

"He got killed in a chopper accident, he was a mechanic … he went up in the chopper to help the pilot troubleshoot the problem," Ballman said. "He didn't make it back."

Ballman, a snowbird from Missouri, decided to volunteer at the park to help set up, but after experiencing multiple emotional moments, he decided to keep volunteering throughout the weekend.
read more here

“Promise made, promise kept,” said Jim Eddleman, on building memorial wall

Vietnam Veteran fulfills promise 5 decades later

KFVS NBC 12 News
By Kelsey Anderson
March 1, 2019

PERRYVILLE, MO (KFVS) - A Perryville man made a promise to himself while serving in the Vietnam War.

If he made it home, he would honor his fallen comrades. Now, nearly five decades later he gave a part of himself to build it and the land to build it on.

“Promise made, promise kept,” said Jim Eddleman, who was a specialist in the Army during the Vietnam War.

“When I was in Vietnam, I made a promise that if i made it back to the United States alive that I had to do something to show my honor and respect for my comrades,” said Eddleman.

He never forgot the promise and was waiting for the right opportunity to fulfill it.

“Finally this opportunity for the veterans memorial come up and I knew that was what I wanted to do,” said Eddleman.

The wall that's an exact replica of the one in Washington D.C. sits on property donated by Eddleman and his wife Charlene.
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Missouri veterans discovered more in common than bowling

Marine veterans rediscover friendship at bowling alley 60 years later

BY WQAD DIGITAL TEAM
FEBRUARY 16, 2019

“I didn’t know who he was,” said Dan. Wally added, “We didn’t recognize each other.”

Steeleville, MO (KMOV4)- Two teenagers left their St. Louis homes in the mid-1950’s to join the Marines. They were strangers, turned Marine brothers and now are forever friends.

The two Missouri men never could have imagined how parallel their lives would become.

“We probably were at football games in our high school years not knowing each other,” said Walter ‘Wally’ Lahm.

More than 60 years after they first became friends as young Marines, fate brought them back together at a Steelville, Missouri, bowling alley.

Wally attended McKinley High School and left after his sophomore year to join the United States Marine Corps. Daniell ‘Dan’ Neill went to Cleveland High School in St. Louis and also left after his sophomore year to become a Marine.
read more here

Kansas City Police Officer's organs being donated after suicide

KCPD officer's family to donate organs after self-inflicted gunshot wound

KSHB News
By: 41 Action News Staff
Feb 10, 2019

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department officer remains in critical condition and on life support after a suffering a self-inflicted gunshot wound Friday night.

The officer's family has decided to donate his organs and hospital staff are awaiting organ donor recipients, according to the KCPD.

Officers responded were searching for a missing and endangered person Friday night. In this case, "a dedicated officer who has served our department for approximately 10 years ... was missing and feared to be suicidal," KCPD in a statement.

Liberty police, who were assisting in the search for the officer's vehicle, located it in the Pleasant Valley Baptist Church parking lot about 9 p.m.

Responding police officers found the officer suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The unidentified officer was transported to an area hospital in critical condition.
read more here

He took a job he knew could kill him one day. He wanted to serve his community and save lives. He was an organ donor, so, yet again, he wanted to save lives. So why did the lives of others mean so much to him, but his own did not? Because he never got the message that PTSD is not anything to be ashamed of and those he served with would have tried to save him too!

72 Year old homeless veteran doused with water by firefighter?

Officials investigating accusation that KC firefighter doused homeless camp with water on frigid night

FOX 4 Kentucky

Sean McCowell

January 2, 2019

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It's being called an act of needless cruelty.

A homeless man said Kansas City firefighters doused him with water from their hoses, and he said it happened on one of the coldest nights of the winter. Kansas City officials confirm an investigation into the matter is underway.

The underpass at 20th and Oak streets is cold, but it's home to several people who have nowhere else to go.

One of them, 72-year-old Phil Bucalo, said workers from Kansas City Fire Department came to put out his campfire early Tuesday morning. When they did, he said they intentionally flooded him and his belongings on the cold night.

Bucalo, a native of New York City, said it was only a small fire, and since he now lives on the streets of KC, it was his means of keeping warm.

"I said, 'Look, if this little fire here presents a problem, I'd be more than happy to put it out,'" Bucalo said.

But Bucalo, who said he once served in the U.S. Army, said the firefighter with the hose in his hand didn't care, and water from that hose doused the fire, as well as Bucalo and all of his belongings, in weather that went below 20 degrees.

read more here

Traffic stop at VA left veteran dead!

Exclusive: Internal documents detail VA police altercation with veteran who later died

USA Today
Donovan Slack
Dec. 14, 2018

Kansas City Star reporter Andy Marso confirmed the veteran who died was Dale Farhner of Kingston, Missouri. But the VA refused to say what happened, so the reporter filed a records request under the Freedom of Information Act.

WASHINGTON – A 66-year-old veteran was found severely injured and nearly unconscious following a traffic stop by a Veterans Affairs police officer in May, and he died two days later, according to an internal report obtained by USA TODAY.

The VA has repeatedly refused, even seven months later, to disclose any details about what happened, citing an ongoing investigation.

But the internal report provides an account of a tragic altercation between the veteran and officer outside the VA medical center in Kansas City, Missouri. “After being pulled over, the patient began making inappropriate gestures and physically threatening motions with his arm,” the report says.

The officer also noticed a “large ‘bulge’” by the driver’s abdomen “(later found to be due to recent hernia surgery).” He decided to detain him. The man “struggled.” So the officer “brought the patient to the ground.” He then completed the “handcuffing process.”

During the incident, the patient’s son approached “from behind.” The officer directed him to stay back, and he called for backup.

But something was awry.

“While being brought to the ground, the patient seemed to suffer some injuries,” the report says. So he was taken inside the hospital to be checked out.

“Upon arrival to the Emergency Department the patient was non-verbal, moaning with a decreased level of consciousness,” the report says.

Medical workers found he had a gash in his scalp and “multiple” cuts and bruises on his face. A CT scan of his head showed areas of bleeding around his brain, one on the left frontal lobe and another on the right.
read more here

CNN Hero PTSD Veteran Chris Stout Helping All Generations

CNN HERO CHRIS STOUT

WTVA
CNN
Posted: Oct. 19, 2018

Chris Stout's nonprofit provides tiny houses and support to homeless veterans and assists any local vet with jobs, transportation and other issues.
"It provides everything these guys need to live with dignity, safely, and then fix what got them there in the first place." 

Leo Morris served in the Air Force. Karen Carter patrolled with the Coast Guard. Henry Owens enlisted in the Navy.

These veterans all served their country. They've also shared another experience: homelessness.

"You feel a sense of desperation, loneliness," said Owens, who was homeless for eight years. "I had no hope."

Today, they have another common bond: They are neighbors. Each one lives in a tiny home in the Veterans' Village in Kansas City, Missouri -- run by the Veterans Community Project.

The nonprofit is the vision of a group of young veterans led by former US Army Corporal Chris Stout.

After being wounded in Afghanistan in 2005 and returning home, Stout struggled with his injury and PTSD. He enjoyed being around veterans and got a job connecting vets to services they needed. But he was frustrated by the gaps and inefficiencies he saw. At times, Stout used his own money to put homeless veterans up in hotel rooms.

In 2015, he and a few buddies quit their jobs and started their organization.

"We are the place that says 'yes' first and figures everything else out later," Stout said. "We serve anybody who's ever raised their hand to defend our Constitution."

Stout found that many homeless veterans didn't like traditional shelters because they were unsafe or lacked privacy. When he learned about tiny homes, he quickly realized that a cluster of them made a lot of sense.
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Veteran gave up on winning election, not on his healing PTSD

Ever heard of a quitter inspiring others to fight? Read this then you can say, now you have.

Afghan War vet ends bid for Kansas City mayor, citing PTSD and depression
STARS AND STRIPES
By NIKKI WENTLING
Published: October 2, 2018

“I wish I would have sought help sooner, so if me going public with my struggle makes just one person seek assistance, doing this publicly is worth it to me,” he wrote.

WASHINGTON — Jason Kander, an Afghanistan War veteran widely praised as a rising star in the Democratic party, withdrew Tuesday from the Kansas City, Mo., mayoral race to seek help for depression and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Jason Kander, pictured here during a 2013 visit to Fort Leonard Wood, withdrew Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018, from the Kansas City, Mo., mayoral race in order to seek help for depression and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. ANGELINA BETRAN/FORT LEONARD WOOD

Last week, Kander called the Veterans Crisis Line and told a crisis responder that he had suicidal thoughts. On Monday, he went to the Kansas City VA Medical Center, where he’s planning to receive regular treatment.

“To allow me to concentrate on my mental health, I’ve decided that I will not be running for mayor of Kansas City,” Kander wrote Tuesday.

Kander posted a letter on his campaign website and Facebook page explaining his mental health struggles. He hopes that being forthcoming will help veterans and others who are working through mental health issues, he said.

“Last Tuesday, I found out that we were going to raise more money than any Kansas City mayoral campaign ever has in a single quarter,” he wrote. “But instead of celebrating that accomplishment, I found myself on the phone with the VA’s Veterans Crisis Line, tearfully conceding that, yes, I have had suicidal thoughts. And it wasn’t the first time.”
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Moody Air Force Base Master Sergeant Found Dead

Airman from Moody Air Force Base found dead in Missouri
ABC 27 News WTXL.com
Jul 15, 2018

MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (WTXL) - An airman part of a unit connected to Moody Air Force Base was found dead in Missouri on Saturday.

Master Sergeant Brett Davidson, 37, was found in the water and pronounced dead at about 11:30 a.m. in Rocky Mount, Missouri on Saturday.

He was assigned to the 19th Air Support Operations Squadron at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
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Gulf War Veteran standoff with police ended peacefully

Shots fired at Clinton police officers during standoff
KMBC 9 ABC News
July 14, 2018

Standoff ends peacefully when suspect surrenders

Clinton, MO
The suspect in a domestic violence incident fired a weapon at police during a standoff in Clinton, Missouri Saturday evening.

Nobody was injured. But a couple of police cars were hit.

Clinton Police describe the suspect as a Desert Storm veteran who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He eventually surrendered peacefully and police took him into custody.
go to KMBC for updates

Man stands accused of road rage murder of Cody Harter

Police make arrest in 'road rage' killing of Air Force veteran
ABC News
By M.L. NESTEL and JULIA JACOBO
May 10, 2018

Cody Harter, 24, was stabbed to death following a possible road-rage incident on a Missouri highway.

Missouri police have made an arrest in the killing of a 24-year-old Air Force veteran and Missouri Air National Guard reservist who was stabbed in an apparent road rage incident.

Detectives had been working around the clock to solve the death of Cody Harter, Sgt. Chris Depue, a spokesman for the Lee's Summit Police Department, told ABC News over the weekend.

The suspect, 58-year-old Nicholas Webb, has been charged with second-degree murder, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday in Jackson County. On Saturday, two hours after Harter was attacked, Webb was arrested in Liberty, Missouri on charges of possession of dangerous drugs and driving under the influence, the complaint states.

On Wednesday, a detective from the Clay County, Missouri Sheriff's Office obtained body camera footage from the arrest, which revealed that Webb had been driving a gray four-door Mitsubishi Lancer, according to the complaint. The arrest report stated that Webb was in possession of a knife in his right pants pocket, the complaint states.
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Gov. Greitens under investigation for using Mission Continues?

Missouri attorney general accuses Greitens of misusing charity donor list
CNN
By Veronica Stracqualursi
April 17, 2018

Greitens, an Iraq veteran, founded The Mission Continues in 2007 but left the charity in 2014. Questions have been raised about his ties to the charity since at least October 2016, when The Associated Press reported that he had raised nearly $2 million for his campaign from donors who also gave significant amounts to The Mission Continues.

Washington (CNN)Embattled Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, who is already facing calls to resign over an extramarital affair and abuse allegations, was accused Tuesday by the state's attorney general of obtaining a charity donor list without permission.

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley announced that his office had "uncovered evidence of wrongdoing" by the governor that he could be charged or prosecuted for related to an investigation into a veterans charity Greitens founded.

Hawley told reporters at a news conference that his office had found evidence that the governor obtained an electronic donor list from the charity The Mission Continues without permission and used the internal list for "political fundraising."

"If proven, these acts could amount to the unauthorized taking and use of property -- in this case electronic property. Under Missouri law, this is known as computer tampering and given the value of the list in question, it is a felony," Hawley said.
read more here

If your group ignores older veterans shame on you!

Keep in mind that this chart is from the Veterans the VA knows about. Too many others were not counted. What it does show is that most of the veterans committing suicide in Missouri, as well as the rest of the country, are over the age of 50. If your group won't help the majority of the veterans needing help the most, shame on you!

Why shame on you? Just read what came with this report from St. Louis Post Gazette

Phillip Crews, 62, shot himself in the hospital’s emergency room waiting area just after 4 a.m. on March 26, city and VA officials said.

An estimated 20 to 22 veterans die of suicide each day, at an average age of 60. While it is unknown how many of those deaths occur at VA facilities, they include a 76-year-old who shot himself in a parking lot of a New York hospital in August 2016, a veteran of Afghanistan who hanged himself at age 32 in a Tennessee hospital in November 2016, a 63-year-old Navy veteran who shot himself in a car at a North Carolina hospital and a 35-year-old Marine who overdosed on fentanyl at a Massachusetts VA psychiatric facility.

Homeless Vietnam Veteran Beaten and Robbed of $25?

Homeless veteran severely beaten, robbed but getting help soon from metro nonprofit

FOX 4KC News

Robert Townsend

January 12, 2018

“We may not be his family, but we’re his military family, and we are here to help him," Stout said.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- James Dodge survived the battlegrounds of the Vietnam War, but all week he's been at a KC hospital in a lot of pain after he was attacked out of nowhere.

“My head hurts, my tailbone hurts, and my eyes still hurt," the 71-year-old Army veteran said. "I have a laceration in my left eye that’s just now starting to heal to the point where it doesn’t feel like rocks are in my eye."

Dodge has been homeless since Christmas. He knows by living on the streets, his life could be in danger at any moment.

Late Sunday night, that fear became all too real.

“I seem to recall I was walking to a store and a guy just came up behind me and hit me in the back of my head and on top of my head with what felt to be a metal pipe or a hammer, and he was punching me in my face," Dodge said. "I fell to the ground, and he kept kicking me. It still hurts to walk right now because he kicked me in my spine."

Paramedics rushed the injured veteran to the hospital. The attacker ran off with $25 he stole from Dodge's pockets.

“I would have given him the money," Dodge told Fox 4's Robert Townsend from his hospital bed. "He put me through a lot and could have killed me over $25. People are so crazy today, and there’s just no compassion. They don’t care."

read more here