Combat PTSD Comes With Moral Injury

They Grieve Because They Love
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
October 15, 2016

I was in a rush to get "Residual War, Something Worth Living For" up on Amazon because the script was already registered and was being read by more people than I was comfortable with. Right now I am doing some editing to fix my infamous typos and work on the past and present tenses. Not as easy as I thought it was since the script part is in the present tense yet the two chapters of the book are in the past tense. 

It is possible to rewrite the story of the lives within the pages of the book/script. I just delete words and replace them with others that make more sense. Add in information that was missing. Put in more substance to help explain how these soldiers ended up where they were. What isn't easy is for them to do the same in real life. 

I said "not easy" but it isn't impossible as long as we get the bullshit out of the way. When folks have based their efforts on bumper sticker slogans with a number, their intentions may be begin with a good heart but do not produce good results. Now it may be easier for some to just jump on the wagon and gain a feel good attitude for themselves, the results have shown the effort did not do anyone any good other than make the doers feel better about themselves.

You'd think something as serious as suicide would require them to actually take the time to discover what the truth is within Tweets and Facebook posts, but they didn't bother. That says something right there. I've gotten to the point where I want to slap someone defending their use of the reported number of suicides as "its just a number" instead of lives lost. They claim to care but they don't even care enough to learn what the truth is.

When asked to explain the results of their time, they have no answers other than "well I'm raising awareness" as if that in itself would do any good for anyone. We've seen the deadly results on this.

Back in 1999 the VA reported veterans were committing suicide at 20 per day. There were about 5 million more veterans in this country back then with WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam, along with Gulf War veterans committing suicide, yet most of the folks getting attention believe all this is new just because it is news to them.

For all the efforts, the result is still being reported by the VA at 20 a day taking their own lives over a decade after PTSD hit the news.

Now we have new "experts" running around the country claiming that "moral injury" isn't part of combat PTSD. Yep, stunning!

Aaron Throckmorton was the subject of an article on the Texas Observer, "Combatting Moral Injury" with a subtitle of "For some veterans, guilt and shame can linger years after combat — and it’s not PTSD."

Aaron Throckmorton decided to join the military the day the Twin Towers fell. A standout high school linebacker at Midland Lee (of Friday Night Lights fame), Throckmorton quit his team that very afternoon. He doubled up on his schoolwork so he could finish early and become a Marine. There were military men in his family. His grandfather served during the Korean War, and an uncle was a “river rat” in Vietnam. But Throckmorton didn’t know much about their experiences.

It is easy to figure out the "experts" telling him it isn't PTSD know very little about trauma and even less about the type of PTSD military folks get. It is a whole different type than what civilians get. (But then again, what would I know considering I've read real experts for the last three decades topped off with living with it every day.) Real experts not only discuss different types of PTSD, they talk about the different levels of it.

What is obvious is that this next section of the article is discussing what we know as survivor guilt.

It wasn’t combat that had sparked his troubles, he told me. He had taken part in several firefights and so had naturally worried about his safety, and he described the “gruesome” deaths of several Afghan policemen killed during these fights. What haunted Throckmorton about his time in the military was not what he did, but what he didn’t do. “I should have been there for them,” he said of Marines he trained who later died in Iraq. “I could have trained them better.”

At this part is bullshit too,

Rita Nakashima Brock, director of the Soul Repair Center at Brite, the only program in the United States dedicated to educating the public about moral injury.

"The only program" maybe on the street it is on but far from the only one since the group I belong to has been repairing souls since 1984. Point Man International Ministries has been working with veterans and their families since a veteran/police officer noticed his fellow Vietnam veterans needed help healing from war. 

Is she aware of the fact that people walk away for "it" not as victims but as survivors of it? Is she aware they either walk away believing God spared them or did it to them? The "moral injury" is what follows them and it the number one factor that has to be addressed in order to actually give them something worth living for.

They can edit their own history but not the truth. They can change things around to make it sound as if they are doing something new, but when we see it has hardly improved for all the veterans they take a walk for, do pushups for or raise awareness for, it is time to change the conversation. So when do we talk about what actually works? When do veterans actually hear what they need to know in order to not become a number within those we grieve for but become a member of those we rejoice with?

These are the same men and women who believed there was something worth dying for. They survived everything attached to the horrors they endured in combat yet could not survive with the memories of it? Why? When do we talk about that?

When do we talk about the stupidity of researchers trying to remove memories with drugs instead of helping them find peace to live with those memories and begin to see that they are worthy of keeping? To forget the horrific moments is to forget those they served with. Those they loved enough to risk their lives for. That level of love is worthy of healing not forgetting about.

They are not damaged or broken. They do not deserve what some are willing to settle for but they are worthy of our time and devotion to help them see just how strong they really are. They grieve because they love. 

Marine with PTSD joined to save lives not take them

This is what I keep saying. Too many forget why they wanted to join the military in the first place. It was honorable to want to save lives and protect the country. When they stop believing that, they regret what they did for love.

The number one post on this site is "For those I love I will sacrifice" and from a tattoo on the chest of Pfc. Kyle Hockenberry, who was injured by an IED.

It pretty much sums up how they all feel. They are ready to face danger and ready to save a life even if it means they lose their own. If you want to see how much they care about each other, go to the link below and see the pictures going with this article. If you want to know why they are willing to do all of this, read it and know this isn't about killing. It is about caring.

They risk their lives because they love and that requires a deep emotional connection. In other words, the strength of their ability to care. It also opens the door to feeling the tremendous emotional pain. Once they understand this, know where the pain is coming from, they can begin to heal. Until then all the horrors of war stay with them until they no longer remember why they went.

Local Marine carries memories of war, for better or for worse
Cleveland Advocate
By STEPHANIE BUCKNER
July 26, 2013

Freedom does not come without a price, and that price for United States Marine and Cleveland resident Adam Brochin is constant anxiety and persistent memories of his active-duty experiences, which haunt his dreams like a roadside bomb waiting to explode.

According to the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), an individual can develop PTSD after being exposed to one or more traumatic events, including serious injury or threat of death.

Some of the symptoms associated with this affliction are disturbing and recurring flashbacks or dreams, high levels of anxiety for an extended period of time, or a complete numbness affiliated with memories of the events which the mind has deemed traumatic. Approximately 20 percent of those suffering from the disorder in 2009 were veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

For Brochin, PTSD is something he has come to be very familiar with in his everyday life. This affliction has been amplified by the fact that a friend, fellow soldier and PTSD sufferer took his own life because of his personal traumatic combat experiences.

“I joined the military because I really wanted to make a difference,” said Brochin. “I remember sitting in my first period English class on 9/11 and watching the trade centers go down. People around me who knew that I was going into the Marine Corps just looked at me and I was just thinking that this is why I joined. I wanted to save lives, not take them. I wanted to protect what we have and support the American way of life.”

read more here

PTSD I Grieve from Kathleen "Costos" DiCesare on Vimeo.

PTSD Awareness must include first responders

June is PTSD awareness month
KETK News
Marlena Hamilton
Reporter
June 28, 2013

TYLER TX, (KETK) — June is post-traumatic stress disorder awareness month.

Not only do men and women from war suffer from this disorder, first responders do as well.

"They are dealing with things that aren't natural for human beings," said Smith County Sheriff's Office Chaplain Doug Haning.

Our police officers, firefighters and ems responders are there in times of trouble.

"We go on what we call auto pilot. Sometimes we are able to stay on auto pilot throughout the scene get through it and then it's time to start dealing with it,'' said City of Tyler Asst. Fire Marshal Laura Mason.

But, they experience situations and tragedies that no one can even imagine.

"Law enforcement and military are a lot alike they have the same stresses 99% of the time your dealing with the ins and outs of your daily business and then there is that 1% of the time where everything is upside down," said Haning.
read more here


PTSD I Grieve from Kathleen "Costos" DiCesare on Vimeo.

First responder's common sense after trauma

First responder's common sense after trauma
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
April 7, 2013

Aside from other training I have taken over the years, in 2009 it was Disaster and Extreme Event Preparedness that really should apply to what the military needs to do right now. Why? Because while they have been giving the wrong training and increasing the number of suicides, they have to move fast.

My certification was on Safety Function Action for Disaster Responders I was already certified as a Chaplain and in Crisis Intervention but this training really helped because it was more about taking care of responders than "victims" after traumatic events, usually on a mass scale.

For the sake of this article I'll be addressing first responders with common sense, well vetted steps to take to save a life and start someone on the road to recovery. Civilians have been using this for police, firefighters and other emergency responders for decades.

Event-explosion.
Fire-bodies ripped apart-chaos-wounded-screams-bullets from sniper.
Duty, stop sniper, secure area, put out fire, treat wounded, recover bodies.

What happens afterwards when everyone is safe and out of danger is what determines what happens tomorrow.

Encourage talking. Don't let everyone just sit there stunned. Don't let them just go off by themselves, play a game, listen to music or sulk. Watch them. Watch their eyes. Listen to their voice. Hear the tone. Notice their facial expression. Their hands. Eye contact. If any of these are "out of the ordinary" for them, they need to talk and you need to listen. Really listen. First you have to get them into a safe place so they can talk freely without having to fear someone else hearing them.

You can start them talking but once you open the door to it, you need to back off and take your cues from them. If they seem like they are trying to find the right words, just sit there and wait. They are trying to make sense out of what is in their heads before they pick what words to use.

If they talk way too fast, calmly tell them to take their time and let them know you are in no hurry. They may feel as if you are a busy person and there is so much to say they need to get it all out at once so they don't bother you too much. Yes, that happens more times than you would think it does but you also have to remember responders are used to doing for others not having others do for them.

Do not try to fix them. Do not roll your eyes. Do not say something stupid like "God only gives us what we can handle" because that tells them God did it to them and that only makes it worse when they may already have that thought in the back of their head. People walk away from traumatic events one of two ways. Either they are a lucky SOB and God saved them or God judged them and did it to them. Don't tell them to suck it up or remind them they had been through worse before because most of the time they haven't dealt with those times either. Do not tell them much at all until they start talking.

Be quiet. Listen to what they are telling you and let them lead the conversation. If they talk about what happened and toss in something strange like "she was just walking down the street and picked up an orange when the bomb went off" then you need to stop them and ask them about the woman. There have been times when responders are putting two separate events together because an event from the past has not been addressed. They can switch subjects in mid sentence and confuse the hell out of you, so you need to be clear on what you are hearing. Do not do it forcefully. Calmly get them to help you understand what they are talking about.

They need to make sense out of everything that happened in the "horror moments" while in the "normal moments" where they are safe. It helps them let go of the power it has over them and puts the power back into the "now" where it isn't still happening.

If they stop talking but seem to have not found peace with it, then you can let them know you understand. It is not a contest. Do not tell them you had it much worse or tell them about how you just got over it and forgot about it. If you can relate to them, then do it for real. Otherwise just tell them it is ok and you'll wait until they want to talk again. If you've been through the same thing twenty times before then you need to remember what it was like for you after your first time and how hard it hit you. That will help them to hear it knowing it did not destroy you. You will give them hope they can get to where you are as well.

Do not look at your watch, check your phone or talk to others. That tells them they do not really matter and they are taking up your time.

If they cry, let them. Don't try to stop them. Crying is not a sign of weakness. It is the beginning of healing. You will know if they are out of control and need more help then you can give them.

What is important is this is done soon after the event. These steps also work for times when it it well past the event but no one has talked to them before. Do the same thing but in this case you'll have to get a bit more involved.

You need to know if they have been having nightmares or flashbacks, eating differently, drinking or smoking more, nervous, angry or having mood swings. If they are it is likely they need professional help above and beyond your support. If it is 30 days past the event and the symptoms they are experiencing have not eased up, they really need to see someone in the mental health field. If they don't want to, try your best to encourage them to. If that fails, then recommend a Chaplain. If that fails then you need to ask your CO. Don't give up on them because they are giving up on themselves.

Do not let them change the subject to what else is going on like trouble at home because they are trying to avoid what is really bothering them. Get them back to the event they were talking about. It is easier for them to deal with something ordinary than the bomb killing people they know. Most of the time they want to change the subject because of the fear they are facing knowing it not only could have been them but they are very aware of the fact the next time it may be their turn and they are afraid. They need to sort that out as well.

Listen until they are done talking and let them know you do not think any less of them for opening up. Let them know you are there for them whenever they need to talk. Do not tell others what you talked about or you will erode any trust you just gained and will shut the door to them leaving them feeling worse for having talked to you in the first place.

Learn what PTSD is and what it does as much as why it does it to some but not to others. It is their ability to feel things more deeply and has nothing to do with courage or dedication. Once you know the facts then you are in a better position to really do some good for the other responders. The guys you have to watch out the most for are not the most obvious. The ones everyone seems to go to for help and advice are the last ones able to ask for help for themselves. They take on a lot from others and take care of themselves last. When they get hit by all of it, it hits them harder. Again watch for signs of change.

This last part is where it gets really tricky and will take a lot of courage on your part. If you know what PTSD is then you will be able to judge a bit better who is in danger or thinking about suicide. Suicide is committed because the person has lost all hope of a better day coming for them. Ask them if they are thinking about it, then listen. Thinking of it doesn't always mean they will. Ask them how they would do it or if they have a plan. If you are concerned, then you need to act. If you are right, then you may have saved a life. If you are wrong, they will be pissed off but they will be alive to be angry. If you worry about that more than you worry about them and end up making the wrong decision, they will be dead and you will blame yourself for the rest of your life. If you are wrong then let them know you cared enough about them to have their back.

This may help as well. It is one of my older videos for National Guardsmen.


also of interest
Sheriff's Office Receives PTSD Training from Fort Campbell
Lee Erwin Reporting


CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and Fort Campbell’s Warrior Transition Battalion teamed up Friday, April 5 to offer Sheriff’s Deputies a training session. The training covered the challenges Soldiers and Sheriff’s Deputies may face when dealing with individuals diagnosed with a behavioral health condition.

The training was conducted by Command Sergeant Major James Smith who has served as Fort Campbell’s Warrior Transition Battalion’s Command Sergeant Major for close to two years. As a member of the National Guard, he was called back to active duty while serving as a Captain with the Clarksville Police Department.

Since his assignment to Fort Campbell’s Warrior Transition Battalion, Smith has taken a special interest in developing partnerships with local area law enforcement at Fort Campbell as well as Clarksville, Hopkinsville and Oak Grove.

The relationships are being developed to help both law enforcement agencies and Warrior Transition Battalion Soldiers improve communications and outcomes, especially when an individual is involved who may be suffering from a behavioral health diagnosis like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD.
read more here

PTSD I Grieve Video for National Guards

It all depends on who is doing the study and the results come out based on how they do it. The going rate for PTSD for humans in general is one out of three, the next highest used rate is one out of five exposed to traumatic events. Factor in the redeployments increase the risk by 50% and then you can see how there could be such a huge number of PTSD veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. One more thing to consider is that National Guards and Reservist often have dangerous jobs when they return home. Many of them are in law enforcement and others are firefighters as well as EMT's. Many times they return from combat in Iraq or Afghanistan, back to their regular jobs but also as part of the National Guard, they are expected to respond to events in their own communities. Floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, snow storms and mud slides along with forest fires, will often put them under even more stress. Today we see them being called to act as border patrol and clean up of the coasts after the oil rig explosion.

These men and women have regular lives, with families to worry about and jobs to do to provide for their families, yet too often all the demands placed on them are not considered when they come home and receive even less help to heal than the active military members do. We need to do a better job supporting them for real!

PTSD Hits National Guard Soldiers Harder: Study
National Guard Soldiers Have Higher Rates of Mental Health Problems Than Others

By KRISTINA FIORE
MedPage Today Staff Writer
June 13, 2010
After combat duty in Iraq or Afghanistan , members of the National Guard appear to have higher rates of mental health problems than those in the Active Component, researchers have found.


Rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with serious functional impairment increased from about 7 percent to more than 12 percent over a nine-month period, compared with only about a 1 percent increase among those in the Active Component, according to Jeffrey Thomas of Walter Reed Army Institute in Silver Spring, Md. and colleagues.

The researchers reported their findings in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

"The emergence of differences ... likely does not have to do with the differences in the health effects of combat, but rather with other variables related to readjustment to civilian life or access to health care," they wrote.
read more here
PTSD Hits National Guard Soldiers Harder

From 2008

PTSD and Depression Increase in Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars
SALT LAKE CITY— Rates of PTSD and depression are high and increasing among combat veterans of the current Iraq and Afghanistan wars who sought care from US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities, reported Charles Marmar, MD, at the 133rd Annual Meeting of the American Neurological Association.

Despite evidence that the rate of VA specialty visits is increasing for veterans with a mental health diagnosis, as many as two-thirds of these patients are receiving minimal or no psychiatric care, according to Dr. Marmar. In the absence of widespread early intervention for specific subgroups of combat veterans, he believes that returning Iraq and Afghanistan servicemen and servicewomen with mental health problems will create a significant burden for the US health care system, including general medical services.

Dr. Marmar, Chief of Mental Health Services at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues assessed the electronic medical records of more than 206,000 veterans entering the VA health care system from 2002 to 2007. They found that one in three patients was diagnosed with at least one mental health disorder, and 41% were diagnosed with either a mental health or behavioral adjustment disorder. The diagnosis rate for PTSD was 20%, followed by 14% for depression, about 7% for alcohol abuse, and 3% for substance abuse.

For PTSD, no significant differences were seen between active-duty veterans and members of the National Guard or reserve units or between men and women. However, women had higher rates of depression than men did, and male veterans—regardless of whether they were in active duty, the National Guard, or reserve components—had nearly twice the rate of alcohol and drug use, compared with female veterans.
read more of this here
http://www.neuropsychiatryreviews.com/08nov/PTSDDepression.html

But then there is this report from RAND

Studies' Estimates of PTSD Prevalence Rates for Returning Service Members Vary Widely
In allocating resources to treat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among service members, policymakers rely on estimates of how prevalent this condition is among troops. But published prevalence rates vary extensively and are often disputed. For example, the most frequently cited estimate for PTSD among Vietnam veterans — nearly 31 percent — is still highly criticized. Similar concerns have been raised about PTSD prevalence estimates among U.S. service members serving in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).
A team of RAND researchers analyzed the literature to document the extent of the variation in PTSD prevalence rates for military personnel who had served in OEF and OIF since 2002 and to identify possible explanations for these discrepancies. The team found 29 relevant studies and documented the following findings
read the findings here
http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9509/index1.html

The National Guard Needs Your Help

The National Guard Needs Your Help

Sen. Ron Wyden
U.S. Senator from Oregon
Posted: April 21, 2010 07:45 PM

When the first members of Oregon's Army National Guard began returning from Iraq last weekend family, friends and neighbors literally lined up to welcome them home. 110 motorcyclists escorted the caravan of buses along a route lined with Oregonians holding signs to show their support. Parents, spouses and children rushed to embrace their loved ones, while elected officials -- such as myself -- offered words of thanks for the ten months these brave men and women spent serving their country in harm's way. I hope Oregon's Guard got the message that we are grateful for their service and glad to have them home safe.

Oregonians aren't the only ones who recognize the extraordinary service and sacrifice of their state's National Guard. For decades these scenes have repeatedly played out across the country as reservists and guardsmen and women have increasingly been called on for extended deployments. During the Vietnam War 3,000 reservists and guardsmen were called to duty. For Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm, 267,300 reserve component service men and women were called to service. Current Operations in Afghanistan and Iraq had already involved more than 760,000 guard and reservists.

However, unlike active duty service members -- who come home to military bases and the jobs and support systems that they provide -- once the fanfare of homecoming subsides, returning Guard members are in many instances left to face the increasingly stark reality of transitioning to civilian life on their own.
read more here
The National Guard Needs Your Help

PTSD I Grieve

Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on September 11, 2009

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God has called us for this reason

My dear friend Lily Casura over at Healing Combat Trauma sent this.

Ministering to the military and their families
Karen.Herzog@bismarcktribune.com
Posted: Thursday, February 18, 2010


“Being in boots overseas is an awful lonely time,” said Maj. David Johnson, a chaplain with the North Dakota National Guard. And when veterans return from deployments, he said, they are “forever changed.”

Johnson, along with other Guard chaplains, met with local clergy and pastoral ministers Thursday at Lord of Life Lutheran Church for Clergy Day 2010, spending the morning offering guidance as to how ministers can help military men and women and their families.

With North Dakota soldiers and airmen serving in places such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa, and closer to home during floods, snow emergencies and other natural disasters, clergy and congregations can serve as a source of comfort and support during difficult separations and after returning home, Johnson said.

"For some of our military members, their church is their bedrock and faith plays an instrumental role in their lives. It is essential that area clergy understand some of the unique challenges and stresses placed on today's military members and their families," he said.

In 2009 alone, more than 900 North Dakota soldiers and airmen deployed overseas.

Chaplain Bill Ziegler, the state chaplain for the Guard in the state, said that the Guard wanted to give pastors tools to minister to military families, who often live in “a different world” because of their loved one’s service.

There also is a need for more military chaplains, he said, particularly Catholic priests. Clergy Day 2010 also hopes to find clergy who feel God is calling them to do more in this arena, Ziegler said.

Currently, four chaplains serve about 1,000 members of the Air Guard, with a fifth coming on board soon, he said. The more than 3,000 members of the Army Guard are served by four chaplains, with five candidates coming up, he said. There also are roles for chaplains’ assistants, he said.

“We’re not there to bless bombs and bullets,” he said, “but to be with the soldiers and airmen in all the challenges they face.”

Like hospital chaplains, military chaplains are trained in “psychological and spiritual first aid.”
read more here
Ministering to the military and their families

Reading it is a a mixture of hope and frustration for me. It's wonderful that the military chaplains are calling on communities to get involved in PTSD. What is not so wonderful is there is a resource in the communities that is not being used because they are not the right kind of Chaplains.

I belong to the International Fellowship of Chaplains. We are trained, certified, insured and fully invested in working with people after traumatic events. We are also fully invested in restoring the spiritual relationship between God and man. We live the life of Chaplains 24-7. Some work within police departments and fire departments. Good enough for these service members but not good enough for the military or the veterans needing help to heal from traumas of combat. We work with civilians after traumatic events but not good enough to work with families of veterans or military families. How is this possible given the fact that PTSD is a wound to the soul?

I've worked with veterans since 1982, have taken more training and certification classes than my office wall has room to hold the certificates, yet I'm not good enough. I live with PTSD everyday in my home, yet managed to stay married for over 25 years, but I'm not good enough to work with families so that they can have what they need to not only cope, but thrive.

My videos have been used by military, psychologists, therapists, you name it, but no matter what I do, no matter what I know including tracking PTSD everyday on this blog, I am not good enough.

I'm not the only one being left unused. The IFOC trains Chaplains all over the country and some of us are in rural areas where help for the veterans is hard to get. We are in big cities where the numbers are staggering. Just because we do not have a degree from a seminary we are not welcomed yet when you talk to a Chaplain you can fully understand that when it comes to knowing what is in the Bible, we live it. Not only living it, but walking the walk side by side ready to help others through their own "shadow of the valley of death" just as most of us have. Our faith was not tested by passing a test on paper, but tested by passing day to day life facing more horrors than most people will ever know willingly putting ourselves into dangerous circumstances, hearing stories the best horror writer could never contemplate and then seeing the restoration of hope in their eyes.

We see a family fall apart when they find out someone in their home will not be walking thru the door ever again. We see them after a car accident has taken away someone they love in one single blow. We see them when firefighters and police officers have fallen in the line of duty just as we see them when they are taken to the hospital. Over and over again when tragedy strikes, we are there willingly but over and over again, we are overlooked when the need is greater than the workers.

Matthew 9:37-38
37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the laborers are few.

38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth laborers into his harvest.

God has called us for this reason.

IFOC Chaplain Army

Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on September 13, 2009

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We are not in competition with the "acceptable" Chaplains, but fill in the need when they cannot simply because most of them have not been trained in crisis intervention. Can you imagine anything more in need of crisis intervention than servicemen and women returning from combat after multiple traumatic events? There are few Chaplains to go around as it is and most admit they don't know anything about PTSD.

When you think about Christ picking His disciples, we think about the twelve but not the over seventy He sent out or the many more spreading the Good News around the world willing to die for His sake. What if they were treated as not good enough to spread the messages Christ delivered? Romans were putting them to death but they were still willing to face any threat in order to serve God willingly putting themselves into harms way for nothing more than the glory God would reward them with after their life was over. They expected hardship in order to be of service to others.

The importance of having Chaplains fully involved in healing the troops and veterans cannot be emphasized enough. PTSD is a spiritual wound and needs to be healed with addressing the same kind of understanding as psychologist treat it but again, with those experienced with and specially trained to treat it for what it is instead of mental illness from other causes. PTSD only enters the person after trauma so treating it like any other mental illness will not work and has not worked. It needs to be treated with the soul in mind and not just the mind of the soul.

They need to use all Chaplains trained in crisis and not just the ones with a degree.

This is what an IFOC Chaplain can come up with along with about 30 more.

PTSD I Grieve

Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on September 11, 2009

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PTSD:Deleting history

There is a feature all PC's have. You can go into the properties area, make a couple of clicks and your browsing history is gone. It clears up where you've been from where you want to go. You may be thinking it would be great if our minds could do the same, but if you are, you are not taking into consideration what your own history has put into you. Deleting history from you mind will take away part of you. That is the biggest problem with what some researchers want to do.

They want to just delete the traumatic events from the minds of people suffering from PTSD. Sounds like a logical thing to seek but considering everything that happens in our lives becomes a part of us, it would be taking part of "us" away.

You don't want to wipe out memories of friends that died, even though the memory of death is painful, the rest of your memory of him/her, is something you want to cherish. They added to your life while they were alive. You cared about them while receiving care from them. Eliminating any part of them from your memory would not change the outcome but would take away what they added to your life.

In times of crisis, you really don't want to wipe away memories of moments in your life when you had great courage or deep compassion. While painful, these emotions were gaining their strength and developing. You did things you never expected you were capable of.

The goal should not be to remove the traumatic memories. It should be to find peace with them.

When you know what PTSD is, know what your own body-mind and spirit are capable of, you find peace with the pain and then begin to heal instead of trying to escape it.

I would like you to watch the video I did for the National Guards to understand PTSD a little better than you do right now. Then maybe, we can get past all the talk about getting rid of memories.

PTSD I Grieve

Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on September 11, 2009

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Yesterday I was at a Chaplain's conference. While it it informed and fueled my soul, it also left me disheartened. There was a military chaplain there. He has great courage and compassion. What he did not have was knowledge of what PTSD is. This happens all the time. It is my belief it happens because they view PTSD as a "mental illness" and not caused by trauma. They can understand people in crisis but they cannot understand what happens all too often when moments of crisis and great stress are not addressed.

I use this explanation often. If you think of PTSD as an infection, that is easy to understand. We've all had an infection of one kind or another during our lives. We know that when some part of you becomes infected, it needs antibiotics to heal or it gets worse and spreads. It could begin small then spread out. As it does, it causes a lot of pain and suffering. It goes deeper as it spreads out.

PTSD gets worse untreated. It spreads out, claims more of "you" while digging deeper into your soul. It infects every aspect of your life. When you seek treatment with the antibiotic of talking, it stops getting worse. You begin to heal. In the beginning the release of built up pain is much like when an antiseptic is applied to an infected wound. IT HURTS. You feel a rush of pain come out of you as tears flow. This is pain from behind the wall your mind built to protect itself. The antibiotic is therapy with talking and medication as well as seeking spiritual healing. The wound heals. Depending on how much time between the original emotional wound and the time you heal, the depth of your scar is determined by that.

When you have received an "infection" your body and medicine healed, that area is either made stronger so that you don't feel much pain there again or it is a bit more tender in the exact area, but the surrounding area is stronger. That can be you.

You will never go back to the way you were before because life always changes us, goes into who we are, what we think and how we feel. What can happen is that you can be more tender in certain areas of your life while stronger in others. In other words, you can come out better on the other side of this darkness than you are in right now.

Please understand that what is needed with PTSD is healing not deleting what has already become a part of you.

Mission accomplished for Guard unit and families

Specialist Anthony Klufts was greeted by his nephew, Jonathan Maguire, before a ceremony in Newburyport for the 182d Engineer Sappers Company, which returned from Iraq in June. Members of the National Guard unit received medals and awards (below) for their service. (PHOTOS BY Yoon S. Byun/Globe Staff)

Mission accomplished for Guard unit and families
Sappers defused bombs in Iraq
By Jeannie M. Nuss
Globe Correspondent / September 7, 2008

NEWBURYPORT - A smiling Sergeant Gregg Stefanik of Dalton, dressed in a camouflage uniform and combat boots, bent down yesterday to greet his small, giggling daughters and his niece at a soldiers' homecoming ceremony at Newburyport High School.

"This time around, it wasn't as bad," said Stefanik, recalling his second tour in Iraq. "I pretty much knew what was coming."

Stefanik, who was also deployed to Iraq in 2005, was one of 106 National Guard soldiers from the 182d Engineer Sapper Company who were formally honored yesterday for their yearlong tour.

The ceremony was held three months after the unit returned.

Four members of the unit were awarded the Purple Heart for their wounds: Stefanik, Specialist Anthony Klufts, Specialist First Class Michael St. Cyr, and First Lieutenant Willie Coates.

Thirteen soldiers received Bronze Stars, and more than 60 received Combat Action Badges.

"I remember it was a rainy day that I asked you to lend me your soldiers," Captain James Herrick said to the audience of more than 500 gathered in the Newburyport High School auditorium. "The biggest relief I had was . . . to bring all these soldiers back home."
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http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/09/07
/mission_accomplished_for_guard_unit_and_families/

What do they really come home too? Financial problems caused by their deployments are only part of the problem. When you understand that when they joined the guard and reserves, they felt called to serve the nation to help people, not to kill people. Much as the police officers are trained in case they have to kill, they join the force to protect. This is what is inside of them. They are not created with the warrior inside of them, but the servant instead.

We send them into combat and then say they shouldn't complain about it because they are the ones who joined. They should have known better, is what they are told all too often. Maybe they thought they could do what the military does without any issues but when reality came, they understood that they didn't get fully prepared for what was being asked of them.

The rate of PTSD is much higher for the members of the National Guards and Reservists. It is higher because these are just people who wanted to help out their communities. They are often police officers, firefighters, doctors, nurses, accountants, office workers among other professions that are not military and they are expected to just return to their "normal lives" as citizens. Too many cannot.

It is not just one trip into combat either. It is many. They are then expected to deal with the wounds of war and the financial hits their budgets keep getting hit with as they try to make due on their deployment pay, all too often coming back to jobs long gone, business dried up, homes foreclosed on and bank accounts depleted. None of this is right or fair but it is what it is and this nation has done little to solve any of their problems.

I talk to a lot of the "citizen" soldiers and try to make sure they understand what is wrong with them. In the process of explaining it to them, the law enforcement issue comes in when they are trying to get by day to day back home and their families are unaware of the changes they went through. If you need to understand what it's like for them watch my video I Grieve. You may get a better understanding of it. One more thing to think about is that too many of them have found themselves in jail because the awareness of their special circumstance is not there. These are not criminals. These are men and women who were willing to risk their lives for their fellow countrymen. It's time we understood what they need from us.

Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation."
- George Washington

PTSD I Grieve Video featured on Fire Fighter Veteran Site

PTSD I Grieve Video featured on Fire Fighter Veteran Site

A special message to members of the Armed Forces who are firefighters police or e.m.s. front line persons who have served as active duty members on callout to America in her time of need. When you return to the front lines of your community and your civilian calling it can be with the woundings of the war you have been engaged in. The war to find the peace you need is one you can overcome if you listen to this message which was developed by N.A.F.F.V.N. and senior Chaplain Kathie Costos of the International Fellowship of Chaplains out of Florida. Her contact number is area code 407-754-7526.

A military veteran once expressed that "their are no non believers in the trenches". I would encourage anybody who serves on the front lines of Americas communities to view this video but especially those who leave to fulfill a National Guard, Reserve or other temporary military posting and who must return to America and finish the transition back to the jobs they left behind. Click on to the link below. Shannon Pennington ptsd firefighterveteran
http://firefighterveteran.com/