Americans hold military in highest esteem, journalists not so much

This is something that you have to read because it points out the total disconnect of the media and who Americans really value.

Survey: Americans hold military in highest esteem, clergy in middle, lawyers at bottom.

Military ranked the highest with 78 percent perceiving those in the armed services contributed a lot to society.

That was down from 84 percent in 2009. Teachers (72 percent), doctors (66 percent), scientists (65 percent) and engineers (63 percent) rounded out the top five.

The drop in how people feel about journalists shows people don't think they really do much for society. Do you think that could be because they do so little reporting on the members of the military and our veterans? I do. I have to track news reports across the country for Wounded Times. Most of the time I am shocked to discover a news report at a local level that used to make national news. Now it is almost as if the national news forgot they were supposed to be reporting on national news stories including the troops.

The decline in public esteem for journalists was most pronounced among women. Pew found about three-in-10 women (29 percent) say journalists contribute a lot to society’s well-being, down 17 percentage points from 46 percent in 2009. Pew also found that the drop in the perceived contributions by journalists cut across all age groups, education levels and partisan politics.

Clergy are not off the hook either. Far too many of them could be doing something for the veterans coming home from combat and their families but too few care enough to help them.

The poll of about 4,000 adults by the Pew Research Center also found that just 37 percent of the general public said clergy contribute "a lot" to society's well-being.

Amazing when you consider the best way to fight PTSD is spiritually but the number of suicides, attempted suicides, divorces and suffering goes up every year. Do you think journalists and members of the clergy will change now? I doubt it.

Clergy no longer deaf, dumb and blind to veterans

Clergy no longer deaf, dumb and blind to veterans
February 12, 2011 posted by Chaplain Kathie

Living in Florida, knowing this state has over a million veterans and at least one church on every major street, I thought getting the clergy involved in helping veterans would be easy. I was totally wrong. A couple of years ago, I visited over 20 churches in the Orlando area. I was armed with over 20 years of information from research and living with it. I knew how churches work along with what their mission is supposed to be because I worked for a church as administrator of Christian Education. Each year for Memorial Day and Veterans Day, there are special services honoring the men and women serving this nation. Weekly prayers are offered up for all the troops. This is why I was so stunned and disheartened discovering only one out of the twenty churches responded after my visit. The pastor happened to be a veteran and a chaplain. He agreed more had to be done to help veterans in our own community. He couldn’t get involved here because he was transferring to another state. It was almost as if they have been deaf to the cries for help from their own communities.

Tracking PTSD across the country there will be a report of churches getting involved, which means they are paying attention refusing to remain uninformed. These churches are no longer denying how trauma, especially combat trauma, eats away at the soul from the simple fact PTSD is an attack against the emotional part of the brain. God is always involved in trauma. People survive it then wonder if God saved them or put them in the middle of it to suffer. Soldiers always seem to wonder where God was when this happened or that happened because they saw the worst that one human can do to another. Children used as shields, bombs blowing up women and children along with old men and the friend here one minute, killed the next one. After this they wonder how God could allow all of this to happen. Where was he? Then they question the existence of God Himself.

Most people do not have a nurtured relationship with God. They get their cues from their parents first and then whatever church their family attends. Too many have never gone to church, so their knowledge of God begins pure and simple as it develops from life. Others are subjected to sermons on how much God will punish them if they do something wrong instead of how much God loved them and they could be forgiven because of Christ paying the debt. It is easy for them to have their limited faith pulled away from them leaving them to believe they are not only totally alone but condemned to suffer.

I have no tolerance when it comes to military proselytizing. To hear a Chaplain has told a grieving soldier he is going to hell because he is not a member of the right denomination should have all of us understand how much harm is being done while they are on active duty. It leaves them with nowhere to turn topped off with being shoved away from the spiritual help they wanted.
read more here
Clergy no longer deaf, dumb and blind to veterans

Clergy discuss health reform

Clergy discuss health reform
By Mindy Rubenstein, Times Correspondent
In Print: Saturday, September 5, 2009


CLEARWATER — Eileen Jacobs of Clearwater drew applause and cheers as she pointed out Friday morning that one of the nation's largest health insurers took in a $5 billion profit this year and asked, "Why are we so afraid of government? … The government is us."

Her husband, O'Neal Jacobs, 87, is a World War II veteran who receives health benefits from the Veterans Affairs Department, including $4,400 worth of eye medicine each month. She pointed out that the VA system is one of the best.

When people say, " 'get government out of my health care', I am appalled," she said.

Eileen Jacobs, 80, was not alone in her pleas. The passions were overflowing Friday morning during a public forum that included about eight clergy from different faith traditions, who came together to discuss health care reform.

"We were a little nervous about opening it up to people, but something told us that we needed to," said the Rev. Abhi Janamanchi of the Unitarian Universalists of Clearwater, which co-hosted the forum with Hammock's Unity Church of Clearwater. "The stories that followed were very powerful."

He said the goal was threefold: to urge people to respect the democratic process and respect each other's opinions; to engage in the process, including contacting their elected representatives; and to remind people that we have a moral obligation to speak up for those without health care.

"In this crisis, we have an unprecedented opportunity" to create a fair system, he said.

read more here

http://www.tampabay.com/news/health/clergy-discuss-health-reform/1033889

You should also read this.

Know the facts before taking stance on health care
By Jan Glidewell, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Sunday, September 6, 2009

Things didn't really get better until 1972 when Congress decided to fund dialysis through Medicare (a, ahem, government program).

Today, some 345,000 Americans, including a dear friend of mine, are being kept alive by dialysis.

At the risk of hammering home a point too hard, it wasn't medical corporations or insurance companies that saved all of those lives, it was government realizing that the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness works better for those who are actually alive.

And trying to make an issue of end-of-life counseling is obviously being ballyhooed by those who have never had to make that decision.

go here for the rest of this

Know the facts before taking stance on health care

Grand Junction VA plans PTSD seminars

I am posting this as large as possible because it is exactly what I've been screaming about all these years!

Seminars To Help War Veterans

Posted on July 8, 2008 by Rick Adams

The Grand Junction VA will hold seminars to help veterans and their families deal with a common post war disorder. Over the next few weeks, the V-A will hold 3 seminars to educate the public about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Each of the 3 meetings will have a seperate focus. Officials with the VA say health professionals will be available for the the last 2 to discuss treatment. Clergy members are encouraged to attend because officials say they are often approached by veterans who don't want mental health professionals. The seminars will be held every Wednesday through July 23 in building 6 at the VA on North Avenue.
http://www.krextv.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3196

Seminar To Focus On Needs Of Troops Returning From Combat

Seminar To Focus On Needs Of Troops Returning From Combat
By ANN MARIE SOMMA Courant Staff Writer
May 5, 2008

ROCKY HILL — - War can challenge the human spirit. So how can churches in the state reach out to returning troops from Iraq and Afghanistan?

Responding to that challenge is the focus of a one-day workshop scheduled for Thursday at the Rocky Hill Veterans Home titled "Returning from War — A Spiritual Response," and co-sponsored by the state Department of Veterans Affairs and the Christian Conference of Connecticut.

From 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. religious leaders and behavioral health counselors and therapists will address issues facing returning veterans and their families, including suicide prevention, managing transitions, post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, and how to minister to returning soldiers and their families.

"We want to better understand what the soldiers have been through so that we might be able to minister to them and their families," said the Rev. Judy G. Allbee, executive minister of the American Baptist Churches of Connecticut, and one of the workshop's speakers. "If you don't suffer from PTSD, if you have never been in a war zone, you don't really understand what happens to a person. This isn't something that is taught in seminary."
go here for more
http://www.courant.com/news/local/hr/hc-vetspirit0505.artmay05,0,392329.story

If you ask a minister or pastor about PTSD, their eyes glaze over as if you are speaking in a bunch of words they never heard before. Yet if you ask a chaplain, they know exactly what you're talking about. They have been trained to know because they cared to know. Not faulting the clergy on this because it's very hard to expect people who never really had to live with any of this to have a clue what it's about.

Chaplains are in all fields and they are trained to deal with and minister to trauma survivors. It doesn't matter if it's law enforcement or emergency responders or the victims and it doesn't matter if it's a combat veteran dealing with war. While PTSD is complicated, it is not that hard to understand if they can put themselves in the place of someone else. They can't do it if they were never exposed to it. The hopeful thing here is that they are willing, finally, to learn!

Clergy learn together how to help vets

Clergy learn together how to help vets
By Anna Badkhen
Globe Staff / April 22, 2008
HADLEY - When a young veteran arrived at the Wesley United Methodist Church two years ago, the Rev. Lyle Seger barely noticed his presence. The church was moving to a new building, and Seger was preoccupied. The veteran attended a couple of Sunday services and then stopped coming.


Last February, the man returned to Seger's church to speak at a seminar about emotional needs of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and seeing his life shattered by his tour of duty in Afghanistan, the veteran had turned to alcohol, left his wife and two children, and considered killing himself.

"It was like getting a gut punch; it was eye-opening," said Seger, a pastor of 22 years who sees his calling in helping people. "What would have happened if we were more attentive to him?"

While private charities and government agencies have focused on ways to help returning vets dealing with traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, or major depression, clergy have had little training. And with vets looking to churches for healing, ministers like Seger have not always known how to respond.

"They are not reaching out to them in a meaningful way that would help them heal from the war," said the Rev. Philip Salois, a Vietnam War veteran and chief of the chaplain service at the VA in Boston.

In Massachusetts, some members of the clergy are trying to find out.

click post title for more
more stories like this on site
Humbled at Walter Reed
State to hold veterans fair in Hartford
State forms commission on veteran mental health care
Commission to study effects of war on Mass. veterans
Program targets veteran suicides

It's about time!!!!!

This is one of the biggest reasons why I did the new video PTSD Not God's Judgment. So many feel they were abandoned by God because they were where they were, doing what they had to do, seeing what they had to see and then wondering how a loving God could tolerate what happens during war. The point is that His heart must be breaking when it does happen but His wisdom knows the difference between evil and the willingness to lay down your life for the sake of your friends. He knows the warriors are willing to do that, but they pray to Him they never have to use their training. He knows our troops do not get to decide where they will risk their lives, how long they will risk their lives or which enemy they are told to kill.

The first warrior created by God was the Arch Angel Michael. He was created before man was even on the planet. God knew freewill would create chaos, right and wrong would be susceptible to pride, greed and those who seek to take power. Even the angels battled against each other. From the beginning of recorded time, man went to war with man, nation attacked nation because rulers wanted more and more of everything no matter who they had to kill to get it. Yet the warriors are the ones who only serve their country.

Every civilization, every generation had to address the aftermath of war for the survivors. Most adapted procedures to deal with the suffering of the warriors by taking care of their mind, body and spirit in healing. No matter which time they lived in or what faith they had, their leaders fed the three parts of the warriors. America has done little to address any of the three parts. The warriors of today are not given time for their bodies to rest, recover and rebuild strength. Their minds are not allowed to heal and they are forced to wait for the medical care they need. Their spirits are not addressed at all by the government or the clergy. The excuse is the separation of church and state.

This is where Chaplains come in. They are non-denominational pastors without a church, without a pulpit and without an agenda other than taking care of the spiritual needs of mankind. It should also be where the clergy come in but they are disinterested. I've talked to members of the clergy trying to get them to do this but as I was trying to explain it, I could see their eyes glaze over and then they would change the subject.

Most of this comes from the fact they are people who love God but have lived their lives in study of God and not in the study of man. They do not pay attention to the news or the events shaping their "flock" as they deal with things impossible for them to understand. The clergy have a had time understanding what the troops are going through just as they have a hard time understanding the anyone who comes to doubt God's love. They make speeches about forgiveness in their sermons but they never get to the heart when there are people sitting out there listening who have survived the ravages of war and then doubting the very same love of God they are hearing about from the pulpit.

Please read the rest of this article and then pass it on to your own clergy. Again, it does not matter what faith you are a member of. This is a human illness and a human need.



Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.namguardianangel.blogspot.com/
http://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

Chaplains replacing therapists in combat

In most cases, I do believe the chaplains have crossed the line when it comes to evangelizing, but in this case I think it's a good idea to fill in the gaps. Normally I agree with Veterans For Common Sense and would take issue with this, but it is something I have been pushing for in the communities when they come back and cannot get into the VA for help.

Veterans For Common Sense reported it this way.

Military Improperly Uses Chaplains as Mental Health Counselors
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/8656

The reason is a simple one. When trauma strikes, some will thank God they survived but others will feel abandoned by God. (There were two cases in my family alone. You can read about them in my book, For The Love Of Jack for free on the link to the right.) They feel as if God wants nothing to do with them when they go through traumatic events, especially combat and even the police suffer from this. They are not very different from other humans exposed to trauma, but in their case, when trauma strikes, they were also participants in it.

They are forced to kill doing their duty. This leaves a double wound of mind and spirit. Feeling as if God has turned His back on you is one of the most heart wrenching experiences a person of faith can bear.

There have been reports that when the psychological and spiritual wounds are addressed simultaneously the results are remarkable. This should not be a surprising result considering when people go to AA to stop drinking, they recover a lot more than sobriety. We've all heard the expression of "dry drunk" when people stop drinking but become nasty. This happens with the absence of the spiritual healing. Yet when they reconnect with the spiritual they become whole. They do not allow guilt to eat away at them, but use it to remember how much they have changed and healed as they try to rebuild their lives, their families and relationships.

What needs to be honestly addressed is that while the men and women in the military, and to a lesser degree, the police force, have nothing to feel guilty over while doing their duty in order to protect other people, they do in fact feel guilty. They feel guilty they shot someone and wonder what they could have done differently. They feel guilty they survived when a comrade did not. They also feel guilty when an innocent person dies because they feel they did not do enough to save them.

The wounds they carry are not just psychological but spiritual. The combination of healing is the best, however in the absence of psychological, the chaplains in the military and the clergy back home are the next best thing to being healing. With the military unprepared for after trauma wounds, time will be wasted while the soldiers have to wait to talk to someone. As the Veterans Administration was equally unprepared, the clergy in the communities are vital in assisting the wounded veterans to being healing.

I come to this debate as the administrator of Christian Education at a local church and of abundant faith from a lifetime of living it. I am not a casual observer of this. With first hand experience with my own husband, the absence of God, the judgement of God, during traumatic events is the feeder of trauma. It is hell for those who have held the hand of God and even those who have limited faith in God. This is not limited to Christians, but to Muslims, Jewish people along with every other belief base.

Back in the communities, the religious leaders need to step up to address the wounded and begin the healing process as soon as possible. The veteran is not the only one hurting. In most cases there is also a family hurting, trying to understand what is happening. It is a spiritual tug of war in which as time is wasted, the aggressor (PTSD) claims more and more territory. The clergy need to pay attention to this and stop letting their eyes glaze over as PTSD is explained to them. It is not that hard to understand. They need to stop ignoring this if they are truly of the "cloth" and in the business of taking care of the spiritual lives of their congregations and communities.

Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.namguardianangel.blogspot.com/
http://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




This is how Air Force Times reported it.

DoD, services ramp up mental health support

By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Oct 22, 2007 6:46:38 EDT

When military chaplains look into the faces of military family members, they are beginning to see “the same 100-mile stare that we’re seeing with soldiers with [post-traumatic stress disorder],” the Army chief of chaplains said at a recent family forum. “This is a tough war, a long war.”

There are resources inside the gate and outside, “but sometimes it’s an issue of an individual who is so tired, we must walk them to the help they need,” said Maj. Gen. Doug Carter.

Military chaplains are a central element in the confidential assistance provided to families. They offer counseling as well as education on issues such as maintaining strong relationships during and after deployments.

But with multiple deployments compounding stress on families, defense and service officials have recently ramped up some other confidential counseling options for military families.

As of Sept. 15, active-duty members, mobilized reservists and their families can get free nonmedical professional consultations over the phone, said Mike Hoskins, special assistant in the Pentagon’s office of military community and family policy.

“We asked Military One Source to expand counseling to include telephonic consultation,” he said. “Some can’t make it to face-to-face sessions.”

The call to Military One Source, at (800) 342-9647, is toll-free. Overseas military and family members can call toll-free (800) 3429-6477, or overseas collect 1-484-530-5908. Phones are staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Each person can receive up to six phone consultations per issue, he said. Sessions are confidential and anonymous, unless a counselor has reason to believe the caller could harm himself or others.
go here for the rest
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2007/10/military_mentalhealth_071019w/

Clergy in New Orleans need PTSD counseling

Clergy in New Orleans need counseling

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY, Associated Press Writer
Fri Aug 31, 5:20 PM ET



NEW ORLEANS - Clergymen struggling to comfort the afflicted in New Orleans are finding they, too, need someone to listen to their troubles.


By JANET McCONNAUGHEY, Associated Press Writer
Fri Aug 31, 5:20 PM ET



NEW ORLEANS - Clergymen struggling to comfort the afflicted in New Orleans are finding they, too, need someone to listen to their troubles.

The sight of misery all around them — and the combined burden of helping others put their lives back together while repairing their own homes and places of worship — are taking a spiritual and psychological toll on the city's ministers, priests and rabbis, many of whom are in counseling two years after Hurricane Katrina.

Almost every local Episcopal minister is in counseling, including Bishop Charles Jenkins himself, who has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Jenkins, whose home in suburban Slidell was so badly damaged by Katrina that it was 10 months before he and his wife could move back in, said he has suffered from depression, faulty short-term memory, and difficulty concentrating or sleeping.

Low-flying helicopters sometimes cause flashbacks to the near-despair — the "dark night of the soul" — into which he was once plunged, he said. He said the experience felt "like the absence of God" — a lonely and frightening sensation.

Churches and synagogues have played an important role in New Orleans' recovery, supplying money and thousands of volunteers to rebuild homes and resettle families. But an April survey found 444 places of worship in metropolitan New Orleans — about 30 percent — were still closed 20 months after the storm because they were damaged or their congregations scattered. click post title for the rest.

Even clergy can feel the absence of God after trauma. It is not the only outcome of PTSD but it shows that a strong faith will not prevent PTSD. It has nothing to do with faith, nothing to do with courage, or bravery, education, intelligence, patriotism or anything else other than a human being exposed to trauma.

Think of what this event in New Orleans is teaching us about combat. Think of the results from this one storm and the flood that followed when the waters came rushing in. Leaving politics out of it ( which is very hard for me to do) this event left scars that will last a lifetime that no one else can see with their eyes.

September 11, 2001, is engrained in the soul's of the people from New York more than anyone else in the nation, while the nation feels the heart tug, we were not there. Some felt as if their lives were in danger across the nation, but they were not there witnessing it in real time. We are still seeing the numbers increase from those exposed to this one day's events.

Now add in these traumatic days, acknowledge the wounds the people exposed to them carry, then think about experiencing them everyday for a year or now for fifteen months, and still knowing that when you go home, the safety of home will not last because you will be re-attacked all over again in the next round of redeployments. Some are on their fifth tour.

Then think of the people having to live in Iraq. Those who do not get to go home for a rest because it is their homes being attacked on a daily basis. They did nothing wrong and they lived in relative peaceful neighborhoods before the invasion. The Iraqi people have traumatic events happen daily, horrifically and without end.

Why is it we can understand the effects of Post Traumatic Stress when it happens here but we can never accept it when it happens someplace else? Each time this nation experiences a traumatic event, there are after shocks reverberating for many years and yet this nation still regards PTSD as if it were some kind of personal defect.

The plain simple truth is, you cannot expose a human to trauma and expect them to just get over it. No one ever lives their lives the same way after trauma. A part of them changes. Sometimes it is only slight changes but other times it is truly life altering.

PTSD wounded minds and tortured souls

The three great religions of the world claim the same God as their own. All claim kinship with Abraham. All worship in Jerusalem. All of these humans, all calling out to the same God. Why? Because there is hope. Hope that a divine Someone, creator of heaven and earth, is so powerful, He can care about even them.

When traumatic events happen, they call out in anguish "why" as they witness the horrors committed by other humans or the wrath of nature's fury. They look toward heaven questioning every belief they ever had including the very existence of God. We all question it. Even Mother Teresa did as it has just been released. For some, faith is restored soon after the event ends.

For me, it came with the loss of twins I was carrying. Four and a half months of joy and expectation followed by a miscarriage. I questioned my faith that up until then had been as natural to me as breathing. For the first time in my life I knew what it felt like to be abandoned by God. It only lasted a few days before I was standing at the office door, just as the sun was beginning to rise. The sky turned purple. In that moment, as I looked at the magnificent dawn, I knew I had not been abandoned, but had let go of the Hand I had always held, just when I needed it the most. In a lifetime of tragedies and trials, I have seen only moments of the effects a traumatic experience can have. Even now as I do what I do and have to see the pictures, hear the stories and read the accounts, they are only glimpses of what others are living with. They haunt me some nights and I get very depressed from time to time when I think I've just heard enough, but those dark times pass.

For those with PTSD, those dark days do not pass. There is no spectacular message delivered. There is the sense of abandonment that does not go away. This I've heard from more than 80% of those I am in contact with. It is one of the most reported events within the traumatic event. How can a human not question God when they witness the devastation of the land and everything they owned? How can they not question the existence of a loving God when they see what he allows humans to do to other humans without stopping them? How can they not question their faith and everything they believed in when within seconds, it was all violently challenged?

For combat veterans, they are not just witnesses to carnage, they are participants. No matter how noble the belief that what they are doing is right, they will blame themselves. A soldier forced to kill a child because that child was sent as an assassin. A Marine forced to kill a woman because she was also wearing a bomb vest. A young soldier too frightened to be cool with a loaded machine gun opens fire and kills an innocent driver because he did not follow the warning directions in a language he did not understand. They blame themselves when a friend dies as well. They wonder why they were able to survive but their friend didn't. All this causes them to feel guilty, judged and abandoned. Some will believe they deserved to be abandoned, while others will begin to wonder if what they understood God to be had been totally wrong.

At the same time their emotions were assaulted, their faith was equally assaulted by the trauma.

When the psychiatric community and the spiritual community join forces, the recovery is stronger. This I found out by accident. With the backlog of claims and many veterans unable to get into the treatment they need, I resorted to advising them to seek out their clergy. Knowing they were trained in psychology, they seemed to be the logical choice. Given the fact most of clergy training is underutilized, as well as knowing the urgent need to get the veteran into some kind of therapy as soon as possible, there was no other option. I couldn't tell them to just wait to get to see someone at the VA.

There is also the issue of careers involved. There are some worried about security clearances for example and they cannot even see a government psychologist. There are some who have been discharged under the "personality disorder" tag and they can't see a VA psychologist while also dealing with financial problems.

The veterans turning to the clergy end up beginning to reconnect with God. For Christians, they rediscover the same loving God they knew in their childhood who loved the world so much He sent Jesus. For Jewish and Muslim believers they too find that same connection they had with the God of their faith. There is a spiritual hunger in each of us that some will fill with whatever comes their way but while most seek a bonding with God.

For the veterans with PTSD there is an urgency right now all across the country. Especially for the National Guard. The latest reported figure places National Guardsman at 50% PTSD and they do not have the resources to find the community support they need as they return to their lives, jobs and pressures of normal civilian life. I think the answer is for the religious teachers across the country to minister to the most needy in their community. When you help to heal a wounded veteran, you are also healing the family and friends they love. Isn't that what God would expect out of you? Heal their wounded souls while the psychological community heals their minds and you will move mountains. You will help hold families together until they can get the medical care they need. I've seen it enough times already when a veteran begins to reconnect with God, they heal faster and better, families are reconnected to each other and forgiveness is possible. The clergy need to step up and provide the dawn of a new day for our wounded.


Kathie Costos

Namguardianangel@aol.com

www.Namguardianangel.org

www.Namguardianangel.blogspot.com

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

Church will hold combat stress seminar

Church will hold combat stress seminar
BY STEPHANIE HEINATZ Daily Press
9:44 AM EDT, August 23, 2007

On Saturday, Oct. 6, from 1 to 3 p.m., Seaford Baptist Church on Seaford Road will host an educational seminar on post-traumatic stress disorder and spiritual solutions for healing.The event is open to the public.
click post title for the rest

Civilian clergy get war trauma lesson

Civilian clergy get war trauma lesson
Training focuses on helping troops with combat stress when they return home.
BY STEPHANIE HEINATZ | 247-7821
August 22, 2007

NEWPORT NEWS - Military chaplains are often revered by troops on the front lines. They provide a place where they can go to cry, to vent, to talk about the trauma war has exposed them to - and not feel like they're being judged.

Back home, those troops are likely to reach out to their civilian pastors, Susan Cross, a chaplain with the Hampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center told roughly 75 clergy members gathered Tuesday at a daylong course on dealing with combat stress.

Some servicemen and servicewomen still fear seeking professional mental health care from the military or the VA.