Kitchen Commandos Debate War Again Ignoring Cost

War Computer Games vs Real Call of Duty
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 20, 2014

The debates about sending troops back into Iraq, keeping them in Afghanistan and spreading them out into other countries leaves most of us sick because they never manage to consider the cost. Hell, they never really do while they show their knowledge, or lack of it, defending their opinions on the options never thinking beyond their limited view. Kitchen Commandos think they understand because more Americans play computer war games than actually go to do it for real.

The New Yorker has an article about "Isis's Call of Duty" computer game "In a recruitment video for the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS (also known as ISIL or I.S.), that has been making the rounds of some uglier parts of the Internet"

The real Call of Duty on Google Plus has this many followers

3,522,318 followers 57,054,760 views

More people are paying attention to computer war games than the real battles being fought as the politicians push for more. The real price paid is what they ignore the most.

ICYMI: WITH A VETERAN COMMITTING SUICIDE EVERY HOUR
U.S. REP. RON BARBER SAYS THEY MUST NOT ‘FACE THE GHOSTS OF WAR ALONE’
Sep 18, 2014

Press Release

Congressman calls for ‘well-funded, well-planned campaign’ to halt epidemic WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Ron Barber, noting that a veteran commits suicide every 65 minutes, called for increased attention to the issue, saying that soldiers and veterans “are left to face the ghosts of war alone.”

“The suicide rate among our country’s brave service men and women and veterans is at a frightening level,” Barber said yesterday on the floor of the House. “Some estimates have shown that as many as 22 veterans take their own lives every day.”

Barber, who represents 85,000 veterans in Southern Arizona, called for an increased focus on identifying members of the armed forces and veterans who may be at risk of taking their own lives and increased attention to preventing that from happening.

“We must combat military and veteran suicide with the same conviction that we take on an enemy of war – because it is killing our men and women in and out of uniform,” Barber said. “We must wage a well-funded, well-planned campaign to fight this heartbreaking epidemic.”

Video of Barber’s entire remarks can be seen by clicking on the photo below:
Published on Sep 18, 2014
Rep. Ron Barber spoke on the floor of the House on veterans suicide prevention. "The suicide rate among our country’s brave service members and veterans is at a frightening level. Some estimates have shown that as many as 22 veterans take their own lives every day.

“We must combat military and veteran suicide with the same conviction that we take on an enemy of war. Because it is killing our men and women in and out of uniform. We must wage a well-funded, well planned campaign to fight this heartbreaking epidemic. we must do more for those who have borne the brunt of war. We must come together, Congress, the administration, the health care community, mental health experts and build upon a plan to help the veterans who served this nation proudly, yet may be suffering." September 17, 2014.

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Kathie Costos DiCesare
Being appalled is one thing, knowing how long it has been going on is inexcusable. By 1978 there were 500,000 Vietnam veterans with PTSD. Their suicides were 200,000 many years ago and today, today veterans over 50 are 78% of the suicides no one talks about. How many more years does it take to stop being home more deadly than being in combat?

Microsoft tells troops just use old Xbox instead of new one?

Take a look at how real looking this game is. Call of Duty Game Play then think about something. While this game may be played by a lot of kids and young adults, few of them are willing to do for real what they pretend to do in a game. For others, they think real combat is like the game but when they face real training, they awaken to something they never expected. This game is not recommended to be played by anyone dealing with PTSD. It doesn't help.

New Xbox 'a sin against all service members'
Microsoft says troops should use old gear instead
Army Times
By Jon R. Anderson
Staff writer
Jun. 14, 2013

Navy Lt. Scott Metcalf was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new Xbox One. Now he’s not even sure if he’ll buy one.

Indeed, for many in the military, the next-gen Xbox console may offer more endemic frustration than grand epic gaming, particularly for those deployed downrange, aboard ships and stationed overseas.

Xbox One, Microsoft’s much-anticipated new console, got its big reveal at the Electronic Entertainment Expo gamers’ convention in Los Angeles. Company honchos are confident it will come to dominate living rooms over the next decade not only as the gaming delivery vehicle of choice, but also with a barrage of other content, including a suite of apps, streaming video and music.

There’s one big but, however: To get all this entertainment awesomeness, the console will have to check in online with the Microsoft mothership at least once a day.

“With Xbox One you can game offline for up to 24 hours on your primary console, or one hour if you are logged on to a separate console accessing your library. Offline gaming is not possible after these prescribed times until you re-establish a connection,” an Xbox spokesperson tell Military Times.
read more here

Cockamamie war games will not fix combat PTSD

I am glad this article started out with the most important part of the delusion the DOD has been under. Computer games may be something the troops like but that does not mean they are good for them. Like drinking alcohol may make them feel better for a while numbing the pain they do not want to deal with, but afterwards they are worse off. Computer games feed adrenaline and adrenaline feeds PTSD. This is one of the worst ideas I have ever heard.

Can the rush in gaming help overcome the stress of combat?
By Matthew M. Burke
Stars and Stripes
Published: April 30, 2013

Former Army Sgt. Melissa Cramblett was once again pitched in battle against a tenacious enemy fighter. Her heart raced as she tried to save fellow soldiers from falling.

“I’m going to kill this mother[expletive],” she said to herself as adrenaline coursed through her veins.

Cramblett could put down the controller when violent combat video games like “Call of Duty: Black Ops” got to be too much, but it wasn’t so easy to flip the switch on her post-traumatic stress symptoms, which worsened each time she played.

She suffered anxiety and took her anger out on her family. She couldn’t sleep, but when she did, she was constantly haunted by a solider she knew who had been decapitated in an IED attack in Iraq in 2004. The soldier had been in the vehicle behind her; it was a devastating loss. Now, despite being a few years removed from the battlefield, she was back in Iraq and his bloodied body was standing over her.

“I can’t be in the same room [with someone playing],” she said of the increasingly realistic and violent crop of combat video games, some of which are developed with the help of active-duty and retired special operations troops. “It gives you that adrenaline rush that makes you feel like you’re back there.”

Cramblett has since asked her husband to get rid of the videos at home and she warns servicemembers with PTSD to stay away from them through her work with veterans groups Stay Strong Nation and the Veterans Who Care Foundation.

“I know I’m not the only one suffering from those games,” she said from her civilian job at a recruiting battalion in Portland, Ore. “I think it’s dangerous if a servicemember plays if they have PTSD.”

Despite the beliefs of people like Cramblett — and media reports that former servicemembers might have committed suicide after playing the games — violent combat video games remain a popular respite of troops downrange and a connection to their warrior past once they return home.
read more here

It is time for the DOD and "researchers" to actually research PTSD before they come up with these cockamamie fix-it by breaking it approaches. This isn't rocket science! This is common sense.

When military training and exposures teach their bodies to operated under adrenaline rushes, the body learned to adapt. The best way to treat PTSD is to teach the body how to work without it again. Learning how to calm down will not happen with this. Sure they may have fun playing the games. Sure they may even get some relief for a while but what they will end up with is what will make PTSD worse.

Some "games" may work but that depends on how much the designer understands PTSD as much as it depends on how talented they are in creating the game. Violent games are part of the problem when kids think they can kill on a computer screen but find real life much different. When they left real combat and play the games again, there is a much different effect on what is happening inside of them and it is not good.

Comments across the web tell the stories we ignore

If you have combat PTSD, do not play this game or any game like it. You are teaching your body and mind to stay on edge instead of teaching them to clam down. It will make PTSD worse than it would be if you spent that much time on healing instead.


I read comments across the web all the time but that's what I do. Most people figure that if it isn't on the news, they don't need to know. While this post comes from a satire site, it raised a lot of comments that pretty much tell the story of what countless veterans are going through.

From Washington D.C. comes word today that the Veterans Affairs has approved the first PTSD claim for trauma experienced while playing Battlefield 3.

Officials with the Veterans Affairs in Washington D.C. released the news that the agency has approved a disability claim, filed by a junior Air Force enlisted personal, for PTSD based on trauma experienced while playing the ultra-realistic Battlefield 3 video game.

According to sources, the service member claimed that during the past year, while at his duty station at Wright-Patterson Airbase, the trauma was a result of several hours a day spent playing Battlefield 3. The trauma was made worse, according to the service member, since, “most of the time spent playing the game was playing in Hardcore mode where I was often abandoned by my team members and left to defend points by myself.”
read more here

Why do i get denied after four tours in afghanistan and iraq (outside the wire), yet some guy in dire need of midol is approved for the thing we did between missions? Stupidity and frivolity are the reasons deserving men and women are not properly treated or cared for when they return from the war. I want to be angered. I want infantry rage to bathe all i see in ruin and destruction, yet all i feel is the hopelessness that one person caused by disrespecting the fallen and those who endure real suffering. Its a pain that permeates the deepest recesses of our souls. There is no pause button for that type of anguish.

That comment comes from a lot of pain. Pain most Americans don't want to know because then their patriotic fantasy of sending them off to combat would simply vanish. They figure all they have to do is say they support the troops, wave a few flags during a parade and they repaid the debt.

Our real duty starts with making sure there is a reason to send them in the first place. Make sure they have the plans and equipment they need along with making sure the American people are invested in it, paying for it instead of going shopping and taking tax cuts for the rich. (That way, they may not forget all about them after they are sent.) When the plans don't work, they demand better plans. We didn't do that. We kept our mouths shut as the rich held out their hands for tax cuts and then we watched mindless cable shows.

Most Americans are still not paying attention. If they did, then you wouldn't see the other rules of combat evaporate. The rule of making sure the families of the fallen had all they need, rule of the wounded and their families having what they needed, rule of making sure they had jobs if they could work or compensation if they could not, all gone along with what congress got away with not doing. They are suffering for what we asked the to do because we didn't take any time to care about them.

Tetris and PTSD talk is hype, blog world needs to calm down

I've stayed out of the push for Tetris for one simple reason. How they did the study. Read the bold part of this and see what I mean. Do they really think a movie is the same as reality? Let them take the game out to police officers in the street right after they had to kill someone in a gun battle and one of their own was killed as well. Try the game on them. Take it to Afghanistan and Iraq right after a road side bomb blew up some GI's, killing some and taking off a few limbs at the same time a lot of innocent civilians got killed in the process, including children. Let them play the game and see how well they do with it.

The problem about the blog world jumping all over a story like this, as they have over the last few days, is it offers false hope. The study is not that great to be all over the blog world. Simple as that. The only reason I'm posting this story is because of the headline on this one.

Tetris Cures PTSD

William Weir stated that as if it is a fact from a proven study in the field or far reaching as if it's worked on tens of thousands of people. With millions in this country with PTSD, you'd think they could have used a few hundred thousand of them to try it out at least. To come out with a headline like this when we have a nation in pain with the new veterans joining the older veterans plus their families desperate for hope and help, this is irresponsible. I can just picture thousands of veterans rushing to find this game believing they will be "cured" miraculously by playing this game. My thoughts on this are, wait and see if they come up with a study that proves it works in the field on real people facing real trauma and not some people watching a movie.

I know what it's like to have nightmares and flashbacks from second hand by reading what I have to read and seeing pictures I have to look at. Considering I do this everyday it does get to me but I can assure you, as much as it bothers me, it does not come even close to after it happens in real time, real life. Playing computer games does help with the stress level I have. I like to play Chicken Invaders but all that does is help the stress and lets me chill out for a while. Curing PTSD, nope, sorry, the DOD and the VA have a lot better games they are offering in studies and so far, they're still working on them.

Tetris Cures PTSD
Hartford Courant - United States
By William Weir on January 7, 2009 5:09 PM
If you play Tetris, the old-school video game, within six hours after a potentially traumatic event, you might be able to prevent "sensory-perceptual, visuospatial mental images" (the kind that cause flashbacks) from ever forming in your brain.

So say researchers at Oxford, who claim that certain activities can use up the brain's limited resources that would otherwise be used for brain functions that lead to post-traumatic stress disorder.

For the study, subjects were shown a violent 10-minute movie. One group played Tetris shortly after, another group didn't. Over the next few days, the Tetris players reported fewer flashbacks to the movie.
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