170 Maine soldiers adopt dog named Honey

170 Maine soldiers adopt dog named Honey

The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday May 13, 2010 9:26:06 EDT

EDDINGTON, Maine — Maine Army National Guard's 1136th Transportation Company is shipping out this week for Afghanistan. But the soldiers are leaving behind something for their families.

The 170 soldiers adopted a four-legged friend named Honey while training at Fort Hood, Texas, and they chipped in to have the dog shipped to Maine.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/05/ap_honey_dog_051310/

BBC looks at combat stress and alcohol abuse

Combat stress
Alcohol misuse is more common than post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among UK troops. A study in the Lancet suggests that the number of British troops suffering from PTSD has remained relatively low, despite the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But the study found those who had returned from front-line duties were at much greater risk of alcohol abuse. The Ministry of Defence, which funded the independent research, says it takes issues of problem drinking very seriously and that counselling and welfare support is available.

Former members of the armed forces and their families have been telling the BBC News website about their experience of alcohol misuse.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/8679831.stm

Vets help one of their own

Vets help one of their own
Dave Baity

GARDEN CITY BEACH -- When Ed Meek hired Mike Butryn, owner of Pristine Home Services, to do some work on the doublewide mobile home he and his wife, Alice, bought, he got more than he bargained for.

Butryn completed the work the two had agreed on, then went beyond the call of duty, Meek said.

After learning that Meek is a veteran of the Vietnam War, suffered disabilities from wounds he received while in service, and also was a prisoner of war, Butryn decided that Meek needed help to ready the mobile home so that he and his wife could move there by May 17.

So, Butryn, 68, an Air Force veteran who served in Thailand during the Vietnam era, rounded up some friends who'd also served in the military. Early Thursday morning, they arrived at Meek's new home in the Windjammer Mobile Home Village to give Meek a hand, free of charge.

Butryn also wants to expand on the idea. He hopes the service project completed by him; Bob Kaiser, a 66-year-old veteran who served in Korea during the Vietnam era; and Terry Wiebel, who served in the Navy during that era, will become a permanent thing and attract other volunteers.



Read more: Vets help one of their own

Little Girl Welcomes Soldier Father Home

Paige Bennethum's dad is back from Iraq. Credit: Abby Bennethum

Little Girl Welcomes Soldier Father Home
by Colleen Egan

Remember this photo of the adorable little girl who refused to let go of her daddy's hand before he left for Iraq?

The photo, which represents the true cost of war, quickly gained nationwide attention, NBC Philadelphia reports. But this story has a happy ending, now that Paige Bennethum's dad, Staff Sgt. Brett Bennethum, has returned from Iraq.

Death of Marine "self-inflicted gunshot wound"

Marine officials: MarSOC death likely a suicide

Staff report
Posted : Wednesday May 12, 2010 18:22:12 EDT

Naval Criminal Investigative Services is still investigating the death of a Marine assigned to Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, although the death appears to be a suicide, officials said.

Sgt. Thomas R. Bagosy, 25, died of a “self-inflicted gunshot wound,” according to a command news release issued Wednesday. His body was found Monday afternoon near the intersection of Cross Street and McHugh Boulevard aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Bagosy, an automotive organizational mechanic from Newark, Del., enlisted in the Corps in 2004 and joined MarSOC in October 2008. He deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Four state-side Marines have died in the last week, including three at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va. Lance Cpl. Kevin P. Grant of Harvey, Ill., was shot to death in base housing Sunday. Two other Marines died May 2: Staff Sgt. Nigel Castor, 32, was found dead in a home on base, although the cause of death is unknown; Lance Cpl. Lucas Gary Lowe, 20, was found dead near the Henderson Road railroad track crossing on base.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2010/05/marine_deaths_051210w/

Documentary lets state's Vietnam vets open up

Journal Sentinel
Maj. Gen. Al Wilkening (left) watches as Brig. Gen. Kerry Denson, commander of the Wisconsin Army National Guard, shows his Vietnam battle scars to guardsmen in San Antonio. Denson, a Huey helicopter pilot who served two tours in Vietnam, is featured in “Wisconsin Vietnam War Stories.”

Documentary lets state's Vietnam vets open up
Many had kept war stories to themselves
By Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel
It was through Sue Haack's typewriter that many families learned of the deaths of their loved ones in Vietnam.

Assigned to U.S. Army Vietnam Headquarters in Long Binh, she arrived to the war in January 1969 and left one year and two days later. Sometimes she had to go to the morgue to help sort identifications before rolling a form letter into an old manual typewriter.

"All you had to do was put in the name and address. It was such a cold feeling. It was hell on earth," said Haack, 62, of Madison.

Haack didn't talk about her experiences in Vietnam as an enlisted soldier for 15 years after she returned home in 1970.

Wearing her uniform - the only clothes she had - on her journey back to Madison, she was kicked out of a taxicab and a stewardess refused to let her on a flight until the plane's captain intervened. Why talk about Vietnam when it seemed as if everyone was protesting the war, Haack figured.

Now, she and many other Wisconsin Vietnam veterans are getting a chance to speak about their experiences in a documentary that will be broadcast on Wisconsin Public Television this month. "Wisconsin Vietnam War Stories" will air in three one-hour segments May 24 to 26, the week after LZ Lambeau, a three-day event and welcome-home gathering at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

In the documentary, she relates the fate of the soldier she replaced in casualty notifications - he committed suicide 10 days before the end of his tour. Though most of the names of the casualties were unknown to her, Haack handled letters to the families of five friends she met in Vietnam who died when their helicopter crashed.
read more here
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/93645564.html

Medal of Honor Recipients Speak Out on PTSD

These men were awarded the highest honor for saving lives and they are still doing it. They are still saving lives by doing this!

Medal of Honor Recipients Speak Out
By Lina Bereskova
Epoch Times Staff
To reduce rising suicide rates in the military, American Medal of Honor recipients will launch the “Medal of Honor—Speak Out!” campaign to encourage soldiers to get help for post-traumatic stress (PTS). The heroes, who survived horrific experiences, recorded video messages.

Soldiers who suffer from PTS often do not seek help. A fear of looking weak or of hurting their military career held back 65 and 50 percent respectively from asking for help, according to the campaign.

go here for more

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/35270/

http://www.medalofhonorspeakout.org/

Sammy Davis

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/35270/

Medal of Honor Recipients Speak Out About PTS
Medal of Honor: Speak Out! PSA
:30 Second PSA
PSA: Army
PSA: Navy and Marine Corps
PSA: Air Force
Harvey "Barney" Barnum
Patrick Brady
Paul W. Bucha
Jon Cavaiani

The 28 participating Medal of Honor recipients are each featured in a short video clip personally urging service members to seek help through resources and services that were not available when they returned from war. For example, Jon Cavaiani tells troops he wishes the resources were available to him when he returned from the Vietnam War, because “it would have alleviated the problems I had later. The tools and resources to help are there. Make use of them. I did, much later, and it continues to help me stay strong.”

Cavaiani, a Special Forces staff sergeant, was held by the North Vietnamese as a prisoner of war for two years. He was wounded in the back and severely burned after his small contingent of American soldiers was attacked by an overwhelming enemy force in the spring of 1971.

Medal of Honor Speak Out on PTSD

Bruce Crandall
Sammy Davis
George "Bud" Day
Drew Dix
Roger Donlon
Walter Ehlers
James Fleming
Robert Foley
Harold Fritz
Thomas Hudner
Robert Ingram
Joe Jackson
Jack Jacobs
Thomas Kelley
Walter Marm
Robert Modrzejewski
Alfred Rascon
Jim Taylor
Brian Thacker
Michael E. Thornton & Thomas R. Norris
Leo Thorsness
Jay Vargas
Gary Wetzel
Hershel "Woody" Williams

National Military Appreciation Month

May is designated as National Military Appreciation Month and is an important month for those who serve. It is a positive way to recognize all of the men and women in all branches of the military: active duty, National Guard & Reserves, Veterans, Retirees and their family members. Their family members serve too and make many sacrifices.

Those who serve in the United States military services represent the highest caliber of professionalism and loyalty. We ask them to willingly risk their lives. May is the month to applaud them for their contributions and sacrifices. Let us remember all of those who serve, past and present and celebrate:
May 1st – Loyalty Day
May 7th – Military Spouse Appreciation Day
May 8th – VE Day
May 15th – Armed Forces Day
May 31st – Memorial Day
The next time you see a servicemember, whether it is a holiday or not, thank them for their service. It means a great deal to them. Here is a link to send the troops a message of thanks. Click here.

We live in the greatest country in the world. Americans may have different points of view, but at the end of the day, we are one nation.

GOD BLESS AMERICA AND OUR UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES!
Debbie GregoryCEO MilitaryConnection.com

PTSD: You're not Dinky Dau, you're CBC

PTSD: You're not Dinky Dau, you're CBC
by Chaplian Kathie

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder became the term used to label combat veterans changed by war. After that, therapists used the term to label all individuals changed by traumatic events, never acknowledging there are many different types of traumatic events.

People surviving natural disasters can find themselves changed afterward and they need help to overcome the shock and loss. They are not suffering the same way survivors of crimes do. For them, the shock of another person doing it to them is harder to overcome and being able to trust again is one of the hardest things to do. There is another type of PTSD and it involves careers. Emergency responders see the aftermath of the traumatic event others go through. Firefighters arrive after the fire has done damage to property but also after the people have been in a struggle between life and death, burned, and all too often, have succumbed. For them, the exposure to traumatic events hits them hard as the number of times increases.

Then there are the participants. The police and sheriff deputies, the highway patrol officers, risking their lives but all too often become part of the traumatic event itself. The number of events increases for them but so do the number of times their lives are on the line. For them they are changed by these events and they usually suffer a higher rate of PTSD and suicide. Divorce for them is higher than other occupations and so is the reliance on alcohol.

The highest occupation to set off PTSD is combat veterans. The exposure to traumatic events is astronomical. We can understand all of the above being changed by the events in their lives but when it comes to war veterans, we tend to minimize the difference when we should be focused on them more.

During the Vietnam War there were terms to label GI's changed by combat.

flaky
to be in a state of mental disarray, characterized by spaciness and various forms of unreasoning fear

DINKY DAU: Vietnamese term for "crazy" or "You're crazy."

FUBAR short for "Fucked Up Beyond All Repair" or "Recognition." To describe impossible situations, equipment, or persons as in, "It is (or they are) totally Fubar!"

Yet during WWII it was called "shell shock" and during Korea it was Section 8.

Section 8(military)
The term Section 8 refers to a discharge from the United States military for reason of being mentally unfit for service. This term was made popular by the television program M*A*S*H, in which a corporal in the US Army, Max Klinger, attempts for years to get a Section 8 discharge (usually by wearing women's clothing), in order to get out his tour of service of the Korean War.

In the 1950s, Section 8 discharges were commonly given to service members found guilty of "Sexual Perversion," especially for homosexuality — and it was classified as an undesirable discharge, depriving the soldier so discharged of veteran's benefits but not resulting in the loss of any citizenship rights, such as the right to vote.

Discharge under "Section 8" is no longer a military reality, as medical discharges for psychological/psychiatric reasons are now covered by a number of regulations. Perhaps the most commonly used of these is AR 635-200, Enlisted Administrative Separations. Chapter 5, paragraph 13 governs the separation of personnel medically diagnosed with a personality disorder.

The practice of discharging homosexual service members under Section 8 ceased after the "Don't ask, don't tell" Policy went into effect during the Clinton Administration; those found to be homosexual are now issued honorable discharges in most circumstances, under Chapter 15 of the above referenced publication.

The Section 8 discharge sought after by Corporal Klinger in M*A*S*H differs from a real Section 8; Klinger is attracted to a Section 8 discharge because on the show, it is considered a medical discharge and not a dishonorable discharge. The Section 8 has also been referenced in the book (and later movie) Catch-22, in the movies Full Metal Jacket and Jarhead, and in an episode of Family Guy, in which Stewie briefly parodies the Klinger character. There is also a group of investigators identified as "section 8" in the movie Basic

With the term PTSD being used for one size fits all, it lumps in all events together as if someone with combat PTSD would respond the same way someone who survives a car accident would. They are not caused by the same events any more than they are affecting the lives with the same level of cuts.

Veterans were trained to use the weapons and they responded to orders and acronyms that made sense to them because their lives depended on knowing them. Right now they struggle with the term PTSD because it comes with a label of "disorder" making it for some just as bad as hearing they are DINKY DAU. The stigma lives on because they still have not been assured by commanders it does not make them weak or defective or worthless any more than it makes them a coward. There are still some people in this country looking at them as if they are faking, as the disgusting piece on AP suggested. Military PTSD Fraud

The stigma of PTSD is already set in and has not been removed after all these years. It suggests that they are responsible for having it. The truth is, had it not been for being sent into a war zone, they wouldn't have been changed or haunted by combat. Every combat veteran will tell you that no one walks away after it unchanged. Some are not as affected as others but then again, they don't enter into service with the same histories behind them. Some are more focused on themselves while others are more compassionate just as some are more courageous than others. The most courageous also happen to be the ones with the most compassion, able to set self-preservation aside for the sake of someone else.

They are the last to ask for help among the survivors of traumatic events yet they are the most deeply changed. There was a thought that linking all survivors of traumatic events together would humanize it but the problem with that is the approach to it has evolved into a one size fits all answer. The military has taken this one step too far and assumes the servicemen and women can train their brains to prevent it. This is part of the problem. Life prepares us for what we face and our histories come with us on the journey. You cannot prepare psychologically to take a life or watch a friend die. You can train ahead of time to have the ammunition ready to begin healing as soon as it's over.

LP Listening Position A 3-man post placed outside the barbwire surrounding a fire base. Each would lay out claymore mines; they would have 1 radio and take turns during the night listening and looking. They were the early warning for the troops inside the parimeter.

There needs to be an early warning for the troops after combat so they seek help right away instead of "waiting to get over it" and hoping they can drink it or drug it away.

There are many things that are possible in healing the warriors after combat and the sooner they happen, the more that can be reversed. With the wrong view of what PTSD is and what it does, time is lost and they pay the price. They are not defective any more than they are Section 8. The other side of this darkness is a stronger, more caring and dedicated soldier as well as citizen.

It's time for the military to stop treating them like everyone else. They were changed by combat.

Staff Sgt. Joe Biel center of motorcycle ride for PTSD

PTSD was once called Soldier's Heart and without knowing it, they couldn't have been closer to the truth. It because they can feel deeply, good and bad emotions, they end up carrying away the pain of others along with their own pain. Whenever you read stories like the following, keep in mind that for them, it is because they care so much, they carry so much more away.

Staff Sgt. Joe Biel stands next to a "buffalo," the primary vehicle his unit used to find improvised explosive devices in Iraq. Biel committed suicide in 2007 after returning to North Dakota following his second tour in Iraq. Special to The Forum

Bike ride to raise PTSD awareness
Staff Sgt. Joe Biel wasn’t the same after returning home from his second tour in Iraq, his friends said.
By: Heidi Shaffer, INFORUM


Staff Sgt. Joe Biel wasn’t the same after returning home from his second tour in Iraq, his friends said.

“I could definitely tell something wasn’t right,” said Spc. David Young, who served with Biel and lived with him in Devils Lake, N.D., after returning from Iraq.

Biel committed suicide in April 2007, and now his fellow North Dakota Guardsmen are sponsoring a motorcycle ride in his memory to raise awareness about post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide among veterans.

“With him, just like any other soldier, they’re not going to admit when they’re having negative thoughts, suicidal thoughts or struggling,” Young said.

The men served in the 164th Engineer Combat Battalion based out of Minot, N.D., a unit responsible for clearing roads and supply routes of improvised explosive devices.

Because of the combat the unit saw, no one was left untouched, physically or mentally, Young said.

“All of us have some on-going reminder of our deployment,” Young said. “Anyone who came back and said they didn’t have PTSD would be lying.”
read more here
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/278348/group/News/