Troubled vets need help sooner, lawmakers told
Army Times
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jul 14, 2010 18:04:51 EDT
Even as Veterans Affairs Department officials offered testimony that 10,000 people have been saved by VA’s suicide hotline, veterans themselves said help should come long before a person needs to make that call.
“The suicide hotline is too much of a last alternative,” said Melvin Cintron, an Army veteran who served as a flight medic in Desert Storm and in aviation maintenance in the current war in Iraq. “Either you don’t have enough of a problem and you can wait for weeks for an appointment, or you have to be suicidal.”
Cintron spoke Wednesday before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s oversight and investigations panel.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/07/military_suicide_va_071410w/
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Troubled vets need help sooner, lawmakers told
Finally someone started to ask why so many would need to contact the Suicide Prevention Hot Line in the first place! As they have talked about the success of this no one seemed willing to ask why so many would be brought to that point instead of helped before it got that bad. I've been screaming about this since the reports of the number of calls began to surface. It just didn't make sense to see so many calling and so few "rescued" in the end. It's good the hotline is there but we need to notice how huge of a problem we have when so many have to reach the brink.
Indian veterans memorial dedicated in Pablo
Images of service, strength: Indian veterans memorial dedicated in Pablo
By VINCE DEVLIN of the Missoulian
PABLO - The vision of the coyotes came to artist Corky Clairmont 20 years ago.
He just didn't know what it was for at the time.
On a warm Wednesday, hundreds of people saw part of Clairmont's vision etched in granite as the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes dedicated the Clairmont-designed Warrior/Veterans Wall of Remembrance at Eagle Circle in front of tribal headquarters.
Tepee poles 65 feet tall rise over the memorial, and serve to welcome Indian veterans both alive and dead back home to their reservation.
Inside the monument, the head of an eagle occupies the tallest piece of granite, and other pieces form the wings that circle around to protect those inside.
On those inside walls, the names of more than 1,200 Indians from the Flathead Reservation who have served their nation are carved into the stone.
There's Louis Charlo, the young man from Evaro who help raise the first American flag on Iwo Jima in 1945, and was killed in action there a week later.
read more here
Indian veterans memorial dedicated in Pablo
By VINCE DEVLIN of the Missoulian
PABLO - The vision of the coyotes came to artist Corky Clairmont 20 years ago.
He just didn't know what it was for at the time.
On a warm Wednesday, hundreds of people saw part of Clairmont's vision etched in granite as the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes dedicated the Clairmont-designed Warrior/Veterans Wall of Remembrance at Eagle Circle in front of tribal headquarters.
Tepee poles 65 feet tall rise over the memorial, and serve to welcome Indian veterans both alive and dead back home to their reservation.
Inside the monument, the head of an eagle occupies the tallest piece of granite, and other pieces form the wings that circle around to protect those inside.
On those inside walls, the names of more than 1,200 Indians from the Flathead Reservation who have served their nation are carved into the stone.
There's Louis Charlo, the young man from Evaro who help raise the first American flag on Iwo Jima in 1945, and was killed in action there a week later.
read more here
Indian veterans memorial dedicated in Pablo
Bill would give tax credit to some spouses
Bill would give tax credit to some spouses
By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jul 15, 2010 10:59:34 EDT
A new Senate bill would give military spouses a federal tax credit of up to $500 when they have to pay to renew or transfer a professional license when moving with their military members on official reassignment orders.
“The Military Spouses Job Continuity Act will help ease the transition of relocation for families and allow military spouses to more easily re-enter the workforce,” said Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., in a statement announcing he had introduced the legislation July 14.
read more here
Bill would give tax credit to some spouses
By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jul 15, 2010 10:59:34 EDT
A new Senate bill would give military spouses a federal tax credit of up to $500 when they have to pay to renew or transfer a professional license when moving with their military members on official reassignment orders.
“The Military Spouses Job Continuity Act will help ease the transition of relocation for families and allow military spouses to more easily re-enter the workforce,” said Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., in a statement announcing he had introduced the legislation July 14.
read more here
Bill would give tax credit to some spouses
Fox News Kilmeade should be ashamed of himself
For starters, when I lost my job at a church 2 1/2 years ago, I didn't get unemployment checks. As a church they didn't pay into the system. I thought I was lucky when I got a temp job here or there but otherwise, after working all my life and being unemployed once before in my adult life, I ended up not being able to afford to do what I do as a Chaplain. I work on average 35 hours a week online for free but it used to be over 70. Now much of my time is spent trying to find work and worrying about how to pay my bills.
Kilmeade has said a lot of stupid things in the past but this one really made me sick. It's not about me because even if benefits are extended, it won't do me any good, but it will do a lot for other people through no fault of their own found themselves out of work while people like Kilmeade get paid to make fun of them and use them as part of some kind of sick, twisted political game. Still it gets worse than that. Does Kilmeade ever read actual news or is he too busy reading talking points? See the problem is, veterans have a higher unemployment rate than civilians do.
While I end up reading real news and seeing reports like this, I then get to hear what people end up claiming like the people over at FOX. I get to know what real suffering is like and what price is being paid by our troops and veterans. I get to read about their lives but people like Kilmeade end up being paid to avoid the truth because it does not fit their agenda. People like him only understand what it's like when they have to go thru it and then they wonder where their help is going to come from. I wonder what it was like for an unemployed veteran to hear those words said on TV?
Kilmeade has said a lot of stupid things in the past but this one really made me sick. It's not about me because even if benefits are extended, it won't do me any good, but it will do a lot for other people through no fault of their own found themselves out of work while people like Kilmeade get paid to make fun of them and use them as part of some kind of sick, twisted political game. Still it gets worse than that. Does Kilmeade ever read actual news or is he too busy reading talking points? See the problem is, veterans have a higher unemployment rate than civilians do.
June unemployment rates rise for veterans
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jul 2, 2010 12:39:16 EDT
The unemployment rate for veterans rose slightly in June, to 8 percent overall and 11.5 percent for Iraq and Afghanistan-era veterans, a sign that expanding programs aimed at helping veterans find work are not working in a stagnant job market.
June employment statistics released Friday by the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics show the overall unemployment rate for veterans rose slightly from 7.8 percent in May. Still, the unemployment rate for veterans remains lower than the overall national rate of 9.5 percent.
The national rate shows a slight improvement over the 9.8 percent unemployment rate reported for May. The Labor Department report shows, however, an overall decline in the number of jobs in the U.S. after only about 83,000 new jobs were created in the private sector and the federal government eliminated 225,000 temporary positions for Census workers.
For Iraq and Afghanistan-era veterans, many of whom are entering or re-entering the job market after overseas deployments, the June unemployment rate is 11.5 percent, up from 10.6 percent in May.
read the rest here
June unemployment rates rise for veterans
While I end up reading real news and seeing reports like this, I then get to hear what people end up claiming like the people over at FOX. I get to know what real suffering is like and what price is being paid by our troops and veterans. I get to read about their lives but people like Kilmeade end up being paid to avoid the truth because it does not fit their agenda. People like him only understand what it's like when they have to go thru it and then they wonder where their help is going to come from. I wonder what it was like for an unemployed veteran to hear those words said on TV?
Kilmeade: Maybe expiring unemployment benefits will make people ‘sober up’
By David Edwards and Ron Brynaert
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
Fox guest bashing benefits can't keep talking points straight
Covering the standoff on unemployment benefits, The Huffington Post's Arthur Delaney has complained about lawmakers on both sides of the aisle "who suspect the jobless of preferring not to work."
Pundits and guests on Fox News Channel, in particular, have been advancing similar opinions.
read more here
Maybe expiring unemployment benefits will make people sober up
Shock Waves, PTSD book that tells it like it is
When it comes to PTSD the best therapists either have PTSD or live with someone who does. There are many things that you can't understand just by reading books or talking to someone from time to time. The frustration of living with mood-swings, walking on eggshells, constant turmoil and heartbreak, glimpses of hope shattered by reality, the constant worry for their safety, the list goes on. No one understands this better than the people living with it. When it comes to books on PTSD, it follows along the same reasoning. If you want to know what it is like living with PTSD, read it from someone who does and not some casual observer just copying news reports or interviewing people without really understanding what questions should be asked. I've been living with the good and bad for 26 years. When I'm pulled into a book I'm reading, into their world and their pain, that's when I know they get it.
Cynthia Orange gets it. In her new book Shock Waves, she shares her life and uses quotes from others to help healing. She shares her life along with research to get others to know the life we live everyday. It's well written and flows without hype and needless words just to fill pages.
It's the best $14.95 you can spend if you want to learn more about PTSD.
I am asked all the time to review books and usually I cringe a bit when I get an email about the newest book coming out. I don't give bad reviews, so I don't mention the books I find more self-promoting than helpful. One recent book came to me and when I read about full names being printed along with personal information by a therapist, I just about fell off my chair. That one almost made me reach the point of stopping reviewing books all together. Other books left me feeling as if they just don't know enough about it. Shock Wave just restored my faith in good people writing for the right reasons.
Mom Recognized Hand of Dying Soldier Son in ABC News Video
Mom Recognized Hand of Dying Soldier Son in ABC News Video
Emotional Meeting of Vanessa Adelson and Reporter Who Recorded Son's Death in Afghanistan
By KAREN RUSSO
NEW DELHI, India July 14, 2010
She recognized his hands. In the dark. In less than ten seconds. The way only a mother could.
That's why I met Vanessa Adelson, mother of Specialist Stephan Mace who died on Oct. 3, 2009. She had seen a soldier in a clip of video I had shot in almost complete darkness on the back of a Blackhawk helicopter. She was convinced it was her son.
A colleague in New York emailed me several months ago, asking about my story on the attack on Combat Outpost Keating, a small American base in eastern Afghanistan. I hadn't reported that specific story, but I had shot the medevac flight video used in it.
Vanessa had seen the piece and somehow, in watching just a few seconds of video, glimpsed one of the medevaced soldier's hands and knew it was Stephan. She connected with someone at ABC News who connected her with me.
read more here
Mom Recognized Hand of Dying Soldier Son in ABC News Video
Emotional Meeting of Vanessa Adelson and Reporter Who Recorded Son's Death in Afghanistan
By KAREN RUSSO
NEW DELHI, India July 14, 2010
She recognized his hands. In the dark. In less than ten seconds. The way only a mother could.
That's why I met Vanessa Adelson, mother of Specialist Stephan Mace who died on Oct. 3, 2009. She had seen a soldier in a clip of video I had shot in almost complete darkness on the back of a Blackhawk helicopter. She was convinced it was her son.
A colleague in New York emailed me several months ago, asking about my story on the attack on Combat Outpost Keating, a small American base in eastern Afghanistan. I hadn't reported that specific story, but I had shot the medevac flight video used in it.
Vanessa had seen the piece and somehow, in watching just a few seconds of video, glimpsed one of the medevaced soldier's hands and knew it was Stephan. She connected with someone at ABC News who connected her with me.
read more here
Mom Recognized Hand of Dying Soldier Son in ABC News Video
Marine Corps sees big drop in monthly suicide statistics
UPDATE Aug. 5 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Marine suicide rate up again
Hopes just crashed to the ground. I was wrong to think they finally got it last month,,,,,,
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Marine suicide rate up again
Hopes just crashed to the ground. I was wrong to think they finally got it last month,,,,,,
Please, please tell me it is because they get it and are going for help instead. Tell me they are getting the support they need from their CO and their buddies. Tell me they are getting support from their families and friends back home. Tell me that they are finally, once and for all, hearing what they need to know to heal and live. Above all, tell me that this is not just a fluke and the numbers will stay down.MILITARY: Marine Corps sees big drop in monthly suicide statistics
By MARK WALKER - mlwalker@nctimes.com
The U.S. Marine Corps recorded one suicide in June and nine attempted suicides, the lowest monthly figures of the year.
The numbers are down substantially from May, when the service recorded seven suicides and 16 attempted suicides.
Marine Corps officials designated to speak about the trends were not available Wednesday, but a local civilian counselor cautioned it's too early to say if efforts to identify troops experiencing psychological stress are responsible for the June decline.
"We'll have to wait for two or three more months to see if it is in fact a trend or just an aberration," said the counselor, Bill Rider of the Oceanside-based American Combat Veterans of War. "I would like to think the Marine Corps' efforts are doing something, but there is no question that suicide comes along with war."
Last year, the Marine Corps recorded 52 suicides, the highest number since 2001, when 30 Marines took their own lives. That rate of 24 suicides per 100,000 troops surpassed the 20 per 100,000 in the civilian population.
read more here
Marine Corps sees big drop in monthly suicide statistics
In Country Vietnam Motorcycle Club poker run
Vets' poker run to benefit PTSD program at Roseburg VA
Kathy Korengel
The News-Review
John Horwath knows what it's like to go to war. He has gone and come back and learned to live with some of the consequences.
“You go to another country and call them enemies and kill someone who's your age, or God forbid, younger than you,” Horwath, a Vietnam War veteran from Sutherlin, said. “I live with that every day.”
But he and several other Vietnam War combat veterans are doing their part this weekend to make it easier on returning vets. The veterans, all members of the Southern Oregon Chapter of the In Country Vietnam Motorcycle Club, are holding a benefit poker run on Saturday.
Any proceeds raised will go toward buying iPods for veterans in the residential posttraumatic stress disorder unit at the Roseburg Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
“Everything we do is for the veterans,” Horwath said. “Being Vietnam veterans who know how tough it is.”
Sandra Llecholech, chief of Mental Health Service at the VA Roseburg Healthcare System, said in an e-mail, “I am always touched by the compassion and brotherhood that is displayed each and every day by veterans who want to make a real difference in the lives of emotionally wounded veterans.
read more here
http://www.nrtoday.com/article/20100714/NEWS/100719905/1063/NEWS&ParentProfile=1055
Kathy Korengel
The News-Review
John Horwath knows what it's like to go to war. He has gone and come back and learned to live with some of the consequences.
“You go to another country and call them enemies and kill someone who's your age, or God forbid, younger than you,” Horwath, a Vietnam War veteran from Sutherlin, said. “I live with that every day.”
But he and several other Vietnam War combat veterans are doing their part this weekend to make it easier on returning vets. The veterans, all members of the Southern Oregon Chapter of the In Country Vietnam Motorcycle Club, are holding a benefit poker run on Saturday.
Any proceeds raised will go toward buying iPods for veterans in the residential posttraumatic stress disorder unit at the Roseburg Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
“Everything we do is for the veterans,” Horwath said. “Being Vietnam veterans who know how tough it is.”
Sandra Llecholech, chief of Mental Health Service at the VA Roseburg Healthcare System, said in an e-mail, “I am always touched by the compassion and brotherhood that is displayed each and every day by veterans who want to make a real difference in the lives of emotionally wounded veterans.
read more here
http://www.nrtoday.com/article/20100714/NEWS/100719905/1063/NEWS&ParentProfile=1055
The Late Army Sgt. Coleman Bean's Mom Fights For Others
Mother of N.J. veteran who killed himself testifies before Congress
Published: Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Rohan Mascarenhas/The Star-Ledger
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Linda Bean went to Washington today on a mission.
Nearly two years ago, her son, Army Sgt. Coleman Bean, committed suicide after serving two tours in Iraq. As she grieved, Bean heard from her son’s former comrades, many of them describing situations they were dealing with, ones similar to those her 25-year-old son could not endure.
Recalling her family’s experience — the delayed appointments at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the "daunting" website she could not navigate — she worried about their futures.
Something had to change, the East Brunswick resident told herself.
"If Coleman were here, he would have wanted to do whatever he could to help his friends," said Bean, who was featured in the Star-Ledger in November chronicling her son’s ordeal. "We owe them."
go here for more
Mother of NJ veteran who killed himself testifies before Congress
Published: Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Rohan Mascarenhas/The Star-Ledger
Today’s hearing came at a crucial time for the American military, which has struggled with a troubling wave of suicides among veterans and service members.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Linda Bean went to Washington today on a mission.
Nearly two years ago, her son, Army Sgt. Coleman Bean, committed suicide after serving two tours in Iraq. As she grieved, Bean heard from her son’s former comrades, many of them describing situations they were dealing with, ones similar to those her 25-year-old son could not endure.
Recalling her family’s experience — the delayed appointments at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the "daunting" website she could not navigate — she worried about their futures.
Something had to change, the East Brunswick resident told herself.
"If Coleman were here, he would have wanted to do whatever he could to help his friends," said Bean, who was featured in the Star-Ledger in November chronicling her son’s ordeal. "We owe them."
go here for more
Mother of NJ veteran who killed himself testifies before Congress
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Arlington Cemetery official retires amid probe
Arlington Cemetery official retires amid probe of botched contracts, site problems
By Aaron C. Davis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Arlington National Cemetery's deputy superintendent has retired before Army officials could compel him to meet with a Senate Homeland Security subcommittee investigating contracting irregularities, including more than $5 million paid to a series of minority-owned start-up companies that failed to produce a digitized system for cataloguing remains.
Thurman Higginbotham, the cemetery's longtime second-in-command, submitted paperwork last week to make his retirement retroactive to July 2, the week Army officials were notified that congressional staffers were seeking to interview him regarding dozens of botched contracts.
Higginbotham had been placed on administrative leave last month pending disciplinary review after Army investigators found more than 100 unmarked graves, scores of grave sites with headstones not recorded on cemetery maps, and at least four burial urns that had been unearthed and dumped in an area with excess grave dirt. Investigators found that those and other blunders were the result of a "dysfunctional" and chaotic management system, poisoned by bitterness between Higginbotham and the cemetery's superintendent, John C. Metzler Jr.
read more here
Arlington Cemetery official retires amid probe
linked from Stars and Stripes
By Aaron C. Davis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Arlington National Cemetery's deputy superintendent has retired before Army officials could compel him to meet with a Senate Homeland Security subcommittee investigating contracting irregularities, including more than $5 million paid to a series of minority-owned start-up companies that failed to produce a digitized system for cataloguing remains.
Thurman Higginbotham, the cemetery's longtime second-in-command, submitted paperwork last week to make his retirement retroactive to July 2, the week Army officials were notified that congressional staffers were seeking to interview him regarding dozens of botched contracts.
Higginbotham had been placed on administrative leave last month pending disciplinary review after Army investigators found more than 100 unmarked graves, scores of grave sites with headstones not recorded on cemetery maps, and at least four burial urns that had been unearthed and dumped in an area with excess grave dirt. Investigators found that those and other blunders were the result of a "dysfunctional" and chaotic management system, poisoned by bitterness between Higginbotham and the cemetery's superintendent, John C. Metzler Jr.
read more here
Arlington Cemetery official retires amid probe
linked from Stars and Stripes
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