U.S. Missing Billions in Iraqi Funds

U.S. Missing Billions in Iraqi Funds
July 28, 2010

A new independent audit shows the U.S. military cannot account for $8.7 billion of Iraqi money allocated for the rebuilding of 
the war-ravaged nation.

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

U.S. Missing Billions in Iraqi Funds

Army suicide study to survey 400,000

Army suicide study to survey 400,000
By Seth Robson
Stars and Stripes
Published: July 28, 2010

GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — Starting this summer, researchers plan to survey up to 400,000 soldiers as part of the largest study to date of suicide and mental health among military personnel.

It’s the next phase in a $50 million, five-year study the Army and the The National Institute of Mental Health have been conducting since 2008 in hopes of identifying risk factors and providing a scientific basis for efforts to reduce troops’ suicide rates.

“This is an extraordinary opportunity to assist the Army in addressing a pressing military health issue,” NIMH director Thomas R. Insel said in the statement.

Historically, the suicide rate has been lower in the military than among civilians, but in 2005 that pattern was reversed. In June, there were 21 active-duty and 11 reserve soldier suicides, including seven in Iraq or Afghanistan, the most on record.

“While the stresses of the current wars (in Iraq and Afghanistan), including long and repeated deployments and post-traumatic stress, are important potential contributors for research to address, suicidal behavior is a complex phenomenon,” the NIMH statement said.
read more here
Army suicide study to survey 400000

Retired vets help soldiers with combat PTSD

Retired vets help soldiers with combat PTSD through Operation Restored Warrior
Jawa Report (blog)
June 2010 saw the highest number of combat deaths in Afghanistan, and also the highest number of suicides by active duty and reserve service members. So far this year there have been 145 suicides by soldiers, compared to 130 this time last year. The DOD response to this disturbing trend has been to produce a video addressing service suicide. Oh, and give soldiers professional help from the likes of Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Ft. Hood killer.

But one private organization, Operation Restored Warrior, is working to help soldiers deal with combat-related PTSD. The organization is run by retired military members and has the support of giants like LTG Hal Moore ("We Were Soldiers Once, and Young") and LTG Jerry Boykin (Delta Force CO). Here is a report from WHNT on the fine work of Operation Restored Warrior
read more here
Retired vets help soldiers with combat PTSD


More on this story

Carson GI cited for preventing suicide in Iraq
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday May 18, 2010 14:00:51 EDT

FORT CARSON, Colo. — A Fort Carson soldier has been awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for preventing a buddy’s suicide in Iraq.

The Army says Spc. Albert Godding removed the firing pin from his buddy’s rifle after noting he was feeling down because his wife was leaving him and he had several months left in his deployment.

The Army says the other soldier tried to kill himself with his rifle later that day, but it wouldn’t fire without the pin.

Godding was presented the award at Fort Polk, La., where he was training with Fort Carson’s 4th Brigade Combat Team to deploy to Afghanistan.
click link above for this

Stellate ganglion block offers hope for PTSD treatments

There is no "one size fits all" for treating PTSD. If something doesn't work, keep looking until you and your doctor find the right treatment. Medication helps some but what may work for a friend, may not work for you. Therapy works but again, what kind of therapy that works for someone you know may not be right for you. Keep trying and you'll find what you need to heal.

Jab to the neck treats PTSD?
Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Dr. Jay Adlersberg

Eyewitness News
NEW YORK (WABC) -- All it takes is one loud noise to trigger a flood of awful memories. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) haunts one in every six soldiers coming back from Iraq, and nearly eight million Americans in all. Standard treatment means therapy and medications that don't always work and have side effects. Now, one doctor is treating PTSD with an injection that he says can block the painful memories.


"I was firing a rocket propelled grenade (RPG). When I pulled the trigger, it malfunctioned, and it blew up in the tube. Injured seven marines and killed three, all good friends of mine," said John Sullivan, an Iraq Veteran.

Thirteen surgeries, several skin grafts, and two years of therapy later, Sullivan is in a much more peaceful place, but that doesn't mean he's safe from the effects of war.

"The way I look at PTSD, it's a biological problem. It's no different than a broken arm," said Dr. Eugene Lipov, the Medical Director of the Advanced Pain Center.

Dr. Lipov is the first to use a local anesthetic to treat PTSD. It's called stellate ganglion block (SGB). It's been used since the 1920s to treat pain.

read more here

Jab to the neck treats PTSD

VA accounting system deserves an F

Lawmakers: VA accounting system deserves an F

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jul 28, 2010 14:05:32 EDT

Incredulous lawmakers sat steaming as government auditors gave the Veterans Affairs Department a “B” grade on efforts to correct an accounting system that has almost twice as many unexplained charges today as it did two years ago.

“I would not underestimate the anger my colleagues on both sides feel. I would not underestimate the sense we are really mad,” said Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, who said he would have given VA an “F.”

The problem involves something called “miscellaneous obligations” —purchases made outside of the normal contracting system, usually for items that are needed quickly, such as medical supplies, but sometimes also for bigger items such as vehicles and furniture.

In 2008, the Government Accountability Office, the auditing and investigative arm of Congress, found $6.9 billion in these miscellaneous charges, many with inadequate or nonexistent documentation to explain the bill.

A new review found $12 billion in miscellaneous charges, and many of the same problems with a lack of justification.
read more here
VA accounting system deserves an F

Therapy helps wounded emerge from comas

Therapy helps wounded emerge from comas

By Gregg Zoroya - USA Today
Posted : Thursday Jul 29, 2010 10:38:38 EDT

TAMPA, Fla. — Army Ranger Cory Remsburg was thrown like a rag doll into an Afghanistan canal Oct. 1 by the blast from a 500-pound roadside bomb, the right side of his head caved in by shrapnel.

After a medical evacuation and six surgeries at military hospitals in Afghanistan, Germany and Bethesda, Md., Remsburg arrived at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital here in November in a vegetative state.

Doctors, therapists, family and friends rallied to help with Remsburg’s therapy. They massaged joints, stretched limbs and exercised muscles. They stimulated him with drugs, aromas and episodes of the TV comedy Scrubs. They questioned, commanded and cajoled — anything to jump-start his brain.

Progress came by inches, his family rejoicing over every success: “Those baby blues are looking very good,” they wrote in an online journal about his open and alert eyes.

Of 97 troops or veterans admitted to these centers between January 2007, when the Emerging Consciousness program became fully operational, and the end of 2009, 67 have awakened, says David Cifu, VA national director, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Two of those were soldiers brought in from overseas battlefields — Remsburg and Sgt. Tony Senecal.

read more here

Therapy helps wounded emerge from comas

Four Dead in Alaska Air Force Base Crash

Four Dead in Alaska Air Force Base Crash
C-17 Cargo Plane on Training Run Crashed Wednesday, Sending Fireball into the 750 Feet into the Sky

A military cargo plane carrying four people on a training run has crashed at an Air Force base near downtown Anchorage, killing all four men aboard.

Col. John McMullen says three of the men were in the Alaska Air National Guard and the fourth was on active duty at Elmendorf Air Force Base. Their names have not been released pending notification of relatives.

Witnesses say the crash sent a fireball rising hundreds of feet over the base near downtown Anchorage.
go here for more
Four Dead in Alaska Air Force Base Crash

Body of second sailor recovered in Afghanistan

Body of 2nd sailor recovered in Afghanistan

The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jul 29, 2010 9:08:59 EDT

KABUL, Afghanistan — A second Navy sailor who went missing in a dangerous part of eastern Afghanistan was found dead and his body recovered, a senior U.S. military official and Afghan officials said Thursday.

The family of Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Jarod Newlove, a 25-year-old from the Seattle area, had been notified of his death, the U.S. military official said on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to disclose the information.

Newlove and Hull Maintenance Technician 2nd Class Justin McNeley went missing Friday in Logar province. NATO recovered the body of McNeley — a 30-year-old father of two from Wheatridge, Colo. — in the area Sunday.
read more here
Body of second sailor found/

VA supporters take to the streets

VA supporters take to the streets

By Dan Bain
KPIC News
Story Published: Jul 28, 2010 at 8:15 AM PDT

ROSEBURG, Ore. -- Veterans and supporters lined the entrances to the Roseburg Veterans Administration Medical Center Tuesday morning, and they plan to keep doing it to call attention to the possible cuts in services at the hospital.

The veterans held signs demanding that VA officials stop the downsizing and keep the Roseburg facility as a full service hospital.

Veterans say the want to keep people aware of what's going on and encourage them to make their opinions known.

Jim Little of the Douglas County Veterans Forum, says they need to keep the pressure on, and that's what they intend to do. "We want our VA Roseburg hospital returned to a full service hospital," said Little.
read more here
VA supporters take to the streets

John Boehner wanted to cut VA bill that just passed House

For veterans bill, Republicans put budget ax aside
By ANDREW TAYLOR (AP)

WASHINGTON — House Republicans who have spent months demanding spending cuts blanched Wednesday at their first opportunity to actually make them, instead joining Democrats in treating a bill to pay for veterans programs in 2011 as politically sacrosanct in an election year.

The veterans measure is the first of a dozen spending bills for the upcoming 2011 budget year to come up for a vote. Democrats, meanwhile, were doing some ducking and weaving of their own to avoid time-consuming floor debates and politically difficult votes on other measures.

It's of little surprise that Democrats picked the Veterans Affairs bill as the first in the appropriations pile to bring to a vote. It passed by a 411-6 vote.

Only a handful of others are likely to get as far before the November election, even though all 12 are supposed to pass both the House and Senate and be signed by the president before Oct. 1. Last year at this time, the House had passed all 12 bills.

House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, offered the only amendments to cut the veterans bill but withdrew them as soon as Democrats started making political hay out of them.

Boehner wanted to cut the Veterans Affairs Department's rapidly growing policy office as well as its congressional lobbying operation and skim $45 million from the VA's $3.3 billion request for computer systems, which the agency itself admits was too high.
read more here
For veterans bill