August 18, 2010 · As young soldiers return from war, many are dealing with a problem that’s becoming more prevalent, post-traumatic stress disorder. The Veteran’s Affairs hospital near Huntington is working on an answer.
A three building mental health compound is under renovation on the VA Medical Center campus. Next year it will house a facility providing outpatient services for those with serious mental illnesses and a residential facility for PTSD or substance abuse patients.
Janine Shaw is the Chief of Mental Health for the Huntington VA.
“In the past it’s been the physical wounds, for these wars it’s the psychiatric, the mental health wounds that are predominating, so we know that’s what we have to address first, these veterans have been in a different type of combat than what we’ve ever seen before,” Shaw said.
The Huntington VA Center serves 24 counties in West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky. The new facilities will begin opening in January. The cost of renovating the buildings that date back to the early 1900’s will be ultimately over $10 million.
“We also know this from what we’ve learned over the past 20 or 30 years about the nature of PTSD that if we can get in there quickly and the problems don’t set in then you stand a much better chance of having a good outcome a very positive outcome,” Shaw said.
I can't remember how many times I've traveled to see the Traveling Walls around the country. (Yes, there are more than one.) Each time there are tributes and memories left along with flowers and lot of tears. Yet none of these compare to the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington.
This was the second time my husband and I went to the Wall for Memorial Day. We went with the Nam Knights out of Orlando FL. This year I flew up there while my husband rode the Harley with the Knights. When I arrived, I took a cab to Walter Reed. Being a Chaplain with the IFOC and the DAV Auxiliary has some perks and I was given a VIP tour.
I met many of the wounded from Iraq and Afghanistan and thought back to what it must have been like for Vietnam veterans coming home, most about the same age as these new veterans.
The voices and smiles of the men and a young female MP I met stayed with me during the ride to the Wall the next day. We had a ceremony on the grass near the wall and a Park Ranger raised his bugle to play TAPS. As people stopped in their steps to stand in silence, it was almost as if all of the fallen had angels brining their lives into our hearts.
Today's veterans are not forgotten or shoved aside because of the legacy of the Vietnam veterans. Even now with many of these veterans taking leadership roles in service organizations, they build on their memories. What they lacked, they try to fill for others. What they were denied, they try to provide to others. What support they were hungry for, they deliver.
The Vietnam Memorial Wall is a giant "I'm sorry" from the nation to these men and women and an acknowledgement of their sacrifices. It is not about the war itself but about the men and women who gave all they had. It is not political but is personal and the tributes left there are from the hearts of those who carried them there from across the country. If you honor the troops serving today, then honor the men and women who taught this nation a lesson in honoring those who serve the nation no matter if you support the war itself or not.
Watching this video, I cried because it is a beautiful tribute to the Vietnam veterans and how they have captured our hearts.
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Below is a wonderful video by the Pentagon Channel and it provides you with a behind-the-scenes look at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection. I invite you to take a look when you have the time. I am sure you will be as touched by it as I was.
The phenomenon of leaving items at The Wall is believed to have begun in 1982 when someone placed a Purple Heart in the concrete being poured during the Memorial's initial construction. Since that time, the public has continued to leave objects at The Wall and not just the traditional items left at other war memorials such as flowers and flags. Military objects that are customarily handed down from generation to generation such as medals, uniforms and dog tags have been placed at the Memorial, as well as teddy bears, poems, pictures, birthday cards, cigarettes and even a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
The National Park Service collects these items every night. The objects, which now number more than 120,000, are stored at the Museum Resource Center in Landover, Maryland. These objects will be on display in a new facility being built by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. To learn more about the center, please visit: buildthecenter.org.
Jan C. Scruggs Founder and President Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund
Jan C. Scruggs is the founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. He conceived the idea of building a memorial dedicated to all who served in the U.S. Armed Forces in Vietnam.
Scruggs was a wounded and decorated Vietnam War veteran, having served in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade of the U.S. Army. He felt a memorial would serve as a healing device for a different kind of wound – that inflicted on our national psyche by the long and controversial war.
In May 1979, Scruggs took $2,800 of his own money and launched the effort. Gradually, he gained the support of other Vietnam veterans in persuading Congress to provide a prominent location on federal property somewhere in Washington, D.C.. After a difficult struggle, Congress responded and the site chosen was on the Mall near the Lincoln Memorial.
Serving as president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Inc., the non-profit organization set up to build the Memorial, Scruggs headed up the effort that raised $8.4 million and saw the Memorial completed in two years. It was dedicated on November 13, 1982, during a week-long national "salute" to Vietnam veterans in the nation's capital.
His story of building the Memorial, To Heal A Nation, co-written with Joel L. Swerdlow, was made into an NBC-TV Movie of the Week in 1988. Actor Eric Roberts played the role of Scruggs.
Scruggs is a member of the Selective Service Appeals Board, a board member of the National Veterans Legal Services Project, and special assistant to the Chairman of the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. In 1993 he was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Americans by the U.S. Jaycees.
Scruggs is a native of Washington, D.C., and grew up in Bowie, Maryland. He received his BS and MEd degrees from The American University, Washington, D.C., and his law degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore.
Perhaps even Lou Gehrig had the related syndrome, but that will never be known because he was cremated. (AP File July 1939)
Multiple head injuries may spur ALS-type illness
“We believe that these three cases are the tip of the iceberg,’’ said neurosurgeon Robert Cantu, who is a codirector of the BU Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy. “We don’t know whether this is linked to the increased incidence of ALS in the military, who are subject to blasts and other head injuries, but we are concerned that it may be."
By Kay Lazar
Globe Staff
New research suggests that athletes who have had multiple head injuries, and possibly others such as military veterans exposed to repetitive brain traumas, may be prone to developing a disabling neurological disease similar to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
A team of researchers from Boston University School of Medicine and the Veterans Administration Hospital in Bedford said yesterday they have pinpointed evidence of a new disease that mimics ALS in the brains of two former National Football League players previously thought to have died of ALS. They also found the new disease in the brain of a deceased professional boxer who was a military veteran.
go here for more Multiple head injuries may spur ALS type illness
Homeless veteran denied benefits, but is given full military funeral
By: MaryEllen Resendez
PHOENIX - A man who was living on the streets was given a full military funeral Thursday after a homeless support group discovered he was a 9-year military veteran.
For the past two years a group of volunteers from "Hope on the Streets" or H.O.T.S. have been heading down to Margaret T. Hance Park in Phoenix to give lunch and water to the homeless.
It's there they met up with Hersey Etoye Ross. But a couple of weeks ago they didn't see Hersey and discovered he had died from heat exhaustion. go here for more Homeless veteran denied benefits
A judge extends the deadline for a class-action lawsuit for veterans who suffered PTSD Kimberly Dvorak San Diego County Political Examiner
August 17th, 2010 11:27 am A lawsuit was established to get much-needed care and monetary compensation for veterans who suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the Middle East Wars has extended the deadline allowing more veterans to sign on to the pending ligation.
The lawsuit was brought on behalf of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) veterans by the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP) and pro-bono counsel Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. Military veterans who were discharged between December 17, 2002 and October 14, 2008 are eligible to join the class-action lawsuit if they think they were short-changed with their military separation benefits.
Judge George W. Miller of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims signed an order giving eligible veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan until November 10, 2010 to join (or “opt-in to”) Sabo v. United States.
The agreement reached with the military services could establish veterans who join the lawsuit a disability rating upgrade and expedited records review which could result in improved health care for veterans and their families. read more here A judge extends the deadline
Spc. Earl Eisensmith received his Purple Heart Medal on Monday, nearly two years after the Orchard Park man suffered a broken back when his military vehicle struck an explosive device in Afghanistan.
The medal was presented in front of the downtown Purple Heart monument at the Buffalo & Erie County Naval and Military Park by Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo.
"Part of me feels guilty for receiving this medal because I know soldiers who have lost their lives and lost their limbs and received the same award as me," Eisensmith said in his brief address.
"But a part of me also feels that my fellow comrades that gave their lives for us would be proud that I'm receiving this award."
Eisensmith, 26, received combat badges and a Purple Heart certificate before leaving Afghanistan but was told the Army had run out of medals. He brought it up to his unit several times, and eventually, his father, Arnie Eisensmith, sought to get the medal delivered. read more here http://www.buffalonews.com/incoming/article103356.ece
Soldier's Body Pulled From Pond Police: Man Had Been Drinking Before Apparent Drowning August 16, 2010 CLAYTON, Ind. -- An Indiana National Guard soldier's body was pulled from a pond in Hendricks County early Monday morning after his apparent drowning over the weekend.
The Hendricks County Sheriff's Department said the body of Spc. Samuel Donahue, 21, was recovered at about 3 a.m., two days after he was last seen.
Officers had been told that Donahue hadn't been accounted for since Saturday morning after he consumed alcohol at a bar and at a home on County Road 400 South, Lt. Jim Yetter said.
"He had been out drinking with some friends Friday night into Saturday morning," Lt. Jim Yetter. "They had come to this residence and had been swimming in the pond."
Yetter said Donahue and a friend left the pond and went into the house, but that the other man woke up later, didn't see Donahue and thought he had gone home.
Donahue's girlfriend filed the missing persons report after determining that no one knew where he was. read more here Soldier Body Pulled From Pond
I wonder how the judge would feel about free speech rights if he ended up forced to listen? Forced to see the signs? It is great to protect everyone's right to speak freely in this country, even people like Phelps because if someone tries to silence his voice, then we need to ask who would be next. What this does not mean is that someone else should be forced to hear any of it.
We can turn off a radio station we don't want to listen to, change the TV channel, not buy a newspaper or when we see protests, we have a choice to go another way to where we want to go. The families of fallen troops don't have the luxury. They can't just decide to not bury their family member or go someplace else. They should have the right to have their own constitutional rights protected as well. Forcing them to be victims of attack from someone else defends no ones rights.
Judge: State ban on protests at military funerals unconstitutional By Bill Mears, CNN August 17, 2010 7:22 a.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS Federal judge tosses out Missouri ban on protests and picketing at military funerals The law was passed in response to a protest by Westboro Baptist Church The church members say they believe U.S. troop deaths are God's punishment Washington (CNN) -- Missouri's tight restrictions on protests and picketing outside military funerals were tossed out by a federal judge Monday, over free speech concerns.
A small Kansas church had brought suit over its claimed right to loudly march outside the burials and memorial services of those killed in overseas conflicts. The state legislature had passed a law to keep members of the Topeka-based Westboro Baptist Church from demonstrating within 300 feet of such private services.
Church members, led by pastor Fred Phelps, believe God is punishing the United States for "the sin of homosexuality" through events including soldiers' deaths. Members have traveled the country, shouting at grieving family members at funerals and displaying such signs as "Thank God for Dead Soldiers," "God Blew Up the Troops" and "AIDS Cures Fags." read more here State ban on protests at military funerals
Will we ever "tally the true cost of war?" by Chaplain Kathie "All gave some, some gave all" but the nation didn't seem to care when the troops came home from Vietnam. The civilians just wanted to get over it, stop having to see it on TV and having to read about it in their local newspapers. They wanted to be done with it, and so, they were. The problem was, the Vietnam veterans weren't over it. They didn't have to watch it on TV because they were there and because they were there, most had the memories playing like a movie in their mind over and over again. They didn't have to read about it in newspapers because they were reading it in the eyes of their brothers. Whatever happened to them after was left up to the media to report on but they limited those reports to arrests for drugs and crimes leaving the rest of the nation with the desire to write them all off as worth-less.
They were worth less than when the protestors wanted them out of Vietnam while claiming to care about their lives. They were worth less to the war supporters saying that staying in Vietnam would honor the lives already lost. They were worth less to their communities saddened by having to read about the men and women from their own towns killed in action.
They were worth less to employers not wanting to take a chance on them. Worth less to Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion and Disabled American Veterans along with other service groups formed by "real veterans" of WWI, WWII and a few Korean veterans still partially accepted among their ranks. They were even worth less to their own families as they woke up in the middle of the night shaking, sweating, screaming in the darkness. The war ended officially but the death count didn't. Too many took their own lives. The count of the wounded didn't officially end as PTSD spread, symptoms got worse and lives fell apart along with families destroyed.
The American people were moving on and trying to forget about Vietnam but in the process, forget about the men and women sent to risk their lives there and kept paying the price for doing it.
Now if we wonder how long it will take for America to forget about the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans we are just ignoring the fact they already have.
The New Lost Generation Suicide rates for troops returning from Afghanistan and Iraq are out of control, and post-traumatic stress disorder is reaching epidemic proportions. But is the Pentagon willing to tally the true cost of war? BY RON CAPPS AUGUST 10, 2010
When the war is over, when the troops are finally home and reunited with their families, when the dead have been buried and the wounded cared for -- then comes the reckoning. Sometimes it happens quickly, with the terrible cost of war weighed against the tyrants silenced, rebellions crushed, or populations rescued. Sometimes the reckoning takes longer, after the parades are over, flags furled and cased, subjects quietly changed. But no matter the form, the reckoning always comes. And after Washington's current military campaigns, it will be a heavy one indeed. Nine years, more than $1 trillion, at least 5,600 dead and 43,000 wounded. These are the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts -- the ones we can tally. read more here The New Lost Generation
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Staff Sgt. Michael A. Bock, 26, of Leesburg, Fla., died Aug. 13 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif.
