Vice President Biden spoke at the DAV Convention

Vice President Biden Speaks to the Disabled American Veterans
Donald Cloud
August 07, 2012

Vice President Joe Biden addresses the Disabled American Veterans convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. August 4, 2012. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

Saturday, Vice President Biden spoke with the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) at their 91st National Convention in Las Vegas.

The 1.2 million-member DAV is made up exclusively of men and women that have been wounded while defending the nation. This group is dedicated to one, single purpose – building better lives for all our nation’s disabled veterans and their families.

The Vice President thanked the men and women for their service and sacrifices and for continuing to serve by supporting their fellow disabled veterans. He also encouraged them to continue fighting for the benefits that they have earned, need and deserve.

During his address to a crowd of almost 4,000 disabled veterans, Vice President Biden stressed, “Let me be crystal, absolutely crystal clear: we’re going to keep our commitment to American veterans, no matter what happens.”

The Vice President reviewed the promises President Obama has kept by increasing the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) budget to a historic $127 billion; expanding health care to 800,000 veterans; providing access to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) treatment for over 500,000 veterans previously excluded; building the National Intrepid Center and five new polytrauma centers specialized in treating PTSD, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and amputations; continuing to modernize the entire VA claims system; providing monthly support and health insurance to family caregivers; and providing $4 billion to over 130,000 veterans who had suffered from Agent Orange exposure but were denied coverage for decades.

On jobs, the Vice President reinforced President Obama’s unwavering commitment to find jobs for every returning veteran. Since the President issued his challenge to private businesses last August, they have hired over 90,000 veterans and spouses through First Lady Michelle Obama’s and Dr. Biden’s “Joining Forces” initiative, with 1,700 companies pledging to hire 175,000 by the end of next year. The President also provided tax credits to businesses hiring veterans and disabled veterans and funded COPS and SAFER grants to hire veterans as first responders.

Vice President Biden also stressed that “there’s a lot more to do” and that the President and he would not rest until veteran unemployment and VA backlog are eliminated and every veteran receives the medical care that they deserve.

The Vice President concluded by saying, “… the contributions of each -- each of you have made to our nation is going to outlive us all. You’ve propelled America to heights our predecessors could not have even imagined. You’ve preserved our cherished liberties from -- for generations to come, and they’ll endure because your blood runs deep. Your blood runs deep not only in the soil of other countries, your blood runs deep in the veins of your kids and your grandkids and your great grandkids. So to ensure all this, we have to just make sure we remember -- we remember -- all the time the sacrifice you made.”

Donald Cloud is Special Advisor to the Vice President for Defense and Intelligence in the Office of the Vice President.

Suicide Rate Now Likely Double or Triple Civil War

Disappointed in this study because they fail to address the fact that during the Civil War most died following amputations and serious wounds while today, they live on. Had more survived during those dark times in our history, there would have been more suicides. Plus the researchers would also have to take into account how news traveled back then.

How do they know? They don't. Read further down and see the word "estimate" along with what their research was.

What do they think "not deployed" means? Do they think the suicide had nothing to do with combat? How about the fact that most killed and maimed are killed by bombs? Do you think that might just be a factor in being so terrified they'd rather kill themselves now? What about Mefloquine? Hazing? Sexual Assaults? Or a lot of other causes for military suicides in the "31%" never deployed but must have passed their psychological tests, meaning they didn't have any issues when they signed up. When you have these kind of numbers coming out on military suicides, it shows how twisted some research can be when they answer the easy questions but never mention the obvious.

They used to shoot a lot of them for desertion too.

New Study: U.S. Military Suicide Rate Now Likely Double or Triple Civil War’s
By BARTLEY FRUEH AND JEFFREY SMITH
Time Battleland
August 6, 2012

Can medical data from the U.S. Civil War help us better understand military suicides?

Your recent Time cover story in the July 23 issue detailed the tragic facts that suicide rates among active-duty U.S. military personnel rose dramatically over the past decade. Military suicide rates doubled between 2001 and 2006, while remaining flat in the general population, with more military fatalities attributed to suicide than to actual combat in Afghanistan during that period.

To make matters worse, we do not understand why. Stressors related to military training, overseas deployment, transition back to civilian life, and combat are widely believed to be major driving factors. However, 31% of soldiers who committed suicide had never been deployed to a war zone. Furthermore, suicide rates in British military forces have also increased recently, though to a lesser degree, and do not exceed the rate of the general population.

Is there a lack of historical context?

Compounding our inability to understand this current phenomenon is the lack of adequate historical data to provide context on whether high suicide rates were typical of prior wars. Review of archival records from past wars might help shed some light on the current military suicide epidemic.

In a recent study (Frueh & Smith, 2012) we reviewed historical medical records on suicide deaths among Union forces during the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865), a brutal war that many consider the first modern one, and for the year immediately after the war to estimate the suicide rate among its Union combatants. We also reviewed these same historical records for data on rates of alcohol abuse and other probable psychiatric illnesses.
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Sailor Gets 5 Yrs for Assisting Superior's Suicide

Sailor Gets 5 Yrs for Assisting Superior's Suicide
Aug 06, 2012
The Virginian-Pilot
by Kathy Adams

VIRGINIA BEACH -- A Circuit Court judge this morning sentenced a former Navy sailor to five years in prison for helping his superior commit suicide.

Paul Stephen Bricker, 27, pleaded guilty April 4 to voluntary manslaughter in the July 2009 death of Gerard Curran. Bricker, a petty officer second class at the time, testified Curran led him to believe he was ill and asked him to help him commit suicide so his family would still receive death benefits from the Navy.

Curan, a 45-year-old chief, was Bricker's superior and mentor, Bricker said.

Bricker said he initially refused Curran's request but eventually agreed as Curran became more desperate. Curran had been having marital problems, abusing alcohol and had stabbed himself in the chest in April 2009, Bricker's defense attorney, Suzanne Moushegian, said in court.

According to court testimony, Curran and Bricker met in First Landing State Park, where Curran strangled himself with a yellow physical therapy band. When he passed out, Bricker stabbed him in the chest with his diving knife, gathered his belongings and left, according to the testimony.
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Spc. Trever Gould's Mom fights to stop military suicides

I wrote about another suicide and asked a question. Why did we let Trever Gould Die? This should not still be happening. Trever's Mom left a comment on the post and blamed herself. Families should not have to go through their lives blaming themselves for what they should have been told. We emailed a few times and I told her that it was not her fault. How many other Moms are out there blaming themselves because their sons and daughters didn't get the help they needed and they didn't get the information they needed so they could have helped them heal?

There is still a dark secret in this county and it is kept by guilt in places where it does not belong. In their homes!

If we continue to neglect the families, we are neglecting all of the military. They have to have the answers on what they can do to help before it is too late. They sadly have to learn even more when it is too late so they can stop blaming themselves for what we allowed to happen. So why did we let Trever Gould die? His Mom and sister deserve the answer.

Sheri Johnson left this comment on the post.

Hello I am Sheri Johnson Trever Gould's mother. A person does not know how hard they can ache until they lose a child. It hurts even more knowing my son did not get the help he need when he asked for it. He always acted strong around me because he was trained that way and thought he was my protector. We need to help our soldiers that come home and even the ones that are deployed. They need to be heard we need to be heard. I would give anything to hold my son one more time and tell him how much I love him, but I can't do this anymore and I want to change things so other parents and spouses can hold their loved ones every day.

Family of Army Vet Who Committed Suicide Starts Petition to Assist Returning Troops A grieving Minnesota family has started a petition to bring attention to veteran suicides.

08/06/2012
KSTP.com
By: Mark Saxenmeyer


Army Specialist Trever Gould of Fulda, in southwestern Minnesota, took his own life in June. His family says he was unable to cope after returning home from service in Iraq.

Their mission, they say, is to increase prevention and treatment options for service members as they return to civilian life.

This past June, 25-year-old Trever hung himself in the family garage. "When I opened that door it's just, wow.." says Johnson, her words trailing off and her eyes filling with tears.

"I never got to tell him how much I loved him and how proud we were," says Brittney.

Johnson says of her son, "He was taught that you're a wuss if you seek help. You don't even belong in the military. He did his time, he went to Iraq, he wanted to hold his head up and not be afraid that people would call him a coward."
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NY Artists focus on our troops and veterans

IMPACT 2012:

A Festival of Political Art on your radar, specifically next week's events touching on Veterans issues.

Running now through August 26th, Culture Project’s festival consists of documentaries, satirical political comedy, music, theater and new art created by emerging and established artists along with provocative conversations focusing on subjects crucial to the decision making process and the preservation of our democracy and constitution.

We are particularly excited to share with you the topic guiding the conversation next week, The Blind Eye: Women and Veterans including performances dealing with soldiers and their stories which you can read about below.

Restrepo screening and discussion Monday, August 6th

One platoon. One valley. One year. Restrepo chronicles the one-year deployment of a platoon of American soldiers at one of the most dangerous outposts in Afghanistan. Amongst the many prestigious awards Restrepo has garnered, the film has received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story – Long Form.

GOLIATH, Wednesday, August 8th

Told from seven different perspectives, Takeo Rivera’s Goliath tells one young soldier’s war story, from home to the front and back again. Using a poetic landscape inspired by Ntozake Shange, a Greek chorus and spoken word in the style of Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry, Goliath is a theatrical meditation on war and masculinity; a glimpse into what we do during times of war and of what it means to love when violence is part of the norm.

This performance of Goliath will feature opening poetry by Warrior Writers NYC and a post-show conversation on critical issues facing Veterans this upcoming election with NYC Veterans and veteran service organizations. Read more about GOLIATH on CP’s blog!

Lioness screening, Thursday, August 9th

Lioness tells the story of a group of female Army support soldiers who became the first women in American history to be sent into direct ground combat. Without sufficient training but with a commitment to serve as needed, these young women ended up fighting in some of the bloodiest counterinsurgency battles of the Iraq war. Lioness makes public, for the first time, this hidden history. Screening will be followed by a conversation with directors Meg McLagan and Daria Sommers, and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Please visit the IMPACT 2012 Festival page for a listing of all the upcoming events throughout the festival. All events are on a "pay-what-you-will" system, to allow entry for all who would like to attend. In addition, Veterans who show their military ID will receive VIP seating in the theater.
Culture Project

Is Mefloquine the new Agent Orange?

Is Mefloquine the new Agent Orange?
By Samantha A. Torrence
Aug 6, 2012

During Vietnam troops were exposed to Agent Orange. Later there was Gulf War Syndrome and depleted Uranium exposure. Now the military is dealing with a rash of military members with PTSD, and another chemical agent may be responsible for the diagnosis.

Malaria is a major concern to troops who are deployed around the world where contracting the disease is a risk. It is the Department of Defense policy that service members deployed to these areas must take an anti-malaria drug. There are various drugs available such as doxycycline, chloroquine, malarone, and mefloquine. Each drug comes with its unique problems such as high monetary cost in the case of malarone and photosensitivity, nausea, vomiting, and resistance in the cases of doxycycline and chloroquine. Most anti-malaria drugs must also be taken once a day which causes problems with consistency and potency for the soldiers who miss a dose and for that reason Mefloquine, which is only taken once a week, has been prescribed.

Mefloquine(Lariam®) may have a higher rate of compliance but it comes at a high cost to soldiers and American taxpayers. Mefloquine can cause brain injury, hallucinations, paranoia, psychosis and can predispose service members to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

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Kenny Britt to explain himself to NFL today

Kenny Britt to explain himself to NFL today
August, 6, 2012
By Paul Kuharsky
ESPN.com

The Titans are ready to ramp up Kenny Britt’s rehab, and it sounds like he could be part of practice within two weeks.

Whether his issues off the field land him on the shelf at the start of the season, we don’t know. But he’ll explain himself to the NFL today when he visits the league office, according to John Glennon of The Tennessean.

Britt recently had his eighth incident that required police attention, facing a DUI charge at the Army post at Fort Campbell in Kentucky.

“I don't know what to expect -- a lot of questions,” he said.
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Army Capt. Will Swenson 'lost' nomination for Medal of Honor questioned

News came out that Ganjgal hero Capt. Will Swenson recommended for Medal of Honor and Dakota Meyer said “I’ll put it this way,” Meyer said. “If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be alive today.”

This happened last year. So why is it news today? Read this and know.

14 minutes ago
Army captain’s 'lost' nomination for Medal of Honor questioned
By JONATHAN S. LANDAY
McClatchy Newspapers
Published: August 6, 2012


WASHINGTON — Like other U.S. trainers with the Afghan force that day, former Army Capt. William Swenson had expected light resistance. Instead, the contingent walked into a furious six-hour gunfight with Taliban ambushers in which Swenson repeatedly charged through intense fire to retrieve wounded and dead.

The 2009 battle of Ganjgal is perhaps the most remarkable of the Afghan war for its extraordinary heroism and deadly incompetence. It produced dozens of casualties, career-killing reprimands and a slew of commendations for valor. They included two Medal of Honor nominations, one for Swenson.

Yet months after the first living Army officer in some 40 years was put in for the nation’s highest military award for gallantry, his nomination vanished into a bureaucratic black hole. The U.S. military in Afghanistan said an investigation had found that it was “lost” in the approval process, something that several experts dismissed as improbable, saying that hasn’t happened since the awards system was computerized in the mid-1970s.

In fact, the investigation uncovered evidence that suggests a far more troubling explanation. It showed that as former Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer’s Medal of Honor nomination from the same battle sailed toward approval despite questions about the accuracy of the account of his deeds, there may have been an effort to kill Swenson’s nomination.

Swenson’s original nomination was downgraded to a lesser award, in violation of Army and Defense Department regulations, evidence uncovered by the investigation showed.

Moreover, Swenson’s Medal of Honor nomination “packet,” a digitized file that contains dozens of documents attesting to his “heroism … above and beyond the call of duty,” disappeared from the computer system dedicated to processing awards, a circumstance for which the military said it has “no explanation.”
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Veteran tracks valor medals, stolen and forgotten

Veteran tracks valor medals, stolen and forgotten
By: JULIA LEDOUX
InsideNova
Published: August 06, 2012

For Doug Sterner, it’s not just a matter of stolen valor; it’s also a matter of forgot­ten valor.

The Vietnam veteran and former Army combat engineer has spent years researching valor medals — including the Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross — that have been presented to the nation’s service members. He’s combed through records and made countless Freedom of Information requests to document who has received the awards and why.

The result of that research is easy to see in a spare bedroom in Sterner’s apartment: Folders and binders are filled with the docu­mentation, some of which the Army itself doesn’t have due to a 1973 fire in St. Louis that burned a records center.

Thus far, Sterner estimates he’s documented about 105,000 of the nearly 350,000 medals above the Bronze Star and up to the Medal of Honor that have been award­ed. He is so dedicated to his quest that he and his wife moved from their hometown of Pueblo, Colo., to Alexandria, where they could be closer to records stored at the National Archives, Quantico Ma­rine Corps base, the Washington Navy Yard and other locations holding details.

“We were doing patriotic activi­ties in our home town of Pueblo,” Sterner said. “We were bringing in Medal of Honor recipients to meet with the kids.”

That work led Sterner to es­tablish his own website, Home of Heroes, which focused on Medal of Honor recipients.
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Orange County Florida Honoring Purple Hearts

If you live in the Orlando area and think I'm busy, Cathy Haynes makes me look lazy.


From Cathy Haynes

Tomorrow - Tues., August 7 - is Purple Heart Day, recognizing military personnel wounded or killed in combat.

Tomorrow - Tues., August 7 - is Purple Heart Day, recognizing military personnel wounded or killed in combat. Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs with the Orange County Board of Commissioners will issue and present a Proclamation honoring the local Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH) and all Purple Heart medal recipients. The presentation is at 1:30 pm in the Commissioners Chambers of the Administration Building.

You are welcomed to attend with others who have served our country!

Please RSVP to me prior to 9 am if you plan to attend, especially if you wish to have a copy of the Proclamation after the presentation.
  chaynes11629@yahoo.com
Promptly at 1:30 pm, Orange County Administration Building, 1st Floor in the Commissioners Chambers, 201 South Rosalind Ave., Orlando.
You will need to go thru the Building Security area - metal detector.