Military bonds draw veterans to mental health jobs
By Maria LaMagna
Special to CNN
August 8, 2012
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Study: Only half of U.S. service members with PTSD received treatment
18 veterans commit suicide every day, VA statistics show
Programs that train veterans to assist other veterans have popped up
"They let you talk about the stuff that's ugly," one veteran says
(CNN) -- Things probably should have turned out differently for Samantha Schilling.
The stories she tells have dark beginnings and could have had, under different circumstances, dark endings -- as so many stories for those in the military do.
Schilling, now 31, served in the U.S. Navy from 1999 to 2003. She was never deployed but worked as an information systems technician at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia.
Several of her friends were killed during the 2000 al Qaeda bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen, which left 17 dead and at least 37 injured. Some of the injured were transferred to her base in Norfolk.
Many of the survivors suffered from mental trauma after the bombing. One of them, a man who had been aboard the ship, attacked Schilling and attempted to rape her.
That assault drove home the impact that active duty had on her colleagues' mental state.
"I experienced military sexual trauma, and that just inspired me," she said. "Coming back into civilian life, you're not the same person you were in the military. ... You carry with you all these burdens, all these stressors."
Schilling was released from service with an honorable medical discharge in 2003. Since that time, she has taken on a personal mission to help others who need counseling after military service. She's nearly completed a masters in a joint military psychology and neuropsychology program at the Adler School of Professional Psychology in Chicago and plans to finish her doctorate degree in 2015.
read more here
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Military bonds draw veterans to mental health jobs
This is a great article on veterans helping veterans as well as a reminder that after all this time, all this attention and all the new groups popping up online, less than half of the veterans needing help, receive it.
Father honored for fight against Camp Lejeune water
Father honored for fight against Camp Lejeune water
Tuesday, August 07, 2012
Fred Shropshire
ABC News Team
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- A retired North Carolina Marine is finally seeing the results of a 15 yearlong crusade.
Retired Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger set out on a mission to honor his daughter's memory and help others poisoned by tainted tap water at Camp Lejeune.
Tuesday evening, Sen. Richard Burr attended a ceremony in downtown Raleigh to honor Ensminger's efforts.
read more here
Tuesday, August 07, 2012
Fred Shropshire
ABC News Team
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- A retired North Carolina Marine is finally seeing the results of a 15 yearlong crusade.
Retired Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger set out on a mission to honor his daughter's memory and help others poisoned by tainted tap water at Camp Lejeune.
Tuesday evening, Sen. Richard Burr attended a ceremony in downtown Raleigh to honor Ensminger's efforts.
read more here
Vietnam Veteran Larry A. Polzin Elected DAV National Commander
Larry A. Polzin Elected DAV National Commander
Associated Press
Posted August 7, 2012
LAS VEGAS
(BUSINESS WIRE)
Aug 7, 2012
Larry A. Polzin, a service-connected Vietnam-era veteran, was elected DAV’s National Commander at the organization’s 91 st National Convention in Las Vegas.
“As National Sr. Vice Commander, Polzin showed solid leadership skills and a strong vision for the organization,” said Arthur H. Wilson, DAV’s National Adjutant and CEO.
“We look forward to advancing the organization and achieving our strategic goals under his leadership.”
Polzin joined the U.S. Marine Corps following high school graduation in eastern Colorado. After boot camp, he was assigned to the 1 st Marine Division, 1 st Engineer Battalion, Camp Pendleton, Calif. He continued to serve until his medical discharge in 1966.
Read more
Associated Press
Posted August 7, 2012
LAS VEGAS
(BUSINESS WIRE)
Aug 7, 2012
Larry A. Polzin, a service-connected Vietnam-era veteran, was elected DAV’s National Commander at the organization’s 91 st National Convention in Las Vegas.
“As National Sr. Vice Commander, Polzin showed solid leadership skills and a strong vision for the organization,” said Arthur H. Wilson, DAV’s National Adjutant and CEO.
“We look forward to advancing the organization and achieving our strategic goals under his leadership.”
Polzin joined the U.S. Marine Corps following high school graduation in eastern Colorado. After boot camp, he was assigned to the 1 st Marine Division, 1 st Engineer Battalion, Camp Pendleton, Calif. He continued to serve until his medical discharge in 1966.
Read more
'Ride for Heroes' to reach Pendleton on Friday
MILITARY: 'Ride for Heroes' to reach Pendleton on Friday
By MARK WALKER
North County Times
Four recumbent tricycle riders who departed St. Augustine, Fla., in early June for fundraising trip for the Oceanside-based Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund are scheduled to arrive at Camp Pendleton on Friday afternoon.
Three of the participants in the "Ride for Heroes" are former Marines, including a double amputee Afghanistan veteran.
read more here
By MARK WALKER
North County Times
Four recumbent tricycle riders who departed St. Augustine, Fla., in early June for fundraising trip for the Oceanside-based Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund are scheduled to arrive at Camp Pendleton on Friday afternoon.
Three of the participants in the "Ride for Heroes" are former Marines, including a double amputee Afghanistan veteran.
read more here
Officer wounded in temple shooting was a Marine
Officer wounded in temple shooting a skilled veteran
By Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel
Unable to speak, Oak Creek police Lt. Brian Murphy held up his hand for Chief John Edwards to hold.
He mouthed one word: "Sorry."
"He was stable. He was alert. He acknowledged me. He smiled, brought up his hand, (he) wanted me to grab his hand. Kind of mouthed to me he was sorry," said an emotional Edwards.
After taking a few moments to compose himself, Edwards said in an interview Tuesday at the Oak Creek police station, "It's been a long couple days."
Murphy, 51, sped to the temple Sunday morning after people inside called 911 to report hear ing gunshots. Before Murphy could get inside the temple, Wade Michael Page, 40, opened fire, hitting the officer eight or nine times. Another Oak Creek police officer, Sam Lenda, shot and killed Page after the assailant refused to drop his weapon and surrender.
Six people who had gone to the temple to participate in a Sunday service were slain by Page; three others were wounded in addition to Murphy.
Murphy grew up in New York City - a fact readily apparent to anyone who hears him talk. Despite more than two decades in Wisconsin, Murphy has not lost his accent.
Before he became a cop, he was a U.S. Marine deployed overseas. He was later assigned to the United Nations in New York as part of the U.N. security detail, protecting dignitaries.
read more here
By Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel
Unable to speak, Oak Creek police Lt. Brian Murphy held up his hand for Chief John Edwards to hold.
He mouthed one word: "Sorry."
Edwards visited Murphy on Monday night at Froedtert Hospital - a day after the 21-year Oak Creek police veteran was shot numerous times while responding to the massacre at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek.
Oak Creek Police DepartmentOak Creek Police Lt. Brian Murphy, who was wounded in the Sikh Temple shooting.
"He was stable. He was alert. He acknowledged me. He smiled, brought up his hand, (he) wanted me to grab his hand. Kind of mouthed to me he was sorry," said an emotional Edwards.
After taking a few moments to compose himself, Edwards said in an interview Tuesday at the Oak Creek police station, "It's been a long couple days."
Murphy, 51, sped to the temple Sunday morning after people inside called 911 to report hear ing gunshots. Before Murphy could get inside the temple, Wade Michael Page, 40, opened fire, hitting the officer eight or nine times. Another Oak Creek police officer, Sam Lenda, shot and killed Page after the assailant refused to drop his weapon and surrender.
Six people who had gone to the temple to participate in a Sunday service were slain by Page; three others were wounded in addition to Murphy.
Murphy grew up in New York City - a fact readily apparent to anyone who hears him talk. Despite more than two decades in Wisconsin, Murphy has not lost his accent.
Before he became a cop, he was a U.S. Marine deployed overseas. He was later assigned to the United Nations in New York as part of the U.N. security detail, protecting dignitaries.
read more here
Vietnam Vet charged after confrontation, going to VA hospital
Twin Lake man charged in assault-rifle confrontation to be transferred to V.A. hospital in Battle Creek
Published: Tuesday, August 07, 2012
By Lisha Arino
MUSKEGON, MI – Michael Robin Kirlis, the 60-year-old Twin Lake man who was allegedly involved in an armed and drunken confrontation with police and rescue workers is in the process of being transferred to the VA hospital in Battle Creek.
Kirlis waived his preliminary examination before 60th District Court Judge Michael J. Nolan on Aug. 7. The case will be sent to Circuit Court.
Kirlis, who said he was a Vietnam Veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder and on 100 percent disability, will be transferred to a Veterans Administration hospital in Battle Creek after receiving confirmation that the hospital would accept him as a patient. This is a condition allowed by the arraigning judge on July 24 in lieu of jail or paying a $50,000 bond.
read more here
Published: Tuesday, August 07, 2012
By Lisha Arino
MUSKEGON, MI – Michael Robin Kirlis, the 60-year-old Twin Lake man who was allegedly involved in an armed and drunken confrontation with police and rescue workers is in the process of being transferred to the VA hospital in Battle Creek.
Kirlis waived his preliminary examination before 60th District Court Judge Michael J. Nolan on Aug. 7. The case will be sent to Circuit Court.
Kirlis, who said he was a Vietnam Veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder and on 100 percent disability, will be transferred to a Veterans Administration hospital in Battle Creek after receiving confirmation that the hospital would accept him as a patient. This is a condition allowed by the arraigning judge on July 24 in lieu of jail or paying a $50,000 bond.
read more here
Psychiatrist fueling "dangerous" combat veteran notion
Psychiatrist fueling "dangerous" combat veteran notion
by Chaplain Kathie
Wounded Times Blog
August 8, 2012
TIME has some explaining to do when they allow something like this.
This just fuels the fear factor of "dangerous soldiers" with no facts to support an outrageous claim.
It is stunning to read about what some "professionals" have to say. Most of the time, you end up wondering why they bothered to write it in the first place. TIME Battleland had an article by Elspeth Cameron Ritchie on the Camp Liberty shootings that are back in the news again. Clearly avoiding addressing the issue of why a soldier would go for help then end up feeling it necessary to use a weapon would have been a better, more helpful angle to write about but she turned around and talked about how hard it is for psychiatrists.
She wrote how violence against psychiatrists are way too common. Ok. How many times has it happened in over 10 years of combat? How about the reverse when a psychiatrist decided to kill as many as possible at Fort Hood? Ritchie is implying that this is a huge problem and it is disgraceful.
Deployed military need tailored mental health care but it seems that has been reported over and over again, yet, no one was doing anything about actually delivering on it.
The other claim Ritchie made was sickening. Trying to spin it back to being about domestic issues and not redeployments insults the integrity of the troops.
I wonder how many of those "more than once" times it resulted in the soldier resolving his "issues" at the end of a gun pointed at his own head? The percentages are staring Ritchie right in the face. There are not 18 psychiatrist a day being attacked or shot by veterans, but they are committing suicide. There are not reports of 18 veterans killing their spouse everyday but they committing suicide. There are not hundreds of veterans committing crimes a month but there are that many trying to kill themselves. I track these reports across the country and the fact is simple. Combat veterans are more of a danger to themselves than anyone else. When you have 18 veterans a day (that they know about) killing themselves and an average of 1 active duty serviceman/woman taking their own lives topped off with the other reports of attempted suicides, that screams psychologist don't have a clue about what they need to do yet Ritchie wants us to feel sorry for them and blame and fear the soldiers. Does Ritchie get paid to write this crap fueling the "dangerous" soldier line to make headlines?
Ritchie got my attention with this headline but as soon as I read the first paragraph, I was at the boiling point.
This is something else Ritchie doesn't take responsibility for.
by Chaplain Kathie
Wounded Times Blog
August 8, 2012
TIME has some explaining to do when they allow something like this.
This just fuels the fear factor of "dangerous soldiers" with no facts to support an outrageous claim.
It is stunning to read about what some "professionals" have to say. Most of the time, you end up wondering why they bothered to write it in the first place. TIME Battleland had an article by Elspeth Cameron Ritchie on the Camp Liberty shootings that are back in the news again. Clearly avoiding addressing the issue of why a soldier would go for help then end up feeling it necessary to use a weapon would have been a better, more helpful angle to write about but she turned around and talked about how hard it is for psychiatrists.
She wrote how violence against psychiatrists are way too common. Ok. How many times has it happened in over 10 years of combat? How about the reverse when a psychiatrist decided to kill as many as possible at Fort Hood? Ritchie is implying that this is a huge problem and it is disgraceful.
Deployed military need tailored mental health care but it seems that has been reported over and over again, yet, no one was doing anything about actually delivering on it.
In 2009 this was released.
Officials have said that troops are under tremendous and unprecedented stress because of repeated and long tours of duty due to the simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The other claim Ritchie made was sickening. Trying to spin it back to being about domestic issues and not redeployments insults the integrity of the troops.
“You know,” I recall saying more than once, “if I sent everyone home whose wife was having an affair, we wouldn’t have a division here.”
I wonder how many of those "more than once" times it resulted in the soldier resolving his "issues" at the end of a gun pointed at his own head? The percentages are staring Ritchie right in the face. There are not 18 psychiatrist a day being attacked or shot by veterans, but they are committing suicide. There are not reports of 18 veterans killing their spouse everyday but they committing suicide. There are not hundreds of veterans committing crimes a month but there are that many trying to kill themselves. I track these reports across the country and the fact is simple. Combat veterans are more of a danger to themselves than anyone else. When you have 18 veterans a day (that they know about) killing themselves and an average of 1 active duty serviceman/woman taking their own lives topped off with the other reports of attempted suicides, that screams psychologist don't have a clue about what they need to do yet Ritchie wants us to feel sorry for them and blame and fear the soldiers. Does Ritchie get paid to write this crap fueling the "dangerous" soldier line to make headlines?
Ritchie got my attention with this headline but as soon as I read the first paragraph, I was at the boiling point.
Military Psychiatrists at War: True Life and Death Decisions
By ELSPETH CAMERON RITCHIE
TIME Battleland
August 7, 2012
Elliott Smith’s recent sad and gripping article for Bloomberg on the 2009 killings at Iraq‘s Camp Liberty certainly re-ignited my own anxieties. It brought me back to when I was an active-duty Army psychiatrist in Korea, Somalia, and Iraq:
The battalion, military police and combat stress specialists had three hours and 34 minutes to avert tragedy. Instead, after lost opportunities and miscalculations, the blue-eyed sergeant from Texas used a stolen gun to kill three enlisted men and two officers in the deadliest case of soldier-on-soldier violence in the war zone.
Such violence against psychiatrists by their patients is tragically way too common.
So are mass shootings by individuals who appear to have major psychiatric problems.
For psychiatrists in the military who are deployed in the war zone, the additional scary challenge is that their world is full of men and women with weapons.
Don’t get me wrong. Of course, these are Soldiers, Marines and other service members who are there fighting for their country. They generally strive to do their very best to do the right thing.
But Soldiers occasionally get “Dear John” letters from home. Or get mad at their commander. And are brought to their combat stress control shop or division psychiatry unit for an evaluation.
As an Army mental health provider, you are always being asked to make judgments of a Soldier’s risk to self or others.
Read more
This is something else Ritchie doesn't take responsibility for.
Col (Ret) Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, served as Army's top mental health advisor during a period where suicide rates doubled. Recently retired, now Ritchie frequently writes about and speaks on military mental health issues. She is one of many who have recently reported the Services are likely underreporting suicide data among members of Reserve and Guard components.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Purple Heart Recognition Day, Orange County, Orlando
Purple Heart Recognition Day, Orange County, Orlando August 7, 2012
Sgt. Barry Capito Vietnam veteran laid to rest with full military honors
Roanoke Vietnam veteran laid to rest with full military honors
Barry Capito had no family and little money when he died last month. With the help of a fellow veteran and a Roanoke funeral home, he received a proper burial.
By Matt Chittum
DUBLIN -- Barry Wayne Capito died a bachelor living paycheck to paycheck.
A close friend found the decorated Vietnam War veteran dead on his sofa in his Roanoke home last month.
With no family to speak of to make funeral arrangements, and no pot of money to pay for them, Capito's journey to his final resting place -- wherever that would be -- was hard to plot.
Until a concerned fellow vet and a Roanoke funeral home took up his cause.
Thanks to them, Capito, 64, was buried Monday morning in the Southwest Virginia Veterans Cemetery in Dublin with full military honors.
With rifles aimed toward overcast skies, the honor guard from Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1184 in Pulaski fired a three-shot volley, and a solitary bugler played taps. Two soldiers lifted the U.S. flag from the casket and with crisp and practiced moves folded it into a triangle.
"I would hope somebody would do the same if it was me on the other side," said Ron Kotz, a claims agent with the Virginia Department of Veterans Services who took up Capito's cause though it wasn't part of his job.
Kotz, himself a 16-year veteran of the U.S. Navy, knew Capito from helping to connect him with veterans benefits over the years, though he didn't know him well. On Monday, Kotz accepted the folded flag.
"I'm going to leave it in my office," he said. "Unless somebody shows up who is next of kin, which I doubt, it will just stay there."
Capito grew up in southeast Roanoke, said Larry Johnson, the friend who found him dead.
v Capito was drafted into the Army during Vietnam, Johnson said. According to his service record, he was in Vietnam from Jan. 8, 1969, to Sept. 5, 1970 -- one year, seven months and 28 days.
He'd been awarded the Bronze Star and the Army Commendation Medal, according to Kotz. Johnson said he left the Army as a sergeant.
read more here
Barry Capito had no family and little money when he died last month. With the help of a fellow veteran and a Roanoke funeral home, he received a proper burial.
By Matt Chittum
DUBLIN -- Barry Wayne Capito died a bachelor living paycheck to paycheck.
A close friend found the decorated Vietnam War veteran dead on his sofa in his Roanoke home last month.
With no family to speak of to make funeral arrangements, and no pot of money to pay for them, Capito's journey to his final resting place -- wherever that would be -- was hard to plot.
Until a concerned fellow vet and a Roanoke funeral home took up his cause.
Thanks to them, Capito, 64, was buried Monday morning in the Southwest Virginia Veterans Cemetery in Dublin with full military honors.
With rifles aimed toward overcast skies, the honor guard from Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1184 in Pulaski fired a three-shot volley, and a solitary bugler played taps. Two soldiers lifted the U.S. flag from the casket and with crisp and practiced moves folded it into a triangle.
"I would hope somebody would do the same if it was me on the other side," said Ron Kotz, a claims agent with the Virginia Department of Veterans Services who took up Capito's cause though it wasn't part of his job.
Kotz, himself a 16-year veteran of the U.S. Navy, knew Capito from helping to connect him with veterans benefits over the years, though he didn't know him well. On Monday, Kotz accepted the folded flag.
"I'm going to leave it in my office," he said. "Unless somebody shows up who is next of kin, which I doubt, it will just stay there."
Capito grew up in southeast Roanoke, said Larry Johnson, the friend who found him dead.
v Capito was drafted into the Army during Vietnam, Johnson said. According to his service record, he was in Vietnam from Jan. 8, 1969, to Sept. 5, 1970 -- one year, seven months and 28 days.
He'd been awarded the Bronze Star and the Army Commendation Medal, according to Kotz. Johnson said he left the Army as a sergeant.
read more here
Patriot Guard Riders standing for Wounded Warrior GySgt John Hayes, USMC
HOTH Mission
Wounded Warrior GySgt John Hayes, USMC
Home for Our Troops Adaptive Home Build
St Augustine, FL
FRI, 10 AUG 12
Last year the Patriot Guard Riders were honored by an invitation to escort Wounded Warrior USMC Cpl. Tyler Southern and his wife Ashley to receive the keys to their new adaptive home. At that celebration Cpl. Southern said his goal was to get his fellow Wounded Warrior, USMC GySgt. John Hayes (and family) their own adaptive home. That goal has come true and on Friday, August 10th 2012 the Patriot Guard Riders have been invited to honor Gunny Hayes and Family with a Flag Line to kick off the built site of his own Home for Our Troops adaptive home. Homes For Our Troops
Please consider visiting the Homes For Our Troops website and volunteer for this worthwhile cause.
Mission: The PGR will be standing a Flag Line at the Build Site to welcome Gunny Hayes and his family.
The build site is in rural St. John’s County. We will stage at the build site and set the Flag Line to receive Gunny Hayes and Family.
This is the wounded veteran the Nam Knights had the latest fundraiser for.
Wounded Warrior GySgt John Hayes, USMC
Home for Our Troops Adaptive Home Build
St Augustine, FL
FRI, 10 AUG 12
Last year the Patriot Guard Riders were honored by an invitation to escort Wounded Warrior USMC Cpl. Tyler Southern and his wife Ashley to receive the keys to their new adaptive home. At that celebration Cpl. Southern said his goal was to get his fellow Wounded Warrior, USMC GySgt. John Hayes (and family) their own adaptive home. That goal has come true and on Friday, August 10th 2012 the Patriot Guard Riders have been invited to honor Gunny Hayes and Family with a Flag Line to kick off the built site of his own Home for Our Troops adaptive home. Homes For Our Troops
Please consider visiting the Homes For Our Troops website and volunteer for this worthwhile cause.
Mission: The PGR will be standing a Flag Line at the Build Site to welcome Gunny Hayes and his family.
The build site is in rural St. John’s County. We will stage at the build site and set the Flag Line to receive Gunny Hayes and Family.
This is the wounded veteran the Nam Knights had the latest fundraiser for.
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