Police Seek Man Caught on Video Using Car to Hit Disabled Veteran Who Asked Him to Pick up His Trash KTLA 5 News BY ERIKA MARTIN AND KACEY MONTOYA AUGUST 30, 2018
Authorities are working to identify a man seen on surveillance video attacking a disabled veteran with his car earlier this week in Gardena, allegedly because the veteran had asked him to pick up trash he threw in the street.
Joshua Byrd, who served two tours in Iraq with the U.S. Army, said he was walking his service dog outside the business complex where he works on the 13000 block of Cimarron Avenue around 6:30 a.m. Monday when he noticed the driver discard garbage from his window.
Byrd said he asked the motorist to pick it up but he didn't respond, so he picked it up and put it on the hood of the man's car.
The driver lingered in the area, and a couple minutes later took the trash off his car and threw it back into the street. Then, he began cussing at Byrd and driving in circles in front of him, the veteran said. read more here
Combat PTSD Wounded Times Kathie Costos August 31, 2018 Tomorrow starts Suicide Prevention Month, but in this video, I used "awareness" instead for a reason. We are about to be seeing even more groups on TV and in the news papers, plus online for weeks! The awareness that needs to be raised is that the one thing that is needed is to be given back some hope and know they matter. Read down to the bottom and see what you can do to change the conversation too! Yesterday my friend Dave Matthews and I went to the Vietnam Memorial park across from Lake Baldwin VA to do a video. Well, actually 2 of them. One was for PTSD Patrol and the other was for his radio show. Yep, multitasking again!
Anyway, sure enough we got into another argument on the need to stop raising awareness on the "22 a day" stunts. This has been going on between us for a long time. During the video, Dave dropped down and did 22 push-ups. I called him an idiot! We had just talked about the fact that no one knows how many veterans are committing suicide and that the gossip was doing more harm than good. It is not helpful at all. What it does is rip the last glimmer of hope from a veteran on the verge of losing their last battle to survive. It turned out that he challenged me to come up with something else to do after I could not get that number out of his head.
Well now you know how hard it is to get that number out of heads! While some things are in the video, here are more thoughts this video spawned. Take 22 friends and go to a homeless veterans shelter to help them for a day. Take 22 friends and go to a VA hospital or clinic and thank the people working there as well as the veterans walking in. Take 22 friends and write positive things about veterans. Take 22 friends and visit veterans in nursing homes. Take 22 friends and write cards to veterans in your area. Take 22 friends and make gifts for veterans. Take 22 friends and make phone calls to your local elected officials to correct a lot of the stuff they got wrong. Take 22 friends and volunteer at one of the veterans organizations that take care of all generations of veterans. The only way veterans will #CombatPTSD and hear they can #TakeBackYourLife is if you show up and show you care.
Iraq veteran finds out VA has declared her dead WLOS News by Raphael Pires August 29th 2018
What she also didn’t expect is having to prove she was alive when she came back.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — A Candler veteran who was trying to get medical treatment through Veterans Affairs found out the agency has declared her dead.
"I said, 'I look pretty well preserved for being dead for 26 years,'" Judith Herren, an Iraq War veteran, said.
Herren said the problem started back in November when she decided to consider getting treatment at Charles George Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Asheville.
"They couldn't process anything because I was listed as ‘deceased’ in September of 1991," Herren said.
Herren served in the military for eight years -- four in the Army and four in the National Guard, where she found herself in Iraq.
"We were the first units in Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and we really didn’t know what to expect," Herren said. read more here
Judge Guy Williams opens up about PTSD treatment KRISTV 6 News Greg Chandler August 29, 2018 CORPUS CHRISTI – A very different Judge Guy Williams was back in his chambers at the 148th District Court on Wednesday.
Williams recently finished six weeks of treatment for post traumatic stress disorder at Warrior’s Heart in Bandera, a facility specifically for veterans.
The judge, who won a Purple Heart during the Vietnam War, says he’s battled PTSD since his discharge from the Marine Corps in 1970.
“As soon as I got out the hyper-vigilance was there, the exaggerated startle response, the depression, the anxiety,” Williams said. “Nightmares, lack of sleep.”
PTSD continued plaguing Williams during his career with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. He said he hid the problem from co-workers by working 80 hours a week.
“I never got treatment, because I knew once I got treatment somebody would get the medical records and my career would be gone,” said Williams. read more here
Suicide has been a persistent problem in Montana — and it’s getting worse. Now, some who have lost loved ones are mobilizing to stop the deaths.
“It’s one of those things, especially if you’re a male, not to ask for help,” Ranalli, 39, said. “People I served with, they don’t want to reach out and say ‘Hey, I’m having some problems, and I need to talk to somebody.’”
Ranalli spends an evening with his family. He plans to be open with his six children about his mental health so they feel comfortable discussing any struggles with him. Annie Flanagan / for NBC News
For Ranalli, the problems started in 2005 after several Army buddies in his unit were killed in Iraq, some by a bomb, others in a firefight. The same year, on his second deployment there, Ranalli was hit by a roadside bomb, ending his dream of a long Army career. He returned home with a traumatic brain injury, stuck in a cycle of nightmares, flashbacks, anger, depression and anxiety. The following year, two more friends died while fighting in Iraq. By 2012, Ranalli was overwhelmed by survivor’s guilt and frustration over his inability to rejoin the Army. One night, his wife found him in their garage, blackout drunk and attempting suicide.
But he fought back!
“I felt like a burden,” he said. “I’ve seen what [suicide] does to families, but at the time, you just don’t think about it.”
Ranalli’s wife convinced him to get help, but it eventually became clear that the treatment he needed wasn’t available in Helena. There was a traveling VA clinic that came through once a month, but nothing permanent, so he underwent months of treatment out of state, in San Diego.
After his health improved and he returned home, Ranalli decided to channel his frustration with Montana’s mental health care shortfalls into action. He worked on a letter-writing campaign for a permanent veterans mental health clinic in his hometown, and this spring, the Helena Vet Center held its grand opening. So far, it’s provided over 1,055 mental health visits to nearly 150 veterans and family members. Ranalli is one of them; he receives treatment there for post-traumatic stress disorder. click link to read more
St. Louis woman admits drowning, abusing puppy in California St. Louis Post-Dispatch By Robert Patrick Aug 28, 2018 ST. LOUIS • A woman from St. Louis pleaded guilty to a felony animal cruelty charge in federal court Tuesday and admitted abusing and drowning a puppy on a U.S. Marine Corps base in California.
Brittney Shanae Dyson admitted dunking Bella in a bucket of water, bleach and Pine-Sol cleaner on June 16, 2016, in a house on Camp Pendleton in Oceanside.
The Dachshund-terrier mix was about 6 months old and weighed less than 20 pounds, Dyson’s plea says, and struggled frantically, clawing at the sides of the bucket.
A necropsy the next day found evidence that Bella’s leg had been fractured by blunt force within three weeks of her death, and Dyson admitted “on occasion” striking the dog “with great force.” read more here
The VA Releases Second National Suicide Data Report Why using "22 veteran suicides a day" is inaccurate and potentially harmful. Psychology Today Meaghan Mobbs Posted Aug 28, 2018
"When the first report was released in 2012, many people, in a well-meaning effort to call attention to something alarming, miscarried the application of the 22-a-day narrative. This number now dominates social media and has been adopted by a number of Veteran Service Organizations." Meaghan Mobbs
This summer the Department of Veterans Affairs released its second VA National Suicide Data Report. This report, again representing a joint effort between the VA, analysts, and researchers, assesses suicide data from 2005 to 2015. Its predecessor, released in 2012, gave rise to the widely held belief that 22 veterans a day die by suicide. This report adjusts that figure by two, establishing a number closer to 20 a day--a number which has reportedly remained constant from 2008-2015. Moreover, the report states that this number also includes active duty service members, National Guard, and Reservists.
This report farther breaks down that number into those using VA-provided care (six per day), Veterans not utilizing VA services (11 a day), and those currently on active duty, National Guard, and/or in the Reserves (four a day). Perhaps, most importantly, it contains information on ethnicity, era of service, and age group comparisons.
The result is a refutation of the current belief that younger veterans, or those of the Global War on Terror generation (post-9/11 veterans), account for the bulk of veteran suicides. In fact, veterans who served during peacetime (i.e. the years between major conflicts) account for one-third of deaths by suicide in 2015.
read more here
Who is she?
Meaghan Mobbs, M.A. is a West Point graduate, Afghanistan Veteran, and former Army Captain who is currently an advanced Clinical Psychology doctoral student at Columbia University, Teachers College. Mobbs is also a David O’Connor Fellow, Tillman Military Scholar, and a Noble Argus and National Military Family Association Scholarship recipient.
Fighting against all the "awareness raisers" running around the country has been one of the worst experiences of my life. Friends, or people I thought were my friends, ended up defending these people and dismissing everything I tried to get them to understand.
Do you think this has been fun for me? Do you think it has been a good way to spend my time? It has done more damage to my outlook on life considering it must have been the same when rational people were trying to get fools to stop believing the world was flat! Here is the post that this video came from
Kathie Costos DiCesare Published on Aug 25, 2018 If you are passing along the "22" or "20" a day referring to veterans committing suicide, shame on you! If you are making money to "raise awareness" about something you have no clue about, there is no excuse for you to continue. We now know the VA and the CDC do not even know how many veterans are committing suicide while far too many are committing suicide in PUBLIC~! Advocates are freaking out because the only voice in getting into veterans' heads is they are just a number!
I had to do this to be able to do the PTSD Patrol video. After yet another suicide at a VA in Indiana, I could not get out of a really lousy mood until I did this.
Last night I had yet another one of those conversations where I was told "I'm just sticking with the 22 a day crowd because that is the number everyone knows."
It did not matter how many times I have proven that this claim is doing more harm than good, and isn't even factual, it was dismissed. Worse was when I had people I know call me a liar.
Well, this morning what I've been saying for years received vindication from someone with the credentials to add to the seriousness of what has actually been going on. When I read the healine, The VA Releases Second National Suicide Data Report" I was getting ready to slam it, since that report came out in June. A second later I read the sub-headline and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up!
Meaghan lists the fact that the majority of the known suicides are in fact veterans over the age of 50.
She has the fact that for younger veterans:
"The higher suicide rate among younger service members and veterans (age 18-34) is concerning and harder to understand. A commonly used key demographic bracket (18-34) in research, the belief is that those that fall within that cohort share similar experiences or characteristics. However, for anyone that has spent time in the military, the experience of an 18 year old on his or her first tour of duty is vastly different from a 32 year old, non-commissioned officer, with multiple deployments who has transitioned out. Unfortunately, the report does not shed more light on where the burden is most significant in that population."
This came after over a decade of the military doing "resilience training" which basically told the service members they could "train their brains to be mentally strong" and in other words, they heard, they were mentally weak if they ended up with PTSD. Then you also had the fact that over 300,000 were kicked out instead of being helped. All you have to do is read the reports from the DOD on suicides within the military to know this training does not work! The average since 2012 has been 500 a year. Here are some more points that you need to consider from this article since you have no believe me!
"So outside of the obvious pitfalls of using an inaccurate number to capture a phenomenon that may not actually be a phenomenon across time and space, it is also worth considering that the continued emphasis on awareness and attention to veteran suicide may be contributing to it. A cursory search of the hashtag #22aday or #22kill nets hundreds of thousands of results. The most recent posting? Three hours ago, with the top results being videos of people doing push-ups to raise awareness. Even more disheartening, if you are to search the hashtag #suicide, a pop-up appears with a warning and offer of help."
For this part, consider this. If you lost all hope, would learning about more who decided one more day was not worth being here for, do you any good to want to stay?
"Furthermore, there is a strong body of evidence to suggest that suicide is contagious. People who complete suicide are already vulnerable for a whole host of reasons, and publicity around another suicide appears to make a difference. This suggests that one death can set off others."
Yet when you hear that there is something to hope for, getting the right information and help to heal, is there, then you have hope! When you discover that the lives of veterans meant so little to the people raising awareness, they did not bother to research anything, it is like a dagger into your already wounded heart.
And this is the reason I started PTSD Patrol
"While researchers and mental health professionals may be missing pieces of the puzzle, we can all act to combat the existing narrative and drive dialogue around military and veteran suicide. The 22-a-day belief is damaging and contributes to the "broken vet" stereotype."
She is yet again, totally right on that too. You are not broken! You are not weak! Nothing is hopeless and neither are you as long as you #CombatPTSD and #TakeBackYourLife as a survivor! If your really want to do something to prevent more veterans from taking their own lives, I urge you to read the rest of this article and the next time you read something about "raising awareness" remember this part from the article. She ran into the same nonsense I have all these years!
"Personal efforts made to provide information to veteran businesses referring to and using "22 a day," have been met with astonishing responses. From “it’s recognizable,” to “its part of our brand,” to changing it “will detract from our message,” are all actual conversations I’ve had. It seems possible that the monetization and adoption of an incorrect suicide statistic for gain, whether it’s "likes," dollars, attention, or appealing to donors, is happening."
Glad this article came out at the end of August since next month the articles will be all over the country as more and more reports have to do their quote of feel good stories and will once more allow these people to simply gain support for a number that is a flat out lie! Yes, September is Suicide Awareness Month and now you know a lot more than the people asking for your support will ever learn!
Feds: Operator of dog training school used dead person to commit $1.26 million fraud Express News By Guillermo Contreras August 24, 2018
"Some of the dogs were used in the training program, which targeted military veterans. The indictment said Universal offered two courses: the K-9 handler dual-purpose detection program for $6,500 and a trainer/instructor program that charged $12,500."
According to the indictment, Croft laundered some of the ill-gotten money by paying nearly $320,000 for the property on Tradesman, and $452,789 on a luxury 2017 American Eagle 45T Motorhome.
Bradley Croft Name: CROFT, BRADLEY SID #: 496848 DOB: 09/20/1971 Date of Photo: 12/05/2013
A principal operator of a canine training business in San Antonio swindled about $1.26 million from the GI Bill program by fraudulently claiming his trainers were certified and using a dead man’s identity to further the scheme, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday.
The indictment said Bradley Croft, 46, submitted to the Texas Veterans Commission the names of people he claimed to be certified training instructors, but they never gave permission for him to use their names for Universal K-9’s application. One instructor who was cited had been dead for two years.
Croft is charged with eight counts of wire fraud, four counts of aggravated identity theft and two counts of money laundering.
Arrested Wednesday, Croft had his initial hearing Thursday in federal court. Over the objections of one of Croft’s lawyers, Tom McHugh, U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Bemporad ordered Croft held for a bail hearing and arraignment Tuesday. read more here
Background Check Change Could Put Troops' Clearances at Risk Military.com By Amy Bushatz 27 Aug 2018
"This new process might impact your DoD security clearance and prevent you from being deemed 'deployable,' which could greatly impact your military career unless you can prove to DoD that you were the victim of identity theft, fraud or a mistake, and that you're currently living within your means and are making a good-faith effort to resolve your unpaid debts," the CFPB release warned.
A service member scans in his fingerprint for the Defense Biometric Identification System Jan. 16, 2009. (U.S. Air Force/Senior Airman Chad Strohmeyer)
Troops with security clearances who have low credit scores or past-due bills could be at greater risk of having those clearances revoked, thanks to a change to the frequency at which background check officials look at financial data.
"The Department of Defense (DoD) will now 'continuously' monitor the financial status of servicemembers with security clearances," the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced in an Aug. 20 release. "This means that a past-due bill or an error on your credit report could jeopardize your clearance status."
As of early July, 58 workers had their security clearances revoked as a part of the Pentagon's new monitoring system, according to the Associated Press. Officials did not respond to requests for an update.
Vietnam vet uses pickup truck to make sure war veterans are never forgotten ABC Action News 6 Philadelphia August 26, 2018
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you can't come through here right now, we got a funeral going on. I said I know, I got him in the back," says Elliott.
The boots polished to a high shine, and the rifles and helmets in a fallen soldier tribute, have accompanied many service members on the journey to their final resting place, in the bed of Ron Elliott's truck.
"I transport the casket in here and I deliver them down at the cemeteries," says Elliott.
It's obvious that this isn't just any old pickup truck. The sides of the truck are covered with names.
"They're all Delaware Veterans, who died in each war," Elliott says.
Names from World War II to the Vietnam War.
Ron fought in Vietnam, where he lost many friends. He hasn't forgotten them, and he doesn't want anyone else to forget them either. read more here
