Retired Marine Col. Jim Turner took his life at Bay Pines

Jim Turner, a retired Marine colonel, took his life at the Bay Pines VA campus

Tampa Bay Times
By Howard Altman 
Published 28 minutes ago

ST. PETERSBURG — On Dec. 10, retired Marine Col. Jim Turner put on his dress uniform and medals and drove to the Bay Pines Department of Veterans Affairs complex. He got out of his truck, sat down on top of his military records and took his own life with a rifle.

Aside from leaving behind grieving family and friends, Turner, 55, of Belleair Bluffs, left behind a suicide note that blasted the VA for what he said was its failure to help him.

"I bet if you look at the 22 suicides a day you will see VA screwed up in 90%," wrote Turner, who was well-known and well-respected in military circles. "I did 20+ years, had PTSD and still had to pay over $1,000 a month health care."

Captain Ryan Spangler (left) and Gunnery Sgt. Tousnel Renaud (right), with the 4th Assault Amphibian Battalion, United States Marine Corps Reserve in Tampa, fold one of the two American flags that are to be presented to the family at the end of the memorial service Friday afternoon, at the Serenity Funeral Home in Largo, for retired Marine Col. James "Jim" Turner IV, who took his life at Bay Pines Dec. 10. (DIRK SHADD | Times)

Vietnam War Navy veteran Jerry Reid, 67, may have driven to the VA to take his own life on Feb. 7, 2013, because he lived alone and didn’t want to have his body found weeks or months later, said his friend, Bob Marcus.

Joseph Jorden, 57, a medically retired Army Green Beret, likely took his life at Bay Pines on March 17, 2017, not because of poor treatment, but because he felt safe there, said his brother, Mark Jorden.

But Gerhard Reitmann, 66, who served with the Marines in Vietnam and later as a guard for President Richard Nixon at Camp David, “felt like the VA wasn’t really taking care of him” when he ended his life at Bay Pines on Aug. 25, 2015, said his brother, Stephan Reitmann.

The mother of Esteban Rosario, 24, who ended his life at Bay Pines on May 8, 2013, could not be reached for comment. read more here

Still think that sending veterans into private care is good for them?

Kaiser patients speak out about lengthy waits for mental health therapy

The Press Democrat
ALEXANDRIA BORDAS
December 15, 2018

“You either become dead or more depressed in this system. I lost everything going through this experience and now I have nothing else to lose. Now, I am unafraid to speak out.” Jessica Held

Time and again, Jessica Held called Kaiser’s mental health department in Santa Rosa pleading for help.

Feelings of severe anxiety and depression would weigh on her, but weren’t yet at alarming heights. In those moments, she didn’t want to harm herself or others, although she strongly believed she needed extra support from someone — anyone — available to see her at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Santa Rosa.

But she never received the immediate help she desired.

Held said she was consistently told there wasn’t anyone available for individual therapy for at least a month because she wasn’t in a crisis situation, despite being a Kaiser patient since 2001. Instead, Kaiser offered to place her in group therapy.

Held’s story and others like it received new attention this week as Kaiser mental health workers staged a five-day statewide strike against the nonprofit health care system. The National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents psychologists, therapists and clinical social workers, ended their strike on Friday.

Union members say patients must wait four to six weeks, on average, for individual therapy appointments because Kaiser has not hired enough mental health workers to properly treat its members. Many who need individual care are funneled into group therapy, union members say.
read more here

UPDATE
Just a reminder: 

VA hospitals outperform private hospitals in most markets, according to Dartmouth study

"Little spark cuts through fog"

Spark out of the darkness

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
December 16, 2018

Yesterday I attended a Wreath Laying ceremony at All Faiths Memorial Park. A large crowd gathered together on a rainy morning to remember veterans.

They did not know most of veterans, but they took their wreath, read the names their so they
would be remembered.

They were not all famous like Robert Miller, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for sacrificing his life to save others in Afghanistan. Some died many years after serving, yet each one mattered.
read more here

PTSD Vietnam veteran died getting out of moving ambulance

Jury awards $7 million to family of Vietnam vet who died after climbing out of moving ambulance

Chicago Tribune
Mike Nolan
December 14, 2018

Bonamarte said the ambulance was traveling at about 30 to 35 miles per hour when Stein climbed out, and he suffered multiple injuries, including head and rib fractures. Lawyers speculated that confusion brought on by PTSD prompted Stein to leave the ambulance.

A jury has awarded $7 million to the family of Patrick Stein, shown, who died in July 2014 after climbing out of a moving ambulance. (Law firm of Levin and Perconti)

Cook County Circuit Court jury has awarded $7 million to the family of a Vietnam veteran from the south suburbs who died in 2014 after climbing out of a moving ambulance, according to an attorney who represented the family.

Patrick Stein, 64, who lived in Matteson at the time, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after two tours of duty in Vietnam, according to the law firm Levin and Perconti.

The verdict in the wrongful death lawsuit was reached late Wednesday, Michael Bonamarte, an attorney with the firm, said Friday.

Stein had been brought to St. James Olympia Fields Hospital in July 2014 after his family had found him outside his daughter’s home with a butcher knife clutched to his abdomen, according to the firm.

Medical staff at the hospital diagnosed the man as having an altered mental status, acute confusion and suicidal behavior, according to the firm, and recommended Stein be transferred to Edward Hines Veterans Affairs hospital in Maywood, where psychiatric services were available. While at St. James, Stein didn’t recall the episode with the knife, according to the firm.
read more here

Christmas gift of love delivered in Casselberry today

Rain did not stop Wreaths Across America in Florida

Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 15, 2018

This morning in Casselberry Florida, a large group gathered together to make sure the veterans buried at All Faiths Memorial Park were not forgotten. It did not matter that it was raining.

Sgt. Dave Matthews of Never Forgotten Memorials was the MC.

Traffic stop at VA left veteran dead!

Exclusive: Internal documents detail VA police altercation with veteran who later died

USA Today
Donovan Slack
Dec. 14, 2018

Kansas City Star reporter Andy Marso confirmed the veteran who died was Dale Farhner of Kingston, Missouri. But the VA refused to say what happened, so the reporter filed a records request under the Freedom of Information Act.

WASHINGTON – A 66-year-old veteran was found severely injured and nearly unconscious following a traffic stop by a Veterans Affairs police officer in May, and he died two days later, according to an internal report obtained by USA TODAY.

The VA has repeatedly refused, even seven months later, to disclose any details about what happened, citing an ongoing investigation.

But the internal report provides an account of a tragic altercation between the veteran and officer outside the VA medical center in Kansas City, Missouri. “After being pulled over, the patient began making inappropriate gestures and physically threatening motions with his arm,” the report says.

The officer also noticed a “large ‘bulge’” by the driver’s abdomen “(later found to be due to recent hernia surgery).” He decided to detain him. The man “struggled.” So the officer “brought the patient to the ground.” He then completed the “handcuffing process.”

During the incident, the patient’s son approached “from behind.” The officer directed him to stay back, and he called for backup.

But something was awry.

“While being brought to the ground, the patient seemed to suffer some injuries,” the report says. So he was taken inside the hospital to be checked out.

“Upon arrival to the Emergency Department the patient was non-verbal, moaning with a decreased level of consciousness,” the report says.

Medical workers found he had a gash in his scalp and “multiple” cuts and bruises on his face. A CT scan of his head showed areas of bleeding around his brain, one on the left frontal lobe and another on the right.
read more here

When they are spreading the pain instead of healing

Turning heartache into action requires more than love

Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 15, 2018

When you suffer a loss of someone you love, the pain can be so great, the only way to relieve it, is to find something else to fill the void left behind.

While it is totally understandable to want to do something, doing the right thing requires so much more than the desire.

After more than half my life has been dedicated to defeating PTSD, it began because of the pain I was introduced to when I fell in love. I knew what was attached to the stigma preventing veterans from seeking help. What I did not know was how to get it out of the way.

It required a couple of years of research before I began to write about it. About ten years later, personal computers connected people just like me across the country, and we learned more. We shared more and then we began to change the conversation.

To say it is heartbreakingly frustrating to see the outcome today, is far from adequate. Putting my fist through my computer is closer to how I feel every time I read about someone starting a charity because they are hurting. How many more do we need before people finally wake up and take all of this as seriously as it deserves to be taken?

I was reading a report about a firefighter's Mom in the process of starting a charity because her son committed suicide. It has not even started yet, but managed to get the attention of the Chronicle Herald. It has a lot of claims in it that have been proven to have already failed, but that is not even mentioned.

The Mom knows what pain she feels, but did not know the pain her son was carrying, and lacked the knowledge to know what his job was doing to him. But this Mom decided that experience should be turned into yet another effort, based on what failed so she can share it?

(The Mom) highly praised the assistance (her son) received from Halifax Regional Fire services.“I can’t even begin to tell you how supportive they were,” she said. “Within the resources they have and the skills and tools they had, they over-performed by 500 per cent.”

She praised it after her son was failed by it? Then she talked about how there are things in place that work? We have got to stop being silent when so much of what works is not worth them mentioning!

Here in the US, we have far too many just like her, and that is our biggest problem. Wanting to do something and knowing how to do it are two very different things.

Preventing suicides requires a serious effort, but we have not seen as much dedication toward discovering what is already available and what has been proven to have failed. Resilience training failed with catastrophic results. 

The DOD began that "effort" over a decade ago, yet ever since 2012, we have seen more service members commit suicide, than those killed in two wars every year. 

This "effort" actually hinders them from seeking help because they are told they can "train their brains" to be mentally tough. Since they do not actually understand what PTSD, they end up believing they are mentally weak, instead of knowing PTSD hit their core because of the strength within them.

How long do we allow all of this to go on because we do not want to hurt someone who has suffered a loss? How long do we let people, with good intentions, spread what failed, because we feel sorry for them?

The number of known suicides has gone up because we have simply allowed grief stricken people to do whatever they wanted to do, blindly supported them in their "efforts" because we did not want to inflict more pain? Seriously? We managed to allow the pain to spread out so that more families knew exactly what the provider had been through the hard way. It happened to them!

If we keep failing to get serious about all this, we will continue to see more and more take their own lives because we failed to show them the way to take control of their healing. Too many never even knew they could!
#TakeBackYourLife

December 13, 1636, thus marks the beginning of the organized militia

National Guard Birth Date December 13, 1636

We recognize December 13th as the birthday of the National Guard. On this date in 1636, the first militia regiments in North America were organized in Massachusetts. 

Based upon an order of the Massachusetts Bay Colony's General Court, the colony's militia was organized into three permanent regiments to better defend the colony. 

Today, the descendants of these first regiments - the 181st Infantry, the 182nd Infantry, the 101st Field Artillery, and the 101st Engineer Battalion of the Massachusetts Army National Guard – share the distinction of being the oldest units in the U.S. military. December 13, 1636, thus marks the beginning of the organized militia, and the birth of the National Guard's oldest organized units is symbolic of the founding of all the state, territory, and District of Columbia militias that collectively make up today's National Guard.

Belated Happy Birthday to all the members of the National Guard for what you do for us everyday!!! The wish may be delivered late, but you guys are never late!

Stop contributing to downfall of our veterans

If you are still on the "suicide awareness" kick and having fun with the stunts, tell the families left behind how much you enjoyed it!

San Diego Veterans Suicide Rate Highest in State

Read the rest of the story here, but this part is important;

Kathy Shott works with Survivors of Suicide Loss, counseling families who have dealt with suicide.

She is a retired Air Force officer. Her son, Tony, was deployed to Iraq in 2010. He killed himself on Christmas Day in 2013. 

Shott said she knew her son was having trouble. He was living halfway across the country. He had had a messy divorce. He was in the middle of a custody battle over his young son and it wasn’t going well.

“I know I talked to Tony all the time, but I didn’t hear the pain at that time,” she said. She said he had just gone into the VA two days before Christmas.

She is a retired military officer and she still has to grieve for her son. Want to explain it to her?

This part is also important because it shows that they do not really know how many veterans are committing suicide in California...yet.

As part of the regulations, California will require listing the deceased veteran status on death certificates.

“The bill requires that the status be completed by whoever fills out the death certificate, which will mostly be the funeral home and the family. And the second part of that bill is the state will then give that info to the VA,” Campman said.

So, for all the people out there "raising" awareness, maybe now you will finally open your eyes, swallow your pride and admit your awareness was based on crap! You shared something that was not true, but worse, you shared what failed. Did you really think any of what you did would end the stigma that was killing more of them?

Minnesota soldier committed suicide after assault and cyberbullying

Army Secretary Orders Changes to Policy after Minnesota Soldier's Sexual Assault, Suicide

WDIO News

December 14, 2018

During that time, the documents reveal the 21-year-old suffered from harassment by her attacker and from cyberbullying by fellow soldiers and their spouses.

The Secretary of the U.S. Army has directed staff to update policies regarding the treatment of victims of sexual assault who request to be transferred off-base, according to a letter sent to members of Congress from Minnesota.

The letter comes months after a KSTP investigation into the death of Pvt. Nicole Burnham, a solider from Andover, who died by suicide after being sexually assaulted, harassed and bullied.

Army documents obtained by KSTP show it took 82 days to transfer Pvt. Burnham from her base in South Korea after she reported the sexual assault.
read more here