Fort Drum commanders defend soldier treatment

Fort Drum commanders defend soldier treatment

The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Feb 15, 2008 8:19:25 EST

FORT DRUM, N.Y. — A critical report on the mental health care provided at the Army’s Fort Drum highlighted previously identified shortcomings and incorrectly characterized other facets of support being provided to soldiers, 10th Mountain Division officials said Thursday.

The report released Wednesday by the Washington, D.C.-based Veterans for America cited problems with understaffing, a reliance on self-reporting of mental health problems and a prevailing attitude at the company level that treats mental health issues in an atmosphere of secrecy, shame and doubt.

It also said that some soldiers had to wait up to two months before they were seen by doctors.

“Are our processes as effective as we would like? No, but we’re working hard, and we remain fully committed as an Army and post to address our soldiers and family needs,” said Maj. Gen. Michael Oates, the division commander. “Helping our soldiers overcome the challenges of continued service in a time of war remains one of our top priorities.”

Among its recommendations, the report urged Fort Drum to establish more proactive mental health screening and treatment capabilities.

That shortcoming was recognized by Fort Drum medical staff in early 2007 and has already been addressed through temporary personnel realignments until permanent additions can be made, said Col. Jerome Penner III, Fort Drum’s Medical Department commander.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/ap_drummental_080214/

"Early in 2007" you noticed that right? Early in 2007 when this is early in 2008. I know what the Army can get done when it wants to. I know what the Marines can get done when they want to. As a matter of fact, all branches can move mountains when they want to. The question is how badly do they want to do this?

How long does it take to get programs up and running to help the men and women in their command? How long does it take to get serious about doing some thing right? Is it that they still have no idea what PTSD is? You would think people who train all their lives to fight an enemy, spend every waking moment trying to figure out the best way to defeat the enemy, would spend the same amount of time trying to figure out how to defeat this enemy claiming the lives and futures of our armed forces. What's it going to take for them to treat PTSD like an enemy instead of those who have it? They better figure it out because all indications point toward this enemy overtaking a lot more of them.

Senator Murray Questions VA Secretary About 'Unacceptable' Budget

Senator Murray Questions VA Secretary About 'Unacceptable' Budget

Senator Patty Murray


Feb 14, 2008
February 13, 2008

One week before Murray brings Secretary Peake to Walla Walla, she asks for answers on lack of construction dollars and suicide prevention efforts.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - U.S. Senator Patty Murray, a senior member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, today questioned VA Secretary James Peake about the President's deficit of dollars when it comes to caring for our nation's veterans.

Peake appeared before Murray's committee today to defend the President's VA budget and will accompany her to the Walla Walla VA Facility in Washington state next week.

"We know all too well what happens when the VA gets shortchanged. The men and women who have served us end up paying the biggest price," Murray said. "Our veterans are our heroes, and they deserve the best we can give them. I believe we can do a lot better than this budget."

In asking Peake about what the VA is doing to reach out to struggling veterans who may not know about VA resources available to them, Murray referenced a VA study that found that Guard or Reserve members accounted for 53 percent of the veteran suicides from 2001, when the war in Afghanistan began, through the end of 2005. The study was made public yesterday in an Associated Press story.

go here for the rest
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9356

Brig. Gen. David R. Hogg doing what is needed for PTSD

Vilseck unit soon to start PTSD forums
By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Friday, February 15, 2008



VILSECK, Germany — Vilseck’s newly formed warrior transition unit will establish a forum for soldiers and spouses to talk about problems associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

The unit, known as a WTU, was formed in December and has 59 injured and wounded soldiers assigned to it. Most are from Vilseck’s 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, which deployed to Iraq last summer.

Joint Multinational Training Command chief Brig. Gen. David R. Hogg, who addressed WTU members during a town hall-style meeting Wednesday, said soldiers in the unit have only one mission — to get better.

The PTSD meetings — due to start in the next two weeks — will be for soldiers and spouses, he said.

“Sometimes you think you are the only person with this issue,” he said. “They (PTSD sufferers) can find out they are not the only person and it helps with the healing process.”

Vilseck WTU 1st Sgt. Paul Ninelist said most soldiers in the unit who were wounded downrange have bomb blast injuries: traumatic brain injury or PTSD.

“The PTSD group is being put together so wives and husbands can understand PTSD,” he said.

Many soldiers suffering from the condition are nervous, added the former tanker, who survived three IED blasts in Iraq.
go here for the rest
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52496


This is one of the best things they could do for the troops with PTSD and their families. Support groups provide what doctors cannot. The families need to be very involved in the healing of their family member because PTSD involves the whole family. There are so many issues that change family life and it is difficult to cope with. Understanding what it is, being supported by others going through it and learning from each other are all vital to healing. All too often the families are forgotten when a military member is diagnosed with PTSD. This is a wonderful thing. The problem is that it isn't happening here. There is a great need all across the country for this kind of support. If we are going to support the troops for real, we need to also support them when they are wounded along with their families with everything we have.

National Guardsmen and Reservists are dealing with much higher rates of PTSD and they are not getting the kind of support they need. Think of how little it costs to have a support group running and think of the tremendous healing that can be done for the active members and for the veterans.

Army Staff Sgt. Dan Nevins Wounded Warrior

This is a great story on how Wounded Warrior Project is helping the veterans and a true testament of the spirit our soldiers have. A uniform didn't make him a hero, he was born that way. We were just lucky he wanted to serve. Makes you want to make sure they all get the same kind of attention and help.

Provided by the PGA Tour
Dan Nevins, who was badly injured in Iraq, can now play golf - a sport he learned with the help of the Wounded Warrior Project.

The Wounded Warrior Project helped him get back on his feet.

By MAGGIE FITZROY, The Times-Union


When doctors amputated his left leg after a bomb blast in Iraq, Army Staff Sgt. Dan Nevins thought he'd never run, ski or ride waves on a wakeboard again.

But then, one day in 2005, a Wounded Warrior Project representative visited him in his hospital room at Walter Reed Army Medical Center to invite him on a ski trip. Nevins agreed, even though he thought it was "crazy."

Wounded Warrior is a Jacksonville-based nonprofit organization dedicated to providing programs and services to severely injured service men and women.

It demonstrated to Nevins that, with his new prosthetic leg, he could do many activities he used to do. Run, snowboard down a mountain, ride a bicycle for miles.

After Nevins left the Army, moved to Jacksonville with his wife, Nicole, and landed a job at the PGA Tour, he helped support the Wounded Warrior Project.

On Jan. 23, after several years of chronic pain and recurring bone infections, doctors at Walter Reed removed Nevins' other leg below the knee.
go here for the rest
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/021408/met_246691005.shtml

DOD MAKING ANOTHER BAD MOVE ON MENTAL HEALTH

DOD revising questions about mental health
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, February 15, 2008


WASHINGTON — Defense officials are revising questions about mental health counseling in their security clearance questionnaires in an effort to help fight the stigmas associated with traumatic stress disorders.

David Chu, undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness, said Wednesday that the goal is to strike a balance between getting the information investigators need and making servicemembers more comfortable with the process.

“It’s widely perceived that (seeking counseling) is a deterrent to receiving your clearance,” he said. “I think we’ll be able to change it to better assure people they can answer that question without imperiling their situation.”

He did not specify exactly what the changes will be, but they won’t involve completely omitting questions about past psychiatric counseling.

Currently the security questionnaire requires applicants to provide information on sessions regarding “mental health related conditions” including the name of the counselor and dates of care.
go here for the rest
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52506

Huge problem about to get worse. When Congress passed the bill that would stop veterans from having a gun permit if they had mental health issues, the veterans were up in arms. Many worried that they would lose their jobs if they came forward and were diagnosed. A lot of them had to turn to private psychologist to protect their jobs even before this passed.

Just because a veteran has PTSD that does not make them all depressed to the point they want to commit suicide, which was the intent of the bill. They do not all go out and commit crimes. They do not all end up homeless either. We cannot dismiss those who develop PTSD at such high levels they do fall into these categories, but we fail them when we lump them all in together.

When you read the symptoms of what PTSD, it is true they can experience all the symptoms but it is also true they can experience some of the symptoms. They do not always fit all sizes. If the DOD and the VA got their act together and consulted the psychologist who treat and know these veterans they would stop doing stupid things that will only add to the reasons veterans and active duty forces do not seek help. They may need to, they even may want to but with so many barriers up, they may find themselves refusing to seek help. The goal is to get them in for treatment as soon as possible and we should be doing everything to accomplish this, not putting up more walls to keep them away from the help they need.

People like me can get them past the stigma and get them to understand what PTSD is but what we cannot do is prevent the DOD and the VA from making very bad decisions.

Death at the Army's Hands

Just as the Pentagon failed to anticipate the duration and cost of the Iraq war, it has been woefully unprepared for the waves of wounded who return home needing care. Earnest, hardworking medical personnel haven't been able to handle the deluge. At Fort Knox, Cassidy and more than 200 other soldiers were placed in a newly created Warrior Transition Unit (WTU). The Army is spending $500 million this year on such units, in which troops operate as a military detachment and continue to be paid. After a 2007 Washington Post series focused attention on poor conditions at the service's flagship Walter Reed hospital in Washington, the Army created the units to streamline the care of Army outpatients. There are currently 8,300 soldiers in 35 WTUS. One in 5 suffers from TBI, PTSD or both.

Why do they keep saying this? How many times does it have to be pointed out to reporters by other reporters that the administration not only knew this was going to be a "quagmire" as Cheney put it and become what Stormin Norman warned would be "like a dinosaur stuck in a tar pit" when they cared about the loss of life? They knew this would produce years upon years and a multitude of wounded but they didn't care!

Just for a second here, set aside your position on Iraq. This has nothing to do with being for it or against it. This has to do with the troops who were sent there.

Go back and read history, read the speeches, listen to rebroadcasts of speeches they did at the DAV, the VFW and the American Legion conventions. Listen to the words of warnings and consequences they were so concerned about following the Gulf War that they decided to not remove Saddam. Take those words and then compare them to what Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney said about how fast this would be over. They may have told us that, but they didn't believe that. They proved it when they were defending the decision to not take over Iraq after they removed Saddam's forces from Kuwait.

They knew this would happen but did nothing to prepare for it. They knew how many years it would go on at the same time Rumsfeld was saying "It may take six days. It may take six weeks. I doubt six months." because he was involved in the Gulf War and so was Cheney and so was Powell.

This is what is so infuriating about all of this. They knew and did nothing to prepare. As a matter of fact the VA budget was cut in 2005. There are still less doctors and nurses in the VA than there were in the 90's. Nicholson sent back money that he did not spend at the same time there were soldiers coming back with PTSD and committing suicide because they couldn't get in to see a psychiatrist. So please tell me how dare they still use the no one knew copout on this?

Death at the Army's Hands
Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008 By MARK THOMPSON

Iraqi insurgents wounded Gerald Cassidy in the deafening blast of a roadside bomb just outside Baghdad on Aug. 28, 2006. But it took more than a year for him to die from neglect by the Army that had sent him off to war. When Cassidy returned to the U.S. last April, the Army shipped him to a hospital in Fort Knox, Ky., to get treatment for the excruciating headaches that had accompanied him home. For five months, he made the rounds of Army medical personnel, who couldn't cure a pain that grew steadily worse. Unable to make room for him in a pain-management clinic, the Army increasingly plied him with drugs to dull the torment.

At summer's end, the headaches had grown so intense that Cassidy pleaded once more for help, and his doctor prescribed methadone, a powerful narcotic. The next day, calls to Cassidy's cell phone from his wife Melissa went unanswered. After two more days without word from her husband, she frantically called the Army and urged that someone check on him. Nine hours later, two soldiers finally unlocked the door to his room. They found Cassidy slumped in his chair, dead, his laptop and cold takeout chicken wings on his desk.

The "manner of death" was summed up at the end of the 12-page autopsy: "Accident." But when he died, Cassidy had the contents of a locked medicine cabinet coursing through his body, powerful narcotics and other drugs like citalopram, hydromorphine, morphine and oxycodone, as well as methadone. The drugs--both the levels that Cassidy took and "their combined, synergistic actions," in the medical examiner's words--killed him.

Horrifyingly, it appears that Cassidy lived for up to two days after falling into a stupor. Forgotten and alone, he sat in his room until he died. "My God, he was there for three days, and no one even found him. That's a huge scandal," says Dr. William Kearney, Cassidy's Army psychiatrist. Regulations that require a soldier to show up for formation three times a day or be tracked down were widely ignored, say soldiers who stayed at Fort Knox. "You could easily linger for two days in a coma," Kearney says, "and if anybody had opened his door, they would have found him unconscious and they would have called 911."

go here for the rest

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1713485,00.html

Iraq Veteran Seeks Help Then Shot By Police After Stabbing

Update
Sanabria was redeployed under stop-loss. He didn't want to go back. He was already having problems.

Sanabria joined the Army after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and, as part of the 41st Field Artillery Regiment, was in Iraq five years ago as part of the U.S. invasion.

He did not plan to re-enlist after he came home. But he was later sent back to Iraq as part of the military’s stop-loss policy. He told The Press of Atlantic City in a 2004 interview that he did not want to go back. He was not afraid, he said, but he had been having nightmares about combat.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/ap_vetkilled_080215/

Police Kill Veteran Stabbing His Stepfather

POSTED: 8:26 am EST February 14, 2008

BRIDGETON, N.J. -- In the last 10 days of his life, German Sanabria told his family that someone was trying to kill him.

It turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

A Bridgeton police officer fatally shot the 26-year-old Iraq war veteran Wednesday morning after being unable to stop the man as police say he stabbed his stepfather repeatedly with a steak knife.


A relative said that Sanabria came back a different, harder man when he returned from his second tour of duty in Iraq about a year ago.

But it was only after he watched the Super Bowl at a club in Vineland on Feb. 3 that he seemed deeply paranoid and suicidal, said Celia Ray, a cousin of Sanabria's mother who lives nearby.

"He got in trouble at this place," Ray said. "He thought someone from there was after him to kill him."

Ray said she did not know whether the trouble was real or imagined -- but it did concern the family enough that relatives sought psychiatric help for him at two places in the last week.

On Feb. 8, she said, the family called a crisis center at a local hospital. He was taken there by ambulance, but was discharged after a few hours.

Three days later, Ray and other relatives were there when they took him to the Veterans Affairs hospital in Philadelphia. The family stayed in a waiting room while he went for tests. But he never returned, she said.

He had left the hospital, a staff member told them.

go here for the rest
http://www.nbc10.com/news/15299590/detail.html

Discharged after a few hours? Why would they do that? Then the VA let him just walk out the door? The family did every thing right. They tried to get him help. Why didn't the VA do their job? Why does this keep happening?

linked from ICasualties.org

Where have reports on missing Marine Eric Hall gone?

Last week the story of Eric Hall, the Marine, Iraq veteran, wounded veteran, PTSD veteran, was all over the news. For the last two days, I've found nothing. Why has this story died? Is he no longer of interest? Do the people searching for him no longer need any help? Does his family no longer need help searching for him? Or is this just a matter of one more veteran, who served his country, paying the price with his body and mind, becoming lost, forgotten or perhaps becoming one more of the homeless veterans living in the woods, under bridges or in shelters when they are lucky enough to get in?

Gunman opens fire on NIU campus

Gunman opens fire on NIU campus


Published: Feb. 14, 2008 at 5:36 PM

DEKALB, Ill., Feb. 14 (UPI) -- A gunman opened fire in an auditorium on the campus of Northern Illinois University Thursday, wounding at least two students, reports said.
click post title for the rest

275 children have been struck with leishmaniasis in Iraq

Skin disease strikes Iraqi children

UN Health Officials: Skin Disease Rising in Southern Iraq With Children at Risk

MARIA CHENG
AP News

Feb 14, 2008 12:51 EST

At least 275 children in southern Iraq have been infected with a disfiguring skin disease, an outbreak some health officials are blaming on the war's devastating effect on the public health system.


According to the United Nations — citing reports from Iraq's southern province of Qadissiyah — 275 children have been struck with leishmaniasis, which is spread by sand flies. Most have a form that causes skin sores, but others have a type that strikes internal organs and can be fatal.

"This is a killer disease and we are trying to stop its spread," said Dr. Omer Mekki, an epidemiologist at the World Health Organization's Iraq office.

Two types of leishmaniasis have been found in southern Iraq, according to Mekki: 212 cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis, also known as Baghdad boil disease, and 63 cases of visceral leishmaniasis, or kala azar, Hindi for black fever.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is not fatal but can cause facial lesions and crater-shaped sores, leaving patients disfigured. Kala azar can kill, and causes fever, weight loss, anemia, and swelling of the spleen and liver.

Children are particularly at risk because they typically have weaker immune systems than adults. A single sand fly bite can transmit the disease.

Though the disease was first identified in Iraq more than a century ago, outbreaks were rare during Saddam Hussein's regime. But since the conflict began, experts say the destroyed health system has opened the way for diseases lurking in the environment.

Since the conflict began, hundreds of U.S. soldiers have also been infected and scarred by leishmaniasis.

Leishmaniasis also surged in Afghanistan after decades of civil war and the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. Though data about the historical number of cases are sketchy, experts say Afghanistan now has about 200,000 cases per year.

click post title for the rest

We need to watch this for the soldiers too. Especially the wounded.

Valentine's Day Message for Veterans With PTSD

February 14 and 914 post on Wounded Times. Most of them have been on PTSD. This blog has only been up for six months. I've already done 130 for February alone and there are still not enough hours in the day to cover every report coming out on PTSD, but I try my best.

Why do I do it? Because I fell in love with a Vietnam veteran who has been suffering for his service since 1970. He came home in 1971 but was not diagnosed until 1990, not treated until 1993 and didn't have his claim approved until 1999. Not only do I understand what PTSD is, I've lived with it, researched it, fought for care for it, seen the worst of it and then arrived to the point where hope became real. My husband is proof it's never too late to get help with PTSD. My marriage, 23 years and counting is proof families do not have to break apart. Once a veteran gets through the system and their claim is approved, the VA takes great care of them but there is only so much they can do given the fact the backlog of claims, over worked staff and under-prepared administration is trying to play catch up. The veterans are suffering.

Since this is Valentine's Day, since I do this for the love of Jack, my husband, and all the veterans dealing with PTSD, I couldn’t think of a better day to ask for the rest of this nation to finally, once and for all, eliminate the stigma of PTSD and treat it like the wound it is.

These are from the posts I put up this morning. They will give you an idea of what they are up against.

333,000 US Casualties: Are They Covered?
By Maya Schenwar
t r u t h o u t Report

Thursday 14 February 2008

As Iraq and Afghanistan war casualties soar to unprecedented levels, Bush's 2009 Veterans Affairs' budget comes up short.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will treat about 333,000 sick and injured veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in 2009, according to VA statistics released last week. That number is a 14 percent increase over this year's casualty total.

But that’s not all the veterans with PTSD. This next report should cause a very loud alarm.

Florida National Guard to launch program on suicide
Fla. Guard to launch program on suicide
The aim is to provide mental health help to returning troops.
By William R. Levesque, Times Staff Writer
Published February 14, 2008


In the military, telling someone they might need to see a psychiatrist is not always an easy sell.

Few admit depression because they think it's a career ender.

That's a barrier the Florida National Guard says it wants to eliminate.

If they do not get treated for PTSD, it adds to the homeless issue. While not all homeless veterans have PTSD or related problems, these veterans make up the majority of the homeless population.

These are headlines on homeless veterans from the blog world just for today.

Homeless Veterans All Over Blog World Today

HELLO February 08...
DAV Charitable Service Trust supports physical and psychological rehabilitation programs, meets the special needs of veterans with specific disabilities

Arizona Standdown for Homeless Veterans
By Doris Do you realize there are between 200000 and 300000 homeless veterans on the streets in this country at any given day of the year?

Military Vets to protest Bill O'Reilly and FOX News
By Rob(Rob) A delegation of homeless veterans from Fitzgerald House, an organization that provides housing and assistance to veterans, visited FOX News two weeks ago to hand deliver the petition, signed by over 18000 people.

Homeless Veterans Are in the Lurch
By contact@veteransforcommonsense.org (Steve Vogel ) A dilapidated shelter for homeless veterans is set to be leveled to make way for development on the sprawling grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Northwest Washington, leaving a nonprofit veterans group scrambling

115. The Pipeline
By wanderingvet Dear Readers: The Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development make a clear distinction between Sheltered and Unsheltered Homeless.

The Faces of Hawaii's Homeless
Hawaii Reporter - Kailua,HI,USAThe National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) estimates than there were nearly half a million homeless veterans in 2006

Port Angeles man receives state's Outstanding Veteran Volunteer award
Peninsula Daily - Port Angeles,WA,USALee directs the state Department of Veterans Affairs. McKeown, he said, helped found Voices for Vets, a Clallam County group that helps homeless veterans

Vets: Back from the war but not home
Red Bank Hub - NJ, USAAt right, plants, books, DVDs and photos of family and his canine companions decorate the apartment of a formerly homeless veteran

Homeless veterans left in lurch by plans to raze shelter
Boston Globe - United States(kevin clark/washington post) WASHINGTON - A dilapidated shelter for homeless veterans is set to be leveled

Put all this together with the report I posted yesterday and you get closer to the extent of the problems these veterans are facing on a daily basis.

VA claim backlog at 816,211 but IT cut back? WTF
Vets' groups urge IT budget boost for benefits processing
By Bob Brewin bbrewin@govexec.com February 13, 2008
Veterans' services organizations have urged Congress to provide a sharp increase in the information technology budget of the agency that handles their compensation and pension claims.
The fiscal 2009 IT budget request for the Veterans Benefits Administration is about 18 percent less than the fiscal 2008 proposal. The overall IT budget for the Veterans Affairs Department, VBA's parent agency, jumped 18 percent in President Bush's latest request.

VBA's pending compensation and claims backlog stood at 816,211 as of January 2008, up 188,781 since 2004, said Kerry Baker, associate legislative director of the Disabled Veterans of America, during a Wednesday hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.

There are still some people in this country who lack the capacity to put themselves in someone else’s shoes. I wounded how people like Bill O’Reilly would feel if he had been one of them dealing with the fact they served this country and then had the country treat them as if they had the nerve to expect their wounds would be treated with respect and dignity from a “grateful” nation? Does he even ever consider the fact they would not be wounded, would not need to be taken care of if they did not serve? Does he ever really come close to appreciating their service? No and he’s not alone.

The stigma of PTSD is born out of an attitude that is contagious. If all people hear is that homeless veterans are all drug addicted, alcoholics, lazy, looking for a free ride, cowards, along with every other name in the book they’ve been called, that’s all they know. Yet little by little tiny blogs like mine, linked with thousands of other people across the country, are beating this stigma out of the minds of the ignorant. One day there will be no excuse for anyone denying what PTSD and what the cause of it is but today is not that day. We have such a long battle ahead of us for their sake before they are all taken care of like Jack is.

Often people ask me why I care so much. Since we met 25 years ago, Jack has been the love of my life and I see all veterans through his eyes.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all the veterans and to the troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. You are loved and one day, God willing and citizens willing, we will finally prove it to all of you.

Love,
Kathie

333,000 US Casualties: Are They Covered?

333,000 US Casualties: Are They Covered?
By Maya Schenwar
t r u t h o u t Report
Thursday 14 February 2008

As Iraq and Afghanistan war casualties soar to unprecedented levels, Bush's 2009 Veterans Affairs' budget comes up short.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will treat about 333,000 sick and injured veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in 2009, according to VA statistics released last week. That number is a 14 percent increase over this year's casualty total. Yet, despite the Bush administration's promises to prioritize the VA even as other domestic departments' funds are cut, its annual budget request for next year places more financial burdens than ever on many returning soldiers.

At first glance, Bush's 2009 budget may seem like a boon to veterans: It would increase the VA budget by $3.4 billion.

"The President's ongoing commitment to those who have faithfully served this country in uniform is clearly demonstrated through this budget request for VA," said VA Secretary James B. Peake at a budget hearing last Thursday. "Resources requested for discretionary programs in 2009 are more than double the funding level in effect when the president took office seven years ago."

However, veterans' advocates argue the budget's growth has not kept pace with the skyrocketing size of the veteran community - or the increasing cost of servicing them.
go here for the rest
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021408J.shtml

816,211 claims backlog shows this is only part of the number of wounded.

Florida National Guard to launch program on suicide

Fla. Guard to launch program on suicide
The aim is to provide mental health help to returning troops.
By William R. Levesque, Times Staff Writer
Published February 14, 2008


In the military, telling someone they might need to see a psychiatrist is not always an easy sell.

Few admit depression because they think it's a career ender.

That's a barrier the Florida National Guard says it wants to eliminate.

On Wednesday, the Guard said it was preparing to soon launch a federally mandated suicide-prevention program to ensure the 9,000 troops it has deployed since 2003 know that seeking help isn't shameful.

The program seeks to educate leaders within the Guard - right down to the squad level - about symptoms and how to get help within the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Guard intends to emphasize there is no stigma attached to the mental health issues that a soldier brings home from the front.

Guards around the nation are implementing similar programs, though the mandate apparently doesn't come with funding.

Florida Guard leaders say suicide among its returning troops is not perceived to be a problem. They said they have seen one suicide among their troops since 2003.
go here for the rest
http://www.sptimes.com/2008/02/14/State/Fla_Guard_to_launch_p.shtml

Sondra Julian on mission to take on PTSD

CHESTERTON: Chesterton woman forms foundation to help fight PTSD

BY JOYCE RUSSELL
joycer@nwitimes.com
219.762.1397, ext. 2222
Thursday, February 14, 2008

CHESTERTON | When Sondra Julian's son Travis was deployed to Iraq in December, she believed in her heart that he would come home safe, at least in the physical sense.

But she worried about his mental well being.

The mother of three had read about post-traumatic stress disorder. She'd heard about how some vets from the Vietnam era suffered from the disorder. She'd done some research, but she wanted to do more.

"I know the Army is doing everything they can, but they are so backed up," she said, adding her research indicated that the Veterans Administration is so overwhelmed that some returning service personnel wait for up to two years for treatment.

According to the VA's National Center for PTSD, about 12 to 20 percent of returning Iraqi War vets come home with PTSD and 6 to 11 percent returning from Afghanistan also suffer from the anxiety disorder.

Julian, 43, who is working on her master's degree in social work from Indiana University Northwest and herself a veteran of the U.S. Army, decided to take some action.

She formed the Military HEROS Foundation, Inc., also known as M-HEROS, which stands for Mental Health Extras Restoring Our Soldiers.

The goal of the foundation is two-fold. Julian would like to form a national network of doctors outside of the VA who would agree to treat returning vets with PTSD. She also would like the foundation to raise enough money to pay for that treatment.
click post title for the rest

Homeless Veterans All Over Blog World Today

HELLO February 08...
DAV Charitable Service Trust supports physical and psychological rehabilitation programs, meets the special needs of veterans with specific disabilities

Arizona Standdown for Homeless Veterans
By Doris Do you realize there are between 200000 and 300000 homeless veterans on the streets in this country at any given day of the year?

Military Vets to protest Bill O'Reilly and FOX News
By Rob(Rob) A delegation of homeless veterans from Fitzgerald House, an organization that provides housing and assistance to veterans, visited FOX News two weeks ago to hand deliver the petition, signed by over 18000 people.

Homeless Veterans Are in the Lurch
By contact@veteransforcommonsense.org (Steve Vogel ) A dilapidated shelter for homeless veterans is set to be leveled to make way for development on the sprawling grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Northwest Washington, leaving a nonprofit veterans group scrambling

115. The Pipeline
By wanderingvet Dear Readers: The Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development make a clear distinction between Sheltered and Unsheltered Homeless.

The Faces of Hawaii's Homeless
Hawaii Reporter - Kailua,HI,USAThe National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) estimates than there were nearly half a million homeless veterans in 2006

Port Angeles man receives state's Outstanding Veteran Volunteer award
Peninsula Daily - Port Angeles,WA,USALee directs the state Department of Veterans Affairs. McKeown, he said, helped found Voices for Vets, a Clallam County group that helps homeless veterans

Vets: Back from the war but not home
Red Bank Hub - NJ, USAAt right, plants, books, DVDs and photos of family and his canine companions decorate the apartment of a formerly homeless veteran

Homeless veterans left in lurch by plans to raze shelter
Boston Globe - United States(kevin clark/washington post) WASHINGTON - A dilapidated shelter for homeless veterans is set to be leveled

Second West Virginia State Trooper Commits Suicide

Gall is the second State Police officer to commit an apparent suicide in the past year. Marlo Gonzales, a 13-year veteran of the force, shot himself in July with his service weapon inside his police cruiser while outside his father-in-law's house, police said.

February 14, 2008
Police believe trooper death was suicide

A West Virginia State Police corporal was found dead Tuesday in an apparent suicide, shortly after his gun and badge were taken and he was notified that he was the subject of an internal investigation.

By Gary Harki
Staff writer

A West Virginia State Police corporal was found dead Tuesday in an apparent suicide, shortly after his gun and badge were taken and he was notified that he was the subject of an internal investigation.

Cpl. V.J. Gall, 46, was found dead of a gunshot wound on the back porch of his home, said Joe Thornton, spokesman for the state Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety.

Gall was relieved of duty at about 6 p.m. Tuesday and told he would be placed on administrative leave on Wednesday, Thornton said.



Gall .. After Gall was notified of the internal investigation, "his service revolver and badge were taken," Thornton said. "Not a whole lot occurred after that. Apparently he left."

Troopers at the detachment were soon called out on an unrelated incident, Thornton said.
go here for the rest
http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/200802130783

Canadian soldiers reluctant to seek help with PTSD

Study suggests Canadian soldiers reluctant to get help for mental problems
15 hours ago

MONTREAL - Even before Canadian troops faced the day-to-day stress of combat in Afghanistan, soldiers were reluctant to seek help for mental problems, a newly released study says.

The survey of 1,220 soldiers with mental disorders and problems like alcoholism indicated that four out of six did not seek treatment, citing a variety of reasons.

Some believed the condition was temporary while others said they distrusted military management or the military health service.

It was not clear if soldiers didn't trust the quality of care or feared the impact that treatment for a mental disorder would have on their career, said Deniz Fikretoglu, the study's lead author and an expert in post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I think the main interest in a study like this right now is, 'Does this apply to the people coming back from Afghanistan?"' she said, acknowledging the results have an unknown application to Afghanistan veterans.

Fikretoglu said that since the survey was completed in 2002, the military has ramped up post-deployment screening programs and encouraged soldiers to get help.
click post title for the rest

also on this
National study on mental health in the military:
Majority of troops avoid couch talk First Canadian investigation on mental health among armed forces and
barriers to help

MONTREAL, Feb. 13 /CNW Telbec/ - Mental disorders ranging from depression
to alcoholism need to be de-stigmatized among military personnel to encourage
troops to seek support when needed, according to a national investigation
published in the February edition of the research journal, Medical Care. The
study was nationally representative, since 8,441 Canadian soldiers were
surveyed from a total of about 57,000 full time military and
24,000 reservists.

As the first national epidemiological survey to examine the mental health
of active military over a 12-month period, the study was completed by
researchers from the Douglas Mental Health University Institute affiliated
with McGill University, the Université de Montréal, Dalhousie University and
the University of Prince Edward Island. The team used data compiled by
Statistics Canada, based on a questionnaire designed by the Canadian
Department of Defence.
To read the full press release, please consult
http://nouvelles.umontreal.ca/content/view/976/125/.

Judge says National Guard Service "Unstable" for kid

Tanya Towne served in the National Guard. The family court judge said her service provided an "unstable" home for her son. This is what they are up against.

The judges found that the deployment and other changes in Towne's life — including the break-up of her second marriage — had contributed to an unstable home life. Towne says she was devastated.

National Guard member Tanya Towne says that losing custody of her son, Derrell, was "punishment" for serving in Iraq.

Soldier Loses Custody of Child After Iraq Tour
by Brian Mann
Listen Now [4 min 50 sec] add to playlist

Morning Edition, February 14, 2008

· Advocates for military families say a growing number of soldiers are losing custody of their children, not because they're bad parents but because they've been deployed overseas to Iraq and Afghanistan.

A bill signed by President Bush last month strengthens protections for service members and their families. But legal experts say some military moms and dads are still vulnerable.

'Punishment to the Soldier'

On the outskirts of Albany, N.Y., Tanya Towne coaxes her 4-year-old son Darren to eat.

Towne's other child — her 12-year-old son, Derrell — isn't home. Derrell no longer lives with his mother.

"He's in Virginia, so I hardly get to see him at all," Towne says.

Towne divorced Derrell's father, Richard Diffin, eight years ago. She was granted primary custody and raised Derrell, along with her second son from a different marriage.

But when Towne's National Guard unit was deployed to Iraq in 2004, a family court judge in Montgomery County, N.Y., granted temporary custody to Derrell's father.

The boy went to Virginia, while Towne spent a year guarding convoys near Tikrit.

Just before she returned home, her ex-husband asked for permanent custody of Derrell.
go here for the rest
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18966053
Towne served not only her state but the nation as well. She had full custody until she was deployed and then the judge said she was providing an unstable home for her son. WTF! How can this be going on? Does the judge now think service to this nation in the National Guard makes parent suddenly bad parents because they were ordered to deploy and risk their lives? What kind of message is this sending to all who serve?

This is disgusting!

Center for American Progress paying attention to PTSD

Newswire:
Your daily news source delivered with style by Mic Check Radio, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

The Military’s Solution To The Troop Suicide Epidemic
February 13, 2008
Fact: As many as 121 American soldiers may have committed suicide during 2007. That compares with 52 Army suicides in 2001 and 79 in 2003, the first year of the Iraq war. The Army suicide rate in 2006 was 17.5-per-100,000, the highest since rate estimates began in 1980. The civilian rate is 11-per-100,000. [USA Today]
Another fact: More than half of all veterans who took their own lives after returning from Iraq or Afghanistan were members of the National Guard or Reserves, according to new government data that prompted activists on Tuesday to call for a closer examination of the problem. [AP]

The staggering suicide rate has often been linked to the lack of mental health professionals—and the generally weak psychological care—present in the armed forces.

But now, it seems as though the military has found an, um, interesting solution to help curb the problem: an interactive video that will have soldiers play the role of a 19-year-old GI in Iraq ready to kill himself. [Mic Check]

The video is just like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, only much, much darker. The GI is shown fantasizing about suicide, says the game’s screenwriter Chris Stezin, in a barracks scene where the character points an M-4 rifle at himself. Later, if the player avoids seeking help, the character grows more despondent and is shown entering his barracks. A gunshot is then heard, and the screen fades to black.

“We’re all butting our heads against the wall, trying to figure out what else we can do” to address the problem, says Army Lt. Col. Orman “Wayne” Boyd, a chaplain who develops anti-suicide programs for the Army’s Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine. This, apparently, is their solution.

May we offer a suggestion?

While an interactive video is an innovative approach, the military may need to pursue other options in the mental health department. For starters—how about not sending troops back into battle that have already proven to be suicidal?
Earlier this week, it was reported that a bipolar, alcoholic soldier who was hospitalized after a suicide attempt was released early and ordered to deploy to the Middle East. [Editor and Publisher]
We’re just sayin’...
http://www.campusprogress.org/newswire/2517/the-militarys-solution-to-the-troop-suicide-epidemic

My comment

Comments
Leave a comment about this article below. For more discussion, visit our community page and sign up for your own Campus Progress blog!

As bad as this is, it’s actually worse. Yesterday a report came out stating the VA backlog of claims has jumped to 816,211. These are not numbers, but veterans with families, who have been wounded. Between the time a claim is filed, usually for veterans who are unable to work, and the time it’s approved, they are not counted and they are not paid.

Every expert stated the sooner treatment begins, the better the healing. The problem with this kind of backlog, most of them are seeking help for mental health issues. The list of problems the combat veterans face right now is endless. This is one of the reasons they become homeless. National Guardsmen and Reservist are reporting 50% of them have already been diagnosed with PTSD.

Military experts know redeployments increase the risk of PTSD by 50% for each time they are sent back, yet they wonder why the PTSD numbers are so high. When we are able to reach them and get them to seek help, they are not only trapped in the backlog of claims with the VA, the DOD provides medication and then sends them back to Iraq and Afghanistan, or gives them a dishonorable discharge under “personality disorder” along with misdiagnosing them.

This will take everyone in this country to get it right for them. Glad you posted about this. I’ve been doing this advocacy work for 25 years and have never seen it this bad. The frightening thing is, this is just the beginning and we’re already failing them.

— Kathie Costos - Feb 14, 08:47 AM

VA claim backlog at 816,211 but IT cut back? WTF

Vets' groups urge IT budget boost for benefits processing
GovExec
By Bob Brewin 
February 13, 2008

Veterans' services organizations have urged Congress to provide a sharp increase in the information technology budget of the agency that handles their compensation and pension claims.

The fiscal 2009 IT budget request for the Veterans Benefits Administration is about 18 percent less than the fiscal 2008 proposal. The overall IT budget for the Veterans Affairs Department, VBA's parent agency, jumped 18 percent in President Bush's latest request.

VBA's pending compensation and claims backlog stood at 816,211 as of January 2008, up 188,781 since 2004, said Kerry Baker, associate legislative director of the Disabled Veterans of America, during a Wednesday hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.

Baker said VBA must have the funds necessary to upgrade its IT infrastructure to handle the backlog and a growing caseload. Anything short of an increase is "a recipe for failure," he added.

Carl Blake, national legislative director for the Paralyzed Veterans of America, said VBA needed $121 million in its fiscal 2009 budget for its information technology. According to VA budget documents, VBA requested an IT budget of $109.6 million for its compensation and benefits programs, down $23.8 million from $133.4 million in 2008. VA requested an overall 2009 IT budget of $2.53 billion in 2009, up from $2.15 billion in fiscal 2008, with the largest portion earmarked for the Veterans Health Administration.
go here for the rest
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0208/021308bb1.htm

Once accused of sexual assault, soldier now alleged victim

Once accused of sexual assault, soldier now alleged victim, he tells hearing
By Nancy Montgomery, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, February 13, 2008


HEIDELBERG, Germany — Not long ago, Pfc. Kyle Emer was accused of sexual assault when another soldier told authorities she’d awakened from a drunken slumber to find Emer violating her.

Emer said the sex was consensual and the case was dismissed at a preliminary hearing.

On Tuesday, Emer was on the witness stand in another sexual assault case. This time, he was the alleged victim.

Spc. Shawn Sheppard, a military police officer with the 529th Military Police Company, is accused of preying on Emer. Sheppard is charged with indecent assault and making a false statement.

The two were roommates and had gone out drinking Aug. 31 with a group of friends, according to testimony at an Article 32 hearing Tuesday in the Patton Barracks courtroom.

When Emer awoke early the next morning after passing out on his bed, he said, someone was touching him in a sexual manner. He wasn’t sure who it was, he said, because it was dark and he was still drunk. But he thought it was Sheppard.

“I was in a state of shock,” Emer said. “I was paralyzed. I felt like I was helpless.”
go here for the rest
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52430

Women complain of lack of response from KBR to sexual assault

Women complain of lack of response from KBR to sexual assault reports
Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, February 14, 2008


Mary Beth Kineston, an Ohio resident who went to Iraq to drive trucks, thought she had endured the worst when her supply convoy was ambushed in April 2004, The New York Times reported Wednesday. After car bombs exploded and insurgents began firing on the road between Baghdad and Balad, she and other military contractors were saved only when Army Black Hawk helicopters arrived.

But not long after the ambush, Kineston told the Times, she was sexually assaulted by another driver, who remained on the job, at least temporarily, even after she reported the episode to KBR, the military contractor that employed the drivers.

Later, she said, she was groped by a second KBR worker. After complaining to the company about the threats and harassments endured by female employees in Iraq, she was fired, the Times wrote.

Kineston is among a number of American women who have reported that they were sexually assaulted by co-workers while working as contractors in Iraq but who now find themselves in legal limbo, unable to seek justice or significant compensation, the paper reported.
go here for the rest
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52465

Homeless man's death called a homicide in Tampa

February 12, 2008
Homeless man's death called a homicide
TAMPA -- The 44-year-old man found lying on his back and bleeding late last night was the victim of a homicide, a Medical Examiner determined this afternoon.

Police patrolling the area discovered the homeless man near a storefront in Columbus Plaza at 5016 E 10th Ave. about 11:30 p.m. He was later pronounced dead.

The man's identity was being withheld by Tampa police pending notification of next of kin. It is unclear how long the man had been there, but police said he was bleeding from the mouth when they arrived.

A Tampa police incident report states the officers and Tampa Fire Rescue officials tried to resuscitate the man, but he was later pronounced dead. Detectives are investigating.

- Casey Cora and Rebecca Catalanello, Times staff writers
http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/2008/02/tampa-police-fi.html

Spc. Alex Lotero PTSD and waiting in jail

Soldier with PTSD waits for Army transfer from Miami jail
Published Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2008 at 5:26 p.m.

MIAMI — A soldier with post-traumatic stress disorder is being jailed on a desertion charge and has not seen a judge since his arrest earlier this month, leading a veterans group to criticize the Army for not acting fast enough to transfer the man.

Spc. Alex Lotero was arrested Feb. 1 and brought to Miami-Dade County jail. He had been based at Fort Carson, Colo., before he left his post without permission.

Dee McNutt, a public affairs officer at Fort Carson, said Wednesday afternoon that Lotero should be returned to the base within a couple of days. She said Fort Carson's policy is to try to return soldiers arrested in other jurisdictions within 10 days.

Lotero was reported missing from Fort Carson on June 15, McNutt said.

Army officials said a soldier deemed to be a deserter can be held for up to 30 days before being taken into military custody, but Veterans for America spokeswoman Adrienne Willis said it was her understanding that Lotero should have been transferred within 72 hours.
go here for the rest
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080213/APN/802130726

Marine Jeffrey Lucey's family still fighting for others

Helping Veterans Return From War and Prevent Suicide
Story Published: Feb 12, 2008 at 7:35 PM EST
Story Updated: Feb 12, 2008 at 7:35 PM EST
By Justine Judge
Watch The Story
A Belchertown family has helped launch a program to aid veterans at risk of committing suicide. Kevin Lucey of Belchertown says in 2005, 120 veterans per week committed suicide.His son was one of them and ever since, the family has fought to help soldiers who suffer the psychological scars of war. Now, there's a new program to help them in Massachusetts.
When Lucey's son, 23 year old Marine Jeffrey Lucey came home from Iraq, his family knew something was wrong. He he was distant and depressed, suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.The Lucey's sought help from the VA Medical Center where no treatment was found. Less than a year after returning home to Belchertown, Jeffrey killed himself. The tragedy motivated the Lucey's to fight for suicide prevention programs for veterans and their families. Lucey says, "They are going to do outreach instead of forcing the veterans to go into a system they are actually going to bring the system out to the veterans."The new state program is a joint effort by the Department of Veterans Services and the Department of Public Health. Veterans will travel the state, and meet other vets suffering from PTSD. Lucey says, "The veteran is going to be talking to a veteran, they're going to be using the same language, they're going to be using the same common values that exist among them."
go here for the rest
http://www.cbs3springfield.com/news/local/15559652.html

Fort Drum:"There’s a trickle-down problem" with PTSD

Report Faults Mental Care for Iraq Veterans at Upstate Base
by VFA on Feb 12, 2008
Lisa W. Foderaro, the New York Times

In the report issued by Veterans for America, one soldier, Eli Wright, 26, who was a medic in Iraq in 2003 and 2004 and remains on active duty while awaiting a medical discharge, said his symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder began after his tour ended and have worsened since then.

“My nerves are basically shot,” Mr. Wright said in a recent interview at the Different Drummer Cafe downtown. “I have flashbacks if I hear loud noises, especially if weapons are being fired. Sometimes just putting on my uniform can bring me right back to my experience in Iraq.”

He said that when he was in Iraq, he treated more civilians than American soldiers, and that two in particular stood out in his mind: an old woman and a child who were shot through a door as soldiers were “going door to door, tearing apart entire neighborhoods” searching for insurgents.

Mr. Wright said he waited weeks at Fort Drum to see a mental health professional, who diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder. He was prescribed medication and pointed toward group therapy, where, he said, “half the time the group is staring at the floor.” At times, he was taking two pills at once. “I couldn’t stay awake,” he said.

But his chief complaint with the Army is the long wait for treatment. “The average wait time is five to six weeks,” he said. “When a soldier is having a mental breakdown, he has to wait over a month to see a counselor about his problems.”

Mr. Forrester of Veterans for America said that while the top brass at Fort Drum, especially General Oates, have spoken passionately about the need for soldiers to seek psychological treatment, others have not.

“There’s a trickle-down problem with the message, and that is that there’s still a pervasive stigma around mental health treatment in the military, along with a lack of confidentiality,” he said. “For those who still doubt the legitimacy of these wounds, they often are quite abusive of fellow soldiers or people in their units.”
click post title for the rest

Archived Teleconference Training:Reducing Stigma for American Military Personnel

Archived Teleconference Training:Reducing Stigma for American Military Personnel

A 2004 study of 6,000 military personnel involved in ground combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan found that of those whose responses indicated a mental health problem, only 23 to 40 percent sought psychiatric help.1 Many who did not cited fear of being stigmatized as a reason.2

To address mental health stigma experienced by military personnel, the ADS Center hosted a teleconference titled, Reducing Stigma for American Military Personnel, on December 20, 2007. The teleconference provided an overview of research on soldiers, including veterans, and mental health stigma; offered first-hand accounts from people who have experienced mental health stigma in the military; and highlighted strategies that may help to promote mental health recovery and reduce stigma among members of the military.

The teleconference was archived and is now available.

For telephone playback information and to download the complete teleconference presentation, please visit the ADS Center Web site.

We welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions: stopstigma@samhsa.hhs.gov

Training from their site

Nearly 1.4 million men and women make up the existing ranks of active duty military personnel, serving in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force, but research shows that America’s soldiers may not seek help when they are experiencing a mental health problem.

A 2004 study of 6,000 military personnel involved in ground combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan found that of those whose responses indicated a mental health problem, only 23 to 40 percent sought psychiatric help.1 Many who did not cited fear of being stigmatized as a reason.2 In June of this year, the Department of Defense Task Force on Mental Health acknowledged that “Stigma in the military remains pervasive and often prevents service members from seeking needed care” and made dispelling stigma one of their goals.3

This training will:

Explore research on soldiers, including veterans, and mental health stigma.

Offer first-hand accounts from people who have experienced mental health stigma in the military.

Provide an overview of strategies that may help to promote mental health recovery and reduce stigma among members of the military.

1-2 S.G. Boodman. (November 6, 2007.) The other wounded. The Washington Post, last accessed 11/16/07.

3 Department of Defense Task Force on Mental Health. (2007). An achievable vision: Report of the Department of Defense Task Force on Mental Health. Falls Church, VA: Defense Health Board, last referenced 11/29/07.
http://stopstigma.samhsa.gov/teleconferences/archive/training/teleconference12202007.aspx

PTSD a Risk Factor for Long-Term Disease

PTSD a Risk Factor for Long-Term Disease

Wednesday, February 13, 2008; 12:00 AM

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 13 (HealthDay News) -- People with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are as likely to have long-term health problems as people with other common, chronic disease risk factors, a new study suggests.
The findings, published in the current edition ofThe Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, come from examining the health status of 4,462 male Vietnam-era veterans 30 years after their military service.
Exposure to trauma has not only psychological effects, but can take a serious toll on a person's health status and biological functions as well, Joseph Boscarino, senior investigator with Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pa., said in a prepared statement. "PTSD is a risk factor for disease that doctors should put on their radar screens."
The study finds that PTSD was just as good an indicator of a long-term health status as having an elevated white blood cell count, which can indicate a major infection or a serious blood disease such as leukemia.

Early treatment may be critical to avoidance of depression, he added.

More information
The National Institute of Mental Health has more about post-traumatic stress disorder.
SOURCE: Geisinger Health System, news release, Feb. 13, 2008

click post title for the rest

Wounded? Pentagon wants to hear from you.

Forum for wounded troops Thursday
By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 13, 2008 11:41:19 EST

The Pentagon’s top doctor is calling on wounded service members and their families to share their concerns and recommendations in a live online discussion Thursday at http://www.health.mil — and e-mails and text messages are being accepted ahead of time.

Senior Pentagon leaders will participate in the online discussion from 1 to 2 p.m. Eastern time, according to an announcement from the Defense Department.

Service members and their families can submit questions now and throughout the live program by e-mail to mhswebmaster@tma.osd.mil or by sending a text message to (202) 527-2751.

Officials ask that the questions or recommendations be limited to broad issues or lessons learned. Because of privacy issues, the forum should not be used for personal problems. Service members should use their chain of command whenever possible, officials said.

In addition, the service branches have programs set up to advocate for their wounded service members — the Army’s Wounded Warrior Program, the Marine for Life Program, the Navy’s Safe Harbor Program, and the Air Force Palace HART Program.

Dr. S. Ward Casscells, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said he wants to hear from wounded troops and their families to ensure that the Defense Department is on the right path. Over the past year, defense officials have focused on issues related to non-medical care, he said, and have worked on the recommendations of independent review groups, task forces and a presidential commission.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/military_woundedforum_080213w/

Hundreds of protestors at Berkeley, none at White House?

“The passed ordinances are far beyond the realm of civil politics," said David B. Norris of the group Veterans of Foreign Wars.
"It is one thing to oppose military operations in Iraq, but it is completely different to declare war on the men and women who faithfully serve the elected officials of this city. Our troops deserve our unwavering support for their dedication and commitment to our country."

Berkeley Mayor To Marines: 'Don't Expect An Apology'
Protesters Face Off At Berkeley City Hall Over Marine Flap

POSTED: 5:58 am PST February 12, 2008


BERKELEY, Calif. -- As hundreds of protesters on both sides of the Iraq War debate demonstrated in Berkeley Tuesday, the city's mayor told officials with the Marine recruiting office in town they should not expect an apology.



NBC11 REPORT: Emotional Debate Erupts In Berkeley Over Marine Issue
NEW SLIDESHOW: View Images
RAW VIDEO: Competing Rallies In Berkeley
OCT. PROTEST: View Images
SLIDESHOW: Crowds Gather At Berkeley City Hall

"I think it's unwanted," said Berkeley mayor Tom Bates. "I think it stands (that) we didn't want them here and they came here. And (they are) unwelcome, you know we'd like them to leave voluntarily. So I don't think an apology is in order."

At first glance the statement appears to be a "flip flop" from the statement Bates made last week, when he issued an apology to family members of those serving in Iraq.


"We apologize for any offense to any families of anyone who may serve in Iraq. We want them to come home and be safe at home," Bates, a retired U.S. Army captain, said last week.

Last week's apology apparently had not been directed at officials at the Marine recruiting station.

Scores of activists have been pouring into the city over the last several days as the Berkley City Council prepared to consider rescinding a letter it drafted last month to the recruiting center telling Marines they were not welcome in the city. NBC11's Jodi Hernandez said Tuesday night's meeting was expected to be heated, with crowds growing by the hour.
go here for the rest
http://www.nbc11.com/news/15278981/detail.html


Hundreds of people both against the occupation of Iraq and the pro-war people spending hours standing in line, holding signs, screaming at each other, accusing each other of not supporting the troops, all because the City of Berkley doesn't want Marine recruiters there. I find it fascinating that all this talk about who supports the troops finds so much time to protest for or against the occupation of Iraq but they fail to find the time to do the same to protest the appalling treatment and lack of action the wounded have to endure.

Where are the protests when wounded veterans are pulled out of the hospital to be sent back to Iraq? Where are the protestors when they are being sent back with medication after they have already been diagnosed as wounded and unable to even work a peaceful job? Where are they when the disabled veterans claims sit in a pile over 650,000 deep on in an appeal mountain of over 140,000 deep? Where are they when families are losing their homes because a member of their family was deployed as a member of the National Guard so many times they lost their jobs and businesses? Where are they when the President dares to have his lawyer state in court the government does not owe the veterans mental health care of even timely care?

All of these people on both sides can show up and fight about if a city has a right to have recruiters there or not but they can't seem to be bothered to write a letter when the wounded already back home need their help. They can march down the streets of cities and towns protesting the occupation of Iraq or stand on the side walk shouting about how the others are against the troops all they want, but when you get right down to it, none of them are really there when it matters to the wounded that keep getting wounded while they fight over how to end it and who is the most patriotic among them. The real patriots are the men and women who put on the uniform and took an oath to serve this nation under the Constitution, not under a particular president. It is their lives being risked and if God's grace keeps them alive to return wounded, you'd think it would be of more meaning to them to know their wounds would be treated without delay, their bills would be paid as compensation for their wound and they would not have to fight for every tiny thing this nation truly owes them.

Until the occupation of Iraq ends and until the occupation of Afghanistan ends, there will be more wounded for many more years to come. We are already behind taking care of them. How do they expect the wounded veterans to survive between now and the time they get around to paying attention to them? Why can't both sides for once come together and prove where their hearts are and protest at the White House for them to be taken care of?

"It is one thing to oppose military operations in Iraq, but it is completely different to declare war on the men and women who faithfully serve the elected officials of this city. Our troops deserve our unwavering support for their dedication and commitment to our country." How does this sound to you now?

Forgiving a killer

It's important you read this story if you lost someone from a violent crime or even if you have someone in your family responsible for one. There is a world of hurt out there and this is for your sake. Not for the person who did it. When we carry around the hatred, wanting revenge, it does not damage the guilty but it damages us.

Forgiving a killer
By Adrian Walker
Globe Columnist / February 12, 2008
Ani Nalbandian was in an airport in San Francisco last week, preparing for the saddest plane ride of her life, when she decided she needed to talk to someone.
more stories like this
She spotted a friendly-looking flight attendant and began to calmly explain that her mother had just been killed near Boston.
She knew she had picked the right stranger to pour out her heart to when the woman pulled out a Bible.
"Her faith was such a huge part of my mother's life," Nalbandian said Sunday. "Right then I felt, 'Mom's here with me.' "
Nalbandian's mother was Diruhi Mattian, a clinical social worker slain in North Andover last week while paying a house call on a patient.
Thomas Belanger, 19, has been charged with her slaying and is currently undergoing psychological evaluation.
Ani, 26, and her sister Arminé, 22, were the picture of poise as they talked about their mother's life, work, and spirit of forgiveness.
Mattian became a social worker in midlife. She and her family emigrated from Armenia to America in 1989.
One of her first jobs here was at McLean Hospital in Belmont, where a mentor encouraged her to pursue a degree in social work at Simmons College. She worked 70 to 80 hours a week, taking only Sundays off. House calls were common, and her devotion to her patients was well known.
Mattian's daughters describe a dynamo who always made time for everyone but herself.
go here for the rest
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/02/12/forgiving_a_killer/

Working with PTSD, there are thousands of stories out there. Some, very hopeful and I try to put them up every chance I get. Some will tug at your heart while others will make you angry. Believe me, I'm angry more than I am hopeful. Within the posts I do on this site and Screaming In An Empty Room, there are terrible stories about innocent people being killed by veterans. Some of the veterans are connected to the crime by the way of PTSD. Some are connected because some people are just evil and service had nothing to do with any of it.

When it's a veteran with PTSD, they have flashbacks, mood swings and sometimes, they do not see a friend or a loved one standing in front of them at that moment. They see the enemy they fought in other nations. This does not make them innocent of the crime, but it does require justice be given accordingly. When the criminal is just evil then their service should play no role in the sentencing. This is not the issue that needs to be addressed at this moment. It is what happens to the families and friends left behind whenever a life is taken or an innocent person suffers.

Those who are left dealing with their grief and sorrow have a choice to make. They can hang onto the anger and let it eat away at them, or they can forgive the person and allow grace to come over them. When this happens there are no bitter tears to cry because there are too many wonderful memories of the person they loved filling them.

It is not just veterans who develop PTSD but all humans do. Some will develop PTSD from witnessing a crime or the aftermath of one. Crime is one on the causes of PTSD. Hanging onto hatred and wanting revenge will only feed into it. We all need to heal but we can't sometimes until we are willing to forgive. If you say it's impossible, think of Christ on the cross in one of the last things he said. He said "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." If he could forgive from the cross, can we say it's impossible?

Joy Junction Veterans give advice to new veterans

With Expected Upsurge in Homeless Veterans, Joy Junction Vets Give Advice to Their Comrades Returning Home

Jeremy Reynalds, Ph.D. - 2/12/2008

According to a Nov. 7 2007 story in the New York Times, more than 400 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are homeless, and the Veterans Affairs Department and other service groups are expecting a new surge in homeless veterans in the years to come.

Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, is currently helping 17 vets. While none of them served in the Iraq or Afghanistan wars, they identified with the pain being experienced by their comrades, and had some good advice.
go here for the rest
http://globalpolitician.com/24100-poverty-economics

Ignatia House: Who is to blame and what's being done?

Shelter's Veterans Fear a Future Out on the Streets
Tuesday, February 12, 2008; Page B03

Sharon Claudio, a homeless veteran who served in the Army from 1978 to 1982, came in off the streets more than a year ago, finding shelter at Ignatia House, a rundown building on the grounds of the U.S. Armed Forces Retirement Home near North Capitol Street.



But conditions at the shelter, which is run by the charity U.S. Vets, quickly became hard to tolerate. Claudio is one of only two women in the facility. She must share a bathroom with a hallway full of men, and she lives in a room with spotty or no heat. The elevator is out for weeks on end. In her basement hallway, only one bank of lights is working, leaving most of the passageway dark. Rat traps reveal the infestation in the building's lower level. The laundry room is locked up, closed after allegations that asbestos flakes were falling from the ceiling.

In a few weeks, when U.S. Vets' lease ends, Ignatia House is scheduled to be vacated. As of now, its 50 residents have nowhere to go. Claudio and other residents don't know whether to be angry that they are being put out or glad they are escaping from a building some consider barely better than living on the street.

Managers of the shelter last week sought publicity for their plight and help from D.C. Council members in finding housing for Ignatia House's residents, many of whom have substance-abuse problems. But while U.S. Vets argues that its predicament is caused in large part by the retirement home's refusal to help provide for these homeless veterans, the story is actually a good deal more complicated.

U.S. Vets, which has received more than $79 million in federal grants the past decade to house more than 2,500 veterans at 11 facilities, has come under fire from federal auditors for "major financial and operational problems." The auditors issued a report questioning whether more than $500,000 in federal money was spent properly.

"There can be no better use of federal funds than for helping our veterans in need," said Gerald Walpin, inspector general for the Corporation for National and Community Service, which provides AmeriCorps workers for U.S. Vets facilities. "But that good purpose is no excuse for misusing such funds and thus depriving veterans of money allocated to benefit them."
click post title for the rest

U.S. Vets concedes that "mistakes were made" but argues that most of the audit's findings were inaccurate or overblown. U.S. Vets regional director Stephanie Buckley says Ignatia House's residents face a return to the streets because the retirement home is more interested in handing over 77 acres of its 270-acre campus to developers than in caring for homeless veterans. A controversial plan to boost the retirement home's resources by letting developers build hundreds of residential units and a hotel on the campus -- while tearing down decrepit buildings, including Ignatia House -- is slowly making its way through regulatory agencies.

In 2004 the report was hopeful (sorry I'm not paying more to read the rest)

Lost veterans find home; Ignatia House provides a base for recovering a life.

(METROPOLITAN)(COMMUNITY FORUM)
Washington Times, The, November, 2004

Byline: Denise Barnes, THE WASHINGTON TIMES Staff writer Denise Barnes interviewed Nanci Jewell, D.C. metro director of U.S. VETS. Question: What is your group's mission? Answer: Our sole mission is the reintegration of homeless veterans back into mainstream society. I think, organizationally, our philosophy is really that each veteran is unique, their situations are unique and the amount of time it is going to take them to reintegrate is unique.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5244/is_200411/ai_n19558966

Becky Hall leads push to find her missing son, Marine Eric Hall

Mother leads push to find her son
By Kate Spinner
Published: Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.

From a command post on her sister's living room floor, Becky Hall urgently coordinated volunteers contacting every church soup kitchen and homeless advocacy group in the region on Monday.


The tactics were the latest effort in her desperate search to find Eric W. Hall, 24, an Iraq war veteran who went missing in Charlotte County on Feb. 3.

An organized search that included helicopters and scouts on horseback late last week proved fruitless. Now, Becky Hall, who traveled to Southwest Florida from her southern Indiana home, plans to remain here indefinitely, doing everything she can until her son is found or she "exhausts all possibilities."

"It's possible that if he were afraid or just lost, he may just try to blend in with the population of homeless," said Hall. "We are going to exhaust all of our efforts in every direction to find him."

On Monday afternoon, Hall wrote the name and address of Punta Gorda's Bread of Life Mission and handed the paper to volunteers Bunnie and Norman Burch, asking them to visit the shelter.
go here for the rest
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080212/NEWS/802120434

Keep him and his family in your prayers.

Florida Sherrif's Deputies dump quadriplegic man out of wheelchair

February 12, 2008
Deputies suspended in wheelchair case
TAMPA -- Four Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies were suspended -- one without pay -- for dumping a quadriplegic man out of his wheelchair, authorities say.

On Jan. 29, Brian Sterner was booked at the Orient Road Jail. Video footage shows a uniformed officer throwing the Sterner out of his chair, then searching him as he lay on the floor.

That deputy, Charlette Marshall-Jones, 44, was suspended without pay, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said. Marshall-Jones has been with the sheriff's office since 1986. Three others -- Sgt. Gary Hinson, 51, Cpl. Steven Dickey, 45 and Cpl. Decondra Williams, 36 -- were placed on administrative leave. Hinson has been with the sheriff's office since 1984; Dickey, 1982; and Williams, 1994. The length of the four suspensions was unknown, Carter said.

Tampa police reports show Sterner was stopped Oct. 25 in Ybor City after he was spotted waving his arms and shaking his head from side to side in a 2005 silver Mini Cooper.
go here for the rest

http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/2008/02/deputies-suspen.html

I don't know if Sterner is a veteran or not but this is just so wrong it cannot be ignored.

Suicide by National Guard, Reserve Troops Studied

Suicide by Guard, Reserve Troops Studied
By KIMBERLY HEFLING – 7 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — National Guard and Reserve troops who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan make up more than half of veterans who committed suicide after returning home from those wars, according to new government data obtained by The Associated Press.

A Department of Veterans Affairs analysis of ongoing research of deaths among veterans of both wars, obtained exclusively by The AP, found that Guard or Reserve members were 53 percent of the veteran suicides from 2001, when the war in Afghanistan began, through the end of 2005.

The research, conducted by the agency's Office of Environmental Epidemiology, provides the first demographic look at suicides among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who left the military — a situation that veterans and mental health advocates worry might worsen as the wars drag on.

Military leaders have leaned heavily on Guard and Reserve troops in the wars. At certain times in 2005, members of the Guard and Reserve made up nearly half the troops fighting in Iraq.

Overall, they were nearly 28 percent of all U.S. military forces deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan or in support of the operations, according to data from the Defense Department through the end of 2007.

Many Guard members and Reservists have done multiple tours that kept them away from home for 18 months. When they returned home, some who live far away from a military installation or VA facility have encountered difficulty getting access to mental health counseling or treatment, activists have said.

Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said the study's findings reinforce the argument that Guard and Reserve troops need more help as they transition back into the civilian world. The military's effort to re-screen Guard and Reservists for mental and physical problems three months after they return home is a positive step, Rieckhoff said, but a more long-term comprehensive approach is needed to help these troops — particularly in their first six months home.
click post title for the rest

Gloucester has not disserved its veterans

Gloucester: Mayor says city didn't fail its veterans

By Richard Gaines
Staff writer


"Gloucester has not disserved its veterans," Mayor Carolyn Kirk said yesterday in releasing her analysis of the state report that charged the city wasn't doing enough to provide services and financial aid to veterans.

Gloucester's failure was to its budget, not its veterans, she said. "The failure here is a failure to submit reimbursements to the state in a timely manner, which has caused Gloucester to lose funding," she wrote.

Kirk released the state report to the City Council yesterday, along with her analysis of the audit, based on research conducted by James Duggan, her administrative assistant.

The state also noted that the city lost $18,000 in reimbursements last year because of late submission of paperwork to justify the claims.

click post title for the rest

Is it a poor choice of words? Shouldn't it have been "Gloucester has not deserved it's veterans" instead? When you think about it, they did not take the veterans needs seriously enough to have the right kind of help or enough help to get the job done right for the sake of the veterans. By the way it's pronounced "Gloster" not "Glochester" or "Glockester" but if you're from New England it's "Glosta" because we never like to pronounce the "r" in anything.

This was reported about one city in this country. How many more are doing the same shoddy job? It would be fantastic if they were all geared up to address the needs of our veterans. People tend to think it's just the federal government failing our veterans but all across the country, it's the same story being repeated. Either they have help not trained well enough or they don't have enough help. This is not just about money, but the lives of the men and women who served this country being in need of assistance instead of being at our assistance. Every single city and town in this country had better step up and move mountains for the sake of those who serve this nation because they are suffering.

The state agency concluded "outreach is lacking."

This is another problem. What will it take to get this right and do the right thing?

Arley Pett, whose office was described in the state report as a cluttered mess with a desk "awash" in unorganized paperwork. But she said she still has confidence in Pett.

Unorganized people can get the job done if they know what they are doing. Was Pett trained and qualified for the job? I don't know but they need to make sure anyone working in such an important job has all the knowledge and skils up to the challenge. After all, the veterans were trained and up to the every challenge we gave them. They deserve the same in return.

Fort Drum:Staff Sgt. Dustin McMillen shot by MP update

Army: Soldier killed in standoff had no mental health record
2:58 PM EST, February 11, 2008
FORT DRUM, N.Y. (AP) _ A 10th Mountain Division soldier killed by a military policeman after holding two other military police officers at gunpoint had no record of mental health issues, according to Army officials.

Staff Sgt. Dustin McMillen was fatally wounded during the standoff early Saturday morning on the northern New York Army post.

McMillen, 29, of Vancouver, Ore., was an infantryman who served a combat tour of more than a year in Afghanistan, returning home last June. He joined the Army in 1998


Lt. Col. Paul Swiergosz, a 10th Mountain Division spokesman, said Army officials could find no record that McMillen requested or was referred to counseling for any battle-related illness or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Veterans clinic coming to Logansport

Veterans clinic coming to Logansport

At first, center will be open two days a week.

By MELISSA SORIA
nhi news service

LOGANSPORT — A regional veterans clinic is coming to Logansport.

During a news conference Monday afternoon, U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly said the facility would be the first of its kind in the nation, offering services from the Veterans Administration’s health administration, benefits administration and Vet Centers.

In the beginning, the clinic will be open perhaps two days a week.

“It will be based on need,” said Samantha Slater, Donnelly’s press secretary.

The health administration will offer outpatient group therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder twice a month at the center. Donnelly said the center was also expected to expand to include other treatments, such as substance abuse counseling.

The benefits administration will provide a benefits counselor two days a week to help with the processing of benefits. Hours will increase, if needed, Donnelly said.

In addition, the VA’s Vet Centers program will have a counselor available two days a month to provide psychological assessments and readjustment counseling to individuals, groups and families.

Donnelly and the Northern Indiana VA are working to find a location in or near Logansport. He said there was no timeline for opening the center, but he added, “the sooner, the better.”
go here for the rest
http://www.kokomotribune.com/local/local_story_042224344.html

Allen, Michaud To Offer Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Bill

Allen, Michaud To Offer Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Bill


Web Editor: Rhonda Erskine, Online Content Producer
AUGUSTA (NEWS CENTER) -- Maine's two Democratic congressmen are co-sponsoring a bill to help veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

With veterans by their side, Representatives Tom Allen and Mike Michaud announced Monday that they will submit The Full Faith in Veterans Act in Congress this week.

They say the bill will improve the way veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder are diagnosed, treated and compensated.

Vietnam Veteran Tom Waddell says it took him years to come to grips with the affects of his service.

"And finally I went to the VA and bingo, you find out all the problems you're having in your life with anger, anxiety, and drinking and drugging, depression, is all related to your experiences in Vietnam," Waddell said.

"There are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of veterans out there today who are walking around with PTSD and they say they haven't got it and can't provide it and won't give them their rights," said Vietnam Veteran Bob Doyle.
go here for the rest
http://www.wlbz2.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=80426