Cpl. Michael D. Hirsch-Collins
CPL MICHAEL D. HIRSCH-COLLINS was born in Denver, Colorado on the 20th of February, 1985. He leaves behind his beloved mother, Colleen Thigpen, step-father, Maverick Thigpen, two brothers, Maverick II and Matthew. Michael was predeceased by his father. Michael loved being a soldier in the US Army. After much searching he finally found his true calling thus leaving behind a platoon of 35 soldiers who loved him like a brother. CPL Hirsch-Collins could often be found in a field with a dirt bike and his friends, in his barrack's room playing video games and debating with anyone anywhere about any topic. Michael grew up in Denton, Texas. He attended Denton High before joining the Army in August of 2006. Michael loved music. Sanitaria by Sublime was his favorite song. As a child Michael loved to read and was an avid cub-scout earning the highest award possible, the Arrow of Light. Among his favorite books were the Animorphs and Goosebumps series. Michael graduated at 23:03 on the 17th of February 2008 while riding his motorcycle at Ft. Hood, Texas, just two days before his 23rd birthday. His passing was quick and painless. Cpl Hirsch-Collins touched many lives during his short stay on earth. His jesterish swagger walk, infectious smile and perfectly delivered sarcasm will always be remembered warmly in our hearts. Cpl Hirsch-Collins was a loyal friend and a leader amongst his peers. His legacy will live on through the lives that he touched. Visitation will be held from 6:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M. Thursday, February 28, 2008 and from 11:30 A.M. to service time at 1:00 P.M. Friday, February 29, 2008 at American Heritage Funeral Home.
Published in the Houston Chronicle on 2/28/2008.
http://www.legacy.com/HoustonChronicle/DeathNotices.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=104455712
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Cpl. Michael D. Hirsch-Collins
It is odd that I can find no report on CNN or ICasualties.org about his death.
U.S. Marine Corps 'Veteran' Accused Of Fraud
'Veteran' Accused Of Fraud
February 28, 2008
ROCKY HILL — - A federal grand jury has indicted a local man on charges he defrauded the state Department of Veterans' Affairs by claiming he was a veteran in order to receive health care coverage and benefits, U.S. State Attorney Kevin J. O'Connor announced Wednesday.
Evin Hill, also known as Edwin Hill, 47, was indicted Tuesday by a grand jury sitting in New Haven on one count of health care fraud and two counts of making false statements.
The indictment alleges that from March 1996 to July 2006 Hill schemed to defraud the state agency by submitting applications for VA medical benefits and services, which included a report of separation from active duty, commonly called a DD-214, all of which contained material that falsely represented he was a military veteran eligible to obtain medical treatment and services at VA medical facilities.
Hill also made false statements to the VA when he claimed to have received an honorable discharge from the U.S. Marine Corps. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 on the health care fraud charge and the false statement charges.
click post title for link
February 28, 2008
ROCKY HILL — - A federal grand jury has indicted a local man on charges he defrauded the state Department of Veterans' Affairs by claiming he was a veteran in order to receive health care coverage and benefits, U.S. State Attorney Kevin J. O'Connor announced Wednesday.
Evin Hill, also known as Edwin Hill, 47, was indicted Tuesday by a grand jury sitting in New Haven on one count of health care fraud and two counts of making false statements.
The indictment alleges that from March 1996 to July 2006 Hill schemed to defraud the state agency by submitting applications for VA medical benefits and services, which included a report of separation from active duty, commonly called a DD-214, all of which contained material that falsely represented he was a military veteran eligible to obtain medical treatment and services at VA medical facilities.
Hill also made false statements to the VA when he claimed to have received an honorable discharge from the U.S. Marine Corps. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 on the health care fraud charge and the false statement charges.
click post title for link
Canada Veterans with PTSD tripled since 2002
Veterans Affairs faces triple the number of PTSD cases since 2002
52 minutes ago
OTTAWA - The number of former soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress has more than tripled since Canada first deployed troops to Afghanistan, say new figures released by Veterans Affairs Canada.
With the country's involvement in the war set to continue until 2011, the numbers are only expected to get worse.
The rising tide of psychiatric disorders among relatively young men and women is the biggest challenge facing the system of veterans' care, which until recently had been geared toward geriatric issues, said Veterans Affairs Minister Greg Thompson.
"It is the challenge of the future," he said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
Of the 10,252 (Veterans Affairs) clients with a psychiatric condition, 63 per cent have a (post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD) condition, said a briefing note prepared for Thompson last summer.
"Over the past five years, the number of clients with a psychiatric condition has tripled, increasing from 3,501 to 10,252; the number of clients with a PTSD condition has more than tripled, increasing from 1,802 to 6,504 as of March 31, 2007."
The statistics represent those who are no longer serving in uniform. The Defence Department keeps its own, separate tally of members suffering from stress injuries.
Figures obtained last summer by The Canadian Press show that of 1,300 Canadian Forces members who served in Afghanistan since 2005, 28 per cent had symptoms suggestive of one or more mental-health problems. The numbers are based on post-deployment screening.
Of those, just over six per cent were possibly suffering from PTSD and another five per cent showed symptoms of major depression.
Both National Defence and Veterans Affairs have faced repeated warnings during the last year about the looming mental-health crisis.
"Without an aggressive response, many veterans have the potential to harm themselves or others," Veterans Affairs staff wrote in a note to Thompson.
"The earlier the intervention, greater the chances of recovery."
The Conservatives responded in the 2007 federal budget with $9 million, allowing the veterans department to open five operational stress-injury clinics across the country. The new centres are in addition to the Defence Department's existing five stress clinics, which first began appearing in the late 1990s.
click post title for the rest
52 minutes ago
OTTAWA - The number of former soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress has more than tripled since Canada first deployed troops to Afghanistan, say new figures released by Veterans Affairs Canada.
With the country's involvement in the war set to continue until 2011, the numbers are only expected to get worse.
The rising tide of psychiatric disorders among relatively young men and women is the biggest challenge facing the system of veterans' care, which until recently had been geared toward geriatric issues, said Veterans Affairs Minister Greg Thompson.
"It is the challenge of the future," he said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
Of the 10,252 (Veterans Affairs) clients with a psychiatric condition, 63 per cent have a (post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD) condition, said a briefing note prepared for Thompson last summer.
"Over the past five years, the number of clients with a psychiatric condition has tripled, increasing from 3,501 to 10,252; the number of clients with a PTSD condition has more than tripled, increasing from 1,802 to 6,504 as of March 31, 2007."
The statistics represent those who are no longer serving in uniform. The Defence Department keeps its own, separate tally of members suffering from stress injuries.
Figures obtained last summer by The Canadian Press show that of 1,300 Canadian Forces members who served in Afghanistan since 2005, 28 per cent had symptoms suggestive of one or more mental-health problems. The numbers are based on post-deployment screening.
Of those, just over six per cent were possibly suffering from PTSD and another five per cent showed symptoms of major depression.
Both National Defence and Veterans Affairs have faced repeated warnings during the last year about the looming mental-health crisis.
"Without an aggressive response, many veterans have the potential to harm themselves or others," Veterans Affairs staff wrote in a note to Thompson.
"The earlier the intervention, greater the chances of recovery."
The Conservatives responded in the 2007 federal budget with $9 million, allowing the veterans department to open five operational stress-injury clinics across the country. The new centres are in addition to the Defence Department's existing five stress clinics, which first began appearing in the late 1990s.
click post title for the rest
Under Secretary of VA Cooper Resigns
VA undersecretary to leave post
By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Feb 28, 2008 16:48:06 EST
WASHINGTON — The Veterans Affairs Department says its undersecretary responsible for benefits is leaving.
The agency has been besieged by complaints about its backlog in claims, which have escalated partly because of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans seeking assistance.
Daniel L. Cooper, a retired Navy vice admiral, departs April 1. A VA spokesman says Cooper is leaving for personal reasons.
By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Feb 28, 2008 16:48:06 EST
WASHINGTON — The Veterans Affairs Department says its undersecretary responsible for benefits is leaving.
The agency has been besieged by complaints about its backlog in claims, which have escalated partly because of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans seeking assistance.
Daniel L. Cooper, a retired Navy vice admiral, departs April 1. A VA spokesman says Cooper is leaving for personal reasons.
GAO: Wounded care better, but more needed
GAO: Wounded care better, but more needed
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 28, 2008 16:17:42 EST
Government Accountability Office representatives praised the Army for some of the advances it has made over the past year but said there is still a long way to go in hiring legal representatives to help soldiers going through the disability retirement process.
Also, some treatment facilities lack as much as 40 percent of the staff they need to maintain a ratio of one legal counselor per 30 soldiers, said John Pendleton, GAO acting director of health care, on Wednesday at a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform national security subcommittee.
“The Army has made progress in the five months since our September hearing,” he said, referring to a previous GAO report showing that the Army’s Transition Units were only half-staffed. But one-third of the units still have staffing shortages, he said.
And, 2,500 wounded, sick or injured soldiers waiting to go through the evaluation process remain in their units — and not in the Warrior Transition Units designed to ensure they receive the administrative help they need, as well as allowing trained professionals to keep a close eye on them for medical or mental health needs, Pendleton said.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/military_armyprogress_woundedwarrior_022808w/
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 28, 2008 16:17:42 EST
Government Accountability Office representatives praised the Army for some of the advances it has made over the past year but said there is still a long way to go in hiring legal representatives to help soldiers going through the disability retirement process.
Also, some treatment facilities lack as much as 40 percent of the staff they need to maintain a ratio of one legal counselor per 30 soldiers, said John Pendleton, GAO acting director of health care, on Wednesday at a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform national security subcommittee.
“The Army has made progress in the five months since our September hearing,” he said, referring to a previous GAO report showing that the Army’s Transition Units were only half-staffed. But one-third of the units still have staffing shortages, he said.
And, 2,500 wounded, sick or injured soldiers waiting to go through the evaluation process remain in their units — and not in the Warrior Transition Units designed to ensure they receive the administrative help they need, as well as allowing trained professionals to keep a close eye on them for medical or mental health needs, Pendleton said.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/military_armyprogress_woundedwarrior_022808w/
Christopher M. Simmance served in Iraq but VA didn't believe it
February 27th, 2008 1:21 pm
Thousands of veterans lose health benefits because of paperwork errors
By Lou Michel / Buffalo News
Christopher M. Simmance helped keep the peace as an American soldier in the Middle East, but when he returned home and later suffered a breakdown, he was turned away from the VA hospital because the government didn’t acknowledge his overseas duty.
Dana Cushing as a Marine served two tours of duty in Iraq and a third in east Africa, but when she returned home, she found herself labeled a “conscientious objector” and also was denied medical care by the government.
Simmance is one local veteran among roughly 2,000 across the country trying to get corrected incomplete or inadequate discharge papers. Cushing only recently got hers corrected after trying for a year. The result is that many now face a bureaucratic nightmare that prevents them from getting the health benefits they are entitled to receive.
click post title for the rest
Thousands of veterans lose health benefits because of paperwork errors
By Lou Michel / Buffalo News
Christopher M. Simmance helped keep the peace as an American soldier in the Middle East, but when he returned home and later suffered a breakdown, he was turned away from the VA hospital because the government didn’t acknowledge his overseas duty.
Dana Cushing as a Marine served two tours of duty in Iraq and a third in east Africa, but when she returned home, she found herself labeled a “conscientious objector” and also was denied medical care by the government.
Simmance is one local veteran among roughly 2,000 across the country trying to get corrected incomplete or inadequate discharge papers. Cushing only recently got hers corrected after trying for a year. The result is that many now face a bureaucratic nightmare that prevents them from getting the health benefits they are entitled to receive.
click post title for the rest
VA urged to give families mental health help
VA urged to give families mental health help
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 28, 2008 13:21:08 EST
A House subcommittee was urged Thursday to expand the Veterans Affairs Department’s authority to provide mental health counseling for the families of veterans, including National Guard and reserve members who have returned from combat.
Current law restricts VA to providing “limited services to immediate family members,” said Kristin Day, VA’s chief consultant for care management and social work service.
“The law provides, in general, that the immediate family members of a veteran being treated for a service-connected disability may receive counseling, education and training services,” Day told the House Veterans’ Affairs health subcommittee.
That leaves a lot of gaps for people who fall outside the military health care system, some critics say.
Todd Bowers, government affairs director for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said that when he was wounded by a sniper’s bullet during his second tour in Iraq, his mother suffered.
“The incident that physically wounded me wounded my mother much worse,” said Bowers, a Marine Corps Reserve staff sergeant. “As she struggled to cope with the knowledge of my injury, my mother was more than alone. She was lost. She sought assistance through the only means she was aware of, the mental health counseling covered by her own health care.”
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/military_mentalhealth_veteransfamilies_02808w/
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 28, 2008 13:21:08 EST
A House subcommittee was urged Thursday to expand the Veterans Affairs Department’s authority to provide mental health counseling for the families of veterans, including National Guard and reserve members who have returned from combat.
Current law restricts VA to providing “limited services to immediate family members,” said Kristin Day, VA’s chief consultant for care management and social work service.
“The law provides, in general, that the immediate family members of a veteran being treated for a service-connected disability may receive counseling, education and training services,” Day told the House Veterans’ Affairs health subcommittee.
That leaves a lot of gaps for people who fall outside the military health care system, some critics say.
Todd Bowers, government affairs director for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said that when he was wounded by a sniper’s bullet during his second tour in Iraq, his mother suffered.
“The incident that physically wounded me wounded my mother much worse,” said Bowers, a Marine Corps Reserve staff sergeant. “As she struggled to cope with the knowledge of my injury, my mother was more than alone. She was lost. She sought assistance through the only means she was aware of, the mental health counseling covered by her own health care.”
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/military_mentalhealth_veteransfamilies_02808w/
Austerity Threatens Veterans, Too
VCS in the News: Austerity Threatens Veterans, Too
Carl Osgood
Executive Intelligence Review
Feb 28, 2008
Paul Sullivan, the executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, added that there is a surge of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, "and not only are they being denied medical care but their requests for help are being delayed unnecessarily." There are cases of veterans committing suicide, turning up homeless, turning to drug and alcohol abuse (euphemistically called "self-medicating") as a result of the long delays, "and the Department of Veterans Affairs is doing little or nothing, and in some cases, violating the law." Sullivan said that the only option left to address this situation was to file a lawsuit.
February 29, 2008 - When the austerity mongers among Republicans and the "post-partisan Bloomberg crowd talk about "entitlement reform," they usually mean slashing Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits. Hardly anybody talks about veterans' benefits in the same vein, saying openly that they must come under the budget axe as well.
However, veterans have been under attack, in fact, just as much as the elderly, the sick, and the poor have been. In its first budget submission after winning re-election in 2004, the Bush Administration proposed that those in the Veterans Administration (VA) health-care system should pay higher enrollment fees and prescription drug co-pays than they were already being charged, a move the Department of Veterans Affairs calculated would result in 213,000 fewer veterans in the system than otherwise would be the case.
At about the same time, Undersecretary of Defense David Chu was quoted by the Wall Street Journal complaining that veterans' benefits had grown so much, that "they are taking away from the nation's ability to defend itself."
go here for the rest
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9438
Carl Osgood
Executive Intelligence Review
Feb 28, 2008
Paul Sullivan, the executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, added that there is a surge of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, "and not only are they being denied medical care but their requests for help are being delayed unnecessarily." There are cases of veterans committing suicide, turning up homeless, turning to drug and alcohol abuse (euphemistically called "self-medicating") as a result of the long delays, "and the Department of Veterans Affairs is doing little or nothing, and in some cases, violating the law." Sullivan said that the only option left to address this situation was to file a lawsuit.
February 29, 2008 - When the austerity mongers among Republicans and the "post-partisan Bloomberg crowd talk about "entitlement reform," they usually mean slashing Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits. Hardly anybody talks about veterans' benefits in the same vein, saying openly that they must come under the budget axe as well.
However, veterans have been under attack, in fact, just as much as the elderly, the sick, and the poor have been. In its first budget submission after winning re-election in 2004, the Bush Administration proposed that those in the Veterans Administration (VA) health-care system should pay higher enrollment fees and prescription drug co-pays than they were already being charged, a move the Department of Veterans Affairs calculated would result in 213,000 fewer veterans in the system than otherwise would be the case.
At about the same time, Undersecretary of Defense David Chu was quoted by the Wall Street Journal complaining that veterans' benefits had grown so much, that "they are taking away from the nation's ability to defend itself."
go here for the rest
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9438
Homeless Veterans and VA Prejudice
122. Homeless Veterans and VA Prejudice
The other day I was hanging around the Seattle, Washington VA Hospital with a few homeless veterans. I was listening around the eligibility check in desk for information. As the homeless veterans were getting checked in, I was listening to the “in-processor” who hands out the books, and folders to including the benefits of what one MIGHT be entitled to etc. and so forth.
As I was watching the homeless veterans looking down with a hangdog expression waiting for their VA identification cards giving their addresses as “none”, and explaining that their incomes from their work, were minimal at best as most did have some form of work, I heard the following… You are eligible for medical only. You are not eligible for dental, or eye glasses unless it is a service rated disability.
One fellow piped in and said he did not need glasses until he was in the service. She said he had to prove it of course. Of course proving things to the VA is nearly impossible in the first place, without two examinations and a rectal check. For some reason, the armed forces and the VA cannot coordinate the transference of the medical records in this modern era as of yet.
As a further example, I have written the National Personnel Records Center, sent in the prescribed forms, followed up with letters to a Senator and a Congressman, for my medical records. This has taken four years and I have yet to receive them or the NPRC to find them or the VA to receive them.
On the other hand, I am wondering if the VA is counting these homeless veterans that showed up on their door step that day at their hospital. If so, why were they not automatically referred to the Homeless Veteran’s Coordinator that is supposed to be assigned to every veteran’s administration hospital? The VA has highly touted these “highly dedicated and trained individuals”. It was not a Federal Holiday again. Undoubtedly, there is a serious lack of training system wide at the VA. What else is new at the VA?
click post title for the rest
The other day I was hanging around the Seattle, Washington VA Hospital with a few homeless veterans. I was listening around the eligibility check in desk for information. As the homeless veterans were getting checked in, I was listening to the “in-processor” who hands out the books, and folders to including the benefits of what one MIGHT be entitled to etc. and so forth.
As I was watching the homeless veterans looking down with a hangdog expression waiting for their VA identification cards giving their addresses as “none”, and explaining that their incomes from their work, were minimal at best as most did have some form of work, I heard the following… You are eligible for medical only. You are not eligible for dental, or eye glasses unless it is a service rated disability.
One fellow piped in and said he did not need glasses until he was in the service. She said he had to prove it of course. Of course proving things to the VA is nearly impossible in the first place, without two examinations and a rectal check. For some reason, the armed forces and the VA cannot coordinate the transference of the medical records in this modern era as of yet.
As a further example, I have written the National Personnel Records Center, sent in the prescribed forms, followed up with letters to a Senator and a Congressman, for my medical records. This has taken four years and I have yet to receive them or the NPRC to find them or the VA to receive them.
On the other hand, I am wondering if the VA is counting these homeless veterans that showed up on their door step that day at their hospital. If so, why were they not automatically referred to the Homeless Veteran’s Coordinator that is supposed to be assigned to every veteran’s administration hospital? The VA has highly touted these “highly dedicated and trained individuals”. It was not a Federal Holiday again. Undoubtedly, there is a serious lack of training system wide at the VA. What else is new at the VA?
click post title for the rest
Tinker Air Force responds to Sgt. Thorson murder/suicide
Feb. 28, 2008
Tinker seeks ways to help ease stress
By Augie Frost and Ken Raymond
Staff Writers
There are unique aspects of being in the military that may lead to health issues, particularly mentally, Lt. Col. David Parr said Wednesday.
From moving frequently to being deployed overseas, there are added stresses on a service member that can lead to problems, said Parr, commander of the Operations Support Squadron.
Officials at Tinker Air Force Base held a roundtable discussion on mental health issues in the military Wednesday, two days after Tech Sgt. Dustin Thorson killed his two children and then himself.
During a separate news conference Wednesday, Air Force Brig. Gen. Lori J. Robinson said Thorson saw a mental health professional and his commander was monitoring his mental health. She did not elaborate.
At the roundtable, officials focused on services to check, balance and treat mental illnesses. Before someone is deployed he or she goes through a screening. When he or she returns, they again go through a screening and then another one 90 days later, Parr said.
Often times that stress is taken out in the home on family members, but the goal is to alleviate that. Tinker officials would not discuss particulars concerning Thorson and his family, but said they never want to be faced with that problem.
"We don't want it to get to that point,” said Jane Allen, director of the Air Wing Family Support Center.
Airmen who may be suffering from depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder have a wealth of options for treatment, Allen said.
go here for the rest
http://newsok.com/article/3209613/1204173042
Tinker seeks ways to help ease stress
By Augie Frost and Ken Raymond
Staff Writers
There are unique aspects of being in the military that may lead to health issues, particularly mentally, Lt. Col. David Parr said Wednesday.
From moving frequently to being deployed overseas, there are added stresses on a service member that can lead to problems, said Parr, commander of the Operations Support Squadron.
Officials at Tinker Air Force Base held a roundtable discussion on mental health issues in the military Wednesday, two days after Tech Sgt. Dustin Thorson killed his two children and then himself.
During a separate news conference Wednesday, Air Force Brig. Gen. Lori J. Robinson said Thorson saw a mental health professional and his commander was monitoring his mental health. She did not elaborate.
At the roundtable, officials focused on services to check, balance and treat mental illnesses. Before someone is deployed he or she goes through a screening. When he or she returns, they again go through a screening and then another one 90 days later, Parr said.
Often times that stress is taken out in the home on family members, but the goal is to alleviate that. Tinker officials would not discuss particulars concerning Thorson and his family, but said they never want to be faced with that problem.
"We don't want it to get to that point,” said Jane Allen, director of the Air Wing Family Support Center.
Airmen who may be suffering from depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder have a wealth of options for treatment, Allen said.
go here for the rest
http://newsok.com/article/3209613/1204173042
Veterans Home contributed to suffering of patients
Report: Veterans Home contributed to suffering of patients
By TURNER HUTCHENS
trhutchens@dnj.com
— Turner Hutchens, 615-278-5161
A lack of care at the Tennessee State Veterans Home in Murfreesboro has led to the early death and needless suffering of veterans in the facility's care, according to a new report by U.S. Department of Justice.
The report, issued Feb. 8 to Gov. Phil Bredesen by the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, describes "unconscionably poor health care" at the state's veterans nursing homes in Murfreesboro and Humboldt in West Tennessee.
However, state officials have said the problems have been remedied at both facilities since the data for the report was collected last year.
The report describes a disturbing list of problems, citing specific instances with patients not receiving food and water, a lack of proper pain medication, psychotropic drugs given to patients for the convenience of staff, a lack of care for chronic conditions failure to address dangers of falls and failure to aid patients in rehabilitation.
"At both TSVHs (Tennessee State Veterans Homes), residents have been, and continue to be, the victims of egregious neglect from the nursing homes' failure to provide for the most basic of human needs — food and water," the report states. "As a result, residents have suffered and, sometimes, have died needless and untimely deaths."
One case found to have maggots in a patient's open pressure sore. In another, a patient whose pain was so severe he threatened suicide was given Tylenol and there was no follow up to his mental state. In yet another, a man in need of hospice care did not received it for five days while dying.
"We found that many residents spend their last days and hours often suffering needless pain," the report stated.
click post title for the rest
By TURNER HUTCHENS
trhutchens@dnj.com
— Turner Hutchens, 615-278-5161
A lack of care at the Tennessee State Veterans Home in Murfreesboro has led to the early death and needless suffering of veterans in the facility's care, according to a new report by U.S. Department of Justice.
The report, issued Feb. 8 to Gov. Phil Bredesen by the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, describes "unconscionably poor health care" at the state's veterans nursing homes in Murfreesboro and Humboldt in West Tennessee.
However, state officials have said the problems have been remedied at both facilities since the data for the report was collected last year.
The report describes a disturbing list of problems, citing specific instances with patients not receiving food and water, a lack of proper pain medication, psychotropic drugs given to patients for the convenience of staff, a lack of care for chronic conditions failure to address dangers of falls and failure to aid patients in rehabilitation.
"At both TSVHs (Tennessee State Veterans Homes), residents have been, and continue to be, the victims of egregious neglect from the nursing homes' failure to provide for the most basic of human needs — food and water," the report states. "As a result, residents have suffered and, sometimes, have died needless and untimely deaths."
One case found to have maggots in a patient's open pressure sore. In another, a patient whose pain was so severe he threatened suicide was given Tylenol and there was no follow up to his mental state. In yet another, a man in need of hospice care did not received it for five days while dying.
"We found that many residents spend their last days and hours often suffering needless pain," the report stated.
click post title for the rest
Common sense on PTSD from Congressman Tom Allen
Help for Veterans with PTSD
by: Congressman Tom Allen
Thu Feb 28, 2008 at 11:45:14 AM EST
(This is a guest piece by Congressman Tom Allen who represents Maine's 1st Congressional District. Congressman Allen is promoting H.R. 5448, a bill that would improve veterans' treatment for combat PTSD. From the diaries - promoted by Brandon Friedman)
When my father returned from the South Pacific after World War II, he rarely talked about the terrifying nightly bombings that blasted the Navy air base where he served as a control tower operator. Nor did he often speak of the pilots he had befriended who never returned from their missions. He was a quiet and determined man, who gave enormously to his country, community and family, but I now believe that when he came home, he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and that skillful treatment might have eased his pain.
In 1945, however, the symptoms that constitute PTSD were rarely acknowledged. Even today, as Maine veterans have shown me, it remains under-diagnosed, under-treated, and misunderstood. That is why I have introduced the Full Faith in Veterans Act, H.R. 5448.
Continue reading below. . . .
Congressman Tom Allen :: Help for Veterans with PTSD
Scott Whittier, from Washington, Maine, served as an active duty Army Reserve soldier and National Guard Member during the Gulf War in 1991. U.S. forces had relentlessly bombed and strafed Iraqi military convoys fleeing Kuwait on Route 8, Iraq's "Highway of Death." As he recently recalled, "The sights were of nothing I'd ever seen before... Death littered the highway."
Later, these sights began to take their toll. Back in the States, Scott was diagnosed by Togus Veterans Administration (VA) medical personnel as suffering from PTSD, made worse when he watched 9/11 and the current War in Iraq unfold. "I almost totally shut down. I began isolating myself...started drinking even more. Lost all interest...could not remember simple tasks, names, where I was going... Memories came crashing down ...of all those bodies, smells, hands, legs, heads, blood, burnt gruesome odorsome bodies."
Although his physician was confident that his PTSD was service-connected, the VA demanded proof that he was on Route 8 during the invasion. One would think that the military itself could easily provide this evidence, but it took the Army years to do so. Only this month did Scott get word that his government would accept his doctor's diagnosis.
Terry Belanger of Biddeford was rapidly driving a troop-filled truck in Vietnam during the Tet offensive when he ran over a small girl. Ordered not to stop because of the danger lurking in the village, the accident has haunted him for decades. He is plagued by flashbacks and nightmares, anxiety, migraines and insomnia. As his loving wife wrote, "this wonderful man...left part of his soul in Vietnam."
Terry's PTSD disability claim was denied because "there was no evidence of a qualifying stressor and his evidentiary assertions regarding his post-traumatic stress disorder were found to be not credible." In other words, this soldier's medical history and the conclusions of his private and VA physicians-all of whom believe he has service-connected PTSD-are dismissed by VA bureaucrats.
go here for the rest
http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=657
by: Congressman Tom Allen
Thu Feb 28, 2008 at 11:45:14 AM EST
(This is a guest piece by Congressman Tom Allen who represents Maine's 1st Congressional District. Congressman Allen is promoting H.R. 5448, a bill that would improve veterans' treatment for combat PTSD. From the diaries - promoted by Brandon Friedman)
When my father returned from the South Pacific after World War II, he rarely talked about the terrifying nightly bombings that blasted the Navy air base where he served as a control tower operator. Nor did he often speak of the pilots he had befriended who never returned from their missions. He was a quiet and determined man, who gave enormously to his country, community and family, but I now believe that when he came home, he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and that skillful treatment might have eased his pain.
In 1945, however, the symptoms that constitute PTSD were rarely acknowledged. Even today, as Maine veterans have shown me, it remains under-diagnosed, under-treated, and misunderstood. That is why I have introduced the Full Faith in Veterans Act, H.R. 5448.
Continue reading below. . . .
Congressman Tom Allen :: Help for Veterans with PTSD
Scott Whittier, from Washington, Maine, served as an active duty Army Reserve soldier and National Guard Member during the Gulf War in 1991. U.S. forces had relentlessly bombed and strafed Iraqi military convoys fleeing Kuwait on Route 8, Iraq's "Highway of Death." As he recently recalled, "The sights were of nothing I'd ever seen before... Death littered the highway."
Later, these sights began to take their toll. Back in the States, Scott was diagnosed by Togus Veterans Administration (VA) medical personnel as suffering from PTSD, made worse when he watched 9/11 and the current War in Iraq unfold. "I almost totally shut down. I began isolating myself...started drinking even more. Lost all interest...could not remember simple tasks, names, where I was going... Memories came crashing down ...of all those bodies, smells, hands, legs, heads, blood, burnt gruesome odorsome bodies."
Although his physician was confident that his PTSD was service-connected, the VA demanded proof that he was on Route 8 during the invasion. One would think that the military itself could easily provide this evidence, but it took the Army years to do so. Only this month did Scott get word that his government would accept his doctor's diagnosis.
Terry Belanger of Biddeford was rapidly driving a troop-filled truck in Vietnam during the Tet offensive when he ran over a small girl. Ordered not to stop because of the danger lurking in the village, the accident has haunted him for decades. He is plagued by flashbacks and nightmares, anxiety, migraines and insomnia. As his loving wife wrote, "this wonderful man...left part of his soul in Vietnam."
Terry's PTSD disability claim was denied because "there was no evidence of a qualifying stressor and his evidentiary assertions regarding his post-traumatic stress disorder were found to be not credible." In other words, this soldier's medical history and the conclusions of his private and VA physicians-all of whom believe he has service-connected PTSD-are dismissed by VA bureaucrats.
go here for the rest
http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=657
Vietnam Vet goes back to where he never really left
Updated at: 02/28/2008 08:33:45 AM
By: Kim Johnson
kjohnson@wdio.com
Still Searching
"I did this one time before a long time ago," said Scott Cameron as he lowered himself down into an underground tunnel in Vietnam.
On a journey half way around the world, Scott Cameron is re-discovering places that have haunted him for decades. The tunnels he’s exploring were used by enemy soldiers to hide from danger during the war.
"You could escape into here when the B-52s started hitting," he said while looking into a hand-held personal video camera.
As the veteran goes deeper into the ground, bad memories begin to surface. "To be honest, I got to get the hell out of here," Scott said. "I'm getting real paranoid and I'm getting real claustrophobic."
Soon come flashbacks that are too powerful to bear. "This is really doing a lot of triggers for this guy, this old Vietnam vet," he said.
Scott is searching down in these holes, a painful search that began thousands of miles away back in Duluth.
Five months ago Scott decided it was time to take serious steps in his life. He’d been suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder--a crippling mental illness he developed after the war four decades ago.
go here for the rest
http://www.wdio.com/article/stories/S361250.shtml?cat=10335
This is not a picture from Vietnam. It is from Afghanistan. They are not American forces but Canadian forces. Does it look that much different from the other one above taken in Vietnam?
For some, the war is no longer the war they fought with machine gun bullets or bombs. The war is the one they have inside of them. The battles are fought on a daily basis. These battles they try to fight alone. All the haunting images come back to them. They see it all, feel it all, re-experience it all as if time did not exists. They have a TV remote control in their hands instead of a machine gun. They have a Chevy steering wheel in their hands instead of the steering wheel of a military vehicle. They drive down a country road right here in the USA instead of a road in a foreign land. It doesn't matter what they are doing when a flashback comes at that moment because they are no longer here. They are right back there again. H.G. Wells could never manage to bring that kind of imagery to life as he created his time travel machine.
For veterans with PTSD, H.G. Wells fiction is their life. They don't need a machine to step into to travel back in time. They purchased a ticket the day they boot on their combat boots and their reservation for this trip was confirmed as soon as trauma collided with normal life.
The return trip back to normal life is up to us to cover the cost of. Without us, too many will never really make the journey back home.
By: Kim Johnson
kjohnson@wdio.com
Still Searching
"I did this one time before a long time ago," said Scott Cameron as he lowered himself down into an underground tunnel in Vietnam.
On a journey half way around the world, Scott Cameron is re-discovering places that have haunted him for decades. The tunnels he’s exploring were used by enemy soldiers to hide from danger during the war.
"You could escape into here when the B-52s started hitting," he said while looking into a hand-held personal video camera.
As the veteran goes deeper into the ground, bad memories begin to surface. "To be honest, I got to get the hell out of here," Scott said. "I'm getting real paranoid and I'm getting real claustrophobic."
Soon come flashbacks that are too powerful to bear. "This is really doing a lot of triggers for this guy, this old Vietnam vet," he said.
Scott is searching down in these holes, a painful search that began thousands of miles away back in Duluth.
Five months ago Scott decided it was time to take serious steps in his life. He’d been suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder--a crippling mental illness he developed after the war four decades ago.
go here for the rest
http://www.wdio.com/article/stories/S361250.shtml?cat=10335
This is not a picture from Vietnam. It is from Afghanistan. They are not American forces but Canadian forces. Does it look that much different from the other one above taken in Vietnam?
For some, the war is no longer the war they fought with machine gun bullets or bombs. The war is the one they have inside of them. The battles are fought on a daily basis. These battles they try to fight alone. All the haunting images come back to them. They see it all, feel it all, re-experience it all as if time did not exists. They have a TV remote control in their hands instead of a machine gun. They have a Chevy steering wheel in their hands instead of the steering wheel of a military vehicle. They drive down a country road right here in the USA instead of a road in a foreign land. It doesn't matter what they are doing when a flashback comes at that moment because they are no longer here. They are right back there again. H.G. Wells could never manage to bring that kind of imagery to life as he created his time travel machine.
The Time Machine is a novel by H. G. Wells, first published in 1895 and later directly adapted into at least two theatrical films of the same name as well as at least one television and a large number of comic book adaptations. It indirectly inspired many more works of fiction in all media. Considered by many to be one of the greatest science fiction novels of all time, this 38,000 word novella is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel using a vehicle that allows an operator to travel purposefully and selectively. The term "time machine", coined by Wells, is now universally used to refer to such a vehicle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Machine
For veterans with PTSD, H.G. Wells fiction is their life. They don't need a machine to step into to travel back in time. They purchased a ticket the day they boot on their combat boots and their reservation for this trip was confirmed as soon as trauma collided with normal life.
The return trip back to normal life is up to us to cover the cost of. Without us, too many will never really make the journey back home.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Judith Busto, War Veteran and Police Officer Fired for PTSD?
Veteran alleges Albuquerque police wrongfully fired her
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 02/27/2008 05:19:28 PM MST
ALBUQUERQUE—A former dispatcher for the Albuquerque Police Department is alleging she was assaulted and humiliated while working for the city, then was fired.
Santa Fe attorney Merit Bennett filed a lawsuit in state district court Wednesday on behalf of Judith Busto, 22, seeking unspecified damages.
Busto alleges deprivation of constitutional rights, discrimination on the basis of disability, false arrest and imprisonment, assault and battery, negligent retention and supervision, and conspiracy.
The lawsuit said Busto, an Army combat medic and veteran of Afghanistan, was treated for post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, when she returned home.
When she was hired by the police, the lawsuit said, the department made no attempt to accommodate Busto's medical condition. The complaint alleges that "abject disregard" led to her wrongful termination on Oct. 4, 2006.
She said she turned to Mayor Martin Chavez for help, but he ignored her.
go here to read the rest of this story and get as angry as I am right now.
http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_8383192
I wonder what Gov. Richardson would have to say about this.
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 02/27/2008 05:19:28 PM MST
ALBUQUERQUE—A former dispatcher for the Albuquerque Police Department is alleging she was assaulted and humiliated while working for the city, then was fired.
Santa Fe attorney Merit Bennett filed a lawsuit in state district court Wednesday on behalf of Judith Busto, 22, seeking unspecified damages.
Busto alleges deprivation of constitutional rights, discrimination on the basis of disability, false arrest and imprisonment, assault and battery, negligent retention and supervision, and conspiracy.
The lawsuit said Busto, an Army combat medic and veteran of Afghanistan, was treated for post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, when she returned home.
When she was hired by the police, the lawsuit said, the department made no attempt to accommodate Busto's medical condition. The complaint alleges that "abject disregard" led to her wrongful termination on Oct. 4, 2006.
She said she turned to Mayor Martin Chavez for help, but he ignored her.
go here to read the rest of this story and get as angry as I am right now.
http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_8383192
I wonder what Gov. Richardson would have to say about this.
Vietnam Vet Turns from stress expert to AARP model
Stress Expert Among AARP's Top Models
USF stress expert Michael Rank is one of the winners of AARP The Magazine’s Faces of 50+ Real People Model Search.
By CLOE CABRERA, The Tampa Tribune
Published: February 27, 2008
TAMPA - Vietnam War veteran Michael Garnet Rank witnessed firsthand the horrific psychological effects the war had on his fellow soldiers.
He saw severe depression, drug and alcohol dependency, problems with memory and cognition, and other mental health issues. And it had a profound impact on his career.
Today, as director of trauma stress studies at the University of South Florida, Rank, 60, trains and educates others and researches issues related to post-traumatic stress and trauma.
"Although I was experienced in combat, the question I had when I came back was, why didn't I suffer the emotional problems of the war the way my peers had?" said Rank, a former Army infantryman. "In the early 1970s, there was no such thing as post-traumatic stress disorder as we know it. The VA Veterans Administration wasn't paying attention to it that decade. It was a very difficult time for veterans returning home with mental illness."
Rank's story - not to mention his character, sense of style and healthy lifestyle - won him a spot in AARP The Magazine's Faces of 50+ Real People Model Search.
USF stress expert Michael Rank is one of the winners of AARP The Magazine’s Faces of 50+ Real People Model Search.
By CLOE CABRERA, The Tampa Tribune
Published: February 27, 2008
TAMPA - Vietnam War veteran Michael Garnet Rank witnessed firsthand the horrific psychological effects the war had on his fellow soldiers.
He saw severe depression, drug and alcohol dependency, problems with memory and cognition, and other mental health issues. And it had a profound impact on his career.
Today, as director of trauma stress studies at the University of South Florida, Rank, 60, trains and educates others and researches issues related to post-traumatic stress and trauma.
"Although I was experienced in combat, the question I had when I came back was, why didn't I suffer the emotional problems of the war the way my peers had?" said Rank, a former Army infantryman. "In the early 1970s, there was no such thing as post-traumatic stress disorder as we know it. The VA Veterans Administration wasn't paying attention to it that decade. It was a very difficult time for veterans returning home with mental illness."
Rank's story - not to mention his character, sense of style and healthy lifestyle - won him a spot in AARP The Magazine's Faces of 50+ Real People Model Search.
click post title for the rest
Airman kills his 2 kids then self
Divorced US Air Force computer expert kills his 2 young children, himself at base housing
The Associated Press
Published: February 27, 2008
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Oklahoma: A recently divorced airman who served with distinction in Iraq chased his ex-wife out of military housing with a pistol before killing his two young children and himself.
Tinker Air Force Base officials on Wednesday identified Tech. Sgt. Dustin Thorson, a military computer expert, as the killer in the shootings Monday.
His former wife had filed an order of protection against him last year, saying he had threatened to kill 4-year-old Dylan and 9-year-old Jourdain if she filed for divorce.
Thorson had been under the care of a mental health professional, Brig. Gen. Lori Robinson said. She would not say whether his mental problems were related to stress from his crumbling marriage or his experiences in Iraq.
Armed with a 9 mm Ruger semiautomatic pistol and a stun gun, Thorson, 35, chased his ex-wife, Michelle Thorson, out of the house before shooting his children and committing suicide, Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel said.
go here for the rest
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/27/america/NA-GEN-US-Base-Shootings.php
linked from
http://icasualties.org/oif/
The Associated Press
Published: February 27, 2008
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Oklahoma: A recently divorced airman who served with distinction in Iraq chased his ex-wife out of military housing with a pistol before killing his two young children and himself.
Tinker Air Force Base officials on Wednesday identified Tech. Sgt. Dustin Thorson, a military computer expert, as the killer in the shootings Monday.
His former wife had filed an order of protection against him last year, saying he had threatened to kill 4-year-old Dylan and 9-year-old Jourdain if she filed for divorce.
Thorson had been under the care of a mental health professional, Brig. Gen. Lori Robinson said. She would not say whether his mental problems were related to stress from his crumbling marriage or his experiences in Iraq.
Armed with a 9 mm Ruger semiautomatic pistol and a stun gun, Thorson, 35, chased his ex-wife, Michelle Thorson, out of the house before shooting his children and committing suicide, Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel said.
go here for the rest
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/27/america/NA-GEN-US-Base-Shootings.php
linked from
http://icasualties.org/oif/
PTSD the burden of humanity
PTSD is a burden for humanity, and every nation must deal with it or ignore it at their peril.
Uganda
Israel
Iraq
Lebanon
Canada
Pick any country on the planet and PTSD is a problem. Much like global changes lives across national borders and continents, PTSD knows no boundaries. It requires one thing, a human exposed to a traumatic event. It does not know age. It does not know race. It does not know wealth or poverty or social status at all. It does not know language. It knows what strikes humans in their core. It hits with a warning, the event itself. PTSD is humanities burden and as traumatic events spiral out of control from nation to nation, humanity had better step up and defeat this enemy with the only weapon known to be able to defeat it, knowledge. Once people are aware what is wrong with them, they can seek help to heal. Ignorance is more deadly than a bullet because this enemy does not just hit the target but hits the entire family.
Uganda
Nine Million Ugandans Mentally Ill
AT LEAST 9 million out of the 29 million Ugandans are suffering from some form of mental disorder and are not fully productive, it has been revealed.
The disorders include; post traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, epilepsy and schizophrenia.
The ailments disrupt peoples' thinking and emotions, relations with people, daily functioning -and this often results in an inability to cope with the ordinary demands of life.
This was revealed yesterday by Dr Fred Kigozi, the director of Butabika Mental Hospital. He was speaking at a symposium to mark the World Mental Health Day in Kampala.
The theme of the symposium was 'Mental Health in a Changing World: Mental Health and the Impact of culture'.
"The number of citizens in Uganda who are moving from normal to abnormal status is increasing. Several studies have shown that 20 - 30 per cent of the Ugandan population suffer from common mental disorders," he said.
He said mentally ill people are unable to perform their duties and because of this, they can not contribute to the GDP (Growth Domestic Product) of Uganda."
Out of these, he said, at least one per cent have severe mental disorders like major depression, schizophrenia and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
go here for the rest
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802270959.html
Israel
Terror leaves 42% of children with PTSD
By Gideon Alon
Some 42 percent of Israeli children suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), of which 15 percent have a moderate to severe version of the syndrome, Dr. Avital Laufer of Tel Aviv University told the Knesset Committee on the Rights of Children yesterday.
The committee was discussing the effects of the terror attacks of the past 32 months on children. Laufer's findings were based on a study of some 3,000 children aged 13 to 15, from both sides of the Green Line. Some 70 percent of the children said that the terror attacks had had a direct impact on their lives, causing them to abandon or avoid certain activities.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?item
No=300638&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
Iraq
PTSD in Iraqis, children: The Lancet, "Mental Health of Iraqi Children", by Ali Razokhi, September 2, 2006.
40% of Iraqi professionals: Brookings Institution, "Iraq Index", page 24, January 2007.
http://www.motherjones.com/news/featurex/2007/03/sources.html
02/27/08 IRIN: High rates of trauma, sickness among Iraqi refugees
Many of the estimated 70,000-150,000 Iraqi refugees in Egypt have developed serious psychological and stress-related illnesses, including cardiac problems, according to Ahlam Tobia, a medical doctor who works with refugees in Cairo.
Lebanon
Researchers say 2006 war left many children in targeted areas with emotional scars
Daily Star staff
Thursday, February 14, 2008
A new study issued on Wednesday showed that 14.4 percent of children and teenagers in South Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs suffered from war-related psychological symptoms after the summer 2006 war with Israel ended, adding that 15.4 percent of teenagers might suffer from post-traumatic stress disorders.
http://www.myantiwar.org/view/143679.html
Canada
PTSD Program Breaks New Ground in Canada
Joan Arehart-Treichel
Canada offers an inpatient treatment program for adults with posttraumatic stress disorder. It is based on the Sanctuary Model developed by Philadelphia psychiatrist Sandra Bloom, M.D.
A Canadian who has posttraumatic stress disorder might be wise to head to Guelph, Ontario. Canada’s only inpatient treatment program for PTSD—the "Program for Traumatic Stress Recovery"—can be found there at Homewood Health Center.
The program, which is underwritten by Canada’s universal health insurance system, runs six weeks. It has been in existence for a decade and, to date, has treated some 3,000 PTSD patients, from child-abuse survivors and motor-accident victims to peacekeepers who have witnessed atrocities.
Further, as PTSD is being increasingly recognized by health care professionals in Canada, more and more Canadian PTSD patients are being referred to the program. In fact, PTSD patients from other countries are also welcome to participate in it.
Pick any country on the planet and PTSD is a problem. Much like global changes lives across national borders and continents, PTSD knows no boundaries. It requires one thing, a human exposed to a traumatic event. It does not know age. It does not know race. It does not know wealth or poverty or social status at all. It does not know language. It knows what strikes humans in their core. It hits with a warning, the event itself. PTSD is humanities burden and as traumatic events spiral out of control from nation to nation, humanity had better step up and defeat this enemy with the only weapon known to be able to defeat it, knowledge. Once people are aware what is wrong with them, they can seek help to heal. Ignorance is more deadly than a bullet because this enemy does not just hit the target but hits the entire family.
Gen. Casey "we can fix ourselves over the next 3 to 4 years"
“If we get the resources in a timely, predictable fashion, we believe we can fix ourselves over the next three to four years.”
Casey: Move to shorter tours ‘has to happen’
By Matthew Cox - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 27, 2008 17:41:55 EST
The Army’s chief of staff reiterated his commitment to shortening combat tours in Iraq to 12 months to a Senate panel Wednesday, stressing that current 15-month deployments are “just not sustainable.”
Echoing comments he made Tuesday to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gen. George Casey told Appropriations Committee members the Army is out of balance from more than six years of war and back-to-back deployments.
Casey told lawmakers that the service hopes to begin restoring that balance in July when he expects the demand for forces to decrease.
“That has to happen,” he said Wednesday at a fiscal 2009 budget overview hearing on Capital Hill. “Soldiers and leaders need to see that over time they won’t be deploying for 15 months and home for 12.”
Casey, who was the top U.S. commander in Iraq before taking the chief of staff job last spring, told lawmakers that cutting the time soldiers spend in combat is an integral part of reducing the stress on the force.
He said he anticipates the service can cut combat tours from 15 months to 12 months this summer, as long as the president reduces the number of active-duty Army brigades in Iraq and Afghanistan to 15 units by July, as planned.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/army_casey_budget_022708w/
God help the troops survive all this. The redeployments increase the risk of PTSD by 50%, yet they keep sending them back over and over again. Not enough time between deployments increases the risk and puts a bigger burden on the families. How long can this go on?
Casey: Move to shorter tours ‘has to happen’
By Matthew Cox - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 27, 2008 17:41:55 EST
The Army’s chief of staff reiterated his commitment to shortening combat tours in Iraq to 12 months to a Senate panel Wednesday, stressing that current 15-month deployments are “just not sustainable.”
Echoing comments he made Tuesday to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gen. George Casey told Appropriations Committee members the Army is out of balance from more than six years of war and back-to-back deployments.
Casey told lawmakers that the service hopes to begin restoring that balance in July when he expects the demand for forces to decrease.
“That has to happen,” he said Wednesday at a fiscal 2009 budget overview hearing on Capital Hill. “Soldiers and leaders need to see that over time they won’t be deploying for 15 months and home for 12.”
Casey, who was the top U.S. commander in Iraq before taking the chief of staff job last spring, told lawmakers that cutting the time soldiers spend in combat is an integral part of reducing the stress on the force.
He said he anticipates the service can cut combat tours from 15 months to 12 months this summer, as long as the president reduces the number of active-duty Army brigades in Iraq and Afghanistan to 15 units by July, as planned.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/army_casey_budget_022708w/
God help the troops survive all this. The redeployments increase the risk of PTSD by 50%, yet they keep sending them back over and over again. Not enough time between deployments increases the risk and puts a bigger burden on the families. How long can this go on?
Dr. James B. Peake doing what Nicholson should have done years ago
VA Has Added 20 New Vet Centers
Posted : Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:19:51 GMT
Author : U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake today said an expansion by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) of its Vet Centers, which provide readjustment counseling and outreach services to returning combat veterans, is well ahead of schedule.
In February 2007, VA announced it would open 23 new centers during the next two years. Fifteen of those centers are already operational, and five others are seeing patients in temporary facilities while finalizing their leases. The other three facilities will begin operations later this year.
"Building on our past successes, 2008 will see a permanent increase in the number of Vet Centers, as we bring the remaining facilities on line to reach a record 232 Vet Centers by the end of the year," Peake said.
"To support this expansion and augment the staff at 61 existing Vet Centers, this year we are channeling a 44 percent increase in funding to the Readjustment Counseling Service, which operates the Vet Centers -- nearly $50 million more than last year's budget," he added.
The community-based Vet Centers are a key component of VA's mental health program, providing veterans with mental health screening and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) counseling, along with help for family members dealing with bereavement and loved ones with PTSD.
click post title for the rest
Posted : Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:19:51 GMT
Author : U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake today said an expansion by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) of its Vet Centers, which provide readjustment counseling and outreach services to returning combat veterans, is well ahead of schedule.
In February 2007, VA announced it would open 23 new centers during the next two years. Fifteen of those centers are already operational, and five others are seeing patients in temporary facilities while finalizing their leases. The other three facilities will begin operations later this year.
"Building on our past successes, 2008 will see a permanent increase in the number of Vet Centers, as we bring the remaining facilities on line to reach a record 232 Vet Centers by the end of the year," Peake said.
"To support this expansion and augment the staff at 61 existing Vet Centers, this year we are channeling a 44 percent increase in funding to the Readjustment Counseling Service, which operates the Vet Centers -- nearly $50 million more than last year's budget," he added.
The community-based Vet Centers are a key component of VA's mental health program, providing veterans with mental health screening and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) counseling, along with help for family members dealing with bereavement and loved ones with PTSD.
click post title for the rest
PTSD WOUND OF LESSER VALUE?
Experts: VA disability system can be fixed
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 27, 2008 12:47:24 EST
Medical experts, advocacy groups and Veterans Affairs Department officials say VA’s disability rating schedule needs to be updated — continually — but they denied the system is so bad that it needs to be dumped completely.
A Tuesday hearing of the House Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee on disability assistance and memorial affairs also focused on studies conducted over the past year that point toward needed improvements not only in the ratings schedule, but in VA’s disability retirement system itself.
Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y., chairman of the subcommittee, said VA needs to remove “archaic” criteria from the rating schedule; update psychiatric criteria to better reflect symptoms of troops diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder; find out why so many veterans with PTSD have been rated fully disabled; and update neurological criteria to include new research on traumatic brain injuries.
“The VA needs the right tools to do the right thing,” Hall said.
VA argued that it is already doing the right thing and has been updating the rating schedule, though officials acknowledged they could do better. From 1990 through 2007, VA had updated 47 percent of the ratings schedule, but 35 percent of the codes had not been touched since 1945. However, VA said it updated the codes for TBI in January and is working on an update for PTSD.
The Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission began looking at how service members’ and veterans’ disability cases were being handled long before February 2007, when Military Times and the Washington Post featured stories highlighting problems in the system. Retired Vice Adm. Dennis McGinn, a member of the commission, said VA has made “very limited progress” since the group’s report came out in October.
“I believe the ratings schedule needs to be clarified so it has logic from the point of view of medicine and science,” McGinn said. “It has not progressed in the last five decades.”
The group found that VA compensates veterans according to the schedule in a way that is “generally adequate to offset average impairment” and that the schedule does “reasonably well.”
But there are specific areas where VA’s system does not serve troops and veterans well, McGinn said, including those with PTSD, those severely disabled at a young age and those granted maximum benefits because a disability makes them unemployable.
Veterans with PTSD, he noted, have “much greater loss of employment and earnings” than those with physical disabilities.
McGinn recommended separate criteria on the rating schedule for PTSD, as well as a way to compensate unemployable veterans for lost quality of life, not just their inability to work.
So-called “individual unemployability” veterans may have formal VA disability ratings of less than 100 percent, but are still rated fully disabled because of their inability to work. The commission found that almost half of the 223,000 IU veterans have primary diagnoses of PTSD or other mental disorders.
The problem is that if a veteran has physical disabilities that lead to a 100 percent disability rating, he can still work and keep his full compensation. But a veteran who has a 100 percent disability for a mental disorder tries to work, he loses his compensation.
go here for the rest
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/02/military_disabilityratings_022708w/
This last part is very important. My husband is 70% disabled for PTSD and 30% unemployable. Yet it is 100% of his life that has been touched. He can't work but he fought very hard to keep his job under Family and Medical Leave Act for as long as he could. His doctor told him that he was just making his PTSD worse with the stress. Every aspect of his life and mine are adapted to deal with his wound. There are conversations we cannot have.
There are times when we cannot communicate at all except to have a brief conversation about what to have for dinner. His decision making skills are virtually gone, paranoia consumes him to the point where I get so fed up I tell him "You get worried if you don't have something to worry about." The body wounded is terrible and the scars can be seen for a lifetime. When they mind is wounded the scars on the life are forever. Depending on when they get treated and begin to heal, their wound can be mild all the way to fully consuming every aspect of their life.
A while ago a reader wanted to know why I thought PTSD was worse than losing a limb. He wanted to know how I could compare the loss of a leg to PTSD. I told him it was easy. Had my husband lost a limb, I would still have a husband with the rest of his body, his mind and his heart. I have a husband who has had his mind wounded and his soul torn.
If we go to one of the parks on our Friday play day and his face begins to twitch or he begins to make involuntary mouth movements as if he is talking to himself, he gets stared at as if people are afraid of him. What most people do not fully understand is that many who have lost limbs also have PTSD and they are dealing with double the wounding but they get a Purple Heart for a body wound while their other wound, the one that inflicts the most pain on their lives as well as their family's lives, is something considered of lesser value.
With a physical wound that is not a back injury or a brain injury, they can be retrained to do something else for work. With a back injury, they cannot. With a brain injury, depending on how serious it is, they cannot work either. With PTSD they cannot work if they have high levels of test results. PTSD and TBI wounded need to be taken seriously enough to have their wounds categorized as enveloping not just their lives but the lives of their families as well. If we do not fully appreciate the role of the families in taking care of these veterans, then we will see a lot more homeless veterans because of PTSD.
Aside from providing support groups to help hold families together and proactive outreach to them, they also need to be provided for when it comes to the quality of their own lives being involved. My husband is one of the biggest reasons why I cannot work full time any longer. Doing this work at home on a volunteer basis, I can be here when he needs me and I don't have to answer to anyone as to why I have to take him to the doctors when he's having a bad day and cannot go alone. That's why working part time was perfect for me. He can be alone a few hours a day with no problem at all. This gets forgotten about when wives and husbands are unable to do the jobs they used to do in order to take care of their wounded warrior.
This hearing today was a step in the right direction.
Avoiding employment is not the problem. Being unable to be employed is. You cannot retrain a mind to work normally.
Again it needs to be noticed that there has to be other factors put in when considering steps to take in improving the treatment the veterans have by including their families.
The only thing that has kept my husband in treatment with the VA is the thought of getting as bad as he was without it. The idea of retesting what is already known to be a lifetime wound only causes more stress for the veteran. If they are in treatment, then there is no need to "retest" to make sure they are still wounded.
TBI and PTSD are not wounds of lesser value and they need to be treated differently than other wounds. If a soldier has TBI from a bullet wound, that is a wound from the bullet, the TBI and in most cases PTSD as well.
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 27, 2008 12:47:24 EST
Medical experts, advocacy groups and Veterans Affairs Department officials say VA’s disability rating schedule needs to be updated — continually — but they denied the system is so bad that it needs to be dumped completely.
A Tuesday hearing of the House Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee on disability assistance and memorial affairs also focused on studies conducted over the past year that point toward needed improvements not only in the ratings schedule, but in VA’s disability retirement system itself.
Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y., chairman of the subcommittee, said VA needs to remove “archaic” criteria from the rating schedule; update psychiatric criteria to better reflect symptoms of troops diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder; find out why so many veterans with PTSD have been rated fully disabled; and update neurological criteria to include new research on traumatic brain injuries.
“The VA needs the right tools to do the right thing,” Hall said.
VA argued that it is already doing the right thing and has been updating the rating schedule, though officials acknowledged they could do better. From 1990 through 2007, VA had updated 47 percent of the ratings schedule, but 35 percent of the codes had not been touched since 1945. However, VA said it updated the codes for TBI in January and is working on an update for PTSD.
The Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission began looking at how service members’ and veterans’ disability cases were being handled long before February 2007, when Military Times and the Washington Post featured stories highlighting problems in the system. Retired Vice Adm. Dennis McGinn, a member of the commission, said VA has made “very limited progress” since the group’s report came out in October.
“I believe the ratings schedule needs to be clarified so it has logic from the point of view of medicine and science,” McGinn said. “It has not progressed in the last five decades.”
The group found that VA compensates veterans according to the schedule in a way that is “generally adequate to offset average impairment” and that the schedule does “reasonably well.”
But there are specific areas where VA’s system does not serve troops and veterans well, McGinn said, including those with PTSD, those severely disabled at a young age and those granted maximum benefits because a disability makes them unemployable.
Veterans with PTSD, he noted, have “much greater loss of employment and earnings” than those with physical disabilities.
McGinn recommended separate criteria on the rating schedule for PTSD, as well as a way to compensate unemployable veterans for lost quality of life, not just their inability to work.
So-called “individual unemployability” veterans may have formal VA disability ratings of less than 100 percent, but are still rated fully disabled because of their inability to work. The commission found that almost half of the 223,000 IU veterans have primary diagnoses of PTSD or other mental disorders.
The problem is that if a veteran has physical disabilities that lead to a 100 percent disability rating, he can still work and keep his full compensation. But a veteran who has a 100 percent disability for a mental disorder tries to work, he loses his compensation.
go here for the rest
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/02/military_disabilityratings_022708w/
This last part is very important. My husband is 70% disabled for PTSD and 30% unemployable. Yet it is 100% of his life that has been touched. He can't work but he fought very hard to keep his job under Family and Medical Leave Act for as long as he could. His doctor told him that he was just making his PTSD worse with the stress. Every aspect of his life and mine are adapted to deal with his wound. There are conversations we cannot have.
There are times when we cannot communicate at all except to have a brief conversation about what to have for dinner. His decision making skills are virtually gone, paranoia consumes him to the point where I get so fed up I tell him "You get worried if you don't have something to worry about." The body wounded is terrible and the scars can be seen for a lifetime. When they mind is wounded the scars on the life are forever. Depending on when they get treated and begin to heal, their wound can be mild all the way to fully consuming every aspect of their life.
A while ago a reader wanted to know why I thought PTSD was worse than losing a limb. He wanted to know how I could compare the loss of a leg to PTSD. I told him it was easy. Had my husband lost a limb, I would still have a husband with the rest of his body, his mind and his heart. I have a husband who has had his mind wounded and his soul torn.
If we go to one of the parks on our Friday play day and his face begins to twitch or he begins to make involuntary mouth movements as if he is talking to himself, he gets stared at as if people are afraid of him. What most people do not fully understand is that many who have lost limbs also have PTSD and they are dealing with double the wounding but they get a Purple Heart for a body wound while their other wound, the one that inflicts the most pain on their lives as well as their family's lives, is something considered of lesser value.
With a physical wound that is not a back injury or a brain injury, they can be retrained to do something else for work. With a back injury, they cannot. With a brain injury, depending on how serious it is, they cannot work either. With PTSD they cannot work if they have high levels of test results. PTSD and TBI wounded need to be taken seriously enough to have their wounds categorized as enveloping not just their lives but the lives of their families as well. If we do not fully appreciate the role of the families in taking care of these veterans, then we will see a lot more homeless veterans because of PTSD.
Aside from providing support groups to help hold families together and proactive outreach to them, they also need to be provided for when it comes to the quality of their own lives being involved. My husband is one of the biggest reasons why I cannot work full time any longer. Doing this work at home on a volunteer basis, I can be here when he needs me and I don't have to answer to anyone as to why I have to take him to the doctors when he's having a bad day and cannot go alone. That's why working part time was perfect for me. He can be alone a few hours a day with no problem at all. This gets forgotten about when wives and husbands are unable to do the jobs they used to do in order to take care of their wounded warrior.
This hearing today was a step in the right direction.
This could inspire a veteran to avoid seeking out vocational rehabilitation or employment, and also implies something “suspect” about claiming PTSD — which only adds to the considerable stigma behind the disease, said Dean Kilpatrick, a member of the Committee on Veterans’ Compensation for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder at the Institute of Medicine.
Avoiding employment is not the problem. Being unable to be employed is. You cannot retrain a mind to work normally.
McGinn also requested couples therapy as part of treatment for PTSD. That is important because responding to a veteran’s anger with more anger can exacerbate the problem, while learning how to work with a spouse suffering PTSD can be part of a cure, he said. Also, many family members deal with their own mental health issues while living with someone with PTSD.
Again it needs to be noticed that there has to be other factors put in when considering steps to take in improving the treatment the veterans have by including their families.
McGinn’s group and Kilpatrick had different recommendations as far as follow-up evaluations for people with PTSD. Again, other disabilities are not re-examined, so an exam puts those with mental disabilities in a separate class. But McGinn’s group sees follow-ups as a way to encourage vets to seek further treatment.
The only thing that has kept my husband in treatment with the VA is the thought of getting as bad as he was without it. The idea of retesting what is already known to be a lifetime wound only causes more stress for the veteran. If they are in treatment, then there is no need to "retest" to make sure they are still wounded.
TBI and PTSD are not wounds of lesser value and they need to be treated differently than other wounds. If a soldier has TBI from a bullet wound, that is a wound from the bullet, the TBI and in most cases PTSD as well.
Verdict in electrocution of Pvt. Van Ryan Marcum Upheld
Verdict in electrocution of soldier upheld
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Feb 27, 2008 10:13:27 EST
LITTLE ROCK — A federal appeals panel on Tuesday upheld a $6.5 million verdict against a private contractor in the death of an Arkansas soldier who was electrocuted when he leaned back against the metal exterior wall of a latrine.
Pvt. Van Ryan Marcum died June 19, 2004, following an exercise at a firing range at Fort Benning, Ga. Marcum’s estate sued The Shaw Group Inc., which was under contract to demolish several abandoned metal latrines at the Army base. Marcum, 21, was from Prescott, Ark.
A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis turned away The Shaw Group’s requests for a new trial or a ruling that the company was not responsible.
The Shaw Group, based in Baton Rouge, La., argued that it had no duty to have demolished the latrine, noting that the Army had given it an extension for the demolition work.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/ap_electrocution_022608/
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Feb 27, 2008 10:13:27 EST
LITTLE ROCK — A federal appeals panel on Tuesday upheld a $6.5 million verdict against a private contractor in the death of an Arkansas soldier who was electrocuted when he leaned back against the metal exterior wall of a latrine.
Pvt. Van Ryan Marcum died June 19, 2004, following an exercise at a firing range at Fort Benning, Ga. Marcum’s estate sued The Shaw Group Inc., which was under contract to demolish several abandoned metal latrines at the Army base. Marcum, 21, was from Prescott, Ark.
A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis turned away The Shaw Group’s requests for a new trial or a ruling that the company was not responsible.
The Shaw Group, based in Baton Rouge, La., argued that it had no duty to have demolished the latrine, noting that the Army had given it an extension for the demolition work.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/ap_electrocution_022608/
Mental Health being withheld from Fort Drum Soldiers
Military Doctors Withholding Treatment from Soldiers with Mental Health Problems
By Maggie Mahar, Health Beat.
Posted February 27, 2008.
The military is denying crucial care to soldiers, making them vulnerable on the battlefield.
In recent months, VFA reports, it has been contacted by a number of soldiers based at Fort Drum who are concerned about their own mental health and the health of other members of their units. In response, VFA launched an investigation of conditions at Fort Drum, and what it found was shocking.
Soldiers told the VFA that "the leader of the mental health treatment clinic at Fort Drum asked soldiers not to discuss their mental health problems with people outside the base. Attempts to keep matters 'in house' foster an atmosphere of secrecy and shame," the report observed "that is not conducive to proper treatment for combat-related mental health injuries."
The investigators also discovered that "some military mental health providers have argued that a number of soldiers fake mental health injuries to increase the likelihood that they will be deemed unfit for combat and/or for further military service."
The report notes that a "conversation with a leading expert in treating combat psychological wounds" confirmed "that some military commanders at Fort Drum doubt the validity of mental health wounds in some soldiers, thereby undermining treatment prescribed by civilian psychiatrists" at the nearby Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown, NY.
"In the estimation of this expert, military commanders have undue influence in the treatment of soldiers with psychological wounds," the report noted. "Another point of general concern for VFA is that Samaritan also has a strong financial incentive to maintain business ties with Fort Drum -- a dynamic [that] deserves greater scrutiny."
Because some soldiers do not trust Samaritan, the report reveals that a number of "soldiers have sought treatment after normal base business hours at a hospital in Syracuse, more than an hour's drive from Watertown ... because they feared that Samaritan would side with base leadership, which had, in some cases, cast doubt on the legitimacy of combat-related mental health wounds.
go here for the rest
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/77867/
It is almost impossible to get these men and women to admit they need help. They were trained to take care of themselves and watch out for the backs of their brothers and sisters. I've been dealing with them and their denials for 25 years. They don't want to admit they need help. Yet still, Fort Drum, and other bases, treat those who do as if they are slackers! Disgraceful! How can it be that such very smart, able, dedicated leaders can remain so uninformed and uneducated as to the tactics of the enemy the soldiers bring home with them? PTSD is an enemy. It attacks and it kills. There is only one thing PTSD fears and that is knowledge.
By Maggie Mahar, Health Beat.
Posted February 27, 2008.
The military is denying crucial care to soldiers, making them vulnerable on the battlefield.
In recent months, VFA reports, it has been contacted by a number of soldiers based at Fort Drum who are concerned about their own mental health and the health of other members of their units. In response, VFA launched an investigation of conditions at Fort Drum, and what it found was shocking.
Soldiers told the VFA that "the leader of the mental health treatment clinic at Fort Drum asked soldiers not to discuss their mental health problems with people outside the base. Attempts to keep matters 'in house' foster an atmosphere of secrecy and shame," the report observed "that is not conducive to proper treatment for combat-related mental health injuries."
The investigators also discovered that "some military mental health providers have argued that a number of soldiers fake mental health injuries to increase the likelihood that they will be deemed unfit for combat and/or for further military service."
The report notes that a "conversation with a leading expert in treating combat psychological wounds" confirmed "that some military commanders at Fort Drum doubt the validity of mental health wounds in some soldiers, thereby undermining treatment prescribed by civilian psychiatrists" at the nearby Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown, NY.
"In the estimation of this expert, military commanders have undue influence in the treatment of soldiers with psychological wounds," the report noted. "Another point of general concern for VFA is that Samaritan also has a strong financial incentive to maintain business ties with Fort Drum -- a dynamic [that] deserves greater scrutiny."
Because some soldiers do not trust Samaritan, the report reveals that a number of "soldiers have sought treatment after normal base business hours at a hospital in Syracuse, more than an hour's drive from Watertown ... because they feared that Samaritan would side with base leadership, which had, in some cases, cast doubt on the legitimacy of combat-related mental health wounds.
go here for the rest
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/77867/
It is almost impossible to get these men and women to admit they need help. They were trained to take care of themselves and watch out for the backs of their brothers and sisters. I've been dealing with them and their denials for 25 years. They don't want to admit they need help. Yet still, Fort Drum, and other bases, treat those who do as if they are slackers! Disgraceful! How can it be that such very smart, able, dedicated leaders can remain so uninformed and uneducated as to the tactics of the enemy the soldiers bring home with them? PTSD is an enemy. It attacks and it kills. There is only one thing PTSD fears and that is knowledge.
Army Suicide Rates Go Up, Alarm Bells Don't
Army Suicide Rates ClimbingPosted: 10:27 PM Feb 26, 2008
Last Updated: 6:24 AM Feb 27, 2008
Reporter: David Nancarrow
Email Address: mailto:dnancarrow@kktv11news.com?subject=Army
Army Suicide Rates Climbing
The Colorado Springs community is constantly reminded of the men and women in uniform who are lost in combat. The Army is now reporting a dramatic rise in the number of soldiers taking their own lives.
There is a single diamond set in a black band on the finger where Mia Sagahon expected to wear her wedding ring.
She thought her fiancee, a veteran, Walter Padilla would be by her side forever.
"You wake up and see them daily and then they're just gone," she said.
Visions of the battlefield haunted the medically discharged Padilla. He tried to hide his pain and tormenting questions from the ones he loved. Mia now knows these questions all too well.
"Am I a weak person?" she believed he wondered. "Why is this happening to me? feeling alone, why am I having these dreams?"
Walter silenced the voices in 2007, taking his life with a single shot from his own gun.
"You can't say good-bye, or anything. It's horrible," Sagahon said.
The Army expects 2007 will have been one of the worst in years in terms of suicide among active soldiers. If 32 cases still under investigation add to the 89 confirmed, 121 suicides represent a 20% spike from 2006, more than twice the number reported in 2001, pushing the Army rate closer to that seen among the civilian community.
Even more alarming, according to Department of Defense sources, attempted suicides rose to more than 2,000, up from about 1400 in 2006.
It is an issue that hits close to home for Ft. Carson commanders. Commanding Officer, Major General Mark Graham, lost a son to suicide.
"In every case where there's a suicide, people will tell you I should have seen it coming. I should have seen it," Graham said.
Army investigators say motives are different, but common reasons include stress levels from time put in to the battle.
"The secretary of the Army says our Army is tired that is no secret. I think our nation is understanding that we are a nation at war now for 7 years in Afghanistan, six years in Iraq," said COL Kelly Wolgast, Director of Ft. Carson's Evans Army Hospital.
Investigators report many are linked to strained romantic relationships, or failed marriages. There's also the issue of fearing to admit to loved ones and superiors they need help.
go here for the rest
http://www.kktv.com/news/headlines/16012862.html
How much time will they talk about doing something? How much money will they throw at this without results that prove it's working? How many different "steps" will they take before they discover what they are doing is not working? When will they hear the alarm bells going off all around the country that when it comes to them coming home, the military sucks at taking care of them?
Senator Brownback showed disrespect to PTSD veterans
By the information on Brownback's site, it's clear that the impression Jay Harden, the author of the following letter, had was right on the mark.
Letter: Take care of veteransPublished Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Sen. Sam Brownback met with us on the PTSD ward at Colmery-O'Neil VA Medical Center on Feb. 11. I sincerely appreciate his time and good intentions, but the ultimate purpose of the uninvited intrusion escapes me. Perhaps a photo-op?
Sen. Brownback is a public servant, a U.S. senator. That is, he serves the public, and I am one of the public. Therefore, it is important to me (and possibly him) to provide the following feedback.
In my opinion, the entire PTSD patient population here didn't appreciate the senator's performance, nor did many of the professional staff. And I am being charitable here.
Some of us bared our souls, stories and traumas to a stranger and his entourage in the hope some greater good would come of it. At least one veteran walked out on Sen. Brownback, on the verge of tears because of his disrespect to Vietnam veterans. One had the foresight to decline his direct invitation to talk about his Iraq experience.
This is what I want from Sen. Brownback. Take on the task of getting the word out to veterans about the PTSD services of the VA. And do something to standardize the quality of VA care across the nation.
I was stunned to learn how VA services vary greatly in quality from one facility to another. For example, some VA facilities don't help PTSD veterans unless the PTSD is combat-related. This is unacceptable. All are equally worthy as we still relive our service traumas without choice.
I should be able to walk into any VA facility in the U.S. and get the same quality of care for the same services offered. Just because it has never been done doesn't mean it is impossible, right?
JAY HARDEN, Topeka
http://cjonline.com/stories/022708/opi_251511209.shtml
This is from Brownback's site
VETERANS
At a time when our government is asking thousands of military members to enter harm's way in our war against terrorism, the citizens of Kansas are seeing a dramatic decrease in the standard of care that our veterans are provided to help them with the lifelong physical and mental effects of these wars. I have long been a supporter of veterans and veterans' benefits. America's veterans have put their lives on the line to defend our country and we should honor their sacrifices and fulfill our commitments to them. Keeping our nation strong and keeping our promises to veterans should be among our top national priorities.
Brownback Visits Walter Reed
"The system that provides treatment for our soldiers must be improved, but I continue to be impressed with the commitment and dedication of the staff at Walter Reed and other military facilities. I offer my heartfelt thanks and prayers for those wounded while defending this nation and I want to thank all those currently serving in our Armed Forces. Their sacrifices make this nation great and we all owe them a debt of gratitude." Read More
Brownback Introduces Bill to Protect Veteran's Memorials
This important bill would prevent judicial activist groups from using a 1970s-era civil rights law to force taxpayers to pay their attorney's fees in cases related to public displays of religious faith. Read More Bill S.415: Veterans' Memorials, Boy Scouts, Public Seals, and Other Public Expressions of Religion Protection Act of 2007
http://brownback.senate.gov/english/legissues/veterans/index.cfm
Suicide matters to Michelle Malkin, but not when it involves the troops
When I received a heads up on a new article from Michelle Malkin I may be interested in, I paused before going to the link. What could she possibly say that would interest me? My gut instinct was right and should have just avoided it. I ended up very angry.
How is it that the "right" always seem to be so outraged when women have abortions but never, ever contemplate the suicides of our veterans. They never seem to be willing to acknowledge one single needles death when it comes to them.
This is just one more case of them not being willing to really stand up for the troops and our veterans. They could join in the effort to have all our veterans treated for PTSD and cared for in the manner this nation should finally be willing to do, but they don't. Yet Malkin managed to add in the terms AWOL and MIA. These are military terms for Absent Without Leave and Missing in Action. When it comes to our wounded warriors, she couldn't have picked better terms to describe their neglect.
I cannot remember a single time I visited any of their sites and found something worthy of posting. There has been virtually no information they provide that has any value to what should really matter to everyone in this country. Why is that? I keep asking and receive absolutely no explanation at all. Why can't they live up to their claims of being all about supporting the troops when the troops need them? Why can't they cross over the line of wanting to defend Bush when the troops suffer from his neglect? Does anyone have any thoughts on this at all?
We have thousands committing suicide because of PTSD, yet these "pro-life" people want to ignore the living, breathing, suffering so hopeless that they cannot find the strength to go on one more day without relief. All these veterans need is compassion enough to reach out a hand to help them heal, yet the "right" ignore them. Worse, they attack media reports regarding the needless suffering of our men and women in uniform serving this nation. What will it take to get them involved in any of this? What will it take people like O'Reilly and Hannity and Coulter to actually join the fight for the sake of the troops that has absolutely nothing to do with being for or against the occupation of Iraq? The troops will one day leave Iraq but they will not leave Iraq behind them. They will not leave Afghanistan behind them any more than they left Vietnam or the Gulf War behind them or any combat. This will take every ounce of dedication and courage the people of this nation can find to fight for them.
PTSD has nothing to do with a political affiliation, believing in the mission or not, being from a "blue state" or a "red state" or any type of religious institution. It has to do with being a human exposed to traumatic events. Combat is the form that cuts the deepest, but police and firefighters, emergency responders, crime victims, survivors of natures fury, all experience PTSD. What will it take for these people to actually start acting like members of the human family?
How is it that the "right" always seem to be so outraged when women have abortions but never, ever contemplate the suicides of our veterans. They never seem to be willing to acknowledge one single needles death when it comes to them.
This is just one more case of them not being willing to really stand up for the troops and our veterans. They could join in the effort to have all our veterans treated for PTSD and cared for in the manner this nation should finally be willing to do, but they don't. Yet Malkin managed to add in the terms AWOL and MIA. These are military terms for Absent Without Leave and Missing in Action. When it comes to our wounded warriors, she couldn't have picked better terms to describe their neglect.
I cannot remember a single time I visited any of their sites and found something worthy of posting. There has been virtually no information they provide that has any value to what should really matter to everyone in this country. Why is that? I keep asking and receive absolutely no explanation at all. Why can't they live up to their claims of being all about supporting the troops when the troops need them? Why can't they cross over the line of wanting to defend Bush when the troops suffer from his neglect? Does anyone have any thoughts on this at all?
February 27, 2008
The Suicide of Emma Beck and Silence No More
By Michelle Malkin
She didn't have to die. And neither did her unborn children. Over the weekend, London newspapers reported on the 2007 suicide of 30-year-old Emma Beck, a young British artist who hung herself after the abortion of her twin babies. Perhaps the retelling of her suffering can prevent more needless deaths.
The agony and loneliness in Emma Beck's suicide note resonate across the pond, across racial and class lines, across generations. She was distraught over a breakup with her boyfriend, who didn't want the children. She was suffering intense grief from her decision to end the lives inside her. And so she ended her own.
"I should never have had an abortion. I see now I would have been a good mum," Beck wrote. "I told everyone I didn't want to do it, even at the hospital. I was frightened, now it is too late. I died when my babies died. I want to be with my babies -- they need me, no one else does."But it's not just jaded abortion providers and medical assistants, AWOL counselors and MIA parents who need to look in the mirror.
go here for the rest
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/02/the_suicide_of_emma_beck_and_s.html
We have thousands committing suicide because of PTSD, yet these "pro-life" people want to ignore the living, breathing, suffering so hopeless that they cannot find the strength to go on one more day without relief. All these veterans need is compassion enough to reach out a hand to help them heal, yet the "right" ignore them. Worse, they attack media reports regarding the needless suffering of our men and women in uniform serving this nation. What will it take to get them involved in any of this? What will it take people like O'Reilly and Hannity and Coulter to actually join the fight for the sake of the troops that has absolutely nothing to do with being for or against the occupation of Iraq? The troops will one day leave Iraq but they will not leave Iraq behind them. They will not leave Afghanistan behind them any more than they left Vietnam or the Gulf War behind them or any combat. This will take every ounce of dedication and courage the people of this nation can find to fight for them.
PTSD has nothing to do with a political affiliation, believing in the mission or not, being from a "blue state" or a "red state" or any type of religious institution. It has to do with being a human exposed to traumatic events. Combat is the form that cuts the deepest, but police and firefighters, emergency responders, crime victims, survivors of natures fury, all experience PTSD. What will it take for these people to actually start acting like members of the human family?
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Too few seek help with PTSD in Coos Bay Oregon
This is not a good sign. PTSD rates are off the charts and seeing too few seeking help is not a good sign at all.
Local PTSD cases disturbingly low
By Tim Novotny
Video
COOS BAY - The numbers, or rather the lack of numbers, are concerning some mental health professionals on the South Coast. They say they are seeing too few veterans getting help for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. So Dr. Richard Staggenborg, of the Bandon VA Clinic, is trying to do what he can to get the word out by hosting talks like one recently held at Southwestern Oregon Community College.
Talking to veterans and their family members to show them help is available, and if you have PTSD, help is needed because the disorder won't go away on it's own.
His recent talk called "Identifying Signs and Talking to the Returning Service Member" also helped to shed light on the problems faced by all vets with PTSD.
Anyone wanting to find out more about PTSD can contact Staggenborg at 347-4736, or toll-free at 1-800-549-8387.He says he is also hoping to present more talks on the subject in the future.
http://www.kcby.com/news/local/16008597.html
Boston Red Sox Going To Walter Reed For Heroes
"A couple of guys I remember were 19, 20. They couldn't walk out of there — if they had something to walk on — and go to the local bar and have a beer," Mike Timlin said. "And yet, they've gone across the ocean to a strange land and got blown up, because that's what the country needed. And what makes it even more impressive is that to a man, if they could figure out some way to get a prosthetic on or repair what they've done, they'd go right back.
Fans For A Day
Red Sox To Visit Wounded Soldiers At Walter Reed
By JEFF GOLDBERG | Courant Staff Writer
February 26, 2008
FORT MYERS, Fla. - They still remember the horrible wounds. They remember the remarkable courage.
By the time the Red Sox ended their visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington three years ago — celebrating the 2004 World Series title and helping to boost veterans' spirits — it was impossible to tell which group was more in awe.
"Humbling is a very weak word," Curt Schilling said. "It was profound for me. For me, it was, 'Thank you.' You look them in the eye, take their hand and say, 'Thank you. Thank you.' Make sure they understand you truly mean it.
"You always hear hero or superstar, all those words people use for athletes, then you stand in a room of heroes and superstars. They're double-amputees, 19-, 20-year-old kids, and it's just another perspective-giving event in life that you never ever forget."
There will be another such event Wednesday. Like that day in March 2005, the Red Sox will fly to Washington in the late morning, pose with President Bush and the 2007 World Series trophy at the White House around 3 p.m., then head over to Walter Reed.
The visit to the veterans hospital was the most memorable aspect of that day three years ago.
click post title for the rest
Another soldier stages shooting to avoid being re-deployed
Soldier allegedly stages shooting to avoid Iraq
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Feb 26, 2008 17:22:07 EST
APPLE VALLEY, Calif. — A soldier trying to avoid redeployment to Iraq had a friend shoot him in the leg and then claimed he’d been wounded in a holdup, authorities said.
Army Pfc. Matthew John Myers, 20, of Apple Valley, limped into a convenience store about 9:30 p.m. Sunday and reported he had been walking on a golf course when a gunman stole his wallet and military identification and shot him in the right thigh, authorities said.
A helicopter search failed to find a robber, and San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies became suspicious of the story because they could not find a blood trail or any shell casings and Myers could not describe the attacker.
Also, Myers “had stated that he was walking alone when the suspect came up and shot him, then ran away,” sheriff’s Sgt. Todd Newton said. “But when deputies went back to investigate, they found two sets of footprints that had been walking side by side for some time.”
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/ap_soldiershot_022608/
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Feb 26, 2008 17:22:07 EST
APPLE VALLEY, Calif. — A soldier trying to avoid redeployment to Iraq had a friend shoot him in the leg and then claimed he’d been wounded in a holdup, authorities said.
Army Pfc. Matthew John Myers, 20, of Apple Valley, limped into a convenience store about 9:30 p.m. Sunday and reported he had been walking on a golf course when a gunman stole his wallet and military identification and shot him in the right thigh, authorities said.
A helicopter search failed to find a robber, and San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies became suspicious of the story because they could not find a blood trail or any shell casings and Myers could not describe the attacker.
Also, Myers “had stated that he was walking alone when the suspect came up and shot him, then ran away,” sheriff’s Sgt. Todd Newton said. “But when deputies went back to investigate, they found two sets of footprints that had been walking side by side for some time.”
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/ap_soldiershot_022608/
Army Spc. Kevin Mowl dies after feeding tube breaks
Soldier dies 6 months after being hurt in Iraq
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Feb 26, 2008 12:50:37 EST
PITTSFORD, N.Y. — A western New York soldier wounded six months ago in an explosion in Iraq has died in a military hospital in Maryland.
Army Spc. Kevin Mowl of the Rochester suburb of Pittsford was 22 when he died Monday at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.
Mowl suffered multiple broken bones and a head injury Aug. 2 when a roadside bomb flipped his vehicle in Baghdad. Three others died, and 11 soldiers and an interpreter were injured.
President Bush presented Mowl with a Purple Heart and a Presidential Medallion at the hospital in December.
Mowl recently suffered a serious infection after part of his feeding tube broke and perforated his intestines.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/ap_6monthsafter_022608/
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Feb 26, 2008 12:50:37 EST
PITTSFORD, N.Y. — A western New York soldier wounded six months ago in an explosion in Iraq has died in a military hospital in Maryland.
Army Spc. Kevin Mowl of the Rochester suburb of Pittsford was 22 when he died Monday at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.
Mowl suffered multiple broken bones and a head injury Aug. 2 when a roadside bomb flipped his vehicle in Baghdad. Three others died, and 11 soldiers and an interpreter were injured.
President Bush presented Mowl with a Purple Heart and a Presidential Medallion at the hospital in December.
Mowl recently suffered a serious infection after part of his feeding tube broke and perforated his intestines.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/ap_6monthsafter_022608/
Marines want probe into armored vehicle program
Marines want probe into armored vehicle program
delays
Story Highlights
Corps asks Pentagon to look into why specially armored vehicles were delayed
Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles arrived in large numbers in 2007
Internal report says earlier delivery could have prevented deaths, wounds
Suicide bomber kills 9 in northern Iraq, military says
From Barbara Starr
CNN
(CNN) -- Casualties could have been reduced by half among Marines in Iraq if specially armored vehicles had been deployed more quickly in some cases, a report to the Pentagon says.
Marine Corps spokesman Col. David Lapan said the Defense Department's inspector general wants to investigate the report's claims that bureaucratic delays undermined the program to develop the armored vehicles.
The program was designed to provide combat forces with Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles, known by the acronym MRAPs.
The Marine Corps requested an investigation last week after receiving Marine technology expert Franz Gayl's report.
"If the mass procurement and fielding of MRAPs had begun in 2005 in response to the known and acknowledged threats at that time, as the USMC is doing today, hundreds of deaths and injuries could have been prevented," Gayl wrote in the report.
go here for the rest
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/02/26/iraq.main/
How many lost their lives because of this? Got blown up? Ended up with TBI and PTSD?
delays
Story Highlights
Corps asks Pentagon to look into why specially armored vehicles were delayed
Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles arrived in large numbers in 2007
Internal report says earlier delivery could have prevented deaths, wounds
Suicide bomber kills 9 in northern Iraq, military says
From Barbara Starr
CNN
(CNN) -- Casualties could have been reduced by half among Marines in Iraq if specially armored vehicles had been deployed more quickly in some cases, a report to the Pentagon says.
Marine Corps spokesman Col. David Lapan said the Defense Department's inspector general wants to investigate the report's claims that bureaucratic delays undermined the program to develop the armored vehicles.
The program was designed to provide combat forces with Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles, known by the acronym MRAPs.
The Marine Corps requested an investigation last week after receiving Marine technology expert Franz Gayl's report.
"If the mass procurement and fielding of MRAPs had begun in 2005 in response to the known and acknowledged threats at that time, as the USMC is doing today, hundreds of deaths and injuries could have been prevented," Gayl wrote in the report.
go here for the rest
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/02/26/iraq.main/
How many lost their lives because of this? Got blown up? Ended up with TBI and PTSD?
Get involved when it matters to the wounded for a change
From A Soldier's Perspective
I will never understand comments like that last part posted. If you go there you can read the rest. What I don't understand and will never accept is that none of these people ever seem concerned with the way the veterans are really treated when they come home.
We can argue from coast to coast about Iraq and we can ignore the reality of what is happening to the wounded, but in doing so, it does a disservice to the men and women we spend the rest of the time arguing over.
I make no secret how I feel about Iraq but that is for my other blog. It has no place here. This blog is just for the way they are treated when they are wounded and need this entire nation standing up for their sake. Why doesn't the other side ever understand this?
I get hate mail from the other side. One commenter on this blog told me to take my bleeding heart liberal blah, blah, blah, as if that was supposed to make any sense at all. Since when was it considered wrong to care about the homeless veterans, the disabled veterans and PTSD veterans? Who decided that they should be exclusive rights of the right as if they ever even mention what is happening to the veterans?
Did they go ballistic over the conditions at Walter Reed or against the Washington Post reporting on it?
Did they go ballistic over the reports of suicides that didn't need to happen if the DOD and the VA were fully functional and geared up to deal with the wounded coming back or did they attack the reporters daring to report on this?
When I was working for the church, I hosted the showing of the documentary When I Came Home so that I could put a spotlight on PTSD and how many were ending up homeless, just like the Vietnam Veterans did. Back then, there was an excuse that no one really understood PTSD in the beginning, but now there really isn't an acceptable excuse for any of this to still be going on. Anyway, as the plans were coming together to show the documentary, some people at the church wanted to know why they were letting me show this when it was clearly political. Political? It was about our veterans coming back and being homeless because they were wounded by PTSD and could not support themselves.
How can anyone still say "support the troops" with a straight face when they clearly don't when it matters to them? Do they stop being worthy of support when they get wounded? Do they suddenly become less worthy of our attention when they are not deployed and risking their lives? What is wrong with these people who cannot or will not contact their Congressman or Senator to make sure all the wounded are cared for, the soldiers are paid enough their families don't have to go on food stamps or when they are last on the to do list of the President? Where is the outrage when the VA budget is cut back by Bush or in 2005 when he cut it back then with two active occupations producing more wounded? Where was the outrage when the DOD and the VA had to admit they had less doctors and nurses during these occupations than they did after the Gulf War in peacetime? Any clues? I don't have a single one.
Each time I get a heads up on some of these posts, I read them and wonder what exactly do these people think they are fighting for if they are not fighting for them when it matters to them?
I say "never again" should we allow any wounded veteran to come back to this country after fighting for this country and then have to fight the country to have their wounds taken care of!
Get Involved
February 25th, 2008 by CJ
Ladies and gentlemen, IVAW is working hard to revive the Winter Soldiers from the Vietnam era. The Vietnam Veterans Against War have started a new movement and recruited disaffected and sad excuses for veterans (I say that as a result of the number of "veterans" the organization claims that have been outed as fakes) to relive the glory days of spitting on the image of the honorable Soldier.
Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) has advertised widely that it will hold a public event it has entitled "Winter Soldier Investigation (WSI) - Iraq and Afghanistan" near Washington D.C. next month (Mar. 13-16). The event is self-consciously patterned after the 1971 Winter Soldier Investigation held in Detroit by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War(VVAW). During that event, over one hundred purported Vietnam veterans "testified" to widespread and horrific atrocities committed routinely by American forces in Vietnam. Now, they're trying to do it again. But, what can we do?
If you don't know what's going on your area because you're like most pro-troop people and you have a job, I highly encourage you to join the Gathering of Eagles. The motto of GOE is "Never Again". It's on their flag. It's in their blood. The Vietnam veterans in this country don't want a repeat of how they were treated when they returned. They want to put an end to the whitewash the media has bestowed on troop supporters' activities. You can read about my experience with the first ever Gathering of Eagles here, here, here, and here (preferably in that order).
go here for the rest
http://www.soldiersperspective.us/2008/02/25/get-involved/
I will never understand comments like that last part posted. If you go there you can read the rest. What I don't understand and will never accept is that none of these people ever seem concerned with the way the veterans are really treated when they come home.
We can argue from coast to coast about Iraq and we can ignore the reality of what is happening to the wounded, but in doing so, it does a disservice to the men and women we spend the rest of the time arguing over.
I make no secret how I feel about Iraq but that is for my other blog. It has no place here. This blog is just for the way they are treated when they are wounded and need this entire nation standing up for their sake. Why doesn't the other side ever understand this?
I get hate mail from the other side. One commenter on this blog told me to take my bleeding heart liberal blah, blah, blah, as if that was supposed to make any sense at all. Since when was it considered wrong to care about the homeless veterans, the disabled veterans and PTSD veterans? Who decided that they should be exclusive rights of the right as if they ever even mention what is happening to the veterans?
Did they go ballistic over the conditions at Walter Reed or against the Washington Post reporting on it?
Did they go ballistic over the reports of suicides that didn't need to happen if the DOD and the VA were fully functional and geared up to deal with the wounded coming back or did they attack the reporters daring to report on this?
When I was working for the church, I hosted the showing of the documentary When I Came Home so that I could put a spotlight on PTSD and how many were ending up homeless, just like the Vietnam Veterans did. Back then, there was an excuse that no one really understood PTSD in the beginning, but now there really isn't an acceptable excuse for any of this to still be going on. Anyway, as the plans were coming together to show the documentary, some people at the church wanted to know why they were letting me show this when it was clearly political. Political? It was about our veterans coming back and being homeless because they were wounded by PTSD and could not support themselves.
How can anyone still say "support the troops" with a straight face when they clearly don't when it matters to them? Do they stop being worthy of support when they get wounded? Do they suddenly become less worthy of our attention when they are not deployed and risking their lives? What is wrong with these people who cannot or will not contact their Congressman or Senator to make sure all the wounded are cared for, the soldiers are paid enough their families don't have to go on food stamps or when they are last on the to do list of the President? Where is the outrage when the VA budget is cut back by Bush or in 2005 when he cut it back then with two active occupations producing more wounded? Where was the outrage when the DOD and the VA had to admit they had less doctors and nurses during these occupations than they did after the Gulf War in peacetime? Any clues? I don't have a single one.
Each time I get a heads up on some of these posts, I read them and wonder what exactly do these people think they are fighting for if they are not fighting for them when it matters to them?
I say "never again" should we allow any wounded veteran to come back to this country after fighting for this country and then have to fight the country to have their wounds taken care of!
Veteran Bears Scars of Stateside Agent Orange
NewsChannel 5 Investigates:Veteran Bears Scars of Stateside Agent Orange
Feb 25, 2008 06:29 PM EST
Featured Videos
Veteran Bears Scars of Stateside Agent Orange
Footage showing the military spraying the toxic herbicide to thin out the jungles of Vietnam.
James Cripps, a Vietnam era veteran
Blackheads on Cripps' back contain poisonous residue from Agent Orange.
Dr. Dewey Dunn, an Agent Orange expert
About Agent Orange
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
When it comes to deadly poisons, few are better known. The military's use of Agent Orange is one of the dark chapters of the Vietnam War.
But NewsChannel 5 investigative reporter Ben Hall has found the military used Agent Orange here in the United States -- and one veteran says he has the health problems to prove it.
Agent Orange was a toxic herbicide used by the military to thin out the jungles of Vietnam. Soldiers sprayed millions of gallons, unaware how poisonous it was.
"There was a problem and the evidence is on my back and my chest and 40 years of my life," says James Cripps, a Vietnam era veteran.
He says he was poisoned by Agent Orange, but he never served in Vietnam.
"When I got wounded I didn't know it I had no reason to suspect there would have been no way to have proved it," Cripps says.
Cripps had what seemed like a dream job as game warden at Fort Gordon in Georgia.
"This is me in 1971 when I got out of the Army you can see all the marks on my face," he says, pointing to photos of himself.
Cripps says when he left the military he had already been exposed. He believes he sprayed Agent Orange in the lakes around Fort Gordon to kill weeds.
"I was ordered to spray that herbicide," Cripps says. And pictures show signs warning people about fishing in the lakes Cripps once cared for. "I know what's in those lakes, I put it there," adds Cripps.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates has uncovered defense department documents that prove the military sprayed Agent Orange at Fort Gordon during the time Cripps was there.
Documents detail more than 30 locations in the United States where Agent Orange was tested.
The documents show helicopters sprayed at least 95 gallons of Agent Orange at Fort Gordon in 1967. Cripps says that alone should prove he was exposed.
"A lot of them cause scars sometimes they go so sore he can't wear his shirt," his wife, Sandra Cripps, says.
But he and his wife say his body offers the greatest proof. The blackheads on his back contain the poisonous residue from Agent Orange which causes acne called ‘chloracne.'
"In some persons the skin legions persist," says Dr. Dewey Dunn, an Agent Orange expert.He says chloracne is a tell-tale sign of Agent Orange exposure. "It's just sort of a marker so its on the list and probably at the top of the list."
Dr. Dunn examined James Cripps but could not talk specifically about his case. Medical records show Dr. Dunn diagnosed Cripps with Chloracne and type-two diabetes, another sign of exposure.
Despite all the evidence, the VA will not approve James Cripps disability claim. "I'm being denied my medical care to this very day," says Cripps.
"From what I see it strictly gets down to money," says Donald Stephens, who is with the Disabled American Veterans. He's helped hundreds of veterans prepare their VA medical claims.
Ben Hall asks, "How strong is Mr. Cripps claim?"
"A ten," Stephens answers. "I would give it a ten."
He says there's plenty of help for veterans exposed in Vietnam, but he believes Cripps claim would open the floodgates for veterans exposed in the United States.
Meanwhile, James Cripps is on multiple medications and he's struggling to pay his medical bills. And now the VA is actually garnishing his Social Security checks.
"We have discussed of late, even yesterday, the thought of suicide," he confides.
After years of service, Cripps and his wife feel broken and betrayed.
"I can see why some veterans would give up," Sandra Cripps says. "It's not fair."
To whom it may concern at the VA Now I know how to beat you at your own game. I have discovered the perfect eye witness and he is the young guy in the picture above. He is my best friend and we are going to Washington together for the purpose of presenting my case to the Board of Veterans Appeals. My friend was there in 1968 you know. He knows how the whole thing went down. I can vouch for his honesty because I have known him all of my life, and I know him well. He is indeed the perfect witness as to the Agent Orange exposure. You will not give weight to my own testimony, and you seem to insinuate that my identity is questionable, and that I might have been somewhere else in the particular time frame of the actual toxic exposure! How can you say that? Then again, the VA has never taken my word for anything. I can't wait to see how the BVA in Washington will react to my introduction of this new witness. I suspect that they will just acuse me of trying to cover my own a!!!!???? Thanks for your tolerance, James & James
Jamescripps9@aol.com
PS. I would like to amend my original claim to add PTSD, my stressor is obvious.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Add your story, save a copy, and foward to another veteran and a Congressman or U S Senator, and the President, "George W. Bush" <" href="mailto:president@whitehouse.gov%3E">president@whitehouse.gov>This list is for agent Orange exposure outside Vietnam only, we will see where this goes.
Feb 25, 2008 06:29 PM EST
Featured Videos
Veteran Bears Scars of Stateside Agent Orange
Footage showing the military spraying the toxic herbicide to thin out the jungles of Vietnam.
James Cripps, a Vietnam era veteran
Blackheads on Cripps' back contain poisonous residue from Agent Orange.
Dr. Dewey Dunn, an Agent Orange expert
About Agent Orange
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
When it comes to deadly poisons, few are better known. The military's use of Agent Orange is one of the dark chapters of the Vietnam War.
But NewsChannel 5 investigative reporter Ben Hall has found the military used Agent Orange here in the United States -- and one veteran says he has the health problems to prove it.
Agent Orange was a toxic herbicide used by the military to thin out the jungles of Vietnam. Soldiers sprayed millions of gallons, unaware how poisonous it was.
"There was a problem and the evidence is on my back and my chest and 40 years of my life," says James Cripps, a Vietnam era veteran.
He says he was poisoned by Agent Orange, but he never served in Vietnam.
"When I got wounded I didn't know it I had no reason to suspect there would have been no way to have proved it," Cripps says.
Cripps had what seemed like a dream job as game warden at Fort Gordon in Georgia.
"This is me in 1971 when I got out of the Army you can see all the marks on my face," he says, pointing to photos of himself.
Cripps says when he left the military he had already been exposed. He believes he sprayed Agent Orange in the lakes around Fort Gordon to kill weeds.
"I was ordered to spray that herbicide," Cripps says. And pictures show signs warning people about fishing in the lakes Cripps once cared for. "I know what's in those lakes, I put it there," adds Cripps.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates has uncovered defense department documents that prove the military sprayed Agent Orange at Fort Gordon during the time Cripps was there.
Documents detail more than 30 locations in the United States where Agent Orange was tested.
The documents show helicopters sprayed at least 95 gallons of Agent Orange at Fort Gordon in 1967. Cripps says that alone should prove he was exposed.
"A lot of them cause scars sometimes they go so sore he can't wear his shirt," his wife, Sandra Cripps, says.
But he and his wife say his body offers the greatest proof. The blackheads on his back contain the poisonous residue from Agent Orange which causes acne called ‘chloracne.'
"In some persons the skin legions persist," says Dr. Dewey Dunn, an Agent Orange expert.He says chloracne is a tell-tale sign of Agent Orange exposure. "It's just sort of a marker so its on the list and probably at the top of the list."
Dr. Dunn examined James Cripps but could not talk specifically about his case. Medical records show Dr. Dunn diagnosed Cripps with Chloracne and type-two diabetes, another sign of exposure.
Despite all the evidence, the VA will not approve James Cripps disability claim. "I'm being denied my medical care to this very day," says Cripps.
"From what I see it strictly gets down to money," says Donald Stephens, who is with the Disabled American Veterans. He's helped hundreds of veterans prepare their VA medical claims.
Ben Hall asks, "How strong is Mr. Cripps claim?"
"A ten," Stephens answers. "I would give it a ten."
He says there's plenty of help for veterans exposed in Vietnam, but he believes Cripps claim would open the floodgates for veterans exposed in the United States.
Meanwhile, James Cripps is on multiple medications and he's struggling to pay his medical bills. And now the VA is actually garnishing his Social Security checks.
"We have discussed of late, even yesterday, the thought of suicide," he confides.
After years of service, Cripps and his wife feel broken and betrayed.
"I can see why some veterans would give up," Sandra Cripps says. "It's not fair."
To whom it may concern at the VA Now I know how to beat you at your own game. I have discovered the perfect eye witness and he is the young guy in the picture above. He is my best friend and we are going to Washington together for the purpose of presenting my case to the Board of Veterans Appeals. My friend was there in 1968 you know. He knows how the whole thing went down. I can vouch for his honesty because I have known him all of my life, and I know him well. He is indeed the perfect witness as to the Agent Orange exposure. You will not give weight to my own testimony, and you seem to insinuate that my identity is questionable, and that I might have been somewhere else in the particular time frame of the actual toxic exposure! How can you say that? Then again, the VA has never taken my word for anything. I can't wait to see how the BVA in Washington will react to my introduction of this new witness. I suspect that they will just acuse me of trying to cover my own a!!!!???? Thanks for your tolerance, James & James
Jamescripps9@aol.com
PS. I would like to amend my original claim to add PTSD, my stressor is obvious.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Add your story, save a copy, and foward to another veteran and a Congressman or U S Senator, and the President, "George W. Bush" <" href="mailto:president@whitehouse.gov%3E">president@whitehouse.gov>This list is for agent Orange exposure outside Vietnam only, we will see where this goes.
This is from a friend of mine who added her name to the list.
GOD BLESS YOU JAMES... TELL MY STORY AND SALLY'S THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOU AND ME I WAS DIAGONISED ON ACTIVE DUTY... IRISH
37 YEARS OF MEDICAL TREATMENT FOR CHEMICAL EXPOSURE ONLY TO BE DEINED MY VA BENEFITS WELCOME HOME IRISH
I AM 100% CNS AT 60% 40 % FOR IU... I HAVE 22 OTHER ILLNESESS CLAIM DATE 11 JUN 1977
MY WRITTEN TESTIMONY BEFORE THE VA DISABILITY COMMISSION ON SEP 14, 2006 IS PUBLISHED IN MY AMERICAN LEGION DECEMBER NEWS LETTER. I HAVE ALSO RECENTLY BEEN CONTACTED BY TWO VETERANS WHO WERE AT FORT MCCLELLAN. THEY BOTH TALK ABOUT THE CHEMICAL SPRAYING BUT ALSO ABOUT A VIET CONG VILLAGE THAT WAS SET UP AT FORT MCCLELLAN. ONE VETERAN ACTUALLY DID THE SPRAYING. BOTH HAVE CANCERS AND WERE DENIED COMPENSATION. THIS IS THE FIRST THAT I HEARD ABOUT THIS BUT THREE OTHER FORT MCCLELLAN VETS CONFIRM THAT A VIET CONG VILLAGE WAS SET UP THERE FOR TRAINING ...
Spc. Richard Hanna Killed in accident gun fire
Friends recall, mourn soldier slain in shooting
By Noah Bierman
Globe Staff / February 25, 2008
Richard Gee Hanna enlisted in the Army to rebuild his life, after a tough upbringing in Leicester. After two years in Iraq, he returned to the United States last month, ready to complete his military career and move to Hawaii to start a life with his new wife and her 2-year-old daughter.
Instead, the 24-year-old Army specialist was shot to death earlier this month, in what friends in Massachusetts said may have been an accident during a party at a residence in Killeen, Texas, near the Fort Hood military post.
His death came just days before he was scheduled to return to Massachusetts and reconnect with close friends. He was planning to introduce them to his wife of about a year, and serve as best man in the wedding of a friend, Jason Avanecean, in Putnam, Conn.
"The kid was everything to me," said Avanecean, who has postponed his wedding.
Killeen police, Fort Hood public information officers, and the Bell County district attorney said the matter is under investigation, but declined to release more than spare details.
"All parties involved in the death have been identified," police said in a written statement earlier this month. No charges have been filed.
click post title for the rest
By Noah Bierman
Globe Staff / February 25, 2008
Richard Gee Hanna enlisted in the Army to rebuild his life, after a tough upbringing in Leicester. After two years in Iraq, he returned to the United States last month, ready to complete his military career and move to Hawaii to start a life with his new wife and her 2-year-old daughter.
Instead, the 24-year-old Army specialist was shot to death earlier this month, in what friends in Massachusetts said may have been an accident during a party at a residence in Killeen, Texas, near the Fort Hood military post.
His death came just days before he was scheduled to return to Massachusetts and reconnect with close friends. He was planning to introduce them to his wife of about a year, and serve as best man in the wedding of a friend, Jason Avanecean, in Putnam, Conn.
"The kid was everything to me," said Avanecean, who has postponed his wedding.
Killeen police, Fort Hood public information officers, and the Bell County district attorney said the matter is under investigation, but declined to release more than spare details.
"All parties involved in the death have been identified," police said in a written statement earlier this month. No charges have been filed.
click post title for the rest
Another Non-combat death in Iraq
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Spc. Keisha M. Morgan, 25, of Washington, D.C., died Feb. 22 in Baghdad, Iraq, of a non-combat related cause. She was assigned to the Division Special Troops Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
The circumstances are under investigation.
Fort Hood soldier dies in Iraq
Posted on: Tuesday, February 26, 2008, 3:01 AM
From staff reports
The Defense Department announced Monday the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Spc. Keisha M. Morgan, 25, of Washington, D.C., died Friday in Baghdad, Iraq, of a non-combat related cause. She was assigned to the Division Special Troops Battalion, 4th Infantry Division.
The circumstances are under investigation.
Morgan entered the Army in September 2004. She was assigned to the Division Special Troops Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, since May 2007, as a signal support systems specialist.
Morgan deployed to Iraq in November 2007.
Morgan’s awards and decorations include the Army Commendation Medal, Meritorious Unit Commendation, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon and Overseas Service Ribbon.
http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=23341
Trinity United Methodist Church Seattle blessing for homeless
Homeless arrive here on Friday
By Dean Wong
Monday, February 25, 2008
Twenty new residents will be moving into Ballard on Feb. 29 and they won't be owners of the numerous condominiums overwhelming the area.
Trinity United Methodist Church will be a permanent host for a SHARE/WHEEL (Seattle Housing and Resource Effort/Women's Housing Equality and Enhancement League) shelter. The group's Veteran's Hall facility is closing and moving its operation to Trinity.
"We are getting a SHARE shelter that is up and running. We are getting an intact group (of residents)," said Trinity United Methodist Church pastor Rich Lang.
The residents will be a mix of men and women. Some are couples. They will sleep in the church gymnasium on mats.
Lang said the church's vision is to eventually provide storage units for their belongings. A shower room is now being remodeled.
Trinity may provide a breakfast at some point in the future. Currently the church only has a Saturday lunch program for the homeless. Lang said neighbors around the church have seen the soup kitchen in operation for a year without incident.
Lang has met with the residents who will be coming to Ballard. "Many have jobs or are looking for work. They are highly functional people," said Lang.
He said the people he has met are working hard to get off the streets and are a stable group. Residents will have access to the church gymnasium from 9 p.m. to 7:30 a.m.
go here for the rest
http://www.ballardnewstribune.com/articles/2008/02/25/news/local_news/news04.txt
Looks like this church is taking the message of Christ as a moral value. Bravo!
By Dean Wong
Monday, February 25, 2008
Twenty new residents will be moving into Ballard on Feb. 29 and they won't be owners of the numerous condominiums overwhelming the area.
Trinity United Methodist Church will be a permanent host for a SHARE/WHEEL (Seattle Housing and Resource Effort/Women's Housing Equality and Enhancement League) shelter. The group's Veteran's Hall facility is closing and moving its operation to Trinity.
"We are getting a SHARE shelter that is up and running. We are getting an intact group (of residents)," said Trinity United Methodist Church pastor Rich Lang.
The residents will be a mix of men and women. Some are couples. They will sleep in the church gymnasium on mats.
Lang said the church's vision is to eventually provide storage units for their belongings. A shower room is now being remodeled.
Trinity may provide a breakfast at some point in the future. Currently the church only has a Saturday lunch program for the homeless. Lang said neighbors around the church have seen the soup kitchen in operation for a year without incident.
Lang has met with the residents who will be coming to Ballard. "Many have jobs or are looking for work. They are highly functional people," said Lang.
He said the people he has met are working hard to get off the streets and are a stable group. Residents will have access to the church gymnasium from 9 p.m. to 7:30 a.m.
go here for the rest
http://www.ballardnewstribune.com/articles/2008/02/25/news/local_news/news04.txt
Looks like this church is taking the message of Christ as a moral value. Bravo!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Second Cherokee warrant issued for missing soldier Gary Chronister
Because I've been looking so much for reports on Eric Hill, the missing Marine, another missing soldier came into my mind. There were reports in November and December about Gary Chronister missing as well. I wanted to see if there were any updates. I was surprised with what came up in the search.
Is this why the stories about him have dried up? Are people still looking for him?
Second Cherokee warrant issued for missing soldier
By Erika Neldner
erikaneldner@ledgernews.com
A second arrest warrant has been issued in Cherokee County for a war veteran who has been missing from Macon since November.
Gary Chronister (Right), 33, is accused of molesting two children last year, police say.
The newest accusation was filed with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office in late January, said Sgt. Jay Baker, sheriff’s office spokesman.
Chronister knew his alleged victim, however, police would not say how old the child is or what relationship he or she had with Chronister.
Police said the allegations are similar to the first complaint filed against the missing war veteran.
In mid-January, the sheriff’s office issued the first arrest warrant on child molestation charges for Chronister.
The victim’s parents filed a police report in September, which said their daughter claimed that Chronister touched her inappropriately at locations in Cobb and Cherokee counties.
Chronister’s mother reported him missing on Nov. 10. He reportedly has a mental illness that causes memory loss and disorientation, according to recent news reports.
Chronister served in the United States Army in Afghanistan and Iraq. He is 6 feet, 1 inch tall and weighs about 250 pounds. Anyone with any information about his whereabouts should call 911.
http://www.ledgernews.com/weeklynews.html
Is this why the stories about him have dried up? Are people still looking for him?
Army Vet Goes Missing, May Be in Cobb
Web Editor: Josh Roseman
Last Modified: 12/29/2007 10:41:48 AM
An army veteran from Bibb County who has been missing since November 10 may have been seen in Cobb County. His mother is organizing a search in the area.
Gary Chronister, 33, served two tours of duty, both in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was taking medication to help with disorientation and memory loss, but it was believed that he stopped taking it after his disappearance.
Chronister is 6-feet-1-inch tall, weighs 250 pounds, wears glasses, and may have a beard.
Chronister's mother, Sheryl Futrell, said her son left his Bibb County apartment on or around November 10, and has not been seen since. His vehicle was later found on November 19 at an Acworth gas station. He may have been seen this week on Stilesboro Road, near the Stilesboro Biscuits Restaurant, between 11 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Ms. Futrell and other volunteers organized a search for Chronister on December 22, but were unable to find him. Now Futrell and David Litts, a search organizer, have put together a second search for Chronister. The search will begin on Saturday December 29 at 10 a.m., and searchers will gather first at the Kroger shopping center at the corner of Cobb Parkway and Acworth Due West Road.
Any information regarding Chronister's whereabouts should be directed to local police by calling 911. You can also call Sheryl Brim Futrell at (478) 747-9488.
http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=108718
Bush wanted cuts in VA, Akaka wants more money
Sen. committee asks for changes in VA budget
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Feb 25, 2008 19:44:01 EST
A key Senate committee is asking for a $2.6 billion increase in veterans’ spending over the Bush administration’s budget out of concern the needs of combat veterans are not being met.
The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, chaired by Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawaii, is asking for a fiscal 2009 budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs that is $6.6 billion over the fiscal 2008 budget, with $4.6 billion of the additional money going for medical care operations.
Akaka said Congress “has an obligation to our troops returning from combat now” that cannot be met without more money. “Taking care of veterans is a cost of war and our recommendation would fill significant gaps in the president’s request,” Akaka said.
The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee is working on a similar budget proposal that it is expected to unveil Thursday.
Akaka’s committee said in a Feb. 22 letter to the Senate Budget Committee that it rejects cuts proposed by the Bush administration in construction, medical research and auditing. The letter also said the committee opposes an initiative to raise prescription drug fees and to impose enrollment fees for some moderate-income veterans enrolled in the VA health plan who do not have service-connected disabilities.
“These proposals are unacceptable,” Akaka said.
go here for the rest
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/02/military_vabudget_022508/
If Bush thinks cutting back on VA funding is supporting the troops, he is crazy! What kind of a man would do such a terrible thing with so many wounded and many, many more to come?
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Feb 25, 2008 19:44:01 EST
A key Senate committee is asking for a $2.6 billion increase in veterans’ spending over the Bush administration’s budget out of concern the needs of combat veterans are not being met.
The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, chaired by Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawaii, is asking for a fiscal 2009 budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs that is $6.6 billion over the fiscal 2008 budget, with $4.6 billion of the additional money going for medical care operations.
Akaka said Congress “has an obligation to our troops returning from combat now” that cannot be met without more money. “Taking care of veterans is a cost of war and our recommendation would fill significant gaps in the president’s request,” Akaka said.
The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee is working on a similar budget proposal that it is expected to unveil Thursday.
Akaka’s committee said in a Feb. 22 letter to the Senate Budget Committee that it rejects cuts proposed by the Bush administration in construction, medical research and auditing. The letter also said the committee opposes an initiative to raise prescription drug fees and to impose enrollment fees for some moderate-income veterans enrolled in the VA health plan who do not have service-connected disabilities.
“These proposals are unacceptable,” Akaka said.
go here for the rest
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/02/military_vabudget_022508/
If Bush thinks cutting back on VA funding is supporting the troops, he is crazy! What kind of a man would do such a terrible thing with so many wounded and many, many more to come?
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