Canada recruiting 450 mental health pros

Military recruiting hundreds to combat PTSD
Updated Thu. Mar. 6 2008 10:36 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

The Canadian military's surgeon general went before the House of Commons Defence Committee Thursday to discuss serious mental health problems potentially affecting thousands of soldiers returning from Afghanistan.


Brig.-Gen. Hilary Jaeger told the committee that she is in the process of recruiting 450 mental health personnel to help Canada's army cope with addiction, depression, and post-traumatic stress (PTSD).


Psychological problems have become an increasingly important issue for the military in recent years as it has expanded its traditional peacekeeping status into a greater combat role.


According to a Department of National Defence website page last modified in 2004, anywhere from two to 15 per cent of soldiers "returning from a stressful mission" may be affected by PTSD. More recent reports suggest that as many as 25 per cent of troops come back home, after experiencing raw combat, with one or more mental health issue.


According to a Veterans Affairs briefing note obtained by The Canadian Press recently, "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."


Jaeger said the issue is "very, very serious."
click post title for the rest

When you look at the numbers in Canada, you also have to be fully aware of something not very obvious. Afghanistan, until the last few years, has not produced the same kind of violence, bombs and carnage as Iraq has since the invasion. Canadian forces are only involved with Afghanistan. Our troops are in Iraq and Afghanistan. They have been rotated in and out of both occupations. So why is it that Canada is taking such proactive steps to take care of their troops and we are taking baby steps?

Prozac plus rifle plus Iraq ended Spc. Travis Virgadamo's life

Army struggles with rising suicide
A soldier's tale illustrates the prevention battle inside the service as 2007 set a new high for troops taking their own lives

By Dahleen Glanton and Aamer Madhani Tribune correspondents
March 3, 2008

PAHRUMP, Nev. - All Spec. Travis Virgadamo ever wanted was to be a soldier.

But two years after his father signed papers for him to enlist at age 17, things went terribly wrong. Last August, three months after arriving in Iraq, he walked outside his barracks and killed himself with his rifle.

When the news crackled over the Bonecrusher Troop's radio, 1st Lt. Kyle Graham knew immediately that it was Virgadamo, the troubled soldier who had been on suicide watch since June, when he threatened to kill himself while on patrol.

"I feel like we all had some responsibility to make sure this didn't happen," Graham said shortly after the incident. "It's our responsibility to make sure we take care of our fellow soldiers."

Virgadamo, whose case has been cited on the Senate floor and in congressional hearings, is a symbol of a growing problem facing the military as soldiers in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars face repeated and extended deployments.

Last year, 121 soldiers in the Army and active-duty National Guard and Reserves committed suicide, the largest number since the military began keeping records in 1980.

That is more than double the 52 suicides reported in 2001, the year the war in Afghanistan began, according to a recent Pentagon report. The report also cited 2,100 attempted suicides or self-inflicted injuries last year -- six times the 350 reported in 2002, prior to the start of the Iraq war.

Efforts fail to stunt rise

The numbers are rising despite efforts by the military to beef up its mental-health programs. Faced with growing scrutiny over those programs in Congress and the news media, the Army has sought to improve services for soldiers, spending more than $1 million last year on additional counselors, training and screening, Army officials said.

"We are concerned," said Col. Elspeth Ritchie, the Army's chief psychiatrist. "We are doing a lot already to assist in suicide prevention, but clearly we need to do more."

It is not uncommon to see an increase in suicides during war, said Coleen Boyle, an epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and co-author of a mortality study on Vietnam veterans.

The current suicides, one-quarter of which occurred in Iraq and Afghanistan, are due primarily to strained personal relationships exacerbated by repeated deployments that last up to 15 months, Ritchie said. That, coupled with the ready availability of firearms, often can become a deadly combination.

Ritchie said there is no indication that the stress of combat plays a major role in the suicides. But 19-year-old Virgadamo, his relatives said, was distressed over what he had seen in Iraq.

There were signs that he was having trouble long before he deployed. According to his grandmother, Katie O'Brien, Virgadamo had been sent to an anger-management program while in boot camp. She said he also was placed on suicide watch at the Army's Ft. Stewart in Georgia and prescribed the antidepressant Prozac shortly before he deployed. Last June, officials in Iraq placed him on suicide watch again.

Informed of Virgadamo's death, "I asked, 'How many others lost their life with him?'" said O'Brien, 65. "They stood there for a minute and took a deep breath and said, 'No others. It was self-inflicted.' I went ballistic, and I screamed, 'No, no no!'"
click post title for the rest

Virgadamo was so depressed he needed Prozac but they sent him anyway. He lasted three months when he used the rifle he had been handed to end his own pain by taking his own life. What's wrong with sending them into combat on medication? Ask his family. Ask the families of all the others who were given medication and a rifle what's wrong with it. While Congress felt the need to make sure if anyone is diagnosed with mental illness they should not have a gun permit, they see nothing wrong with putting soldiers with mental illness into a combat zone.

South Carolina National Guard Will Need Help Back Home

SC Guard prepares to transition soldiers back to community, jobs
By SUSANNE M. SCHAFER - Associated Press Writer


COLUMBIA, S.C. --Almost half of a state's National Guard soldiers need mental health treatment after they return from fighting, Pentagon studies show. That has South Carolina military officials gearing up for the springtime return of its 1,800 soldiers in Afghanistan.

"They've seen some bad things, and left untreated, that could create some problems down the road," says Lt. Col. Taube Roy, the officer in charge of a new program designed to ease the transition of the members of the 218th Brigade Combat Team from wartime wariness to hometown normality.

Last summer's deployment of the Newberry-based unit ranks as the state's largest such troop movement since World War II.

"We have to help the soldiers who had to become 'warrior-citizens' turn back into 'citizen-soldiers,'" Roy explained recently to a military group organizing the soldiers' welcome home. "In combat situations, they had to have a 'battle mind' at all times - always carry their weapon, be alert for the enemy. Back home, it isn't like that. There are no enemies."

Dubbed "The Road Home," the Guard program invites family members, employers, government leaders, health care providers, law enforcement officials and local clergy to a series of briefings and celebrations designed to teach them how to ease the soldiers' transition - and understand what problems might crop up.

Pentagon studies show about 44 percent of a state's National Guard soldiers may require mental health treatment some three to six months after they return. About 14 percent of those will be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

While there may be a euphoric homecoming, Roy said problems often don't crop up for weeks or months.

"We're getting into what's known as the 'collateral damage,'" Roy said, using the military term for unintended injuries accompanying a military operation.
go here for the rest
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/575/story/374004.html

12-month recovery time between deployments noted as ‘insufficient’

This study, the fifth survey of soldiers, also showed that rates of combat stress disorders and depression are nearly the same among troops recently returning from Afghanistan as those returning from Iraq, a change from previous research which had shown slightly lower in Afghanistan.

12-month recovery time between deployments noted as ‘insufficient’
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, March 7, 2008



WASHINGTON — Soldiers with three or more combat tours show increased rates of mental health problems, in part because they aren’t getting enough dwell time between deployments, according to new data from the Army.

Results from the 2007 Mental Health Advisory Team study, which surveyed almost 2,300 soldiers returning from Iraq and nearly 700 more from Afghanistan, noted nearly 28 percent of soldiers returning from their third tour showed signs of significant stress and mental health problems.

That’s well above the roughly 18 percent rate seen in troops returning from their first or second deployment.

Col. Charles Hoge, director of psychiatry at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, told members of a Senate health panel Wednesday at least part of the problem is the recovery time for troops.

The study notes that 12 months between deployments is “insufficient to reset the mental health of soldiers” and that some post-traumatic stress disorder cases can take up to a year after deployment to manifest themselves.

“It’s also important to keep in mind the length of deployment,” Hoge said. “When the Army deploys longer, they probably need more recovery time afterwards.”
go here for the rest
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=53120

Jamie Leigh Jones case against KBR should go to court

Attys: Iraq Rape Case Belongs in Court
By JUAN A. LOZANO – 22 hours ago

HOUSTON (AP) — A woman who says co-workers raped her while she was a contractor in Iraq should have her case tried in court, not settled in private arbitration, her lawyer told a federal judge Wednesday.

In a federal lawsuit, Jamie Leigh Jones says she was drugged, raped and held against her will in a storage locker while working for KBR Inc., then a subsidiary of Halliburton Co., in 2005.

As part of her employment, Jones agreed to settle claims against the company in arbitration. But she never imagined such claims would include being imprisoned in a storage locker, said one of her attorneys, L. Todd Kelly.

Attorneys for Halliburton and KBR argued that the contract Jones signed binds her to settle all claims — including claims of sexual assault — against her former employer through arbitration.

Halliburton attorney W. Carl Jordan said that because the purported attack is said to have happened in Halliburton-provided barracks, it ties any claims Jones makes to her employment.

Attorneys for Halliburton, KBR and other subsidiaries that have been sued have disputed Jones' allegations. KBR split from Halliburton last year.

U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison is expected to rule at a later date.

Jones sued in May, saying she was raped by co-workers at Camp Hope, Baghdad, in 2005
click post title for the rest

Since when has a crime like rape, gang rape on top of that, been considered an arbitration case instead of a crime?

5,771,000 expected at VA in 2009

Veterans Affairs Health Dept. Undersecretary addresses House Appropriations Subcommittee
March 6th, 2008 by Staff · No Comments
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs met today to discuss the FY2009 budget for Veterans Affairs.

Chairman of the committee Chef Edwards (D-TX) briefly introduced the panelist and commended the efforts of Veterans Affairs in providing medical treatment for injured vets.

Undersecretary for the Health Dept. of Veterans Affairs Michael Kussman spoke on the President’s FY2009 budget which sets aside $41.2 billion for Veterans Affairs (VA) medical care—a $2.3 billion increase over the 2008 budget. He spoke of the need to implement recommendations offered by the Dole-Shalala Commission which he said provide a powerful outline to ensuring that military personnel injured during the “Global War on Terror” receive the necessary aid and medical assistance. He said the 2009 budget request will achieve two main goals of the VA: 1. to provide “timely, accessible, and high-quality health care [to their] highest priority patients,” and 2. to advance “collaborative efforts with the Department of Defense (DoD).”

He also promised to provide “compassionate care” for veterans suffering from mental health issues such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He said that VA expects to treat about 5,771,000 patients in 2009. Kussman also said that in April 2006, over 250,000 “unique” patients were waiting more than 30 days to receive their treatment but that as of January 2001, that figure has been reduced to just over 69,000.

http://talkradionews.com/2008/03/veterans-affairs-
health-dept-undersecretary-addresses-house-appropriations-subcommittee/



Dole-Shalala Commission has been looked at and it should not be done. It falls short of what is really needed. The other thing is none of them will be held accountable when they are out of office next year.

US Troops buying their own gear? Is this supporting them?

U.S. troops buy own gear for safety, style
By Patrik Jonsson
Thu Mar 6, 3:00 AM ET

FORT BENNING, Ga. - Commando Military Supply on Victory Drive here is about as different from a musty Army surplus store as you can imagine.

More REI than M.A.S.H., Commando is regularly jam-packed with deploying grunts and sergeants, poking around for custom gear including $200 flashlights, $150 Oakley protective sunglasses, $180 Thinsulate boots, and $20 thermal socks.

"When you're comfortable and you know where all your gear is, it makes you a better fighter," says Lt. Tucker Knie, an Army Ranger perusing custom ammo pouches and techno-fiber socks. "You don't want to be rummaging around in your pocket during a firefight."

The traditional Army credo is that it's guts that win the glory — not fancy long-johns or Oakley sunglasses. But that old-school thinking is wicking away like perspiration through Gore-Tex as US soldiers today go beyond military-issue battle dress uniforms in favor of top-of-the-line gear to help them get home in one piece — and look sharp, too.

One reason, critics say, is that military procurement, especially of life-saving equipment, is still too slow. Quietly, however, the Pentagon — with the Army leading the charge — has begun bypassing rigid procurement rules, loosening uniformity requirements, and even spearheading technical innovations in gear, ranging from flame-retardant shirts to low-infrared signature zippers.

"The idea now is, 'If it helps Joe do the mission, let him have it — as long as it's not hot pink,' " says Army veteran Logan Coffey, founder of Tactical Tailor, a custom-maker of packs and pouches in Lakewood, Wash. "It's a giant change" in the military mind-set, he says in a phone interview.

In some cases, charity groups have stepped in to help. Operation Helmet, founded by Bob Meaders of Montgomery, Texas, shipped special helmet liners to soldiers to replace what many soldiers said were poorly designed helmet pads issued by the Army and the Marines. Just as Operation Helmet thought its work was done late last year, more requests came in from troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

click post title for the rest

Also remember the pants that split in the crotch? Yep!

The $2 Trillion Nightmare

The $2 Trillion Nightmare

By BOB HERBERT
Published: March 4, 2008
We’ve been hearing a lot about “Saturday Night Live” and the fun it has been having with the presidential race. But hardly a whisper has been heard about a Congressional hearing in Washington last week on a topic that could have been drawn, in all its tragic monstrosity, from the theater of the absurd.

The war in Iraq will ultimately cost U.S. taxpayers not hundreds of billions of dollars, but an astonishing $2 trillion, and perhaps more. There has been very little in the way of public conversation, even in the presidential campaigns, about the consequences of these costs, which are like a cancer inside the American economy.

On Thursday, the Joint Economic Committee, chaired by Senator Chuck Schumer, conducted a public examination of the costs of the war. The witnesses included the Nobel Prize-winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz (who believes the overall costs of the war — not just the cost to taxpayers — will reach $3 trillion), and Robert Hormats, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International.

click post title for the rest

What is really strange is that in a time when a President committed troops into two foreign nations to wage war, he cut taxes for the rich. We now have more billionaires than we did before Afghanistan was invaded and before Iraq was invaded. What we also have is higher debt, less services for the American people, but the most troubling aspect of all of this is there is less for the wounded and for the veterans of both military actions the same President not only ordered but demanded the right to continue both of them as he pleases. Doesn't make much sense does it? No one in their right mind would treat the troops or the veterans this way and then further the assault on them by saying everyone else in the country has to support him if they want to claim they support the troops.

We have less doctors and nurses working for the DOD and the VA than we did before 9-11. There are less service representatives. There are less mental health professionals. There are less IT processors working on claims. All the way around there are more veterans and wounded veterans needing help and less to take care of them. But this has all been ok to the GOP in office and not worth raising hell about for the Democrats. When it comes to supporting the troops when it really does matter to them, we suck at it. We would have demanded a lot more out of the Congress a long time ago if we were really supporting the troops.

Boston:YMCA housing for men in need is called deplorable

YMCA housing for men in need is called deplorable
By David Abel
Globe Staff / March 6, 2008
There have been rat droppings on the old, musty carpet and frequent mouse sightings near holes in the pocked, plaster walls. For months, exterminators have fought an infestation of bedbugs, which left at least one client with bite marks so bad he was treated at a hospital. Watermarks stain the aging ceiling, and some window frames are so old and ill-fitting that duct tape was used to stop drafts. In bathrooms, many of the urinals, toilets, and sinks are out of order.


Officials at the Cardinal Medeiros Transitional Program say they have complained about the conditions for years, but they contend that the YMCA Greater Boston, their landlord in the century-old building on Huntington Avenue, has ignored them while investing in top-of-the-line equipment for its gym. They accuse the Y of neglecting the 63 formerly homeless men who live there after an effort to terminate the program's lease failed four years ago.

Now, program officials are threatening to withhold state lease payments to cover the cost of renovations, which they estimate could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"It's deplorable, an unacceptable situation, the conditions these folks are living in," said Joe McPherson, director of homeless and housing services at Kit Clark Senior Services, which supervises the Medeiros program. "This is not a way people should live. It's so disrespectful. These folks are working, saving money, and they're living in a setting that neither you nor I would accept."
click post title for the rest

Veterans Voices Casualty of war

Casualty of war
By Kevin Cullen
Globe Columnist / March 6, 2008
There was a time, back in the 1950s, when they were in the Navy together, that Tony Flaherty and Wacko Hurley were the best of friends.

When they got back to South Boston, the place where they were born and where they remain, they drank together at the old Chiefs club, a sailors' hangout on Summer Street.

When Flaherty got married at St. Augustine's, Hurley stood at the altar with him, his best man. When Flaherty's first child was born, Hurley was godfather.

But something happened. Wacko Hurley went back to civilian life. Tony Flaherty, a career Navy man, went off to war, this time in Vietnam, and he came back a changed man. One day, he was walking down a dirt road, as a gaggle of Vietnamese kids straggled by, fleeing a village destroyed by American fire.

"One of the kids, a boy, had lost a leg," Tony Flaherty was saying, sitting in his apartment on East Broadway. "I had an epiphany that day."

Flaherty, a military man his entire adult life, had become suddenly, implacably opposed to war. Not long after, they airlifted him out of Nam. He left the Navy with the rank of lieutenant and something called post traumatic stress disorder. "I went cuckoo," he said.

He came back to Southie and tried to pick up the pieces. But he kept picking up a bottle. Eventually he got sober and with a clear head became even more opposed to war, more convinced of its folly, furious over the fact that the sons and daughters of the rich and powerful mostly stayed home while others fight the wars started by the rich and powerful. He worked for a program that got veterans housing and help for substance-abuse problems.

He joined a national organization called Veterans for Peace and, closer to home, a group called South Boston Residents for Peace. Five years ago, as US forces prepared to invade Iraq, Flaherty and his friends asked to march in the St. Patrick's Day parade in Southie. He found himself seeking the permission of his old pal Wacko Hurley, the longtime parade organizer.

Wacko told them to get lost.

"He called us commies," Flaherty said.
go here for the rest
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/03/06/casualty_of_war/

Orlando hires VA Bill Vagianos for homeless prevention

City taps VA official to fight homelessness
March 6, 2008
ORLANDO - Orlando has hired a new administrator whose job is to reduce the number of homeless people in the city.

The City Council this week approved a two-year, $77,000-a-year employment contract with Bill Vagianos, who spent seven years coordinating homeless programs at the Veterans Affairs medical center in Orlando.

Vagianos, 58, will be the city's homeless-prevention coordinator, responsible for coordinating services from government agencies, nonprofit groups and community organizations, as well as developing programs and seeking grant funds.
click post title for the rest

61 Year Old Dr. Willilam Krissoff enlisted after son's death

Orthopedic Surgeons Treat ‘Signature’ War Wounds In IraqBy MedHeadlines • Mar 6th, 2008 • Category: Lifestyle, Odd MedNews, Orthopedics, Surgery
After learning that his 25-year-old son had been killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq, Dr. William Krissoff left his orthopedic practice in Nevada and signed up with the Navy Medical Corp Reserves. The 61 year old surgeon is part of a growing number of orthopedic surgeons who are committed to going to Iraq to help treat the devastating musculoskeletal injuries that have become the “signature” wounds in the war.

In a report presented Wednesday at the 75th Annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, Dr. Kissoff and his colleagues described the unique challenges posed by the injuries in this war. “Modern war produces devastating high energy wounds,” explained Dr. D.C. Covey, chairman of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Naval Medical Center in San Diego. “Whether due to rocket propelled grenades, bombs or improvised explosive devices, the wounds are extremely challenging to treat.”

Due to improvements in body armor which safeguard the head and torso, military orthopedic surgeons are seeing a group of extremity wounds that were not frequently seen in soldiers from previous conflicts. Seven out of ten people who sustain battlefield injuries suffer from musculoskeletal trauma.

“The field of regenerative medicine offers great potential to improve the treatment of patients with severe war injuries,” said Dr. Covey. Military orthopedic surgeons agree that additional research and resources are needed to further advance orthopedic care for the severely injured to improve their chances of living a full life.

Source: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS)

http://medheadlines.com/2008/03/06/orthopedic-surgeons-
treat-signature-war-wounds-in-iraq/

Truckee physician commits to combat after eldest son is killed in Iraq

Guidance from his sons
By Andrew Cristancho, Sierra Sun Staff Writer
» More from Andrew Cristancho, Sierra Sun Staff Writer
12:01 a.m. PT Dec 8, 2007

There's a determination in Bill Krissoff's voice. It is conveyed with a calm cadence that cracks once with emotion as he speaks of his son, a Marine lieutenant whose injuries from an Iraqi roadside bomb couldn't be repaired in time.

Now Krissoff's Truckee office is shuttered. His wife has come to terms with his nearing departure. All that is left for Krissoff, a 61-year-old orthopedic surgeon, is to head to Iraq where young Marines, broken from battle, will be tended by his experienced hands.

Marine 1st Lt. Nathan Krissoff's death, only a year past, galvanized his father's determination to go to war as a healer.

At a time when most successful doctors his age are settling into retirement, the fit surgeon is making one of the most monumental decisions of his life and heading to war.

In his sixth decade, Krissoff, who could pass for 41, squares his chin and with large eyes looking at a point in the distance, proudly speaks of his son.

Fathers usually inspire sons into action, to achieve life goals. But in this family that relationship was turned upside down when Dr. Krissoff received news of his older son's death.

Nathan Krissoff died on Dec. 9, 2006, in Al Anbar province. He was 25.

Now the fallen Marine's father is committed to a mission, one that carries even more than the memory of Nathan. Krissoff's youngest son, Austin, is also an officer in the Corps.
go here for the rest

http://www.theunion.com/article/20071208/NEWS/112080178

Why does the Pentagon keep two sets of books on wounded?

Care for Injured Vets Raises Questions
By BRADLEY BROOKS – 1 hour ago

BAGHDAD (AP) — The number of wounded soldiers has become a hallmark of the nearly 5-year-old Iraq war, pointing to both the use of roadside bombs as the extremists' weapon of choice and advances in battlefield medicine to save lives.

About 15 soldiers are wounded for every fatality, compared with 2.6 per death in Vietnam and 2.8 in Korea.

But with those saved soldiers comes a financial price — one veterans groups and others claim the government is unwilling to pay.

Those critics also say that the tens of thousands of soldiers wounded in Iraq are part of a political numbers game, one they say undermines the medical system meant to care for them.

The most frequently cited figure is the 29,320 soldiers wounded in action in Iraq as of Thursday. But there have been 31,325 others treated for non-combat injuries and illness as of March 1.

"The Pentagon keeps two sets of books," said Linda Bilmes, a professor at Harvard and an expert on budgeting and public finance whose newly published book, "The Three Trillion Dollar War," was co-authored with Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.

"It is important to understand the full number of casualties because the U.S. government is responsible for paying disability compensation and medical care for all our troops, regardless of how they were injured," Bilmes said.

Veterans Affairs predicts it will treat 330,000 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan in 2009 — a 14 percent increase over the 2008 estimate of 263,000 — at a cost of nearly $1.3 billion.
go here for the rest
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j2oUYYnB7xtpN6eyOV0lmnjkTScwD8V83JFG1

They need to expect over half a million and even more than that if this keeps up. It would also be very interesting to find out why the Pentagon thinks they should keep two sets of books. This didn't explain it.

Bad news on Army Mental Health. Is McCain Listening?

Latest Army Mental Health Survey Brings More Bad News -- Is McCain Listening?
Posted March 6, 2008 12:46 PM (EST)

Today's release of the Army's latest mental health survey provides very little to be happy about. In the past, I've talked repeatedly about mental injuries in war, so I won't rehash all of that again. But here are the highlights from today's report:

Despite all the talk about how wonderful things are in Iraq, the overwhelming majority of troops in Iraq continue to say that morale in their units and their own morale is low. Just 11 percent reported that their unit's morale was "high or very high." Only 20 percent said their own morale was "high or very high."

Afghanistan, which is quickly becoming the 'forgotten war' for Bush/McCain, is finding a worsening of the mental health among our troops there. Preliminary reports are that there has been a rise in the amount of troops in Afghanistan reporting depression. In Iraq, troops report the same level of depression as last year.

Combined, the findings are highly troubling. What it tells me, and any person with an elementary school education, is that for all the talk of success in Iraq, the troops aren't feeling that, at all. At the same time, we're crushing our troops in Afghanistan, who have done heroic work there with little help, but now are feeling increasingly overwhelmed.
click above for the rest

VA claims there are less homeless veterans now?

There are fewer homeless vets, VA estimates

By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Mar 6, 2008 12:04:57 EST

WASHINGTON — The number of homeless veterans has declined to just over 150,000, the government says.

The Veterans Affairs Department estimates that on any given night last year, 154,000 veterans were homeless, about a 20 percent decrease from 195,827 in the agency’s 2006 estimate.

The decrease comes even as Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are trickling into shelters. VA has seen about 500 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in homeless-specific programs, and the number is increasing as the pool of troops who fought in the wars grows, said Pete Dougherty, VA’s director of homeless programs.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_homelessvets_030608/

They can say what they want to say, but they'll have to actually prove it this time. We suddenly dropped from over 300,000 to less than 200,000. Now they are saying the numbers dropped again. If they have the data to prove this then there has to be data on where all the homeless veterans went. Show us the data! Then we may believe it.

Heartlessness feeds the homeless problem

Heartlessness feeds the homeless problem
by Lewis W. Diuguid
Some teenage girls popped through the sunroof of a limousine and yelled something unprintable at me from Cleaver Boulevard near Main Street.

A yellow school bus followed with teenage boys screaming, “Have you killed anyone yet?”

Hurtful and compassionless comments have always occurred in the more than 10 years I’ve worn old clothes — including an old army coat — on my annual sojourns into homelessness.

In the Main Street median were two persons I wanted to talk to. Danielle’s backpack rested near her on the snow-covered ground.

Bundled in an oversized coat, she faced northbound traffic near the turn lane “flying a sign.” It said “Homeless. Hungry. Need Help.”

In the other median appealing to southbound Main Street traffic was Bill, a homeless veteran. He had a salt-and-pepper beard, large coat, a huge duffel bag and a hand-made sign saying, “Homeless vet. Need Help. God Bless.”

A woman in a passing car handed Bill a dollar. A man gave Danielle some change. Each recipient was grateful.

In the last year, I have noticed more homeless people in midtown, Westport, the Plaza and south Kansas City. It’s as if the new Sprint Arena, the Power and Light District and upscale downtown housing have caused people living on the street to migrate south.

Some agencies offering services to the homeless weren’t so sure. Others have noticed a definite trend.
go here for the rest
http://www.kansascity.com/278/story/517256.html

Fox Attacks wants to know where O'Reilly's GI Bill is

Hey Bill O’Reilly: Where’s “Your” GI Bill?
By DJK
You may remember that Bill O’Reilly — in response to the heaps of criticism he received for denying the existence of homeless veterans, then claiming that America’s roughly 500,000 homeless vets deserve to be homeless because they’re substance-addicted and mentally ill and that the government doesn't owe homeless vets anything — magnanimously announced that he had discovered that America needs a new and improved G.I. Bill and that veterans are not getting the assistance they need. Acting as if it were his idea, BOR announced:


“WE [that’s the BOR royal ‘we’] are proposing a new G.I. bill with the help of Rep. Peter King (R-NY) and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) that will provide important new benefits for G.I.’s after they leave the service.”

This bill had not even been drafted, but BOR promised to “monitor” its creation and harass any politician who opposed it. When it eventually existed.

That BOR would actually pretend that a new G.I. Bill was somehow his idea is an ego trip of Kanye West-type proportions, as well as an outright lie and a ridiculously inefficient way to help homeless vets who are suffering RIGHT NOW. So what will BOR claim (if he decides to report it) that Sen. James Webb, on his first day in office in January 2007, proposed a new G.I. bill that is “a mirror of the World War II G.I. Bill” and that just five days after BOR’s “big announcement”, Webb, Chuck Hagel (R-NE), and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) held a press conference calling for its implementation?

Senators Jim Webb (D-VA), Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) today joined representatives of the nation’s leading veterans’ organizations to advocate comprehensive educational benefits for post-9/11 veterans in the fiscal year 2009 budget. The groups unveiled their Independent Budget to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs earlier in the day, advocating a “21st Century GI Bill,” similar to the Webb-Hagel bill (S.22) that enjoys widespread support in Congress.



This is the first time in twenty-two years of presenting an Independent Budget to Congress that the participating veterans’ organizations have advocated a new, comprehensive GI Bill, as opposed to a mere enhancement. –snip-

“This independent budget represents the voices of our nation’s veterans’ service organizations who truly understand the costs of war,” said Senator Webb. “These advocates have called for a ‘21st Century GI Bill’ that provides returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with benefits that respect their service and reward their sacrifice like the WWII veterans that came before them.”
go here for the rest
http://foxattacks.com/blog/31512-hey-bill-o-reilly-where-s-your-g-i-bill

We all want to know what he's doing about anything besides talking about it.

PTSD Netherlands Rewind Technique

On January 31st Human Givens Nederland launched its program of activities in the Netherlands with a 2-day Introduction workshop in Amersfoort, a city not far from Utrecht and Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. This introductory workshop was followed by a third day on Post-Traumatic Stress disorder and the ‘rewind technique’.

The 10 participants who took part in these workshops were from many different walks of life – counselling, coaching and therapy, social work and teaching, from business and studies at university.

With a natural balance between learning about the theoretical principles behind the Human Givens ‘organising idea’ and actual ‘hands-on’ experience in some of the Human Given techniques, the participants felt they had a much better sense about these strange new ‘Human Givens’ that seem to be being imported from the U.K.!

The HG Netherlands team stated: “We are looking forward to many more of those delighted exclamations that came to us during these first workshops. It was a real pleasure for us to watch as each person started realising, for him or herself, just how universal and immediately applicable the Human Givens ideas are in all our different walks of life and living.

We know, without a doubt, that the Human Givens organising idea translates perfectly well into Dutch and the Dutch culture – and into any language for that matter!”

Many thanks and congratulations to all the HG Nederlands team: Jenny Wakelin, Marieke Uiterwijk, Renee van der Vloodt, Robin Temple and Sander van der Velde for making this new enterprise such a success, and good luck for the future of HG Nederlands!
http://www.mindfields.org.uk/blog/?p=187

When I started to do the videos on PTSD, on of the first request to use them came from the Netherlands.

I work as a psychologist at the faculty of psychology of the Erasmus University Rotterdam (The Netherlands).On the internet I stumbeled upon your video about PTSD. I would like to ask your permission to use this video on our website for stricty educational purposes.

Kind regards,Drs Arjen Karel

This was two years ago. They have been ahead of us on PTSD and open to new ways to treat it as well as how to reach people needing help.

Explosive Device At Military Recruit Station Is Sick Act

Blast damages Times Square recruit station

By Derek Rose - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Mar 6, 2008 7:26:51 EST

NEW YORK — An explosive device caused minor damage to an empty military recruiting station in Times Square early Thursday, shaking guests in hotel rooms high above.

Police blocked off the area to investigate the explosion, which occurred at about 3:45 a.m., shattering the station’s glass entryway. No one was injured.

“If it is something that’s directed toward American troops, then it’s something that’s taken very seriously and is pretty unfortunate,” said Army Capt. Charlie Jaquillard, who is the commander of Army recruiting in Manhattan.

He said no one was inside the station, where the Marines, Air Force and Navy also recruit.

Witnesses staying at a Marriott hotel four blocks away said they could feel the building shake with the blast.

“I was up on the 44th floor and I could feel it. It was a big bang,” said Darla Peck, 25, of Portland, Ore.

“It shook the building. I thought it could have been thunder, but I looked down and there was a massive plume of smoke, so I knew it was an explosion,” said Terry Leighton, 48, of London, who was staying on the 21st floor of the Marriott.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_timessquare_030608/

While it is really too soon to know who did this and why they did this, it raises a good question. How can people say they want to seek peaceful means to withdraw the troops from Iraq yet act in violence? It's one thing to have an opinion and speak out but to do this was unacceptable no matter what is behind it. It could have been someone with a grudge against the recruiting center itself. It could have been someone who lost someone they loved and blames the recruiting center. It could also have been someone who is not involved in any group at all. We don't know yet what was behind it. I don't care how people feel about having troops in Iraq when someone decides to do something like this. I'm on their side when it comes to what has happened involving Iraq but when it comes to taking it out through violence, it is just plain wrong. I know people on both sides of the Iraq debate and they have the troops in the center of what they do. I hope people on both sides denounce this act of violence.

The Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007

Subject: Your help needed to support Mental Health and Substance Abuse Parity Legislation Federal and State

Thank you to those of who have already sent letters supporting the State Mental Health Parity & Substance Abuse legislation, over 200 individuals have already done so.Today the bill was passed through the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee.
If you haven’t already please take a moment today and send a letter by email or mail to Governor Charlie Crist, Senate President Ken Pruitt, House Speaker Marco Rubio, Representative Aaron Bean of the House Healthcare Council, Senator Rhonda Storms of the Senate Children, Families, and Elders Committee and to your local legislative delegation. This letter should register your support for mental health and substance abuse parity legislation.
Ask these leaders to act on this critical issue during the upcoming legislative session.In addition, we are encouraging you to Please forward the below message about tomorrow’s vote on H.R. 1424 the Federal Parity Bill, “The Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007” to your networks today.Thank you!
The full U.S. House is scheduled to vote on H.R. 1424, “The Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007,” late tomorrow, Wednesday, March 5th.
Please call your U.S. Representatives in D.C. today and ask them to vote for passage of H.R. 1424 and to oppose any amendments that would weaken the legislation. Find your Members of Congress by visiting www.congress.org or by calling the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.H.R. 1424, introduced by Representatives Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and Jim Ramstad (R-MN), seeks to eliminate discrimination in insurance coverage by requiring group health plans that currently offer coverage for drug and alcohol addiction and mental illness to provide those benefits in the same way as benefits provided to all other medical and surgical procedures covered by the plan.In addition, H.R.1424 contains the following four key provisions:
Protection of State laws: H.R. 1424 contains clear language stating that stronger State laws are protected and not preempted.

Out-of-network benefits: H.R. 1424 requires where there is out-of-network coverage for medical and surgical conditions, that there is also an out-of-network option for substance use disorders and mental illness.

Transparency:H.R. 1424 requires that plans make medical necessity criteria and reasons for any denials of reimbursement available to participants and beneficiaries upon request.

Requirement for covered conditions: H.R. 1424 would cover all the conditions and disorders in the DSM-IV.

Please call your U.S. House Members today and ask them to vote for H.R. 1424 tomorrow on the House floor.

Shame on Fort Drum Maj. Gen. Michael Oates

Drum to publish names of substance offenders

By William Kates - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Mar 5, 2008 20:20:10 EST

FORT DRUM, N.Y. — Upset with an increase in the number of 10th Mountain Division soldiers using illegal drugs and being arrested for alcohol-related offenses, Fort Drum will begin publishing the names and photos of offenders in its post newspaper, says commander Maj. Gen. Michael Oates.

Starting with the front page of Thursday’s edition, the Fort Drum Blizzard will feature photographs of the 45 soldiers who have been charged with DWI since Jan. 1. The names and photographs of soldiers committing such offenses will become a regular feature in the paper, although not on the front page.

“I don’t take this step lightly and I realize that there will be people offended by this,” Oates said. “But apparently talking to them is not deterring this behavior, and financial penalties are not deterring this behavior.

“I understand soldier culture well enough ... I may not understand youngster culture well enough ... but I think they would probably not be happy with this public recognition of their misconduct,” said Oates.

Department of Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Anne Edgecomb said Fort Bliss officials publish the names of those convicted of drunk driving offenses but she knew of no other Army installations publicizing the names of those arrested and their photos.

“Soldiers must live the Army values on and off duty. This requires discipline. Commanders at all levels are charged with maintaining discipline in their units. Addressing an issue before it becomes a larger problem is the right thing to do,” Edgecomb said.

Oates said there has been an “unacceptable” increase of substance abuse on the northern New York Army post over the last three months, although he did not provide any specific numbers.

Army-wide there were 4,621 incidents of active duty soldiers driving under the influence in 2006, the last year for which the Army has complete statistics, or about 2.3 per 1,000 soldiers, according to records. About 95 percent of those involved alcohol, according to Army records.

Despite the division’s frequent combat deployments, Oates was reluctant to blame the recent increase in substance abuse on those deployments, or the mental stresses that accompany them. Oates said Fort Drum officials have noted increased use of marijuana and cocaine among initial entry soldiers who have yet to be deployed.

“I think it is more generational and cultural at this point,” Oates said. “And I really don’t care in a lot of ways. Because in our (Army) culture we believe in discipline and it is against the law to use these drugs and to drive intoxicated. So regardless of your circumstances we are not going to tolerate this kind of behavior.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_drumoffenders_030508/

Does he understand that the men and women under his command are not normal people who decide to drink and drive just because they can? Doesn't he understand these men and women cared so much about other people they were willing to lay down their lives in service to them? How could he even begin to think they would so callous about drunk driving they would do it intentionally without any reason behind it?

Substance abuse, or should I say substance use, is a form of self-medicating. If he knows nothing about PTSD then he needs to get educated fast! The 10th have endured some of the worst conditions over and over again. If he thinks putting their picture in the Fort Drum Blizzard will solve the problem he lives in fantasy land.

Shame on him and anyone else in command positions thinking so little about the men and women they command that they assume it's the soldiers who are all wrong. Fort Drum has a big problem coming to terms with PTSD and until they get it into their brain this is a wound and start to treat it like one, there will be many more suffering and more using alcohol and drugs to kill off flashbacks and calm nerves. Trying to shame someone for doing what they feel forced to do to cope is only adding to the shame the military chain of command has already done to them. Shame on Maj. Gen. Michael Oates. It's not the "youngster culture" he does not understand. It's the wound he does not understand!

Walsh Middle School Students Have Warm Hearts For Homeless Vets

Olivia Agostinelli,, left and Ting Ting Ge, students at Walsh Middle School in Framingham sort socks during sock drive held by their school in Framingham to help homeless veterans in the Newton area.

Sock it to 'em: Students hold sock drive for homeless veterans
By John Hilliard/Daily News staff
GHS
Posted Mar 06, 2008 @ 12:32 AM
Last update Mar 06, 2008 @ 12:54 AM

Walsh Middle schoolers have collected more than 1,000 pairs of new socks for homeless veterans as part of a community service effort.

Sixth-grade teacher Judy McEntegert said the school has been collecting socks for about five years through the Warm Feet, Warm Hearts program. Students took three weeks to gather the socks, which will go to the Jewish War Veterans Post 211 in Newton.

"It makes me very happy," said Philip Geller, a member of the veterans group who fought in World War II. "I see how pleased (veterans) are, that they'll have (a new) pair of socks on their feet."

The socks will be included with special toiletry bags to hand out through homeless veterans organizations.

"We depend quite a lot on these small children," said Geller.

Walsh holds a veterans appreciation day during the fall, said McEntegert, where students can learn more from the local heroes. Today's middle schoolers - kids who grew up during a time of war in Afghanistan and Iraq - may not have realized some veterans don't have a home after serving their country, she said.
go here for the rest
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x1370087753

PTSD question follows McCain as "Senator Hothead"

It doesn't come easy for battle-scarred McCain
Reuters Wednesday, 05 March 2008
Stuff.co.nz - New Zealand
John McCain secured the Republican presidential nomination as the ultimate survivor – winning it eight years after his first failed attempt and decades after cheating death in the Vietnam War.


Easy to laugh and easy to anger, McCain carries with him the scars of battle in both armed conflict as a naval pilot and in the political wars of Washington as a US senator from Arizona.

The 71-year-old McCain would be the oldest American ever elected to a first presidential term if he is able to defeat the Democrats' choice in the November election. He is also a cancer survivor, having undergone surgery for two malignant melanomas in 2000.

Polls initially put him in a strong position to compete against either Democrat Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.

That would seem at least in part a credit to a strategy aimed at attracting independent and moderate voters rather than exclusively courting the Republican Party's right wing.

On the campaign trail, he often travels with his wife, Cindy, and has a repertoire of old jokes that he tells repeatedly, such as, it is so dry in Arizona that the trees chase the dogs.

Or there was one about the man who came up to him and said, "'Did anybody ever tell you, you look like Senator John McCain?' I said yes. He said, 'Doesn't that make you mad as heck?"'

A hawk on military matters, McCain served as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee when Republicans held control of the Senate in recent years and is now a ranking member for the minority party.

Sometimes known by his colleagues as "Senator Hothead," McCain can be quick to lose his temper, which is what happened last May when he and Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn quarrelled over the details of proposals to deal with illegal immigration.

"(Expletive) you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room," McCain was said to have told Cornyn.

go here for the rest

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4426573a12.html

It's almost as if he thinks he deserves to be President because he is a veteran. We all know what he did since he got into the Senate and he has not been a good veteran. Voting against veterans should remove any doubt that when it comes to veterans, his record speaks too loudly.

Troop mental health suffering in Afghanistan

Troop Depression on Rise in Afghanistan
By PAULINE JELINEK – 6 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. troop morale improved in Iraq last year, but soldiers fighting in Afghanistan suffered more depression as violence there worsened, an Army mental health report says.

And in a recurring theme for a force strained by its seventh year at war, the annual battlefield study found once again that soldiers on their third and fourth tours of duty had sharply greater rates of mental health problems than those on their first or second deployments, according to several officials familiar with the report.

All spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the findings ahead of the study's release Thursday.

The report was drawn from the work of a team of mental health experts who traveled to the wars last fall and surveyed more than 2,200 soldiers in Iraq and nearly 900 in Afghanistan. In the fifth such effort, the team also gathered information from more than 400 medical professionals, chaplains, psychiatrists, psychologists and other mental health workers serving with the troops.

Officials said they found rates of mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and post-combat stress were similar to those found the previous year in Iraq, when nearly 30 percent of troops on repeat tours said they suffered a problem.
click post title for the rest

PTSD:War vets say stress debilitating

War vets say stress debilitating
By Jennifer Reeger
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Jamie Anderson and Mike Zimmerman both brought the Iraq war home with them.
A song brings sadness over a lost friend. A simple visit to a hospital brings with it the imagined smell of burned flesh.

Loud noises bring on rages for no reason. Images too awful to describe fill dreams.
And for Zimmerman a trip home to the Allegheny County community of Churchill from the airport becomes a vivid ride through the desert in a Humvee.

"I think that was scarier than anything I experienced in Iraq," Zimmerman, 25, of Churchill, Allegheny County, said of his first flashback upon arriving home from war.

Zimmerman, a former Marine and current Army National Guardsman, and Anderson, 47, of Washington, an Army master sergeant, both spoke of their experiences dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, during the second part of a two-part discussion on the disorder and the Iraq War Wednesday night at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg.

Anderson, Pitt-Greensburg's ROTC instructor, and Zimmerman, a psychology major at the Hempfield campus, said they are receiving counseling for the disorder that began while both were serving in Iraq in 2004.
go here for the rest
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleyindependent/teenscene/s_555789.html

Marine puppy toss number one draw on PTSD blog? WTF

My feed burner traffic report from today.
Traffic Source visits Trend
Search for "marine puppy" 153 +147%
Search for "marine puppy fake" 44 +529%
Search for "marine puppy toss" 37 +270%
Search for "puppy toss" 28 +600%

What is wrong with people in this country? A few minutes on YouTube with a jerk tossing a puppy over a cliff and I get these kinds of hits, but when I cover PTSD and what it's doing to our troops and veterans, the counts are a lot lower. I labor over videos to provide support and information on PTSD yet the top hit I get is 100 a day on Hero After War but most of them are only about 20 a day. Yet a video like this, pulled in millions in a day?

What does this say about how we feel about our troops and our veterans when they are so easy to ignore unless they do something drastically different, stupid, evil or disgusting? What does it say about us that if the media reports on some of our veterans committing crimes makes the headlines but when they commit suicide because they are not being taken care of, gets buried? Most of these reports are so scattered and buried beneath the sports section that they get very little attention. You would think their life would be worth so much more. Yet reporters have to contact advocates for reports on suicides and attempted suicides so they can try to make a name for themselves.

I get alerts on several subjects. One of them is veterans. What I find is that we use the term "veteran" far too often to describe a person who has experience and usually it's a sports figure. PR firms hire "veterans" away from other firms. They don't hire real veterans. I just don't get it. Why should it take someone pulling a stunt like this puppy toss to draw attention to a PTSD blog? I have to tell you that if you came here to read the story about this, then I really feel sorry for you. Your ignorance is blinding you to the real story here!

Fort Lewis murdered soldiers had acid poured on them

This is the couple who had acid poured on them.

Spc. Ivette Gonzalez Davila, shown in court March 3, allegedly confessed to another soldier that she killed Fort Lewis-based medics Timothy Miller, 27, and his wife, Randi Miller, 25, then took their child to a home improvement store, bought acid and poured it on the bodies. Gonzalez Davila is expected back in court March 5.

GI allegedly killed 2, poured acid on bodies

Army takes custody of suspect
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Mar 5, 2008 13:01:53 EST

TACOMA, Wash. — The Pierce County prosecutor’s office says the Army is taking over prosecution of a Fort Lewis soldier accused of killing two married soldiers in Parkland.

Deputy Pierce County Prosecutor Ed Murphy told The News Tribune on Wednesday that the Army took custody of Spc. Ivette Gonzalez Davila, 22, of Bakersfield, Calif., and transferred her out of the jail in Tacoma. She had been scheduled to appear in court Wednesday afternoon after prosecutors filed state charges.

Davila is accused of shooting 27-year-old Timothy Miller and his wife, 25-year-old Randi Miller on Saturday night at their home. Investigators also say Davila, an Army chemical specialist, poured muriatic acid on the bodies. Davila also is accused of taking the dead couple’s baby girl. She was turned over to Child Protective Services on Sunday after Davila was arrested.

Timothy and Randi Miller were medics who had served in Iraq. Investigators have said a possible love triangle may have been the motive for the killings.
go here for the rest

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_lewiskillings_acid_030308/

McCain Bush's pal and no friend of veterans

John Sidney McCain
Current Office: U.S. Senate
Party: Republican
Status: Announced

Veterans Issues

2006 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 20 percent in 2006.

2006 In 2006 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave Senator McCain a grade of D.

2006 Senator McCain sponsored or co-sponsored 18 percent of the legislation favored by the The Retired Enlisted Association in 2006.

2005 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 25 percent in 2005.

2004 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 50 percent in 2004.

2004 Senator McCain supported the interests of the The Retired Enlisted Association 0 percent in 2004.

2003-2004 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Vietnam Veterans of America 100 percent in 2003-2004.

2003 Senator McCain supported the interests of the The American Legion 50 percent in 2003.

2001 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Vietnam Veterans of America 46 percent in 2001.

1999 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 66 percent in 1999.

1997-1998 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Vietnam Veterans of America 0 percent in 1997-1998.

1989-1990 On the votes that the Vietnam Veterans of America considered to be the most important in 1989-1990 , Senator McCain voted their preferred position 50 percent of the time.

Veterans Issues

Date Bill Title Vote
10/01/2007 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 NV
02/02/2006 Tax Rate Extension Amendment N
11/17/2005 Additional Funding For Veterans Amendment N
10/05/2005 Health Care for Veterans Amendment N
go here to see how the others rank.
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfJAN08/nf012108-1.htm

Mental Health Crisis hits New Orleans

Mental health crisis plagues New Orleans
By Rick Jervis, USA TODAY
NEW ORLEANS — Bernel Johnson showed all the signs.
He was diagnosed by a psychiatrist as aggressive, homeless and schizophrenic. He was kicked out of a Salvation Army homeless shelter late last year for holding a fork to a fellow resident's throat. On Jan. 4, Johnson was committed to a psychiatric facility for causing a disturbance at a bank. He was released and, a few weeks later, attacked New Orleans police Officer Nicola Cotton, 24, in a parking lot.

Johnson wrestled Cotton's service handgun from her and shot her 15 times, killing the officer, police said. Johnson remains in jail without bond, charged with first-degree murder.

New Orleans health and law enforcement officials say more cases such as this could unfold if the city's mental health crisis isn't resolved soon. Since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city 2½ years ago, the number of public mental health facilities and community outreach centers has decreased dramatically, leaving the mentally ill without medication and monitoring.

Mental illness also is rampant among the city's homeless, whose population has spiked since the storm from 6,200 to 12,000 today, says Sam Scaffidi of the New Orleans Police Homeless Assistance Unit. Under the Interstate 10 overpass at the corner of Claiborne Avenue and Canal Street downtown, homeless encampments have multiplied since Katrina into a sprawling colony of tents, soiled sleeping bags and cardboard caves.

go here for the rest
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-04-katrina-health_N.htm
Linked from RawStory


This was one storm that caused days of trauma and suffering. Now think about what happened to these people. Now think about living with trauma everyday while deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. Think about Vietnam veterans and all other veterans exposed to this kind of trauma. There is no need for anyone to ever question why so many are wounded by PTSD. We want to think the men and women who serve are different from us. In many ways, they are. We cannot forget that they are just humans and can experience the same wounds we do but they are exposed to more horrific traumatic events than we are.

Was Killing the Puppy a Way of Coping for One Marine?

The U.S. Marine filmed throwing a crying puppy off a cliff may have been trying to prove his strength or bravery, several mental health professionals told ABCNEWS.com. The Marine's identity has yet to be confirmed but the United States Marine Corps has launched a full investigation and deemed his actions as "deplorable." (ABCNEWS.com)

Was Killing the Puppy a Way of Coping for One Marine?
Stressful Environment May Have Contributed to Marine Apparently Tossing a Dog to His Death
By EMILY FRIEDMAN
March 5, 2008

Many war-weary veterans of the Iraq War take kindly to the animals they meet abroad — some of them have even gone to great expense and trouble to bring dogs back home with them at the end of their tours of duty.

What, then, provoked one U.S. Marine to let himself be videotaped apparently flinging a yelping puppy over a cliff, bursting into laughter at the sound of the animal's body hitting the ground below? The tape of the apparent incident has rocketed around the Internet, provoking a firestorm of criticism.

The motivation for such an act, if it did indeed occur, may be as complex and deep as the U.S. war that has dragged on for more than four years, experts told ABCNEWS.com. Chief among them: Having to live with the constant fear of being injured or killed might have led this Marine to take his aggression out on a defenseless animal, several psychologists said.
go here for the rest
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4387128&page=1

Linked from ICasualties.org

Knowing Marines, they will make sure they find out who did this. This is not what they stand for. I still think this could be fake. What if it wasn't a Marine but someone dressed up like one instead?

Army captain loses his leg on Cresta Run

Army captain loses his leg on Cresta Run
By Stephen Adams
Last Updated: 12:55pm GMT 05/03/2008



An Army captain survived a six month tour of Iraq unscathed only to have his leg torn off attempting the famous Cresta Run in Switzerland.



Captain Bernie Bambury, 32, lost his right leg below the knee after he hit a marker post at a speed of up to 80mph on the 4,000ft-long tobogganing course in St Moritz. His leg was shattered and severed hundreds of yards from the finish.

But the brave soldier, from 4th Battalion The Rifles, completed the run before asking friends: "Is my ankle broken?"

He then heard the horrifying reply: "It's not broken, it's gone."

The Army officer underwent nine operations by medics who tried to sew the limb back on but Capt Bambury was told it might take two years for him to walk again and he was unlikely to regain full mobility.
go here for the rest
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/05/ncresta105.xml
Linked from ICasualties.org

Healing the hidden scars at Camp Pendleton

Healing the hidden scars
By: GARY WARTH - Staff Writer
Retired veterans share their post-traumatic stress stories with returning troops Tuesday, March 4, 2008 11:09

CAMP PENDLETON -- In combat, the older former warrior told the young Marines, "funny things happen."

Weeks, months and even years after combat, he continued, those "funny things" can re-emerge as haunting nightmares, jittery paranoia or the root of any number of abhorrent and self-destructive behaviors.

"You cannot take a normal person and put them in that environment without it affecting them," the speaker, David Pelkey, told about 25 Camp Pendleton Marines who recently returned from Iraq.

Pelkey, a Mira Mesa resident and a Vietnam veteran who served in the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, is the national director of American Combat Veterans of War, a nonprofit group founded seven years ago by Carlsbad resident Bill Rider, also a Vietnam veteran.

"We try to use ourselves as an example of what not to do in terms of denying the fact that you have been impacted by the war," Rider said about the program.

While theirs is not the only program about post-traumatic stress, Rider said that American Combat Veterans of War is unique in providing firsthand advice from other veterans to the troops.

"We're here because we care about you, damn it, and there's something you don't understand that we do," said retired Marine Col. Al Slater, a Navy Cross recipient who also spoke to the returning troops. "We don't want your generation to go through the hell we did."
click post title for the rest

Link to the American Combat Veterans of War site
http://www.acvow.org/

Closing veterans centers now is insane!

I cannot believe this one!

Lawrence center for veterans may close
Operating funds are slashed N.E. lawmakers to launch probe
By Bryan Bender
Globe Staff / March 5, 2008
WASHINGTON - A center in Lawrence that helps veterans start their own businesses warned yesterday that it will have to close its doors because of a lack of funds, prompting two New England lawmakers to launch a probe into the federally funded nonprofit organization that had been financing it.


The Northeast Veterans Business Resource Center has provided night classes and other training to more than 3,000 veterans since it was established in 2004, including an Internet course for members of the Massachusetts National Guard serving in Iraq.

But its funding was recently pulled by the Washington charity established and funded by Congress in 1999 to enhance business opportunities for veterans.

"I had to lay off my staff of three, and, if I don't get some funds, I won't be able to pay the rent this month," Louis J. Celli, president of the Lawrence center and a retired Army master sergeant, told the Globe yesterday.

The center, located on Merrimack Street, does not make a profit and relies on annual federal funds and donations to run its operations, which include courses in computers, resource management, writing proposals, and communication skills. It is one of three such centers across the country.

Another of the centers, which is located in St. Louis, also announced yesterday that it would have to shut down by next month, while the third center, located in Flint, Mich., has also had its operating funds slashed.

Walter G. Blackwell - president of the National Veterans Business Development Corporation, which has funded the centers in the past - said yesterday that it had received only $1.4 million of the $3.7 million it had requested from Congress for this year.

Blackwell said the corporation may also have to close down if it is unable to locate additional funding.

The prospect of losing the three centers has raised the ire of influential lawmakers who believe they provide a critical resource to thousands of veterans, including those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, who are seeking to become financially self-sufficient.

Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Senator Olympia Snowe, Republican of Maine, announced yesterday that the Small Business Committee, of which Kerry is the chairman, would formally investigate the organization's management.

"The Veterans Corporation was established to create a network of these centers," Kerry said in an interview. "They have by all appearances not done that."
go here for the rest

http://www.boston.com/news/local/
articles/2008/03/05/lawrence_center_for_veterans_may_close/

How could anyone in their right mind think that cutting funds to help veterans get jobs after they served this country is not worth funding? Is this more of the same they have received from this administration telling them they are not worth the money it takes to get them back on their feet after they served and are no longer "serving" the nation? What the hell kind of message do they think the veterans are getting from this kind of stunt?

Survey Shows Veterans’ Unemployment Lower Than Nonveterans

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced in May the results of the Biennial Employment Situation of Veterans survey (as of August 2005), which showed the overall veterans’ unemployment rate is lower than that of nonveterans. The veterans’ survey is published once every two years as a supplement to BLS’s monthly Current Population Survey.

“The report shows that, overall, the employment of America’s veterans is strong,” said Charles Ciccolella, assistant secretary of labor for Veterans Employment and Training. “In August 2005, the veterans’ unemployment rate was 3.9 percent, 0.8 percent lower than that of nonveterans. On an annual basis, veterans’ unemployment was 4 percent in 2005, which is 0.6 percent below that of nonveterans.”

There is one age group of veterans—20-to-24-year-olds—where the unemployment rate is higher than that of nonveterans of the same age group. In August 2005, those veterans had an unemployment rate of 18.7 percent compared with their nonveteran counterparts. For all of 2005, the annual rate was 15.6 percent for 20-to-24-year-old veterans compared with 8.7 percent for nonveterans in that age group.
The U.S. Department of Labor has undertaken initiatives to address the situation, said Ciccolella. The department conducts transition assistance employment workshops for members of the military who are scheduled for discharge in addition to other programs. For more information on all of these programs go to http://www.hirevetsfirst.gov/•
http://www.gijobs.net/magazine.cfm?id=518

From May 2007 Boston Globe

(John Kerry) The Massachusetts Democrat, who chairs the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, is scheduled to unveil the bill along with a report on the economic difficulties facing returning veterans, especially members of the Reserve and National Guard who have put their civilian jobs on hold for repeated deployments.
The study by Kerry's committee staff, based on government data, found that 11.9 percent of recently discharged veterans are unemployed, compared with 4.6 percent of nonveterans; it found that 18 percent of 18-to 24-year-old veterans are out of work, double the rate of their nonveteran counterparts. Meanwhile, an estimated 40 percent of reservists lose income when called up, while the rate is even higher, 55 percent, for reservists who are self-employed, according to the report. At the same time, the share of small-business loans going to veterans from the largest federal program has dropped from 11 percent to 9 percent since 2001.
http://boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/03/28/kerry_seeks_business_loans_for_veterans/

While National Guardsmen come back after being deployed again and again, what we keep forgetting is that they leave their jobs in order to go. They leave their businesses in order to serve. At a time like this when too many people are out of work, closing one of these centers is just pure evil!

Army finally understands mind-body-spirit connection

Army to Revolutionize Healthcare with Whole-Person Concept
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Feb. 29, 2008) - A change in healthcare begins March 1 across the Army, the Department of Defense and the nation, said the executive officer for the assistant surgeon general for warrior care and transition.



Phase 2: Assessment

Next comes the assessment phase when doctors, physical and vocational therapists, mental-health workers, social workers and others will evaluate the Soldiers in the four areas of body, mind, heart and spirit.

Physical well-being not only means the Soldiers are healing and going to physical therapy, it can mean they need to get back into shape or start weight-loss programs, Dominguez said, especially if they want to return to duty.

In the area of the mind, Dominguez said, the Army will pay close attention to Soldiers who have traumatic brain injuries and provide neurocognitive testing, and check for speech and language problems, problem-solving skills and concentration skills.

Experts will take a close look at Soldiers’ abilities and interests, what kind of jobs they want to do and what they can do. Most importantly, the Army is going to provide educational and vocational training for Soldiers in WTUs, and Soldiers will be required to participate as much as they are physically and mentally able.

Heart and Soul

In the area of the heart, medical officials will examine Soldiers’ relationships, how they are able to resolve conflicts and any socially unacceptable behaviors.

Col. David Reese, director for ministry initiatives at the Office of the Chief of Chaplains, said the Strong Bonds program of marriage retreats is being expanded to meet the specific needs of wounded Soldiers and their Families. In addition to the regular curriculum focusing on communication skills, the program will be handicapped accessible and provide forums on challenges specific to them, such as grief and loss. Some chaplains have already begun offering specific weekends to wounded warriors and their Families on an informal basis.

Dominguez said that spirit can include anything from religious support — Reese said chaplains will be assigned to all WTUs at the battalion level — to hobbies Soldiers’ enjoy. She said officials are especially concerned when Soldiers’ injuries make their previous hobbies impossible. What would a Soldier who liked to paint but has been blinded do for a hobby? Dominguez said they might help him or her learn to sculpt, for example.

click post title for the rest
It's about time! Now if they can get the rest of the jackasses still thinking PTSD is a crock, we'll be that much closer to taking care of our veterans for real.

Sgt. Matthew J. Rhoads Fort Bragg death under investigation

Officials investigating Fort Bragg death

The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Mar 4, 2008 16:59:46 EST

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Military officials are investigating the death of a soldier whose body was found Sunday night on Fort Bragg.

The Army identified the paratrooper Tuesday as 29-year-old Sgt. Matthew J. Rhoads of Philadelphia.

A spokeswoman for the 82nd Airborne Division said investigators don’t suspect foul play. Details haven’t been released.

Rhoads was a small arms master gunner assigned to the division’s 1st Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team. He was deployed to Iraq from August 2006 until February 2007.

Rhoads is survived by his parents, Gerald and Karen Rhoads, a brother and a sister, all of Philadelphia.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_braggdeath_030408/

OCD the other out for military instead of PTSD

The Connection between Trauma, PTSD, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
PTSD has been found to commonly co-occur with other anxiety disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (commonly referred to as OCD).

In fact, studies have found that anywhere between 4% and 22% of people with PTSD also have a diagnosis of OCD. In addition, people with OCD also show a high likelihood of having experienced traumatic events. For example, it was found that 54% of people with a diagnosis of OCD reported having had experienced at least one traumatic event in their lifetime.

The experience of traumatic events has also been connected to compulsive behaviors often seen in OCD, such as hoarding. You can learn more about the connection between trauma, PTSD, and OCD here.


click above for more.

They use all kinds of excuses to send the troops home without the ability to collect for combat wounds. PTSD is a recognized wound, or at least close to it, but OCD and Bipolar and Personality Disorder is not along with Schizophrenia. I posted this before about the symptoms on these other illnesses and if you look careful at the signs of PTSD, bingo, you see all of the above. It's easy for anyone wanting to, to misdiagnose these wounded as if they went to combat already wounded instead of getting wounded in service to this nation.

VA under scrutiny for veteran suicides

Veterans For Common Sense would not have to sue the VA if the VA did what they should have done under Nicholson. The veterans have been paying the price for his loyalty to the administration instead of them.

VA under scrutiny for veteran suicides
Monday, March 03, 2008 9:18 PM
By Vic Lee

There is pressure on the Veterans Administration to do more to prevent suicides. The number of vets returning from Iraq and taking their own lives is reaching an epidemic level. That's what veterans groups claim and they are taking the VA to court to force it to do more.

This is the first salvo of a major class action lawsuit filed by veterans groups, challenging what they call "the failure of the VA to properly treat returning veterans."

They say there are long waiting lists for veterans who need mental health care and a huge backlog of more than 600,000 disability claims. In the meantime, veterans are said to be committing suicide in unprecedented numbers.

Former Marine Guido Gualco fought in the late 80's in Operation Desert Storm. VA doctors failed to diagnose his PTSD until 2005 -- 14 years after he was discharged. It got so bad, he begged his friend to kill him.

"I was questioning God, 'why was I alive?' I didn't want to live," says Gualco.

Army specialist Tim Chapman was a Humvee gunner in the Middle East. He was discharged after he fell into a deep depression in 2006.

"I was sitting in Roseville with my gas on the pedal and I was going to drive my car off this cliff at a truck stop," says Chapman.

Paul Sullivan heads Veterans for Common Sense. He says the VA has failed to deal with the growing problem of veteran suicides.

"There are cases around the country of veterans who said they were suicidal in front of VA employees and they were placed on waiting lists and otherwise turned away," says Sullivan.
go here for the rest
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=5996940

In 2004, there were already complaints about Bush's VA budget.

In a statement issued shortly after the budget was released, Edward S. Banas Sr., commander in chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, called the VA's health care spending proposal "a disgrace and a sham."

VA officials reply that spending for health care will increase under the budget, but that tough choices had to be made because of the soaring budget deficit and limits on spending.

With two occupations producing more wounded, the VA, under Nicholson, called for a reduction in staff at the VA instead of wanting to increase them.

According to John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the VA is calling for a reduction of 540 full-time jobs in the Veterans Benefits Administration, which handles disability, pension and other claims by veterans.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A24665-2004Mar2

What we saw was the GOP taking sides with Bush on this.

Senator Larry Craig

Senator Larry E. Craig, Republican of Idaho, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, said the Department of Veterans Affairs would need more than the $30.7 billion for medical care in Mr. Bush's budget just "to maintain current levels of service" in 2006.

Mr. Craig said at a committee hearing that the White House was seeking an increase of less than one-half of 1 percent in the appropriation for veterans' medical care. He also noted that the administration wanted to save $606 million by restricting eligibility for nursing home care.

Yet at the end of the report Craig came out with this.

Mr. Craig said he detected "unanimous concern on the part of this committee that the budget has some inadequacies." The need to provide care to veterans is increasing, he said, because improvements in military medicine are saving the lives of many service members whose injuries would have proved fatal in previous wars.

Congressman Steve Buyer

Representative Steve Buyer, Republican of Indiana, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, indicated he was open to the ideas. Laura J. Zuckerman, a spokeswoman for Mr. Buyer, said he saw the proposals as a way to "bring balance, fairness and equity into the system."

The president's budget would save $293 million by reducing federal payments for state-run homes that provide veterans with long-term care. It would also save more than $100 million with a one-year hiatus in federal spending for construction and renovation of such homes.

They were looking to save money instead of looking at the best way to care for our wounded veterans.

Again looking at cutting employees instead of adding them.

Dr. Jonathan B. Perlin, acting under secretary of veterans affairs, said the medical staff of the department would be reduced by 3,700 employees under the president's budget. About 194,000 employees now provide medical care.

Nicholson was showing what he thought about the veterans he was supposed to be taking care of.

Mr. Nicholson said the budget showed a strong commitment to veterans, but he added: "We have to make tough decisions. We have to set priorities."

And then we have this from the VFW

Dennis M. Cullinan, legislative director of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, told Congress that the federal programs for state veterans' homes dated to the Civil War.

"These cuts, at a time when demand for V.A. long-term care services is on the rise with a rapidly aging veteran population, are unconscionable and reprehensible," Mr. Cullinan said.

It was Senator Akaka and Senator Patty Murray taking the side of the veterans against the GOP in charge of the budgets.

Senator Daniel K. Akaka of Hawaii, the senior Democrat on the committee, said a goal of the proposed fees and co-payments was to make it "prohibitively expensive" for some people to use V.A. clinics and hospitals, which are widely respected for quality of care. The new charges, Mr. Akaka said, would lead more than 192,000 people to drop out of the veterans health care system.

Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, said, "Serving veterans is part of the cost of war, but there's not one dime for veterans" in the $81.9 billion request that Mr. Bush sent Congress on Monday to cover the costs of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
go here for the rest of this section
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/16/politics/16vets.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

What is more tellling about the attitude is that in 2001 the APA had already called for increases in mental health care in the VA. Keep in mind this warning came a month before 9-11. Before the invasion of Afghanistan. Before the invasion of Iraq.

Psychiatric News August 3, 2001
Volume 36 Number 15
© 2001 American Psychiatric Association
APA Wants VA Budget Increased To Meet Mental Health Needs
Christine Lehmann
APA and other mental health groups are recommending that a congressional oversight committee designate funds to be used by the Department of Veterans Affairs for psychiatric research and a continuum of outpatient services.

APA urged a congressional subcommittee that oversees the Department of Veterans Affairs to allocate more funds than President George W. Bush proposed in his Fiscal 2002 budget for mental health research and services.

APA recommended that an additional $50 million of the president’s proposed $51 billion VA budget be spent on establishing two new Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Centers (MIRECCs). APA also advocated that $100 million be designated annually in Fiscal 2002 to 2004 for veterans with serious mental illness.

The House Veterans’ Affairs Health Subcommittee heard testimony in June from mental health and veterans advocacy groups on the VA’s mental health, substance abuse, and homelessness programs. APA submitted a written statement.

The goal of the hearing was to ensure that the VA is complying with several mandates contained in a sweeping VA reform law enacted in 1996 (PL 106-262).
http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/36/15/4

The lack of attention on the needs of our veterans at a time when there are two combat operations creating more wounded is "unconscionable and reprehensible" because the cuts kept coming in staff. During a time when more was needed it turned out there were less doctors and nurses in the VA, less claims reps, than there was after the Gulf War. Think how many lives could have been saved had the VA been provided with all they needed to really take care of all the wounded.

The next time you hear the words "support the troops" consider who has really been supporting them and those who have not taken care of them. Consider who has been harming them and treating them as if they should be grateful to us instead of the other way around.
Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.namguardianangel.blogspot.com/
http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington