John McCain's family tree claim is "baloney"

John McCain, veteran war hero: yes. But a descendant of Robert the Bruce? Baloney

· Doubt cast on presidential candidate's ancestral link
· It's a piece of wonderful fiction, says historian
Paul Lewis
The Guardian,
Friday March 21 2008
Article history

US senator John McCain and Robert the Bruce.

Photograph: Luke MacGregor/Reuters, Hulton Archive

Of all the claims in support of John McCain's bid for the White House, perhaps none is quite as grand as this. As he arrived in London yesterday, the publishers of his new book insisted the Republican senator's family was descended from the Scottish king, Robert the Bruce.

For a veteran war hero staking his presidential campaign on military credentials, an ancestral link to a warrior who overcame the English to reclaim Scottish independence in 1314 has obvious appeal. But according to experts, the story may be no more than that. Asked by the Guardian to investigate McCain's family history, genealogists and medieval historians described the link to Robert the Bruce as "wonderful fiction" and "baloney".

The McCain link to Scotland was first mooted several years ago, but resurfaced this week on the eve of his trip to the UK, when Gibson Square, the publishers behind the senator's book, Hard Call, announced that "John McCain's family is of Scottish-Irish descent and related to the Scottish king, Robert the Bruce, on his mother's side".

The firm said the claim was sourced from the US presidential candidate's official website. But the ancestral link appears to originate from a 1999 family memoir, Faith of My Fathers. In it the senator said his great-grandparents "gave life to two renowned fighters, my great-uncle Wild Bill and my grandfather Sid McCain."

Wild Bill, he wrote, "joined the McCain name to an even more distinguished warrior family. His wife, Mary Louise Earle, was descended from royalty. She claimed as ancestors Scottish kings back to Robert the Bruce." The passage goes on to say that Mary Louise Earle was also "in direct descent" from Emperor Charlemagne.

Not so, according to Dr Katie Stevenson, a lecturer in medieval studies at the University of St Andrews. "What wonderful fiction," she said. "Mary Louise Earle's claims to descent from Robert the Bruce are likely to be fantasy. Earle is not a Scottish name. I think it is incredibly unlikely that name would be related to Robert the Bruce. Charlemagne and Robert the Bruce were not connected - that's ludicrous."

go here for the rest

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/21/johnmccain.uselections2008

Is McCain having fantasy problems? He said that Al-Qaeda is being trained in Iran, but Iran has nothing to do with Al-Qaeda. He claims that insurgents in Iraq are members of Al-Qaeda tied to Osama but all the experts say Al-Qaeda in Iraq just borrowed the name and have one goal in Iraq, that is to get the US troops out. The experts also say that the Sunni and the Shia are united on two things. One is to get the coalition forces out of their country and the other is the hatred they have toward Al-Qaeda. These facts McCain and Bush never seem to be able to face. Looks like McCain is having trouble facing a lot of facts, along with memory issues and anger issues. Is he in denial?

My problem with McCain is that as a veteran, he should have voted on the side of veterans but failed them. This is my biggest issue with him. The other is that as a man who has been tortured, the rate of tortured people developing PTSD is 100%. The question is, how bad does he have it? What level is it? Classic signs are there. Can this be the reason he would not look at a Vietnam vet talking to him about having PTSD?

Help change the way veterans are treated with PTSD

MSC has received a request to pass along the information below from our friends at VUFT. Please read their message and pass along to other's who you feel may be in need of help with VA claims involving PTSD. All of us together may someday see some great changes within the VA system if we work together to make those changes.

www.militaryspousesforchange.com
Involve. Inform. Inspire.
URGENT REQUEST
I am writing to update you about our class action lawsuit, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth v. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. We are challenging the VA's failure to provide prompt mental health care to veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and VA's failure to promptly and accurately process disability compensation claims for PTSD. The week of March 3, the judge held a hearing about the quality and timeliness of mental health care given to suicidal veterans. After four days of testimony, the judge ordered a full trial on all of our issues to start on April 21, 2008. This is a very quick timeline, and we hope this means that we will receive a final decision from the judge in the next few months.

In order to put on our strongest case, VUFT and our attorneys need your help in the next few days. The attorneys for VA AND THE Department of Justice have challenged our right as a group to sue VA. It will make it very much easier for them if they can drive us out of this class action suit. We need to prove to them that VUFT belongs in this suit as there is a fairly large number of our members who have had serious problems with the VA on mental health issues.

If you are a VUFT member who has been diagnosed with PTSD and have experienced problems getting timely mental health care for their PTSD or for potential suicide, please send us an email. We are also looking for VUFT members who are having problems getting their PTSD disability compensation claim approved. If you are a veteran with these specific types of problems, then please send VUFT a new email in the next several days, even if you already sent one in the past.
Please send your email to
contact@www.vuft.org, with a "CC" copy to kcorbit@dralegal.org.
EVEN IF YOU HAVE ALREADY SENT US AN EMAIL AND/OR HAVE ALREADY TALKED TO THE LAWYERS ABOUT YOUR COMPLAINT, PLEASE DO IT AGAIN.

If you are willing to talk to our attorneys about your problems with the VA, then I strongly encourage you to contact our attorneys directly. Our attorneys need to show the judge that the problems we are complaining about are system-wide problems and not just isolated to a few veterans. You can reach them at (510) 665-8644.

Your participation could make a huge difference in the lives of the hundreds of thousands of veterans fighting with the VA. For information about our lawsuit, please go to this web site: www.veteransPTSDclassaction.org

So, if you want to in help our fellow veterans by winning this landmark case, then please e-mail and/or call our attorneys in the next few days. Our attorneys have been working on this case for more than a year. I have met them all, and they are friendly and understanding when it comes to speaking with veterans and families about confidential issues:

The specific group working at this time to compile the information on the VUFT portion of this case are:
Danny Brome, dbrome@dralegal.org
Kasey Corbit, kcorbit@dralegal.org
Disability Rights AdvocatesPhone: (510) 665-8644Fax: (510) 665-8511TTY: (510) 665-8716www.dralegal.org
Thank you for your continued support of our critically important lawsuit.
Sanford (Sandy) CookVice Chair, VUFT, Inc.

-- Carissa Picard
PresidentMilitary Spouses for Change
406.498.2134 (c)www.militaryspousesforchange.com
Involve. Inform. Inspire."Patriotism is proud of a country's virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country's virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, 'the greatest,' but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is." Sydney J. Harris

Clinton and Obama Answer Young Veterans

Clinton and Obama Answer Young Veterans
I just finished watching an hour-long MTV roundtable in which Senators Obama and Clinton each spent half an hour talking to eight veterans under 30 years of age. This is first time I can remember in a political campaign that young veterans were looked at not as a prop for some National Security Theater, but rather as piece of the greater youth constituency with a distinct set of needs and concerns.

The event was slightly overproduced at times (the stories of the veterans were dramatic enough without the re-enactments), but it was honestly one of the best discussions of the campaign thus far on what it really means to support the troops (beyond buying a yellow ribbon) and just what the hell we're actually trying to accomplish in Iraq.

One thing in particular that shook me was the veterans' ages and the amount of time they've spent on active duty in Iraq. One of the veterans, who had a Purple Heart along with another medal, was just 22 years old and had spent 27 months in Iraq. That's more than 2 years out of 22 spent fighting in Iraq. That's astonishing and totally incomprehensible to me.

Hot topics were PTSD (7 of the 8 participants were diagnosed), homelessness and other transitional issues for soldiers reentering the civilian population, as well as some talk about the US strategy on the ground. Both Clinton and Obama talked about the need to fully fund the VA, provide job training and health care for veterans, remove the stigma around PTSD (in and out of the service), and some of the challenges in doing so.
go here for the rest
http://futuremajority.com/node/1052

Jon Soltz is missing a link on PTSD,,,the experts living with it!

Group housing for vets raises concerns
Fear, misconceptions raise concerns about transitional housing for vets with PTSD
By SCOTT LINDLAW
Associated Press Writer AP
Mar 19, 2008
Merry Lane, a cul-de-sac shaded by redwoods in Sonoma County wine country, would seem a pleasant place to recover from the psychic wounds of war. Nadia McCaffrey's dream is to set up a group home there for veterans plagued by post-traumatic stress disorder.

But she is running into stiff resistance from the neighbors. They not only object to the brand-new structure itself, which looks like a four-story apartment house wedged amid their cabins, they are also worried that deranged veterans will move in.

At a community meeting in December, "one person was concerned that even firecrackers would set these people off," said Andrew Eckers, 54, who lives across the street.

McCaffrey, whose son was killed in Iraq in 2004, said she has tried to reassure the neighbors, but "they are afraid of it because they don't want to understand it."

Projects similar to McCaffrey's have cropped up in other communities across the country, with some also raising concerns from neighbors, in part because of the many news accounts of traumatized veterans committing suicide or murder.

"We're all, frankly, failing in properly educating society about what PTSD is and what its effects are," said Jon Soltz, an Iraq war veteran and chairman of VoteVets.org, a veterans advocacy group.

go here for the rest
http://www.newsweek.com/id/124249

I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say "we're not doing a good enough job educating" because I've been doing this for 25 years! I can tell these new people they are absolutely correct but it isn't from lack of trying. Soltz was maybe in high school when people like me were trying to save lives. That's the problem. None of them really rely on us, our experience and our expertise on PTSD. PTSD has not changed in thousands of years, just the name has. We just know more now that we did back in the days when soldiers were shot for being cowards because they were wounded by PTSD under whatever title it was given at the time.

I sent a DVD to Jon Soltz of Vote Vets and never heard a word back, not to mention how many emails I sent him when he first started. I sent one to Paul Rieckhoff of the IAVA and never heard a word. The only one who has had much to do with me at all is Paul Sullivan of Veterans For Common Sense.

Regular people on the other hand are reaching out. One of them was in fact Nadia. We spoke a couple of times about the work we do and how she is really trying to make a difference for all veterans, not just Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. She is trying to help a friend of mine and so is Paul Sullivan.

What is their problem? What will it take for them to say, "gee they have all this experience dealing with what we're just learning about,,,maybe we should ask them for some guidance" instead of ignoring us.

An Injured Iraq War Vet's Family Faces Another Battle at Home

March 20, 2008

Two Purple Hearts and Five Surgeries Later, An Injured Iraq War Vet's Family Faces Another Battle at Home
by Rose-Anne Clermont
- Germany -

•When Pam’s fiancé, Charles, was deployed on his second tour to Iraq in December of 2004, he feared what awaited him. On his first tour, a year prior, he had witnessed the chaos and the bloodshed, the friends who didn’t return home. Charles had escaped with a shot to his jaw the first time, but, preparing for the worst, he gave Pam power of attorney for his belongings. Still, in a hopeful moment before his deployment from Fort Bragg, Charles put an engagement ring on Pam’s finger. “I cried all night when he left,” remembers Pam.

When they were lucky, Pam and Charles had a half hour each day to talk (on his cell phone or via instant messages) about the life they’d been planning together, the house they had bought, and their garden that Pam had been tending. So when Pam hadn’t heard from Charles in nearly three days, her spirit, she says, told her something was wrong. “My stomach ached for three days,” Pam remembers. “I just knew that something had happened.” Because they weren’t yet married, it was Charles’ mother, not Pam, who received the call that he had been killed in the line of duty.

Seven months after he’d said goodbye to Pam, Charles’ front-line unit was hit by an IED in Mosul. Six of his fellow soldiers died in the attack and, amidst the confusion, Charles, known as Sgt. Charles Eggleston, was counted amongst the dead. The call to Charles’ mother had been a mistake — one that Pam had been lucky enough not to know about until she’d finally talked to Charles again, three days after the attack.

When they finally spoke on the phone, Pam says, “I was glad that he still remembered me, that he could talk to me, and that he was alive. I decided that I loved him enough that I could deal with the rest.”

Charles barely survived: he had broken legs (one of which he nearly lost), a punctured and collapsed lung, brain damage and such traumatic injuries to his spine that only stem cell therapy and titanium rods restored his ability to walk. He’s had five surgeries since and has been in rehabilitation since December of 2005. Two purple hearts adorn his uniform and he walks with the help of a cane. But not all of Charles’ injuries were immediately treatable.

“Charles had nightmares and he was hypersensitive,” says Pam. “He could hear things only my cat could hear.”
go here for the rest
http://thewip.net/contributors/2008/03/two_purple_hearts_and_five_sur.html

Army imports suicide prevention program from Europe

Army imports suicide prevention program from Europe

Published: Thursday, March 20, 2008 10:50 AM CDT
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Sarah Maxwell, U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine

FORT DETRICK, Md. - In an effort to keep Soldiers and their family members spiritually, emotionally and mentally fit, the Suicide Prevention Task Force process developed in Europe is being implemented at some Army installations in the continental United States.

U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Medicine Europe representatives briefed military medical professionals on their SPTF efforts at installations across Europe during a presentation last summer at CHPPM's annual Force Health Protection Conference. Since then, CHPPM is replicating the process at Fort Lewis, Wash., and other CONUS sites to be determined.


The process is not intended to replace the current Army G-1 Suicide Prevention Program - it is intended to focus on prevention strategies. The strategies pull together existing installation resources that address personal issues such as mental health, relationships, finances - issues that are known to contribute to suicidal thinking.

"The Army already has a suicide intervention model established - that's not what we are focused on," said Kym Ocasio chief of health promotion and wellness at CHPPM West, Fort Lewis, and one of the developers of the process.

"As well, the Army already has a lot of great health and wellness programs. We don't think brand new ones need to be developed, but we need to standardize what we already have," she added.



In addition to standardization, Ocasio and the other health promotion coordinators at CHPPM Europe wanted to move the focus away from the act of suicide to those interventions that may stop people from taking their own lives.

"We believe the SPTF needs to focus on the word 'prevention,' which is about more than reviewing suicide statistics. We look at things like dealing with depression and loneliness, stress management and the many factors that influence behaviors before a person considers suicide," she emphasized. "The SPTF looks at what resources are available, how they are accessed, and how they are marketed and integrated within the community."
go here for the rest
http://www.ftleavenworthlamp.com/articles/2008/03/20/dod_news/dod6.txt

Attempted suicides by veterans grows faster than patient count

Suicides Seen Among Vets Treated By VA
CBS News: VA Patient Data Reveals Growing Number Of Suicide Attempts By Veterans

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2008


CBS) There's new information about the risk of suicide for those who have served in the military. Last November, CBS News broke the story of the overwhelming number of veteran suicides nationwide. Now, Chief Investigative Correspondent Armen Keteyian has discovered veterans who get help from the VA are also at risk.

"When you go through war, you're going to change permanently and totally for the rest of your life," said veteran Harold Pendergrass.

Pendergrass knows firsthand the hidden wounds of war. He served two tours in Vietnam.

"I carried a suicide note in my pocket for years," he said.

At 57, the former Army soldier has tried to take his own life three times, constantly wrestling with thoughts of killing himself.

"I sat around numerous times with a .44 in my mouth," he said. "But for some reason, I just couldn't pull the trigger. I don't know why."

Now, CBS News has obtained never-before seen patient data from the Department of Veterans Affairs, detailing the growing number of suicide attempts among vets recently treated by the VA.

The data reveals a marked overall increase - from 462 attempts in 2000 to 790 in 2007.

"This is highly statistically significant," said Dr. Bruce Levin, head of the biostatistics department at Columbia University. Levin is one of three experts who analyzed the data for CBS News.

"I'd characterize it as something that deserves further attention," Levin said. "Overall the data suggests about a 44 percent increase and that is not due to chance."

According to the experts, two age groups stood out between 2000 and 2007. First, ages 20-24 - those likely to have served during the Iraq-Afghan wars. Suicide attempts rose from 11 to 47.

And for vets ages 55 to 59, suicide attempts jumped from 19 to 117.

In both age groups, the attempted suicides grew at a rate much faster than the VA patient population as a whole.
In addition, this VA study, also obtained exclusively by CBS News, reveals the increasing number of veterans who recently received VA services ... and still succeeded in committing suicide: rising from 1,403 suicides in 2001 to 1,784 in 2005 - figures the VA has never made public.
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Mental Health Care Hit and Miss, Troops Say

Mental Health Care Hit and Miss, Troops Say

Kelly Kennedy


Air Force Times

Mar 19, 2008

March 17, 2008 - Service members told Congress on Friday that mental health care for post-traumatic stress disorder is good — if they can get it.

In one case, a suicidal soldier asked for help and got it. In another, a soldier deployed to Iraq asked for help, and when he didn’t get it, he killed himself.

While military surgeons general told the House Armed Services personnel subcommittee about new programs designed to provide a safety net to catch troops with mental disorders, they also talked about issues that still must be addressed — recruiting and retaining mental health providers, ensuring leaders understand suicide, and finding proper treatment for PTSD.

“I think we are grappling with this about as hard as we can,” said S. Ward Casscells, assistant defense secretary for health affairs. He said the Defense Department is working to improve screening, implementing more resiliency training — teaching troops to be mentally strong as well as physically strong — and figuring out how to define and treat PTSD.

“Treatment is a struggle,” Casscells said. “We don’t know very well what treatments work.”
go here for the rest
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9602

"We've yet to meet anybody who's anti-warrior"

Oregon Guard helps its soldiers make transition from war

Support team aids veterans with job and health issues

CAPI LYNN
Statesman Journal

March 19, 2008

The Oregon Army National Guard has earned a silver-star reputation in the war against terrorism.

More than 6,000 of its troops have served with distinction alongside members of the regular Army, Navy and Marine Corps in the Middle East since the Sept. 11 attacks, many of them multiple times. Its units have been singled out for important missions.

"I would say we've met every requirement that's been given to us and exceeded it," said Maj. Gen. Raymond F. Rees, adjutant general of the Oregon National Guard. "Typically when we go someplace, we're always adding something in the way of innovation, just that little extra touch that makes our approach noteworthy."

Now on the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, perhaps as noteworthy is the service happening right here at home, not on the battlefield.

The Oregon National Guard provides a plethora of post-deployment support to its soldiers through its Reintegration Team, everything from marriage enrichment classes to career guidance to mental-health counseling. More than 500 have taken advantage of some form of assistance.

"We're a 411 for returning troops," said Sgt. 1st Class Vince Jacques, one of the team's area managers. "We don't give handouts. We give handups. We're their advocate."

Other states have similar programs, but few have staff members dedicated to the effort full time.

"It's cutting-edge, precedent-setting stuff," said Sgt. 1st Class Phillip Maas, who manages the Career Transition Assistance Program.

For soldiers facing divorce, unemployment and disability after spending a year or more away from their homes and their families, the program is a life-saver.

"It's been rough for a lot of guys," said Wayne Kassebaum, a retired staff sergeant who lives in West Salem. "I don't think people realize that these guys that come back, they do have problems."

Changing roles

The role of these so-called citizen-soldiers has changed during the past five years. Oregon has been involved in just about every aspect of the war — convoy security, medical evacuation, logistics, personnel services and reconstruction — and paid a high price.

At least 91 military personnel with strong Oregon ties have lost their lives, including 16 from the National Guard, according to the Statesman Journal's online database. Countless others have been wounded.

"You know that there's people's lives on the line," Rees said. "Mistakes cannot be made. We've got to do it right the first time. And frankly that pressure, even though it is stressful, at the same time I think it has been good for the organization.

"There's clearly no doubt in anybody's mind now about what their role is, what their mission is. I think there's a clarity of purpose in our organization that may not have existed before."

Kassebaum served in Iraq from November 2004 to November 2005 with G Troop, 82nd Cavalry, which fought insurgents and provided security for civilians. He received assistance from the Reintegration Team upon his return and later joined forces by helping out in the team's office.

"I was so amazed how these guys went the extra mile to help people who are having trouble getting jobs or actually go to a vet's house and talk to him," said Kassebaum, 41, who is married and has three children.

He was injured in combat, including shrapnel wounds in his right arm, and hasn't been able to return to work. He had a civilian job as a truck driver before he was deployed. The Career Transition Assistance Program is helping him get connected with an apprenticeship program for equipment operators.

Maas said CTAP has placed 384 service members and/or family members in family-wage jobs since March 2005. He and Jacques have organized several job fairs around the state, with events planned this fall in Medford and Eugene.

Nearly 37 percent of soldiers returning from the war are unemployed or underemployed, according to the Guard. Maas said some were underemployed before deployment, perhaps working at a fast-food restaurant.

"They come back and their self-worth is different," Maas said. "They're not a fry cook anymore in their head."

His program opens the door to new job possibilities and offers career guidance. The National Guard has enlisted 175 employers statewide to register with CTAP and post job openings on the Guard's "job hot sheet" that is released every Friday. It's about 200 pages long, organized by county.

Maas and Jacques couldn't carry out their mission without the support of those employers, other organizations such as the veterans centers and clinics, and individual citizens across Oregon. They have been welcomed with open arms wherever they have traveled.

"Even if they're anti-war, we've yet to meet anybody who's anti-warrior," Maas said. "That's in any town we've gone in this state. That speaks volumes to the citizens of this state. No matter how they feel about the war, they are ready to help a service member."
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Staff Sgt. Scott Snyder another face of PTSD

Warrior Hotline Program Helps Soldiers With Post-Traumatic Stress
Wednesday, March 19, 2008

By Melissa Underwood

Staff Sgt. Scott Snyder and his wife, Angela, were sitting down in their Moline, Ill., living room to watch a war movie and eat some hot wings. A few minutes later, Snyder was screaming and begging Angela to admit to him something he knew for certain: that he was dead.

Snyder was having a flashback. Not only did he believe he was dead; his senses told him he was in Iraq, at the Balad airbase on his 17-month tour of duty with the Illinois National Guard. He was clutching his M-16, and he saw missiles and mortars exploding in the distance.

“I can feel the heat, I can smell the air, I can hear the sounds,” Snyder, 41, told FOXNews.com. “While that’s happening, I am here, in the Quad cities, running on auto pilot.”

Physically, Snyder was safe at home in Illinois. But, because of his post-traumatic stress disorder, he can be thrown back into the heat of battle without warning, at any time.


Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder caused by a traumatic event in which someone’s life is put in danger.

Common signs of PTSD include sleep and memory problems, anger, nightmares, anxiety, frightening thoughts and trouble concentrating. A soldier suffering with one or more of these signs may have seen a fellow soldier get injured or die in combat, interacted with gunfire and explosions or encountered other trauma.
go here for the rest
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,339455,00.html

In Iraq or Afghanistan, they are not alone. They are surrounded by their comrades, all supporting each other, all on edge and on guard watching over their buddy. When they come home, they are alone yet too many are still waging a battle their lives depend on wining. PTSD is the battle they face. Very few will commit suicide while deployed compared to veterans committing suicide when they are back home, supposedly out of danger. This is when they need us the most to support them, insure they get the help they need and stand with them while they heal. When they come home, we need to watch over them as closely as their unit did while deployed.

David Boulton, Falklands War Vet, kicked to death

Man killed Falklands War veteran

Christopher Jones admitted manslaughter
A man who kicked a veteran of the Falklands War to death has been jailed for six years at Swansea Crown Court.

Christopher Jones, 31, from Milford Haven, admitted the manslaughter of David Boulton, 59, from Hakin.

His plea of not guilty to murder was accepted by the prosecution on the grounds that he had not intended to kill or to seriously injure Mr Boulton.

Jones' uncle, Joseph Vlietstra, 60, was jailed for nine months for attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Vlietstra, who admitted the charge, had arranged for Jones' clothes to be washed immediately after the attack, the court heard.

Mr Boulton was attacked on 30 April last year but died on 1 June.

Shoe marks

Judge Mr Justice Saunders said there had been disputes between neighbours at a block of flats in John Lewis Street, Hakin, and both Mr Boulton and Vlietstra had made complaints to the police.

On 30 April Jones visited his uncle and got into a row with Mr Boulton and then went into his flat and assaulted him, the court heard.

As he left Mr Boulton followed him, but Jones grabbed hold of his legs, pulled him down a flight of stairs and kicked him to the head and stamped on him, leaving shoe marks on his body, the court was told.
go here for the rest
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_west/7305095.stm

McCain needs a Native American sweat lodge

Native American Veterans Support John McCain for President but Not His Party
Mike Graham
March 17, 2008
Native American veterans will join with active duty servicemen and women in addition to other veterans groups around the country to elect John McCain as our next president. Native American veterans have no cause to support Republican Party candidates running for state and federal office due to the parties' anti-native platform on issues and bills concerning the Native American community.

John McCain, during his time in the U.S. Senate has been at the forefront of making the American dream possible for millions of Native Americans. McCain serves on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and has made it his policy to stand up to fellow republicans wanting to slash funding of Native Americans programs. As president, John McCain would be the eight hundred-pound political gorilla against anti Native American groups.

During President Bush's two terms in office he has fully supported republican representatives in blocking bills that would bring about much needed change in the Native American communities. This action is proven with Bush's statement that he would veto a bill that would reinstate the Native Hawaiian government that was illegally over thrown by the U.S. Government.

For years republican representatives have used their committees like the Republican Steering Committee to hold-up funding on bills covering wide spread health, education and poverty issues within the American Indian and Native Hawaiian communities. Oklahoma's two senate republican representatives Tom Coburn and James Inhofe are at the top of the list of non-support of Native American issues. Oklahoma is in dire need of two new senators that will represent all of their constituents.

The American people should be aware of a national anti Native American group based in Oklahoma going by the name of "One Nation United." This group is supported and financed by many corporate companies around our country. One Nation United offers campaign support to state and federal candidates they feel will support their views against Native Americans.
go here for the rest
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9601

This just made me cringe. One of the facts that I was not aware of in Chaplain training with IFOC was that 100% of people who have been tortured have PTSD. Considering McCain was held and tortured by the VC in Vietnam, that one is a given. The Native American's know full well the price paid by the spirit and have held cleansing ceremonies, put troubled spirits into sweat lodges to cleanse them for centuries. If anyone in this nation should understand what PTSD is, it is them.

Given the fact McCain has been called "Senator Hothead" along with reports of his outbursts, the last thing this nation needs is someone more stubborn and arrogant than Bush. McCain had many chances to stand up and fight for the wounded, fight for the troops and take a stand against torture, but he has not. I will never forget the YouTube video of McCain being asked about PTSD from a Vietnam veteran suffering from it and he was annoyed by the question so much so that he turned away from the veteran and made a speech instead of listening to the veteran. How the Native Americans can support McCain is really baffling.

My issues with McCain is that he did not stand up for veterans as a senator and one of them but wants to run as a combat veteran instead of addressing his poor record on veteran's issues. Knowing the problems PTSD can cause, none of them should prevent him from being a public servant but all of them should prevent him from being in charge of the nation. Being a veteran does not entitle him to a free ride when it comes to his record on veterans issues. He needs to be held accountable just like everyone else. Had he not been a veteran, I doubt he would be where he is today. People would be looking at his record more than remembering he was a POW.

Sgt. Lerando Brown another non-combat death in Iraq

US Military Deaths in Iraq at 3,992
By The Associated Press – 13 hours ago

As of Wednesday, March 19, 2008, at least 3,992 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians. At least 3,251 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.

The AP count is four more than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Wednesday at 10 a.m. EDT.

The British military has reported 175 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia, three; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, Romania, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, South Korea, one death each.

___

The latest deaths reported by the military:

_ A soldier was killed Wednesday in a vehicle rollover in Diyala province.

___

The latest identifications reported by the military:

_ Army Spc. Lerando J. Brown, 27, Gulfport, Miss.; died Saturday in Balad of injuries from a non-combat incident; assigned to the 288th Sapper Company, 223rd Engineer Battalion, Mississippi Army National Guard, Houston, Miss.
_ Two Army soldiers died Monday in Baghdad when their vehicle struck an explosive. Both were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.

Killed were Staff Sgt. Michael D. Elledge, 41, Brownsburg, Ind., and Spc. Christopher C. Simpson, 23, Hampton, Va.

Poplarville Family Mourns Death Of Soldier, Father, Husband
Posted: March 19, 2008 08:19 PM EDT


By Al Showers
POPLARVILLE (WLOX) -- A black ribbon posted on a mail box signifies the grief inside the Poplarville home of the Brown family.

"I done lost someone that I truly loved," said Sgt. Lerando Brown's wife, Candice.

The two married about a month before he was deployed to Iraq.

"There's a hole in my heart, cause I feel like I've lost my best friend," Candice said.

On Saturday, Candice, her mother and father were at the city park planning a July family reunion when they learned two men from the Army were at the house to see Candice.

The horrible news came with few details. Sergeant Brown was in Balad, north of Baghdad, and died of a gunshot wound to the chest.

Candice had talked to her husband just hours before his death.

"We talked because he wanted to know how I was doing, how I was feeling, cause I had a doctor's appointment the day before and he wanted to know how everything went. And we talked about that and he told me, 'Alright, I'll talk to you later. Love you," and he hung up."

Brown was with the National Guard's 288th Sapper Company based in Houston, Mississippi.

"We watch the news and we always hear about the casualties and pray for the families, but when it's your own family, it really hits home," Brown's father-in-law Jimmy Richardson said.

Brown's family said he wanted to go to Iraq to serve the country he loved. But his death has left his wife questioning the sacrifice.

"I still don't understand what they're over there fighting for. He'd always say 'for our freedom,' so it just don't make no sense to me. It tears me up inside, cause I thought we were going to have a lifetime of memories," Candice said. "He still lives in my heart, always and forever."

Sergeant Lerando Brown is at least the 60th soldier with strong ties to Mississippi to die in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan in the last five years. Sergeant Brown leaves behind two young sons.

Funeral services will be held next Wednesday at the Hart's Chapel Baptist Church on Dupont-Harts Chapel Road in Poplarville. Visitation is at 10am, with the funeral service at noon.

http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=8043097&nav=6DJI

While we see the numbers of troops killed in Iraq, we do not think of their families. We see a number approaching 4,000 but we do not allow the numbers of those who took their own life back here in the states. We never think of their families either. There is a lot we don't want to think about.

When they come home with devastating, disfiguring wounds, some say they should feel lucky to be alive and then leave it at that. We don't want to face the fact they will pay the price for their service for the rest of their lives. We don't want to think about the backlog of claims as they wait their turn to be able to receive compensation to be able to provide for their families and pay their bills. It's the same when they develop PTSD and TBI, unable to work and unable to pay their bills as they wait for what some consider a "government handout" instead of a debt owed.

For the families who believe in what Bush says about Iraq, they take the news of the loss as a worthy cause, yet for the families left behind when they see the occupation of Iraq as a senseless mission with no end in sight, they are left to feel the loss along with a lot of anger.

We fail to see that the soldiers serving are a mirror image of us back home. When I heard Vice President Cheney respond to the fact most of the country thinks the invasion of Iraq was not worth it and he responded with "so" then smiled, I thought about the soldiers and their families back home hearing that word coming out of one of the men responsible for waging this operation without concern for the men and women who would pay the price with their lives or for the rest of their lives.

Families like Sergeant Lerando Brown's, who loved him, worried about him, cared about him yet did not believe in a word President Bush has said about the reason he was there. We trap the word hero in our brain and then think we have to support the mission or we dishonor them. What we do not see is that these men and women were born heroes and died in service to this nation that was willing to forget all about them, refuse to seek accountability, refuse to demand they were all taken care of and paid more attention to Britney Spears actions than what was happening to them. We should be ashamed to hear Bush or Cheney making speeches that do not include truth, yet too many in this country will still cheer these men.

The fact is we are arming the Sunni and the Shia and both groups agree on one thing. They hate Al-Qaeda and will take care of the few in their country that are not connected to Osama's group. Osama's group is in Afghanistan. The military operation Bush and Cheney refuse to even speak of as they try to twist the two invasions together.

While they speak of the risk to American security if they leave Iraq because terrorism will spread, they did just that with Afghanistan. They abandoned the mission there as well as the forces trying to secure Afghanistan. We should be ashamed but we are not.

While we argue over keeping the troops in Iraq or bringing them home, we disregard the fact so many of the wounded in body or mind need to be taken care of today, are not being taken care of. We should be ashamed we do not use every spear moment of our day fighting to insure they are all cared for. When will we live up to the words we say with deeds? When will we live up to the words we use as we present a carefully folded flag to the families left behind "from a grateful nation" and actually have actions to back that up?

Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Namguardianangel.blogspot.com
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

Keri Christensen National Guard, PTSD and Mom

Female veterans report more sexual, mental trauma
Story Highlights
Dept. of Veterans Affairs diagnosed 60,000 veterans with PTSD

Women have comprised 11 percent of military force in Iraq and Afghanistan

VA: 22 percent of women, 1 percent of men suffered sexual trauma in military

Expert says women afraid to report sexual harassment for fear of retribution

By Randi Kaye and Ismael Estrada
CNN


DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- On a good day, Keri Christensen spends the day watching her children. She prepares their meals, gets them ready for school and helps them with their homework.

Christensen is now in therapy for PTSD to overcome depression, nightmares, anger and low self-esteem.

But this housewife and mother of two is far different than most of the women living in her Denver, Colorado, suburb.

She's an Iraqi war veteran, among the first women in the United States to be classified as combat veterans.

Even though she's been home from the war for more than 2½ years, she's now fighting another battle -- this one with depression, nightmares, sleeplessness and anger. She says all of it is caused by her time in Iraq.

"I start feeling those feelings of 'I'm not worthy. I can't raise my family,' " Christensen said.
Women have made up about 11 percent of the military force in Iraq and Afghanistan in the past six years, according to the Department of Defense; that's an estimated 180,000 women in the war zone. The figure dwarfs the 41,000 women deployed during the Persian Gulf War and the 7,500 who served during the Vietnam War, mostly as nurses.

Unlike past wars, women are assigned to combat support roles. Many are seeing violence firsthand in an unconventional war.
Watch CNN's Randi Kaye report on female veterans »
As a member of the National Guard, Christensen transported tanks in Iraq. She says she was shot at and was nearly a victim of a roadside bomb when a convoy in front of hers was hit.

"You have this fear, 'Oh, my God, I still have to go through there,' " she recalled. " 'Am I going to make it?' "

Christensen says that she was sexually harassed by a superior while serving in Iraq and that the harassment added to the pressure created by just being in a war zone.
The VA diagnosed 60,000 veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Of those, 22 percent of women suffered from "military sexual trauma," which includes sexual harassment or assault, compared with 1 percent of men.

Christensen, who has been diagnosed with PTSD, says she doesn't like leaving her comfort zone. She doesn't drive more than two miles from her home.

"When I get outside my familiar safe territory, I start to feel overwhelmed," Christensen said.
"It gets foggy. Not sure where I'm really going. Something comes over me where I don't feel like I have control over it."

"PTSD is actually something that shows up over time, and so the natural recovery process doesn't happen," said Dr. Darrah Westrup, who counsels female veterans at the VA-run Women's Health Clinic in Menlo Park, California.

"So three months out or so, you find yourself still not sleeping, still with nightmares, still having intrusive thoughts," Westrup said.

"I just know it took a big toll on me because I was trying to deal with it myself. Just trying to be a soldier," Christensen said.

In 2007, the Department of Veterans Affairs found that women are reporting signs of mental health issues when they return home at a higher rate than their male counterparts.
go here for the rest
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/19/women.veterans/index.html

Soldiers stationed in Germany have mold problems

Families fear the return of irritating black mold
Army says it hasn’t heard problem is back
By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Thursday, March 20, 2008

GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — It’s almost spring, and for many people that means time for some spring cleaning.

Spring in Germany means lots of moisture, which not only brings beautiful flowers, but also helps nasty black mold to form.

Outdoors, molds live in the soil and plants. Indoors, molds will often grow in damp or wet areas, including basement walls, bathroom tiles and sinks. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, mold can lead to a variety of health problems, such as headaches, breathing difficulties, skin irritation and aggravation of asthma symptoms.

Last year, the Army had to eradicate mold problems at the off-post military housing area in Kaltenbrunn after an inspection found mold growing in bathrooms and attics of at least 10 homes.

Now, some soldiers and family members living in the housing area say the mold has returned, although the Army says it’s unaware of any problems.

Staff Sgt. Frederick Rowell of the 2nd Cavalry (Stryker) Regiment blames the mold problems for the allergies experienced by his family.

When he first complained to the Army about the mold last summer, workers did remediation work that involved covering up the mold rather than solving the problem, Rowell said.

“I think the contractors did an excellent job on some houses, but at my house there was mold in the concrete and they just covered it up,” he said.

The 29-year-old Pensacola, Fla., native — who said he suffers from traumatic brain injury sustained in a roadside bomb blast — said he raised the issue with the Vilseck Warrior Transition Unit last month. A week later the Army found him a house at the new off-post military housing area at Netzaberg, he said.
go here for the rest
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=53456

Veteran coping with injuries: 'It changes everything'

Veteran coping with injuries: 'It changes everything'
Richard Lake

• March 19, 2008


They come from all corners of the state, these 200-plus warriors, and they suffered all sorts of injuries, from gut wounds to nerve damage to brain trauma.

And now, many of them are home from Iraq. Some have moved on. Some are trying. Some are not sure if they'll ever be able to get back to the way things used to be.

"It changes everything - your personal life, your career life. It changes the way you see everything," said David Yancey, 34, severely injured by a bomb three years ago.

Yancey, who lives in the small north Mississippi town of Ripley, is one of an estimated 266 Mississippians who have been wounded in action in Iraq, according to Department of Defense numbers updated March 8, the latest number available.

Like many, he hasn't fully recovered from his injuries and expects he never will. He is receiving disability payments from the government.

Same with Ellis Martin.

Bearable would describe the life he has carved out. He exists.

Martin, 43, like Yancey, was injured by a bomb in the spring of 2005.

He was a platoon sergeant then, part of the Army National Guard's 155th Brigade Combat Team. He enlisted way back when he was 17, in 1982, unsure of his path.

He had just missed getting sent to Iraq for the first Gulf War, and spent six months in Bosnia on a peacekeeping mission back in 2001 and 2002.

He worked as an offshore driller in his civilian life.

And then, Iraq.

On March 2, 2005, his unit's mission was to herald a group of engineers to a series of bomb craters to analyze them.

As they arrived at their fourth crater that day, he and Sgt. Robert Shane Pugh exited their Humvee.

A sudden explosion - later discovered to have been set off remotely by a cell phone - knocked them both down.

Pugh, a combat medic, lay mortally wounded. He helped instruct others on how to take care of Martin before he died, an action for which he was posthumously honored with the Silver Star.

Martin was hurt badly. His upper left arm was shattered; the muscle was torn, the nerves damaged.

Shrapnel scarred his back, cut a nerve in his leg, ripped into his bladder and colon. The force of the blast twisted his pelvis.

A huge piece of shrapnel nearly killed him, but because his helmet had fallen backward a little, the shrapnel was stopped.

"If my helmet had been on right, it would have hit me in the back of my neck," he said.

He spent more than a year at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, enduring 30 surgeries to fix what was broken.

He was given a medical retirement, and came home in the summer of 2006.

Because of nerve damage, his left hand doesn't work right. The nerves in his right foot are messed up, too, giving him what's called "drop foot."

He can walk OK and can drive a car but uses his left foot for the brake. He can't do any kind of manual work except for a little house keeping and light recreation.

He is as recovered, he said, as he is ever going to get. He watches TV now, visits with his three grandchildren and rides a four-wheeler for fun.

His house just outside of McComb soon will be fitted for wheelchair access - just in case he needs it later on.

Yancey, the soldier from Ripley, hopes he is through with Walter Reed. He has publicly criticized the way he and others were treated there.

He spent two years at the Army hospital following his March 29, 2005, injury.

Maj. Bruce Gannaway at Walter Reed

In addition to ripping off Maj. Bruce Gannaway's left foot, an improvised explosive device in Iraq shattered several fingers, broke his left forearm and pelted his right leg with shrapnel.

March 19, 2008

Soldier strives to recover from loss of left foot

By AUDREY PARENTE
Staff Writer
An improvised explosive device in the Iraqi desert ripped off Army Maj. Bruce Gannaway's left foot.

The soldier's father, Tom Gannaway of Ponce Inlet, was deeply concerned when he traveled to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where his son was recovering from severe war wounds suffered in December.

"I was there (at Walter Reed) within two days of his arrival," Gannaway said.

"The big issue with amputations, as I understand it, is the danger of infection," he said after speaking with surgeons.

Recently, Gannaway visited Walter Reed again to find his 34-year-old infantry platoon-leader son learning to use a prosthetic lower limb and undergoing other rehabilitation.

Gannaway's son is one of 555 amputees to have been treated in Walter Reed's amputee-care program through March 1, since the first troops marched on Baghdad five years ago today.

Patricia Cassimatis, a spokeswoman for Walter Reed, said 752 amputees have been treated at all Army facilities since the war began.

Many of the amputees are on outpatient status, living near the Washington, D.C., military hospital and returning for regular care, Cassimatis said. "Most of these patients live on or near the installation."

Major Gannaway lives near the hospital with his wife, Sarah, a health care professional, and their 14-month-old daughter, Helen Grace.

Besides ripping off his left foot, the blast shattered several fingers, broke a left forearm and peppered the soldier's right leg with shrapnel, including a serious vascular wound.

Walter Reed opened in 1909 and has served injured and ill military members from all U.S. conflicts with more than 60 clinics, and about 1,000 physicians.

· Injured treated since the war began: 7,500.

· Number of wounded warriors in the hospital on an average day: 30 to 40.

· Total inpatient census on any given day: 170-190 (other patients are family members of active duty, other active duty hurt or ill but not from the war zones and retirees).

— Compiled by Staff Writer Audrey Parente
click post title for the rest

Spc. Scott Miler promoted to Sergeant while in hospital

Iraq vet promoted while treated for cancer

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Mar 19, 2008 18:01:35 EDT

BOSTON — A Massachusetts soldier being treated for terminal cancer has been promoted to sergeant in the room in which he receives chemotherapy.

Maj. Gen. Joseph Carter, Adjutant General of the Massachusetts National Guard, presented Spc. Scott Miller with his promotion papers, stripes and a plaque during a ceremony at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

Miller has served in Iraq, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.

Members of his unit, family, doctors and other caregivers packed the room Tuesday to witness the emotional ceremony.

The 34-year-old spoke of his pride of being the backbone of the army as a noncommissioned officer.

Scott was diagnosed with a blood clot in the leg while serving in Iraq just over a month ago.

Further tests showed the Newton, N.H. resident had colon cancer.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_cancerpromotion_031908/

Deployments to Iraq nears 3 million in 5 years

1,686,794
Personnel have deployed at least once
to the Operation Iraqi Freedom or
Operation Enduring Freedom theaters of
operations* through January 2008, with
24,852 service members deploying five
or more times. There have been
2,967,848 total deployments.*
*Breakouts for OIF and OEF not available.
Source: Defense Department

399,848
Medals awarded for service in Operation
Iraqi Freedom.*

Medal of Honor: Army, 1;
Marine Corps, 1
Distinguished Service Cross/
Air Force Cross/Navy Cross:
Air Force, 0 ; Army, 8;
Marine Corps, 17**; Navy, 1
Silver Star: Air Force, 11; Army,
385, Marine Corps**, 77;
Navy, 40**
Legion of Merit: Air Force, 3;
Army, 59; Marine Corps, 28**;
Navy, N/A
Distinguished Flying Cross: Air
Force, 269; Army, 96; Marine
Corps, 24**; Navy, N/A
Bronze Star: Air Force, 1,881
(91 for valor); Army, 58,877
(1,843 for valor); Navy, 2,258***
Marine Corps, 1,940**,***
http://www.militarytimes.com/static/projects/pages/tns_5yearsiniraq.pdf

Send them once and rate of PTSD is one out of three. Send them again and you raise the risk by 50%. 24,852 have been deployed 5 times or more. Is there any kind of statistical rate we could use for them?

What are we doing? What are we doing to them? To their families? I still get emails from soldiers and family members just finding out what PTSD is. How many more are in this country without any kind of clue what they are living with? Forget about the average citizen even knowing what it is. Most have no idea how many troops have died in Iraq or Afghanistan. For the record, as of today 3,991 in Iraq and 487 in Afghanistan according to ICasualties.org. These numbers do not come close to the true death count of our service men and women simply because if they kill themselves when they come home by suicide, suicide by cop or by crashing their cars, they are not counted. At least 6,000 per year have taken their own lives. This means that 34,478 have died as a result of Iraq and Afghanistan. As for the wounded, again, they are not really counted because while the official count is 29,314, the wounds of PTSD and TBI are not included in these counts. None of the backlog claims in the VA are counted among any.
We never count the family members in any of these numbers either.

What makes all of this even more terrible to fully grasp is that the Congress has yet to understand the full, far reaching price being paid on a daily basis, in Iraq and Afghanistan and here back home.





Chaplain 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

"Andrew's life was the Marines.

The Cost of War: One Son's Life was Claimed in Combat; Another by the Trauma that Followed It

Julie Robinson
Chareston Gazette
Mar 18, 2008

March 15, 2008 - See a video presentation of this story at http://www.wvgazette.com/costofwar

Stan and Shirley White of Cross Lanes remember they were at a restaurant that day - Sept. 26, 2005. They were talking about their youngest son, Andrew, and about how happy they were to have him home safe from Iraq.

Then, Shirley's cell phone rang. It was their daughter-in-law on the other end - the wife of their middle son, Bob, who was stationed in Afghanistan with the Army. Bob's Humvee had been hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. He was gone.

Now, 2 1/2 years later - on Feb. 12 - the Whites lost 23-year-old Andrew. He died mysteriously in his sleep, just as he was beginning an achingly slow climb out of the debilitating post-traumatic stress disorder.

Their oldest son, Will, a career Naval officer, is in the Persian Gulf.

go here for the rest

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9596

Pfc. Andrew White, from first platoon, Company K, Battalion Landing Team, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), waits in line to draw casual pay from the traveling disbursing team from Combat Logistics Battalion 22, 22nd MEU(SOC) aboard the USS Gunston Hall, Aug. 8. Though normally based on the USS Kearsarge, the disbursers traveled to the Gunston Hall to provide disbursing services for the 22nd MEU Marines aboard that ship.

This photo came from

http://www.marines.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/lookupstoryref/200781455234

He looks like Andrew White from the video. If it is not the same Marine, please let me know.

The Struggle Within Scarred Soldier Richard Russworn

Richard spent six months in Iraq and won a meritorious service award for his leadership ability. (Media Credit: Courtesy Photo)

The Struggle Within Scarred soldier
Brain damage and post-traumatic stress disorder have made college life difficult for Richard Russworn
By: David Morris
Issue date: 3/18/08 Section: News

Richard Russworn, a 36-year-old senior agricultural economics major, is no stranger to anger, fear and resentment. Though he traces some of these issues back to an abusive childhood, they have been made far worse by injuries he sustained while serving in Iraq and, most of all, by post-traumatic stress disorder.

Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is an anxiety disorder that can develop after life-threatening events. Susceptibility to PTSD, and the course of the disorder, is often influenced by negative experiences, such as abuse. The National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder says that PTSD affects between 12 percent and 20 percent of troops who return from Iraq. For a number of reasons, including fear of what others will think and how it will affect their military career, only half of returning troops seek treatment. Richard, however, believes that his anger and flashbacks make him a danger to himself and others.

"[If] you drop something and it makes a big bang, you could put me back in Iraq for a bit. I could start taking out people just to save my own life."

Richard says he grew up in a broken home where he was abused physically, emotionally and psychologically. When he was 15, his father took a job as a trucker and was gone Monday through Saturday. As a result, Richard was forced to raise himself.

He began working at a grocery store two miles down the street where he was paid $2.70 an hour. With that money, he bought food and paid bills. When Richard's father returned each week on Sunday, it was not a happy reunion. "It was gripe and complain about this and that - what I hadn't done, what I needed to do and how disrespectful I was becoming, how disobedient I was - and I got pounded for it.

"That's not the way a child should be brought up. I wish I'd had it a lot different. I'd be a different person today. I probably wouldn't resent myself as much."

Richard was so "socially dysfunctional" by the time he reached high school that he dropped out and got a GED. Craving a sense of order that he did not receive from home, he joined the Army, which he credits with straightening him out.

"When I hit society on my own at 15 years of age, I didn't have to listen to nobody. Other family members speculated that that would be my biggest problem in the military, was allowing somebody to have authority over me. [But] going into the military was probably the best thing I ever did to [develop] as a person, to teach me responsibility, discipline, so forth, because it was something I did not have. The Army probably did more for me than society ever has."
click post title for the rest

PTSD caused by both genes and environment

March 19, 2008

Post-traumatic stress disorder caused by both genes and environment
Mark Henderson, Science Editor

Both genetic and environmental factors affect people's risk of developing post-traumatic stress, according to new research that illustrates how nature and nurture combine to shape health and behaviour.

A particular genetic variant makes people much more susceptible to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after harrowing experiences, but only if they have also had an abusive childhood, scientists in the United States have discovered.

The findings add to a growing consensus that the debate about whether mental health, personality and behaviour are driven by nature or nurture is founded on a misconception. They indicate strongly that genes and the environment are not mutually exclusive forces, but rather work together to influence human development.

PTSD is a serious anxiety disorder that develops among people who experience unpleasant events, such as war, murders, terrorist attacks or natural disasters. It leads to nightmares, insomnia, flashbacks, mood swings and depression, and can severely impair the ability to live a normal life.


Not everybody who experiences severe trauma develops PTSD, and the risk is known to be influenced by genetics. Studies of twins who served in Vietnam showed that identical pairs, who share all their genes, are more likely both to suffer than are fraternal sets.

Genes, however, do not explain all the variability in people’s risk, and the precise genes and environmental factors that are involved have remained obscure.
A study led by Kerry Ressler, of Emory University in Atlanta, examined the effects of a gene called FKBP5, which is involved in the way the body responds to stress. The DNA code of this gene varies at four points, which allowed the scientists to investigate whether any particular genetic profiles would either raise the risk of PTSD or protect against it.

As PTSD develops only when people have lived through traumatic events, Dr Ressler studied a group of 900 adults who lived in deprived urban communities and were likely to have had violent experiences of the sort that can provoke the disorder.

The participants were also asked to complete a questionnaire that recorded whether they had suffered physical or sexual abuse at a young age. When variations in the FKBP5 gene were examined on their own, the researchers found no effect on PTSD risk. A history of child abuse also made no difference in isolation.

When the two factors were considered together, however, they were found to interact to raise or reduce risk. People with certain variants of FKBP5 were much more likely to develop PTSD after trauma if they had also been abused as children.

“These results are early and will need to be replicated, but they support the hypothesis that combinations of genes and environmental factors affect the risk for stress-related disorders like PTSD,” Dr Ressler said.

“Understanding how gene-environment interactions affect mental health can help us to understand the neurobiology of these illnesses.”

The results, which are published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, follow other studies that have shown how genetic variants interact with environmental factors to affect behaviour or mental health.

A team led by Avshalom Caspi and Terrie Moffitt, of the Institute of Psychiatry in London, has found that a variant of a gene called MAOA predisposes to antisocial behaviour when accompanied by child abuse.

Dr Caspi said: “It is part of an emerging body of research which documents not so much that genes cause disease, but rather that genetic differences shape how people respond differently to the same experiences.”

Dr Moffitt said: “This is an important insight, because it offers clues for unravelling the biology of psychiatric disorders, which will lead to new and better treatments.”
How genetic make-up influences mental health

Antisocial behaviour Variant in the gene MAOA predisposes to antisocial behaviour and aggression, but only if carriers also suffered abusive childhoods

Depression Variant of 5HTT gene makes people more likely to develop depression, but only if they also experience stressful events such as divorce, bereavement or unemployment

Psychosis People with version of 5HTT are also at greater risk of developing psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia if they smoke cannabis as teenagers

IQ Breast-fed infants, left, generally develop higher IQs than those who are not, but only if they carry variant of the FADS2 gene

Phenylketonuria A disease caused by genetic mutation that can lead to mental retardation. Can be prevented if detected early and infants are placed on special diet

Source: Times database
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3576899.ece

Veteran brings calm to soldiers through her song

Veteran brings calm to soldiers through song - by News Channel 8's Crystal Haynes

By News Channel 8's Crystal Haynes
Posted March 18, 2008
4:15 PM

(WTNH) _ Staff sergeant Doreen Head fought in the Army National Guard for 21 years. She then fought to get adjusted here at home. And now, she's helping other servicemen to do the same through song.

From the front lines to her front porch, veteran Doreen Head has seen a lot. Especially in her last tour in Germany, which served as the last stop for soldiers returning home from Iraq.

"We seen a lot of the soldiers come back from Iraq to Germany because that was their stopping point before they'd come back home," Head said. "A lot of them were really messed up psychologically. You know we did the best that we could to comfort them."

In her tough transition from soldier, to mother and wife, Head found comfort in music. She put experiences on the front line, and behind it, into a song. It's called "More than you know."

"It just takes me places where I want to be," Head said. "Its like a calming. Music is just calming to me." Head continues by saying, "Trying to deal with everyday life -- it's not easy at all. Because my mind is still back in Germany and over in Iraq with my fellow comrades over there."

Staff Sergeant Head hopes the song will help fellow servicemen the way it has for her. And she's working on distributing it among troops in active duty. "I hope it's a wonderful affect. I hope they feel what I felt when I produced that song."

"I was over there 15 months by myself," Head noted. "It was difficult to try to mainstream yourself back into a family life. It's really tough, trying to be a mother, trying to be a wife."
http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=8035332&nav=3YeX

Vicki Van Meter, set flying records at 11, 12 kills self at 26

March 18, 2008, 4:11PM
Woman who set flying records at 11, 12 kills self at 26


By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI
Associated Press


PITTSBURGH — Vicki Van Meter, who made headlines in the 1990s for piloting a plane across the country at age 11 and from the U.S. to Europe at age 12, has died, an apparent suicide. She was 26.

Van Meter died Saturday of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Crawford County coroner said. Her body was found in her Meadville home on Sunday.

Her brother said she battled depression, but her family thought she had been dealing with her problems.

"She was unhappy, but it was hard for her to open up about that and we all thought that she was coping," Daniel Van Meter said. He said she had opposed taking medication.

Van Meter was celebrated in 1993 and 1994 when she made her cross-country and trans-Atlantic flights accompanied only by a flight instructor. Her instructors said she was at the controls during the entirety of both trips.

"If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything," Van Meter said before her second trip. In her teens, she said she hoped to become an astronaut when she grew up.
go here for the rest
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5630173.html

Peake pops into Tampa VA without an appointment

Normally I don't like to post an entire article and never like to use the comments but in this case, you have to read it all to believe it.

March 18, 2008
VA secretary pays Tampa unannounced visit
TAMPA -- The secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs made an unannounced visit to Tampa today to address a group representing paralyzed veterans and to visit with patients and VA workers at the nation's busiest VA hospital.

Dr. James Peake, appointed by President Bush in October, addressed the Paralyzed Veterans of America board of directors at its annual meeting at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay. The meeting was closed to the public.

Afterward, Peake visited with doctors, nurses and patients at the James A. Haley VA Medical Center. Reporters were not invited or told Peake was in town.

The St. Petersburg Times has made repeated requests to interview Peake since his nomination. But a VA spokesman said Peake decided before departing Washington for Tampa that he was too pressed for time to grant any interviews.
-- William R. Levesque, Times Staff Writer

http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/2008/03/va-secretary-pa.html

March 18, 2008 in Hillsborough, Pinellas Permalink
Comments

I certainly hope the Hon. Mr. Secretary left with some Bay Pines careers in his briefcase.
The Medical end of the house is visibly trying to improve, but the everyone in disability adjudication can go out and get a real job.
To tell me after a fourteen year appeal (sluggishly going from 10% to 50%) that if I'm not drooling on my shoulder while sitting in a wheelchair, then I'm not disabled, is a travesty.
Don't. Permit. Your. Children. To. Enlist.
Posted by: Don March 18, 2008 at 04:07 PM
Thank God this putrid Administration is on its way out and either Hillary or Obama is taking over. This man sneaks in and out and could not really care less about the injured Vets and thehir families Mr. Cheney's & Mr Bush's war oil war has hurt.
Posted by: Ray March 18, 2008 at 04:19 PM
Put away the kazoos. Quick, sound the trumpets, roll out the red carpet.
Posted by: March 18, 2008 at 05:48 PM

Spc. Michael A. McQueen II Competing theories in Ranger slaying trial

Competing theories in Ranger slaying trial

By Ben Nuckols - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Mar 18, 2008 19:55:05 EDT

ROCKVILLE, Md. — An Army Ranger accused of killing a fellow Ranger went to trial Tuesday, with prosecutors accusing Sgt. Gary Smith of lying to police to cover up his crime.

Smith’s attorney told a different story. He said Spc. Michael A. McQueen II committed suicide and Smith, despondent over the loss of his buddy, tried to cover up the circumstances of the death by removing evidence from the scene.

McQueen, 22, who was raised in Miami, died of a single gunshot to the right temple on the night of Sept. 25, 2006, in the apartment that he had begun sharing with Smith just 20 days earlier. After McQueen’s death, Smith threw the weapon, a .38-caliber revolver, in a nearby lake before calling 911. He was covered in McQueen’s blood and had gunshot residue on his hands when he was arrested.

Both sides in the case concede there was no direct evidence McQueen was suicidal and no concrete motive for Smith to kill him. Although they dispute the closeness of the young men’s friendship, the two had served together in Afghanistan and had spent a lot of time partying together in the brief time they lived in the apartment in Gaithersburg, about 20 miles outside of Washington.

“There is no motive in this case. Zero,” said Andrew Jezic, Smith’s attorney.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_ranger_trial_031808/

Pro-war, Anti-war, what happened to pro warriors?

Pro-war

Ralliers in D.C. Work To Build Counterweight To Antiwar Movement
By V. Dion Haynes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 16, 2008; Page A13

Chanting such slogans as "surrender is not an option" and waving American flags, a few hundred people from across the country rallied and paraded in downtown Washington yesterday to support the war.


The demonstration was sponsored by Eagles UP!, an organization founded by veterans in the wake of a war protest about a year ago that drew thousands to Washington. Although small in number, the demonstrators said yesterday that they represent many others from their home towns who believe there needs to be a more vocal counterweight to the antiwar movement.

"We cannot be the silent majority again," Lawrence B. Hoffa of Mequon, Wis., a retired Marine who serves as Southeast coordinator of Eagles UP!, said at the rally on the grounds of the Washington Monument. "We've got to get more people here. We've got to get people motivated."

Debbie Lee, whose Navy SEAL son Marc Alan Lee was killed in Iraq in August 2006, urged the demonstrators to stand up against antiwar organizations such as Code Pink, which she asserted are "trying to destroy our military."

"I've used my voice to speak out for the troops," she said. "I understand the sacrifice they've made and how they've blessed this nation."
go here for the rest of this

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2008/03/15/AR2008031502115.html?tid=informbox

Anti-war

Antiwar Protests Mark Iraq War Anniversary in D.C.
By Petula Dvorak
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 18, 2008; 2:29 PM

A flurry of tricorn hats in various shades of pink marched up and down Constitution Avenue today, kicking off two days of protests marking the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq.

About 60 Code Pink antiwar demonstrators held aloft a living room-size copy of the preamble to the Constitution, beat drums and held up peace signs as they marched from the National Archives to the Justice Department and to the Internal Revenue Service, occasionally disrupting traffic.

About 30 police officers on bicycles and motorcycles and in cars followed them.

"You're blocking traffic," a police officer yelled at the protesters as they veered off the sidewalk and into the street.

"We're well aware of that," one protester yelled back.

No arrests were made.

Families, school groups and other tourists snapped pictures and posed with the more flamboyantly dressed demonstrators as Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin rallied the group over a bullhorn.
go here for the rest of this

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2008/03/18/AR2008031801701.html?hpid%3Dtopnews&sub=AR

This is what aggravates the hell out of me! They can come from all over the country to support their political side but they can't do it to support the wounded who need their help today! Both sides have made me ashamed of them. I can see the point of the "pro-war" people because they listened to and believed Bush all this time. I can see the point of the "anti-war" side because they paid attention to facts. What I cannot see is that neither side will show this much passion for the sake of the wounded needing help today, right this second.

Dr. Karen Seal taking PTSD in new direction

Karen Seal and her colleagues worked to get a new clinic in San Francisco for Iraq war vets. (Chronicle photo by Michael Macor)

Waiting room fills with young vets

Meredith May
Chronicle Staff Writer



Four years after the start of the war in Iraq, Dr. Karen Seal took a job at the San Francisco VA Medical Center to work in the liver clinic, treating patients with hepatitis C.

She noticed the veterans in the waiting room. Most of them were from the Vietnam era, in their 60s and older.

But over the months, the faces began to get younger. The waiting room was starting to fill with young men in their late teens and 20s, the first trickle of Bay Area soldiers emotionally and physically injured by the war.


Seal, a primary care physician, began working with them, taking their medical histories and directing them to the right care.

"At the time, I had never heard of PTSD," Seal said.

Now she knows how post-traumatic stress disorder contributes to the alcohol addiction and depression she sees in many of her patients.

She made referral after referral to the mental health wing of the VA hospital, but heard from colleagues that those initial patients never made it. It was too much of a stigma - especially in military culture - to walk across the campus to the mental health ward.

So Seal and colleagues got an idea. What if there were a special clinic just for Iraq war veterans that combined primary care and mental health checkups in a nonjudgmental setting?
go here for the rest
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfMAR08/nf031708-3.htm

Price of Iraq war now outpaces Vietnam

Price of Iraq war now outpaces Vietnam
John Byrne
Published: Tuesday March 18, 2008


Price only exceeded by World War II

"Major combat operations in Iraq have ended," declared President George W. Bush aboard the USS Lincoln in 2003. "In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."

Five years later, the Iraq war rages on.

According to two prominent economists, in a study the White House has not disputed, the cost of the war now outpaces the total price of the 12-year US conflict in Vietnam.

It's now nearly double the total cost of the Korean War.

The costs of maintaining a US presence in Iraq now runs a tab of about $435 million a day -- $3 billion a week, or $12 billion a month. The US has siphoned some $500 billion taxpayer dollars into Iraq, for a war that was supposed to be "sharp" and brief. Interest payments add another $615 billion, and the price tag of repairing a depleted military is projected at $280 billion.

Only World War II, in terms of inflation-adjusted dollars, was more expensive, according to a recent study by Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard University public finance Professor Laura Bilmes. Both served in the Clinton administration.

Their price tag? $3 trillion. The White House has not disputed the study.
click post title for the rest

The price tag has is going up and the care for the wounded will increase everyday as more and more get wounded and more and more families are left behind when they are killed. This price tag we must never forget we have to pay. This price tag, taking care of the wounded and the families must never be last on the list of bills to pay ever again.

Five years later, soldiers reflect on 179 Fort Lewis casualties

Five years later, soldiers reflect on 179 Fort Lewis casualties
On this 5th anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, the soldiers and their commanders say the deaths that happen today are just as hard to take as those back in 2003.

By Keith Eldridge
Watch the story
FORT LEWIS -- This base is 6th on the list of military bases with the most casualties in the war in Iraq. But the soldiers at Fort Lewis say they want to make sure each and every soldier is honored for their supreme sacrifice.When the fighting in Iraq began, it was everyone's hope that the U.S. could get through the conflict with very few soldier deaths, and have it be over and done with quickly.That was five years and 179 Fort Lewis casualties ago.Time and again, soldiers, their families and friends have gathered to pay honor to those who've fallen.On this 5th anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, the soldiers and their commanders say the deaths that happen today are just as hard to take as those back in 2003.

The first Fort Lewis soldier to die in Iraq was MP Travis Burkhardt in June of 2003.

One of the most recent is Cpl. Kevin Mowl."You are greatly missed my friend," Staff Sgt. Kenneth Hoffman said last Friday at the memorial service. "Never will you be forgotten."

click above for the rest

Pentagon did not give brain exams for TBI because of claims?

Colonel: Pentagon delayed brain injury exams

By Gregg Zoroya - USA Today
Posted : Tuesday Mar 18, 2008 8:08:48 EDT

For more than two years, the Pentagon delayed screening troops returning from Iraq for mild brain injuries because officials feared veterans would blame vague ailments on the little-understood wound caused by exposure to bomb blasts, said the military’s director of medical assessments.

Air Force Col. Kenneth Cox said in an interview that the Pentagon wanted to avoid another controversy such as the so-called Gulf War syndrome. About 10,000 veterans blamed medical conditions from cancer to eczema on their service.

The Pentagon did not acknowledge the syndrome until Congress created a committee to study it in 1998.

For troops who think they may have a condition not designated as war-related, Cox said, often “they’re reacting to rumors, things that they’ve read about or heard about on the Internet or [from] their friends.”

That uncertainty, Cox said, means “some individuals will seek a diagnosis from provider to provider to provider.” It also makes treating veterans “much more difficult and much more costly,” he said.

Asked whether mild traumatic brain injury could turn into another Gulf War syndrome, Cox said, “It could.”

“That’s baloney,” said Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., founder of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force. “There was no need to delay this.”

go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/gns_braininjuries_031808/

If you are not fully outraged over this then you are not even engaged in what is going on with our troops. This is beyond outrageous! It's inexcusable! How could anyone in their right mind think that finding out what a soldier was wounded by would be a bad thing to do because they may turn around and file a claim for being wounded? How many came home with TBI not knowing what was wrong with them and how many ended up being discharged for being wounded?

Army Sgt. James Musack death leaves family with questions

Tuesday, March 18, 2008


Family questions investigation into soldier's death

By Kathryn Fiegen
Iowa City Press-Citizen


The family of a fallen Riverside soldier said they still have unanswered questions after receiving the results recently of an investigation into his death that concluded he killed himself in Iraq.

Initial reports said U.S. Army Sgt. James Musack, 23, of Riverside, was killed in a non-combat related incident Nov. 21, 2006, in Samarra, Iraq. He was serving his second tour of duty in Iraq with the 4th Infantry Division out of Fort Hood, Texas.

The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command investigated the death and concluded in December 2007 that it was a suicide.

However, Musack's sister, Morgan Rorex, 20, of Coralville, said her family doesn't believe Musack killed himself just days before he was supposed to come home from Iraq.

"We didn't think that's what happened," she said. "There's too many inconsistencies."

Musack's family received the results of the investigation in the mail two weeks ago. The report is more than 100 pages long and includes interviews with unit members, the family and friends who last spoke to Musack, the results of forensic tests and diagrams of where his body was found. Many of the details, including the names of who was interviewed, were redacted.

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Sergeant Major Of The Army Spends Day With Soldiers In Baghdad

Sergeant Major Of The Army Spends Day With Soldiers In Baghdad
By Alan Quartemont - Jambalaya & Midday News Anchor
March 17 2008


BAGHDAD – In what must have seemed like a sense of déjà vu, Sergeant Major of the Army Kenneth Preston returned once again to pay his regards March 16 to the Soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division and Multi-National Division – Baghdad.

It was merely 20 months ago when Preston last visited the 4th Inf. Div. when it also served as the headquarters element for MND-B during Operation Iraqi Freedom 05-07. He also paid a brief visit with MND-B troops during the USO tour in December.

As was the case July 11, 2006, he began his visit at the MND-B headquarters building on Camp Liberty, which culminated his two-day trek of visiting Soldiers in the greater Baghdad area.

“I get over here about four to five times a year,” said Preston. “The trip provides a great opportunity to speak with the Soldiers and the leaders on the ground. It provides us tremendous first-hand feedback on how things are going. My goal is to sit down, talk with Soldiers and to hear what concerns they have on their minds. We are proud of the missions that you have done, and the missions that you do every day.”

click post title for the rest