Saving survivors after trauma

Saving survivors after trauma
by
Chaplain Kathie

This is a picture of Max Cleland taken after he was wounded in Vietnam.

This image is of a man, clearly providing evidence we can understand that he lived through something horrible. It would be easy to accept he was severely wounded. The VA had no problem understanding this. It's doubtful he had to fight to have his claim approved for disability. It is doubtful others in his condition have to fight to have their claims approved, go without the ability to pay their bills or go without psychological help.

This image is of a veteran of our newer wars.

Again, it is obvious to everyone that he was clearly wounded in service to this nation. No one would ever doubt he needed help to heal physically or emotionally. It would take a totally heartless individual to dismiss his wounds. When veterans like him return to their home towns, communities line up to help him and his family. They do all they can to make sure he is as comfortable as possible. They make sure his home is able to accommodate his wounds. It is clear his family will need help as well.

This image is of two Iraq veterans needing to heal from burns.

Again the wound is clear. Associating psychological issues is an easy step to make. We can see they were wounded, survived something horrifying. We know they will need help to heal physically as well as emotionally. There would be no problem giving them mental healthcare for the rest of their lives. Should either of them receive the wrong disability other than 100%, the people of this nation would be totally outraged. We would wonder what was wrong with the VA is they were not taken care of so they could pay their bills and live a life as comfortably as possible.


With this image we can clearly see a head wound.

We find it easy to see the scar left behind some traumatic event in this veteran's life. When the scar heals, we then expect him to get on with his life and return to what we consider "normal" then just go back to work but we tend to not look past the scar we can see with our eyes and know there could be something more there needing to be treated. His family would just assume any changes in him would come from what he survived. Should he have nightmares, it would be easy for a family member to react to the nightmare with compassion instead of anger or frustration.

These images are of veterans. They look fine. As if there is nothing wrong with them at all.

But these faces are of happier times. After combat they would have looked almost the same. They may have told a joke or two. They may have been able to laugh with their friends. They would have returned changed to the people closest to them. There would have been changes associated with combat but it would be passed off as "he'll get over it" or "he just needs time then he'll be ok." Veterans like this would have a hard time getting claims approved. There are no obvious wounds of war. They may have trouble getting jobs and keeping them. They may have trouble sleeping. They may have trouble with flashbacks and nightmares draining their energy. When they are waiting for help as well as having to fight for it, they begin to lose hope of getting any better as their condition becomes worse. This is what PTSD looks like. These veterans lost hope of healing and they all committed suicide.

We lost 18 veterans the day we celebrated Veterans' Day. It was not so unusual on that day because it happens every day of the year. There are another 10,000 veterans attempting suicide each year. Those are just the ones the government is aware of. There are more.

We read reports over the years stating clearly suicides in the Army have risen no matter what the Army has attempted to do to address this. We read reports of veterans committing suicide no matter what the VA attempts to do to address this. What we don't read about are the numbers of veterans in between soldier under the Department of Defense and veteran in the VA system. We have no idea how many committed suicide in between. When they are discharged, the military does not know and does not attempt to know. Until they are in the VA system with an approved claim, the VA does not know about them and does not attempt to know. While we may read in the local newspaper about the death of a veteran, most of the obituaries will state "died suddenly" and that is the end of their story. We don't know what they went through after war. Usually the families are not sure what happened either.

Their flesh survived the traumas of war. We assume the rest of "them" did as well.

There is a deep, dark prevalence of "let the VA take care of them" among service organizations. We hear there are more doctors and mental health workers being hired, that the VA and the DOD are doing something about all of this, but what we don't understand is that while these veterans are in clear need of help, what the DOD and the VA have been doing is not enough to meet the needs of the veterans. They are doing the best they can with what they have right now, but with all the years they were not mobilizing to be proactive there were more and more veterans needing help before they could catch up. These veterans end up in a waiting line while they have to fight to have their claims approved, their wounds treated and be able to pay their bills. The rest of us pass all this off as, "If they have a real disability the VA will take care of them." but we never consider what happens between wound and approved claim. We also tend to dismiss the fact there are lower ratings than the veterans wound calls for. They then have to fight for the increase while they see the pressure and stress rise when they cannot pay their bills, find and keep jobs and their lives fall apart.

There is an even darker prevalence of the clergy unable and unwilling to understand what is happening to these veterans. While many churches are more than willing to celebrate Veterans Day with special services, they are the last to respond to the spiritual need of these veterans in need of help healing what the eyes cannot see. PTSD is eating them alive, pulling them away from God as hope erodes. They see their families suffer because of the changes in themselves but they are powerless to do anything about any of it. Knowing they need help but unable to find the help they need, they turn to drugs and alcohol. They sought help of the VA but the VA cannot get them appointments right away and their claim is trapped in the backlog pile as if their entire life is just supposed to go on hold and their financial support is unimportant.

None of them seem to notice all the groups forming to try to fill in the gaps because they are tired of waiting as they watch the death count go up, homeless veterans join more homeless veterans, families fall apart and yes, suicides claim more of the combat survivors.

As much as it is easy to overlook the wound we cannot see, it is just as easy to overlook the veterans without the help they need to heal. While there are some parts of the country with veterans service groups stepping up to help, in other parts of the country more are finding excuses to not get involved. They are content to just sit back and wait for the VA to do it. They simply believe the press releases that the VA and the DOD are taking care of it while ignoring the reports about how the need is getting worse.

What is perhaps the most sickening thing of all of this is that none of it has to happen.

This is what can be done.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Veterans Court, A second chance for vets
A second chance for vetsNew program: County Veterans Court helps those in trouble with PTSDCHRISTIAN HILL; The Olympian • Published July 26, 2009A former Army Ranger, he served a combined 18 months in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, and lost his best friend in an attack.Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Harrington, 26, couldn’t hold down any one of a series of eight jobs. Always on edge, he’d binge drink to get a good night’s sleep; otherwise, he’d be up for days. He fired three therapists after exploding in anger when they wanted him to talk about experiences he had locked deep inside.A man who served and lived by the motto “Rangers lead the way,” Harrington had lost his way in civilian life.“I thought I was invincible, and I can’t hold a (expletive) job,” said Harrington, who left the Army more than four years ago.In April 2008, he hit his wife. A neighbor called police, and Harrington was arrested and charged with fourth-degree assault. She has since left him.Harrington will not be locked up as a result of a new Thurston County program that convened for the first time last week.Thurston County Veterans Court offers a second chance to current and retired service members who commit crimes while struggling with war-related psychological wounds, notably PTSD and traumatic brain injuries. Buffalo, N.Y., started the first such court last year, and numerous communities have followed in its footsteps.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Ogden VFW post to host seminar on PTSD
Ogden VFW post to host seminar on PTSDPress ReleaseOGDEN - The Ogden Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1481 will host a free information seminar on Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Tuesday, July 28 from 7 to 9 p.m.Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that some people develop after being exposed to an event that caused or threatened serious harm or death. Although many military men and women returning from a combat area do suffer from PTSD, it is not a disorder exclusive to veterans.So who gets it? Anyone can. PTSD affects children, women, and men of any age; about 5.2 million adults in any year. PTSD can be experienced immediately or have a delayed onset.What causes PTSD? An overload to the nervous system through trauma or torture exposure; an extreme threat or disruption to life; repeated abuse or danger; seeing someone you care about die, near death or having their life threatened, can bring on PTSD. Rape or sexual attack, being shot at, natural disasters, a vehicle crash, kidnapping or having to fight for your life or the life of someone else are just a few potential severe emotional traumas that can bring on symptoms of PTSD.

Ministries pave a spiritual path to help veterans with PTSD
Ministries pave a spiritual path to help veterans with PTSDBy G. Jeffrey MacDonald, Special for USA TODAYHopelessness haunted Tim Pollock for years after an Iraqi insurgent blew off half his skull during a reconnaissance operation in 2004. Back home in Columbiana, Ohio, the retired Army infantryman drank hard, bought a gun and considered suicide.But today Pollock, 30, has a renewed sense of purpose despite his seizures and other war-related disabilities. He visits soldiers in hospitals. He coaches veterans who struggle as he does with agitation, anxiety and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). And he's studying for ministry.Ministries pave a spiritual path to help veterans with PTSDPTSD: Puts veterans at increased risk of dementiaARMY: Monitoring faulted in rise of soldier suicidesCATHARSIS: Stressed troops take cues from ancient plays"I'll always have post-traumatic stress, but I'm learning through God how to control that," says Pollock, who leads a veteran support group through Point Man International Ministries, an independent non-profit. "I'm learning how to change my feelings of anger into feelings of love and help people with their problems."As soldiers return home from Iraq and Afghanistan, congregations are discovering how spirituality can help veterans afflicted with postwar stress. But many pastors remain unsure how to help when veterans contend with chronic nightmares, outbursts and panic attacks.

Click on the links to read more about what can be done when the rest of the country stops using excuses and steps up to help these veterans heal. They only ask for what they need but were willing to give all they had.

Healing after a traumatic crisis

Taking a look at what humans face in our daily lives that involve times of crisis may help us understand why soldiers end up suffering so much more.

Levels of crisis in our own lives.
Loss of a pet, we are told, get a new one
Loss of a friend and feeling totally lonely, we are told, go out and meet someone else.
Loss of parent for an adult child, we are told, at least we had them as long as we did.
Loss of a spouse due to death or divorce, we are told, you are still young enough to find someone else.
Loss of a child, we are told, you can have more.

We lose jobs and are told we are better off and will find a better job, but no one seems to be able to tell us how to pay our bills, find our pride when our identity was connected to the job we did everyday. No one can tell us why it was us getting let go of while others were still on the job no matter if we were better or not at ours. Companies close their doors and everyone is unemployed but no one seems to be able to tell us how we an tell our kids we have to move out of the house because we can't find a job and pay the mortgage anymore.

Illness that comes and we are told we will die soon then we have to decide if we want to fight it, put a financial and emotional burden on our families or if it would hurt them more for us to give up.

Perhaps the worst thing we go through is when we believe we did the best we could, did what we were intended to do, did the right thing and still had to carry a heavy load away while others seem to be able to just go off on their merry way without ever having to pay a price for anything.

Now that it is in more common terms, this is what the go through. They deal with the rest of the crisis we all do but then they get to have to watch their friends die, strangers die all around them and too often have to be the one to take a life to save the lives of those they serve with.

Now maybe you can understand the following a bit better.


Trying to find an eraser.
Trying to dismiss Maj. Hasan as "not one of our own" instead of acknowledging that he was but turned against them is like trying to think of it as a total stranger coming onto the base with weapons and deciding to kill off some soldiers. Having a picture of that in their minds will only make it worse. Hasan was one of their own but not worthy of them, the rank he held or the fact he was put in the care of their mental health. The result after trauma will still be there but without facing the truth behind the suffering, they will be filled with absolutely no reason for the pain they are carrying.

Hasan "Not One of Our Own," Soldier Says
1st Responder to Scene of Deadly Shooting Says "Soldiers Do Not Do This to Each Other"; Fort Hood Seeks Return to Normalcy

(CBS) Updated 6:48 p.m. EST

Soldiers at Fort Hood continued to display a mix of anger and disbelief at Maj. Nidal Hasan's alleged role in the deadly shooting rampage that left 13 people dead and dozens more wounded.

"I can't really say this was done by one of our own. Soldiers do not do this to each other," said 1st Sgt. James McLeod, a first responder to the scene whose unit suffered three fatalities.

But for the first time in almost a week at Fort Hood, there was a homecoming of troops from war - a bittersweet time for the post still grieving last week's shooting. Nearly 300 members of the 1st Cavalry Division returned home Tuesday night after a year in Iraq - the first such reunion since last Thursday's deadly rampage, reports CBS News correspondent Don Teague.

"It's kind of bittersweet to me," Jennifer Goetz, the wife of returning soldier Specialist Sean Goetz told Teague. "So much loss and then just so much happiness right now and love and joy."

Meanwhile, military officials at the base are focused on ensuring the mental health of soldiers as Fort Hood slowly returns to normal after a fatal shooting rampage last week.

"The mission at Fort Hood continues," Col. John Rossi said Wednesday, a day after President Barack Obama joined other officials in a memorial for the fallen.

Mr. Obama denounced the "twisted logic" of the attack and vowed their "killer will be met with justice - in this world and the next."

Rossi would not address the specifics of the case against Hasan, an Army psychiatrist.

Instead, Rossi said all the units affected must use a combination of "friendship and leadership" to help any comrades psychologically affected by the attack.

"We expect leaders to be invasive. You need to know your soldiers. It's OK to ask them how they're doing," Rossi said, adding that "battle buddies may know each other better than anybody else" and can be a valuable resource for identifying any emotional problems.

"Let's find it from within and then seek help if they need it," Rossi said.

Fifteen wounded in the attack remain in the hospital - four in intensive care - according to Rossi. He could not confirm whether any scheduled deployments would be delayed in the wake of the attack.
read more here
Hasan "Not One of Our Own," Soldier Says

Battle Buddies aid so that soldiers can have someone to talk to and have someone watching their backs. Problem is, are they trained to know what is the right thing to say, the right thing to do, when to call for more help? It would be great if they simply took their own life experiences and then used their hearts to see the need. Then they would automatically know what to do and how to respond. Untrained, they could make things worse. They need to be there to listen, be quiet when needed and speak when needed but they also need to know what to say.

Imagine a well meaning chaplain trying to explain the worst thing possible and come up with a reason for it. While the do not intend to do harm their mouths can do more harm than good simply by a choice of words.
Death of a friend, "God needed them more"
A loss of a friend, breakup of a marriage, death of a family member or severe wounding, "God only gives us what we can handle"
These kinds of statements do as much harm as when they ask "Have you thought about killing yourself?" which may in fact put the idea into their head as a solution to their problems.
There is so much that goes into this and we need to be asking if and how well these battle buddies are trained especially when there was yet another report of the suicide rate going up again.

Young Fort Hood Soldier Reacts: 'I Wanted To Cry, But I Couldn't'
Joshua Chaney Contributor
Posted: 11/10/09
Glen Jolivette, 19, of Coshocton, Ohio, had the day off from his job as an Army signal support systems specialist at Ft. Hood last Thursday when the accused gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, started shooting.

"I found out about everything going on over a public announcement system," Jolivette said. "It said word for word, 'Seek shelter immediately, close all doors and windows, make sure all ventilation is closed.'"

Looking out the window of his room, he saw about a dozen civilian helicopters in the sky. He got on the Internet and found out what had happened. As he refreshed the page, the death toll continued to rise.

Out his window, he saw "the creepiest thing in the world. The busiest post in the world was totally dead, no one in sight. I felt a rock just build up in my chest and I wanted to cry, but I couldn't."
read more here
Young Fort Hood Soldier Reacts

Obama promises to rally public behind troops

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / The Associated Press President Barack Obama shakes hands Nov. 12 during a rally at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.

Obama promises to rally public behind troops

By Mark S. Smith - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Nov 13, 2009 13:51:44 EST

ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska — Nearing a decision on sending more troops off to war, President Barack Obama told a military audience Thursday that he will not dispatch them into conflict without proper support — including the backing of the American people.

“That is a promise that I make to you,” Obama told more than 1,000 troops and their families gathered at a hangar here, as the president stopped briefly for refueling en route to a four-country trip to Asia.

The president made no direct mention of Afghanistan or his weeks-long review, now nearing completion, of how to revamp the struggling war effort there. Obama is expected to send in thousands more troops.

In recent days, from a somber memorial for the 13 people shot to death at Fort Hood, Texas, to a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, Obama has lauded the determination of the all-volunteer military.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/ap_airforce_obama_elmendorf_111209/

Active-duty suicides almost double from Sept

Active-duty suicides almost double from Sept.

By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Nov 13, 2009 16:14:07 EST

As many as 16 active-duty soldiers committed suicide in October, nine more than reported the month before, the Army announced Nov. 13.

In addition, eight Army National Guard or Army Reserve soldiers who were not on active duty are believed to have killed themselves in October. That’s one more than reported in September.

Each death is still under investigation and pending a determination. Army officials have said that 90 percent of pending cases typically are ruled to be suicides.

Since Jan. 1 there have been 133 reported active-duty soldier deaths. Of those, 90 have been confirmed and 43 are pending a determination.

There were 115 suicides among active-duty soldiers during the same period in 2008.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/army_suicides_111309w/

Army says morale down among troops in Afghanistan

Army says morale down among troops in Afghanistan
By PAULINE JELINEK (AP) – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON — Morale has fallen among soldiers in Afghanistan, where troops are seeing record violence in the 8-year-old war, while those in Iraq show much improved mental health amid much lower violence, the Army said Friday.

Soldier suicides in Iraq did not increase for the first time since 2004, according to a new study.

Though findings of two new battlefield surveys are similar in several ways to the last ones taken in 2007, they come at a time of intense scrutiny on Afghanistan as President Barack Obama struggles to come up with a new war strategy and planned troop buildup. There is also perhaps equal new attention focused on the mental health of the force since a shooting rampage at Fort Hood last week in which an Army psychiatrist is charged.

Both surveys showed that soldiers on their third or fourth tours of duty had lower morale and more mental health problems than those with fewer deployments and an ever-increasing number of troops are having problems with their marriages.

The new survey on Afghanistan found instances of depression, anxiety and other psychological problems are about the same as they were in 2007. But it also said there is a shortage of mental health workers to help soldiers who need it, partly because of the buildup Obama already started this year with the dispatch of more than 20,000 extra troops.

Efforts already under way to get more health workers to the Afghan war could be hampered somewhat by last week's shooting. The psychiatrist charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder was slated to go to Afghanistan. Some of the dead and wounded also were to deploy there to bolster psychological services for soldiers.
read more here
Army says morale down among troops in Afghanistan

Military looking for chaplains

The biggest problem with this is, chaplains trained to respond to traumatic events are not good enough. They want a graduate and not an expert on the number one spiritual issue they face. Chaplains with the International Fellowship of Chaplains are not just trained to respond to traumatic events, (good enough for police and fire departments) but are also living the calling in all aspects of their lives which include extreme trials responding to the events in their own communities. Without enough psychologists in the military you would think they could rely on the chaplains in the military to fill the gaps but most do not understand PTSD. That's my rant on this one.

Now, if you feel God is leading you to take care of those who are "willing to lay down their lives for the sake of their friends" you will find no better place to do it.

A life of religious fulfillment beyond your everyday ministry. A chance to impact lives around the globe. You'll find these inspiring opportunities serving part-time as a faith leader in today's Navy Reserve.


SERVE GOD, COUNTRY AND A COMMUNITY IN NEED
As a Chaplain and Officer, you will bring spiritual guidance to heroes in uniform. Answering the needs of the Sailors, Marines and Coast Guard members who are out there following a higher calling of their own. Gaining invaluable experiences that you can use to strengthen your own beliefs and enlighten those back home. In this role you will:

Serve as few as two days each month and two weeks per year with opportunities for additional service and pay - while remaining devoted to the needs of your existing congregation

Practice all the conventional aspects of a thriving ministry - while adding an exciting new dimension to your vocation

Interact with and learn from those of many faith groups - as you develop insight that can only complement your ability to lead

In the Navy Reserve Chaplain Corps, you will stand in as preacher and teacher. Celebrant and confessor. Counselor and friend. Advising young men and women preparing to deploy overseas. Offering moral and spiritual support to the families they leave behind. Working and praying with fellow members of your own religious group or those from any of over 200 diverse denominations.

You could serve alone or as part of a team. On bases stateside or overseas. In makeshift meeting houses, hospitals or even on ships. In any case, doing your part to secure the sanctity of worship. To ensure the accessibility of religious practice. And to be there for those who protect the basic freedoms we all hold so dear.

BE BLESSED WITH LASTING BENEFITS

For your offering of faith and your service to country, you'll earn a wealth of rewards - spiritually and professionally. That includes supplemental income. Continuing education assistance. Annual opportunities to travel the world. And much more.

All this - while you discover the pride, purpose and satisfaction of serving your country. Enjoy respect as a religious leader and an Officer. And make enduring connections that will last a lifetime.

REFLECT ON THIS IMPORTANT CALLING

To be eligible to join the Navy Reserve Chaplain Corps, you must:

Hold an ecclesiastical endorsement by a religious faith organization recognized by the Department of Defense
Be a graduate of an accredited college or university and theological school or seminary
Be under 39 years of age (waivers may be granted)
Meet specific Navy standards for medical health and physical fitness
Be a U.S. citizen
To learn more about serving part-time as a Chaplain, simply click apply now, fill out the brief form, and download our free Navy Chaplain Corps brochure. Nowhere will you find more rewarding work...a more loyal congregation...or an audience more in need of your support.

The Many Faces of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Vietnam veterans didn't know who the enemy was. Young kids would be sent to pretend to be looking for candy and then toss a grenade. They would go into villages and not know who would then try to kill them. They lost the ability to trust anyone. This was added to the issue of the solitary DEROS. Each soldier was sent into Vietnam on his own schedule. Date of Expected Return from Over Seas was 12 months and they knew if they survived that year, they would be able to go home but it also meant they would have to leave the brothers they served with behind. They spent that year watching others go, wishing they were going to, and seeing more come in, not knowing if they would be able to do their job instead of getting them killed. (FNG, f-ing new guys.) They watched friends die. They watched them get wounded just as in any other war, but the in process of the solitary soldier deployment, they returned alone back to family and neighborhoods where no one had a clue what they just went through.

We do not see the solitary soldier today. We see units of brothers going and coming home together. Yet just as with Vietnam, the enemy is not easy to recognize. They don't know if they can trust the locals or even the military and police they are trying to train. Yet amazingly they do whatever is asked of them. Again, they know how long they will be there risking their lives and when they will be able to come home. They mark off the days. They return knowing they can trust their brothers but not sure about everyone else.

For Fort Hood soldiers, it was supposed to be safe to walk around unarmed. It was supposed to be a safe place for their families. They were supposed to be able to relax at least there. We told them to seek help if they were having a hard time battling Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and sent them to psychiatrists for help. They trusted the doctors when they were given medication and they trusted what they were being told. The problem was, we didn't know what they were being told, who was telling them it or if the medications were going to make PTSD worse or not. Now, all that has been shattered.

One of their own they thought they could trust turned on them, opening fire when they were unarmed and this one was also supposed to be one of the doctors they were supposed to be able to trust.

This is not just an issue with soldiers at Fort Hood. Every soldier will be wondering who they can trust and who the enemy is. The last safe zone has now been removed. Major Hasan was trained on how the mind works but did anyone think he used what he did at Fort Hood to do more damage than any terrorist in Iraq or Afghanistan would ever dream of?

Our soldiers wonder who they can trust when there is no one to talk to back home. They worry about their careers even though the military commanders told them they will not hurt their careers by seeking help. Now they will be wondering if they need to worry about what their own doctors are doing. They are sent back to Afghanistan and Iraq with medications but no monitoring even though most medications warn that they need to be monitored. They are not able to see mental health workers in country where they are needed the most or when they come back because there are not enough of them and most are not even experts on PTSD in the first place.

We don't have enough to take care of them back here either. Not in the DOD on bases or for the National Guards and Reservists, or for the veterans in the VA.

What is saddest about all of this is the knowledge is there and they can heal but getting from here to there is seeming more and more impossible for more and more of them. Families still have no clue what to do or even what PTSD is. Where are they supposed to turn? Where is their safe zone? When will we ever get this right?

The Many Faces of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
The Fort Hood Shooting Puts Spotlight Back on Soldiers Suffering From PTSD
By MATT GUTMAN
Nov. 13, 2009

On Aug. 4, 2009, Master Sgt. Jason Swain says he dumped all his medications into his hand. Cupping the little pile of pills, he flashed back to his brother's attempted suicide, and the image of his mother's pain-distorted face.

Every day, on average, 18 American veterans commit suicide. Through the haze of guilt and pain, Swain realized he didn't want to be one of them.

Swain's voice quivers as he talks, as if sobs are just one random memory away. But the 38-year-old's first words betray the nearly clinical training of the Army intelligence analyst he is.

"I've been here since Aug. 5, suffering from some bad complications from my PTSD, severe depression and suicidal ideations."

In the Miami Veteran's Affairs Hospital's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ward, Swain is in the middle of a 14-week inpatient program.

In the wake of the shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, Nov. 5, that left 13 people dead, allegedly at the hands of a fellow soldier, Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, soldiers who struggle with stress like Swain, have come back into the spotlight.

When he was posted in the 1st Cavalry in Fort Hood, Swain worked across the street from the site of the rampage.
read more here
The Many Faces of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Idle US soldiers fight 'Baghdad bulge'

Idle US soldiers fight 'Baghdad bulge'

THEY call it the "Baghdad bulge".
Standing outside a Burger King on the Camp Liberty military base near the city's airport, a group of American soldiers ponder whether to order a second Whopper.

"Not me, man," said Specialist Joe Lorenzo, "I put on so much goddam weight, who knows if my wife will recognise me when I get home?"

Now US troops have been withdrawn from Iraqi city streets and are spending more time behind barbed wire awaiting withdrawal, commanders are struggling to keep them entertained.

Offering ever-increasing food options is the first line of defence in the fight against boredom.

The favourite is lobster night at the D-Fac - American military vernacular for the official "dining facilities". Thousands of sea creatures are regularly taken to the Iraqi desert by cargo plane.

For soldiers prepared to spend their own money on the base, there is also SGVillage, an upmarket mall with restaurants clustered around a car park that opened three weeks ago. The most popular eatery is the red-walled Royal China, boasting a chef from Hong Kong who offers Szechuan-style chicken (£6.90), beef and green peppers (£7.80) and stir-fried noodles with vegetables (£ 4.20).

His uniformed customers sit on wooden deckchairs by a newly planted lawn. But SGVillage faces competition from Camp Liberty Bazaar, where soldiers while away the day surrounded by branded American eateries such as Taco Bell, Subway and Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits.

Behind them is the Post Exchange, or PX, a military supermarket where they can buy T-bone steaks and pork loins along with a Smokey Joe Silver 14-inch barbecue grill (£16.70) and bags of charcoal (£2.80 for 7.2lb).
read more here
Idle US soldiers fight Baghdad bulge
linked from ICasualties.org

13 premeditated murder charges for Hasan

What about charges for all the wounded? Don't they count? As for the wounded, will they get disability from the military for their wounds and have them treated as if they happened in war? This was an attack against them. What about medals? Do they get medals for being wounded like the Purple Heart or do they get medals for bravery when they cared more about their brothers and sisters even after they were wounded themselves? Will the families of the dead get the insurance money as if they died in war? What will happen to the families who lived on base and now their soldier is gone and they have to move off base, then get on with their lives? What happens to them? The kids? What happens to the kids when their parent was killed? Do these families get treated the same way a soldier's family is treated when they die in Iraq or Afghanistan?

13 premeditated murder charges for Hasan

By Angela K. Brown and Lolita C. Baldor - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Nov 12, 2009 18:24:30 EST

FORT HOOD, Texas — The Army psychiatrist accused of killing fellow soldiers at Fort Hood was charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder Thursday as he lay in a hospital bed.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama ordered a review to determine if the government fumbled warning signs of the shooter’s contacts with a radical Islamic cleric.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan could face the death penalty if convicted.
read more here
13 premeditated murder charges for Hasan

Military Support Program helps veterans deal with PTSD

The percentage in this is wrong but it is a good article.

Military Support Program helps veterans deal with PTSD
By: Susan Kondracki, Record-Journal staff
11/12/2009

Imagine waking up in the middle of the night in a sweat overcome with a strong sense of fear, or being unable to sleep as traumatic events replay in your mind like a broken cassette tape with no stop button. Imagine feeling isolated, alone and like no one understands what you are going through.

This is what it can be like for the 18 percent of veterans diagnosed and dealing with depression, anxiety, or post traumatic stress disorder, but the good news is the state's Military Support Program can help.

"People with post traumatic stress disorder oftentimes don't know they have it. It's the people around them, the people that know them that see the signs," said Linda Schwartz, state commissioner of veterans' affairs. "Their families can call the Military Support Program for information and maybe help to plan an intervention rather than just trying to talk to them about it."

Many veterans find it hard to admit they are having mental health issues post deployment.

"For some individuals, this is adversely true. Certain veterans will have difficulty asking for help," said Michael Balkunas, chief of psychiatry and behavioral health and medical director of psychiatry and behavioral health research at the Hospital of Central Connecticut. "The great thing is it can be treated with psychotherapy and medication."

Post traumatic stress is just one of the many disorders that can be diagnosed and treated under state's Military Support Program.

Created in March 2007, the program falls under a state law that requires the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to work with Veterans' Affairs and the Department of Children and Families, to provide transitional behavioral health services for members of any reserve component of the U.S. Armed Forces and their dependents called to active duty in Afghanistan or Iraq, according to a report by the Office of Legislative Research.
read more here
Military Support Program helps veterans deal with PTSD

Need for face to face counseling made clear in Texas

When you read this, consider how many are deployed with medication and no therapy at all, then you may be a bit closer to what we've been screaming about since the Hartford Courant did the report years ago.

Potent Mixture: Zoloft & A Rifle

LISA CHEDEKEL And MATTHEW KAUFFMAN

Hartford Courant
May 17, 2006

When Army Sgt. 1st Class Mark C. Warren was diagnosed with depression soon after his deployment to Iraq, a military doctor handed him a supply of the mood-altering drug Effexor.

Marine Pfc. Robert Allen Guy was given Zoloft to relieve the depression he developed in Iraq.

And Army Pfc. Melissa Hobart was dutifully taking the Celexa she was prescribed to ease the anxiety of being separated from her young daughter while in Baghdad.

All three were given antidepressants to help them make it through their tours of duty in Iraq - and all came home in coffins.
Potent Mixture: Zoloft and A Rifle

Maybe they should have paid attention in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, or maybe in 2007 when I posted how if we thought PTSD was bad, it was going to get a lot worse?

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Combat PTSD and the blissful ignorance of the nation
This is why I do what I do and the thousands of others around the world do the work we do. Yes, I said around the world. Trauma does not stop at the edge of a nation. It is a human illness and does not distinguish between social classes any more than it separates people by color. As bad as we think this is right now, we are not even close to reaching everyone needing help. Over thirty years later, we are still in the beginning stages of trying.

Sickening when you think of the research around the world going into PTSD and the dedication involved.I came late into working with veterans with PTSD. I've only been at this twenty five years. By the time I started the service organizations had published their research, the DOD was getting up to speed and the VA was recognizing they had a very serious problem on their hands. In all of this I've written many times of the frustration I feel seeing that we have not accomplished very much.All these years later, all the work being done to inform the public and attempt to end the stigma, the issues of PTSD are still strongly a deterrent.

People still to this day have no clue what PTSD is. The families don't and a lot of the GIs don't. Some think they will just get over it as time goes by. Too many are seeking help only to be trapped in long lines and then redeployed before their healing even comes close to beginning. They face the most horrible futures there is without help.Families to this day are falling apart as marriage collapse and children blame themselves for the way their parents are acting. Extended families repeat the same mistakes other generations of them made when it came to veterans being wounded. They support the end of a marriage instead of supporting the family as they try to cope with the combat wound. All this out of ignorance.

Now we see spouses taking on the battles of the combat veteran because they can no longer advocate for themselves. We see them having to cope with dealing with the effects of PTSD on their lives, fighting the government and then trying to find support for what they are going through. There is not enough available in terms of information and in terms of qualified councilors, psychologist and psychiatrists.

Hiring more becomes a problem because of the lack of space and all of this is due to the lack of planning for the hundreds of thousands they should have known would come.We see them facing life after the combat veteran commits suicide.

After Vietnam, they had ignorance as an excuse. Over thirty years later, this is no longer acceptable. We already knew too much to have failed so miserably.

Civilian mental health workers are inexperienced dealing with PTSD because no one ever pushed for them to focus on Post Traumatic Stress. The sense of urgency is not there because you do not hear reporters talking about this every night of the week any more than you hear them talking about Iraq or Afghanistan.

As the media fought over who would have the first interview with Paris Hilton following her release from jail, none of them even bothered to interview the families or the veterans dealing with this silent killer. Just goes to show where the priorities of this nation are when ignorance is bliss to the population and deadly to those who serve the nation.
Combat PTSD and the blissful ignorance of the nation

But why would they listen when they wanted to focus on the "mission" and getting them into Iraq and Afghanistan instead of caring about what comes after? They are not listening still. They give them pills to calm the nerves and flashbacks, pills to sleep and more to stay awake. These pills also come with warnings about being under the supervision of a doctor but they deploy for a year or more and don't have anyone watching over them. They come home and again, they are given more pills but no counseling. Most end up without a clue what PTSD is but they are told there is a pill for it. Just keeps getting worse for them at the same time the military keep telling us they get the message.

The former Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, Dr. S. Ward Casscells, said, "It's the face-to-face counseling that's so important for preventing and treating PTSD."

North Texas Family Feeling The Effects Of PTSD
By Melissa Newton
NORTH TEXAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21)

Joel McCartney is a proud and patriotic father. But when his 22-year-old son, Joel Jr., returned home from Iraq this summer, McCartney realized something had changed.

"He has nightmares, he'll break out in a cold sweat," McCartney explained.

Army counselors diagnosed the North Texas soldier with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The anxiety disorder is triggered by being involved in or witness to a traumatic event and can have long-lasting effects.

"Intrusive memories of the event, whatever the trauma was, hyper arousal, always being on edge. If someone comes up behind you, you jump," psychologist Alina Suris said of PTSD symptoms. The doctor at the Dallas VA Hospital and UT Southwestern went on to say, "Nightmares are another common symptom of PTSD."

The disorder has become almost commonplace in our nation's military. "Folks are getting redeployed over and over and over," Suris said. "Research shows the more exposure you have to trauma; the more likely you are to get PTSD."

As a concerned father McCartney said, "When they [service people] come back, I don't think there is adequate care for our military personnel."
read more here
http://cbs11tv.com/health/post.traumatic.stress.2.1308792.html

Feds charge man for being phony Marine on Veteran’s Day

Feds charge man for being phony Marine on Veteran’s Day
November 12, 1:44 AM
Crime & Media Examiner
Jason Taylor
U.S. Attorneys announced on Veteran’s Day that they are bringing federal charges against a man who authorities say has been posing as a U.S. Marine.

Steve Burton, 39, has been accused of wearing a Marine Corps uniform decorated with some of the nation’s highest awarded medals to his 20th high school reunion.

Federal investigators said Burton has never served in any branch of the military, but has been seen and photographed wearing the uniform and medals on many occasions.

The FBI got wind of Burton’s charade when they received a photo of him in his uniform and medals from someone attending the reunion. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Colleen Solanga said she snapped the picture because she was suspicious of his Navy Cross medal, which is the second highest medal awarded for valor.
read more here
Feds charge man for being phony Marine on Veteran’s Day

My Husband My Hero My Veteran

People thank me for what I do then, sooner or later, they ask why I do it. The truth is, my Vietnam vet husband has saved countless lives without knowing it. What I do, I do because of him. He never seems to be aware of the fact he is a hero.

Yesterday was Veterans Day and as usual, I was online most of the day or on the phone. He never complains about the hours I spend or the fact most weeks it's about a 70 hour week. He doesn't complain about hours on the phone or calls late at night. He never complains when I have to travel or go to meetings or yet another training session. He remembers what it was like when he had no one to talk to and when I had no one to teach me what he could not tell me.

My husband was very young in Vietnam and doesn't think he did much at all. He did what was asked of him and that is where the story was supposed to end. Most of them are just like that. They think they are average, but they don't see how rare they are when the rest of the over 300 million people in this country don't have a clue what it is like to risk your life for the sake of the nation. He thinks his father and uncles, all WWII veterans and all passed away, were the heroes, even though none of them thought they were.

I grew up surrounded by veterans and that is behind the reason I began to investigate Vietnam and PTSD. I knew there was something very different about Jack and wanted to figure it out. I've been doing this since we met in 1982.

I wanted everyone to know what I knew so they would be able to help veterans heal and stop the twisted thinking that they were suddenly some kind of selfish jerk when their lives before they went were much different than the way they came home. I wanted everyone to know that it was not their fault. To know they could heal and actually live lives again. Above all, I wanted them to know that beyond the heartache there comes a time when they will rejoice over the victory after the worst is over.

None of what we are seeing has to happen with the suicides, arrests, divorces, domestic violence or homelessness. No family has to bury a veteran because hope has slipped away and they commit suicide.

No one serves alone and no one heals alone. It takes the same kind of interest we all seem to have as we see them off when they deploy and welcome them home with a prayer of thanks. No one should have to spend over 25 years studying everything about PTSD coming out when people like me have already been there, lived with it and done it so they won't have to. No wife should have to lose a husband like Jack and I want them all to spend the rest of their lives happy they went through the fire the way I did so they can see them living again.

I've helped a lot of veterans over the years and some have been awarded medals for their valor. Each one of them wants me to thank my husband for what I do because they know behind it all is a man who is filled with grace and a humble spirit thinking of them.

Whenever the financial problems take a toll on me, I feel like a failure because my family is suffering for my lost paychecks but Jack tells me I am not a failure at all. He still believes in me even if I cannot believe in myself at times and he reminds me how important what I do is. I look at him and know what is possible.

This is also my greatest heartache.

When some people dismiss PTSD, I think of the years I was watching Jack dying a slow death always afraid each day would be the day a police officer would come to the door instead of him. I think of how much pain he was carrying and know even with that depth of pain, he still would risk his life to help someone else. How with the nightmares and flashbacks, the last thing he wanted to do was to quit his job but he did only because his doctors told him the stress was making it all worse for him.

I think about phone calls from mothers and wives after it was too late to help their veterans. Then I grieve deeper when I know none of it had to happen if they knew what I knew, found me sooner, had support earlier and knew they were not alone.

Even though Veterans Day is over, there will still be parades on Saturday. When you go to them, when you want to thank a veteran for their service, remember that they are not just a veteran on one day out of the year but everyday of every year and maybe when you thank them you will think of the price many of them still pay for their willingness to lay down their lives and what that statement actually means. Laying down your life means being willing to die for someone else, but it also means to be willing to put the needs of someone else first. This my Jack does everyday and this is why he is a hero to a lot of veterans he will never meet. He is the reason I do what I do.

Florida Proclaims November Is Hire A Veteran Month

Florida Proclaims November Is Hire A Veteran Month
Source: Governor of Florida
Posted on: 12th November 2009
Governor Crist Calls on Florida Businesses to ‘Hire the Best – Hire a Vet’
Recognizing the tremendous contributions and significance of veterans who have served our country, Governor Charlie Crist today visited with residents of Alexander “Sandy” Nininger State Veterans’ Nursing Home in Pembroke Pines. The 120-bed skilled nursing care facility opened to residents in 2001 and can accommodate 60 residents with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

Governor Crist has proclaimed November 2009 as Hire a Veteran Month in Florida. The Governor’s proclamation reaffirms Florida’s commitment to the men and women who serve in our nation’s Armed Forces in times of war and peace.

“By recognizing our veterans, we honor not only their military service but also the contributions they bring to the workforce,” said Governor Crist. “In addition to the tremendous value our veterans provide their employers, a newly expanded federal tax credit for companies that hire our veterans offers a financial incentive to foster new businesses and help existing businesses grow.”

Florida has more than 1.7 million veterans, including more than 970,000 under the age of 65. Hire a Veteran Month is coordinated by the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs, the Agency for Workforce Innovation (AWI), Workforce Florida, Inc. (WFI) and the state’s 24 Regional Workforce Boards.

read more here

Florida Proclaims November Is Hire A Veteran Month

Montana Roundtable looks to boost care for vets

Roundtable looks to boost care for vets
By PETER JOHNSON • Tribune Staff Writer • November 12, 2009
Montana is the model for broader mental health screening for war veterans, but the state needs to do more to meet their other health and employment needs.

Those were some of the major points made in two back-to-back Veterans Day panel discussions led by U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.

About 25 people attended the nearly three-hour session in the Civic Center Commission Chambers.

Baucus said he is "deeply troubled" by the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and the increase in suicides among veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

He praised the Montana National Guard for creating a model program requiring more frequent mental health screenings for returning veterans.

Baucus successfully carried a federal bill that will require that system to be used nationwide.

He said veterans face other issues, including chronic claims backlogs, underfunded facilities, bureaucratic red tape and a lack of access to facilities in rural areas.

Susan Fuehrer, acting director for the Veteran Administration Montana Healthcare System, said the VA treated 31,744 Montana veterans last year, and is seeking to expand its service. Plans call for a 24-bed inpatient mental health center at Fort Harrison near Helena, veterans centers in Great Falls and Kalispell, and expanded rural health treatment in Plentywood and Hamilton.

Additionally, Buck Richardson, minority veteran program coordinator for the Rocky Mountain states, is trying to line up more veteran representatives on Indian reservations to help Native American vets learn about health benefits. He also hopes to arrange for more traveling psychologists to help provide screenings for PTSD.
read more here
Roundtable looks to boost care for vets

Order of Silver Rose awarded to 7 Vietnam Veterans on Veterans Day

Central Texas observes Veterans Day

Posted On: Wednesday, Nov. 11 2009 05:53 AM

From staff reports

Several local events and programs are planned across Central Texas today in observance of Veterans Day.

Killeen's annual Veterans Day parade will take place beginning at 11 a.m. today in downtown Killeen.

The lineup will be along Avenue E, and the parade will kick off at City Hall, Avenue D and College Street.

The grand marshal for the parade will be retired Gen. Robert Shoemaker, a former Army aviator and commander of the 1st Cavalry Division and III Corps.

Shoemaker was also assigned as deputy commander, U.S. Army Forces Command (FORCOM) and a year later was promoted to general and became commander of FORSCOM.

An awards ceremony and a reception will be held after the parade at American Legion Post 223 at 1:30 p.m.

The "Order of the Silver Rose" medal will be presented to seven local Vietnam veterans by the Armed Forces E9 Association and District 54 state Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock. The event is open to the public.
read more here
http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=37030

US doctors worried Hasan was 'psychotic:' report

But he was still treating our soldiers?

US doctors worried suspect was 'psychotic:' report
US military doctors had worried that the suspected gunman in the Fort Hood shootings was "psychotic" and unstable but did not seek to sack him, National Public Radio reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed officials.

Psychiatrists and medical officials who oversaw Major Nidal Hasan, accused of opening fire on fellow soldiers at the Fort Hood base in Texas last week, held a series of meetings between the spring of 2008 and the spring of this year to discuss serious concerns about his work and his behavior, NPR reported.

"Put it this way. Everybody felt that if you were deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, you would not want Nidal Hasan in your fox hole," one official was quoted as saying.
read more here
US doctors worried suspect was psychotic report

Two more non-combat deaths

Europe briefs:
Soldier found dead in barracks identified
Stars and Stripes
European edition, Thursday, November 12, 2009
BAMBERG, Germany — A Grafenwöhr-based soldier who was found dead Sunday in his barracks room has been identified as Pfc. Matthew C. Johnson of the 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade, according to an official statement from the brigade.

Johnson is survived by his wife and parents in the States. His death is under investigation.

Memorial service for chaplain set
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — A memorial service for Chaplain (Col.) Lonnie B. Barker will be held at 1 p.m. Friday in the Ramstein Northside Chapel.

Barker, command deputy chaplain for U.S. Air forces in Europe, was found dead Sunday in his home near Ramstein Air Base. Cause of death is under investigation.
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=66051

Reviving a Greek tragedy the wrong way

One day I had an argument with an older veteran uninterested in hearing about the reality of PTSD. He grew more and more defensive then told me, "Kid, you don't know what you're talking about. I can track my family back to the Civil War." Aside from being called a kid when I was well over 40 and had been helping veterans with PTSD for a good many years, I politely pointed out, "I can track my family back to the Trojan war." Then I asked him, "What's your point?" With this, he walked away. He was still in denial about PTSD but more, he was in denial it was already in him.

He was an angry man because that was all he allowed himself to feel. Given the fact the vast majority of veterans I've talked to over the years along with their families, most of the veterans with PTSD were compassionate people, always caring about others, always loving, forgiving and most were very religious. The pain trapped all that was part of them and allowed only anger to be seen by others. It's a defense against feeling pain added onto them. It's also one of the biggest reasons they drink or use drugs. They want to feel nothing.

This Greek tragedy is one more case of the military missing the point. It is a lesson that will do much good for the mental health providers but not the veterans themselves. They already live with what the providers need to learn.

The Anguish of War for Today’s Soldiers, Explored by Sophocles

By PATRICK HEALY
Published: November 11, 2009
The ancient Greeks had a shorthand for the mental anguish of war, for post-traumatic stress disorder and even for outbursts of fratricidal bloodshed like last week’s shootings at Fort Hood. They would invoke the names of mythological military heroes who battled inner demons: Achilles, consumed by the deaths of his men; Philoctetes, hollowed out from betrayals by fellow officers; Ajax, warped with so much rage that he wanted to kill his comrades.

Now officials at the Defense Department are turning to the Greeks to explore the psychic impact of war.

The Pentagon has provided $3.7 million for an independent production company, Theater of War, to visit 50 military sites through at least next summer and stage readings from two plays by Sophocles, “Ajax” and “Philoctetes,” for service members. So far the group has performed at Fort Riley in Kansas; at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Md.; and at last week’s Warrior Resilience Conference in Norfolk, Va.
read more here
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/theater/12greeks.html?_r=1

The biggest tragedy is that they live with all of it and no ancient Greek text will give them comfort or remove the stigma when the message they are getting is the same as usual.

PTSD is only caused by trauma. It is not their fault. When they understand this, the stigma is reduced.
PTSD is caused by an outside force striking the emotions where all their compassion lives on. This is why they hurt.
PTSD is not about lack of courage because compassion will only produce tears without courage to act for the sake of someone else. The ability to care is behind the courage they need to take action in the first place. The ability to be willing to lay down their lives is fueled by their courage.

There is so much they need to hear and they will not hear it unless someone starts to tell them.

Soldier Questions Help For Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

I hear this all the time. It is not just about Fort Campbell or any other Fort. It is not just about the soldiers here or deployed. It is about all of them and it is about veterans. They are not getting what they need in the military or out of it and they return home to families without a clue what is going on. None of it needs to happen and if they catch the newly wounded, chances are they can even return to duty if they want, but healing has to be the right way, with the right information and the right kind of support.

Soldier Questions Help For Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Posted: Nov 10, 2009 5:07 PM EST

By Nick Beres

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - A soldier at Fort Campbell said the post does not do enough to help soldiers deal with mental stress.

Army Spc. Adam Lichman, 25, spoke out about his concerns one day before the mass shooting at Ft. Hood in Texas. After that incident people nationwide joined Lichman in asking: How does the military deal with troubled soldiers?

Lichman joined the Army in 2006 and served 14 months in Iraq. In that time he was shot by a sniper, and his humvee was hit by an anti-tank grenade. The force of the blast knocked Lichman out cold.

"The guys in my humvee thought I was dead because the explosion blew up a whole case of water, and they felt wetness everywhere," said Lichman.

Lichman's fellow soldiers thought the water was his blood, but the 25-year-old survived without a scratch - at least on the surface. He returned to Ft. Campbell with post traumatic stress disorder.
read more here
http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=11480209

Chaplain explains Army’s support for soldiers following Fort Hood attack

This is very hopeful! They may really be listening to what the soldiers need.

“The whole idea is that if we are going to help take care of people, then we ought to look the whole wide range of the whole human dimension, and this task force is doing our very level best to examine that,” Bjarnason said.

Chaplain explains Army’s support for soldiers following Fort Hood attack
By: Darrell Todd Maurina

Posted: Saturday, November 7, 2009 3:47 pm

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Nov. 7, 2009) — Shortly before Army personnel nationwide conducted a moment of silence Friday afternoon for the 13 soldiers and others killed by a Muslim psychiatrist at Fort Hood in Texas, an Army chaplain assigned to family life issues at Fort Leonard Wood explained how the Army tries to help soldiers and families.

“Our military is grieving now this great loss at Fort Hood,” said Lt. Col. John Bjarnason. “We feel very sad for the families that have lost a dear one there.”

Bjarnason, 64, entered the Army during the Vietnam era, returned to active duty military service as a chaplain in 1982, retired after serving in both Gulf Wars in 1991 and 2003, and was recently called back to active duty to help respond to family life issues caused by the stress placed on Army families.

“I have been recalled back to the Army because of our two-front war,” Bjarnason said. “I am one of many who sit on a task force that began earlier this year tasked with taking care of people ... We try to look at and find ways to best care for the whole person, physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, family, social. We are looking out over all our community and also a 50-mile radius around Fort Leonard Wood where we could find services whatever their needs may be.”
read more here
http://www.pulaskicountydaily.com/news.php?viewStory=1314

Marine reservist attacked Greek priest he mistook for terrorist

Do you think we have a really huge problem when a Greek Priest is attacked for asking directions just because he has a thick accent and speaks very little English? Greek Priests wear robes and grow beards! What is going on when something like this happens?

Tampa police: Marine reservist attacked Greek priest he mistook for terrorist
By Alexandra Zayas and Demorris A. Lee, Times Staff Writers
In Print: Wednesday, November 11, 2009


TAMPA — Marine reservist Jasen Bruce was getting clothes out of the trunk of his car Monday evening when a bearded man in a robe approached him.

That man, a Greek Orthodox priest named Father Alexios Marakis, speaks little English and was lost, police said. He wanted directions.

What the priest got instead, police say, was a tire iron to the head. Then he was chased for three blocks and pinned to the ground — as the Marine kept a 911 operator on the phone, saying he had captured a terrorist.
read more here
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article1050707.ece
linked from RawStory

Lack of health care killed 2,266 US veterans last year

Lack of health care killed 2,266 US veterans last year: study

The number of US veterans who died in 2008 because they lacked health insurance was 14 times higher than the US military death toll in Afghanistan that year, according to a new study.

The analysis produced by two Harvard medical researchers estimates that 2,266 US military veterans under the age of 65 died in 2008 because they lacked health coverage and had reduced access to medical care.

That figure is more than 14 times higher than the 155 US troop deaths in Afghanistan in 2008, the study says.

Released as the United States commemorates fallen soldiers on Veterans Day, the study warns that even health care provided by the Veterans Health Administration (VA) leaves many veterans without coverage.

The analysis uses census data to isolate the number of US veterans who lack both private health coverage and care offered by the VA.
read more here
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Lack_of_health_care_killed_2_266_US_11112009.html

Senator Tom Coburn blocks bill for veterans

On the 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th month, we honor all of America’s veterans. Today, because of you, we’re calling on one Senator to use today to truly honor veterans by ending his hold on a veterans spending bill.
Earlier in the week, I urged you to sign our petition calling on my Senator Tom Coburn to end his hold of S. 1963, "The Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2009." Within hours, over 10,000 of you signed.
Today, we’re turning over 13,000 signatures to the Senator.

The petition was covered by the Military Times newspapers, which you can read here (Coburn blocking bill).

By blocking this bill Sen. Coburn is denying veterans a myriad of benefits and services: Caregiver assistance to our most wounded veterans, who often need assistance to do some of the smallest tasks; Funding for such issues as mental health care for women who suffered military sexual trauma, women’s health care needs and medical services for newborn children; Aid for rural veteran health care issues; Mental health care; and, Programs to help ease the burden of veteran homelessness.
On this veterans day, I’d urge Senator Coburn to think about the thousands and thousands of veterans he’s hurting by playing politics with veterans care. The best thing he can do to honor veterans today is to release his hold on this bill. Because of you, the pressure is on him to do so. Today, we honor all of America’s veterans. Now it’s time for Senator Coburn to join us.
Sincerely,Miranda Norman
Iraq War Veteran
Oklahoma State Captain, VoteVets.org
And Jon, Peter, Brian, Richard, and the entire VoteVets.org team

This is from his own site. Prepare to have a sick feeling in your stomach.

Dr. Coburn Challenges Senators to Make Sacrifices for Veterans Health Care


November 9, 2009



“Our nation’s veterans have made tremendous sacrifices in defense of our freedoms. The least Senators should do is make the easy sacrifice of eliminating a small amount of wasteful spending to improve veterans’ health care. Leadership, after all, is making sacrifices and hard choices. Veterans and every family in America make hard choices every day between competing financial priorities. It’s time for politicians in Washington to do the same,” Dr. Coburn said.......



“The American people and our veterans understand that our spending problem has become a national security problem. We are borrowing massive sums from potential adversaries and are watching the value of the dollar decline because other nation’s doubt our ability and willingness to pay off our $12 trillion debt. If we don’t start making hard choices we may not have a country left to defend,” Dr. Coburn said.

The problem here is that what we owe our veterans has been put aside for the sake of people like Coburn. Considering nothing they were in charge to do was done for the sake of the veterans coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq until the Democrats took over the committee chairmanships. They did not take over these seats until 2007 and mountains have been moved since then. What Senator Coburn seems to forget is that the American people do care and we watch CSPAN. We heard all the speeches over the last 8 years while the veterans waited for care but people like Coburn had a problem paying for the troops as easily as he found money for the contractors. He found it so difficult to increase the budget for the VA at the same time he thought the contractors were worthy of getting whatever they wanted. Imagine being a veteran, wounded in service and hearing how you had to prove the wound happened in Iraq but a contractor needed only to say they needed billions in cash to pay out, then decided they didn't have to account for any of this.

Does Coburn think the veterans in this country are idiots? They know what they earned and they know what they should be getting but above all, they know when they are being treated with such blatant disregard for their service especially by a senator hiding behind fiscal responsibility all of a sudden. This is a debt that came due and payable as soon as they came home! Shame on him!

This is what the veterans have been waiting to have delivered on instead of just empty words

At Arlington, Obama pays tribute to veterans
President visits section where soldiers killed in Iraq, Afghanistan are buried


By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 11, 2009; 1:22 PM

President Obama, marking Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery, paid tribute Wednesday to generations of American service members and pledged to "keep the promises that we've made" to all who have worn the nation's uniform.


He said, "Our servicemen and women have been doing right by America for generations, and as long as I am commander in chief, America is going to do right by them. And that is my message to all veterans today. . . . America will not let you down. We will take care of our own."

Addressing those serving on distant battlefields, Obama pledged, "When your tour ends, when you see our flag, when you touch our soil, you will be home in an America that is forever here for you, just as you've been there for us. That is my promise -- our nation's promise -- to you."

Amazing Grace to heal PTSD

Can you believe such greatness of pain can be healed?
It can when you understand what it is and why it hit you but not someone else.
It was not by lack of courage nor dedication to duty, but the strength of your compassion that makes you grieve. You took away the pain of others along with your own. You wondered where God was while He was there all the time inside of you allowing you to care just as He was inside of you the day you decided to serve.

His grace was there in the midst of horror. His grace was there while you risked your life to care about those you served with more than your own life. His grace was there when you cared about strangers you would never meet and the strangers you ended up calling family.

He was there when you were willing to leave your family and friends for what your nation needed.

He was there when you wept for a fallen friend and when you mourned the loss of life for even the enemy.

He was there when you laid awake at night with memories that would not let you go.

He was there and is there in all moments of your life and He will forgive anything you believe you need to be forgiven for, for He knows where your heart was, just as He knew you before He sent you here.

"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.

You may think the person you were before is gone forever, but he/she still lives behind the wall of pain. You can find "you" again when you begin to heal.

You are blind to the cause of PTSD because no one ever told you but once you see it was caused by the events you lived through, you can see all that there is inside of you that is good, loving and still compassionate.

T'was Grace that taught...
my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear...
the hour I first believed.

The God you knew all your life has not changed. He still loves and still grieves that man has not learned to live in peace. He grieves over what man does with freewill and weeps for the sake of those who defend others because of this.

God created a warrior long before He created man because He knew some would put themselves first and others last. Yet it is the Archangel Michael created to defend, just as you were created to defend.

Through many dangers, toils and snares...
we have already come.
T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...
and Grace will lead us home.

We do not know why some die in service to this nation and others survive. We do not know why some will be called to greater glory as Medal of Honor heroes and other heroes return forgotten. There is much we do not know this day but there is also much we do know. We know that those who are willing to put the lives of others ahead of their own are to be called heroes even though you will say you were just doing your job, humbled as you bow your head.

God's grace is able to fill all the needs you have to heal this wound to your soul so that you may find the amazing grace within you. You can be found, you can see the truth and you can come all the way back home.

Volunteer Vets: Returning Troops Still Want to Serve

Volunteer Vets: Returning Troops Still Want to Serve
By Mark Thompson / Washington Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009
Veterans Day traditionally is when the nation thanks those who have served in the nation's armed forces, especially in a time of war. But as much as our gratitude, what the 1.8 million U.S. troops back home from Iraq and Afghanistan want is to be asked to serve again, this time on the home front. That, at least, is the conclusion of a new study that highlights many vets' hunger to serve in their communities and their frustration that their talents aren't being tapped. "We now know that veterans who serve" their communities after shedding their uniforms "have better transitions," says John Bridgeland, chief of Civic Enterprises, the public-policy group that conducted the landmark survey, which was funded by Target and the Case Foundation.

"We don't need handshakes and victory parades," says Alex Lemons, 30, who spent eight years in the Marines as a scout-sniper, including four tours in Iraq, before leaving the service last month. "We need to come back and see that people are ready to put us to work after we've been out there on their behalf doing some crazy dirty work." The stresses of deployment leave some veterans unable to reach out to help, but many are eager to do so just the same, which could help smooth their transition back to civilian life. "Getting involved in volunteer projects helps you get out of your own self-pity and pain," says Lemons, who has volunteered with environmental groups near his San Clemente, Calif., home. "It helps me reintegrate into society and not feel so alienated."
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Returning Troops Still Want to Serve

Blame game erupts over probe of Fort Hood suspect

Blame game erupts over probe of Hood suspect

By Devlin Barrett - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Nov 11, 2009 8:19:56 EST

WASHINGTON — Finger-pointing erupted between federal agencies Tuesday over Fort Hood shooting suspect Nidal Hasan. Government officials said a Defense Department terrorism investigator looked into Hasan’s contacts with a radical imam months ago, but a military official denied prior knowledge of the Army psychiatrist’s contacts with any Muslim extremists.

The two government officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case on the record, said the Washington-based joint terrorism task force overseen by the FBI was notified of communications between Hasan and a radical imam overseas, and the information was turned over to a Defense Criminal Investigative Service employee assigned to the task force. The communications were gathered by investigators beginning in December 2008 and continuing into early this year.
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Blame game erupts over probe of Hood suspect

Even a mugger honored service of veteran

Reservist’s Army ID stops muggers in their tracks

By Carrie Antlfinger - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Nov 11, 2009 7:48:26 EST

MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee Army reservist's military identification earned him some street cred Tuesday, when he says four men who mugged him at gunpoint returned his belongings and thanked him for his service after finding the ID.

The 21-year-old University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student said he was walking home from work at about 1:15 a.m. Tuesday when he was pulled into an alley and told to lay face down and with a gun to his neck. Four men took his wallet, $16, keys, his cell phone and even a PowerBar wrapper from his pants pockets, he said.

But the hostile tone quickly changed when one of the robbers, whom the reservist presumed was the leader, saw an Army ID in the wallet. The robber told the others to return the items and they put most of his belongings on the ground next to him, including the wrapper, the reservist said.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/ap_reservist_id_stops_muggers_111109/

American Legion, VFW attract few young vets

American Legion, VFW attract few young vets

By Judy Keen - USA Today
Posted : Wednesday Nov 11, 2009 9:15:20 EST

GALESBURG, Ill. — The future of VFW Post 2257 might hinge on the lifespan of its worn-out, 50-year-old boiler and attendance at weekly bingo games this winter.

Like many Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion posts, Post 2257 in this western Illinois city of 31,000 people is struggling to survive as older members die and younger veterans decide not to join. Nationally, the number of VFW posts declined from 8,374 in 2007 to 7,915 as of June, says spokesman Jerry Newberry. The legion has 14,150 posts, down from 14,260 two years ago, says spokesman John Raughter.

More than a building is at stake here and at other troubled posts, says quartermaster Mike Lummis, who keeps the books for Post 2257. VFW and American Legion posts, both founded to fight for veterans’ benefits and promote patriotism, quickly became havens where veterans could talk with peers about experiences and problems, members say. Beyond the physical posts, both groups have long been vital presences in communities, marching proudly in parades, placing flags in cemeteries and sponsoring scholarships and Little League teams.

Some younger vets buy into the misconception “that all this organization is a bunch of old warriors sitting around blowing smoke and in a lot of places drinking beer and telling war stories,” Lummis says. “Well, that’s not correct at all” — especially at Post 2257, where zoning regulations don’t allow alcohol sales.

“We look after our fellow vets whose lives were never the same and the ones fighting in the current wars and the wars that will come,” Lummis says.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/111109gan_youngvets/

Homeless Veterans? Something's Wrong With That Phrase

Homeless Veterans? Something's Wrong With That Phrase
Susan Campbell

November 11, 2009


There it was, anchoring the tail end of Hartford's Veterans Day parade — a homeless-veterans float.

What do you say to that?

As the float rolled along the parade route — a flatbed truck decorated with benches, American flags, high-tech sleeping bags, and two orange buckets of candy to throw — parade-goers looked a little stunned before they burst into cheers.

It was a stark reminder of the men and women we're leaving behind. The Department of Veterans Affairs says there are roughly 131,000 homeless veterans in the U.S. About 5,000 of those are in Connecticut, says the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. Overall, homeless veterans make up about a quarter of the homeless population.

Yes, there are female homeless vets out there. The staff at the Hartford homeless shelter South Park Inn just helped one. The woman served two tours in Iraq, and came home with serious post-traumatic stress disorder. She was sleeping on her mother's couch with her 4-year-old.

"And what's coming?" asks Brian Baker, the tireless assistant director at South Park. How are we going to help the veterans churned out by our current wars? South Park has 10 beds set aside for veterans, and already, those beds are always full. The Hartford shelter's veterans' drop-in center, which opened a year and a half ago, has had 500 visits.

Those numbers don't begin to count the veterans — like the young woman — who couch-surf, or bounce from family member to friend, bumming a corner. Nor does that count the hard-cores, the homeless veterans who hide under the bridges and refuse all efforts to be brought inside for services.
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Homeless Veterans

Homeless Veterans Everyday

Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on September 10, 2009

Click to Play | View Details

Veterans' mental health a priority yesterday, today and tomorrow

It would be hard to imagine anyone wanting the job General Shinseki has when so many veterans need action now. The Obama Administration is not just trying to take care of the combat veterans and wounded soldiers from this year, they have to try to take care of all of those who came before, waited longer, hurt longer and felt abandoned by the country since they returned home in need of help.

Shinseki: Veterans' Mental Health a Priority
Posted by Daniel Carty

Eric Shinseki, the retired four-star general who currently heads the Department of Veterans Affairs, said his agency is "working diligently" to better aid veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues.

Shinseki appeared on CBS' "The Early Show" Wednesday, a day after attending a memorial for the 13 victims of the Fort Hood shooting rampage. As a former Army chief of staff, Shinseki described the attack as a "heart wrenching, terrible tragedy - unexplainable."

He also said President Barack Obama's speech during the ceremony was important to "bring the community together and begin the healing."
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Veterans' Mental Health a Priority

Usually I complain about what they lack. It's habit. After all these years of reading their stories, talking to them and their families, it would be impossible to not complain about what they are not getting. These are not, as some put it, freeloaders looking for a handout, but men and women who earned whatever it is we can provide them with. We'll honor them today on Veterans Day, but fail to imagine tomorrow, they will still be veterans living with memories of combat, fallen friends and carrying the same wounds they came home with. They are veterans everyday, every week, every month and every year for as long as they live.

They return to home, families, neighborhoods, to work when they can and the VA claim line when they can't. They return to people they used to feel comfortable with suddenly feeling like a stranger in their midst. They hear us complain about tiny issues as if they were all so important while they remember what it was like when the food couldn't get to them for days, the times when they were fighting too stressed out to realize they hadn't eaten all day or slept, or showered or that it was over a hundred degrees in the shade. Still they listen to us get all flustered because they didn't take out the trash or notice the new curtains in the living room.

In the weeks, months and years as they try to readjust back to the world of normalcy, they soon realize everyone else has gotten on with their normal lives but they haven't. There is nothing "normal" about them anymore. What they do not understand is that after what they went through, they are normal considering where they came from.

This is one of the first videos I did on PTSD so that families could understand.

Wounded Minds, PTSD

Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on September 19, 2009

Click to Play View Details

What is possible with PTSD is that they can heal this wound. It does not have to be fatal. It does not have to be all consuming. It does not have to be a terrorist inside of them trying to break them down and destroy their lives. If they know what it is, that knowledge acts like an antibiotic. Much like an infection will eat away flesh, PTSD with eat away at the soul unless it is treated. As soon as they start to talk about what is going on inside of them, they stop getting worse. PTSD is no longer able to rule over their lives. They begin to take control over it.

It is not their fault. It strikes the compassionate. Once they understand this, they stop the self-guilt road rage against themselves.

It is not something they can treat with alcohol or drugs because it makes it all worse. Masking what is there instead of treating it properly allows it to fester and grow stronger. If they are already on medication, it is dangerous because these chemicals interfere with the chemicals in the medications that are supposed to be helping them. Once they understand this, the medications begin to work and if not, the doctors can change them so they work with the individual body chemistry better.

They do not have to watch their family fall apart if everyone involved knows where all the emotions are coming from and what they can do about them. If they have the tools to readjust their thinking, they will know what a good response is and what a bad one is. In other words, they can either make the situation worse or better and help the veteran heal. They can only do this with knowledge as the tool for their survival.

They can laugh again. They can find the part of themselves where joy still lives on trapped behind the wall their body built to defend against more pain.

They can reclaim their faith. Once they understand what PTSD is, answer the age old question of "why me" when others walked away, then they understand themselves better. They can stop blaming themselves. They can stop thinking God is punishing them or abandoned them. Above all they can stop thinking God is evil because He allowed what they saw.

There is so much that is possible with PTSD and they can come out on the other side better than they were before while they can never come out the same way they were before. Every event in a human's life goes into what they become and each one of us adjust to events that shape our lives.

So here's another video. Veterans Everyday just to honor them for all they live with long after we stopped praying for them and felt we no longer had to worry about them.

Veterans Day Memories of Vietnam

Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on September 12, 2009

Click to Play View Details

Army strain, recovery at Fort Lewis

King: Army strain, recovery at Fort Lewis
By John King, CNN Chief National Correspondent
November 10, 2009 8:38 p.m. EST

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
CNN's John King travels to Fort Lewis, Washington
Soldiers are dealing not only with physical injuries but with ones harder to detect
Two-thirds of the troops stationed at Fort Lewis are now in Iraq or Afghanistan
"State of the Union" with John King airs at 9 a.m. ET Sunday
Fort Lewis, Washington (CNN) -- The pain is excruciating, but to Army Spc. Michael Ballard, pain is the price of progress.

"I broke the top of my femur, so with the plate and screws, now I'm actually, two months later, able to walk -- do some walking on my own," Ballard told us. "Physical therapy is coming along very well."

Once the hip is back to full strength, Ballard will need knee surgery to repair ligament damage, but he shrugs and voices encouragement at his progress and smiles a confident smile when asked about his ultimate goal.

"Get back and fight," Ballard said without hesitation. "Return to duty."

Veterans Day traditionally has been set aside more to honor those who have served rather than those still serving. But eight-plus years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq have created a huge class of combat veterans who still wear the uniform, many of them with two or three or more deployments under their belts and perhaps more in their futures.
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Army strain, recovery at Fort Lewis

Fort Hood suicidal soldiers slipped through the cracks

This is what I've been talking about. There have not been enough people to take care of the need at Fort Hood or any other base. There are not enough deployed with the troops either and if Major Hasan is any indication of the kind of care some have been getting, the problem is a lot worse than many would ever suspect.

This is what I've been hearing when I get the emails flying in from frantic family members not knowing what to do. This is what I've been hearing when I get the phone calls from veterans who were never properly taken care of. What I tell them is not rocket science. It's what they need to hear. What I hear from them has had me terrified for years and it's getting worse. People like me are not paid attention to because we have no money, no clout, no advertising budgets and as for all the organization springing up as charities, most of them I can't get a straight answer out of what they have in place to take care of the need. They say they have people there for the soldiers and veterans to talk to but they can't answer how experienced these listeners are, what they know, how they were trained and they can't tell me if any of these helpers are even monitored. Wanting to help is one thing but are they actually helping or hurting?

If they think they have a problem at Fort Hood they need a lot more help with, they are not even close and frankly I'm sickened by being proven right so often while they are paying the price for how much others keep getting wrong. We need an immediate influx of trained trauma responders today, not when the military decides they can find later. We need them out in the communities to help the National Guards and we need them to be trained on PTSD as well as trauma and not just mental illness in general. PTSD comes only after trauma so it is absurd to have doctors not fully trained on trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

If they are like Hasan, then you'll need a calculator to figure out where this is going because you'll have to factor in the normal rate of PTSD, one out of three, multiply that by 50% for each redeployment and then factor in the scale of PTSD ranging from mild to full blown but then you'll also have to factor in the family members living with untreated PTSD because they'll end up with secondary PTSD from all the turmoil in the house. Wonder if they are thinking of any of this especially when the troops at Fort Hood have just had their last sanctuary attacked leaving them with no safe place in their mind.

Soldiers' mental health comes under scrutiny
Ft. Hood has had 10 soldier suicides this year, the second-highest of any Army post. Families of troops who have committed suicide say troubled soldiers are slipping through the cracks.

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske

November 10, 2009 1:30 p.m.


Sgt. Justin "Jon" Garza joined the Army eight years ago at age 20. When he arrived at Ft. Hood in June, the communications specialist had deployed six times to Europe and the Middle East, including two bloody stints in Iraq, and was due to return in September. He had broken up with his girlfriend, developed a drinking problem and gone AWOL.

While he was AWOL, Garza threatened to kill himself with a shotgun. Military personnel took him to Ft. Hood's Darnall Army Medical Center.

Psychiatrists there diagnosed him with an adjustment disorder and depression and sent him home with his best friend, a fellow soldier. He was put on a Monday-through-Friday suicide watch. Eleven days later, on July 11 -- a Saturday -- Garza was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head.

It was the eighth anniversary of his enlistment.

"I've been a wreck and in pain for a long time. I could not take it anymore," Garza wrote in a suicide note left for his mother. "I was never good at opening up and letting things out, so things just festered and got worse."

With the shooting rampage at Ft. Hood last week drawing attention to the mental state of America's troops, the families of soldiers who have returned from combat with significant mental health issues believe the public may be ready to listen to their stories.

"My son slipped through the cracks," said Garza's mother, Teri Smith, 52.

Army records show that 117 active-duty soldiers have committed suicide so far this year, including 10 at Ft. Hood, the second-highest number of any Army base (Ft. Campbell in Kentucky had 14 soldier suicides). Ft. Hood has had 76 soldier suicides since 2003, according to Army records, but it is also the largest base in the country, home to about 50,000 soldiers.

Two weeks after Garza's death, Ft. Hood's commander, Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch, told Congress that he needed more mental health staff.

"That's the biggest frustration," Lynch told a House subcommittee. "I'm short about 44 [personnel] of what I am convinced I need at Fort Hood that I just don't have."
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Soldiers mental health comes under scrutiny