Man accused of attacking Greek Orthodox priest talks to Bubba the Love Sponge

Is this part of a bigger problem? Is he telling the truth? Was this Marine always nasty? Is there more to this story than we already know? People do not suddenly turn around and do something like this all of a sudden when they showed no actions like this before. Did he change?

Man accused of attacking Greek Orthodox priest talks to Bubba the Love Sponge
By Alexandra Zayas, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, November 13, 2009
TAMPA — Jasen Bruce, the Marine reservist who has remained silent since police accused him of hitting a Greek Orthodox priest with a tire iron Monday, spoke publicly for the first time Thursday — with Bubba the Love Sponge Clem.

Bruce, 28, talked with the shock jock on his syndicated morning show. He repeated his lawyer's account that the priest sexually attacked him, spoke of initially being heralded as a "hero" by police and declared his heterosexuality in the face of online pictures that show him flexing his muscles while wearing little clothing.

Tampa Police Department spokeswoman Laura McElroy said police are still investigating and don't want to give a blow-by-blow response to Bruce's account. But "his credibility is in question as part of our investigation," she said.

Police say the bearded, robed priest got incorrect directions from his global positioning device, left Interstate 275 and found himself driving around the Channel District. He followed a row of cars into the Seaport Channelside condominiums and approached Bruce, who was bent over the trunk of his car. He tapped on his shoulder before uttering, in broken English, the words "help" and "please."
read more here
Man accused of attacking Greek Orthodox priest

also

Tampa tow truck driver also accused Marine reservist of rampage
By Alexandra Zayas and Demorris A. Lee, Times Staff Writers
In Print: Thursday, November 12, 2009

TAMPA — Two years before police said he hit a Greek Orthodox priest over the head with a tire iron, Jasen Bruce had a run-in with another stranger, a tow truck driver who said the Marine left him hurting for months.

Steven Ray Allen, now 59, remembers a time when he towed cars outside the Calta's Fitness Club on Gandy Boulevard. And he remembers the incident that made him stop.

It was Halloween afternoon, 2007. Someone had parked a silver Jaguar in a tow-away zone. As Allen backed his tow truck bed up to the Jag, he says seven or eight large men came out of the gym and surrounded him.

"They puffed their chests out like they were He-Man," Allen said, "like they were trying to intimidate me."

Bruce came out, and they got into an argument.
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Tampa tow truck driver also accused Marine reservist of rampage

Team effort saves basketball player Drake Williams

Team effort saves basketball player
In three minutes Saturday, Drake Williams went through a whole lifetime's worth of luck — both good and bad. The bad: having a rare heart condition that causes "sudden cardiac death." The good: After he collapsed at basketball practice, everyone around him knew what to do, and two Tampa Fire Rescue paramedics happened to be right outside.

Coburn lifts hold on vet benefits bill

Coburn lifts hold on vet benefits bill

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Nov 18, 2009 9:48:11 EST

One senator’s hold delaying consideration of a veterans caregiver and health benefits bill has been lifted.

A new agreement will allow a final vote on S 1963 after senators consider an amendment that would pay for stipends, health care, counseling and other benefits for people taking care of severely disabled veterans by cutting the U.S. contribution to the United Nations.

As a result of the agreement, the Senate is now expected to take up and pass the bill this week, allowing House and Senate negotiators to begin work on a compromise measure that could become law this year The U.N. amendment will be offered by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., the person who since Memorial Day has prevented the Senate from taking up veterans legislation because he thinks it is wrong to pass new benefits without paying for them.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/military_coburn_veteransbill_111809w/

Army suicides set another yearly record

The screaming fact is that while the numbers they report has gone up, they are not reporting all of them. Consider when a soldier is no longer active. The DOD will not track what happens to him or her. They may not be in the VA system, which reports 18 veteran suicides a day and another 10,000 a year attempting suicide. Still there are many more not bring tracked by the VA either. That's the thing we always need to remember. The numbers being reported are just the ones they are sure about. The rest, well, they just vanish from all records but not from the minds and hearts of the people who loved them.

Army suicides set another yearly record
By Mike Mount, CNN Senior Pentagon Producer
November 17, 2009 7:57 p.m. EST

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Officials say recent trend downward could mean Army is making headway in prevention
As of Tuesday, 211 active duty soldiers and reservists have killed themselves the year
In 2008, total was 197 suicides among active duty soldiers and reservists
Fort Campbell, Fort Stewart and Schofield Barracks singled out for special concern

Washington (CNN) -- Suicides among soldiers this year have topped last year's record-breaking numbers, but Army officials maintain a recent trend downward could mean the service is making headway on its programs designed to reduce the problem, Army officials said Tuesday.

Since January, 140 active-duty soldiers have killed themselves while another 71 Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers killed themselves in the same time period, totaling 211 as of Tuesday, Gen. Peter Chiarelli, U.S. Army vice chief of staff, told reporters at a briefing Tuesday. But he said the monthly numbers are starting to slow down as the year nears its end.

"This is horrible, and I do not want to downplay the significance of these numbers in any way," Chiarelli said.

For all of 2008, the Army said 140 active-duty soldiers killed themselves while 57 Guard and Reserve soldiers committed suicide, totaling 197, according to Army statistics.

The Army is still trying to tackle why soldiers are killing themselves.
read more here
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/17/army.suicides/index.html

This Emotional Life PBS looks at PTSD

PBS’s new documentary This Emotional Life and Blue Star Families sponsored an event at George Washington University to honor the 1.8 million men and women who have been deployed in America's Armed Services and their families. First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden spoke at the event, where dozens of volunteers from civilian and military organizations helped to prepare 500 care packages for military families

Bob, an Iraq War Veteran suffering from PTSD, five years after returning home,continues to be troubled by his combat experiences. Bob talks about his symptoms and the impact they are having on his life and the lives of his family. Bob’s wife, Lori also describes some of Bob’s challenges.

http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/video/lingering-war

Northrop Grumman supporting those who serve with jobs

This is posted with pleasure. I hardly ever get to do a positive post on a defense contractor but this time, what they are doing to accommodate PTSD combat veterans is nothing less than remarkable. These veterans are not "brain dead" suddenly and unable to use their talent or put their training to use. Put it this way. These are men and women who were willing to lay down their lives for this country, spent their years putting others first, mission focused and dedicated. Can you ask for a better employee than that? Ok, so yes they have some problems but at least unemployment won't add to the stress at the same time they are learning to heal. When they find jobs, it does them a lot of good to know they are still "useful" and someone values them. They also need to know that someone gives a damn.

The employer sets the tone of what will or will not be tolerated by other co-workers and this helps the veteran readjust in an atmosphere of a continuation of the "brotherhood" they just left when everyone is working together for a common goal. I think this is fabulous!

Army helps vets with `invisible wounds' find jobs
By MICHELLE ROBERTS (AP) – 4 hours ago

SAN ANTONIO — Richard Martin keeps a rearview mirror on his desk to prevent co-workers from startling him in his cubicle. The walls are papered with sticky notes to help him remember things, and he wears noise-canceling headphones to keep his easily distracted mind focused.

Martin, an Army veteran who was nearly blown up on three occasions in Iraq, once feared that post-traumatic stress disorder and a brain injury would keep him from holding down a civilian job, despite years of corporate experience and an MBA.

"Here I am with this background and I'm having problems with my memory," said Martin, a 48-year-old engineer and former National Guard major who now works for Northrop Grumman, helping to devise ways to thwart remote-detonated bombs.

The defense contractor recruited him through its hiring program for severely wounded veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. The company consulted occupational nurses on how to help him do his job without becoming overly nervous when someone, say, drops a heavy object. Martin figured out other tricks, like the headphones, on his own.

But Martin is one of the lucky ones.

Army officials say many new veterans suffering from PTSD and brain injuries struggle to find and keep a civilian job. Advocates say many employers don't know how to accommodate veterans with these "invisible wounds" and worry that they cannot do the job and might even "go postal" someday.
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Army helps vets with invisible wounds find jobs

Purple Hearts proposed for Fort Hood victims

Glad someone thinks they should get medals too! Not so sure I agree with what else he said, but glad he wants to give them the medals and benefits they should receive. It's not like this was something like an accident.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

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?

Purple Hearts proposed for Fort Hood victims
November 17, 2009 2:34 p.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Texas congressman to introduce bill to grant Purple Hearts for Fort Hood victims
Troops wounded in combat eligible for Purple Hearts
Washington (CNN) -- Military victims of the Fort Hood massacre will be eligible to receive the Purple Heart if Congress passes a bill introduced Tuesday.

Non-military victims could receive the Secretary of Defense Medal of Freedom -- the civilian equivalent of the Purple Heart. Both military and civilian personnel killed or wounded in the November 5 attack would be granted the same legal status as combatant casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The bill was introduced by Texas GOP Rep. John Carter, who represents Fort Hood in the House of Representatives.

"As far as I'm concerned, this was an attack by an enemy upon American troops on American soil," Carter said Tuesday at a Capitol Hill news conference.

The bill "is about giving soldiers the benefits that other soldiers get when they are unfortunate enough to be killed or wounded in a combat zone."
read more here
Purple Hearts proposed for Fort Hood victims

Suicides to top 2008, but progress reported

Suicides to top 2008, but progress reported

By Pauline Jelinek - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Nov 17, 2009 14:59:07 EST

WASHINGTON — Soldier suicides this year are almost sure to top last year’s grim totals, but a recent decline in the pace of such incidents could mean the Army is starting to make progress in stemming them, officials said Tuesday.

Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli said that as of Monday, 140 active duty soldiers were believed to have died of self-inflicted wounds so far in 2009. That’s the same as were confirmed for all of 2008.

“We are almost certainly going to end the year higher than last year ... this is horrible, and I do not want to downplay the significance of these numbers in any way,” he said.

But Chiarelli said there has been a tapering off in recent months from large surges in suspected suicides in January and February.

“Our goal since the beginning has been to reduce the overall incidence of suicide and I do believe we are finally beginning to see progress being made,” Chiarelli told a Pentagon press conference.

He attributed those hints of a turning to some unprecedented efforts the Army has made since February to educate soldiers and leaders about the issue.

Officials are still stumped about what is driving the historically high rates across the military force. When asked whether the rates reflect unprecedented high stress from long and repeated deployments to provide manpower for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Chiarelli said he didn’t know.
read more here
Suicides to top 2008, but progress reported

Listening for Stress in new test

Special Segment: Listening for Stress
Monday, November 16, 2009

Ravi Baichwal
More: Bio, abc7chicago.com News Team
November 15, 2009 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Veterans returning from war have experienced things that many others can't even imagine.

Now, new technology might help to detect wounds that are deep beneath the surface.

"It happened so quickly," said Daniel Casara, whose first tour of duty in Iraq in 2005 only lasted three weeks because it was cut short by a bomb hidden in the road.

"The explosion itself, it's almost like a car accident that you don't see," Casara told ABC7 Chicago.

The blast flipped his vehicle, killing two of his fellow soldiers and crushing his legs. But Casara says some of his and his fellow soldiers' deepest wounds were hidden from view.

"These are images that you just can't get out of your head," he said.

Casara says he suffered from post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. He also says he had trouble sleeping and was anxious and flustered after the attack.
read more here
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=7120194

Military experiment seeks to predict PTSD

Maybe they should try reading this blog?

Military experiment seeks to predict PTSD

Story Created: Nov 17, 2009 at 2:15 PM EST

TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. (AP) — Two days before shipping off to war, Marine Pfc. Jesse Sheets sat inside a trailer in the Mojave Desert, his gaze fixed on a computer that flashed a rhythmic pulse of contrasting images.


Smiling kids embracing a soldier. A dog sniffing blood oozing from a corpse. Movie star Cameron Diaz posing sideways in a midriff top. Troops cowering for safety during an ambush.

A doctor tracked his stress levels and counted the number of times he blinked. Electrode wires dangled from his left eye and right pinky finger.

Sheets is part of a military experiment to try to predict who's most at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder. Understanding underlying triggers might help reduce the burden of those who return psychologically wounded — if they can get early help.

PTSD is a crippling condition that can emerge after a terrifying event — car accident, sexual assault, terrorist attack or combat. It's thought to affect as many as one in five veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.

Military doctors have been mystified as to why certain warfighters exposed to bombings and bloodshed develop paralyzing stress symptoms while others who witness the same trauma shake it off.
read more here
http://www.wsbt.com/health/70293817.html

Witnesses of limbs blown off and soldiers on fire need just as much attention as survivors

When you talk to veterans with substantial physical wounds, they talk about all the support and care they received. It would be pretty hard for medical providers to not understand there could be wounds not visible to the naked eye after losing limbs or suffering burns. This obvious need somehow never seems to penetrate the survivors who witnessed the limbs being blown off or the soldier on fire.

Witnesses of limbs blown off and soldiers on fire need just as much attention as survivors. If they feel the need to talk, listening is very important but it really depends on who is doing the listening and how much the talker trusts them.

Chaplains are deployed after traumatic events, trained in crisis intervention, among other things for a very specific reason. First, they are trusted. People see the insignia of a Chaplain and they know they are deeply spiritual people (no matter what faith the person has) and they will not judge the one needing to open up.

Chaplains are trusted also because they care. No one becomes a Chaplain unless they care about others deeply. The survivors of traumatic events also know they will not dismiss any of what they have to say by responding with "Get over it" or "It isn't so bad" or even worse when people can respond to pain by trivializing it and laughing.

We don't have all answers but when people are in crisis, the answers are not as important as hearing. Being able to talk to someone is sometimes all it takes to prevent what we are seeing with PTSD.

It's wonderful to have someone to talk to but if the person doing the listening does not know what to say, or when not to say anything at all, too often the friend we confide in will make us regret talking at all. We may struggle with our faith in that moment and have a well meaning friend dismiss our crisis while magnifying their own issues. They may answer a cell phone while we are trying to pour our hearts out so they can talk to their friend about plans for later or to hear gossip, or look at their watch wondering when we'll be finished taking up their time. A buddy may take us to a bar for a drink so we can calm down but has no interest in hearing what we have to say.

I grew up in a big Greek extended family surrounded by relatives I knew cared no matter what. No matter what crisis someone was going thru it was always talked out. When the one suffering was done, no matter how long it took to get there, then the subject was dropped, but not until the one in need was no longer in need. That helped immensely but as with most people they also had their own way of "helping" which was not very useful at all. Still with ever crisis I had, some of them life threatening, it was "talked to death" until I had nothing more to say.

It is my greatest belief after all I've learned about veterans that this along with my faith, is the reason why I did not develop PTSD, especially considering I have a lot of the same characteristics they have. The leading one opening the door to PTSD is compassion. This is the most common with PTSD veterans.

We know it's vital they have someone to talk to and watch over them. What no one seems to be talking about is what kind of training the "buddy" has to address the crisis and help instead of making things worse accidentally. This is where having a support group with even minimal training will accomplish a great deal until the DOD and the VA have enough mental health providers to fill the need. Every expert has stated clearly the sooner PTSD is addressed the sooner it stops getting worse and begins to get better. Having someone to talk to until they can be seen will prevent it from taking control over the life of the survivor.

While there is no one dismissing the need to add trained psychologists and psychiatrists, as well as Chaplains, their job healing will be made easier when the trauma is not left alone to fester. This isn't rocket science. It's human science and mostly common sense.

Learning to listen the right way is just as important as caring in the first place. We can all learn to do it and then think of how far we will really go helping our troops heal. We can help keep them from killing themselves. We can help them from seeing their families fall apart. We can help them stay in the military and live a long happier life if we learn how to listen with our hearts and shut off our ego.

How I predicted increase in PTSD in 2001

How I predicted increase in PTSD in 2001
by Chaplain Kathie

This is not so much about my ego as it is about those who taught me. Whatever I know came from learning from the experts and living with it long before September 11.

By 2000, this book was done and I was looking for a publisher. No one wanted it almost as if it was old news. It was not so much about the style of my writing since no publisher ever really read it.For the Love of Jack, His War-My Battle
The day we got married, I married my best friend. His problems after Vietnam were mild and most of what was happening to him I found no problem facing. We knew what PTSD was back then but what no one was warning about was it could get worse.

After all the years between coming home from Vietnam and the day we met, no one helped Jack. His idea was that he would get over it just like his WWII father got over the war he fought. Back then after growing up surrounded by veterans in my own family, I knew there was something very different about Jack, so I began to try to understand him. Clinical books with complicated language, nearly impossible to understand without a dictionary, and graphic news reports in library achieves helped me to understand, so I began to help others learn what I did.

I worked regular jobs as a regular wife, dealing with mild PTSD problems like nightmares and flashbacks, forgetting about going to movies and being picky with where to sit in our favorite restaurant. The times when he was having a bad day and didn't want to go places with me or wanted to leave a family event early. Life wasn't that bad at all. I didn't see the nightmare waiting take over our lives.



I wrote it because over the years there were just too many Vietnam veterans without a clue what was going on inside of them and more wives getting divorced. Wives I met were part of the serial brides Vietnam veterans tried to find peace with.

Living with Jack and helping other veteran families, I had made all the mistakes possible until I found what worked.

The book had already been reviewed by Dr. Jonathan Shay and this wonderful man took the time to try to help me get it published. He did this even though he was working on his second book plus treating veterans at the Boston VA. No one wanted it but I kept trying.

A few days after September 11th, I was on the phone with Dr. Shay. Both of us knew what was coming. I knew I had to get my book out in the public so they would be ready to address PTSD head on. Not just for the survivors but for the Vietnam veterans walking around the country with time bomb of untreated mild PTSD ready to explode. I went the self-published route in 2002. It is online now.

I tried really hard to publicize it but I was not very good at doing it. I didn't want to see another veteran's life fall apart and other wives wonder what just happened when the answers were know and help was available.

Then the troops were being sent into Afghanistan. I began to scream louder about the need to help prevent PTSD from getting worse. I knew we couldn't prevent all cases of PTSD but we could stop it from taking over, just like an infection stops getting worse when it is treated, PTSD stops getting worse as soon as it is addressed.

Then the troops were being sent into Iraq. No one was ready. News report after news report showed how Vietnam veterans were seeking help more and more but the VA was not being geared up for any of it. It was almost as if no one paid attention to after the troops came home. There were less doctors and nurses working for the VA at the time than after the Gulf War. This was a horrifying situation unfolding right in front of my eyes.

I knew none of the news reports I was tracking had to happen. The families just like mine didn't need to fall apart. Veterans like Jack didn't need to suffer without help. None of it had to happen but no one would listen. I had no power. I had no publicity. The wives like me with lasting marriages and stable kids never had a chance to be heard.

I kept helping veterans and their families, but it was, as it still is, private work. The work I do online is taken from news reports or in rare instances, from the veterans wanting their story told, not for sympathy, but to help other veterans.

The reporters want the bad stories. They don't want to know what works or hear about healing. Congress doesn't seem interested in hearing from people like me either.

All of these years we have been provided with everything necessary to address PTSD but too few looked for it. We don't have to see the increase in suicides and attempted suicides. We don't have to see so many families falling apart. We don't have to see military careers end any more than we have to see unemployed veterans due to PTSD. Had we addressed PTSD properly in the first place, as soon as possible, then most of these veteran would be like my Jack was when we met. He had a job and was my best friend. He became a total stranger without help but with it, he's living a life again. We need to stop just looking at what is bad, how much suffering there is out there and begin to see what is possible. If we don't then it will just keep getting worse.

In 2006, the videos I created began to be noticed because there was nothing like them before. I knew I had to try something beyond the pretty bad website I had at the time and move past what I was doing online. None of what I knew was doing enough good if no one was able to find me, hear me and learn. The videos uploaded onto Google and YouTube were spreading knowledge so that none of this seemed impossible to understand.


Now here were are almost 4 years later, all the numbers are up with suicides, attempted suicides, divorce, homelessness and the numbers of families suffering when none of this had to happen.

The reason is simple. If I could figure all of this out years ago, we all need to be wondering why it is the government did not see it coming. How could they not? All they had to do was take the data from Vietnam veterans and begin with that. Me? I had no power then as I have no power now. I had no money then as I have no money now so the powerful will pay no attention to me. Someone I know passed along a very depressing question someone else asked. "If she's any good at what she does, then why does she need help getting the word out? Wouldn't she already have support?" And that's pretty much been the attitude I've run up against all along. The emails I received over the years support that I do know what I'm talking about. Considering the "professionals" using my work across the country, that proves they believe it too. But I am not considered successful my their measurements. They measure success by fame. I measure by the lives I've helped to heal and yes, too often saved. They measure success by the size of the bank account and ability to pay publicists. I measure it when I have a family now able to understand enough that they try to help their family member heal instead of walk away from them.

The veterans and their families needing help cannot afford to donate. They are lucky if they can put food on the table. The publicity I could receive would only come by violating the trust they have in me and my promise to them is that they would never read their stories on a blog unless that was what they wanted. This is why I need support financially and by people passing my work along to help as many people as possible. The powerful won't listen to me or anyone else like me out there before even I was.

If you need proof of this then consider someone as brilliant as Dr. Shay. Have you seen him during any of the interviews when they are talking about PTSD? No. Not only did Dr. Shay treat the veterans at the Boston VA, he wrote two books on it. He received a Genius Award for his work but you will not hear anyone asking him what he thinks. He saw all of this coming too but even he couldn't get anyone to listen. The chances of me getting the attention of anyone is pretty slim knowing this. Imagine what could have happened if people had listened before any of this happened. We couldn't have prevented all of it but there is no way in hell it had to have gotten this bad.

This all goes into why I became a Chaplain. The International Fellowship of Chaplains was willing to take my years of experience and spiritual gifts in place of a degree from a seminary. They only cared about my desire to help others. The training I received was in order to head off what I was seeing when traumatic events are allowed to take control over the person. I've seen too much suffering on the other side. None of what we've been seeing has to happen and the IFOC chaplains know this. I am a Senior Chaplain with the IFOC because their eyes are open wide. They support the work I do when few other organizations were interested in helping at all and others were more interested in using my work without offering any support to me at all. The IFOC knows that God calls us to do what we do just as I am sure God called me to help veterans the day I met my husband. Had I not met him, I would have been spending my time on my own life just like everyone else instead of knowing how much the veterans were suffering.

The numbers were in for the most part from the Vietnam war. By 1978 there were 500,000 PTSD Vietnam veterans but above that number came a warning the numbers would go higher and they did. The suicides, incarcerations, divorces and homelessness numbers were known by the time September 11th came. The condition of mild PTSD was known and it was also known a secondary stressor would kick mild PTSD into high gear. It was also known that as soon as veterans began to seek help for PTSD, it stopped getting worse for them. All we see today in prevention in the civilian population came as a result of the Vietnam veterans forcing research into PTSD.

None of what we are seeing needed to happen and could have been prevented if the military took the same steps ahead of time as the IFOC chaplains did. Addressing the need where the need is goes a long way in preventing PTSD from being allowed to eat away at the emotional/spiritual life of the survivors after traumatic events. PTSD is a wound that can infect the entire person. Intervention is the antibiotic.

So when you hear about the suffering of so many of our troops and veterans, know this, none of this was not predicted ahead of time. All they had to do was open their eyes to what was already known.

Fort Hood Carnage seared in her memory

FORT HOOD SHOOTINGS
Carnage seared in her memory
Fort Hood nurse helped supervise triage at shooting rampage.
By Marty Toohey
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, November 16, 2009
FORT HOOD — Paulette Smith-Kimble stood, stunned, in the entryway of a large room where she had helped put many wounded soldiers on the path to healing.
Blood covered the floor. Men and women writhed in pain. Some were past feeling pain.
Outside, the shooting suspect was down. Smith-Kimble, an experienced nurse, had verified that the medic had kept him alive. She had checked on a police officer who had returned fire. And she had helped coordinate the nursing students who had come flooding onto the scene from their graduation next door to help.
Inside, a downed soldier lay to her left. She was too far gone. Move on.
Smith-Kimble's eyes moved to another person. He wore civilian clothing, and he lay in a pool of blood.
She recognized him. They spoke often. She knew instantly: He was dead.
But some in the room were still alive.
read more here
Carnage seared in her memory

Ben Affleck: "Surely those who have sacrificed so much, deserve no less".

Jason Neilson was paralyzed by a sniper while stationed in Iraq. He discusses how Paralyzed Veterans of America helped him following his injury.

Vietnam vet on fraud charge

Vietnam vet on fraud charge

EMILY MACDONALD

November 16th, 2009

A SENIOR member of the Townsville Vietnam Veterans Association has been charged with defrauding the charity of almost $18,000.

The man allegedly spent seven months collecting the money, which was raised through raffles and market stalls, and putting it in his own pocket.

Volunteers at the organisation including president John Trewern are devastated by the revelations, which will force the charity to scale back the welfare they hand out over the festive season.

Townsville CIB officer-in-charge Detective Senior-Sergeant Chris Hicks confirmed the 65-year-old-man was being investigated for fraud.

''He was in a position within the organisation where he handled cash and he utilised that cash for his own purposes,'' Det Sen-Sgt Hicks said.
read more here
Vietnam vet on fraud charge

Powwow honors all veterans

Powwow honors all veterans

BY BECCY TANNER
The Wichita Eagle
For the past 21 years, Charlie Harjo has participated in every powwow hosted by the Wichita Kansas Intertribal Warrior Society.

Harjo, who is of Choctaw and Creek heritage, was a soldier in Vietnam.

On Sunday he was one of the veterans participating in the gourd dancing at the Veterans Day Powwow.

When Harjo was young, his father used to tell him that he hoped his son would never see what his eyes had seen.

"I never knew what he was talking about," said Harjo, 61, "until I saw it in Vietnam."

In Vietnam, Harjo said, he watched fellow soldiers die, including one named Sgt. Flowers.

"He was wounded and lying there and looked over at me and said, 'Don't forget me, Chief.' Back then, they called every Indian 'Chief.' "

When Harjo came back to the United States in 1969, he said, he tried to forget Sgt. Flowers.
read more here
http://www.kansas.com/news/local/story/1057281.html

The Vietnam vet who thinks MTV can make the world a better place

The Vietnam vet who thinks MTV can make the world a better place

Bill Roedy runs MTV in 162 countries and hopes to unite people through music, with help from Fidel and Bono. Ian Burrell reports

Bill Roedy is the international statesman who never got voted out of office. To step into his London office is to enter a museum filled with artefacts featuring the global leaders, world-changing events, natural disasters and cultural icons that have characterised the past two decades. Every photograph, painting and ornament relates to the media career of this tough-looking Vietnam veteran, the chairman and chief executive of MTV Networks International.


"That's Shanghai, Sarajevo, there's Bono, that's our trip to Cuba where we had a couple of meetings with Fidel," he says pointing to a large photo of the Cuban leader with Ernest Hemingway, actually autographed by Castro. "I've met Shimon Peres a few times over the years. There are the Rolling Stones. Warren Buffett, who gave me poker tips. There's the Dalai Lama..."

Roedy, who oversees MTV's output in 162 countries and 33 languages, resists the suggestion that he has the role of a globe-trotting ambassador – "I don't know if I would take it that seriously" – but then says: "I have met over 30 heads of state and seven or eight Nobel prize winners."

Another photograph shows him on a recent trip to Afghanistan, holding aloft his BlackBerry alongside an Afghan solider posing with an AK47. Trained at the elite West Point military academy, Roedy is a former airborne Ranger who later specialised in deactivating nuclear missile bases. The soldier's life is behind him now, but he still has battles on his hands.
read more here
The Vietnam vet who thinks MTV can make the world a better place Independent

Web site helps veterans reconnect after combat

Web site helps veterans reconnect after combat
Posted: Nov 16, 2009 6:15 PM EST

Posted by Sarah Harlan - email

(NBC) - A new web site is helping veterans re-connect after combat.

It's also helping servicemen and women recover from post traumatic stress disorder.

Retired Marine Matthew Brown will never forget the moment he was shot by a sniper while fighting in Fallujah.

"They weren't really sure where I was shot because there was blood everywhere," Brown said. "Sorry, little difficult to talk about sometimes."

There were operations, there were months of rehab.

He learned to walk again but there was something else that wasn't right.

Brown had post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

"What we know is that a third of vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering from some type of combat-stress injury," Tom Tarantino with Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America said.
read more here
http://www.14wfie.com/Global/story.asp?S=11516476

Oklahoma doctor held in death of 9 year old son

Oklahoma doctor held in death of son, 9
November 16, 2009 5:09 p.m. EST

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Third-grader was dead when authorities arrived at family's home after several 911 calls
Dr. Stephen Wolf, 51, faces first-degree murder charges in death of Tommy Wolf
"There had been some type of altercation," and knife was found at home, sheriff says
Stephen Wolf's wife suffered defensive puncture wounds to her hands, wound to her mouth
(CNN) -- A doctor in suburban Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was arrested Monday and accused in the early morning death of his 9-year-old son, police said.

Dr. Stephen Wolf, 51, faces first-degree murder charges, said Nichols Hills, Oklahoma, Police Chief Richard Mask.

Third-grader Tommy Wolf was dead when authorities arrived at the family's home about 4 a.m. CT in response to several 911 calls, Mask said.

"It was obvious there had been some type of altercation" when police arrived, Mask said. Arriving officers disarmed Wolf, he said, but did not elaborate except to say a knife was found at the home.

Although the investigation is still under way, authorities believe the altercation may have begun in the boy's room "and proceeded from there" to other rooms, Mask said.
read more here
Oklahoma doctor held in death of son

Tests widen for streamlined disability system

Tests widen for streamlined disability system

By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Nov 16, 2009 14:49:59 EST

The test of a streamlined system for examining and evaluating disabled veterans will be expanded to an additional six U.S. bases beginning in January, the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday.

The new locations offering the Disability Evaluation System pilot program will be Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Benning, Ga.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort Lewis, Wash.; Fort Riley, Kan.; and Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, Va., which serves bases in the greater Hampton Roads, Va., area. The expansion, to be completed by March 31, 2010, will bring the total number of facilities using the pilot to 27.
read more here
Tests widen for streamlined disability system

Soldier mom refuses deployment to care for baby

Soldier mom refuses deployment to care for baby
By RUSS BYNUM (AP) – 1 hour ago
SAVANNAH, Ga. — An Army cook and single mom may face criminal charges after she skipped her deployment flight to Afghanistan because, she said, no one was available to care for her infant son while she was overseas.
Spc. Alexis Hutchinson, 21, claims she had no choice but to refuse deployment orders because the only family she had to care for her 10-month-old son — her mother — was overwhelmed by the task, already caring for three other relatives with health problems.
Her civilian attorney, Rai Sue Sussman, said Monday that one of Hutchinson's superiors told her she would have to deploy anyway and place the child in foster care.
"For her it was like, 'I couldn't abandon my child,'" Sussman said. "She was really afraid of what would happen, that if she showed up they would send her to Afghanistan anyway and put her son with child protective services."
Hutchinson, who is from Oakland, Calif., remained confined Monday to the boundaries of Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, 10 days after military police arrested her for skipping her unit's flight. No charges have been filed, but a spokesman for the Army post said commanders were investigating.
Kevin Larson, a spokesman for Hunter Army Airfield, said he didn't know what Hutchinson was told by her commanders, but he said the Army would not deploy a single parent who had nobody to care for his or her child.
Soldier mom refuses deployment to care for baby

Chaplains: Fort Hood traumatized us, too

The question chaplains get most is "Why did God let this happen?" just as you will read later in the posted article regarding Fort Hood and the aftermath. It has been more helpful to answer this question with another question. "What would you have had God do?" Usually this leads to having God stop it but they can't think of how or when it's supposed to be stopped. When does it stop? Before this one is hurt or killed or after that one? Can you justify someone living thru it instead of another person? Were they less worthy? No they were not and they were loved just as much. God didn't decide to put the guns in Major Hasan's hands. Hasan did. God does not force anyone to do anything but He does ask us, guides us, opens our eyes and our hearts so that we do not turn into people like Hasan, able to kill others for no reason other than he could.

There are many times when people say "God only gives us what we can handle." which is the most perplexing statement I have ever heard in my life. Is it they think a loving God sends them pain and suffering, heartache and misery? Why would He do such a thing? It is not that He sends what is bad but He sends the good surrounding us to help us through it. In times of crisis, there is goodness and compassion surrounding those who suffer. When they act out of care for someone else, God is there. When they act out of bravery to save someone else, God is there. The very fact humans can survive something that seems straight out of hell and still care about someone else proves God is there.

People either do things to others or for them. Do we blame God when they do bad things to us? Do we thank God every time someone comes to help us? Do we ever wonder who God could see us there in need just as we wonder where He was when evil unleashed a wrath upon us? The very fact that all that is from our better angels lives on after traumatic events indicates the love that God has for us and that He sent it to live within each of us because it was good. Some people just decide to kill off what is good inside of them, block out cries for help, ignore the calling of their souls to think of others and seek to take what is not their's to have. They become bitter and angry and live off hurting others. These people did not change like this on orders from God but from the selfishness of our ego.

Better angels were more in number that day at Fort Hood than the worst mankind had to offer. The soldiers who helped the wounded, the police officers responding and then the entire base caring about everyone else there, leaning on each other like family and the prayers of an entire nation with them in the days that followed. Just as funerals are still going on and communities line the street to honor the fallen's return and prayers go out for the wounded. These are our better angels and considering how much we outnumber the bad, it's easy to see that God did not allow any of it but most likely grieved as He had to watch too.

Chaplains: Fort Hood traumatized us, too

By Rick Jervis - USA Today
Posted : Monday Nov 16, 2009 15:23:53 EST

FORT HOOD, Texas — They were supposed to be spending a day leading Mass, talking to soldiers about love and marriage, readying for their own deployment. Instead, the military chaplains of Fort Hood found themselves on the afternoon of Nov. 5 scrambling to the front lines of the worst shooting massacre on a military base in U.S. history.

Thirteen people were killed and more than 30 wounded. Authorities charged Maj. Nidal Hasan with murder.

As some of the first to arrive on the chaotic scene that day, the chaplains counseled dazed, injured soldiers, comforted witnesses and prayed over the bullet-ridden bodies of the slain.

Now they are being asked to lead the healing process. The pace and success at which they counsel the wounded and their families will determine how quickly the post returns to normalcy, said Ralph Gauer, past president of the local chapter of the Association of the United States Army, a group that counsels military families through tragedy.

“Chaplains right now represent the glue that holds an awful lot of units together,” Gauer said. “But they have to come to grip(s) with it themselves. They have to try to understand what they saw themselves as they explain it others.”

There are 75 chaplains at Fort Hood, most of them assigned to units, said Lt. Col. Keith Goode, deputy 3rd Corps chaplain. Ten more chaplains have been flown into Fort Hood, including an imam and a rabbi, to help with the counseling.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/ap_hood_chaplains_111609/

Vietnam Veteran receives retroactive PTSD benefits

“It’s unfair to make a man who has sacrificed for his country go through decades of fighting through the bureaucratic red tape,” he said.

Vietnam Veteran receives retroactive PTSD benefits

CHESTER – Edward Kehoe, a local Vietnam Veteran, received retroactive disability benefits for injuries he received from Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.

Kehoe, of Chester, served in Vietnam from 1966 until 1971 and during his service was awarded the Bronze Star among other honors. Exposure to Agent Orange, an herbicide contaminant used in the war, the loss of friends and heavy combat, left Kehoe with post traumatic stress disorder. The disorder hindered his transition back to civilian life

read more here

Vietnam Veteran receives retroactive PTSD benefits

Agent Orange Balloon release to remember the fallen from deadly killer

Over the years I've come into contact with so many people working on making the lives better for our veterans. Shelia and Henry have dedicated their work to keeping the veterans exposed to Agent Orange from being forgotten. They are an amazing couple. Please click on their links to see pictures from around the country on this balloon launch they did with orange balloons.

Agent Orange Balloon release

Links to Various slideshows & Pictures

Pictures & Slideshow from Gibson City, Illinois

Delaware Valley Vietnam Veterans Slideshow

REDHORSE Association, Tim Teney
Littleton, Colorado

Links to News & Media Coverage
WCIA TV station in Champaign, Illinois
(Gibson City)
Reno, Nevada Local News Video

KTVN News Channel 2 Reno, Nevada
(Video includes Veterans Story)

Toledo, Ohio ABC News Coverage

Fox News Channel 12 Toledo, Ohio

Agent Orange Victims & Widows Support Network
Home Of The Agent Orange Quilt Of Tearshttp://www.agentorangequiltoftears.com/

Sacrifice is meaningless without remembrance

Wasn’t the Bad Man a Soldier? child asks after Fort Hood

“Wasn’t the Bad Man a Soldier?”
Posted on November 15th, 2009
by Carissa Picard in Op-ed, Texas News, US Government News, US News, crime, military

I live in a housing village on Fort Hood. On November 4th, at approximately 1:30 PM, the emergency alarms went off. I was expecting to hear that this was a test of the “Emergency Alert System.” Instead, I heard, “Attention. Seek shelter immediately. Close all doors and windows. Turn off all ventilation systems. Seek shelter immediately. Close all doors and windows. Turn off all ventilation systems.” Then the alarms went off again. And again. Every fifteen minutes.
A great deal of confusion followed For the next two hours there were many rumors about what was happening, including a shooting at the PX and in one of the villages. My husband, who was off-post with our children (who thankfully got out of school at 1 PM that day and were with him) was unable to come on post as it was on lock down. He called me and insisted that I not only stay in the house but that I stay on the second floor and away from the windows.
Around 6:30 PM, Fort Hood lifted the lock down that had prevented anyone from entering or leaving. From CNN, I learned the details of the mass murder that had occurred less than 15 minutes away from our home at the place my husband had visited on numerous occasions in preparation for his tour to Iraq and as part of his reintegration upon his unit’s return.
As soon as the news began covering the shooting, I started receiving emails and phone calls from people who were worried about me. People I barely know have extended their thoughts and prayers to me and my family. I have not responded to 99 percent of these people, including family. I have not talked about the shooting since it occurred. I have talked about the shooter, Major Hasan, but not about the shooting itself.
Today, ten days later, I went to the shoppette with another spouse who lives about six houses down the street from me. The first thing I saw when I entered the store was two racks of this week’s TIME magazine with Major Hasan’s military photo on the cover, life-sized and large. It was like being punched in the stomach. My first reaction was disgust. Then anger. I turned to my friend and told her, “I don’t even talk about what happened! Who the hell are they to talk about it?” So naturally I had to buy the magazine and find out what they had to say.
(You know what? If no magazine was making the shooting an issue, that probably would have upset me, too. It is all very confusing.)
This got me thinking about why I don’t talk about the shooting. People keep asking me if I am okay. I don’t know how to answer that question. Yes? No? Maybe? This is a loaded question for those of us who have to answer it.
click link for more

PTSD, unlock so you can unload

PTSD, unlock so you can unload
by
Chaplain Kathie

First know who were and why you were that way.

As a kid your Mom told you "you're a good kid" and she said that for a reason. You were the type to always help her and your dad, the younger brothers and sisters and usually even your cousins.
You helped out the elderly neighbor when no one else wanted to bother at all.
You were the first one friends told their troubles to because they knew you cared and would not attack them for telling you what they would tell no one else.
Everyone you came into contact with, you cared about. You may not have agreed with them or even liked them but you cared about them. The "good kid" your mom saw in you was because of the compassion you were born with.

That pull inside of you to help out when someone was in need came from your soul and you were always doing things to make someone happy or feel better because it made you feel happy just to help.

As you grew older, your compassion fueled great courage. You joined the military, the National Guards and said "send me" to go where few others were willing to. After September 11th when this nation was attacked, you said you wanted to go and defend this country so that it would not happen again. Just as generations before went because their country decided to get involved in wars, most enlisted willingly. Even the soldiers drafted into service found it within them to use their compassion and their courage to take care of someone else.

It is this same compassion where your caring nature came from that PTSD found a way in to wound the part of your brain where your emotions live. When you walked away as a survivor, you walked away with the pain from others on top of your own. You walked away with guilt wondering why you did not die or what you should have done to save someone you believe you could have.

Some veterans are not done serving and they use their skills, courage and compassion to take care of others by their careers. They enter into law enforcement, fire departments as employees or volunteers and emergency services. Some veterans have mild PTSD and if treated, it does not get worse, they can go on with their lives, working, keeping families and learning how to cope with what cannot be healed, finding peace with it.

For others, working is impossible because the wound cut them too deeply or there were traumatic events followed by more traumatic events crushing them. Their families fall apart because no one understands what changed and they assume the worst that the veteran has gone from "good kid" to uncaring monster. They ended up doing more harm to the veteran when they may have wanted to help but just didn't know how to.

When you know what is at the root of PTSD, you begin to understand the fact you can heal with help. When you have help from your family and friends because they understand the pain you came home with, you can share the load to make it easier to carry instead of everything in your life falling apart. It's not that you want to share graphic stories with them and it is not that you have to talk to them about that aspect at all. That's what the professionals are there for. What you can talk about is what you are feeling inside so they understand the "good kid" they always knew is alive still but now needs their help to surface again.

You were there when they needed you because you cared about them. Give them the chance to do the same for you. You saw no shame in them needing help, and they will see no shame in you needing it from them. Help them to understand and stop trying to hide it acting like "normal" when they can see right through you. The only thing you are hiding from them is the reason for the changes in the way you act.

Army Sends Infant to Protective Services, Mom to Afghanistan

Army Sends Infant to Protective Services, Mom to Afghanistan
Friday 13 November 2009

by: Dahr Jamail Inter Press Service
Ventura, California - US Army Specialist Alexis Hutchinson, a single mother, is being threatened with a military court-martial if she does not agree to deploy to Afghanistan, despite having been told she would be granted extra time to find someone to care for her 11-month-old son while she is overseas.
Hutchinson, of Oakland, California, is currently being confined at Hunter Army Airfield near Savannah, Georgia, after being arrested. Her son was placed into a county foster care system.
Hutchinson has been threatened with a court martial if she does not agree to deploy to Afghanistan on Sunday, Nov. 15. She has been attempting to find someone to take care of her child, Kamani, while she is deployed overseas, but to no avail.
According to the family care plan of the U.S. Army, Hutchinson was allowed to fly to California and leave her son with her mother, Angelique Hughes of Oakland.
read more here
http://www.truthout.org/1114098
linked from RawStory

Police officer helps Vietnam vet get new home and real welcome home

We see the crowds cheer when a veteran comes home today. We see them respectfully line the street as a flag draped coffin is carried to the fallen's place of rest. We saw the outpouring of support for the soldiers and families following the atrocity at Fort Hood. We see the best we can give them as a nation today but what the Vietnam veterans came home to was a much different nation.

Photo by Hayley Kappes
League City code enforcement officer Chris Torres, right, hands Vietnam veteran Jim Stepanski the keys to his new trailer on Willow Lane. Stepanski’s old home sustained irreparable damage from hurricanes Rita and Ike.

City workers get Vietnam vet new home

By Leigh Jones
The Daily News
Published November 15, 2009

LEAGUE CITY — Vietnam veteran Jim Stepanski’s trailer on Willow Lane became unlivable after water damage from hurricanes Rita and Ike caused the walls to peel and wore holes in the floor.

Mold coated the interior. Rats and raccoons infested the structure.

Stepanski, 61, lived in the trailer until a local police officer and fellow Vietnam veteran decided to take action.

City employees officially gave Stepanski the keys to a new trailer Saturday afternoon. His new home sits on the site where his former trailer was.

League City police officer William Gates made a welfare check on Stepanski on June 1 after a family member could not reach the man on his birthday. Gates and Stepanski talked for a while about their war experiences, especially the disconnect from society they felt upon returning home. The two shared an instant bond.

“We’re from a forgotten era,” Gates said. “When I came home in 1970, I was screamed at and spit on. Police officers told me not to wear my uniform in public because it would cause an uproar.”

His worst injury was invisible to the human eye. Stepanski withdrew from society and lived alone for years after returning from combat as a way to deal with the horrible memories of war that haunted him. Large crowds and constant loud noises still cause him to suffer panic attacks, he said.

“I now realize that what I had was post-traumatic stress disorder,” Stepanski said. “Back then my doctors just told me to put the war behind me and try to forget about it. There was no counseling for it back then.”

go here for more

City workers get Vietnam vet new home

This is one case of a Vietnam veteran, Officer William Gates, taking care of a brother. This is what is greatest about these veterans and most of the country will never know how much they have been involved with what is being done for veterans today. This at the same time they are finally discovering what was eating them alive has a name, a reason and a way to be healed.

There are still Vietnam veterans learning about PTSD from their own adult children. The newer generation connected to others across the country know far more than most of Vietnam veterans but they only understand it from the perspective of their own generation. They may have heard stories about the way Vietnam veterans were treated. Some would believe them, others would dismiss them. What cannot be dismissed is the fact had it not been for Vietnam veterans coming back, enduring all, risking all, fighting for all the benefits related to PTSD, this nation would look like a much different place for the newer veterans. Consider this the next time you read about how hard it is for our veterans and remember, it would a lot worse had it not been for those who were neglected and mistreated the most.

Culpability in complacency

Culpability in complacency
by
Chaplain Kathie


When dedicated people assume all is well, it adds to the reality that veterans live with on a daily basis as they seek help after combat. The VA will say they have added on psychologists, psychiatrists and even claims processors, but what they won't tell you is that there are still not enough to meet the need. The DOD will say they have instituted programs to address the anguish of PTSD but what they won't say is if these programs are working or not as we read the suicide figures rise every year even after millions of funds have gone into the programs they claim will work.

Take a look at your own life. When you go home at the end of the day, it's doubtful you spend any time researching what you do for a living. Unless you are in college to get a degree, what you do for a living is not part of your home life. That is the way it is for most people in the VA as well as the DOD. They see what they are shown, doing very little investigating on their own.

When they see new soldiers or veterans seeking help, they assume they are filling the need, however missing the long lines behind these new patients. They don't have to read about another suicide some place else across the country. They don't read the story of yet another homeless veteran's body being found in the woods. They don't read about the National Guards soldier being told they have to go to the back of the line for help, wait for their claim to be approved so their war wound is taken care of, as they try to find out how the hell they are supposed to pay their bills and take care of their families.

In the DOD, they have their own way of doing things. The chain of command feeds them the programs they are supposed to use and they are just supposed to use what they are given no matter if they believe in the program or not. Much like the attitude of "it's better than nothing" they dutifully use it and hope for the best.

The people in charge are supposed to be keeping up on facts and removing themselves from ego driven attachment to what they have been doing. If they spend no time investigating what is being done across the country to find the programs that have been proven successful, they will never know how much they are part of the problem.

When the DOD assumed a program called Battle Mind was working the VA adopted the program. We saw the suicides, attempted suicides, homelessness, divorce, incarcerations and crimes go up to the point where there are now special veterans' courts opening the doors to address the unique aspect of being a veteran of combat. Had there not been such enormous public pressure on the DOD and the VA do to more, they would still be relying on this program instead of finding something that would not do more harm than good.

The problem was so bad that when Spec. Chris Dana, of the Montana National Guard, committed suicide, his commanders were fed up with losing more after combat than they did during it. They came up with their own program to address the aftermath of combat. Had the DOD been doing due diligence, they would have figured out the failure of this program long ago. It's not that they didn't care. They suffered from complacency assuming it was working. Maybe they figured they just needed to give their efforts more time to work since the chain of command above them came up with the programs they were using.

At the VA there is a long line the mental health providers never see. While they see their cases rise and see more new faces joining as co-workers, they assume all that is needed to be done is being done. They don't read about the phone calls the suicide prevention hotline gets that are never followed up on, or the calls when the veteran is told to call back in the morning. They only know about the ones who are saved and the ones who are helped because of this effort. They know about approved claims but they don't know about the devastation veterans suffer when their claim is tied up or erroneously denied.

Members of congress will not know until either reporters break stories in their district or a constituent reaches their aid to tell of a heartbreaking story of a family member no longer here because they were not provided with the help they needed to heal after war. Congress will assume the DOD and the VA are taking care of all the issues because they have provided increased funding to address the problem. What they do not do is follow up to make sure there are no more veterans falling through the cracks.

All of this makes them culpable and us as well.

When the veterans are suffering, when the troops do not have what they need, we are all responsible for it. If we ignore what is happening, we are part of the problem. Even service organizations assume that the VA is taking care of all of the need or at least getting close to it. They simply do as they always did with small efforts on the local level, while in their local community there are hundreds of National Guards coming home to no jobs, no financial support, families unaware of what came home with them in the form of PTSD, leaving them feeling abandoned until it's time to deploy them again.

Marines, soldiers, airmen and sailors desiring to dedicate their lives as career military, suddenly find themselves unable to return to duty after the wounds of war strike them down. This they wanted to spend the rest of their lives doing, yet because of a physical wound or invisible one they are discharged. Then they must try to find a job if they can work or compensation if they cannot. Then they wonder what they are supposed to do with the rest of their lives now that their life plans are no longer possible. They also have to deal with members of their units deploying again while they remain here.

The VA and the DOD have not taken notice of the fact that many groups have formed outside to address the needs. They have also not seemed to have noticed that it is not happening in every community just as there are not enough Vet Centers in every community. Veterans are unique because while they may leave small towns and rural areas, they serve in the same place, taking the same risks, suffering the same kinds of wounds, as others from larger cities with more resources to provide veterans with. These veterans deserved the same care other veterans receive but not much is being done for them.

Congress continues to look for ways to help. They keep finding funding to try to address the problems. They keep holding hearings to find out what is going on. The problem is, they are not holding hearings on what has already been done that has been proven to work. They are not talking to people that have been already having successful outcomes.

How did a lot of Vietnam veterans marriages survive when there was nothing for support back then but now there is support but shattered families go up as well as suicides and homelessness?

How did some veterans manage to heal so much so that they turned around and started organizations to help other veterans heal, yet some fall so far into the abyss they end up living in the woods or on the streets?

How did some members of the clergy take their ministries to a whole new level and begin to train on trauma while most members of the clergy avoid any knowledge of it?

There needs to be an attitude adjustment in this country and all of us need to stop assuming someone else will do what needs to be done because clearly the evidence is in and it is not happening. Congress needs to find out what really works and stop hearing the same things over and over again. The DOD and the VA need to take a fresh look at the results of what they've done so far and keep doing what has proven to be successful and ditching what doesn't work the same way they would ditch faulty weapons.

The numbers are not all in. Even the experts point out the reluctance of seeking help because of the stigma at the same time they are unaware of the fact mild PTSD can be healed pretty successfully and they can stay in the military. Just ask the four generals who had the courage to talk about their own wounds. This means for all the numbers we have now, we are not even close to what is to come. If we do not treat this as an emergency situation now, it will be catastrophic over the next few years.

Local veterans honored, forum tackles homefront issues

Dedication to America
Local veterans honored; forum tackles homefront issues

by Timothy J. Carroll

Hoboken hosted two events last week to honor local servicemen and servicewomen for Veterans Day, once known as Armistice Day to remember the end of World War I.

Dubbed by Woodrow Wilson the “War To End All Wars,” World War I ended in the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. Unfortunately, WWI did not end all wars.

On Wednesday, Nov. 11, local veterans and other city officials gathered at Pier A Park to remember fallen soldiers and pay tribute to others who served.

At 11 a.m., they observed a moment of silence and rang a bell 11 times in memory of Armistice Day.

“When I came home, what I did, I cannot tell you those things, but God was with me.” – Orlando Addeo

On Wednesday night, the city and other sponsors conducted a public forum on veterans’ homefront issues. The forum featured a shortened version of a play dealing with suicide among veterans, a documentary film about soldiers’ homefront groups, and a discussion about post-war issues.

Mayor Dawn Zimmer attended the forum and asked all veterans in the audience to stand before the forum began so that everyone could show appreciation for their service.
read more here
Dedication to America

The Growing PTSD Plague

The Growing PTSD Plague
November 15, 2009: For the last six years, the U.S. Army has been conducting mental health surveys of troops in the combat zone. As expected, troops on their second or third trip to the combat zone, have more stress related mental problems. While 14 percent of troops on their first combat tour have stress problems, that goes to 18 percent for those on their second tour, and 31 percent for those on their third.

A growing proportion of NCOs and officers are doing their third or fourth combat tours (in Iraq or Afghanistan), and that means more and more of them are approaching the point where they will have to take a non-combat job. Otherwise, they risk severe mental problems from the accumulated stress. In effect, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) epidemic has been created by the unprecedented exposure of so many troops, to so much combat, in so short a time. Once a soldier has PTSD, they are no longer fit for combat, and many troops headed for Afghanistan are falling into this category. PTSD makes it difficult for people to function, or get along with others. With treatment (medication, and therapy), you can recover from PTSD. But this can take months or years. In extreme cases, there is no recovery.
read more here
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htatrit/articles/20091115.aspx

Legislation would help cut red tape for veterans

Legislation would help cut red tape for veterans
BY KRISTINA SMITH HORN • Watchdog/enterprise reporter • November 11, 2009


FREMONT -- A U.S. senator introduced legislation Tuesday that he said could help Ohio's disabled veterans receive medical and social security benefits faster with less bureaucracy.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, introduced the Benefit Rating Acceleration for Veteran Entitlements Act to the Senate. The BRAVE Act, if approved, would allow disabled veterans to apply at the U.S. Veterans Administration for benefits and Social Security disability at the same time, Brown said.

Currently, they must apply separately to the VA and Social Security. "It's a cumbersome process," Brown said. "It takes weeks, sometimes months, for people to go through this. If you can meet VA criteria, you automatically should meet Social Security disability requirements."
read more here
http://www.thenews-messenger.com/article/20091111/NEWS01/911110304/-1/newsfront2

More than 1.5 million vets do not have health insurance

When veterans die -- from lack of health insurance
More than 1.5 million vets don't have it, and 2,200 vets die every year because of it
By Joan Walsh
It's Veterans Day, and members of both parties compete to show service members the most respect. How about passing health insurance reform?

Two Harvard researchers chose today to release a study showing that 1.5 million American veterans have no health insurance, and more than 2,200 die every year because of it. Working-poor veterans are at particular risk -- they earn too much money to qualify for certain Veterans Administration programs, but they work in jobs that don't provide insurance and they don't earn enough to buy it themselves.

"The uninsured have about a 40 percent higher risk of dying each year than otherwise comparable insured individuals," David Himmelstein, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program, told Agence France Presse. "Putting that all together you get an estimate of almost 2,300 -- 2,266 veterans who die each year from lack of health insurance." Fourteen times as many vets died for lack of health insurance than were killed in Afghanistan last year.

Meanwhile, conservative Sen. Tom Coburn continues to block a needed veterans' healthcare bill because it's too expensive.
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http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/joan_walsh/politics/2009/11/11/veterans_day/

Veterans Administration says 900 World War II vets pass away every day

Four brothers in my husband's family were part of WWII. Louis DiCesare, my husband's father was in the Army. He had a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. His uncle John was a Marine and killed in action. Another uncle Tony was in the Navy and Uncle George was a Merchant Marine. While three brothers survived, George never recovered from WWII. His ship was hit by a kamikaze pilot and he spent the rest of his life living on a farm for what they used to call "shell shock."

On my side of the family all of my uncles were in the service as well and my father was a Korean War veteran. Growing up, I was surrounded by veterans but aside from the a few pictures they had on their walls, it was hard to imagine them any different than any other family. Once in a while there were war stories told with a great sense of humor but sooner or later, their eyes would cloud, a tear or two would fall and the subject was quickly changed.

When I was young, I would read about war in history class and imagine my relatives being part of what I was reading about, yet when I was in their company again, I never asked them any questions. The fact they were there, in real time, faded and they were just my uncles and my dad.

They are all gone now. I have memories of the stories they told but above all, I have memories of them as who they were and the love they gave. None of them thought of themselves as heroes. They were just your average "Joe" because most of the people they knew were also in the service at one time or another. Unlike Vietnam when most of the people my husband grew up with didn't go except for one of his nephews, who was the same age as he was at the time. Jack had an older sister with two sons and a daughter. One son went and the other didn't. When they came home, they didn't feel like heroes either. They felt like outcasts. No one wanted to hear their stories. It was almost as if they wanted to dismiss the year out of their lives as if they had been away on vacation. "Shell shock" was understood when George went to live on the farm but it was not understood when my husband and his nephew came home with the same kind of inside wound.

Veterans Administration says 900 World War II vets pass away every day
By Randy Conat
GENESEE COUNTY (WJRT) -- (11/11/09)--While we pause the honor those who have served their country on Veterans Day, we have to face the fact that their numbers are dwindling.
The Veterans Administration says 900 World War II vets pass away every day.
One of the oldest vets in Genesee County fondly remembers answering when his nation called.
He's 91 years old, but Eugene Glass of Flint Township can still clearly remember his time in the Army over 60 years ago. Glass was living near Grand Rapids when he was drafted.
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http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/local&id=7113176

Alleged Army gunman's former patients need follow-up care, observers say

Alleged Army gunman's former patients need follow-up care, observers say
By Katherine McIntire Peters kpeters@govexec.com
November 12, 2009 If your doctor went on a killing spree, you might question the kind of care he provided, especially if he was ministering to your mental health. Thus, after law enforcement officials took Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan into custody at Fort Hood, Texas, last Thursday after he allegedly shot dozens of fellow soldiers and civilians, killing 13, service medical personnel should have started contacting patients formerly treated by the doctor, experts say.

"First, I'd get a list of all the patients he'd ever treated and get in contact with them," said Dr. Thomas P. Lowry, a psychiatrist who served two years as a doctor in the Air Force and then held the top psychiatry positions at four hospitals before retiring in 1999. It's important to know how the doctor's former patients perceived him and understand the care they received, he said.

Dr. Jonathan Shay, who spent 20 years as a Veterans Affairs Department psychiatrist specializing in the treatment of combat trauma before retiring last year, said some of Hasan's former patients might worry that the stories they shared in therapy sessions could have contributed to the doctor's state of mind, or even feel some responsibility for the killings.
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http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1109/111209kp1.htm

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Aftermath of Fort Hood shootings may be worse

Vietnam veteran will finally retire from military service

Vietnam veteran will finally retire from military service
Published: Saturday, November 14, 2009
By JOHN M. ROMAN
jroman@delcotimes.com

Senior Master Sgt. Ralph E. Miller Jr., 59, of Sharon Hill, of the Delaware Air National Guard, an aircraft mechanic during the Vietnam War and in Afghanistan, will finally be putting down his wrenches after nearly 30 years of combined military service.

He is the last member of the Vietnam War era still serving in the 166th Airlift Wing of the Delaware Air National Guard, according to Tech. Sgt. Benjamin Matwey, public affairs specialist for the unit.

“I’m a little anxious. It’s going to be interesting to see what my next career’s going to be — I’ve been around these guys for 20-plus years,” said Miller, a full-time enlisted man at the air base at New Castle County Airport.
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Vietnam veteran will finally retire from military service

Veterans Day has become every day

More than just a holiday now, Veterans Day has become every day
With two wars and the recent attack at Fort Hood, there’s more public concern about the treatment of vets. The Obama administration and Congress are doing something about that.

By Brad Knickerbocker Staff writer/ November 14, 2009 edition

It’s another 300-plus days until next Veterans Day, a holiday most Americans traditionally have seen as a day off from work.

But this year was different, coming as it did in the middle of two lengthy wars, just days before it was announced that the alleged “mastermind” of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that launched those wars was to be tried in New York City, and just days after a murderous rampage at the Army’s Fort Hood in Texas where soldiers prepare for war.

As a result, it seems, Veterans Day is becoming every day. President Obama alluded to this in his Saturday radio address.

“We owe our troops prayerful, considered decisions about when and where we commit them to battle to protect our security and freedom, and we must fully support them when they are deployed. We also owe them the absolute assurance that they’ll be safe here at home as they prepare for whatever mission may come.”

He was speaking specifically of Fort Hood, but the political and military establishment — and American society generally — are learning that safety for service personnel also means being adequately provided for between deployments and when the war is over for them.
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More than just a holiday now

Homeless Veterans Everday

Homeless Veterans Everyday

Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on September 10, 2009

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Funerals to be held for 6 Fort Hood victims

Staff Sgt. Amy Krueger wanted to help soldiers heal from the anguish of PTSD. She was killed by someone else who cared little for the lives at Fort Hood. If we do nothing to honor her life and dedicate ourselves to taking care of those she loved, then people like the one who did all of this evil, win.

Jeffrey Phelps / The Associated Press
A veteran salutes the casket of slaim Army Sgt. Amy Krueger on Nov. 13 during the visitation for Kureger in Kiel, Wis. Krueger was one of 13 shot at Fort Hood, Texas, last week. Maj. Nidal Hasan faces 13 counts of premeditated murder.

Funerals to be held for 6 Fort Hood victims

By Ryan J. Foley - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Nov 14, 2009 10:50:55 EST

KIEL, Wis. — When Staff Sgt. Amy Krueger joined the Army Reserve after the 2001 terrorist attacks, she vowed to hunt down Osama bin Laden. When her mother said she couldn’t do it alone, the soldier defiantly told her, “Watch me.”

Krueger and several of the other 12 victims of the Fort Hood shooting rampage were set to be mourned at funerals across the country Saturday.

On Friday, hundreds packed into the Kiel High School gymnasium for a visitation for Krueger, 29, who was remembered as a determined, energetic young woman.

“We know what happened, but we don’t know why it happened,” said Geneva Isely, 57. “To give her all the way she did — and on United States soil. Just unbelievable.”

Krueger was set to deploy to Afghanistan for a second time in December and had recently arrived at Fort Hood for training. She had been studying psychology at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and was a mental health specialist who wanted to help soldiers cope with combat stress.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/ap_army_hood_victims_funerals_111409/

Troubled vet journeys back to Vietnam to offer help

Troubled vet journeys back to Vietnam -- to offer help
By Moni Basu, CNN
November 14, 2009 3:31 a.m. EST


STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Veteran who suffered 40 years with nightmares is returning to Vietnam
Kevin Roberts, now 64, will build houses for poor families along the Mekong River
Psychologists who treat trauma say his return could be healing -- or harmful

(CNN) -- He is a former Marine who has lived with battleground nightmares for 40 years and now plans a return to the land that haunts him.

But Kevin Roberts' decision is not fueled by remorse. Nor is it about healing a life defined by 13 stinging months in Vietnam. Rather, late-in-life altruism has led him to volunteer to build houses for poor families residing along Vietnam's Mekong River.

"I wasn't thinking, 'Oh, I blew up half the country and now let me go and build it back," says Roberts, 64, of Pleasantville, New York, a small town 30 minutes north of Manhattan, where he owns a house-painting business.

As for a sense of closure: "I hate that word," he says without hesitation, thinking both about the war and his 13-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, who died in 1995 from a congenital heart problem.

"I was there and did what I did; that's not going to change," he says. "My daughter died and is not coming back. Things like this don't close."

So why, after years of heroin addiction, alcoholism and untreated post-traumatic stress disorder, has Roberts decided to do something good in the land he remembers as bad? And how will it affect him?
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http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/13/vietnam.veteran.returns/index.html