Indiana soldier is first to die of toxic exposure in Iraq

Indiana soldier is first to die of toxic exposure in Iraq


By Daniel Tencer
Monday, December 7th, 2009 -- 12:57 pm
If Lt. Col. Jim Gentry and his doctors were right about the cause of his cancer, the Indiana National Guard officer didn't die for his country -- he died for defense contractor KBR.

Gentry's death from lung cancer last week is being recorded as the US's first fatality from exposure to a cancer-causing toxin in Iraq, according to the Evansville, Indiana, Courier & Press.

In 2003, Gentry commanded a 600-strong force providing security for KBR's refittal of the Qarmat Ali water-pumping plant, which provided water needed for oil extraction. Gentry and others claim that during that time they were exposed to hexavalent chromium, a cancer-causing toxin that the Iraqis who had built the plant had used as anti-corrosive material.

In a lawsuit filed last year, Gentry and 15 other plaintiffs said KBR, at the time a subsidiary of Halliburton, was aware that soldiers and civilian contractors were being exposed to hexavalent chromium months before they told the people working at the site.

Researchers have linked hexavalent chromium to lung cancer and leukemia, as well as a variety of liver and kidney problems. It's the same compound that poisoned residents of Hinkley, California, in a case that was made famous by the movie Erin Brockovich.
read more here
http://rawstory.com/2009/12/soldier-toxic-exposure-iraq/

Bikers Ride Through Brevard County With Toys, Donations

Bikers Ride Through Brevard County With Toys, Donations
Monday, May 18, 2009 2:46:51 PM

Thousands of bikers, many of them dressed as Santa, hit the streets of Brevard County Sunday to once again show their Christmas spirit in the 26th Annual ABATE Motorcycle Toy Run.

Approximately 5,000 motorcycles started off on Merritt Island and drove through the county.

Each bike had at least one toy on their bikes, but most had more.

All of the toys went to needy kids.

People involved said in addition to helping out children, the toy run helps change perceptions about bikers.

"They love it. Everybody asks if I'm really hot in it. They want to know what I've got on underneath. It's just fun. Kids love it. People love it. It's worth the smiles," said biker Rick Skauge.

This was the event's 26th year.

Last year, about 6,000 motorcycles took part in the event, donating $4,000 and several truckloads of toys.

It's the largest ride of its kind in Florida.
Bikers Ride Through Brevard County With Toys

Shinseki Says VA's Home Loan Program a "Continued Success"

Shinseki Says VA's Home Loan Program a "Continued Success"

Veterans More Likely to Avoid Foreclosure with VA-Backed Loan



WASHINGTON (Dec. 7, 2009) - Despite problems in the nation's housing
market, mortgage loans backed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
had a lower foreclosure rate than any other type of home loan in the
industry, as of the end of the last fiscal year.



"The dedication of VA's loan professionals, the support of our partners
in the mortgage industry and most importantly, the hard work and
sacrifice of our Veterans have made this possible," said Secretary of
Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. "VA is making good on its promise to
help Veterans buy homes, and Veterans are achieving their dreams."



Currently, about 1.3 million active home loans were obtained using VA's
Home Loan Guaranty Program. The program makes home ownership more
affordable for Veterans, active-duty members, and some surviving spouses
by protecting lenders from loss if the borrower fails to repay the loan.




More than 90 percent of VA-guaranteed loans are made without a
downpayment. Despite this, VA has the lowest serious delinquency rate
in the industry, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Furthermore, VA's percentage of loans in foreclosure is the lowest of
all measured loan types-lower even than prime loans, which require high
credit scores and a 20 percent downpayment by the borrower.



Much of the program's strength stems from the efforts of VA employees
and loan servicers nationwide, whose primary mission is to help Veterans
stay in their homes, avoid foreclosure and protect their credit lines
from the consequences of a foreclosure, Shinseki said.

Depending on the situation, VA's loan specialists can intervene on a
Veteran's behalf to help pursue home-retention options such as repayment
plans, loan modifications and forbearance. Additionally, under certain
circumstances, VA can refund a loan, which involves purchasing the loan
from the mortgage company and modifying the terms so the Veteran can
afford the new mortgage payment.



Since 1944, when home-loan guarantees were offered under the original GI
Bill, through the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, VA has guaranteed
more than 18.7 million home loans worth $1.04 trillion.



To obtain more information about the VA Home Loan Guaranty Program,
Veterans can call VA at 1-877-827-3702. Information can also be
obtained at http://www.homeloans.va.gov

Marine Corps Vietnam veteran now serving in Iraq

Marine Corps Vietnam veteran now serving in Iraq
December 6, 2009 by Jackson NJ Online
By Lance Cpl. Melissa A. Latty, Combat Logistics Regiment 27 (FWD)



AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq — From the battle at Belleau Wood, where Marines earned the name Devil Dog, to the iconic image of the flag-raising at Iwo Jima, Marine Corps history is embedded in every Marine from their initial training at boot camp and continues to provide inspiration to those who continue to serve. Some veterans of past wars, like Vietnam, are not only holding on to the memories of that time, but are also making new ones while they serve in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The company first sergeant for Transportation Support Company, Combat Logistics Battalion 46, 1st Sgt. Viriato B. Sena, is one of the few Vietnam veterans still left among the ranks of currently serving Marines.

Sena, who joined the Marine Corps in 1973, participated in the evacuation of Vietnam and is now deployed to Iraq during the responsible drawdown of U.S. forces and equipment in Iraq. The military drawdown from Iraq has been noted to be the largest operation of its kind since Vietnam.

In April 1975, Sena, who was attached to Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, participated in the evacuation of Saigon, Vietnam while working as part of a security team aboard the ships USS Midway and USS Enterprise.
read more here
Marine Corps Vietnam veteran now serving in Iraq

Agent Orange in generations and in need of justice

The next generation
Children of male veterans face a tougher fight for help from government

By Tim Jones

Tribune reporter

December 6, 2009


HAUGHTON, La. - Ted Hutches is hobbled by leg-swelling cellulitis, cancer and nerve disorders that have left his hands and feet numb and prevented him from working for the past 30 of his 71 years.

His two adult daughters, Mary Beth Hoffman and Sherrie Hutches, are hampered by the same nerve maladies as well as hip and knee joints that pop out of place, causing each woman to fall down with disturbing frequency. Born without a completely formed left hip, Hoffman has undergone 18 knee surgeries since 1992 and cannot work.

Hutches, who was exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam in 1965, was declared 100 percent disabled by the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs in 2002 and receives compensation.

His daughters get nothing.

"I was told I'd be wasting my time," Hoffman, 41, said of her inquiry about filing a disability claim with Veterans Affairs.

Hutches' daughters represent an ongoing argument over the extent to which serious health problems in the children and grandchildren of veterans can be linked to Vietnam-era defoliants.
read more here
The next generation

PTSD, the change you can believe in

PTSD, the change you can believe in
by
Chaplain Kathie

While you can never return to the way you were before, you can end up coming out of this darkness better than you were before. Sounds impossible? It isn't impossible at all. Traumatic events change all of us.

No one is ever the same after a terrible car accident. We seem to always be on alert while driving after worried about it happening again. When once we were able to enjoy driving, we end up being angry, frustrated with the carelessness of other drivers and driving becomes something we have to do instead of what we want to do. We find excuses to stay home.

We are not the same after someone we love dies. We long for the days when they were still here, remembering what they looked like sitting in their favorite chair, the twinkle in their eye, the sound of their laugh and time we spent with them, We end up wondering who will be next to leave us especially when we've experienced the death of someone we consider "too young" to die.

When we lose everything we have in a fire, tornado, hurricane or lose our home because of a foreclosure, it becomes very hard to ever feel safe again. Our home is supposed to be the one place where we are supposed to feel safe and secure. This isn't supposed to be taken away in the blink of an eye. It is also especially hard when we are robbed and strangers have been walking around our homes, touching our things, taking what they want without regard to family heirlooms of sentimental value over cash value or how hard we had to work for the other things they decided to just take. Every sound we hear from that point on reminds us of the day our home was invaded.

Civilians face all of this in our lives but we manage to dismiss the aftermath of traumatic events when the person needing help is supposed to be facing traumatic events for a living. Firefighters are not supposed to be affected by what they see when they rush into burning homes. They are not supposed to be devastated after finding a child's body even if that child is the same age as one of their own. Police officers are not supposed to be devastated when they find the body of a child someone kidnapped and murdered. We expect them to be able to just do their jobs and get up the next day to do it all again just as we expect all emergency responders to be at their best when we need them.

When it comes the military we expect them to just do their duty and then get over it. What is worse is they expect it of themselves. They want to avoid the fact they are just like the rest of the humans on the planet.

No one is ever the same after traumatic events no matter how well they are trained, conditioned to rise above it and are prepared to face whatever danger comes their way.

A young Marine wondered why he survived when one of his friends did not. All he could see was the image of his friend's body as he stood there looking at it wondering why he was still alive. Why didn't that bomb blow him up instead since his Humvee passed over the area first? All he could remember was the aftermath and then blamed himself because he could not change the picture in his own mind. He could not see the fact he was not able to do anything to prevent it from happening. He was not able to see he did not cause it but the person deciding to put the bomb in the road did cause it.

In the case of innocents being killed the soldier will blame himself when in the chaos of the moment, it was not his intent to kill innocent people. He may have tried everything to prevent it but snap decisions putting the lives of the men he was with forced him to take action. He is left with the memory of what the outcome was, unable to see what happened before that, what was in his mind and what his intent was.

A National Guardsman wonders why his buddy right next to him was killed by a snipers bullet. Why did the sniper take aim at his friend instead of him? His friend had a wife and kids back home. He cannot see there is nothing he could have done to prevent it and he did not cause it.

What comes next after trauma depends entirely how we "see" it all. Our attitude when we remember what was determines how we heal after it or continue to grieve.

We can hang onto the anger. Anger is safe to feel. We do not think of ourselves as weak when our blood boils. We think we are in control as wanting revenge takes over our thoughts. Thinking we can do something about what happened and that will make the pain we feel go away. We want it so badly it is all we can think about. We plot and plan how to protect ourselves from ever feeling close to another human because they may die too. We put up walls around our emotions so that no one can ever become that much a part of our lives ever again thinking we can avoid this pain the next time.

No more friends to die or walk away from us. From now on they are just someone we know. No more people in our lives to love because they only bring us pain. They walk away. They refuse to understand that we are not the same in front of their eyes but are still the same trapped deep inside ourselves. We scream for help to let "us" out from behind the wall but they get angry instead. They tell us to get over it. They tell us they don't deserve the way we are treating them, but they never stop to think we don't deserve to be in the hell we are in, suffering while they want to just find blame. In the process, we in turn, cannot see the pain we are inflicting on them just because they cannot understand what we will not tell them.

Days after a traumatic event, there is some kind of predetermined time limit on what we are allowed to feel. After that, the event is supposed to be filed away in the past and we're just supposed to get on with our lives. Then instead of being a survivor of something pretty horrific, we are "milking" it, wallowing in self-pity or any number of abuses we are accused of. The stack of events in our lives this last one was stacked on top of is not supposed to factor in at all.



Giles Corey, during the Salem Witchcraft trials, had been pressed to death by stones. He asked for more weight to be added so that he would succumb quicker. He was an innocent man. As each stone was added more and more pain shot through his body. The pain was so great, he wanted to end his agony by the very same thing killing him. Pain from being piled on top of pain caused him to want to just get it over with. He saw it as his only way out of pain in this life. This is what some of our veterans go through. No matter where they turn, pain is added to pain, relief is out of their reach and hope evaporates.

In combat, these events can be so frequent they become normal as the mind tries to make sense out of all of it. Imagine being in a car accident every time you drive. While we know the risk of getting behind the wheel, getting into an accident is not something we experience every time. The accident is the exception to the "normal" day even though it is a possibility everyday.

For the troops, especially in Iraq during some of the worst times, their "normal" was facing death with each breath. It became normal to drive down a road and have an IED blow up. It became normal to be in Afghanistan on an outpost and be attacked by the Taliban. It became normal to walk into a village in Vietnam and have kids come up to you with one hand reaching out for candy while in the other they had a grenade to give you. This "combat normal" changed them.

At the same time they thought they would return back home to pick up the lives they had before, they do not want to face anything that had to do with where they were. If they don't think about it, it will go away and they can go back to the civilian normal, safe and sound at home. But the road they drive on is not safe. The driver in the car behind them is not some young kid driving too damn fast. The trash bag on the sidewalk is not just stuff someone is throwing out. It is all out of get them. Anger is fed. Trust vanishes. People they thought they could trust walk away while they hold it all in as if telling anyone would make them want to leave. They cannot understand not telling them is already making them leave.

Giles Corey is what they become when they do not seek help to heal and most of the time they do not seek it because everyone around them thinks they are guilty of some kind of witchery. After all, they are acting like they are possessed by some kind of evil changing into uncaring, self centered jerks. No one can see pain because all they see is anger coming out.

The aftermath of combat trauma is much like the aftermath of civilian trauma. Survivors walk away wondering. Why did "I survive" but someone else didn't? Even if they come to terms with that part of the event, they end up wondering where God was. Their entire lifetime of beliefs are on trail as they question everything they thought they could trust. If the God they knew as good really was good then why did He let it happen? If doing the right things for the right reasons were what God wanted, then why were they suffering?

All of this comes when they do not understand the changes within them. They believe they deserve to suffer even though they are supposed to know there is nothing they cannot be forgiven for. They believe no one will love them if they let their deepest darkest secrets out not remembering all the times in their lives when the people they loved the most were able to forgive them for everything else they did and still loved them no matter what. They believe its easier to just push them away and less painful with no one in their lives.

When they understand they are human and changed by all events in their lives, they expect to be able to heal and overcome. They rationalize the fact if they had a broken leg they would need something to lean on to walk, so leaning on someone to help them heal inside is not that unusual nor does that make them weaker. It just means they are stronger than they would be on their own and when they heal, they will help someone else walk.


It was not sent to them by God as punishment nor was it what has been often said after traumatic events "God only gives us what we can handle." God doesn't do it to us but He does give us what we need to cope with it and if we are willing, will also make us stronger. Considering the second we are born is traumatic, pushed from the safety of our mother's body, the rest of life is a series of overcoming trauma. We can come out on the other side of darkness more compassionate, more patient, more loving and yes, even more optimistic. Just as a car accident can make us more cautious driving and a better driver, we are not the same as we were before, but better.

After the death of someone we love, we can be more loving to the rest of our family treating them better than before. After we lose every possession we have, we realize that things can be replaced but the friends we have standing by our side, helping to take care of us when we need them have no price tags. Instead of wondering why you survived, you can begin to wonder what you'll do with the time you have left on this earth and stop asking why.

A very wise Chaplain turned the why asked by a hurting soul "If God Himself came and told you why it happened, would it change anything?" We cannot answer why a two year old child will die and someone else will live to over 100. Why someone dies of cancer but someone else getting the same treatment makes a full recovery. Honestly, none of us would really want to know the exact second we will die or why it will not be one second more or less. We certainly wouldn't want to know when someone we love will die either no matter how many TV shows they come up with. As for the movie 2012, if that ends up making us think more about what we do with the time we have on this earth, then that would be a good thing only if we do things for others instead of to them.

If we take our survival as more time to live, then we can think about what we can do with that time for the sake of others. With walls built to protect our emotions, good feelings were prevented from getting in. We can take that wall down brick by brick as trust returns. With nightmares we can learn to see past that image and look into what was before it then find peace with it. With flashbacks, they can lose strength as we understand the strength they have over us comes from anniversary dates and other remembrances trapped in our subconscious. We cannot change what was but we can change what is so that what will be can be better. PTSD does not have to be the end of you because you survived but can be a new beginning for a better you.

Marines thinking outside of the box on PTSD, Thank God!

When you think that the Marines are supposed to be of a different breed of human, this is an amazing thing! The leadership has finally come to terms with just how human Marines are. Are they tough? Yes. Are they physically tough? Yes. Are they mentally conditioned to do what is asked of them? Yes. What they cannot be trained for is to become machines. They are thinking, feeling, loving humans and nothing can change that. So now the Marines are seeing them as humans much is asked of, but still only human.

Marines are not supposed to grieve.
Marines are supposed to get over it.


No matter what they face, these thoughts have been drilled into their brains. How would these thoughts translate into daily civilian life? Are they supposed to just get over it when someone in their personal life dies? Are they allowed to grieve? When we have natural disasters here and some of their family members are in danger, are they allowed to worry about them? Car accidents happen all the time. Are they allowed to face the same emotional crisis when they are over there and their family member is here? These things the Marines managed to understand. When it is about their military family, the brotherhood of the Marines, they cannot suddenly shut off being human.

Civilians get crisis teams rushing in to help them recover from traumatic events. Thank God the Marines are finally doing the same thing and treating them like humans instead of machines.

Mental health teams embedding to fight stress

By Trista Talton - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Dec 5, 2009 8:56:23 EST

The Marine Corps is sending more mental health teams to the front lines in hopes of better treating an emotionally strained force.

Operational Stress Control and Readiness, or OSCAR, teams will soon be assembled at the battalion and company level, putting mental health support services much closer to combat troops, according to Marine Administrative message 667/09, signed Nov. 23.

These teams include mental health professionals such as Navy psychiatrists and corpsmen trained as psychiatry technicians. They were requested by operational commanders and have served previously as part of a pilot program to train and deploy mental health professionals with Marine regiments and groups. Embedding mental health support down to the company level will make it easier for Marines, especially those leery of seeking help, to get the services they may need, officials said.

Through prevention, early identification and intervention with stress-related problems, OSCAR teams will help “keep Marines and sailors in the fight,” according to the message.

The program creates full-time billets within Marine divisions and infantry regiments, positions that will be filled by psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, mental health clinical nurse practitioners and psychiatric technician corpsmen on loan from naval hospitals.

The teams also will include battalion and company personnel, such as chaplains.

They’ll work with Marines on identifying combat stress and developing techniques to relieve it.
read more here
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/12/marines_oscar_120509w/

AMVETS launches new stolen valor Web site

AMVETS launches new stolen valor Web site

By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Dec 4, 2009 18:30:38 EST

A leading veterans group has launched a special Web site aimed at raising awareness about the growing number of false claims of military service, medals and awards, and helping the general public report such claims to authorities and the media.

“We’ve seen the news stories, and we have a lot of anecdotal evidence — people calling us and asking us about the issue,” said Jay Agg, national communications director for AMVETS. “ ‘What is it? How do I report it? What are the punishments? What constitutes a violation of the Stolen Valor Act?’ That is really … the genesis of this project.”

“Veterans have a special place in American society,” said Duane Miskulin, AMVETS national commander. “The brave men and women who answered our nation’s call to serve are revered for their tremendous self-sacrifice and courage in the face of daunting odds. Stolen valor is a serious offense — one that cuts into the core of what it means to be a veteran.”

Miskulin said the 2005 Stolen Valor Act, which makes even false claims of an undeserved medal a federal misdemeanor punishable by up to year in prison and a $100,000 fine, has not stemmed what he said is a rise, even in recent months, of such false claims.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/military_stolen_valor_amvets_120409w/

Specter trying to forestall closings of five veterans centers

Specter trying to forestall closings of five veterans centers
Saturday, December 05, 2009
By Jerome L. Sherman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter is trying to find federal funding for five Pennsylvania veterans outreach centers that will run out of money by Dec. 31.

He'll have to act fast. At least one center, in Erie, has already closed. And the remaining centers -- in Harrisburg, Greensburg, Boyertown and West Pittston -- are no longer seeing clients. The state Department of Labor and Industry has provided just enough money to complete the closure process.

"If he can get the money to keep it open, I will probably stay on," James Krobath, an operations specialist in the Harrisburg center, said of Mr. Specter's efforts. "It would be pretty difficult at this point to recover. We're in the closeout mode."

Budget cuts have pushed state government to shutter the facilities, which help veterans with a range of services, from seeking pension benefits to obtaining medals. They have a strong reach in rural areas.
go here for more
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09339/1018665-454.stm

Report slams flaws in DoD sex assault program

Report slams flaws in DoD sex assault program

By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Dec 5, 2009 8:22:44 EST

The Pentagon office charged with oversight of military sexual assault prevention and response policy is not doing an effective job — and responsibility should be placed, at least temporarily, directly in the hands of the deputy secretary of defense, a task force has recommended.

The report by the Defense Department’s Task Force on Sexual Assault in the Military Services, based on 15 months of work and interviews with more than 3,500 people at 60 locations around the world, said the department’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office is not providing policy or oversight for key responsibilities, or interacting with military officials in the field who are accountable on this issue.

Defense officials should revamp the office and provide the expertise necessary to lead and oversee its primary missions of sexual assault prevention, response, training and accountability, the task force said.
read more here
Report slams flaws in DoD sex assault program

Veterans Assistance Program Slated to Close

This is how I close all of my emails.

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington

This is what every governor needs to remember when they think about what programs to cut and what to keep. Governors come and go, just as congressmen and senators, but a veteran is a veteran until they day they die. They are not some kind of charity to put disposable income into nor should they ever be some kind of easy spending cut to hit. These are our veterans and we do a lousy job of proving we finally learned what Washington knew when this nation was first begun. If they are thinking let someone else take care of the veterans, then they should also feel the same way when men and women are asked to step up to serve in the military, yet hear, let someone else do it from them.

Veterans Assistance Program Slated to Close
12/04/09 6:16 pm
reporter: Ann Mercogliano
producer: Bryan Peach

Harrisburg, Pa. - A state program designed to help veterans is on the chopping block. The Governor's Veterans Outreach and Assistance Center in Harrisburg is one five centers that have been cut from the state budget.

Veterans gathered at Fort Indiantown Gap Friday to protest the closure of all five Governor's Veterans Outreach and Assistance Centers located across the state. Veterans said the decision by the state to cut funding to these offices is unpatriotic and simply unacceptable.

"I think it's outrageous," Veteran Jerry Polonsky said, "This to me sounds like a backroom deal."

The Veteran's Outreach and Assistance Center in Harrisburg helps Vets and their surviving spouses. The center said it assists with disability claims, pension claims and medical applications.

According to the office's director, money stopped flowing back in June which means salaries haven't been paid.

The director said he's been working since then for free to help Vets process claims. Veterans said it will be the younger generation hit the hardest by the closures.

"These young guys coming back. It's going to hit them harder than what it did before," Veteran Fred Tregaskes said.
read more here
http://www.whtm.com/news/stories/1209/684419.html

Marine imposter suspect to plead guilty

Marine imposter suspect to plead guilty

10:15 PM PST on Friday, December 4, 2009

By JOHN ASBURY
The Press-Enterprise

A Palm Springs man has agreed to plead guilty to one federal charge of the unauthorized wearing of military medals he did not earn to impress his classmates at a high school reunion.

Steven Burton, 39, is scheduled to enter his plea Dec. 14 in U.S. Federal Court in Riverside, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Akrotirianakis.

Burton pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge Nov. 12, a day after the charge was filed on Veterans Day. He is free on $10,000 bond.

FBI agents and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service began investigating Burton when he appeared at a high school reunion dressed as a lieutenant colonel. At the reunion in the Bay-area community of Martinez, Burton wore several medals, including the Purple Heart and the Navy Cross, the highest medal awarded by the U.S. Navy or Marine Corps.

A Naval commander attending the reunion took a picture that included Burton and submitted it to investigators. Authorities discovered Burton had posted his photo on blogs claiming that he served in Iraq and Afghanistan, though he never served in any branch of the military.
read more here
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_medals05.42643ef.html

UC SanDiego gets $60 million for PTSD and TBI

If they are trying to "prevent" PTSD, then this has already been done as much as it can be. Ever read about a work place shooting? Ever read about floods? Hurricanes? Tornadoes? Ever read about when police officers have to shoot someone or one of their own falls in the line of duty? If you have then you are already seeing what mental health experts have been doing to prevent PTSD. There are crisis teams rushing out to help so that people can talk to someone they know won't judge them or tell them to get over it. They bring with them the decency of mankind, thus offering hope of tomorrow. Isn't that what we as humans all need after traumatic events we face?

When you see the worst another human has to offer, you need someone there offering their best. When you see what mother nature can do that is catastrophic, you need someone there to help you see that nature is also still magnificent at times. When you survive what others did not, you need someone there to help you see that the survival guilt you feel is based on events that were out of your control.

From coast to coast there are crisis teams rushing into events others run from. They work to help survivors as wells the responders and they do this because the sooner the events are addressed, the less of a chance they have to take control.

When it comes to the military, this is not done all the time. It's only done some of the time. Sometimes it is done well but too often provided by people without the slightest clue what PTSD is or what to say. Chaplains are deployed with the troops but too many have no idea what PTSD is. Imagine that! We expect psychologists and psychiatrists to be experts on PTSD since that is the number one cause of mental health crisis in the military, especially when the psychological testing is done when they enlist and mental health conditions are supposed to be discovered ahead of time, this leaves PTSD as the condition they should all be experts on. We've heard great answers from some in the military but we've also heard a boat load of crap as well depending on who is doing the talking.

So far we've heard very little indicating the military is coming close to understanding what PTSD is or why it singles out some individuals over others. This leaves us to wonder how it is they are looking to prevent that which they do not understand.

When veterans contact me for help, I'm able to get further with a few emails or phone conversations than years of therapy. I am not a psychologist or a psychiatrist. I know they are needed because they can diagnosis as well as medicate when needed. I am not a member of the clergy. I know they are needed because they can do what I cannot. The problem is that these "professionals" are not focused solely on the veteran of combat. They cannot track reports or programs across the globe. They cannot spend hours upon hours talking to the veterans around the country. They see only what is in front of them.

They know what they are told. If the VA tells them they have enough mental health workers, they see new patients walking the halls, that is what they see. They do not see the veterans turned away because there are not enough people to care for all of them. If they hear of a clinic opening, they assume the problem will be fixed soon but they don't see the next town over with nothing.

We read about new groups starting out but we don't know who is starting them, what they know, what their agenda really is, what they are basing their treatments on or who is giving them advice. We just assume they are doing more good than harm.

If they really want to treat PTSD, first they have to know what it is and if they want to prevent it, they have to know what is being done in the rest of the country in civilian life. Most of what we see happening in response to traumatic events in our daily lives has come because of the Vietnam veterans pushing to have PTSD treated. It would be a wonderful day if the VA and the DOD took their clues from there and knew what was already known.

University Studies Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury

Recently, the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) School of Medicine received a $60 million dollar grant for a five-year study to determine better prevention and treatment methods of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) among American victims and war veterans/soldiers.


The study, which is funded by the Department of Defense Psychological Health/Traumatic Brain Injury Research Program (DoD PH/TBI), will test new therapies to “prevent illness and enhance recovery in individuals at risk for adverse psychological, emotional and cognitive outcomes” caused by TBI and PTSD, according to UC news release.
read more here
http://sandiego10.cityspur.com/2009/12/03/university-studies-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-and-traumatic-brain-injury/

Colorado Mansion may become reintergration center

McAfee's mansion may become soldiers' reintegration center

By Brittney Hopper
Thursday, December 03, 2009 at 6:16 p.m.

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO -- A mansion once owned by John McAfee in Woodland Park is being considered as a place where soldiers can go to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Pikes Peak Behavioral Health Group, along with the military, are working together to try and make the mansion a place soldiers can call home before going home.

Mark Waddell was an area commander in Iraq in 2003; he suffered from PTSD and traumatic brain injury (TBI).
read more here
http://www.coloradoconnection.com/news/story.aspx?id=385615

24-hour International Event to Showcase Benefits of Virtual Environments for PTSD Survivors

24-hour International Event to Showcase Benefits of Virtual Environments for PTSD Survivors


why Second Life?





Within Second Life, Fearless Nation offers:



Spirit Lodge (landing point): A library on PTSD subjects, and meeting space.

Ganesh Center: An art gallery and creative space to make music, art, or writing.

Mocean Station: A space for avatar physicality: Yoga, dance, tai chi, meditation, and other bodywork.

Thermal Pools: Avatar physicality and education about detoxification and bodywork for substance abuse, relaxation, stress reduction, mastery over the fear response, reintroduction to touch by others.

Nidra House: Yoga nidra spaces. Yoga Nidra is a listening form of yogic sleep that research has shown reduces anxiety, promotes better physical/mental health, and control over the fear response.

The Borealis Center for community events and classes.

Blackheart Gardens for remembrance and honor.

Ventura Beach: Education and avatar interaction with companion animals and interaction with psychiatric service dogs, horses, dolphins, and other mammals.

Billabong Beach: Surfing, swimming, and hanging out places to relax and interact.





The ‘HEALING WORLDS’ Approach to PTSD Recovery in SL

This model uses the SL VRE (Virtual Reality Environment) to give traumatized individuals experiences in social interaction and avatar activities that promote trust, skill mastery, and health through:



Creation of a flexible “physical” presence (the avatar)

Control over environment (can build, create own space, choose interactions

Education bout PTSD (knowledge is power)

Trying activities that diminish fear and anxiety such as:

Talking openly in a safe space about traumatic experiences

Progressive muscle relaxation (avatar yoga, movement, dance)

Performance (music, singing, speaking, poetry, storytelling, dance, showing art, speech-making, etc.)

Creative expression (music, art, poetry, clothing, etc.)

Social interaction with others (rebuilding social skills)

Supporting other PTSDers

Receiving support from other PTSDers

Advocating for PTSD awareness and treatment

Experimenting with new ways to approach problems, re-conceive the perception of traumatic experiences.
http://www.fearless-nation.org/Fearless-in-Second-Life.html
PTSD Awareness Event Coming to Second Life December 19

30,000 more troops, 10,000 more will wait for PTSD help

The time acknowledged rate of PTSD is one out of three. This applies to traumatic events, since it is the only way to be claimed by PTSD. It literally means after trauma. Trauma as many of you know is Greek for wound. If President Obama carries through with sending 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan, it is very likely this will result in 10,000 more PTSD wounded, possibly more considering many have been on multiple deployments. The Army study several years ago found redeployments increase the risk of PTSD by 50%.

While it would take a military genius to know if this is the right thing or not, you'd still have to find a way to get them to agree this is the best plan. As the saying goes, "this is above my pay grade" because there is no way possible I would know what the right thing to do is. Truthfully, you'd have to agree even though you have your own opinion, it would be very difficult to prove you had all the answers. So what do we do about it? We keep asking questions to learn more. That's what thoughtful people do. We need to be wondering if the rest of the country is asking any questions at all.

Top on the list should be where the mental health help will come from? The Obama Administration is trying to play catch up to nine years worth of PTSD claims building up while there was not enough being done. As they try to play catch up, more and more are seeking help. This is a good thing because the message is finally getting thru to them. It is also a bad thing because there have not been enough psychologists or psychiatrists and even less trained on PTSD. What is waiting over the horizon and bearing down on every state in this country is a massive tsunami but the warning system has been unplugged.

National Guards and Reservists have been returning in droves to their oblivious communities and no jobs adding to the stress. Families with little understanding of what PTSD are unprepared for the sledgehammer waiting to break their family apart. As most of us know, none of this has to happen it turns out the military and the VA think they are just doing fine, yet they forget the suicide and attempted suicide rate goes up every year, clearly proving they haven't had a clue what to do.

So as this build up is a means to an end, what is the end to the waiting line of veterans doing the work left to wait in line for help?

12/02/09 NYTimes: Obama Adds Troops, but Maps Exit Plan
President Obama announced Tuesday that he would speed 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in coming months, but he vowed to start bringing American forces home in the middle of 2011, saying the United States could not afford and should not have to shoulder an open-ended commitment.http://www.icasualties.org/OEF/index.aspx

There will be many more seeking help among the older veterans and the newer generation once able to get by with what came home with them. Mild PTSD turns ugly when not treated and too many of them will come to terms with what they cannot get over on their own.

WWII Vet and Medal of Honor not enough to fly flag his way

Medal of Honor recipient draws support in fight for flagpole
By Bill Mckelway
Published: December 3, 2009
RICHMOND, Va. -- A flood of help is building for an embattled Medal of Honor winner in Henrico County who was ordered this week to remove a flagpole from his yard by his community's homeowners association.

From the halls of Congress to the 90-year-old colonel's old infantry unit, a local law firm and scores of service members, help is making its way to Col. Van T. Barfoot.

"He said he was outraged and wanted to help," Barfoot's daughter said yesterday, speaking of U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., who learned of Barfoot's plight on TimesDispatch.com yesterday.

In a five-paragraph letter that he received Tuesday, Barfoot was ordered to remove the flagpole from his yard in the Sussex Square community in far western Henrico County. The decorated veteran of three wars raises the American flag every morning on the pole, then lowers and folds the flag at dusk in a three-corner military fashion.
read more here
Medal of Honor recipient draws support in fight for flagpole


Stars and stripes
Col. Van T. Barfoot, the 90-year-old Medal of Honor recipient who refuses to remove his flagpole from his property, speaks out on what the flag means to him.

The man had a highway named after him but can't fly a flag his way at this stage of his life. What's it going to hurt? How many other Medal of Honor heroes will they have to deal with after this if they let this one fly his flag anyway he wants?

Col. Van T. Barfoot Memorial Highway Dedication
Host: Central District Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall
Type: Other - Ceremony
Network: Global
Date: Friday, October 9, 2009
Time: 11:00am - 12:00pm
Location: The Big Horn Restaurant
Street: Highway 16 East
City/Town: Carthage, MS
Please join us for the Col. Van T. Barfoot Medal of Honor Memorial Highway Dedication Ceremony at the Big Horn Restaurant in Carthage, MS.

We will be honoring an American Hero, Col. Van T. Barfoot (Ret.), and dedicating the section of Hwy 16 from MS 35 to the Neshoba County line.

A dutch treat lunch will follow the ceremony.


MEDAL OF HONOR CITATION:

BARFOOT, VAN T. Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, 157th Infantry, 45th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Carano, Italy, 23 May 1944. Entered service at: Carthage, Miss. Birth: Edinburg, Miss. G.O. No.: 79, 4 October 1944.
Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty on 23 May 1944, near Carano, Italy. With his platoon heavily engaged during an assault against forces well entrenched on commanding ground, 2d Lt. Barfoot (then Tech. Sgt.) moved off alone upon the enemy left flank. He crawled to the proximity of 1 machine gun nest and made a direct hit on it with a hand grenade, killing 2 and wounding 3 Germans. He continued along the German defense line to another machine gun emplacement, and with his tommy gun killed 2 and captured 3 soldiers. Members of another enemy machine gun crew then abandoned their position and gave themselves up to Sgt. Barfoot. Leaving the prisoners for his support squad to pick up, he proceeded to mop up positions in the immediate area, capturing more prisoners and bringing his total count to 17. Later that day, after he had reorganized his men and consolidated the newly captured ground, the enemy launched a fierce armored counterattack directly at his platoon positions. Securing a bazooka, Sgt. Barfoot took up an exposed position directly in front of 3 advancing Mark VI tanks. From a distance of 75 yards his first shot destroyed the track of the leading tank, effectively disabling it, while the other 2 changed direction toward the flank. As the crew of the disabled tank dismounted, Sgt. Barfoot killed 3 of them with his tommy gun. He continued onward into enemy terrain and destroyed a recently abandoned German fieldpiece with a demolition charge placed in the breech. While returning to his platoon position, Sgt. Barfoot, though greatly fatigued by his Herculean efforts, assisted 2 of his seriously wounded men 1,700 yards to a position of safety. Sgt. Barfoot’s extraordinary heroism, demonstration of magnificent valor and aggressive determination in the face of pointblank fire are a perpetual inspiration to his fellow soldiers.
go here for more
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=164272616677&index=1

PTSD on Trail:Wife says Iraq war changed soldier accused in slayings

Wife: Iraq war changed soldier accused in slayings

By MARY ESCH


The Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y. — Relatives say a Fort Drum soldier accused of stabbing his two Army buddies to death told them he saw his best friend "blown to pieces" in Iraq and came back a changed man: violent, sleepless, edgy and plagued by flashbacks.


Spc. Joshua Hunter, a military policeman, was expected to be arraigned on second-degree murder charges Friday morning, three days after the bodies of Waide James, 20, and Diego Valbuena, 23, were found in their apartment just outside Fort Drum, about 140 miles northwest of Albany. Hunter and the two victims served in Iraq at the same time in the same battalion.

They all were based at the wind-swept Army post near the Canadian border, home of the much-deployed 10th Mountain Division, and shared an off-base apartment.

Hunter's wife, Emily Hunter, told The Associated Press in a phone interview that her husband was outgoing before he went to war, but when he returned stateside, he was preoccupied by images of his friend being blown up.
read more here
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/wife-iraq-war-changed-224253.html

Fort Hood suspect charged with attempted murder

Fort Hood suspect charged with attempted murder

By Angela K. Brown - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Dec 3, 2009 8:09:40 EST

FORT WORTH, Texas — The Army has charged the Fort Hood shooting suspect with 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.

These charges are added to the 13 premeditated murder charges filed against Maj. Nidal Hasan in the wake of the Nov. 5 shooting massacre at Fort Hood.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/ap_hood_suspect_charged/

Hearing held for Fort Drum soldier in stabbings

Hearing held for Drum soldier in stabbings

The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Dec 3, 2009 12:02:35 EST

PORTSMOUTH, Ohio — A Fort Drum soldier accused of fatally stabbing two fellow servicemen has been arraigned on fugitive from justice charges in Ohio and has agreed to return to New York to face murder charges.

A court official says bond was set at $1 million Thursday for 20-year-old Joshua Hunter in Portsmouth Municipal Court in southern Ohio.

Hunter was arrested at a nearby hotel early Wednesday. He is wanted in New York on two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of 20-year-old Waide James and 23-year-old Diego Valbuena. Their bodies were found Tuesday in an apartment complex housing mostly military families near Fort Drum.


http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/ap_army_drum_fatal_stabbings_120209w/

Obama Administration Struggling to Tackle Mental Health Crisis

Obama Administration Struggling to Tackle Mental Health Crisis Plaguing Military
Tuesday 01 December 2009

by: Jason Leopold and Mary Susan Littlepage, t r u t h o u t Investigative Report
In May 2008, during a campaign stop in Charleston, West Virginia, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama gave a passionate speech about the inadequate care war veterans had received, particularly those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, under the Bush administration's tenure in office.
Without identifying him by name, Obama cited the case of Grover Cleveland Chapman, a World War II veteran from Greenville, South Carolina, who had been repeatedly denied PTSD benefits by the Department of Veterans Affairs. After his final appeal for treatment was turned down in April 2008, Chapman took a cab to his local VA clinic, put a loaded Smith & Wesson revolver to his temple and pulled the trigger. He was 89 years old.
"How can we let this happen? How is that acceptable in the United States of America? The answer is, it's not. It's an outrage," Obama said at the time. "And it's a betrayal - a betrayal - of the ideals that we ask our troops to risk their lives for. ...
"We have to understand that for far too many troops and their families, the war doesn't end when they come home. Just the other day our own government's top psychiatric researcher said that because of inadequate mental health care, the number of suicides among veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan may actually exceed the number of combat deaths. Think about that. Think about how only half of the returning soldiers with PTSD receive the treatment they need. Think of how many we turn away - of how many we let fall through the cracks. We have to do better than this."
Although Obama has taken steps to overhaul the VA - he nominated retired Army Gen. Eric Shinseki as secretary of Veterans Affairs and Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran whose combat wounds cost her both of her legs, as assistant secretary of public and intergovernmental affairs - he still hasn't nominated an assistant and deputy assistant secretary of defense for health affairs to tackle some of the lingering mental health issues plaguing the military.
read more here
http://www.truthout.org/1202095

VA To Survey Veteran Households

VA To Survey Veteran Households

WASHINGTON (Dec. 3, 2009) - Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K.
Shinseki announced the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has launched
a national survey of Veterans, active duty service members, activated
National Guard and reserve members, and family members and survivors to
learn if they are aware of VA services.



"By hearing directly from Veterans and their family members, we gain
valuable information to help us serve them better. We hope those who
receive the survey will respond to it," Secretary Shinseki said.



In addition to assessing awareness levels, the National Survey of
Veterans will collect important health care, benefits, employment, and
demographic information that VA will use to inform policy decisions and
improve benefits. Recognizing a broader client base than just Veterans,
this is the first time VA has included others, such as Veteran family
members, in its survey population.



VA is mailing out survey "screeners" to more than 130,000 households to
identify potential survey participants. The screener asks if anyone in
the household is a member of one of the identified survey groups -
Veterans, family members and survivors, active duty, Guard or Reserve
members. Eligible survey participants then may be requested to
participate in a full-length survey.



Participants will be able to select a preferred survey method: through
U.S. mail, telephone or a password-protected Internet address. VA
expects approximately 10,000 Veterans to complete the full-length
survey.



This is the sixth VA National Survey of Veterans since 1978. The
information collected will help VA in its efforts to design and conduct
outreach to Veterans. In addition, it will provide a clearer picture of
the Veteran population's characteristics to help evaluate existing
programs and policies and measure their impact.



The data collection is expected to be finished by the end of February
and the final report released by December 2010.

Decorated WWII Veteran Remains Found in Dump

Decorated Vet's Remains Found in Dump
December 02, 2009
Tampa Tribune

TAMPA, Fla. -- Staff Sgt. Delbert E. Hahn survived the invasion of Normandy. He was a two-time Purple Heart recipient, including one for his actions in the days immediately following D-Day.

But when it came to a final resting place, the war hero wasn't treated with honor or respect.

Hahn's cremated remains -- along with those of his wife and a third unidentified person -- were found in a pile of trash dumped behind a vacant college on Busch Boulevard.

"I kind of decided that he shouldn't be out there in the trash," said Mike Colt, 19, who found the three urns. "Really nobody should. For somebody to do that to a World War II vet is kind of ridiculous."

Hahn was a five-time Bronze Star recipient, including one for valor in the Normandy invasion, police say.

It wasn't immediately clear when he died, although Colt said he believes paperwork found along with the urns indicated Hahn retired in the 1960s and died in the early 1980s.

A newspaper clip found in the trash says he received a Bronze Star and Purple Heart for "exemplary conduct in ground combat" while serving in the 26th Infantry Regiment in Europe in 1944, Tampa police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said.

Hahn's wife, Barbara, died Aug. 1, 2003. She was cremated Aug. 12, 2003, at Southeastern Crematories in Clearwater. A Southeastern funeral director said Tuesday that Barbara Hahn's paperwork wasn't immediately available.

The urns and paperwork were found behind Remington College, 2410 E. Busch Blvd., an area used for illegal dumping. Bills found there show the Hahns had lived in Zephyrhills.

Police say a Department of Veterans Affairs liaison determined the Hahns had no next of kin. VA officials said they were arranging with a Tampa funeral home to have the remains transported to Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell.
go here for more
Decorated Vets Remains Found in Dump

My dying dog and breaking heart

These have been very hard days for me and my family. Our Golden Retriever Brandon is at the end of his life. Tomorrow we have to have him put to sleep because after almost 14 years on this earth, his body is just too tired to go on. Up until about 6 months ago, he was very healthy and happy, but we could see he was deteriorating soon after an illness weakened him. He is the reason I have not been posting very much. I've been playing nurse 24/7. Selfishly, we want him to stay with us but knowing he is suffering, my heart is breaking.

When you talk to people they are either very understanding because they love their own pets or they are very cruel passing off the loss as if it is nothing to even spend time talking about. They fail to understand for most pet families, they are part of the family. When they are young, we teach them how to do everything, how to use the outdoors or a cat box instead of how to us a toilet. We make sure the house is pet safe instead of baby proof, removing anything that can hurt them, at the same time trying to make sure they can't destroy things in the house. We take them for check-ups and shots, buy them food we think will make them happy as well as healthy. We make sure we are up at a certain time to let them out so they can "do their business" walk them, feed them at the same time and end the day the same way we woke up, with them on our minds.

They give us unconditional love. They don't care if we brushed our hair but love it when we brush their's. When we are treated like crap by other people, they are there to lick our tears away. They don't care if we have money as long as their favorite toy that's falling apart has not been tossed out without being replaced. They don't care about anything that is not really important but care deeply for their family.

The first time I saw Brandon, he was in a pet store window with a Yellow Lab. He stood up on his hind legs and his front paws spread out walking toward the Yellow Lab like Frankenstein and pounced on the Lab without hurting him. Brandon ended up getting decked by the Lab. I fell in love. Our daughter wanted a Golden like the one she saw on Punkie Brewster. After seeing him, I returned to the pet store, paid cash for most of the cost but had to finance part of the price. I walked around the store with Brandon in my arms, dropping him more times than I can remember because even at about two months old, he was a huge Golden. I brought him home in my arms. From that day on, I have never once been able to repay him for the love he gave to all of us.

Gentle Giant is what my neighbors back home called him. We used to take a walk in the woods where he could run free. He knew as soon as we reached the gate, his leash came off and he was free. Brandon was obedient. As soon as I called him, he'd run right back. Kids loved him even with his size and they would wait patiently until he sat so they could hug him. Naturally, he'd be all excited. He even kissed a horse in the woods as I talked to the owner.

The only problem with the woods was that Golden's love water. There was a reservoir in the woods supplying drinking water and the city put a $50.00 fine on any wet dog. With my luck and taking him there everyday, I knew he'd end up costing me that fine everyday, so I trained him to stay out of the water. It worked a bit too well.

One time we went on vacation and he went to stay with a tech from the veterinarian's office. She had two dogs and took them to a pond near where she lived. When I called to check on Brandon, she was angry. She couldn't understand why a Golden would be crying by the edge of the water refusing to go in. Then she couldn't believe a dog would be trained so well that he would obey without me there.

When we moved to Florida, we couldn't get him to go into the pool. We kept trying so that he knew it would be ok, but even though I told him he could, he just wouldn't do it. That is until one day, I was floating around the pool and went to the side. He put his two front paws on my as his back legs ended up pushing him. That's how he ended up on top of me in this picture. It's probably the only day he was in the pool in five years except one time when he fell in.


I can remember almost every day like this with him in our home, never far from my thoughts. Most times when I was working on the computer, he'd be right behind me on the office floor. As soon as I signed off of AOL, he'd hear good-bye, then he'd get up and leave knowing soon I would follow him.

I've cried more times than I can remember on his shoulders when things got too hard. Now I'm crying because things have gotten too hard for him. I brought him home in my arms and tomorrow I'll take him for the last time in my arms even though he's close to 90 pounds even as age has worn him down.

Please understand that while I haven't been focused on the PTSD work online, I have still been working, but very limited. Brandon needs me now to comfort him. Tomorrow will be very hard but I'll be back working online as soon as I can. If you have a pet or lost a pet, don't let anyone tell you they are not important because no one can tell you what lives in your own heart.

PTSD on trial, veteran receives acquittal

PTSD cited in vet’s murder acquittal
Kim Murphy Los Angeles Times
JOHN DAY, Ore. – When Jessie Bratcher’s fiancee told him the baby might not be his, that she had been raped two months earlier, he went quiet.

The former Oregon National Guardsman hung his head for the longest time. Then he went into the next room, put the barrel of an AK-47 in his mouth and took it out again.

He told Celena Davis not to expect to get any sleep that night. He walked up to her with a pair of scissors and slowly cut off her hair.

Two mornings later, they drove to the hardware store. While Davis waited in the truck, Bratcher went in and bought a gun. He came out, loaded it and asked: Do we go to the police? Or go find the guy? “Police,” Davis said.

Except that it was a Saturday, and the main door to the station was locked. Bratcher and Davis didn’t know there was an emergency door on the side of the building.

So they headed for Jose Ceja Medina’s trailer. At first Medina, standing on his porch in running shorts, denied knowing Davis. Then he said they’d had sex, but that he hadn’t raped her, and he offered to take care of the baby.
read more here
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/nov/29/ptsd-cited-in-vets-murder-acquittal/

4 police officers killed in coffee shop ambush

4 police shot dead in coffee shop
November 29, 2009 2:21 p.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Police are looking for one man and possibly a second person in the attack
$10,000 reward offered for information leading to arrest, police spokesman says
Police were in coffee shop before the start of their shifts
Law enforcement official describes fatal shootings as an ambush

Lakewood, Washington (CNN) -- Four police officers were fatally shot Sunday in what police said was an ambush in a coffee shop near Tacoma, Washington.

The officers were sitting in the coffee shop in Lakewood, Washington, before the start of their shifts, reading on their computers, when the shooting occurred, said Sheriff's Department spokesman Ed Troyer. He told reporters that authorities believe the officers were meeting and going over cases or doing paperwork.

"This was a targeted, selected ambush," Troyer told reporters. He said a gunman came inside, opened fire and shot all four officers. Two baristas and other customers inside the shop were unharmed -- "just the law enforcement officers were targeted."

Authorities know the identity of the four fallen officers, and were in the process of notifying family members and their departments, he said. He would not say what agencies the officers were from, but said, "they're all from this area."
read more here
4 police shot dead in coffee shop

HLN Clark Howard offers advice to the troops

Operation Clark Smart
Clark Howard has served for eight years as a member of his state guard. And now, he wants to serve his fellow military personnel!

Join Clark and HLN's Robin Meade at the National Infantry Museum in Columbus, Georgia, as they field the money questions from soldiers of nearby Fort Benning.

Troops have unique financial challenges, and Clark has the solutions -- from help for homeowners who've been ordered to relocate, to paying for moving expenses, and what kind of assistance is available for families of soldiers who've been deployed overseas.

You'll get money-saving tips you can use whether you're in the military or not. Clark talks retirement savings, paying off student loans, and buying cars.
Plus, Robin's stories from her own "Salute To Troops" on HLN's "Morning Express with Robin Meade."

And, Clark teaches soldiers how to get through a year-long deployment on just two razors! Tune in for "Operation Clark Smart" -- this weekend at 6 a.m., 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. ET.

Wisconsin State Veterans Affairs Secretary fired

Performance, politics or something more?

State Veterans Affairs Secretary fired

By MARY SPICUZZA and JASON STEIN
Wisconsin State Journal
Sunday, November 29, 2009 7:06 AM CST


State Veterans Affairs Secretary John Scocos was fired Tuesday — just two months after returning from a tour in Iraq — and replaced with an agency official he had recently demoted.

Scocos, secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs since 2003 and a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, returned to work in late September after a year in Iraq, his second tour there.

The Veterans Affairs board has been signaling disapproval of the agency’s leadership for months, seeking a wide-ranging legislative audit of its workings and criticizing Scocos for failing to update them on the findings of an inquiry into alleged improper spending at a state veterans home.

After a one-and-a-half hour meeting during which board members sharply criticized Scocos’ communication and financial management, the board met briefly in private then voted 5-0 to fire Scocos and replace him with Ken Black, administrator of the agency’s Division of Veterans Benefits. Board chairman Marv Freedman was absent, and one unconfirmed board member, David Boetcher, was ineligible to vote.
read more here
http://www.dunnconnect.com/articles/2009/11/29/news/doc4b1057c08f841499945914.txt

Sometimes you have to laugh

The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody

SC WWII vet's battle ends in gunshot at VA clinic

SC WWII vet's battle ends in gunshot at VA clinic
By JEFFREY COLLINS (AP) – 3 hours ago

GREENVILLE, S.C. — On the last day of his long, troubled life, Grover Cleveland Chapman packed a black duffel bag, washed out his coffee cup, put it in the dish rack and fetched his Smith & Wesson.

He threw away his favorite slippers and left his house key on his bedside table in the two-bedroom yellow bungalow he shared with his daughter, tucked in an aging neighborhood full of 1950s starter homes a few miles from downtown Greenville.

Harriett Chapman called as she always did on her morning break at the Walmart deli, checking on her 89-year-old dad. Everything is fine, he told her.

As he shuffled down the steps that spring morning in 2008, Grover Chapman carried the latest letter denying him treatment at the Veterans Affairs clinic in Greenville, directing him instead to take a 200-mile round trip to the VA hospital in Columbia. This time it was about his prostate cancer, though Chapman had received plenty of notices just like it turning him down for help with his jumpiness and frayed nerves. He folded this letter neatly into the bag beside his bottles of medicine and settled into a taxi.

In a few weeks, candidate Barack Obama would take note of what Chapman would do upon arriving at the clinic this last time, calling it an indictment of society's treatment of disabled veterans.

And maybe that's what it was. Or maybe Chapman just didn't want his daughter to have to come home and find him.
read more here
SC WWII vet battle ends in gunshot at VA clinic

He restores my soul and defeats PTSD

Psalm 23 (New International Version)
A psalm of David
Psalm 23
A psalm of David.
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

He restores my soul and defeats PTSD
by
Chaplain Kathie

The military has forgotten one of the most important rules in combat. Know your enemy. No army on earth has ever been able to defeat an enemy until they understood them, knew how they thought, what they needed to in order for the enemy to be able to be subdued. When it comes to PTSD, they still don't understand it enough to have a good idea how to defeat it.


The evil that veterans fear comes when their compassion has been attacked. These are normal humans exposed to abnormal events while they risk their lives. They see what man is capable of. A picture of this reality is captured beyond their memories. It is embedded within their soul. They no longer see the moments before. They cannot remember what they were thinking right before "it" happened. If the military does not understand what PSTD is, where it comes from, why it chose them instead of others, then how in the world can the military ever really expect to do anything about it? This has been the biggest problem of all and no amount of funding can stop this enemy from killing more after war than are lost during it.

The military needs to understand all that makes the men and women serving so different from the rest of us is courage fed by compassion. The deeper the ability to feel the wider the door to PTSD swings open.

While dehumanizing the enemy allows them hold the "kill them all" attitude, that soon fades after the action is over. What is left is the fact the enemy they killed were still humans just like them. They had friends and families. They had hopes and dreams just like everyone else including the soldier who pulled the trigger. Under different circumstances, there would have been no need to kill. This haunts them. They forget what they did to try to prevent killing.

In Vietnam, innocent people were killed. The enemy hid among civilians. Kids with hands reaching out for candy with one hand held a grenade in the other. Women would attack the GIs as they thought they were in friendly territory. No one could be trusted. Nerves were on edge. Attempts to warn them to stay back were ignored and innocents were killed. The GI forgot what they tried to do to prevent having to react and only held onto the memory of what they were forced to do in order to protect their brothers.

This happened in Iraq as well. They were told to reduce the insurgents into a sub-human category. When they died, they were no longer humans but like animals on the ground. Body parts were not part of a human but parts of animals. The grief was reserved for their brothers as they were placed into body bags with gentleness. In the heat of the moment that image took over yet their subconscious took in the memories of what came before that moment. These images begin to be frozen as the anger is allowed to remain.

The compassion within the soldier, the very reason they wanted to serve by acting as defense for the rest of the population, becomes that which hurts them the most. Deep feelings enabling them to love, care about others, has a flip side. It also enables them to feel pain more deeply. Compassion is the doorway to PTSD.

When they know what to expect as the demons haunt them, they know how to take control over them, defeat the evil trying to capture all that is righteous inside of them. They stop wondering when they became evil, when God stopped being good and when the faith they had all their lives stopped being real. The images they have replaying in their mind's eye is able to be changed back to when they tried to prevent what they had to do. Then they are able to see that God is still good and He was there with them because even with all that was going on around them, they were still able to care, to feel and to grieve. Evil cannot inspire those things. The ability to still grieve after what they have been through is a testament to their soul. The ability to keep doing what is asked of them no matter how deeply they are in pain, is a testament to their commitment. The ability to still rush into danger no matter what has already happened is a testament to their courage. This is what they need to see within them.

PTSD is an emotional wound. It comes only after traumatic events. It does not come from within but it invades into the soul. There should be no shame in being a caring individual especially when that was the basis for why they wanted to serve in the first place.

When we think of King David, we remember the courage he had when he faced the "giant" while others ran from him. We think of the fact he was a warrior. Then we remember the sins he committed and how he was forgiven. What we tend to not see was the compassion and love he had. That is evident in the psalms he wrote. When we think of Christ, we remember the stories He told, the miracles He performed, His birth and His death with His last words being about forgiving those who nailed him to the cross. His story is also about having compassion and courage. Christ could have said He would not sacrifice His life as it was supposed to be, but we tend to forget that and thus, we dismiss the courage He showed all of His life.

The men and women in the military care. Some care for others more deeply. Some would willingly sacrifice their life even off duty. The depth of their compassion is what should be used to predict PTSD. The deeper they feel the deeper PTSD will cut them.

Just as there are different levels of PTSD, there are also different types of PTSD. For the military/veterans and law enforcement, there is the ability in their core to take lives in order to save lives. There is also the fact that there will be one too many times when they had to risk their lives, witnessed horrific events and participated in them. They either turn stone cold retaining no emotions other than anger or they grieve so deeply they cannot find their way out of the abyss. They are the "Michael" angels. Courage and compassion feed their soul.

For the emergency responders, including the National Guards, their core is different. They have it within them to risk their lives for the sake of someone else, but taking lives is beyond what they were intended to do. No amount of preparing can over come the "Gabriel" angel within them. When asked to do what they were not guided to do, their cuts go deeper. It is also depending on the number of times that became the time too many.

Survivors of traumatic events have a different type of PTSD and they also end up with survival guilt. After trauma there is the shock and then the reasoning. God saved them but why? God didn't save others but why? Why didn't God stop the perpetrator? Why did God allow any of it? How can God be good when all they just saw was evil? These questions come to all humans. What they see is evil and they do not consider that evil is not created by God. Just as if we believe in heaven, we must also believe in hell, we must also acknowledge that humans are capable of both as well.

While some will give their last dime to help someone else, someone else will take away a last dime from someone just because they want it. While some heroes get medals and refuse to call themselves hero, others will never do anything worthy but claim the valor they do not have, wear the medals they did not earn and pretend to be something they are not for whatever they feel they can gain. There is evil in every walk of life but there are more caring in every walk of life. They do not make the newspapers because good people still out number the evil ones. This makes the "good" ones wondering if everyone is out for themselves while in fact the "evil" ones are a minority.

They become evil because they avoid their destiny. They do not do what they were intended to do. They walk a path they have chosen and they become miserable.

When we follow our destiny, no matter what hardships we face, we find peace inside of us that overcomes whatever we face getting there. There are road blocks and obstacles trying to trip us up, hurt us, make us suffer. There are people we know able to help us, but they refuse to, all too often deciding to stand in our way. There are some who will judge instead of understand. Some will lash out instead of help up. Some will rejoice in our suffering as if they decided we deserve it while others only rejoice when we have overcome.

PTSD comes from that place inside of us causing us to question everything. Into our souls comes a struggle between that which is good within us and that which was evil we experienced. Seeing who we really are, what we were intended to become and what we intended at the time, enables us to fight off the hounds of hell trying to take over everything good within us, making us regret the tender hearts we have, confusing every part of our being. We think we are not courageous because we are soft and cry. We think we are evil because we were forced while fighting evil. We think we are now cursed instead of blessed. The inner struggle does not end unless there is the right help available to fight against it but the military still does not know what causes PTSD any more than they understand what makes the men and women in their command decide to serve in the first place.

The pay isn't great. The hours suck. Deployment after deployment followed by a transfer and having to uproot the entire family at the same time everyone is wondering if they will make it home again from yet another deployment. The fact that each day in combat could be their last or they may have to fly home because someone in their own family has die. Every moment they do not know what to expect from the next. Yet they are willing to do this. They are willing to forget their own individuality, give up making their own decisions and follow orders no matter what. Willing to sacrifice their lives should be a red flag to the military they have a unique caring individual among the ranks and this should be honored as well as cherished instead of being regarded as a thing of shame. They do not understand this,

Given the fact the civilian world responds with help after every crisis for the responders as well as the survivors, you'd think the military would understand they should do the same to avoid the breathing room PTSD needs to take control. The soldiers will go through hell and then minutes later go into the chow hall for a bite to eat sitting there without the strength to pick up a fork. Drained they sit in silence. They return to their bunks at the end of their shift with the images pounding in their heads, sounds in full volume pound their ears, smells grab hold in nostrils as they try to recover. Days, weeks, months later, they finally surrender to the fact they need help. When they need it they are told it is available, they may even be supported by commanders to seek it but when they go for it, they discover there is a long, long line in front of them or the person they are supposed to open their soul to does not have the slightest clue what PTSD is. This keeps happening.

Psychiatrist and psychologists fully educated in the workings of the human mind have not all been educated on PTSD. This has been omitted from the "training manuals" of common sense. They should all be experts on trauma considering combat is traumatic! Chaplains may have every chapter and verse committed to memory but what most of the words mean escapes them and they admit they know nothing about PTSD.

I belong to a group of chaplains comprised of walks from all life. Among the chaplains are VA psychiatrists as well as civilian psychiatrists. We have pastors and ministers, nurses and volunteers. We have law enforcement officers and emergency responders. All of us are dedicated to understanding PTSD before it become PTSD. Immediately after a traumatic event it is a crisis and we train for intervention. We do this to prevent the tearing away at the soul of the survivors. If we can understand this, why can't the military?

Are police officers less courageous? Are fire fighters? Are EMT's? They put their lives on the line everyday but they are expected to turn to a chaplain for support after or a trained professional. The military, well, they are expected to put their boots on and get back on duty no matter what. Even when they return to US soil they are not finding the help they need. They are not told what they should know and they are not helped in changing the images in their minds so they can make peace with the outcome.

There is so much the military does not understand and until they do, we will keep seeing the numbers of suicides and attempted suicides rise just as we see in the veteran population.

Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

If we allow evil to remain alive trapping out that which is good, then PTSD wins. They do not have to fear they are evil when they remember who they were and who sent them here. They can have a rod and staff to comfort them but only if that rod is the reason they grive and the staff is prepared for them to lean on as they heal. We need to help them remember that God is not evil and since He gave them that which is good inside of them making them want to be of service, they are not evil either.

When a soldier kills himself, no letter from any President

This has been one more heartache for the families who stood by as their family member was laid to rest as if they should have anything to be ashamed of. The practice of not sending letters of condolences to servicemen and women has been around about as long as the military itself. The presidents just don't do it. It's almost as if the sacrifice of a man or woman serving this nation somehow suddenly becomes less than something to honor if their life ends by their own hands. This last resort of humans in crisis so busily eating away at them should never be something to be ashamed of unless that shame is directed at all of us.

It's really that simple. We ask so much of them. We train them and then expect them to put their training to use following orders, facing dangers and witnessing events few others will ever know, yet then we expect them to just get over it with little or no help when they need it.

Even now as the Obama Administrations tries to play catch up, they are dealing with high flood waters with a tsunami getting ready to wipe it all out. Yes, what is coming is that catastrophic and many, too many more will end up taking their own life because the help that is there for them is too little, too late and most times, too inadequate. Believe it or not, there are many practicing mental health professionals with absolutely no training in PTSD, just as there are many Chaplains without a single clue what it is. Given the fact there are still misdiagnosis due to this, is it really any wonder why so many of them lose any hope they had of recovering?

More and more will be seeking help as the awareness rises and the stigma evaporates. What will they do then? Will the military still think the lives are not worthy of every effort to help them heal? Will they ever come to terms with PTSD the way the rest of the population has when crisis teams rush in for any traumatic event yet they are not sent in when soldiers face them? Will they ever get a clue that what they've been doing has been doing more harm than good? Will the President finally change this policy and honor the life of the fallen no matter how they passed away as if that life was just as worthy as the day they decided to dedicate it to serving the nation? See, we do a great job sending them away, but do are really lousy job of getting them back home. It's time for all leadership to get out of the box they've been operating in or at least cut a few windows so they can finally see what the hell they've been getting wrong for so very long.

When a soldier kills himself, no letter from President Obama
By Adam Levine, CNN
November 27, 2009 8:27 p.m. EST

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Family of Spc. Chancellor Keesling, 25, wants condolence letter from President Obama
Parents believe his suicide brought on by stress of war, distance from loved ones
White House: "Inherited" policy only lets president write families of fallen soldiers
Family hopes President Obama would want to thank them for their sacrifice

Spc. Chancellor Keesling was given almost all the honors afforded a fallen service member after killing himself in June.

Washington (CNN) -- Gregg Keesling chooses his words carefully when he talks about the death of his son, Spc. Chancellor Keesling.

As far as he's concerned, the soldier didn't "take his own life" or "commit suicide."

His son "died by suicide," Keesling insists -- and he has his reasons why.

When 25-year old Chancellor Keesling shot himself in Iraq on June 19, his family received much support from the military and local officials. Gregg Keesling's son was given the honor afforded to a fallen service member.

The Keesling family went to Dover Air Force Base to watch as his body was flown back to Indiana six days later. At his burial, seven rifles fired three times each in true military tradition.

Later, the soldier's aunt created a memorial wall in the family's Indianapolis living room. On the wall hangs Spc. Keesling's uniform, the U.S. flag that was handed to his mother, Jannett, after the service, and the Indianapolis state flag that flew over the state capital in his honor.

Yet, there's an empty spot on the wall for an honor that never arrived -- a letter from the president.
read more here
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/27/soldier.suicide/index.html

Oprah's Thanksgiving Gift to wounded warriors

If you've been with family today giving thanks for what you have in your life, you may have missed a special Oprah show. Today she gave the wounded warriors one of the greatest gifts possible. She gave them her attention as well as compassion.

Oprah on Location at Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Oprah on Location at Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Oprah visits Walter Reed Army Medical Center to meet the real men, women and families behind the headlines. Then, a day in the life of a soldier and a mom.

When the physically wounded are being treated, it is assumed they have other wounds needing to be treated. Should they require help to heal emotionally, everyone around them has been watching for signs, or at least they should be.

Juanita Wilson talked to Oprah about how her husband couldn't understand why she didn't come home the same way. It happens all too often when the family members are unwilling to look beyond the body they see into the soul of the person they were closest to. Juanita lost her hand but her other wound is trying to take over the rest of her.

Ceremony Reenlists Injured Soldiers Into U.S. Army Reserve
WASHINGTON - APRIL 6: U.S. Army Reservist Sgt. 1st Class Juanita Wilson (C) is congratulated by Lt. Gen. James Helmly (L), Chief of the Army Reserve, after Wilson took the oath to reenlist in the Reserves on the West Steps of the U.S. Capitol April 6, 2006 in Washington, DC. Wilson's daughter, Kenyah Wilson, 7, is at right. Wilson lost her left hand to an improvised explosive device in Iraq in August, 2004. Wilson said she has no second thoughts about reenlisting. 'I was born and bred to be a solider,' she said.
Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Apr 06, 2006

Everything she spoke about pointed to PTSD but that in no way prevents her from serving. PTSD is not the end of a life. It's the end of the way they used to be because trauma always changes people. We all change with what happens in our own lives. For our troops and our veterans, the change came after they did what we asked them to do. That makes it all our responsibly and a continuation of our obligation.

Women on the Front Lines
More women than ever are enlisted. Meet Juanita Wilson, the first American mother to lose a limb in Iraq.

Combat Photography
A retired Air Force staff sergeant goes behind the lens...browse a gallery of Stacy Pearsall's moving photographs.


The Road to Recovery
At Walter Reed, our most critically injured soldiers begin to rebuild their lives. The visit Oprah won't soon forget.

In Their Own Words
In a split second, their lives were changed forever. Meet the soldiers at Walter Reed, and watch them tell their stories.

There is more to say but today is Thanksgiving and while I am thankful for much today, this program is now among the blessings I'm grateful for today. Please watch the clips if you did not see the show. If you did then please write to thank Oprah for this show.