When you can see our troubles are the same

In the words of Cheers, I'm always glad you came.

editorial by
Chaplain Kathie

Where Everybody Knows Your Name by Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo - Cheers Lyrics
Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.

Wouldn't you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to go

Where everybody knows your name,
and they're always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see,
our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows
Your name.

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

This is a place where you can see our troubles are all the same, or at least, pretty close to it. This blog is here for a lot of reasons but the biggest one is broadcast media. I was so tired of complaining they are not paying attention to anyone serving and even less when it comes to veterans. I was tired of reading a story out of the other side of the country and then finding another one right here with no one connecting the two together. I always thought there should be one place where all of these news reports, mostly done by local reporters in tiny newsrooms, so that secrets would end.

When it comes to PTSD, if you believe you are the only one with it, you feel alone but if you find some place where others are going through it too, the world is not so lonely for you. You can find the good, bad and the ugly but most of all I try to give you hope.

Now, frankly, I have not been very good at promoting this blog. I could excuse this by pointing out there are only so many hours in the day, so the more I spent away from posting, the less that gets covered. If I did that, I wouldn't be totally honest. I've never been good at self-promoting and I don't enjoy it at all. It has taken many weeks of thinking about doing this to get up the gumption to do it now.

I don't get paid to do this. I was so lousy at asking for donation that I lost my tax exempt because I couldn't even afford to renew it. There is something I do need from you and it won't cost you a dime. It will only cost you the time to subscribe and forward an email. That's all I want back from you.

When you subscribe you get a daily email with all the posts done that day. This blog moves fast so it is hard to keep up with it. With the alert, you have the link right there. If you think a story is important, pass it on with the link back and this way, reporters will know what you think it's important. This site is all about YOU! Let them know these stories do matter to you. You are also letting me know what kind of stories matter to you by the number of hits the post gets.

Wounded Times will be 4 years old in August. Help me get to 1,000 subscribers by then. Email me at namguardianangel@aol.com and let me know what's on your mind or leave a comment on a post so that I know what you want to find here.

Naval Center Wants To Change Attitudes To Combat Stress

Naval Center Wants To Change Attitudes To Combat Stress
BY ALISON ST JOHN
June 2, 2011
Military leaders at Camp Pendleton are evaluating a new program, developed for Marines returning from combat in Afghanistan. The Navy, which provides medical care for the Marines, wants to find ways to tackle potential problems early.

Photo by Alison St John
Above: Captain Scott Johnston Director of Naval Center for Operational and Combat Stress Control,

May 31st 2011
Capt. Scott Johnston, director of the Naval Center for Combat and Operational Stress Control in San Diego, said he wants to create a sea change in attitudes about mental stress. He’s working with Camp Pendleton on a model program to better identify signs of combat stress.

“The initial goal was to de-stigmatize that,” Johnston said. “It’s not like you have to say, ‘Oh, I have a problem, I’ve got to talk to mental health.‘ It’s like, ‘hey, you come back, you get your gun checked to make sure that it’s operating property, we’re going to send you over to the mental health guys to make sure that everything’s ok upstairs too.’"
read more here
Naval Center Wants To Change Attitudes To Combat Stress

Warren "Hawkeye" Fordham fought diabetes to serve his country

Warren Fordham: Diabetes was Navy officer's constant foe

By Stephen Hudak, Orlando Sentinel
June 3, 2011

SANFORD — Warren J. Fordham fought diabetes to serve his country.

The retired lieutenant commander, who once piloted bombers and oversaw operations at the Pinecastle Bombing Range in the Ocala National Forest, also was an insulin-dependent diabetic forced to prove his fitness for duty every year during the final decade of a 30-year career, said his son, Michael Fordham, 63.

"He loved his country," Michael Fordham said. "He would not let it stop him."

Warren Fordham, 84, who lived the past 50 years in Sanford, where he first was assigned to the former Naval Air Station, died Tuesday from complications from a stroke. He struggled with diabetes for more than 50 years.

Fordham, known affectionately by the nickname "Hawkeye" for his sharpshooting basketball skills in high school, enlisted in the Navy as a teenager near the end of World War II and worked his way up the chain of command until the disease threatened to derail his career.

Fordham refused to leave the service — even hiring a military lawyer to argue his case in Washington and extend his career, his son said.

The Navy ultimately allowed him to stay, with some restrictions.

The former pilot and navigator, for instance, was no longer permitted to fly an airplane because of the disease's potential risks. But he became an inspector of aircraft carriers and performed other non-combat duties.

"He was all about duty, honor, country and family," said his daughter, Robin Crockett, 62, of Sanford.
Diabetes was Navy officer's constant foe

Military radios interfering with garage door openers

Military radios interfering with garage door openers
Homeowners in coastal Orange County are among the latest to discover this quirk. Signals from Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach have been interfering with remote openers as far as half a mile away.

By Mike Anton, Los Angeles Times
May 28, 2011

Garage door remote not working? The Pentagon may be to blame.

Not because of any grand conspiracy theory, but rather the mundane use of a radio frequency the military hadn't used much before.

Homeowners in coastal Orange County are among the latest to discover this quirk. There, signals from Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach have been interfering with garage door openers as far as half a mile away since March.

That's when testing began on a new radio system that will allow the base to network with local fire and police agencies during emergencies. The frequency falls in the range of 380-399.9 megahertz, a band long reserved for the Department of Defense but rarely used.
read more here
Military radios interfering with garage door openers

Korean War Veteran Dies While Replacing Flag on Memorial Day

National Interest
Korean War Veteran Dies While Replacing Flag at Ohio Home on Memorial Day
Published June 02, 2011
FoxNews.com

An 83-year-old Korean War veteran died on Memorial Day while trying to replace a weathered American flag outside his Ohio home, his family said Thursday.
James Catron, of Richville, Ohio, died of natural causes as he was replacing the tattered flag on his 20-foot TV tower with a new one, his daughter, Sharon Harold, told FoxNews.com.
"He served his country and he thought it was so important to display the flag, " Harold said. "He was so proud to be a veteran."

(note:Firefighters came back and finished it for him)
Read more: Korean War Veteran Dies While Replacing Flag

Officials respond to concern over new Walter Reed operating rooms

BRAC: Officials respond to concern over new Walter Reed operating rooms
Darci Marchese, WTOP reporter

WASHINGTON - The Joint Task Force National Capital Region Medical says there will be more than enough operating rooms to treat wounded warriors post-BRAC.

It released the following statement Thursday morning:

"Based on projections for casualty care and historical usage rates, seven and a half ORs are utilized for Wounded Warrior surgical care between the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and National Naval Medical Center facilities. We have a sufficient number of ORs now and will have enough ORs in the late Summer/Early Fall to care for Wounded Warriors as we transition and integrate patients and staff into the new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital.

"Bethesda has developed a detailed plan to defer elective surgeries in Aug 2011 during the BRAC transition to ensure that Wounded Warrior care is not impacted. Additionally, surgical leaders from WRAMC, Bethesda, and Fort Belvoir will utilize a number of ambulatory operating rooms for same day surgeries in the National Capital Region such as those at Malcolm Grow Air Force Medical Center and the Kimbrough Ambulatory Care Center during the BRAC transition period.
read more here
Officials respond to concern over new Walter Reed operating rooms

Veterans need to know what they paid for

If you served in the military and ended up wounded or hurt because of it, then you need to know what you should be getting from the VA. This is not a hand out. You paid the price when you served. We owe you!

There is a lot of confusion about billing private insurance companies for medical care when you go to the VA.  Here is the answer to that part.

Private Health Insurance Billing

VA is required to bill private health insurance providers for medical care, supplies and prescriptions provided for treatment of veterans’ non-service-connected conditions. Generally, VA cannot bill Medicare, but can bill Medicare supplemental health insurance for covered services. VA is not authorized to bill a High Deductible Health Plan (which is usually linked to a Health Savings Account).

All veterans applying for VA medical care are required to provide information on their health insurance coverage, including coverage provided under policies of their spouses. Veterans are not responsible for paying any remaining balance of VA’s insurance claim not paid or covered by their health insurance, and any payment received by VA may be used to offset “dollar for dollar” a veteran’s VA copay responsibility.

Here are some more things you should know.

Federal Benefits for Veterans, Dependents and Survivors
Chapter 1 VA Health Care Benefits

VA operates the nation’s largest integrated health care system with more than 1,400 sites of care, including hospitals, community clinics, community living centers, domiciliary, readjustment counseling centers, and various other facilities. For additional information on VA health care, visit: www.va.gov/health.

Basic Eligibility

A person who served in the active military, naval, or air service and who was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable may qualify for VA health care benefits. Reservists and National Guard members may also qualify for VA health care benefits if they were called to active duty (other than for training only) by a Federal order and completed the full period for which they were called or ordered to active duty.

Minimum Duty Requirements: Veterans who enlisted after Sept. 7, 1980, or who entered active duty after Oct. 16, 1981, must have served 24 continuous months or the full period for which they were called to active duty in order to be eligible. This minimum duty requirement may not apply to veterans discharged for hardship, early out or a disability incurred or aggravated in the line of duty.

Enrollment

For most veterans, entry into the VA health care system begins by applying for enrollment. To apply, complete VA Form 10-10EZ, Application for Health Benefits, which may be obtained from any VA health care facility or regional benefits office, on line at www.1010ez.med.va.gov/sec/vha/1010ez/ or by calling 1-877-222-VETS (8387). Once enrolled, veterans can receive health care at VA health care facilities anywhere in the country.

Veterans enrolled in the VA health care system are afforded privacy rights under federal law. VA’s Notice of Privacy Practices, which describes how VA may use and disclose veterans’ medical information, is also available on line at www.va.gov/vhapublications/viewpublication.asp?pub_ID=1089

The following four categories of veterans are not required to enroll, but are urged to do so to permit better planning of health resources:

Veterans with a service-connected disability of 50 percent or more.
Veterans seeking care for a disability the military determined was incurred or aggravated in the line of duty, but which VA has not yet rated, within 12 months of discharge.
Veterans seeking care for a service-connected disability only.
Veterans seeking registry examinations (Ionizing Radiation, Agent Orange, Gulf War/Operation Iraqi Freedom and Depleted Uranium).
Priority Groups

During enrollment, each veteran is assigned to a priority group. VA uses priority groups to balance demand for VA health care enrollment with resources. Changes in available resources may reduce the number of priority groups VA can enroll. If this occurs, VA will publicize the changes and notify affected enrollees. A description of priority groups follows:

Group 1: Veterans with service-connected disabilities rated 50 percent or more and/or veterans determined by VA to be unemployable due to service-connected conditions.

Group 2: Veterans with service-connected disabilities rated 30 or 40 percent.

Group 3: Veterans with service-connected disabilities rated 10 and 20 percent; veterans who are former Prisoners of War (POW) or were awarded a Purple Heart medal; veterans awarded special eligibility for disabilities incurred in treatment or participation in a VA Vocational Rehabilitation program; and veterans whose discharge was for a disability incurred or aggravated in the line of duty.

Group 4: Veterans receiving aid and attendance or housebound benefits and/or veterans determined by VA to be catastrophically disabled.

Group 5: Veterans receiving VA pension benefits or eligible for Medicaid programs, and non service-connected veterans and non-compensable, zero percent service-connected veterans whose gross annual household income and/or net worth are below the VA national income threshold and geographically-adjusted income threshold for their resident area.

Group 6: Veterans of World War I; veterans seeking care solely for certain conditions associated with exposure to ionizing radiation during atmospheric testing or during the occupation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; for any illness associated with participation in tests conducted by the Department of Defense (DoD) as part of Project 112/Project SHAD; veterans with zero percent service-connected disabilities who are receiving disability compensation benefits and veterans who served in a theater of combat operations after Nov. 11, 1998 as follows:

Veterans discharged from active duty on or after Jan. 28, 2003, who were enrolled as of Jan. 28, 2008 and veterans who apply for enrollment after Jan. 28, 2008, for 5 years post discharge
Veterans discharged from active duty before Jan. 28, 2003, who apply for enrollment after Jan. 28, 2008, until Jan. 27, 2011
Group 7: Veterans with gross household income below the geographically-adjusted income threshold (GMT) for their resident location and who agree to pay copays.

Group 8: Veterans with gross household income and/or net worth above the VA national income threshold and the geographic income threshold who agree to pay copays.

Note: Due to income relaxation rules implemented on June 15, 2009 Veterans with household income above the VA national threshold or the GMT income threshold for their resident location by 10 percent or less, who agree to pay copays, are eligible for enrollment in Priority Group 8.

The GMT thresholds can be located at: http://www.va.gov/healtheligibility/library/pubs/gmtincomethresholds.


Recently Discharged Combat Veterans

Veterans, including activated reservists and members of the National Guard, are eligible for the enhanced “Combat Veteran” benefits if they served on active duty in a theater of combat operations after November 11, 1998, and have been discharged under other than dishonorable conditions.

Effective Jan. 28, 2008, combat veterans discharged from active duty on or after Jan. 28, 2003, are eligible for enhanced enrollment placement into Priority Group 6 (unless eligible for higher enrollment Priority Group placement) for five-years post discharge.

Veterans with combat service after Nov. 11, 1998, who were discharged from active duty before Jan. 28, 2003, and who apply for enrollment on or after Jan. 28, 2008, are eligible for this enhanced enrollment benefit through Jan. 27, 2011. During this period of enhanced enrollment benefits, these veterans receive VA care and medications at no cost for any condition that may be related to their combat service.

Veterans who enroll with VA under this “Combat Veteran” authority will retain enrollment eligibility even after their five-year post discharge period ends. At the end of their post discharge period, VA will reassess the Veteran’s information (including all applicable eligibility factors) and make a new enrollment decision. For additional information, call 1-877-222-VETS (8387).

click the links to find out more of what you should be getting

Afghanistan War IEDs Cause Surge In Double Amputees

Afghanistan War IEDs Cause Surge In Double Amputees Among U.S. War Wounded

David Wood
woodwriter@hotmail.com


American soldiers and Marines walking combat patrols in Afghanistan have suffered a surge of gruesome injuries, losing one or both legs and often their genitals to crude homemade bombs Taliban insurgents bury in dirt roads and pathways.

In some cases, American military surgeons tell The Huffington Post, these traumatic amputations occur so close to soldiers' hips that it is difficult to fit prosthetic legs, severely limiting the patients' future mobility and rehabilitation. In addition, the loss of sexual function for formerly healthy young men in their early 20s causes severe anxiety and depression and can wreck new marriages.

The latest wave of severe injuries comes after Gen. David Petraeus ordered U.S. troops in Afghanistan last year to get out of their protective armored vehicles and start walking. "Patrol on foot whenever possible and engage the population," he directed in guidance to his troops last August.

The order was hailed as an essential counterinsurgency tactic used to get closer to the people, pick up intelligence more effectively and demonstrate American resolve to protect local villagers from Taliban insurgents.

But the enemy -- as Petraeus himself is fond of saying -- gets a vote, and the insurgents have attacked the dismounted patrols with a vengeance, planting lethal bombs inches beneath the dusty soil where a footstep can detonate them in blinding flashes.
read more here
Afghanistan War IEDs Cause Surge In Double Amputees

Another PTSD Vet shot by police

Family of Matthew Speese, shot by officer, says he suffered from 'post traumatic stress disorder'
Published: Thursday, June 02, 2011,
By John Tunison
The Grand Rapids Press

In the statement released through a funeral home, family members said they mourn his loss and described him as a "proud veteran marine" who served during the Gulf War.

MONTCALM COUNTY -- In a statement released this afternoon, the family of the 47-year-old Howard City man shot and killed by an officer said he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
read more here
Matthew Speese, shot by officer

Updated: Officer-Involved Shooting
MONTCALM COUNTY, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – A Montcalm County man is dead following a stand-off with police.

Officers were called out to 47-year-old Matthew Speese's home near Howard City just after 5:00 pm Wednesday. About two hours later, Speese was shot and killed.

Speece, an ex-Marine, was fatally shot by a deputy, but there are still a great many questions about how it happened.

A neighbor tells Newschannel 3 that he heard four to five shots fired, another neighbor says they heard indications that Speese had a few guns on hand when deputies arrived at his home in the woods on West Gates Road.

“He had come out with a long gun on his deck,” said neighbor Edward Haack, “and then he had a pistol and then he went upstairs to get a better view of what was going on outside.”
read more here
Officer-Involved Shooting

1,000 National Guardsmen sent to help with Massachusetts tornado emergency

Until I moved to Florida I lived in Massachusetts all my life. We're pretty strong and used to bad weather. Hot summers, brutal winters that never seem to end but this, everyone is in shock over this. When New Englanders hear about a hurricane, they figure by the time it gets up there, if it does at all, it will be just a lot of wind and nothing to get upset about. When we hear about a tornado, we figure it must be one of the tiny ones taking down a couple of trees. I doubt anyone was really ready when these hit.

New Englanders are also very used to the National Guards showing up whenever mother nature has an issue and thank the Good Lord they do!

Tornadoes kill four; emergency is declared
Storms smash Western, Central Mass.; damage reported in 19 communities

This story was reported by Travis Andersen, Eric Moskowitz, Martin Finucane, Glen Johnson, Bryan Marquard, and David Abel of the Globe staff. It was written by Abel.

SPRINGFIELD — Tornadoes tore through Western and Central Massachusetts yesterday, killing at least four people, injuring an untold number, and reducing schools, churches, and homes to splinters along its destructive path.

Governor Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency throughout Massachusetts and ordered up to 1,000 troops from the National Guard to help with rescue efforts. He said at least 19 communities had reported damage and he asked officials in those towns and cities to close schools and keep nonemergency personnel home today to allow work crews to clear streets.

“We are in an emergency situation,’’ said the governor in a news conference at the state’s emergency management headquarters in Framingham. He said there had been reports of looting in Springfield, and he described the damage from the storm as extensive.
read more here
Tornadoes kill four; emergency is declared

video from CNN

Army Staff Sgt. on leave stops bank robber in Sarasota FL

Soldier thwarts bank robbery, disarms suspect
By The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jun 2, 2011 7:54:00 EDT
SARASOTA, Fla. — A 34-year-old Army staff sergeant home on leave chased a suspected bank robber into the parking lot and held him until sheriff's deputies arrived.

Officials say Eddie Peoples was inside a Bank of America branch in Sarasota with his two young sons Tuesday when a man walked in with a handgun and demanded cash from the tellers.
read more here
Soldier thwarts bank robbery, disarms suspect

UPDATE

Soldier who stopped bank robber in national spotlight


By Todd Ruger

Published: Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 5:42 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 5:42 p.m.
SARASOTA - For the soldier who stopped a bank robbery this week, a low-key trip home to help his in-laws around the house is now a whirlwind tour through the national media spotlight.

Army Staff Sgt. Eddie Peoples spent Thursday retelling news reporters how he single-handedly detained a robber in a Bank of America branch parking lot as his 4- and 6-year-old sons huddled behind furniture in the lobby.
Soldier who stopped bank robber in national spotlight

College veterans get more time to pay back Uncle Sam for overpayments

VA extends Post-9/11 GI Bill overpayment period
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jun 2, 2011 12:02:16 EDT
Student veterans required to give back Post-9/11 GI Bill overpayments will get more time to do so under a new Veterans Affairs Department policy.

Previously, GI Bill overpayments had to be repaid before the end of the term, which in some cases left students paying thousands of dollars in a few months. The new policy gives them up to a year to make repayments.

The new repayment policy took effect on April 20 without fanfare. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who has pushed for the change, announced the new repayment rules on May 24. VA confirmed the rule change on Thursday.

Tester had pushed VA to change the rules after receiving complaints that students, who often were not at fault when excess tuition and fees was paid to a college or university, were given very little time to repay the money. In some cases, students were put in a position of repaying VA out of their own pockets while waiting on their school to pay them.

Although pleased that VA is giving veterans more time to pay, Tester said he still is not satisfied. He wants safeguards put in place to protect the credit records of veterans who end up owing money because of clerical errors, and he wants VA to come up with a way for schools that receive overpayments to directly reimburse the government without getting the student involved.
read more here
GI Bill overpayment period

Brain scan shows mark of bomb blasts, study finds

Brain scan shows mark of bomb blasts, study finds
Specialized test spots abnormalities in servicemen who incur concussions

By Julie Steenhuysen

6/1/2011

CHICAGO — Soldiers with traumatic brain injury caused by a blast may have abnormalities in the white matter of their brain — an important brain cell communication center — that cannot be seen on ordinary brain scans, U.S. researchers said Wednesday.

They said it is not yet clear whether the hidden injuries affect brain function or play a role in traumatic stress injuries.

Using an imaging technique called diffusion tensor imaging, researchers at Washington University of St. Louis studied 63 injured soldiers who had been evacuated to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany from Iraq and Afghanistan after being exposed to different types of blasts.
They found abnormalities in 18 out 63 patients diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury from blasts, but not among 21 control subjects who were injured in other ways.

The areas highlighted in the study have not been seen in other studies using the same imaging technology in civilians with brain injuries, suggesting there may be something different that occurs in blast injuries.
read more here
Brain scan shows mark of bomb blasts, study finds

What does a famous drummer have in common with war heroes?

There are days when I think the only issue to cover is what's wrong. One bad story after another and too many nights I go to bed wondering if there is still hope out there. Sure, we read about one good story but that one is usually followed by nine bad ones.

Well, here's a good story about hope and it is being offered by a drummer to the wounded coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. Right now they have no clue what their tomorrows will look like and some of them wonder if they even want to face them at all. Each day is another alive day but each day comes with another set of challenges for them. So out comes a rocker/one arm drummer telling them point blank their futures are not carved in stone and are not limited to what other people take for granted everyday but they no longer have. It is about what they still have inside of them. Really a great story!

Wounded Soldiers Learn to Rock On
What does a famous drummer have in common with war heroes? More than you might think.

By Rick Allen, Los Angeles, California


In this article:
Celebrities Change Change Your Life Faith Hope Inspirational Stories Inspirational Story Inspiring Story Military Stories Real Life Stories Soldiers Stories Of Hope Success True Inspirational Stories Veterans


I walked into the hospital with one thought continually racing through my mind: What would I say to them?

I’d gotten a call just a few weeks before from a representative for the USO (United Service Organizations). “We’ve heard about your inspiring story,” the man said. “We’d like you to come to Walter Reed Hospital and visit with some of the soldiers who’ve been injured in combat. Maybe you could help them get through it.”

My “inspiring story” hadn’t felt so inspiring back in 1984 when I’d made headlines: DEF LEPPARD DRUMMER LOSES ARM IN AUTOMOBILE CRASH.

I hadn’t lost my arm in any act of bravery. I’d been driving too fast on a winding road, thinking—like most 21-year-olds—that I was invincible. I’d eventually learned to drum again with only one arm, and our band had gone on to even greater success than before the accident.

And while a lot of fans and critics had thought my continuing to “rock on” in spite of missing an arm had been cool, I’d never met a war hero before. They were so out of my league—they’d risked their lives for their country. Maybe these guys who’d been injured in combat would resent my coming in and telling them everything would be OK. After all, who did I think I was?
read more here
Wounded Soldiers Learn to Rock On

Marine Vet to Get Silver Star 60 Years Late

Marine Vet to Get Silver Star 60 Years Late
June 02, 2011
Knight Ridder/Tribune
GREENVILLE, Texas -- His award took 60 years to get here, but Dr. James Nicholson, Greenville physician, was notified last week by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus that he has been awarded the Silver Star medal "for gallantry in action on 22 April 1951."

Nicholson served as a Browning Automatic Rifleman, G Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, during the Korean War.

The citation reads: "During the late evening hours, Corporal (then Private First Class) Nicholson's fire team came under intense enemy fire by a numerically superior enemy force. Despite being surrounded, Corporal Nicholson and his team courageously applied suppressive fire against the enemy, resulting in numerous enemy casualties.

Marine Vet to Get Silver Star 60 Years Late

The "new normal" for military and veterans families

For the Love of Jack
by
Chaplain Kathie

Well it isn't really "new" since Vietnam veterans and their families have been living with it for 40 years, any more than it was new to older veterans.

In 1999 I wanted to tell our story so that all the other families would know there was nothing to be ashamed of when it came to living with PTSD veterans any more than there is anything to be ashamed of with any other type of mental illness. I tried to find a publisher for a year with more "no thank you" form letters than I can remember. Then September 11th came.

Jonathan Shay had been trying to help me find a publisher for this book but even with his reputation no one wanted it. I contacted him after I read his first book Achilles in Vietnam. He was working for the Boston VA at the time. My husband was going to the VA hospital for an appointment in Bedford when the planes hit and the VA went into shutdown. He called me in a panic. I called Jonathan and said "you know what's coming with this" a few days later and I told him I was going to self publish. He knew as well as I did that the attacks would increase PTSD in our veterans. We were sadly right.

I revised it a little more over the next couple of months and it was self published in Spring of 2002. Little did I know how long the wars would go on. I didn't know that for all we learned about PTSD and early intervention, the government would repeat the same mistakes. Redeployments increased the risks of PTSD by 50%. As you can read in our story, my husband had mild PTSD for years but without help, he was not able to overcome the secondary stressor like many other veterans, offering a warning that if we did not address it early on, there would be many more suffering needlessly. The government did not learn the lesson Vietnam veterans had to teach them.

The book didn't sell and I was too busy to really push it. Finally I gave up, cut my losses and put it online for free. As an author, I make a good reader admiring people like Shay knowing I will never be good enough to write like that.

If you are living with a veteran with PTSD, you should really read his book. I don't know how many books I read by the time I read his but his was the first one where I found words reflecting my life with my husband. Learn from what the older veterans and their families had to go through and know that it is not hopeless and you are not helpless. This is not a "normal" life but being a veteran is not "normal" either. Less than 10% of our population served in combat and less than 1% serve now. None of us are "normal" to the rest of them but there is no shame in what is our "new normal" anymore than there is reason to be ashamed of any of them.

I didn't always feel that way. When I wrote the book no one was really talking about PTSD so there were still secrets to keep. I changed some things in the book. Since blogging, here and on my older blogs, I opened up more about all of this as other people came forward and were willing to end their own secret suffering.

For the Love of Jack by Kathie Costos
Chapter 21


I believed that we, as Americans, had learned a great deal about ourselves because of Vietnam. When the Gulf War was going on, the public stood behind the servicemen and women, although we did not agree with the war itself. They went together and returned together as heroes. I wondered if the Vietnam War’s outcome would have been different if the South Vietnamese people had oil. We didn’t have anything to gain by helping them. It cost money and lives. The vets of Vietnam saw what America was capable of when the government gave full support to the armed forces. They knew the answer to “Why now and not then?” They had been sacrificed by a misconception of what the American public would tolerate.

The Vietnam veterans were left to fight in obscurity. Fight the memories and aftereffects as well as fight for their rights as veterans, again without the support of the American public. PTSD is real! If you haven’t heard about it before this, you are in the majority. It is considered a mental illness and as such, no one suffering from it wants to stand up and shout for his or her rights. They have been told too many times, “It happened thirty years ago. Get over it!” I am

COSTOS FOR THE LOVE OF JACK 164

here to testify to the reality of this dark secret. I have been a witness to the destruction of lives and the insurmountable obstacles they must overcome for justice. To heal and find peace is the primary goal and the compensation for their suffering is validation of their sacrifice.
I know that the Jack I loved is still there inside of him and sometimes he lets him out from behind the wall to reassure me that he lives on. As long as I see signs of the man I fell in love with, there is hope and a reminder of how it used to be with us. There are times when this man that I have shared nearly half of my life with amazes me. With all that he has been through he is still a good man. There must be so much strength in him to be the way he is. So many times I want to climb into his head and take a look around to find out what makes him so special. It seems funny to use that term but I saw something special in him so long ago and it is still there. The medication is helping him sleep and he has fewer times when he is totally despondent. It still breaks my heart when sometimes I glance at him. He will be sitting in his chair, his head held in his hands, staring at the floor. Then he will look up and smile. I hate the fact he has suffered so much and I miss the way it used to be for us.

Over the years I have learned a great deal about people. We are all searching for something more. It is as if we are fully aware that we are missing something, but no one really knows what it is. If you asked a person who is religious or spiritual, they usually will be able to answer you. Faith fills the void. We really are remarkable. The human spirit hardly ever admits defeat. We keep trying and getting up out of bed every day no matter what we are facing.

I suppose it is true what they say about adversity, it either destroys you or makes you stronger. I know that it made me stronger and also made my faith stronger. I am confident that I would not have read the Bible and clung to it as a lifeline so many times. I realize the value of just being there to listen when someone is hurting. My mother and sister-in-law still don’t

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realize how much their being there for me meant. I tried to explain that just knowing someone was there for me to turn to kept me going and kept me from going over the edge emotionally. It made me a better listener. It feels good to know that people feel comfortable enough to come to me with their problems. I understand that they are not always looking for answers. Sometimes they just need comfort.

Jack and I lost the friends we had. I guess it was hard to be around us when we were dealing with so many different things. I miss them. I miss Tom and Ellen. When I think about how much they were a part of our life back then it is hard to realize that closeness has been reduced to a Christmas card every year. I think I miss the Vietnam veterans the most. Tom was a Vietnam veteran too and as far as I know he is still okay. They have a special place in my heart and I am sure that I will never forget them. It is easy to dismiss what you have not truly been touched by. They got to me. I do not delude myself into thinking that I would have cared so much if I had not been so personally involved with them. They do not open up easily. I think the invention of the Internet will help them more than anything else has. They are able to reach out to others across the country and continue the brotherhood.

I have spent the last eighteen years of my life trying to understand Vietnam and veterans of this tragedy. I think about the families behind each of the men who died there on the battlefields and in the jungles. I think about the ones who took their own lives like Andy and the ones like Jack that lived with it all on a daily basis. Again a reminder for me is the statistics that of the 2.8 million that served in Southeast Asia, over one million saw active combat. One million lives offered as a sacrifice for a war no one supported. We went to the Wall That Heals when it came to a nearby town again. We were not sure when we would get to see the real one and couldn’t resist going. They had a list of statistics. The statistics of the other wars made me

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sick. I couldn’t believe the numbers. So I tried to get the percentages to understand clearly what I was seeing.
WAR
WORLD WAR I WORLD WAR II KOREA VIETNAM
SERVED
4,743,826 16,353,659 5,764,143 1,600,000
BATTLE DEAD
OTHER CAUSES 63,195 115,185 20,617
WOUNDED
116,708 407,316 103,284
303,704
MISSING
204,002 672,846 8,177 2,065
53,513 292,131 33,629 58,219 STILL

There are 8 women on the Wall 7 Army nurses and 1 Air Force nurse. 260,000 served during the Vietnam Era with 7,000 to 10,000 served in Vietnam. With 75,000 Vietnam veterans permanently disabled and the figures keep growing. There have been so many suicides by Vietnam veterans there is a growing number of web sites to add the names to the list of war dead.

World War I and Korea combined had only 3,582 more wounded than Vietnam and 10,507,969 served in those two wars vs Vietnam’s 1.6 million that served in the combat environment. 24% were wounded and a 4% death rate compared to the other wars, World War I and II with death rates of 2% and 4% wounded, Korea with 1% death rate, assuming the missing men as KIA and 2% wounded.

Another reason our wedding song “A One in a Million” meant so much. As the list of names is engraved as deeply in the American psyche as it is on the cold black wall in Washington, it must be remembered that the list of the dead is endless. Andy’s name will not appear on the wall. None of the other ones whose lives ended so tragically will be added to the body count. The homeless who battle their demons as well as the cold and hunger will not have their names added to the numbers. The families dealing with these veterans will not be added to the numbers of the wounded. The politicians repeat the phrase “Not another Vietnam” and act as

COSTOS FOR THE LOVE OF JACK 167

if it is something out of history. Vietnam never ended. It is lived on a daily basis. You cannot look into the eyes of a homeless vet and tell him the war is over. You cannot look into the eyes of the men and women who are in the veteran’s hospitals around the country and tell them it is time to get on with their lives and forget about it. You cannot pass it off as past tense when it is the same now as it was then for these men and women we asked to serve and suffer because of it. I can’t forget.

As for Jack and me, I am not sure what will happen. We still have to worry about Agent Orange and now the VA is concerned about hepatitis as well as diabetes. It was bad enough worrying about birth defects. He still has his claim for an increase pending after over a year and finally turned in all his paper work for disability retirement for his job. I don’t know if he will get worse without working but I know that it is making things worse for him where he is. I don’t have to see my psychologist every two weeks anymore. I only see her once a month now. I am dealing well with the frustration and anger. It also helps that Jack’s medicine has him having more “better” days than before. He is adjusting and is able to get involved more, but I seem to be always waiting for the other shoe to drop. I can’t get used to having him back in my life as an active part of the family. It seems too good to be true for both Rachel and me at times. Even my family members are surprised with some of the changes in Jack. He was never excluded from anything but most of the time he didn’t want to go where we were going. He was welcomed but if he chose not to, it was fine with us. I knew better than to try to force him to go. If it were really important to me that he was with me, I’d let him know and allow him to make the choice without having to hear about it from me. I was accustomed to being alone, but delighted when he was there. We spent too many years dealing with the unpredictable that we know better than to relax but we are enjoying the good days as they come.

COSTOS FOR THE LOVE OF JACK 168

Still I am confident that we will be okay. Rachel tells me that she wants to be like me. I tell her to set higher standards. I think I have taught her that there are no limits on her abilities except for the ones she sets. All my life, I have heard that I was not supposed to do this or that, and I was more determined to do it just to prove them wrong. I hope that I have taught Rachel values and morals. My life has taught me a great deal about myself. I hated the fact that I was sensitive all my life. Jack’s illness made me realize that it was not a handicap or a character flaw. It meant that I was able to feel things deeply. Sadness touched me deeper than others. It also meant that I could feel good things more deeply as well. I told Jack that I would rather carry all the pain I was feeling so that I could feel love as much as I did. I would not trade a second of pain if it meant that I would have to give up a second of wonderment as well. I could feel the sun set when the fire in the sky left me speechless. Holding Rachel in my arms from the day she was born or the sound of her voice when she tells me, “I love you.” I never get tired of hearing it. The bad things that happened in my life are there in the shadows of all that was good and faded from memory while the good stood out comforting me, warmed me and I found strength. That was the trade off Jack gave. To keep from feeling the pain he had to keep from feeling the good as well.

I don’t have all the answers. I am just like everyone else on the planet trying to do the best I can with what is. I was blessed with curiosity and have learned because of it. It is because of this curiosity that I was able to understand Jack better. Reading about PTSD, reaching out to others dealing with it and suffering because of it, gave me comfort in an odd way. There was so many years that I felt absolutely alone. I was ashamed of Jack when he talked to himself or acted odd in front of people, or when his twitch got too noticeable. I saw the way people looked at him. Part of me wanted to slap them and the other part wanted to hide. I wished that someone

COSTOS FOR THE LOVE OF JACK 169

could understand and show some compassion. Then I didn't want anyone to know because I was afraid that they wouldn’t be able to understand what our life was like. He was suffering. We were all suffering. I couldn’t get anyone to understand his illness, so I thought it would be a waste of time for me to talk about the effects it had on my life as his wife and our daughter’s life. How could anyone understand that I was living without all the normal things that people expect out of life? I didn’t have a normal marriage and it was hard, but it wasn’t impossible.
So many people in the world have what is considered normal. Too many others do not. For whatever reason, life isn’t fair and the distribution of good stuff is dolled out with the luck of the drawer. There are lonely people, sick people, hurting people who don’t have what they want. The trick is to be content with having what we need. I had everything I needed. I had a good life with Jack in the beginning. I ended up losing what I thought was important. Then I realized that I am happier than I have ever been. I have a wonderful daughter, nice home, good job, great family and friends to share my life with. It doesn’t matter anymore that my life didn’t turn out the way I thought it would. In some ways, it turned out better. I am stronger and more confident than I would have been otherwise.

I can only suggest that if you are married to someone with PTSD or any other illness, stop taking a look at what is not in your life and start being thankful for what is in your life. Grow in faith and patience, knowing who you are and where you came from. Think about what your life would be like if you didn’t share it with someone so special that had to suffer deeply for being able to feel. Look at them for the qualities that live on and be proud of them for simply getting up out of bed every day. Think about what I told you about Jack, the progression of the illness and what he went through all these years. I am sure you will find the same amazing qualities in the eyes of the one you share your life with. In the end it doesn’t matter what the

COSTOS FOR THE LOVE OF JACK 170

illness is or what the problem is. All that really matters is healing. Not just the body or mind, but healing your spirit.

I remember a story in the Bible about being tested by fire. I know that I have come through the fire with some scars that remind me of where I was and what I went through, but the fire didn’t win. Vietnam left scars on Jack but it didn’t win. It didn’t destroy what is good inside him. There are similarities between us that I see more clearly than before. I lost the connection with God and so did Jack. I regained faith and I pray that Jack will someday remember the alter boy days when faith was as natural as breathing. We have been through a remarkable life together and we will go on facing whatever comes the way we have faced everything else, together.
He was my best friend. Then I became his. Vietnam was his war, but it became my
battle.

Jack and I have been married for 26 years now.

This was one of my first videos and it may help you to understand better.



Here's a story from a young veteran about coming home.

That’s coming back. We have to adjust to all of these things, often in a short period of time, often without the full under standing of our loved ones who we continue to protect from what we’ve seen. Com ing back is hard. Adjusting, accepting changes not of our own making is difficult. Living a“normal”life again can seem beyond our reach.

‘Coming home is different from coming back’

By Setti Warren
May 31, 2011
Two years ago, I re turned from a yearlong deployment in Iraq, where I served as a naval intelligence specialist.

Memorial Day has a special significance for me, as I think about the brave men and women I served with, and also the service of past generations, who helped defend the free dom we enjoy today.

My father, who was a Korean War veteran, was a major inspiration in my decision to enlist after 9/11.

During my deployment in northern Iraq, we worked together to provide accurate, detailed, and real-time intel­ligence support to troops on the front lines. I was honored to be there, and my time in Iraq gave me a deep understanding of the security challenges we face around the globe, as well as the importance of investing in intelligence gathering.

Returning from my deploy ment, I also understand first hand the difficulties many veterans face during the transition.Veterans return to a world that has changed in our absence. We have missed happy occasions like birthdays and anniversaries. Our absence was deeply felt during times of hardship and sadness.

And we have changed as well. We have seen some of the worst of humanity, and our courage and character has been tested like never before.

Coming home, we are once again embraced by loved ones and welcomed back with cere mony – parades and barbecues in our honor, family, friends and neighbors all clamoring to tell us how much they missed us and how glad they are to have us back.

But coming home is very dif ferent from coming back.

Coming back means inte grating ourselves once again into the world we left behind – our day-to-day jobs and bills, the endless“to do”list that was put on hold, household repairs and family chores left undone.

We must acclimate to signifi cant change: Congress shifted parties, our favorite coffee shop closed down, our kids want new video games we’ve never heard of, and a local sports team went from perennial loser to world champion.
read more here

‘Coming home is different from coming back’

We Honor Veterans, trains hospice workers to serve dying veterans

Program tailors hospice care to traumatized veterans

By RAY SEGEBRECHT

Special to The Star

The Vietnam veteran pulled low the bill of his baseball cap, staring absently at the small terrier splayed across his lap.

From his recliner, he wouldn’t let Crossroads Hospice chaplain Ron McCullough see his eyes or the trauma behind them — now decades old, yet intensifying as he drew nearer each day to death.

Though graphic memories of killing Viet Cong were resurfacing, increasingly, he insisted he didn’t want a chaplain. Nor did he want to talk about the war, as if trying to dismiss McCullough and his military service at once.

Gary Jones was dying of cancer, but McCullough detected another condition that he has seen more frequently in recent years: latent post-traumatic stress disorder afflicting dying veterans as they confront unresolved war memories, some for the first time.

McCullough is part of a new national program that offers terminally ill veterans honor and emotional healing. The program, We Honor Veterans, trains hospice workers to serve dying veterans by helping them die peacefully and with pride in their service.



Read more: Program tailors hospice care to traumatized veterans

Gen. Chiarelli: We need more behavioral health specialists

Gen. Chiarelli: We need more behavioral health specialists
The Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army says the armed services needs to "reach out" and help struggling veterans.

CROWLEY: And so when you look at something like PTSD, I've read in several of the articles, you said you just don't have enough psychiatrists and you don't have enough folks who are suffering who want to come and talk because of the stigma to it. So first let me ask you, why are there not enough psychiatrists in the Army? Why are not enough psychiatrists available to the Army?
CHIARELLI: That's a national problem and you're going to have to ask the nation. I have a problem because the rest of the nation has a problem and we have a real deficit in behavioral health specialists in this country. We need more. I need more in the Army.

read more here
We need more behavioral health specialists

Ed Koch wants McCain to help veterans? Really?

Welcome Home, Soldier
Ed Koch
Former Mayor, New York City
The New York Times of May 28, 2011 brought to the attention of the American public the failure of our government to adequately attend to the medical problems of our soldiers who suffered war injuries, physical and mental. This has resulted in thousands of suicides among the returning soldiers.

This part is ok so far but leaves me wondering if he has not been paying attention this far. After all we've been reading all these terrible reports for nine years now, five of those years right here on this blog.

I am a veteran of World War II, honorably discharged in 1946 as a sergeant, having served in the 104th Infantry Division, receiving the combat infantry badge and two battle stars. My suggestion is that President Obama appoint a commission to look into the providing of services to veterans immediately.

This part shows he has not been paying attention because he suggests McCain get involved with helping the veterans when his history of votes has been against veterans!

Because of their history of service and bravery in the Vietnam War and service in so many ways to our country, I suggest the president consider appointing Senators John McCain and John Kerry as co-chairs.

I further suggest they consider recruiting the lawyers of this country through the many bar associations, to volunteer pro bono, to serve as advocates for any soldier whether remaining in the U.S. armed forces or a veteran needing assistance, medical or otherwise, from the government, authorized by law and not receiving it in a timely way.

Koch is also wrong on this since the reports of pro-bono lawyers have been around for years. So what is this all about? Does he feel as if the veterans need attention and he is suddenly aware of what's been happening to them or does Koch need attention? To even suggest McCain for anything with veterans is a slap in the face to veterans across this country. He's gotten away with doing a lot of talking and betraying them right after with his votes.

Memorial Day Service at Glen Haven Memorial Park, Winter Park FL

Memorial Day Service 2011 at Glen Haven Memorial Park, Winter Park FL

Bud Hedinger WFLA Master of Ceremony
Charles Haugubrooks, singer
Chaplain Dick Sauer





With history of how Memorial Day started by State Re-enactment Society

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863




Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.


Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.


We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.


But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.


It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

Second Inaugural Address
March 4, 1865
Fellow-Countrymen:


At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.


On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war--seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.


One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."


With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Living memorials honoring all wars, WWI, WWII, Korean, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Afghanistan and Iraq by Winter Springs High School AJROTC


Lance Cpl. Kyle Davis USMC, back from Afghanistan two weeks before Osama was killed.

Marine Vietnam Vet, standoff with police ends

New details on suspect in Brunswick standoff
Reported by: Torie Wells

For more than 16 hours the area around Packer Avenue in Brunswick was occupied by police cars, officers and negotiators. All were working to get 64-year-old Nicholas Grimaldo out of his home.

"Throughout the day they approached the house with different tactics. They did some disturbing noise and then would talk to him throughout the morning and night," said Donna Ford, a neighbor.

At 7 a.m. Monday morning Ford and several other neighbors were asked to leave their homes and take shelter at a nearby fire department, including Grimaldo's family.

"I was worried for them because you just didn't know how it would turn out," she said.

"I guess he had a history of PTSD, he was a Marine veteran in Vietnam," she said. "You knew it was a fellow who was not well as opposed to a criminal."

Neighbors said off camera he was a good father, grandfather, friend. They say that where they live is a close community and that their thoughts are with Grimaldo and his family.

read more here
New details on suspect in Brunswick standoff

VA finally thinks about outreach?

Every time I go to an event to listen to experts, I keep asking about outreach and why they are not doing it. It's common sense! One thing the "experts" seem to lack. I never could get a serious answer. I've asked about this when talking about PTSD and homeless veterans. I've asked about it when talking about suicides. Divorces. I've asked politicians.

VA secretary: Agency has to do better outreach
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday May 31, 2011 18:57:30 EDT
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Veterans affairs officials must do a better job reaching out to Alaska’s military vets, especially those in remote communities where access to services is difficult, the nation’s top official for veterans’ affairs said.

Eric Shinseki, secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, said the issue of access has a different meaning in Alaska, where many communities are off the road system.

But the issue is being addressed with a move away from large health care centers for veterans to community-based outpatient clinics and vet centers and mobile clinics, he said Monday during a visit to the state.
read more here
VA secretary: Agency has to do better outreach

Outreach is priceless and maybe that's part of the problem. It doesn't cost much money at all. As a matter of fact I've been doing it for almost 20 years online and even longer face to face. It is draining, makes me cry a lot, miss a lot of sleep and then I get the email from another organization asking ME for a donation! Anyway, this kind of thing takes two things. Time and love. Ok, toss in patience too but congress won't even listen unless someone is going to make money off of it.

Fort Carson soldier drowns in Skagway Reservoir

Fort Carson soldier drowns in Skagway Reservoir
By Jakob Rodgers
The Gazette

A Fort Carson soldier drowned over the weekend in a reservoir near Victor.

Staff Sgt. Robert Shetler, 27, was pulled from Skagway Reservoir on Friday by friends who he was supposed to meet that day, said Al Born, the Teller County coroner. His friends tried CPR while other people drove on a dirt road to reach cell phone reception and call for help.



Read more: Fort Carson soldier drowns in Skagway Reservoir - The Denver Post
Fort Carson soldier drowns in Skagway Reservoir

Rancho Palos Verdes Marine dead after 8-story fall from hotel

19-year-old Rancho Palos Verdes Marine dead after 8-story fall from hotel, alcohol suspected
By Jared Thompson
May 31st, 2011

“Luke Monahan of Rancho Palos Verdes and his fellow Marines had a four-day pass for the long Memorial Day weekend that they planned to spend in Waikiki, but Monahan promised his mom and dad back home in Southern California Friday night that he would not drink”, according to the Star Advertiser.

The Star Advertiser story continues, “So Eileen and Terry Monahan of Palos Verdes want to know why — and how — their 19-year-old son fell to his death Saturday morning from the Ilima Hotel.

“I want answers and I want to talk to the two Marines that were in the room with him,” Eileen said. “I want to know if anyone gave him a drink because he was underage. I want to know if there was a fight or if there was a broken fence and he fell through it. He wouldn’t just jump.”
read more here
Rancho Palos Verdes Marine dead after 8-story fall

Memorial Day at South Florida cemetery: Prayers, tears, pride

Memorial Day at South Florida cemetery: Prayers, tears, pride
By Susannah Bryan, Sun Sentinel
7:04 p.m. EDT, May 30, 2011

WEST LAKE WORTH—
A young veteran walked through the crowd at a national cemetery Monday and stopped at a wheelchair to shake the hand of World War II vet Rudy Warshawsky.

As a member of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, Warshawsky, 84, of Delray Beach, was one of many who stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day in 1944.

After sharing a few words with the young vet, the old man's eyes welled with tears.

"I don't go for all this hero business," he said. "I'm not a hero. The ones who didn't make it home are the heroes."

On Memorial Day, Warshawsky and nearly 500 patriotic Americans flocked to the South Florida National Cemetery, the region's only military cemetery and one of five in the state. They came to honor the nation's fallen heroes with prayers, pride and spirit.

"Today we all come together to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we could be here today," said U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, a retired Army lieutenant colonel. West urged the crowd gathered on the lawn before him to not forget the country's war dead – including 15 soldiers killed overseas in recent days.

read more here

Memorial Day at South Florida cemetery

 

Vietnam veteran with visible scars from RPGs and gunfire

Your Story: Suffering With PTSD

Posted: May 31, 2011 5:38 PM

By Rylee DeGood

Monday, we told you about a Vietnam veteran with visible scars from RPGs and gunfire.

But his wounds go much deeper, as he's lived over three decades struggling with Post-Ttraumatic Stress Disorder and has since written a book to help those in the same position.

"Since the beginning of man kind, warriors would leave their loved ones and gallantly ride into battle," read Tony Seahorn, out of the book "Tears of a Warrior" he co-authored with his wife. He continued. "Many returned victorious but often the scars of combat were deep. The injury to the soul became known as Soldier's heart, shell shock, combat fatigue and PTSD. War has it's price."

Tony's war experience started at age 21, when he was sent for his first deployment to Vietnam. "For those of us who have spent a lot of time in combat, you do see a lot of horrors, and there is a lot of collateral damage where innocent civilians, if you will women and children, are also involved in the after math of combat."

His wife Janet, helped in the authoring of the book, sharing her experiences of living with a man with a disorder she didn't understand. "She talks about the Jakyle and Hyde affect, there was this side of me she didn't understand and we really didn't talk about it," he said. "I was really feeling a lot of pain and hurting inside and all she saw was the anger and some of the anxiety that was very difficult to interpret.

He first saw the light at the end of the tunnel while going through a two year combat PTSD study with CU Medical Center. "That's when I started really turning around and understanding the bases for the nightmares, the anxiety, the panic attacks that I was able to mass for most of my life.

He said one of the most important things he learned during the study was sometimes the scars are so deep they will never quite heal. "I know once I learned that nothing was going to change as far as the hurt and the horrors of war and that what I had to do was work my way through it, then the process started falling into place."

read more and see video here
Suffering With PTSD

Returning Vets Straining VA

Returning Vets Straining VA
May 31, 2011
York Daily Record

According to the Associated Press, the agency's current budget is $129 billion. That includes $58.8 billion in discretionary spending. The Obama administration has requested a 4.5 percent increase.

Sgt. Geoffrey Alexander Emschweiler of Red Lion gets out of the Army in the fall, and he's trying to figure out what to do with his life.

He's been in the Army for almost five years,including stints in Iraq and Afghanistan. He's seen combat in both countries. Last year, he won two Army Commendation Medals with Valor.

He's getting treatment for his post-traumatic stress disorder. He took a pass on the medication, but said he is receiving counseling.

These days, Emschweiler said, the Army does a good job educating combat veterans like himself about PTSD's pervasiveness and symptoms. There's no longer a stigma attached.

He sought treatment when found he was able to sleep for only a couple of hours each night. When he did sleep, he'd have nightmares about friends who got killed.

When he goes into a room, he's acutely aware of things like his position in relation to the door and where people are holding their hands. Standing in a crowd, or loud noises, will make his heart beat fast and his adrenaline kick in. Suddenly, he's back in combat mode.

"It's hard to turn it off," he said.

Emschweiler is 22 years old.

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Returning Vets Straining VA

High Rate Respiratory Problems Plague Veterans of Afghanistan, Iraq

High Rate Respiratory Problems Plague Veterans of Afghanistan, Iraq
By Alicia Acuna
Published May 31, 2011
FoxNews.com


Army veteran Scott Weakley has lived his life following many of the rules about health.

A former marathon runner, Weakley, 46, avoided smoking and drinking. So in 2005, after returning from serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kuwait the former Army major was baffled why he was not able to do simple things.

"When I got back I could barely run a quarter of a mile," Weakley says. "I could barely go up two or three flights of stairs, I could barely play with my son in the front yard, baseball, maybe 10, 15 minutes."

CT scans showed nothing, so he feared it was all in his mind. "Outwardly, I looked very healthy, so I was like, 'Is this psychological, or am I just making this up?'"

A lung biopsy found Weakley had a rare disease known as constrictive bronchiolitis, a condition he says he did not have before deployment.What's more, Weakley learned he was just one of a growing number of U.S. veterans who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan that had received the same diagnosis --or had asthma or some other respiratory illness.


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Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Arthur Petry, Wounded Ranger to be awarded Medal of Honor

Wounded Ranger to be awarded Medal of Honor
E-7 from 75th Ranger Regiment is 2nd living recipient since Afghanistan, Iraq wars began
Staff report
Posted : Tuesday May 31, 2011 18:26:25 EDT

ARMY Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Arthur Petry lost his right hand and suffered other wounds after throwing a grenade away from his fellow soldiers in Afghanistan.

An Army Ranger who lost his right hand and suffered shrapnel wounds after throwing a grenade away from his fellow soldiers will receive the Medal of Honor July 12, the White House announced Tuesday.

Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Arthur Petry will be the second living Medal of Honor recipient from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Petry, like Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, who received the nation’s highest award for valor in November, will be honored for actions while serving in Afghanistan.

Petry, 31, will be recognized for his actions during combat operations May 26, 2008, in Paktya, Afghanistan.

“It's very humbling to know that the guys thought that much of me and my actions that day, to nominate me for that,” Petry said when he learned he had been nominated for the medal, according to an Army news story.
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Wounded Ranger to be awarded Medal of Honor

Specialist’s sacrifice spurs soldiers to reach out to Afghan villagers

Specialist’s sacrifice spurs soldiers to reach out to Afghan villagers
By LAURA RAUCH
Stars and Stripes
Published: May 30, 2011

COMBAT OUTPOST NALGHAM, Afghanistan - Spc. Preston Dennis didn’t have to come back just yet. It had been less than a year since he had left Afghanistan, and the Army owed him more time with his wife before he had to return.

But his new unit, the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, was deploying to the Kandahar province. At just 23, he was a veteran and a team leader, and he couldn’t let his men go without him. He and his wife, Heather, signed the official paperwork allowing him to return three months early.

“It’s kind of hard. You want to be there for your family, but once you become a leader, you’re supposed to be there for your military family, too,” said Staff Sgt. Chuck Stevens, Dennis’ squad leader. “That’s what he chose to do.”

A month had passed since Company C arrived in the Nalgham region, just southwest of Kandahar city and about two miles from Sangsar, home of Taliban founder and spiritual leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. Patrols were going out daily, and most were taking small arms fire. Several improvised explosive devices had been uncovered, and a few had blown. More than 10 soldiers had been wounded.

Just before dusk on April 28, soldiers from the third platoon set out on a night patrol near the village of Sarkilla. As they made their way from a poppy field onto a road, an insurgent spotter was perched nearby, quietly waiting to kill them.

Dennis was at the end of the column and one of the last to leave the poppy field. When it was his turn to step into the road, the silent attacker tripped a device, which sent a current of electricity down a wire to a buried IED. The earth beneath Dennis ripped open in a violent explosion of debris and smoke.
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Specialist’s sacrifice spurs soldiers to reach out to Afghan villagers

Father wonders when suicides due to combat will matter

Even in suicide, soldiers' families deserve condolences from president
By Gregg Keesling, Special to CNN
May 30, 2011 2:18 p.m. EDT

Chancellor Keesling and his father, Gregg Keesling in April, 2009

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Gregg Keesling says his son, Chance, died by suicide when he was serving in Iraq in 2009
He says he learned later that the suicide would keep Obama from sending condolences
The White House is reviewing policy; what's taking so long, he asks? This sends wrong message
Keesling: Policy telegraphs that suicide is dishonorable

Editor's note: Gregg Keesling's son, Army Spc. Chancellor Keesling, died in Iraq in 2009. Keesling is president of Workforce, Inc. an electronic recycling company that help provide employment for those coming home from incarceration

(CNN) -- Two years ago, my son, Army Spc. Chancellor Keesling, died by suicide in Iraq. He was 25 and on his second deployment.

Shortly after his death, my wife, Jannett, and I learned of a long-standing policy in which presidential letters of condolence are withheld from families of American service members who die by suicide.

We wrote to President Barack Obama on August 3, 2009, asking him to reverse this policy, and since then we have tried to keep up a steady drumbeat for change. There has been a fair amount of media attention, including from CNN, and recently U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, co-chair of the Senate Military Family Caucus, and a bipartisan group of Senate colleagues sent a letter to the president on behalf of this issue, echoing a bipartisan request from House members.

We learned in late 2009 that the White House would be reviewing the policy, when then-White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told then-CNN reporter Elaine Quijano that the White House had inherited this policy and was reviewing it. Yet as of this writing, we and the hundreds of other families whose children have died by suicide while at war wait for a result.
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Even in suicide

Secondary PTSD over diagnosed?

Considering I met my husband way back in 1982, you may be shocked to hear I agree with this study. Why? It is not that I do not believe there is such a thing as "secondary PTSD" since I know what it is like to live with a veteran with PTSD, but it is more I believe the spouses have been able to avoid it by understanding what it is and their role in all of this.

Do wives end up with paying the price for their husbands' service? You bet they do. It isn't just the stress of deployments they are under or the constant worry of the strange car in the driveway, but it is more of a case of basically watching them die inside. The family of a PTSD veteran has to walk on eggshells, never knowing what will set off a situation. Even something as simple as walking up a husband in the middle of a nightmare can produce a black eye or bloody nose if it is not done right. There is constant stress until they begin to heal. By that time, most wives have figured out what works and what doesn't. Now, we can hang onto anger and hurt feelings and allow them to eat away whatever happiness we should have, or we can understand it enough to be able to forgive and find our own kind of normal to live a happier life together.

Keep in mind this does take two to do it. There are many spouses actually being abused, physically and emotionally. If they have no clue what's going on, it is like living in hell. The kids pay the price as well. Emotional roller coasters are not much fun at all for anyone even if there isn't any kind of abuse.

Living with PTSD can be depressing to the point where we don't eat, don't sleep and some will stop doing things they enjoyed. We go to work, hear other wives complain about stupid silly things and we wish we had their problems instead of facing what we will go home to. I remember those darks days well but maybe I'm one of the lucky ones since I knew all along what PTSD was and what it was doing to my husband.

Over the years I've met a lot of other wives with stories worse than what I had been through and many of them ended up having to bury their husband because of suicides no one wanted to talk about at the time. Support was no where to be found for them, so they had to do it on their own. When I say older wives had nothing, consider the Internet was not around until the 90's.

Today a spouse, female or male, has the ability to find a lot of support out there and a means to heal the family.

I went to see a psychologist even knowing what I knew because the stress caused me to actually feel angry. I'm the type of person slow to anger, and if I get angry, I blow then get over it. I was at a point where I couldn't let go of it. I saw a psychologist for several months fully aware of what PTSD was and talking to her because she understood helped me more than anything else could at the time. I strongly suggest that to avoid "secondary PTSD" a spouse needs to find a support group with people knowing what life is like for her/him.

If this turns out to be a story with a twist and it is under-diagnosed as later suggested in this article, then the need to have support for the spouse can no longer be dismissed.

When none of us get the support and help we need to heal from combat, it all goes beyond our front door and will carry on for generations.

Study: Secondary PTSD Overdiagnosed
May 31, 2011
Military.com|by Amy Bushatz

More than half of military spouses who think they are suffering from secondary PTSD symptoms may have been misdiagnosed, a new study finds.

"A lot of times, people see a spouse that's distressed and say it's secondary PTSD," said Keith Renshaw, a psychology professor at George Mason University who authored the study. "There's kind of an over-assumption that this is prevalent, and that anything and everything that comes up for a spouse is due to that."

Secondary post-traumatic stress disorder has become a common catch-all label in the military community for the intense stress many spouses feel while living with a veteran suffering from PTSD. Unlike caretaker stress or stress from traumatic events in their own lives, secondary PTSD has sudden, specific characteristics including vivid dreams about the servicemember's traumatic event or avoiding reminders of that event, Renshaw said.

The study, due for release this fall, found that up to 41 percent of the 190 spouses it surveyed had symptoms similar to those linked with secondary PTSD. But when questioned further, only about 15 percent of respondents pointed to their husbands' military experience as the sole cause for their stress -- a key trait of secondary PTSD.

The popularity of the term "secondary PTSD" may have been caused by the desire among spouses to give a name to the feelings they are experiencing, Renshaw said. But without mental health expertise to sort through their issues, spouses can easily misidentify their symptoms -- a mistake that may lead to improper treatment, he said.

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Secondary PTSD Overdiagnosed

VA secretary learns what 'rural' means for Alaska veterans

VA secretary learns what 'rural' means for Alaska veterans
The nation's top official for veterans affairs told reporters in Anchorage on Memorial Day that his agency can and must do a better job of reaching military veterans.
BY LISA DEMER
LDEMER@ADN.COM

ERIK HILL / Anchorage Daily News

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki pauses for a chat with Fred "Bulldog" Becker IV of the Vietnam Veterans Motorcycle Club after a Memorial Day ceremony May 30, 2011, at the Veterans Memorial on the Delaney Park Strip. Shinseki attended the downtown event and delivered the keynote address at the Fort Richardson National Cemetery observance. He was also scheduled to fly to Bethel and Kwigillingok on his Alaska trip hosted by Sen. Mark Begich.

The nation's top official for veterans affairs told reporters in Anchorage on Memorial Day that his agency can and must do a better job of reaching military veterans.

Eric Shinseki, secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, is in Alaska for several days at the invitation of U.S. Sen. Mark Begich. He spoke to a crowd of hundreds Monday at Fort Richardson National Cemetery.

During his time here, he's meeting with veterans in Anchorage. And he's traveling with Begich, a Democrat from Anchorage who is on both the Armed Services and Veterans Affairs committees, to Bethel and the village of Kwigillingok.

Shinseki noted that Alaska has the highest concentration of veterans in the country, with 17 percent of the state population identified as such. Some 77,000 veterans live in Alaska.

Shinseki is a retired Army general who served as Army chief of staff from 1999 to June 2003. He clashed with then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld during the planning of the war in Iraq over how many troops were needed, calling for several hundred thousand soldiers during postwar occupation, many more than Rumsfeld wanted. Some military leaders have said since then that Shinseki was right.
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VA secretary learns what 'rural' means