US Troops Heavily Medicated on Prescription Drugs, Report Warns

Yesterday I posted about how giving medication alone was not working for a reason.

Telling veterans to only pop pills, nails coffins

Now here's more news that you need to know.

"The medications they use shouldn't be so heavily prescribed in combat," said Dr. Judith Broder, a psychiatrist and founder of the Soldiers Project, a nonprofit counseling service.


"But they can't afford to send anyone home. They need the bodies -- health and welfare are secondary," she said.

US Troops Heavily Medicated on Prescription Drugs, Report Warns
Updated: Wednesday, 22 Jun 2011, 3:39 PM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 22 Jun 2011, 3:02 PM EDT

(The Daily) - Men and women in the US military are more medicated than ever -- and their doctors do not even know who takes what, The Daily reported Wednesday.

The Department of Defense does not keep track of medical prescriptions doled out to service members in combat, despite ongoing pleas from federal officials to do just that.

Last week, a report on the military's 2012 budget from the House Appropriations Committee remarked that the prescription of pain management drugs is handled inconsistently, especially in battle.

The report also handed down an ultimatum: within two months of the budget's approval, the committee wants concrete information on "the required steps and potential obstacles toward electronic transmission of prescription drug data."

A 2010 US Army study found that 14 percent of soldiers had been prescribed an opiate painkiller, with 95 percent of those prescriptions for oxycodone, a notoriously-addictive pharmaceutical best known by the brand name OxyContin.

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US Troops Heavily Medicated on Prescription Drugs

Unseen Wounds of War: Serving the Mental Health Needs of Our Troops

Posted February 20th, 2011 by USNavySeals

In a previous post, we talked about the increased use of psychiatric prescription drugs among troops who fought – and are still fighting – in the Iraqi and Afghan wars. This increase in medications is brought about by the various mental health conditions that service members and combat veterans face.

That being said, however, the same feature on The New York Times shared that the military continues to report a shortage of therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists. It seems that medications are more readily available, when compared against the medical professionals who have the license to prescribe them.
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Serving the Mental Health Needs of Our Troops

Army Widow Channels Grief Into Running

Army Widow Channels Grief Into Running
Austin Jenkins
06/22/2011

DUPONT, Wash. — This weekend, an Army widow named Lisa Hallett will lead a group of runners in Seattle's Rock 'n' Roll marathon and half-marathon. They are members of a running club that formed during an especially deadly deployment of Washington-based soldiers to Afghanistan. For Hallett and her teammates, running has become not only a way to remember their loved ones, but an outlet for their grief.

It's a Saturday morning in DuPont, Washington – just across Interstate 5 from Joint Base Lewis-McChord. More than 350 people in blue shirts have gathered in a local park.

"Moment of silence please."

Army Lt. Ben Hunter leads a weekly ritual. Members of the group call out the names of fallen soldiers – starting with the 5th Stryker Brigade.

Hunter calls out, "From 1-17 infantry Sgt. Troy Tom, Pfc. Jonathan Yanney, Capt. John Hallett."

Dozens of names later, the circle breaks up. Shoe laces are tied, maps are checked and then they're off - a ribbon of blue snaking through the wooded park trails, the sound of footfalls on pavement.

Wear Blue: Run to Remember is a group of military families, supporters and even soldiers who gather each week to run and remember the war dead.

Founder Lisa Hallett says she first got serious about running when her Army husband went to Ranger school.
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Army Widow Channels Grief Into Running

Dad of arson suspect who jumped off overpass: Gov't didn't help with PTSD

Dad of arson suspect who jumped off overpass: Gov't didn't help with PTSD

by Rucks Russell / KHOU 11 News
khou.com
Posted on June 22, 2011

HOUSTON—The father of a suspected serial arsonist blames the government for not doing enough to help his son fight post traumatic stress disorder.

"He needed help and they didn’t step up to the plate," said the man, who asked not to be identified.

The man’s son, Stanley White, jumped to his death from a highway overpass Tuesday morning. Authorities suspected the 28-year-old of setting several fires at apartment complexes and houses throughout southwest Houston.

According to his father, White was an Army veteran and served as a mine-sweeper in the last Iraq war.

"He went over one way but came back a different man," said his father. "Sometimes I would look in his eyes and not know where he was. I didn’t see the child I raised."
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Dad of arson suspect who jumped off overpass


Father: Suspected serial arsonist was veteran who suffered from PTSD
by Nakia Cooper & Courtney Zubowski / khou.com
khou.com
Posted on June 21, 2011

HOUSTON— The young man suspected in several arson fires was a veteran of the Iraq War who suffered from post traumatic stress disorder, according to his father.

The suspect, whose name hasn't been released, died early Tuesday after jumping 70 feet from Highway 59 during a police chase.

The suspect’s father was visibly distraught hours after learning of his death.

The father, who didn’t want to be identified, said his son was traumatized in the Army when he served as a minesweeper during the war.
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Suspected serial arsonist was veteran who suffered from PTSD

Red Cross unveiling military emergency call center

REGION: Red Cross unveiling military emergency call center

By MARK WALKER mlwalker@nctimes.com

The San Diego Chapter of the American Red Cross has hired nearly three dozen workers as it launches the agency's only military emergency call center west of the Mississippi River.

Set for unveiling on Thursday, the San Diego center is expected to deliver as many as 170,000 such messages involving significant family news to more than 60,000 troops stationed worldwide.

"We're extremely honored and excited to chosen as only one of four calling sites across the country," said San Diego Red Cross spokeswoman Teri Klemchuk.

Thursday's ceremony begins at 10 a.m. at the call center, 3950 Calle Fortunada, San Diego. A variety of military officials and community leaders are expected to attend.

Red Cross officials have moved in recent months to streamline services and cut administrative costs, leading to consolidating call centers into the San Diego site along with ones at Fort Sill, Okla., Louisville, Ky., and Springfield, Mass.
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Red Cross unveiling military emergency call center

Major Benjamin C. “Pat” Hartman Jr. died in Vietnam has bridge in his name

Local bridge dedicated to Vietnam veteran
Hero remembered 43 years later

Written by
Eric Miller
Hendersonville Star News

Tim Hartman has very few memories of his war hero father, but the ones he has are precious. Tim was only four years old when his father, Army pilot Major Benjamin C. “Pat” Hartman Jr. died in Vietnam on Sept. 19, 1968.

Nearly 43 years later, on June 17, Tim Hartman gathered with family members, public officials and local residents to remember his father and dedicate a bridge in his honor on Vietnam Veterans Boulevard at the Center Point Road exit in Hendersonville.
red more here
Local bridge dedicated to Vietnam veteran

More military women in harm's way than ever before

For Soldiers, Death Sees No Gender Lines

By ROD NORDLAND
Published: June 21, 2011


MEHTARLAM, Afghanistan — When Specialist Devin Snyder, a 20-year-old from the Southern Tier of New York State, was killed by a bomb planted on a highway near this town in eastern Laghman Province on June 4, she became the 28th female American soldier to die in Afghanistan.

Servicewomen have died in all of America’s wars, but usually they were support personnel such as nurses and clerks. In Afghanistan, most women who have died were killed in combat situations, as Specialist Snyder was, despite the military’s official prohibition on women in combat jobs.

The same has been true in Iraq, where 111 female soldiers have died, according to data compiled by icasualties.org, an independent organization that tracks military fatalities. In both wars, 60 percent of those deaths are classified by the military as due to hostile acts.

Wars with no clear front lines have put women in harm’s way more than ever before, blurring the boundaries between combat jobs that are outlawed for women, and support jobs that are often as dangerous and in some cases even more so.
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For Soldiers, Death Sees No Gender Lines
linked from Stars and Stripes

Military Dog Adoption Requests On Rise After Bin Laden Raid

Military Dog Adoption Requests On Rise

Military Dogs Classified As Inventory; Adoptions Up After Bin Laden Raid

SAN DIEGO -- Retirement for America's four-legged military veterans is looking a lot brighter.

Nearly two months after a Navy SEAL dog joined the raid that ended in the death of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, the list of those wanting to adopt military dogs is getting longer.

At a dog park in Encinitas, 10News learned 12-year-old Chyba was an Army patrol dog who once served at a prison in Iraq. Now, the German Shepherd spends her days with Jim Silveira, who cares for Chyba when her owner -- the wife of oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens -- is away.

Silveira heads the Rancho Coastal Humane Society in Encinitas, and Chyba is believed to be the only adopted retired military dog in the San Diego area.
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Military Dog Adoption Requests On Rise

Telling veterans to only pop pills, nails coffins

by
Chaplain Kathie

The search has been on for so long now that the obvious has been forgotten. Virtual Reality graphics, all over the blog world for the last couple of years, is not the answer to all but can help some. Name the project funded and you'll find something someone wants to do but the bulk of our troops and veterans are given medication and sent on their way.

The obvious is therapy but few end up getting it. I've been reading what the experts have to say for almost 30 years now. Some "experts" have a book to sell or their own program to push. Others have only one agenda and that is to help veterans heal. These experts have said all along that PTSD is an "anxiety disorder" caused by traumatic events. In other words, not something they were born with. PTSD strikes only after traumatic events and all humans are subjected to it. The accepted rate is one out of three but some say "one out of five" for one exposure. Car accidents, natural disasters and crimes can cause PTSD after one exposure.

In New York, there has been an increase of PTSD linked back to September 11th attacks.

What is the treatment for PTSD
Treatment most often consists of individual and/or family therapy, group meetings with other PTSD sufferers, and sometimes medicines. Medicines used to treat the symptoms of PTSD include antidepressants, lithium, anti-anxiety medicines, beta-blockers, clonidine and others.

What can I do to help get my PTSD under control?
Meet regularly with your therapist and/or support group.
Learn stress management, assertiveness, relaxation and/or self-hypnosis.
Avoid highly stimulating or violent TV, movies, music, videotapes, or situations that increase your anxiety or symptoms.
Since sleep can be a problem with this disorder, learn ways to promote restful sleep.
Eat a healthy diet.
Exercise regularly.
Discuss the social use of alcohol with your therapist or counselor.
Avoid street drugs.
Work at forming and maintaining friendships and a network of support.
Work hard in therapy.
Accept that there may be setbacks.
Take medicines regularly if they have been prescribed for you.
Ask for help when you need it.

Notice that medications are at the bottom of the to do list and therapy is at the top?

Several years later studies came out showing that it was not just the survivors of the Twin Towers, but responders and New Yorkers facing this life altering challenge.

PTSD and September 11
Several studies have been published that examined rates of PTSD as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. One study of 2,733 people across the United States conducted in October and November of 2001 found that 11.2% of New York City residents had PTSD, and 4% of U.S. residents had PTSD. Another study of 998 adults in New York City five to nine weeks after the attacks found that 7.5% had PTSD.

Distance Made a Difference

As would be expected, people who were in closer proximity to the attacks have been found to have higher rates of PTSD. In particular, 20% of people who lived below Canal Street in New York City (which is close to the World Trade Center) were found to have PTSD following the attacks.

Rates of PTSD in Relief Workers

Another study looked at 109 mental health relief workers who went to Ground Zero for one week during the first 2 months after the 9/11 attacks. This study found that relief workers showed signs of PTSD as a result of direct and indirect exposure to traumatic events at Ground Zero.

Specifically, it was found that 4.6% of relief workers had PTSD as a result of hearing stories from survivors of the attacks. A slightly higher percentage (6.4%) had PTSD as a result of direct exposure to stressors at Ground Zero. However, it is important to point out that 6 to 8 months following the attacks, none of the relief workers were found to have PTSD.

As you can see, the closer they were to the event itself, the more PTSD took hold. You can also see that the responders were changed even though they may not have been there when the Towers were hit or as they came down.

How is it that we can understand someone being forever changed by one event in their lives but cannot understand when they have been exposed to a year of multiple events? How can it be that we expect them to pop some pills and pick up their weapons everyday for the rest of their tour? What's worse is, we seem to expect them to just get over all of it afterwards.

ICasualties.org

When an IED blows up, body parts are disconnected. Some die, some survive. We don't want to think about the rest of the unit seeing all of it any more than we want to think about the people showing up to claim the remains. We sure don't want to think about the fact these men and women can't just go back home, get some rest and take it easy for while. They have to get back into a vehicle and return to duty, facing more and more threats of other bombs planted in the road. Each day increases what PTSD has already begun inside of them but that is just one example. Firefights, suicide bombers, snipers and even some of the locals they are training can and have turned on them. These men and women, when they finally admit they need help, are given medications and sent back to duty. Then the generals wonder why they have such a high suicide rate?

Here is just one example of what life is like after repeated traumatic events and the need for therapy instead of just medication.

Serbs go from pill poppers to couch therapy
By Aleksandra Niksic (AFP) – 1 day ago
BELGRADE — After decades of widespread use of tranquillisers and antidepressants, readily prescribed by doctors, Serbians have discovered the wonders of couch therapy.
"A Benjo a day takes your troubles away," said a tongue-in-cheek Belgrade graffiti featuring the slang name of a popular antidepressant in the 1990s.
It became a mantra for many trying to escape the gloomy everyday life under the repressive rule of the late communist strongman Slobodan Milosevic.
The wars that led to the bloody dissolution of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, the failing economy with dozens of people losing jobs every day, deteriorating living standards and international isolation pushed many to seek help in the form of a "magic pill".
"I simply could not force myself to get out of bed. Just a glance at the news and everything was falling apart. But with tranquillisers a couple of times a day, everything became bearable," said Darja Tosic, a 52-year mother of two.
It was easy to get the pills legally: they were cheap and a regular family doctor could write a prescription, she said.
Health controls were also more lenient with loose regulations on many drugs imported from China, India and Russia that were sold freely, so popping pills was easy.
But a regime change a decade ago brought new methods into what has traditionally been a conservative, macho society where discussing emotions was not encouraged.
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Serbs go from pill poppers to couch therapy

Until the experts without connections to products to sell are heard, those supporting therapy will not be paid attention to and the numbers will still go up. The number of suicides continues to go up along with the attempted suicides. The number of veterans involved with SWAT teams and police officers goes up. Giving them pills to pop is more nails in their coffins but providing them with therapy is healing someone willing to die for the sake of this country.

A pill will not help anyone to forgive themselves or others. Therapy helps them work things out until they are able to do it.

You caused a death. Can you forgive yourself?
By Todd Leopold, CNN
June 22, 2011 8:44 a.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Darin Strauss recounts hitting a cyclist in memoir "Half a Life"
Forgiving yourself -- especially after blameless incident -- is difficult, say counselors
Key to the process: Talking to others, being honest with self

(CNN) -- Darin Strauss was 18, a month from graduating high school, when he climbed into his father's Oldsmobile and picked up some friends to play miniature golf. He drove in the left lane of a four-lane thoroughfare in Long Island, New York, shooting the breeze, enjoying the watercolored scenery, not a care in the world. Up ahead, on his right, two girls pedaled bicycles on the shoulder.

Suddenly, one of the girls swerved left across the road. Strauss, with no time to react, hit her at 40 miles per hour. The girl -- Celine Zilke, a student at Strauss' high school -- died.

Strauss was exonerated by the legal system. His friends, for the most part, were supportive. But he privately carried around the memory of Celine Zilke's death for decades. After a poor experience with a therapist, who seemed as determined to impress Strauss with his sports car as help him past the guilt, Strauss went off to college and essentially buried the incident except to a few intimates.

Charges may be dropped in Fort Campbell soldier's murder trail

Brent Burke Charges Could Be Dropped Tuesday

Dropped Charges First Step For Brent Burke

By Eric King/WLKY

HARDIN COUNTY, Ky. -- A Fort Campbell soldier charged in a double slaying may have spent his last night in jail.

In September 2007, the bodies of Tracy Burke and her former mother-in-law, Karen Comer, were found shot to death inside Comer's Rineyville home.

The victim’s 9-year-old child called 911 and said he witnessed the slayings of his mother and grandmother.

Tracy Burke’s husband, Brent Burke, a military police officer at Fort Campbell, was arrested and charged and charged in the slayings.
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Brent Burke Charges Could Be Dropped Tuesday

More Fort Campbell news

Fort Campbell soldier sentenced to 8 years
in prison on child abuse charges
12:23 AM, Jun. 15, 2011

Written by
Tavia D. Green

A Fort Campbell soldier will serve eight years in prison for beating his 4-month-old son.

James S. Marcinkowski Sr., 23, was indicted in March and charged with one count of aggravated child abuse/ neglect. According to his arrest warrant, Marcinkowski took his 4-month-old son to Blanchfield Army Community Hospital's emergency room on Jan. 3 between 12:30 and 3 p.m. because the infant was bleeding from the mouth.
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Fort Campbell soldier sentenced to 8 years

A Fort Campbell soldierhas been charged with criminal homicide and attempted criminal homicide after two people were shot at an apartment complex in Clarksville

click links for more of these stories

Report highlights VA Hospital violations in Fort Wayne

Report highlights VA Hospital violations
Updated: Tuesday, 21 Jun 2011, 7:17 PM EDT
Published : Tuesday, 21 Jun 2011, 7:12 PM EDT

Adam Widener
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Healthcare inspectors have released a report prompting necessary changes to Fort Wayne’s VA Hospital. The Office of Healthcare Inspections (OHI) found a handful of staffing and treatment violations in the facility.

In 2010, an anonymous complaint spurred inspectors to take a look at the hospital. It claimed a physician was responsible for several patient deaths. Inspectors found that complaint to be invalid, but discovered several other problems.
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Report highlights VA Hospital violations

Purple Heart Harley stolen from National Guard soldier

Soldier’s Purple Heart bike stolen

(Courtesy of Fairfax County Police) - The 2003 Harley Davidson — with a unique custom purple paint job — was stolen from a parking garage in the 5500 block of Seminary Road in Fairfax County.

By Justin Jouvenal, Published: June 21

In his 28 years in the armed forces, Russ Long has guarded the Tomb of the Unknowns, worked as a military police officer and served as an Army reservist.

But Long said he recognized that some had given even more in service to the country, and he wanted to honor them. So, two months ago, he decided to turn his 2003 Harley-Davidson into a rolling, roaring memorial to the service members who had fallen.

On Thursday, with his work still unfinished, a thief snatched the bike.

“The military is my life,” said Long, currently serving in the Army National Guard. “That’s why I knew this project was the right thing to do. That’s why I’m so devastated my motorcycle was stolen.”

Long had sketched a design for two Purple Hearts to adorn the back and a third to be emblazoned across the front along with the slogan, “Dedicated to those who sacrificed all.”
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Soldier Purple Heart bike stolen

Court to emphasize rehab, counseling for veterans

Court to emphasize rehab, counseling for veterans

June 21, 2011 8:55 PM
Jared Janes
The Monitor
EDINBURG — As Rio Grande Valley soldiers return from Middle East deployments, Hidalgo County’s new veterans court will offer mental health and substance abuse treatment for those involved in brushes with the law.

The veterans court will begin operations this summer to assist veterans on probation for nonviolent offenses by placing them in a court-supervised program with counseling and rehabilitation services. Since Buffalo, N.Y., began the first court in 2008 to give veterans a second chance, more than 40 other cities and counties have adopted the model to help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, severe depression or substance abuse problems traced to their military service.

With U.S. military personnel encountering multiple deployments to war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, the veterans court is recognizing that some of those soldiers will have difficulties readjusting to civilian life, said Emilio De Los Santos, the Hidalgo County veterans service director. Rather than incarcerating them if they are arrested, a veterans court focuses on rehabilitation to reduce the chances they show up in the legal system again.

“We’re beginning to see after our veterans come back from two or three deployments, some of them aren’t reaching out for help right away because they’re afraid of the stigma” of post-traumatic stress disorder, said De Los Santos, adding that combat veterans also must adjust to the rigors of everyday life like securing a job or paying a mortgage. “We’re not asking for them to be slapped on the wrist, but we want a treatment program that can provide relief to those veterans.”
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Court to emphasize rehab, counseling for veterans

New Braunfels Police: Marine choked out cop

New Braunfels Police: Marine choked out cop

By Dalondo Moultrie
New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung
NEW BRAUNFELS — A U.S. Marine and his wife were arrested and charged over the weekend in connection with an attack on a New Braunfels Police Department officer near the Comal River, police said.
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Marine choked out cop

Ryan Dunn's passenger an Iraq war veteran

Ryan Dunn's passenger an Iraq war veteran
By David Riedel

Ryan Dunn, left, and Zachary Hartwell, right, were killed in a car accident near Philadelphia on Monday, June 20, 2011. The man in the middle is unidentified. Dunn tweeted this photo shortly before the accident.(Credit: Personal photo)

(CBS) Zachary Hartwell, the passenger in "Jackass" star Ryan Dunn's Porsche, who was killed with Dunn in a car accident outside Philadelphia early Monday morning, was a 30-year-old Iraq war veteran.

Read more: Ryan Dunn passenger an Iraq war veteran

Our dog Mac is gone

Personal note to family and friends

Last Wednesday I was having fun taping Mac for a project in Digital Media. Mac used the recycle bin like a toy box. He had a system of taking out a bottle, getting the cap off, then the ring, going after the paper, destroying the bottle, then moving on to the next one. Once in a while he would pick up his mess and put one back before taking another one. Not bad for a year old!

Here he is in action.


Thursday morning he got sick. He was vomiting up a large amount of pure white fluid. Friday he got worse, so we took him to the Vet. They took x-rays as we were wondering why he got so sick all of a sudden. So many thoughts, so many what if's, but the x-ray and blood work came back fine. He was given a shot to control the vomiting and medication to help clear him up.

Saturday we were back at the Vet's because he seemed worse, wasn't eating or drinking.

By this time the Vet thought it may be, Canine distemper but was not sure. We agreed he'd stay over the weekend so they could get more fluid into him and planned on picking him up yesterday.

Yesterday morning the Vet was on the phone telling us he couldn't walk anymore.

A lot of crying later, this morning he was put out of his misery. He just turned a year old last month. We only had him for five months. He gave us so much love in those five months that the pain of his loss is very hard to take.

Two Florida Firefighters killed fighting wildfire

Josh Burch, Brett Fulton Dead:
Forest Rangers Killed Fighting Florida Wildfire
BY BILL KACZOR
06/21/11

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Two state forest rangers trapped by shifting flames died while fighting a wildfire that also injured two others near Jasper in north Florida, officials said Tuesday.

The rangers were working Monday to stop a rekindled blaze called the Blue Ribbon Fire in Hamilton County on the Georgia line, one of more than 400 wildfires currently burning around Florida in one of the busiest fire seasons in years.

The rangers killed were 31-year-old Josh Burch of Lake City and 52-year-old Brett Fulton of White Springs, said Sterling Ivey, a spokesman for the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
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Josh Burch, Brett Fulton Dead

Indiana National Guardsman dies in noncombat incident

Ind. guardsman dies in noncombat incident
Staff report
Posted : Monday Jun 20, 2011 13:21:15 EDT
An Indiana guardsman died on Friday in Afghanistan, according to the Defense Department.

Spc. Scott D. Smith, 36, of Indianapolis died in Khowst province of injuries suffered in a non-combat related incident, officials said. He was assigned to the 81st Troop Command, Indiana Army National Guard, Indianapolis, Ind.

No further information was immediately available.
Ind. guardsman dies in noncombat incident

Sgt. Cole Chambers, killed in motorcycle accident, laid to rest

Cole Chambers, soldier and son, is remembered

By CHRISTINA HAYDEN

Those who knew Cole Chambers best recognized him as a vivacious and outgoing guy whose good mood was contagious.

“He was a unique character,” cousin Beau Breaux said. “He was generally care-free and fun loving. He was always having a good time.”

Soon after graduating Tomball High School in June of 2006, Chambers began his career with the United States Army.

After training, Chambers was deployed in support of operation Iraqi Freedom in September of 2007.
Chambers was currently assigned to the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, and 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood and was preparing to be deployed again in July 2011, to Iraq.

“When he came back from Iraq, he transferred to Fort Hood so he could be close to the family down here in Texas,” Breaux said.

Sgt. Cole Chambers, 23, of Tomball, died from injuries in a motorcycle accident in Belton, TX on June 10. The funeral service was held at 10 a.m. on June 17 at Tomball United Methodist Church located at 1603 Baker Drive Tomball.
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Cole Chambers

Glace Bay man blames Afghan mission for son's suicide

Glace Bay man blames Afghan mission for son's suicide

Published on June 20, 2011
Sharon Montgomery-Dupe

GLACE BAY — The father of a solider from Glace Bay who committed suicide last week says his son might not have been in Afghanistan when he died, but he still died because of Afghanistan.

Cpl. James McMullin, 29, who was stationed at CFB Gagetown, was found dead Friday at his home in Oromocto, N.B. He had served in Afghanistan for six months and his tour ended in March 2009.

“If I could tell anyone anything about Jamie after he came back from Afghanistan ... he never came back,” said Darrell McMullin of Glace Bay.

“My son never came back, a different person came home.

“He couldn’t forget what he did over there, he couldn’t get past it. He tried to make everyone happy and smile, but when he was alone he didn’t smile.”

Capt. John Hugh MacDonald, a spokesperson for the Armed Forces, said the death of McMullin is under investigation by the RCMP and will also be the subject of a military inquiry.

Speaking in general terms, MacDonald said when there is a suicide in the military, there is a procedure in place.

read more here
Glace Bay man blames Afghan mission for son suicide

Stars reach out to stop military suicides

Cher, Melissa Leo, Tim Daly, Taye Diggs Get Behind Military Suicide PSA




Starting this week, Discovery Communication's Military Channel will air a series of PSAs produced by The Creative Coalition in partnership with Blue Star Families, with support from the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) and Health Net, Inc. Directed by actor and President of The Creative Coalition Tim Daly, the PSAs promote a toll-free suicide prevention help line.

The PSAs feature celebrities and athletes such as Cher, Academy Award-winner Melissa Leo (THE FIGHTER), Michael Chiklis (FANTASTIC FOUR, "The Shield"), football star Terrell Owens, and Taye Diggs ("Private Practice"). In addition the PSAs also feature: Minnie Driver (CONVICTION); Omar Epps ("House"); Peter Gallagher ("Covert Affairs"); Aaron Staton ("Mad Men"); Emmy Award-winner Alfre Woodard ("Memphis Beat"); Tom Arnold (TRUE LIES); Ariel Winter ("Modern Family"); Ashley Jones ("True Blood"); Bridget Moynahan (BATTLE: LOS ANGELES); CCH Pounder (Avatar); Eliza Dushku ("Dollhouse"); Esai Morales (GUN HILL ROAD); Emmy Award-winner Hector Elizondo ("Grey's Anatomy"); Holt McCallany ("Lights Out") James Denton ("Desperate Housewives"); Jon Huertas ("Castle"); Karina Smirnoff ("Dancing with the Stars"); Lea Thompson ("Caroline in the City"); Maria Menounos ("Access Hollywood"); Richard Kind (A SERIOUS MAN); Robert Davi ("Criminal Minds" ); Sara Rue ("Less Than Perfect") ; Steven Weber ("Wings"); and Wendie Malick ("Hot in Cleveland"), just to name a few.

Beginning this month, in addition to the Military Channel, the PSAs also are airing on the Lifetime network's mylifetime.com, Elle.com, MakingOf.com, as well as on taxi cab screens in New York City, Boston, Miami, and Chicago.



Read more: Military Suicide PSA

Shaken soldier thinks a dog could be a tonic

Shaken soldier thinks a dog could be a tonic
Tuesday, June 21, 2011 03:04 AM
BY JESSICA WEHRMAN

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

WASHINGTON - A blast from a suicide bomber on a motorcycle in Afghanistan gave Joshua Endicott injuries from his head to toes.

Doctors and the medical staff at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington worked to heal most of those wounds.

But 10 months after Endicott, 20, of Columbus, was hit and ultimately evacuated from Afghanistan, the emotional scars remain.

Endicott, like many coming back from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, lives now with post-traumatic stress disorder. Previously outgoing and carefree, the Purple Heart recipient now says he's constantly "stressed out" and always alert. Once an avid runner and swimmer, he now can do neither because of his injuries. "I don't feel safe, ever," he said.

For the first few months of his recovery, Endicott was assigned what the military calls a "non-medical assistant" - in this case, his brother-in-law, Jack Brock, who stayed with him as he navigated the recovery process. But in late May, Brock had to go home.

Endicott was alone.

But he has an idea of what might help him. He'd seen dogs aiding other injured veterans and had read about dogs helping victims of PTSD. Alone in Washington, he believes a companion dog might be what he needs.

"I have nothing," Endicott said. "A companion dog would be perfect for me."

While a number of initiatives use dogs to help service members, there is no current process to provide a dog to an individual soldier with PTSD, said Lt. Cmdr. Kathleen Watkins, deputy director for family programs in the behavioral-health division of the Office of the Surgeon General for the Army. The Army is developing a policy regarding service animals and also is involved in an overarching Defense Department policy on the use of dogs, she said. "In the course of treatment, health-care providers may on occasion facilitate contact between a service-dog nongovernmental organization and a soldier in need of a dog."


read more here
Shaken soldier thinks a dog could be a tonic

PTSD Vet arrested and charged after standoff with police

Another veteran with PTSD faced off with police and is now being charged "making terroristic threats and obstruction" after his Mom called them trying to get him some help. She wanted him to be taken to the hospital but he ends up in jail?

10-hour police standoff ends peacefully in Johns Creek

By Mike Morris
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A Johns Creek man whose mother said was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder surrendered to police late Sunday after a nearly 10-hour standoff at his home.

The standoff, at the home on Tanners Spring Drive, began around 2 p.m. after the man's mother called police for help getting her son to a hospital, police spokeswoman Rosemary Taylor said. She identified the man as Johnnie Crosby McCarthan, 30. McCarthan's mother told police her son is a military veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and had stopped taking his medication.
read more here
10-hour police standoff ends peacefully in Johns Creek

VA Spends Millions on useless PTSD research

by
Chaplain Kathie

The numbers don't lie. The suffering does not end. Millions are spent on programs that do not work yet congress keeps funding more in a series of failures. Congress holds hearings, listening to family members share their heartache after it is too late to save a veteran's life but they never seem to want to hear about what has been working. Why? There is not much money required to do it. So this is what we're left with.

Suicide Prevention. Years after it began it is still being called by more and more veterans reaching the point of wanting to die, yet no one seems to wonder why.

VA crisis hotline takes record number of calls, no one asks why?
Will anyone else ever ask why so many reach the point they have to call in the first place? With all the programs and money invested in helping them when they come home, the numbers go up instead of down. What is going on here? More calls to the suicide prevention hotline and more deaths. Any reporters bothering to check into why this is all happening?

VA crisis hotline takes record number of calls
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday May 25, 2011 12:01:23 EDT
The Veterans Affairs Department’s Veterans Crisis Line received 14,000 calls in April, the highest monthly volume ever recorded for the four-year-old suicide prevention program.

“Every day last month, more than 400 calls were received,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee chairwoman who disclosed the call volume during a Wednesday hearing. “While it is heartening to know that these calls for help are being answered, it is a sad sign of desperation and difficulties our veterans face that there are so many in need of a lifeline.”

How do they go from wanting to survive in the midst of combat but once back home, they lose it? With the Suicide Prevention Hotline, topped off with all the money the DOD has been spending on PTSD and suicides, why are these numbers still happening?

Two Marine suicides in May
The number of attempted suicides reported in May was 14, raising that figure for the year to 83.

Army 16 "potential" suicides for April with 9 "potential" more in Reserves
IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 405-11
May 13, 2011

Army Released April Suicide Data
The Army released suicide data today for the month of April. Among active-duty soldiers, there were 16 potential suicides: none have been confirmed as suicide, and 16 remain under investigation. For March 2011, the Army reported seven potential suicides among active-duty soldiers. Since the release of that report, no cases have been confirmed as suicide, and seven cases remain under investigation.

This is a report from the GAO on the amount of money spent but we should all be asking why we are still funding research that has been done to "death" over the last 40 years. Humans still have the same basic structure and combat is still combat. With so little new coming out, it is a waste of time, money and especially lives to keep repeating the same mistakes already made.

VA Health Care: VA Spends Millions on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Research and Incorporates Research Outcomes into Guidelines and Policy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Services
GAO-11-32 January 24, 2011
Highlights Page (PDF) Full Report (PDF, 47 pages) Accessible Text

Summary
In addition to providing health care to veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) funds research that focuses on health conditions veterans may experience. According to VA, experts estimate that up to 20 percent of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans have experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and demand for PTSD treatment is increasing.

Because of the importance of research in improving the services that veterans receive, GAO was asked to report on VA's funding of PTSD research, and its processes for funding PTSD research proposals, reviewing and incorporating research outcomes into clinical practice guidelines (CPG)--tools that offer clinicians recommendations for clinical services but do not require clinicians to provide one service over another--and determining which PTSD services are required to be made available at VA facilities.

To do this work, GAO obtained and summarized VA data on the funding of PTSD research from its medical and prosthetic research appropriation through its intramural research program. GAO also reviewed relevant VA documents, such as those for developing CPGs and those related to VA's 2008 Uniform Mental Health Services in VA Medical Centers and Clinics handbook (Handbook), which defines certain mental health services that must be made available at VA facilities. GAO also interviewed VA officials.

Based on VA data GAO obtained and summarized, GAO found that the amount of funding VA provided for intramural PTSD research increased from $9.9 million in fiscal year 2005 to $24.5 million in fiscal year 2009. From fiscal year 2005 through fiscal year 2009, intramural PTSD research funding ranged from 2.5 percent to 4.8 percent of VA's medical and prosthetic research appropriation. In addition, the number of PTSD research studies VA funded through the Merit Review Program and the Cooperative Studies Program (CSP)--VA's two primary funding mechanisms in its intramural research program--increased from 47 in fiscal year 2005 to 96 in fiscal year 2009. According to VA officials, intramural research proposals, including those on PTSD, are funded primarily according to scientific merit in both the Merit Review Program and CSP.

Proposals are evaluated by a panel of reviewers and scored based on their scientific merit. Directors of VA's research and development services--offices that focus on different research areas and administer VA's intramural research program--fund proposals based on their scores, typically up to a specified percentile. The number of proposals funded may vary based on budgetary considerations and, for a small number of proposals, responsiveness to VA research priority areas. VA has a process to review and incorporate relevant research outcomes to develop CPGs for a number of topics, including PTSD. VA relies on the policies of a joint VA and Department of Defense (DOD) work group--comprised of VA and DOD officials--to ensure that systematic reviews of relevant research outcomes are conducted when issuing CPGs.

In brief, a systematic review is conducted to identify the most methodologically rigorous research studies that are applicable to each clinical question contained in the CPG. A group of subject matter experts then assesses the individual research studies in order to determine the overall quality of evidence available for each particular clinical question, considers the potential benefits and harms of a clinical intervention to determine its net effect, and, based on an assessment of the overall quality of the evidence and the net effect of an intervention, develops recommendations for the CPG. According to VA officials, the decision to require that two PTSD services--cognitive processing therapy and prolonged exposure therapy--be made available at VA facilities by including them in the Handbook was based on a review of research outcomes and the availability of existing resources. Specifically, VA officials told GAO that these two services were strongly recommended in the 2004 PTSD CPG and had greater evidence supporting their effectiveness than other PTSD services.

VA also told GAO that prior to the Handbook's 2008 issuance, VA had already begun investing resources in training programs for cognitive processing therapy in 2006 and prolonged exposure therapy in 2007. While VA provided some documentation regarding the decision-making process for PTSD services, VA officials explained that clinical decision-making processes are not typically expected to be documented in a formal manner. VA officials told GAO that they are currently clarifying language in the Handbook but do not plan to revise any requirements relating to PTSD services at this time. VA provided technical comments that GAO incorporated as appropriate.

When Vietnam veterans came home, just like their Dads and Granddads, families had nothing to work with other than love, compassion and a commitment to their veterans. The Internet did not exist. Support groups were nothing more than extended family and friends offering a shoulder to cry on and bad advice. Yet with all of this we had marriages that lasted 20, 30, 40 years, in a time when half of all "normal" marriages ended in divorce. We didn't manage to save all of them. By two separate studies the number of suicides was put between 150,000 and 200,000. Considering by 1978, contrary to published articles, PTSD was already being used and we had the startling number of 500,000 predicted to increase over the following ten year period. All of this proved true and we're at 18 suicides a day committed by veterans.

I am always asked about these numbers. While I tell reporters the numbers are bad, I remind them there are many more we'll never know about. There have been increased number of veteran/police deaths but we'll never know if they were actually suicide by cop or a flashback. Vehicle accidents, cars and motorcycles, have increased but again, we'll never really know how many were suicides or accidents. Then there is the issue of medications. We don't know for sure how many were accidental overdoses because of short term memory loss or because they just couldn't wait one more day for their emotional pain to ease up.

Just working with the numbers we already know, it should be obvious to everyone in this country, especially congress, that the money has not been well spent and people need to be held accountable for the deplorable results we've seen.

As Vietnam veterans see their children come home from combat suffering with PTSD just as they did, they wonder when this country will ever get this right. Funding research is wonderful when there is something to learn but funding research that has already been done is wrong. Using research programs and passing them off as "treatment" is deadly and the numbers prove that.

There is debate going on about changing the term PTSD to just PTS but dropping the "D" will do no good if the veterans still don't understand what it is or why they have it. The term has been changed since this nation began but still they suffer mostly in silence waiting for the day they will get over it as if some angel will pass a hand over their heads and cure them. They believe they are evil because of what they had to do so they don't feel as if they are worthy of healing. We're supporting that by not doing what they need and funding what is useless.

There is a lot of money to be made by too many people including the money made off keeping them medicated when the purpose of medication was supposed to level off the chemicals in their brains to give therapy a chance to work but therapy has not been increased for them, especially in theater.

The other issue is the backlog of claims feeding PTSD with extra stress caused by their financial loss with bills still needing to be paid but no way to pay them. They lost their military pay and left unable to work, they have nothing to support their families with.

The real disorder in this country is repeating the same mistakes while they die back home.

Veterans Affairs addresses growing demand of women needing care

Veterans Affairs addresses growing demand of women needing care
Posted Monday, Jun. 20, 2011

BY CHRIS VAUGHN
cvaughn@star-telegram.com
Roughly 6,000 female veterans in Dallas-Fort Worth get medical care from Veterans Affairs.

They represent 6 percent of the patients in the Fort Worth outpatient clinic and Dallas hospital, but the trend is definitely heading north. The VA expects to serve 18,000 North Texas women within five to 10 years, in part because Texas has the second-most female veterans of any state.

The growing number of female veterans, including many with combat experience and some with debilitating injuries, has led the Veterans Affairs Department to re-engineer some of its services to a population that was largely unfamiliar to the VA system in the past.

The Fort Worth outpatient clinic, for example, opened a women's clinic, led by a female internist, in its new building last fall and has integrated cervical exams, mammography and sexual trauma therapy into its clinical options.

"Certainly there is demand," said Assistant VA Secretary L. Tammy Duckworth. "For the first time in our nation's history, we have combat veterans giving birth. We have found that women veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan use the VA at far higher rates than any other demographic group. ... We've come a long way in the last two years. We have a lot more work to do, but we've made tremendous progress."


Read more: Veterans Affairs addresses growing demand of women needing care

Time to stop protecting military from malpractice suits

Is the Feres Doctrine fair?
The legal precedent that protects the U.S. military from medical malpractice suits is challenged

By TRAVIS J. TRITTEN
Stars and Stripes
Published: June 19, 2011
Staff Sgt. Dean Witt would likely still be alive and raising his two children if an Air Force hospital had not botched a routine appendectomy.

Medical staff at Travis Air Force Base in California committed mistake after mistake following Witt’s 2003 surgery — including pushing a breathing tube into his stomach and using resuscitation equipment designed for children — that left the blond-haired, blue-eyed airman in a persistent vegetative state until he was finally removed from life support three months later by his family.

“We saw Dean and he was wired to so many machines,” Carlos Lopez, Witt’s brother-in-law, said. “I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. How do you go from a super healthy 25-year-old man to somebody who is essentially lifeless?”

Now, Witt’s death is the latest tragic case of military medical malpractice that has worked its way to the doorstep of the Supreme Court in an attempt to upend the legal precedent known as the Feres Doctrine. For more than 60 years, the ruling has protected the U.S. government from being held liable when servicemembers are killed due to official negligence while on duty.

The court is set to decide this month whether it will hear arguments from the Witt family and the government on whether to strike down protections against such suits and award damage payments for Witt’s death.

A Feres Primer

1950

The Supreme Court rules that the government is not liable for injuries to servicemembers on active duty caused by the negligence of other servicemembers. The decision creates what is now known as the Feres Doctrine and effectively blocks lawsuits over military medical malpractice on servicemembers.

1987

The Supreme Court upholds its 1950 Feres ruling in Johnson v. United States, saying the government is not liable for a member of the Coast Guard who was killed in a helicopter crash due to flight controller negligence.

2003

Staff Sgt. Dean Witt suffers severe brain damage due to mistakes by medical staff while undergoing an appendectomy at Travis Air Force Base and dies three months later when his family removes him from life support.

(also in the video below)

2006

Marine Cpl. Yuriy Zmysly suffers severe brain damage after military hospital staff prematurely remove his breathing tube during an appendectomy.

2007

Marine Sgt. Carmelo Rodriguez dies from cancer after the military diagnosed his melanoma but for years failed to notify or treat him.

2008

The Carmelo Rodriguez Medical Decency Act is proposed by a New York congressman and triggers committee hearings on the Feres Doctrine but never gets to a floor vote in the House.

2009

Airman Colton Read has both legs amputated after surgeons at Travis Air Force Base accidentally nick an artery and allow him to bleed out on the operating table.

2010

The Supreme Court declines to hear the Zmysly case.

2011

The Witt family petitions the Supreme Court to hear its case. The court is expected to make a decision this month.

read more here

Is the Feres Doctrine fair

Westboro Baptist to protest Marine's memorial

Westboro Baptist to protest Marine's memorial

Controversial church to be near Gaston service today.

By Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
cwootson@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Monday, Jun. 20, 2011

Members of a controversial church plan to protest today's memorial service of a 21-year-old Marine from Gastonia who was killed while serving in Afghanistan.

But friends of Lance Cpl. Nicholas O'Brien say they are making plans to drown out Westboro Baptist Church's message.

Those close to O'Brien say the protest threatens to sully the memory of a young man who turned down a baseball scholarship to serve his country.

But a spokesman for the Topeka, Kan.-based church said it is spreading God's word using a powerful platform and its First Amendment rights.

Read more: Westboro Baptist to protest Marine memorial

Canada studies elevated suicide rate in military women

Military studies elevated rate of suicide in women in and out of forces

HALIFAX The Canadian military is trying to understand why female personnel in their early 40s were more than twice as likely to die from suicide as their civilian counterparts.

Groundbreaking research by the Canadian Forces, Statistics Canada and Veterans Affairs has shown a statistically significant increase in the number of suicide deaths in female service members between the ages of 40 to 44.

The Canadian Forces Cancer and Mortality Study also found a similar increase in women of the same age who have been released from the military.

“We’re a little bit surprised,” Colonel Colin MacKay, director of Force Health Protection and co-chair of the study’s advisory committee, said in Ottawa.

“This was information we hadn’t had before and is very important information ... because we can now start to look at it more carefully.”

Researchers can’t explain the increase for that age group, but MacKay cautions it involves a small number of women over a 35-year period.
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Military studies elevated rate of suicide in women

Navy vet customizes car to raise awareness of military sacrifices

Kano Williams has emblazoned his 2006 Dodge Magnum with imagery that honors 9/11 and post-9/11 actions. BiILL WECHTER bwechter@nctimes.com

POWAY: Navy vet customizes car to raise awareness of military sacrifices
North County Times
By Gary Warth

Most customized cars turn some heads when they drive by.

Kano Williams wants his car to also move some hearts.

The Poway resident's tricked-out 2006 Dodge Magnum is a jaw-dropper, with a large painted Purple Heart medal on its hood and shadowy images of troops at war and scenes from 9/11 on its sides.

Inside, purple upholstery with more Purple Hearts embroidered in the headrest complement the car's exterior.

"I get stopped all the time, especially when I go on the base," said Williams, 27, a Navy vet and Purple Heart recipient.

"I have people come up and shake my hand. I have people on the freeway who will speed up next to me for passengers to take a picture of the car. They'll wave at me, salute me and give me the thumbs up," he said.

By next spring, Williams hopes the car will be part of the inaugural Veterans' Cruise for a Cause, which he is organizing with roommate and Army veteran Jacob Ratliff.

"I know as the war has dragged on, the support and the understanding for the war has dissipated significantly," he said. "I did it so people wouldn't forget that there's men and women still over there fighting."

Williams' father is among the Purple Heart recipients who have been affected by the car.
"Sometimes I get a little emotional," he said. "I've got post-traumatic stress disorder. It kind of brings back memories of what I went through in Vietnam."

read more here

Body of drowned Iraq War veteran recovered

June 19, 2011
Body of drowned Iraq War veteran recovered
By Wendy Burton
Phoenix Staff Writer

The body of an Iraq War veteran who was preparing to deploy to Afghanistan in July was recovered from the Illinois River on Sunday morning.

Adam R. Morefield of Winchester, Ky., drowned Saturday, becoming the fourth person to drown on the Illinois River since Memorial Day weekend.

Morefield, 29, was rafting with two others when he went missing Saturday afternoon, according to a media release from Ed Fite, administrator of the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission.
read more here
Body of drowned Iraq War veteran recovered

Service members who are reporting respiratory problems

Debate Swirls Around Research Showing Lung Problems for Returned Troops
By JAMES DAO
Published: June 19, 2011


As a teenager in northern New York, Gary Durham ran cross-country and hiked the Adirondack’s high peaks. In Army basic training, he did two-mile runs in under 13 minutes. But after a yearlong deployment to Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division in 2003, he says he started gasping for air while just mowing the lawn.

An emerging body of research indicates that Mr. Durham is one of a significant number of American service members who are reporting respiratory problems like coughing, wheezing or chest pains that started during deployment and continued after they returned home.

In 2009, a major survey of military personnel, the Millennium Cohort Study, found that 14 percent of troops who had deployed reported new breathing problems, compared with 10 percent among those who had not deployed.

Though the percentage difference seems small, when extrapolated for the two million troops who have deployed since 2001, the survey suggested that at least 80,000 additional service members had developed post-deployment breathing problems.

But now, a fierce debate is under way over just how long-lasting and severe those problems really are.

On one side are scientists, many working for the government, who say that a large number of returning troops have serious and potentially lifelong ailments. They point to an array of respiratory hazards in Iraq and Afghanistan — including powerful dust storms, fine dust laced with toxins and “burn pits” used to incinerate garbage at military bases — as potential culprits.
read more here

Debate Swirls Around Research Showing Lung Problems

Fort Campbell Soldier Arrested After Deadly Shooting

Fort Campbell Soldier Arrested After Deadly Shooting

POSTED: 3:22 pm EDT June 19, 2011

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- A Fort Campbell soldier has been charged with criminal homicide and attempted criminal homicide after two people were shot at an apartment complex in Clarksville.


Read more: Fort Campbell Soldier Arrested After Deadly Shooting

Military Humor for Father's Day

Quadruplets marching off to join the military

Quadruplets marching off to join the military
By Bruce Posten - Reading Eagle via the AP
Posted : Saturday Jun 18, 2011 16:38:54 EDT
READING, Pa. — It’s as if a golfing Uncle Sam yelled, “Fore!” and Berks County’s 18-year-old Pollock quadruplets heard a number and dutifully answered the call.

Graduating from Wilson High School last week, Erin, Stephanie, Brandon and William, Berks’ first quads, born Aug. 6, 1992, to Jim, now 46, and Kim, now 44, of Spring Township, will be donning Pennsylvania Army National Guard uniforms.

“Three of the four had their first drills this month,” said Sgt. 1st Class James E. Waid, 39, of Fleetwood, their recruiting officer.

“I’ve already started crying because they will always be my babies. I’m a mother,” said Kim, who works in the county’s 9-1-1- emergency call center. “But I am very proud of them, and I support their decision.”

The Pollocks’ oldest son, Anthony “A.J.”, 21, is a junior studying digital film and video production at the New England Art Institute, Boston.
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Quadruplets marching off to join the military

House Built By Family of Volunteers for Iraq War Veteran

House Built By Family of Volunteers for Iraq War Veteran

Keshena native and Iraq war veteran Forrest Perez has been in a wheelchair since September when he was seriously hurt in a hit-and-run crash. For the past six weeks, local volunteers have been building a handicap-accessible home for the recovering soldier.

"When this project first started, I felt like we are a very small family from Keshena, and look at all the family we have now," says Forrest's aunt, Amy Perez.

As the family of volunteers put on the finishing touches Saturday morning, Forrest and his fiance Heather Koppman can hardly wait to begin their new lives. "I like it," says Forrest.

"I think he's more concerned about the TV room, I think," says Heather. "Sit in front of the TV watching Packer games."

More than 200 people volunteered to build the 1,300 square foot house right behind Forrest's old home. "We had nine people living in our house then, so it was pretty crowded with everyone there," explains Lynell Perez, Forrest's mother.

read more here
House Built By Family of Volunteers for Iraq War Veteran

Soldier's death at Fort Drum under investigation

Soldier's death under investigation
Posted: 06.18.2011 at 10:38 PM


The Menominee native was found dead in a barracks at his base on Thursday.

Read more: Local, Military, News, Mark Ackerman, Eagle Herald, U.S. Army Soldier, Investigation, Death

FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation is trying to find out the cause of a soldier's death in New York.

That soldier, 28-year-old Sgt. Mark Ackerman was a Menominee native.

According to the Eagle-Herald, he was found dead Thursday in a barracks at the Fort Drum Army Base in Jefferson County, New York.

Ackerman lived off base, and had not been seen since May 25th.
read more here
Soldier death under investigation

Father's Day tough on dads separated from families

Father's Day tough on dads separated from families
By Kevin Vaughan
The Denver Post

Maj. George Brauchler, right, hold and kiss his youngest son Graham, 18 month old, by his another son Geoff, 3, left, during his packing at their house in Highlands Ranch on Friday. ( Hyoung Chang / The Denver Post)

As the father fiddled with his gear, the little girl started asking questions. "Are you leaving this weekend?" she asked. "Are you packed, Daddy? Are you ready, Daddy? What are you doing, Daddy?" U.S. Army Maj. George Brauchler turned from his things, spread out before him. "I have to make sure my helmet is put together and the plates fit in my body armor," he said.

After the briefest of pauses, 8-year-old Amanda Brauchler — the oldest of his four children — posed another question.

"Daddy, why do you need a helmet and armor?"

The inquiry made him pause.

"You don't want to tell your daughter you're going to a place where there are a lot of people who want to hurt you," he said, recalling the conversation a few days later.

As Father's Day arrived this morning, Brauchler, 41, was to be in the midst of a trip to Germany, then Kuwait and, finally, into Iraq, where he expects to spend the next four months.

Like thousands of other Colorado dads in uniform, he won't get to spend the day with his kids because other pressing matters intervened.


Read more from The Denver Post Father's Day tough on dads separated from families

Veteran trapped in 800,000 paperwork backlog

Screaming doesn't help anymore. I wish I could say this horrible situation is new, but it isn't.

VA claims backlog ready to hit 1 million
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jun 18, 2009 10:56:07 EDT
WASHINGTON — This isn’t the same as getting a free duffel bag for being the millionth person to go through the turnstiles: The Department of Veterans Affairs appears poised to have hit the 1 million milestone on claims it still hasn’t processed.

This unwelcome marker approaches as the agency scrambles to hire and train new claims processors, which can take two years. VA officials are working with the Pentagon under orders from President Barack Obama to create by 2012 a system that will allow the two agencies to electronically exchange records, a process now done manually on paper.

Meanwhile, veterans, some of whom were severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, continue to endure financial hardship while their claims are processed. They wait more than four months on average for a claim to be processed, and appealing a claim takes a year and a half on average.

Adding to the backlog are factors ranging from the complexity of processing mental health-related claims of Iraq veterans, to a change that made it easier for Vietnam veterans exposed to the Agent Orange herbicide to qualify for disability payments. The VA says it’s receiving about 13 percent more claims today than it did a year ago.

Obama: New PTSD rules long overdue step
July 09, 2010
By the CNN Wire Staff

The Department of Veterans Affairs is making it easier for veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder to get benefits, a development President Barack Obama calls a "long overdue step."

In his weekly address Saturday, Obama said Veterans Affairs will launch new rules for easing PTSD documentation requirements starting next week.

Current department rules require veterans to document events like firefights or bomb explosions that could have caused the disorder. Such documentation was often time-consuming and difficult, and sometimes was impossible.

When Agent Orange and PTSD claims were made easier to file, the staff already processing claims was overloaded. New hires were made but it takes two years of training for them to be ready to know what they are doing, so processing was slowed down.

On Friday at a DAV conference in Lake Mary Florida, I sat listening to VA employees talking about the flood of claims they have been facing. I wanted to scream when I heard that as older VA workers retire, they cannot hire new ones to replace them.

Why at a time when the government is trying to honor and return dignity to our disabled veterans?

GOP wants to impose hiring freeze on non-security federal workforce

By Ed O'Keefe
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 24, 2010
House Republicans want to stop hiring federal employees not working on defense, homeland security or veterans concerns, a proposal long anticipated by federal worker unions and supportive Democrats.

GOP lawmakers pledged Thursday to "impose a net hiring freeze on non-security federal employees and ensure the public sector no longer grows at the expense of the private sector." The proposal is part of the 21-page "Pledge to America," a set of proposals to cut government spending, reform Congress and repeal President Obama's health-care reform legislation.

Although Republican lawmakers have targeted the federal workforce this year in separate proposals, the "Pledge" nationalizes the idea of curtailing the federal workforce and makes it likely that some Republican congressional candidates will talk up the idea as Election Day nears.

While cutting payrolls may have sounded good at the time coupled with talking about taking care of our veterans, this doomed every effort made to get there. No one can honestly say that denying a suffering Vietnam Veteran compensation from Agent Orange exposure is a good way to save money any more than they can say denying claims for PTSD is the right thing to do. Honoring the veterans in this country should never be a budget matter open to debate blowing with the party in control. When Tea Party Republicans shout about government spending, do they think about the troops or veterans?

Most of the bills meant to do the right thing for veterans were done between 2008 and 2010 with Republicans voting along with Democrats to pass them but then they turned around and decided that while they voted for them, they would not fund them or increase staff to take care of claims flooding in to an already overloaded system.

When my husband came home from Vietnam in 1971, PTSD was hitching a ride. He finally went to the VA in 1993 and filed a claim. It took six years of hell waiting for the government to do the right thing over a paperwork error. I can tell you that those years were nearly impossible to get through with bills to pay and trying to keep a roof over our heads. My Mom helped as much as she could but there are many families out there unable or unwilling to help. Does anyone care what happens to the veteran and his/her family while they are waiting for their claim to be approved?

The fact remains they were there when they were called on. They didn't say to the nation we had to wait for them so why does the nation say to them they have to wait for us to do the right thing after they were injured for our sake?

Veteran trapped, like many, in paperwork backlog
By Tony Leys, The Des Moines Register


GREENFIELD, Iowa — Joel Klobnak still looks like a proud Marine — from his buzz-cut hair down to the red-white-and-blue prosthetic that replaced the leg he lost in Iraq in 2006.

But he feels forgotten.

The Department of Veterans Affairs slashed his disability pay two years ago over what he says was a misunderstanding. The former Marine is trying to support a family of four on $1,557 a month while he waits to hear whether the government will reinstate full disability pay for his gruesome injury and the mental anguish that accompanied it.

His appeal is trapped in a paperwork backlog that is delaying payments to injured veterans across the country.

Government doctors determined that he couldn't work because of the pain in his leg and the post-traumatic stress disorder that troubled his mind. The determination entitled him to full disability payments, which amounted to $3,103 a month. But in April 2009, he received a letter telling him his payments were being halved because he missed an appointment with a VA doctor.

A national expert said Klobnak's frustrations are the norm. Richard Cohen, executive director of the National Organization of Veterans' Advocates, said the VA has a backlog of 800,000 initial disability claims and 200,000 appeals.
read more here
Veteran trapped in paperwork backlog

Unless congress manages to actually take care of our veterans today, this is about to get a whole lot worse with more and more coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan wounded for our sake and suffering for the sake of politicians flexing their misdirected values.

Marine succumbs to wounds after fifth tour of duty

Family, friends remember Marine from Clayton

By MARILYN PEGUERO
Published: June 18, 2011

The friends and family of 25-year-old Sgt. Mark Bradley, a Clayton Marine who was injured by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan and died Thursday, gathered in Kenly Saturday afternoon to celebrate his life.

Sgt. Mark Bradley was on his fifth tour of duty overseas, serving with the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Division based at Camp Lejeune, when he was injured.

read more here
Family, friends remember Marine from Clayton

Orlando soldier dies of wounds suffered in Iraq

Orlando soldier dies of wounds suffered in Iraq

By Anika Myers Palm, Orlando Sentinel
8:29 p.m. EDT, June 18, 2011

An Orlando soldier has died of wounds he suffered in Iraq, the Department of Defense said today.

U.S. Army Spc. Marcos A. Cintron, 32, died Thursday at a Boston hospital after he was injured June 6 in Baghdad after an attack on his unit.

Cintron was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 7th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division of Fort Riley, Kan. Five other soldiers from his unit died as a result of the same June 6 attack, according to the defense department.
read more here
Orlando soldier dies of wounds suffered in Iraq

Vietnam Vet falls victim to phone scam

Monticello couple falls victim to phone scam
6:44 AM, Jun 17, 2011
Written by
Boua Xiong

“Ajax in Iraq” Insanity of War Is Not Ancient Myth

The Insanity of War Is Not Ancient Myth

By ANITA GATES
Published: June 17, 2011


Ellen McLaughlin wants you to know that while you are reading your paper or computer screen, American soldiers in Iraq are on duty, very busy being soldiers. When you have dinner, they will still be there. And when you go back to work after the weekend. And she wants you to know that they have good reasons to exhibit some form of insanity.

The Flux Theater Ensemble’s fervent and valiant production of Ms. McLaughlin’s sophisticated “Ajax in Iraq” makes its case in two ways. It preaches, calmly. And it tells parallel stories: of a tragic Trojan War figure and a brave young soldier in the Iraq war whose tragedy is just as ruinous.

Upstage at the Flamboyán Theater, Ajax (Stephen Conrad Moore), the protagonist of Sophocles’ play, commits atrocities. Devastated that Odysseus has received the military honors that Ajax deserves for his brilliance in battle, Ajax vows to kill the Greek leaders who made this decision. But driven insane, he furiously slaughters animal after animal, instead, thinking they are men.

Downstage, young American soldiers, men and women in T-shirts and camouflage pants, talk about the nightmare of living in a war zone 24 hours a day, in a conflict where anyone may be the enemy, anything may be a bomb, and as one says, “we’re the only ones in uniform, you know.”
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Insanity of War Is Not Ancient Myth

Police raid on Gilbert home sparks medical marijuana outcry

Police raid on Gilbert home sparks medical marijuana outcry

By Mike Sakal, Tribune
A couple hours after a DirecTV worker saw marijuana and hashish inside a bedroom closet of Ross Taylor’s Gilbert home during the installation process of a satellite dish, 12 Gilbert police officers wearing masks and toting guns busted into his house and took his pot.

Taylor, 35, is a card-carrying medical marijuana patient under Arizona’s new voter-approved law, who said he uses it for a severe loss of appetite and sleep due to post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.

But police said Taylor was not in legal possession of about 2 ounces of pot and a small amount of hashish that officers confiscated with some paraphernalia from his Gilbert home in the 7100 block of South Fawn Avenue on June 9.

Whether legitimate medical marijuana patients will become targets of prosecution involving how they obtained marijuana remains to be seen, as no such cases have reached the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, but Taylor said he believes the satellite worker overstepped his bounds by calling police after he showed him his medical marijuana card.

“The worker saw the marijuana in my closet and I told him, ‘Don’t get weird on me, I’m a medical marijuana patient,’ ” Taylor said. “He proceeded to tell me he was OK with it, and that he voted for it. I feel the police overreacted.”
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Police raid on Gilbert home sparks medical marijuana outcry

Vietnam Vet has benefits restored because reporter cared

A Vietnam Veteran was pushed through cracks with his VA claim. He needed help. A reporter cared enough to tell his story. That reporter was Will Doolittle. Then a worker at the VA read his story and wanted to make sure the VA did the right thing. They did.

"The Post-Star stories, which ran June 5-7, detailed how the Cooleys were running out of money and feared losing their house.

A worker in the VA public affairs office saw the stories online and alerted his supervisors, according to Sue Malley, director of the VA's New York Regional Office."

If the American public knew how many veterans were waiting for their claims to be approved, heard half of their stories, they would be ashamed of what is happening to these men and women. Whenever you hear a horror story coming from a veteran, tell them to take their story to a reporter so they will not only get justice but help other veterans in their situation.

After stories, benefits restored to Vietnam veteran
WILL DOOLITTLE -- will@poststar.com
Posted: Friday, June 17, 2011

FORT EDWARD -- Officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs have responded to a recent series of stories in The Post-Star about the plight of a Vietnam veteran whose benefit payments were cut off by reviewing the man's case, then restoring his payments at a higher level.

The VA also determined the veteran, Charles Cooley, 67, of Tori Trace, was owed five and a half years' worth of back payments. A check for the back payments was deposited Thursday in the bank account of Cooley and his wife, Dolores, 66.

Their first monthly compensation check for $2,800, which is the 100 percent disability level, was also deposited Thursday in their account.

Until last year, the Cooleys had been receiving monthly compensation checks of about $600, a 40 percent disability level, because Mr. Cooley suffers from diabetes and associated complications, including coronary artery disease.
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After stories, benefits restored to Vietnam veteran

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Collecting benefits is a losing battle