Veterans Connect to Other Veterans

Breakfast, camaraderie helping to heal local vets 
Sentinel and Enterprise
By Cliff Clark
04/03/2015

"For me, I like getting to hang out with other vets. It feels good to be around these guys, and I've made a lot of new friends,"

FITCHBURG -- As the group of veterans were sitting down for breakfast Friday morning at the Airport Diner, they exchanged handshakes, pleasant greetings and the warm, knowing smiles of men who shared the common bond of fighting for our country's freedom.

They were there to spend a few minutes having a hot meal and to quietly discuss the daily challenges they face coping with life after the military.

"They're here to talk about the serious issues they can all relate to," said John Churcher, a U.S. Army veteran and founder of Vet Together, a support group he created to provide an outlet for vets to get together and talk out their challenges.

The breakfast, sponsored by IC Federal Credit Union, was one of many events Churcher provides to veterans to give them a chance to blow off a little steam and have some fun while reconnecting with their comrades in arms.

For one veteran of the Iraqi War, Vet Together is a place for him re-experience the strong bonds created when a unit of soldiers work together to accomplish a mission.

"After I got out of the military one of the big things I missed was the camaraderie and the brotherhood. Putting these guys together gives them a piece of what they might be missing from their active duty," said Gabe Nutter, a U.S. Army veteran who saw combat in Iraq in 2005-06, and struggled with post traumatic stress disorder when he returned home.

Leominster Firefighter Ryan Young, a U.S. Army veteran, attends the Vet Together events to spend time with other veterans.

"For me, I like getting to hang out with other vets. It feels good to be around these guys, and I've made a lot of new friends," said Young.

Young, like all the veterans at Friday's event, thanked Churcher and Mike Cooley, who hosts the local cable talk show Cool Talk, for putting together the monthly breakfast at the Airport Diner, which is owned by Gene Collette and Steve Shank.
read more here

Man Meets Vietnam Veteran POW Bracelet Worn 50 Years Ago

'Bond between strangers': Vietnam POW bracelet to unite pair after decades
FOX News
By Cristina Corbin
Published April 04, 2015

Raymond Schrump is seen here as a POW in Vietnam.

The former U.S. Army major was held captive from 1968 to 1971.

(WRAL.com)

Harold Flowers was 13 when his parents gave him a POW bracelet during the Vietnam War in 1968 – a metal band bearing the name of a U.S. soldier captured by the North Vietnamese.

Nearly 50 years later, Flowers, of Angier, N.C., tracked down the man whose name he wore around his wrist: 83-year-old former U.S. Army Major Raymond Schrump, a Purple Heart recipient who spent nearly five years in an enemy prison camp.

On Saturday, the two will meet for the first time, and Flowers will give Schrump the bracelet he has kept all these years – a bracelet Schrump said represents a "bond between strangers."

"I feel like I've known this man all my life and I haven't met him yet," Schrump told FoxNews.com Thursday.

Schrump, severely malnourished, weighed just 86 pounds at the time of his rescue on Feb. 12, 1971, when he and 27 other American prisoners were flown by U.S. helicopters to Saigon. He was then taken to a U.S. base in the Philippines and, after recovering from a bout with malaria, flown to California and then eventually Fort Bragg, where he was reunited with his family at a nearby hospital.
read more here

Lincoln Veterans Memorial Rolling From Phoenix to DC

New Lincoln Memorial emerges in Phoenix from VA crisis 
AZ Central
Chad Bricks
12 News
April 3, 2015

"There is a lot of finger pointing going on. The truth is the VA is not getting adequate funding. That's the bottom line."

This 1976 Lincoln Bicentennial Town Car is the ‘New Lincoln Veteran’s Memorial’. It will soon be on the road to D.C. in an ultimate road trip stopping at VA’s around the country before it arrives in Washington D.C. Photo by Chad Bricks.
(Photo: 12 News)

Phoenix is recognized as the starting point to the national crisis at the Veteran's Administration. One veteran has made it his mission to make it the beginning of the solution as well.

"Phoenix is where the hurricane happened," said Neil Bernstein.

Bernstein is the commander of the 'New Lincoln Vets Memorial'. It is a moving memorial made from a 1976 Lincoln Bicentennial Town Car. It is signed by veterans who have served and is designed to catch the attention of lawmakers.

"This is what's happening to our vets who have honorably served," Bernstein said as he racked the handles of the white coffin that sits atop of the Lincoln. He calls it "preposterous' for Vets to return home stateside only to die from complicated or inadequate health care.
read more here

Fort Bliss Army Captain Died After Vehicle Ran Over Him

Army officer dies in tragic training accident
Army Times
By Kevin Lilley, Staff writer
April 2, 2015

Capt. Jonathan F. Wynkoop, 27

died Tuesday during an exercise

at Fort Bliss, Texas.

(Photo: Army)

A 1st Armored Division officer died early Tuesday during a training exercise at Fort Bliss, Texas, after a mine-resistant vehicle allegedly rolled over him in his cot while he slept, the base announced in a Wednesday news release.

Capt. Jonathan F. Wynkoop, 27, was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, Division Artillery, and was participating in Iron Focus 2015, a two-week, division-level training exercise that began March 23.

A mine-resistant, ambush-protected all-terrain vehicle, or M-ATV, allegedly backed over the cot around 5 a.m., according to the release.

Wynkoop was pronounced dead about an hour later; the incident is under investigation.
read more here

Ted Nugent Talked to Soldiers After Suicide?

WOW! Breaking news! It seems that Ted talks to the dead.

Ted Nugent Unravels Veteran Suicide Epidemic: Obama Did It
Wonkette
by Doktor Zoom
Apr 02, 2015

He told the crowd that military veterans are committing suicide because of President Obama: “Here’s your job, Republican Party. Twenty to 25 of those guys kill themselves every day, and they haven’t told you why and they haven’t told anybody else why but they told me why: because the commander-in-chief is the enemy.”

Listen to the words right out of his mouth.

They told him? They told him why they killed themselves?  Better tell Congress, the VA and the DOD they've been wasting money and time since he knows exactly why.

Considering the reasons go back generations, pretty doubtful he was hearing from them instead of Jack Daniels. But what can we expect from someone who never knew what price was being paid for his right to say whatever foolish nonsense he wants?


It would be a safe bet that if they had anything to say to him at all, it would something like,

"Because people like you were too busy talking about us to actually learn anything about us."

After all, they don't play politics when they risk their lives side by side others who may not share their same political views or beliefs. Plus when you actually know that the majority of the veterans committing suicide are over 50, seems it would really put a damper on his twisted concept of what it is really like for any of them.

Make Peace With Your Past Especially if it Included Combat Service

I just read a quote from an article on The Daily Beast about a book written by a Vietnam veteran and all I could think of was this.

David Rossi: "Scars remind us where we've been. They don't have to dictate where we're going."

PTSD and the Past That Never Dies

David J. Morris, a U.S. Marine veteran who later embedded as a journalist in Iraq, “disperses” his own experiences in The Evil Hours, an eloquent “biography” of post-traumatic stress disorder. Morris’s style often recaptures the disorienting tone of Dispatches’ stream-of-consciousness approach. But as with Herr, Morris’s excellent book is deceptively controlled and carefully steady.

The past isn't supposed to die. It goes with us everyday and all the subsequent days tag along as well. We cannot undo something or un-say words. We can change what we do from the point of regret onward. We learn by yesterdays snap judgements, gut reactions and angry outbursts as much as we learn from patience, thoughtfulness and compassion.

Wherever you are with PTSD, as a veteran or a spouse, your understanding got you either to point where you have added onto the burden you carry or you are on your way to healing. It all depends on how much you know and if you know the right things or not.

Every scar I have came with a price. I paid it during the event that caused my life to be on the edge of death. I refused to keep paying a debt that I did not agree to. Out of the shadow of death came hope.

I am not a veteran, so don't take my word for it. I am just human with a strange life. You should listen to someone who was there, in Vietnam, talk about what your are supposed to do with your memories. Listen to Sammy Davis, MOH Vietnam!

(No, he isn't crying.  It was hot during this event in Florida.)

Air Force Cadet Died After Being Found in Dormitory

Air Force Academy Cadet Found Injured in Dorm Dies
Colorado Springs Gazette
by Tom Roeder
Apr 03, 2015

Officials released few details Thursday about an Air force Academy cadet who died after he was found in a school dormitory.

The male cadet, whose name has not been released, was found injured in a dorm at about 2 p.m. and died about 3:45 p.m. An official said his death is not an apparent suicide, but declined to release details of the injuries, including whether the cadet had been assaulted.

Academy spokesman John Van Winkle said he did not know the nature of the cadet's injuries, who reported the cadet's condition, or where in the dormitory the cadet was found.

The school canceled evening intramural activities and called a "100 percent accountability" to track the whereabouts of all 4,000 cadets on the campus, he said.

Van Winkle declined to release the cadet's age or year in school.

"I don't want to give out information that could identify the cadet before the notification of the next of kin is done," Van Winkle said. "That would be wrong for the family to find out by CNN versus casualty notification team that is there to support, assist and help."
read more here

Bad Discharges Not Honorable To Far Too Many

Ex-troops with highest suicide risk often don't qualify for mental care 
LA Times
By ALAN ZAREMBO
April 1, 2015

Many vets with 'bad' discharges are cast off to local mental health services, charities despite suicide risk

Of those suicides, 403 were among ex-service members whose discharges were "not honorable" — for a wide range of misconduct, from repeatedly disrespecting officers to felony convictions. An additional 380 occurred among veterans with "uncharacterized" discharges, the designation used for troops who leave in fewer than 180 days for a variety of nondisciplinary reasons.

The largest study to date of recent military and veteran suicides has identified two high-risk groups of former troops who are generally ineligible for the psychiatric care afforded to all others who served: those forced out of the military for misconduct and those who enlisted but were quickly discharged for other problems.

In each of those groups, an average of 46 of every 100,000 former service members committed suicide each year — more than double the rate for veterans with honorable discharges.

The findings are likely to spur debate over whether efforts to stem veteran suicides are targeting the right people and to strengthen calls to expand access to benefits and care — especially for those who blame post-traumatic stress disorder or other war-related problems for their misconduct and subsequent dismissals from the military.

"The problem is much bigger than the veterans we choose to help," said Phillip Carter, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Center for a New American Security who has followed the issue.

Since World War II, the VA has been responsible for determining who is eligible for healthcare and benefits. Ex-service members who were enlisted for less than two years qualify only if they have disabilities related to their service.

Those with dishonorable discharges are not eligible unless they can prove they were insane at the time of their crimes. Former troops with other types of less-than-honorable discharges must apply for veteran status, but fewer than 10% do.

Of those, fewer than a quarter succeed, according to a 2007 study by a congressional commission.

More than 140,000 troops have left the military since 2000 with less-than-honorable discharges, according to the Pentagon.
read more here

Veterans Being Kicked Out of Nursing Home in Florida

Man speaks out as vets are evicted from nursing home 
Residents told they have until April 17
4 JAX News
Author: Francesca Amiker, News4Jax reporter
April 1, 2015

MANDARIN, Fla. - A son spoke Wednesday, out on his father’s behalf, after being told that his father’s nursing home may soon end a contract with Veteran Affairs and his father would be evicted. 

David Wilson said his father, Duane Wilson, has lived at the nursing home for three years and the VA has been footing the bill.

Wilson said his family is now desperate for the senior home to keep the contract for the sake of his 76-year-old father and other veterans.

The home said that all veterans must be out by April 17.

“When I found out that they are seizing the contract with the Veterans Administration because of back pay, it's like that, to me, it’s just so wrong,” David Wilson said.
read more here

After Marine Son's Suicide, Dad Speaks Out

Dad of dead Pa. veteran sounds alarm on 'outrageous' military suicide rates 
TribLive
By John Luciew
April 02, 2015

The father of a 28-year-old Marine Corps veteran who killed himself last month in western Pennsylvania is sounding the alarm on what he called 'outrageous' military suicide rates and raising questions about the side effects of the anti-depressants that the Veterans Administration is prescribing to former service members.

The Iraq war veteran from Brentwood certainly had no history of suicidal tendencies when he took his life about a month after he started taking a powerful antidepressant.

Now, Cranmer, 58, is urging a close look at whether mental health drugs prescribed through the Department of Veterans Affairs contribute to high suicide rates among veterans.

Federal estimates suggest the total among veterans might reach 22 a day, which would account for around 20 percent of suicides nationwide. Veterans make up about 7 percent of the population.

Cranmer called the suicide figures "outrageous."

"I think it warrants looking into," he said Wednesday, two days after another veteran, Michelle Langhorst, 31, of Plum shot herself in a parking lot at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System campus in O'Hara. read more here

VA Women Veterans Committee Has New Members

New Members Appointed to VA Advisory Committee on Women Veterans

Committee Makes Recommendation to VA Secretary

WASHINGTON – Four new members have been appointed to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Advisory Committee on Women Veterans, an expert panel that advises the Secretary on issues and programs affecting women Veterans. Established in 1983, the Committee makes recommendations to the Secretary for administrative and legislative changes.

“Women have made significant contributions to the safety and security of our great Nation. As we seek to enhance services for women Veterans, VA values the Committee’s guidance,” said VA Secretary Robert A. McDonald. “The Committee’s recommendations help VA to identify and address gaps in service to better meet the needs of women Veterans today and in the future. VA welcomes the newest members of this important Committee.”

Of the approximately 22 million living Veterans, about 2 million are women Veterans. They comprise 9.2 percent of the total Veteran population. VA estimates that by 2040, women Veterans will comprise approximately 16 percent of the total Veteran population.

“VA is committed to offering a full continuum of benefits and health care services and is transforming itself to meet the evolving needs of our women Veterans,” said Elisa Basnight, Director of VA’s Center for Women Veterans, who echoed Secretary McDonald’s sentiments. “This advisory committee plays an integral role in our progress.”

New members of the Committee:

Ms. Octavia Harris, El Cajon, California, a retired Command Master Chief, U.S. Navy; currently serves as a program manager of the Comprehensive Advanced Restorative Effort at the San Diego Naval Medical Center;

Ms. Louisa Long Jaffe, Alexandria, Virginia, a retired Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army; currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Technical and Project Engineering, LLC;

Dr. Joyce Johnson, Chevy Chase, Maryland, a retired Rear Admiral, U.S. Public Health Service; currently practices medicine in the specialty of public health/preventive medicine, and serves as a global health/public health and management consultant; and

Ms. Shannon McLaughlin, Sharon, Massachusetts, a Major serving full time in the Massachusetts National Guard, with combat service in Afghanistan.

The new Committee members, who are appointed to two-year terms, join Committee members Dr. Shirley Quarles of Atlanta, Georgia; Ms. Felipe Torres, Helotes, Texas; and Ms. Mary Westmoreland, Bronxville, New York, who were also reappointed for another term.

For more information about women Veterans, visit www.va.gov/womenvet, or contact the Women Veterans Call Center at 1-855-829-6636. The call center is available to address concerns of women Veterans, their families and caregivers Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., ET, and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., ET.

Can Some Tell Researchers Soldiers Are Not Rats?

Keeping this one really short since my head is about to just explode! PTSD Patients May Benefit From Blueberries; Blueberries deserve raspberries (Bronx Cheer)

"People who face death, serious injury, have become victims of sexual violence, or have witnessed their loved ones in the same situation, are at high risk of suffering PTSD. As a prolonged stress response, it is associated with an increase of stress and inflammation in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus — two critical regions of the brain responsible for how we process, remember, organize thoughts, and act."

"Researchers studied a group of rats with PTSD. Half were given a standard diet, while the other half had a diet consisting of two percent blueberry-enriched. A third group without PTSD was given standard diet without blueberries for the purposes of comparison."

Vietnam Veteran Survived Combat, Then Suicide Attempt After VA Didn't Help

Local Veteran no longer in ICU 
KRISTV.com
April 2, 2015

Raymond Harding suffers from PTSD, he is in the ICU after attempting suicide. (KRIS) 

CORPUS CHRISTI
The Vietnam Veteran who was hospitalized following a suicide attempt is no longer in the intensive care unit.

Hospital officials tell us Raymond Harding, a Vietnam veteran who suffers from PTSD, is listed in critical but stable condition.

Harding shot himself last Friday afternoon after.

His wife tells us, the VA failed to provide her husband the treatment he needed and had been requesting for a decade.
read more here


Reporters seem to have forgotten Vietnam veterans are the majority of the suicides reported across the country along with every other veteran over the age of 50.

"Veterans over the age of 50 who had entered the VA healthcare system made up about 78 percent of the total number of veterans who committed suicide"

But why would we want to understand that simple fact? Why would we want to understand that Vietnam veterans pushed for all the research done on PTSD in the 70's? Why understand that all these decades later, with all the things done to "help" them after combat, it is now worse than ever?

Because then we'd actually have to acknowledge that what works has been forgotten. The only reason that would happen is, there just wasn't enough money in it for people looking to cash in.

Simple really.

Peer support works best but all across the country programs offering veterans groups have been cut. Sure charities claim to be doing it, but when the veteran offering support understands very little, it is more like the blind leading the blind. Training is almost non-existent but it sounds good to say it is offered.

This is what veterans not only need, it is what they seek out. They want to fit back in and they do exactly that within other groups of veterans. It doesn't cost a lot of money and isn't something that would get efforts a lot of attention.

So the VA hands out drugs, then more drugs when those drugs weren't working good enough. Pharmaceutical companies make money. Then you have the politicians pushing for all the fixes, getting their names on bills at the same time they slam the VA so that no one actually thinks about how all of this was allowed to get this bad after decades of "fixing it" by both political sides.

Then they really don't want any of us to understand that in order to privatize the VA, they have to destroy it first. That is really the only way veterans and citizens will ever accept the notion that private for-profit medical groups would be better to spend more money on instead of just fixing the VA once and for all veterans.

If you want to sleep better at night and support the famous charities out there not taking care of all veterans, remember what you just read and then ask yourself what it will be like when the newer veterans are their age and no one cares.

OEF OIF Veteran Writes Book to Tell Daughters PTSD Pain Isn't Their Fault

Army veteran tackles PTSD struggles with children’s book
KSN.com
By NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
Published: April 1, 2015

“Sometimes life isn’t perfect, but we are a family, and we will stick together and love each other forever.”

(NBC) PTSD can feel like a private prison for our men and women returning from the battlefield, but one veteran found a way to bridge the gap that PTSD created between him and his children.

It’s not every night the author of your bedtime story reads it to you.

“Mom, why is dad so mad all the time?”

But this book was written by Reagan’s dad after he came back from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Dad was different when he came home from overseas.”

“It’s like dad always has a fire in his chest.”

Retired Army First Sergeant Seth Kastle is one of the 10 to 22 percent of recent vets who struggles with PTSD.

And he struggles to explain it to his girls.

Seth: “I want them to know they aren’t responsible for that.”

Hallie: “Do you think they feel responsible?

Seth: “I don’t know. I hope not. I looked for something to have this conversation with my kids and it wasn’t there.”

That’s the reason he wrote “Why is dad so mad”.
read more here



It's not everyday I start off crying but this story did it to me. This is very important because this Dad decided that he needed to tell explain what most adults don't understand. What PTSD does is not the fault of children or a spouse any more than it is the fault of the veteran.

By the time our daughter was born, I had been working on this for 6 years. I knew everything I needed to know so that she knew she was not responsible for any of this. It was easier for me but almost impossible for other Vietnam veterans families.

The bad days we had came flooding back into my mind and when I read this story, I cried knowing what it is like for this family and far too many more.

They don't need to know what happened in combat. They do need to know their parent is suffering because of what happened. They do not need to know all the complexities behind any of it. All they need to know is, they are loved and they are not to blame for any of this.

Military Suicides Up Again for 2014

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Release No: NR-106-15
March 31, 2015

Department of Defense Releases Fourth Quarter 2014 Suicide Information

Today, the Department of Defense released the Quarterly Suicide Report (QSR) for the fourth quarter of calendar year 2014.

The report summarizes confirmed suicide counts for all services and components during the months of October through December of 2014, and also includes total suicide counts for 2014, 2013 and 2012.

In the fourth quarter of 2014, there were 69 suicides among service members in the active component, 21 suicides among service members in the reserves, and 18 suicides among service members in the National Guard.

In calendar year 2014, there were 268 confirmed suicides in the active component, up slightly from 254 in 2013; 79 in the reserve, down from 86 in 2013; and 87 in the National Guard, down from 134.

The QSR is available here. Additional information is available on the Defense Suicide Prevention Office website at www.suicideoutreach.org.

Service members and their families who need support can reach out to the Military Crisis Line, which offers free and confidential support for those in crisis. The Military Crisis Line is staffed by caring, qualified responders from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, many who have served in the military themselves. Support is available through the crisis line phone number, online chat, and text-messaging services for all service members (active, National Guard and reserves) and veterans 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year by visiting the Military Crisis Line website