Fort Campbell "I Was There" Film Project Ends Silence of PTSD

In 2010 I took my first digital media class at Valencia College. I had been doing videos for 4 years but knew there were a lot of things I had to learn. Two years later and 5 certifications on my wall, over 200 videos and student loans, it was all worth it.

Doing a class like this for the veterans of the digital age is a fabulous idea. I wasn't there. All I can do is tell their stories. These veterans were "there" and these are their stories.

Fort Campbell Workshop uses Filmmaking as healing process for Veterans
Clarksville Online
Written by David E. Gillespie
Blanchfield Army Community Hospital
April 6, 2015

For many of the 25 participants at Fort Campbell, the results were quite evident as the task of filmmaking required social interaction and gave some a voice that had been silent.

I Was There film workshop mentor Sean Mannion, left, advises filmmaker Spc. James Bomar II, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, during the final edits of a collaborative film project.
(David E. Gillespie)

Fort Campbell, KY – Lacking only the glitz and glamour of Hollywood’s red carpet, Veteran filmmakers were stars in their own rights as a four-day “I Was There” Film Workshop culminated in a packed-house screening event at Cole Park Commons Thursday.

With a unique approach to treating the psychological damages of war, the free workshop encouraged Soldiers to share their experiences through mentored filmmaking classes at Fort Campbell’s Warrior Transition Battalion.

In half-day sessions, participants began March 23rd, with an introduction to film theory and practical techniques, and collaborated all week from concept to shooting and editing, all while grouped with fellow veterans.

Founded by Ben Patton, grandson of General George S. Patton, the workshops are aimed at helping veterans connect with each other, interpret traumatic experiences and substantially reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress (PTS).
read more here

Department of Defense Confirmed Deployment Tied to Suicides,,Before They Denied It

I was searching for an article on something else when I spotted this on an old post. It goes back to 2009. It is still important considering there seems to be a plethora of reports saying the deployment is not connected to the increase of military suicides. After all, why would they ever want to connect the two considering they would also have to mention the fact that for decades they have been addressing "preventing" them?

Notice how low the numbers were back in 2009?

DoD Confirms Role Combat Plays in Suicide Epidemic
U.S. Department of Defense
Army Staff Sgt. Michael J. Carden
Feb 02, 2009

January 29, 2009, Washington, DC - The Army is committed to finding out why more soldiers committed suicide in 2008 than ever recorded, Army officials told reporters during a media roundtable today at the Pentagon.

"[Suicide] is not just an Army problem," Army Secretary Pete Geren said. "It's a national problem - we're committed to doing everything we can to address [the issues] better [and] put programs in place."

In past years, the Army, which consists of 1.1 million active and reserve troops, has been just below or on par with the national suicide rate, Geren said.

But this year, with 128 confirmed and 15 pending, an estimated 20.2 suicides occurred per 100,000 soldiers, the highest since the Army began recording the figure in 1980. The figure is higher than the national suicide rate, which is less than 20 victims per 100,000 people.

Also, the number of Army suicides increased for the fourth consecutive year, according to the Army's 2008 Suicide Data report released today.

Army researchers admitted that at least 90 percent of pending suicide cases turns out to be actual suicides. But they explained that there's no one cause or consistent formula for suicide prevention.

Multiple factors make up the risks and no two reasons are the same, Geren said.

A high mission tempo clearly can place strain on a military, and with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, 12 months or longer deployment rotations and 12 months or less downtime at home, the Army certainly has been busy, Army Vice Chief Of Staff Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli said.

"We all come to the table believing stress is a factor," Chiarelli told reporters. But he added that 2008 statistics show 30 percent of suicide victims this year were deployed, 35 percent had recently redeployed and 35 percent had no deployment experience at all.

"I think those statistics have to be looked at, and more questions have to be asked," he said. "But there's no doubt in my mind that stress is a factor in this trend we're seeing."

Chiarelli said it's important to take a step backward to evaluate what the Army and research facilities already know about suicide and prevention and review them.

Army researchers have come together with the National Institute of Mental Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs to increase the nation's awareness and understanding in suicide prevention, Dr. Philip S. Wang, director of the Division of Services and Intervention Research at the National Institute of Mental Health, said.

The five-year partnership is the largest research initiative on suicide ever conducted in the civilian and military sectors, Wang added.

"The National Institute of Mental Health is honored and committed to working with the Army to understand the urgency, to identify risks and prevention factors, to develop new and better intervention," he said. "The knowledge will not only extend to soldiers and their families, but to the civilian population as well."

Army leaders and researchers agree that reducing the number of suicide victims is a long-term goal, but in the near term, they've initiated an Armywide "stand-down" to take place on a day between Feb. 15 and March 15, Col. Thomas Languirand, Army deputy chief of staff for personnel, said.

The stand-down day will offer an opportunity for individual units and soldiers to address problems head on, and will include the latest training videos, materials and methods to identify symptoms and prevent suicide, Languirand explained.

The stand-down will be followed by another 120 days of a "chain-teaching" program, which is intended to be leader-led suicide prevention training, cascaded across the entire Army, he said. The stand-down period and chain-teaching program are mandated training in addition to quarterly and other suicide awareness and prevention training that may occur at the unit level already.

"The Army is concerned regarding where we are with our numbers," he said. "Any loss of life, especially by suicide, is a tragedy. That tragedy impacts the unit, it impacts morale on that unit - and it impacts the families. It's extremely important that we get out in front of this - nobody in the Army is satisfied as to where we are with our [past] programs."

The Army will conduct its next suicide update in April.

That isn't all. This article on CNN is still live and suggest you read it if you are among those passing on the wrong information.

'Stressed and tired force' linked to military suicides
CNN
March 18, 2009

STORY HIGHLIGHTS Army Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli: "We must find ways to relieve some of this stress"
Admiral says suicides are the third leading cause of death in the Navy
"Perceived stigma ... and dishonor of asking for help" is cited as part of problem
Also blamed: Long deployments and lengthy separations from family

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An increase in the number of suicides among military personnel can be traced, in part, to a "stressed and tired force" made vulnerable by multiple deployments, a military leader said Wednesday.

Long troop deployments in Iraq, above, and Afghanistan have been cited in the rise in military suicides.

"We must find ways to relieve some of this stress," said Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, vice chief of staff of the Army, in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee.

"I think it is the cumulative effect of deployments from 12 to 15 months," he said, adding that the longer deployments are scheduled to continue until June.

He cited long deployments, lengthy separations from family and the perceived stigma associated with seeking help as factors contributing to the suicides.

Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, vice chief of naval operations, said suicides are the third leading cause of death in the Navy.

"We must eliminate the perceived stigma, shame and dishonor of asking for help," he said.

Gen. James F. Amos, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, said his branch of the service has incorporated education and training about suicide prevention "at all levels."

He said four of 55 mental health professionals deployed in the U.S. Central Command were recently embedded with Marines. He expressed optimism that that tactic would pay off, but he said he had no data to support his expectation.

And Gen. William M. Fraser, vice chief of staff of the Air Force, said his branch, too, was taking steps "to ensure airmen are as mentally prepared for deployment and redeployment as they are physically and professionally."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said the efforts have not sufficed. He noted that last year, for the first time, the suicide rate among military personnel has exceeded that of the civilian population. "What's going on?" he asked rhetorically.

The panel members made clear that, whatever is going on, it is complex. Chiarelli said the Army tallied 133 confirmed suicides last year and is still investigating another seven possible ones. At least 70 percent of the suicides had "some kind of relationship problem," he said. Often, the situation was worsened by something else, such as a financial or legal problem, he said.

And it wasn't just the trauma of war that appears to heighten the risk. The suicides were about evenly divided among those who had returned from deployment, those who were still deployed -- some on a third or fourth tour -- and those who had never been deployed, Chiarelli said.

All of the military leaders said they had too few mental health professionals in their ranks.
you can read the rest here

Seems they heard the same problems getting worse while they did absolutely nothing with lessons learned.

Oregon Marine Killed In Motorcycle Accident Escorted Home

Community Shows Respect for Fallen Soldier's Return Home 
KDRV News
KASEY KERSHNER
April 5, 2015

CENTRAL POINT, Ore. -- Dozens of people lined Highway 99 in Central Point on Saturday night to honor the homecoming of a fallen soldier.

The body of Corporal Nicholas Hart with the U.S. Marine Corps was escorted to a Central Point funeral home by local police, military groups, and civilians who wanted to show their respect.

Last Friday, March 27th, 21-year-old Hart was in an accident on his motorcycle and died near San Diego.

On Saturday, his body was flown to Portland so it could be brought to Southern Oregon through a dignified transfer.
read more here

Why Can't the DOD Get Records System Working?

Veterans’ health records lost in VA-Department of Defense divide 
The Washington Times
By Jacqueline Klimas
April 5, 2015

The 2013 plan required the Pentagon to hand over service treatment records to VA “immediately” and establish an electronic transfer capability for the records by the end of 2013. “Immediately” was translated into a PDF document handed to the veterans upon their release, and the establishment of transferable electronic records is still in progress.

When former Marine Sgt. Chris Morey went to the VA for excruciating back pain and migraines, doctors said they couldn’t do anything for him because they had not received his deployment medical history from the military.

Sgt. Morey, who separated from the Marine Corps in 2007 after serving four years, was told by the Department of Defense that the VA would be sent a copy of his deployment history that included things like a concussion he’d suffered in an improvised explosive device blast during his third tour in Iraq. But that never happened.

“I’m telling you I get headaches; I’m telling you my back is messed up,” he told The Washington Times of his visit to the VA.

“You’re telling me it doesn’t matter because it’s not in this record.”

Veterans advocates are urging the Defense Department and VA to collaborate better so electronic health records can simply be clicked and dragged from one system to another when a service member transitions to civilian life, eliminating problems like the ones faced by Sgt. Morey.

While the new secretaries of the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments have publicly said their priority is providing seamless customer service, advocates say they have seen little progress in solving the decade-old divide between the two bureaucracies.

Under the current system, troops are given a compact disc with PDF copies of their health records when they leave the military that they must bring to the VA. The PDFs are essentially just photos of records and can’t be manipulated or updated with current health information.
read more here

Look back to what was in the news in 2007

Kaiser Health Disparities Report: A Weekly Look At Race, Ethnicity And Health Coverage and Access
Delays, Lost Paperwork Persist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Washington Post Reports
[Sep 17, 2007]

Patients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center are continuing to encounter problems with lost paperwork and delays in appointments, months after President Bush and Department of Defense Secretary Robert Gates promised to make "swift changes" to improve the care that soldiers were receiving at the military facility, the Washington Post reports (Priest/Hull, Washington Post, 9/15).

Earlier this year, a Post series detailed poor conditions for people receiving outpatient care at Walter Reed (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 5/3). After the series was published, the Army "moved swiftly" to fix the outpatient system and established three panels to examine the "entire overburdened military medical care system" for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Post. Despite these efforts, patients and family members continue to complain about the obstacles facing veterans, including a lack of information and explanation of options given with discharge papers, the long disability process, excessive bureaucracy and rotating staff, all resulting in inadequate care, the Post reports.

in 2008

Report: Military Inconsistent' On Medical Records Reviews
By LISA CHEDEKEL And MATTHEW KAUFFMAN Courant Staff Writers
June 5, 2008

"Because of DoD's inconsistent policies," the investigators said, "providers determining if ... service members meet DoD's minimum mental health standards for deployment may not have complete medical information."

The accountability office reviewed changes approved 18 months ago in the way troops are screened for mental-health status before and after deploying to war.

The defense department in late 2006 adopted a policy, in response to congressional legislation, that tightened pre-deployment screening by setting limits on when troops with mental-health problems may be sent to war and retained in combat.

The legislation was prompted by a series of stories in The Courant that found troops' mental illnesses were being missed or ignored during pre-deployment screenings. Some of those troops committed suicide in Iraq.

and in 2012

Report: DoD benefits database rife with errors
By Rick Maze
Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jun 5, 2012

The Senate Armed Services Committee wants quick action to improve the accuracy of the Defense Enrollment Eligibility and Reporting System, both to correct mistakes about beneficiaries qualified to receive health care and other benefits, and to weed out those who are not eligible.

In a report filed Monday about the pending 2013 defense authorization bill, the committee is calling for a swift response to an April 2012 report by the Defense Department inspector general that found 200,000 discrepancies in DEERS, and 2,495 instances in which Tricare health benefits were used by ineligible people. The erroneously paid health care benefits totaled $11.2 million, according to the Senate committee report.

DEERS has about 9.4 million people enrolled, including active-duty, reserve and retired service members and their spouses and children, who are eligible for military health care and other benefits. The inspector general report found supporting documents were missing for up to 2.8 million beneficiaries.

Yet again, the problems are reported, congress pays attention, then nothing much changes. Gee wonder why that is or why no one is ever held accountable for what they fail to do? Well, other than the men and women who step up to serve the country? Why am I hearing Britney Spears - Oops I Did It Again?

Tampa Veterans Helpline May Expand Statewide

Veterans help line program might expand statewide
Tampa Bay Rich Shopes
Times Staff Writer
Sunday, April 5, 2015

Tampa Bay has one of Florida's highest concentrations of veterans. Hillsborough and Pinellas alone are home to nearly 170,000 vets, more than double that of Miami-Dade.

TAMPA — A support line that has counseled hundreds of Tampa Bay area veterans since its launch last year may be expanded statewide under a bill moving through the state Legislature.

Begun in late October at the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, the Florida Veterans' Care Coordination Program has so far counseled more than 500 vets on issues from substance abuse to chronic unemployment to post-traumatic stress disorder.

"This is about veterans helping veterans," said Bruce Grant, who helped launch the pilot program in Tampa last year as chairman of the Statewide Veterans Advisory Council.

Grant said the program operates under the Crisis Center but employs a separate toll-free line — 1-844-MYFLVET (693-5838) — to connect veterans to services. The line is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The bill would expand the Tampa Bay program to Florida's 13 other crisis centers, effectively blanketing the state.

"Most veterans out there are not asking for a handout," McPherson said. "They're just asking for a hand up."
read more here

Kids Hoax Used Veterans Committing Suicide

2 Minors Allegedly Involved In Billerica Suicide Hotline Hoax 
CBS News
April 4, 2015

BILLERICA (CBS) – Two minors were allegedly involved in a Billerica suicide hotline hoax on Saturday. Police were called about 4:15 p.m. from a National Suicide Hotline representative who said they received a call from a person claiming to be a distraught Billerica military veteran.

He was considering killing himself with a gun, police say.

“After attempting to get the individual to talk further, communication was lost and attempts to reestablish contact were unsuccessful,”

Deputy chief Roy Frost said in a press statement, adding that police were contacted shortly thereafter. read more here

Standoff on 1-35 With Texas Veteran Ends With Help

I-35 closed during 2-hour standoff with veteran on freeway 
WacoTrib.com
By OLIVIA MESSER
April 4, 2015

It was then that the man told officers he was trying to get to the Veterans Administration hospital in Temple when he ran out of gasoline.

Police confirmed he was a veteran and took him to the hospital. Investigators were waiting Saturday afternoon to talk to doctors and decide whether to file charges, Dickson said.

Lorena police and supporting agencies safely ended a two-hour standoff with a veteran threatening to harm himself on Interstate 35 near the Rosenthal Road exit Saturday morning.

Both north- and southbound lanes of the highway as well as the access roads were closed by the Texas Department of Transportation until the man surrendered about 10:45 a.m.

Traffic was detoured around the area for approximately two hours.
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Army Heads Afraid of Reporters After Wounded Transitioned Into Hell

Wounded soldiers’ treatment not just a Texas problem
Dallas News
By David Tarrant, Scott Friedman (NBC 5) and Eva Parks (NBC 5)
Published on April 3, 2015

Complaints of Army harassment afflict transition units across U.S. and persist despite promised remedies

The Army surgeon general’s office is in charge of the Army Medical Command, which oversees the WTUs. Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho, the Army’s surgeon general, declined multiple requests for an interview. Army Secretary John McHugh also declined to be interviewed, citing an ongoing investigation of the Fort Hood WTU that began after the initial reports last fall by The News and KXAS-TV.

Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho, the Army’s surgeon general, ordered an investigation at Fort Carson after a soldier on the Colorado base complained of mistreatment by behavioral health professionals. She told Pentagon reporters in February that the case did not indicate a “systemic” problem with Army care.
(AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

The complaints roll in from soldiers across the country.

Fort Knox, Ky., Nov. 4, 2013: “The leadership in his company does not care about soldiers, treats them like garbage and talks down to them.”

Fort Irwin, Calif., May 23, 2014: “The unit is dysfunctional and is causing more stress to the … soldiers than they are helping.”

And Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, Sept. 4, 2014: Soldier “felt threatened by the platoon SGT.”

These are not examples of a tough dressing-down of regular infantry by an old-school sergeant.

These complaints come from wounded, injured or ill soldiers who are supposed to find caring and healing at the U.S. Army’s Warrior Transition Units, or WTUs, but instead are experiencing mistreatment and harassment by superiors.

Many of the soldiers are getting treatment for physical or psychological wounds suffered in combat.

Since 2010, across the country, WTU soldiers have lodged more than 1,100 complaints about the way their chain of command treated them at more than two dozen WTUs, according to an ongoing investigation by The Dallas Morning News and its broadcast partner, KXAS-TV (NBC5).

Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, had the most complaints, with 163 reports in the five-year time frame; Fort Hood, in Killeen, was second with 142.

In November, The News/KXAS-TV investigation first revealed problems at three Texas WTUs. Reporters examined complaints filed to the Army’s ombudsman program from soldiers at Fort Hood; Fort Bliss, in El Paso; and Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, in San Antonio.

On Feb. 3, a top Army official appeared before a congressional hearing to address the problems at the Texas WTUs. Col. Chris Toner heads the Warrior Transition Command in Alexandria, Va., which provides oversight and policy guidance for the WTU system.

Toner confirmed that there had been incidents of “disrespect, harassment and belittlement of soldiers” at Texas WTUs from 2009 to 2013. At Fort Bliss, he said, there were problems “beyond a shadow of a doubt.”
read more here
Reducing Military Suicides Impossible Dream With These Folks In Charge

WWII Veteran Improved According to VA, Actually Clinically Deaf

You know the commercial with "Can you hear me now?" Well that is all I can think about because apparently the VA didn't hear this WWII veteran when they cut his disability until a reporter got involved in the story and then suddenly, they seem to have heard him loud and clear.

WWII vet, 91, struggles with VA lag
Ocala.com
By April Warren Staff writer
Published: Saturday, April 4, 2015

"Sullivan said she was first contacted by the VA on Friday, the day after the Star-Banner contacted the VA to inquire about Desario’s case. She said a VA official told her it will now order more tests for Desario."

Joseph DeSario, 90, who was a top turret gunner on a B-24 Liberator during World War II points to the spot just below where he was positioned in the bomber in a painting at his home in Marion Woods Senior Living in Ocala, Fla. on Monday, Oct. 27, 2014.
Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Star-Banner

The 2½ years Joseph Desario spent in the military during World War II have remained with him forever.

Desario, 91, can still recall with detail his work as a top turret gunner on 30 missions aboard the B-24 Liberator, a four-engine bomber. He was stationed behind the pilot, but between the roaring engines, operating twin .50 caliber machine guns over Europe.

Desario survived two plane crashes, which later led to the replacement of both his knees.

Upon his honorable discharge in 1945, Desario was given a certification of disability. In recent years, he received an overall combined disability evaluation rating of 80 percent, which took into account two service connected disabilities: post-traumatic stress disorder and bilateral hearing loss.

“The noise was tremendous all the time,” Desario’s daughter, Mary Lynn Miraglia, said of the gun noise, blasts around the planes and lack of protective earwear.

In October 2013, Desario applied for an increase in compensation in the individual unemployability category. Instead, his benefits were cut by about $600 a month when test results indicated an improvement in his hearing.

The result later was refuted by a clinical audiologist who said her evaluation found Desario to be legally deaf.
read more here

Gulf War Veteran Lost Everything Waiting 20 Years For VA Claim Approval

A veteran's long battle for benefits 
MYFOXAtlanta
By Aungelique Proctor, FOX 5 Reporter
Updated: Apr 03, 2015

FOX 5's Aungelique Proctor asked Muckle, “You are telling me the VA made you feel like you were nothing?” He lamented, “All the time. Like a piece of trash. I been taking paperwork to the VA for 20 years trying to get it straight."

Gulf War veteran Ronald Muckle says losing his East Point house is just one of the many calamities that happened to him while waiting for years to get the VA to approve his disability.

He says he went into the Navy at 17 years old and served for decades as a recruiter and even a flight engineer. But the 63-year-old says the problems started when he returned from Abu Dhabi in 1995.

He describes his body as "broken down" at that point. "I have the vertigo, tinnitus, hearing loss -- see where I have the hearing aids now. I have adjustment disorder, PTSD, MDD, manic depression. I have problems with my back; I have problems with my foot. I have digestive problems,” said Muckle.

Muckle says he served our country for 24 years, but he says he has gotten nothing but the run around from the VA following his service. He says the lack of his disability benefits led him to hit rock bottom. He ended up with a house in foreclosure, lost his family through a divorce and even became homeless. He blames the Veterans Administration for is problems.
read more here

Woman Killed in South Carolina Random Shooting

South Carolina woman killed in random shooting by former Soldier who claims PTSD
Examiner.com
Susy Raybon
April 4, 2-15

At 1:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon, Lynn Michelle Harrison was randomly gunned down on her way to have lunch with her son. In what appears to be a random act of violence, Harrison, 57, was shot in the neck while at a traffic light in Summerville, South Carolina. She died at the scene.

Adding to the tragedy, yesterday the shooter, Jimi Redman, Jr.,32, a felon from Fort Worth, Texas, said he is a former Army Soldier who is suffering from PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. When he appeared in bond court, his body language, on video released yesterday, (broadcast locally) seemed unapologetic for the senseless killing.
read more here

Congress No Longer Ashamed of What They Did to Veterans

Congress Pushing VA to Disaster
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
April 5, 2015

When I had more time and wasn't working a full time job plus doing this work, I wrote on Veterans Today. I was looking up a quote from John Boehner on privatizing the VA when I rediscovered a post I did way back in 2011. "Fix The VA Don't Break It"

It started with this.

"One of the biggest problems tracking reports across the country is that there are days when I get hit with more news than I can stand. It makes my head hurt to think of how far we’ve come, then get whacked with one bad news report after another."

Privatizing VA still appeals to Boehner reported by the Columbus Dispatch May 24, 2014. He said the idea seems to still be a good one. So how is it that the reporters didn't ask him what that really meant?

Decades? He has been pushing to privatize the VA for decades? Did it ever dawn on him that in the process of his goals it would mean that millions of disabled veterans would suffer? They have been pushing the VA to disaster all this time and hoped no one would notice.

The post I wrote ended with this.

"These problems are easy to ignore if they remain local issues but when you look at what is going on across the country, it is clear there is a huge problem. The VA has an obligation to provide care to our veterans no matter where they live. Fixing the VA is about taking care of all veterans now or tomorrow people wanting to privatize the VA will win and veterans will lose."

Here we are and the evidence is in that the Congress has been screwing veterans for decades and are no longer ashamed to admit it.

After all, the Congress is responsible for what happens. They pass all the bills and fund them. They also have an obligation to be the watchdogs over all the departments including the VA.

Legislation Within the Jurisdiction of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs


Veterans' measures generally.

Pensions of all the wars of the U.S., general and special.

Life insurance issued by the government on account of service in the Armed Forces.

Compensation, vocational rehabilitation, and education of veterans.

Veterans' hospitals, medical care, and treatment of veterans.

Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief.

Readjustment of servicemen to civilian life.

National Cemeteries.

How long have they had to get this right? Since 1946!

If they wanted to really take care of our veterans, they would have done it decades ago!

Denver VA Hospital Sign Historical Reminder

Like most states, no one thought about veterans ahead of time. When this hospital was built, troops were in fighting in Korea for about a year. "Almost 40,000 Americans died in action in Korea, and more than 100,000 were wounded."

Unlike World War II and Vietnam, the Korean War did not get much media attention in the United States. The most famous representation of the war in popular culture is the television series “M*A*S*H,” which was set in a field hospital in South Korea. The series ran from 1972 until 1983, and its final episode was the most-watched in television history.

No one was talking about what was happening to them when they came home either. Understandable to assume that what were read in the newspapers today is all new since no one knew what was going on other than the veterans and their families.

"The main building of the Denver hospital, built in 1951 and renovated in 1986, is showing incurable signs of age. As many as three patients are crowded into single rooms."

The 80th Congressional session would have planned and funded the hospital before troops were sent into Korea. Construction began during the 81st. It is easy to assume they did not change the plans as more wounded were coming home from Korea since the renovations did not start until over ten years after troops were out of Vietnam.

When no one plans for what wars do, veterans suffer. This has been repeated throughout our history and shows no sign of changing.

When Congress approved of sending troops into Afghanistan, there were already veterans waiting for care in long lines and for claims to be approved. When they approved of sending troops into Iraq, the lines were longer, waits were longer. What did not grow proportionately preparing for the newly wounded and disabled was the VA.

No political party has taken responsibility for any of this. No politician has been held accountable. The only people found responsible by the public were the heads of the VA during the time when reporters actually cared to report on what was happening to our veterans at the time. God forbid they actually looked back to see how it got this bad or how long it had been going on.

So when you read the rest of this, understand that Congress doomed veterans to history being repeated generations after generations.


Baffled, angry: Veterans share views on current VA hospital conditions
The Denver Post
By David Olinger
POSTED:04/05/2015

Some ask how many more veterans will die
before the new hospital opens.

Darrell Myers, 69, served in the Army but has had problems with his care at the VA Hospital in Denver after a colonoscopy in March. Myers has no complaints about the treatment he gets as a VA patient. "I get very good care from my doctors," he said. But he cannot say the same about the hospital conditions that veterans endure while the VA struggles to finish its new state-of-the-art facility.
(Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)

Darrell Myers praises his Department of Veterans Affairs doctors and relies exclusively on the VA for medical care. But last month, a routine colonoscopy at the VA's aging Denver medical center morphed into a massive bleeding episode, a four-day hospital admission and a blood test mix-up. While he was there, an electrical fire erupted on his floor, and his bathroom door was taped shut.

Ralph Bozella arrived early at the Denver hospital last month for a cancer test. He and other patients ended up sitting in hospital gowns in a hallway because the biopsy room had been commandeered for something more urgent.

"If anybody thinks we don't need a new hospital," he said, "come on down and check yourself in."

Last month, a new price estimate for a medical campus being built in Aurora sent shock waves through Congress.

The VA originally estimated the Aurora hospital could be built for $328 million. Construction began three years ago with a $600 million budget, and Congress has authorized spending up to $800 million. But after the Army Corps of Engineers stepped in to investigate its status and end a stalemate with the construction contractor, the VA issued a stunning new estimate: $1.73 billion.
read more here

Jacksonville VA Canceled Nearly 60,000 Veterans' Health Appointments

Aside from the powerful head of the House Veterans Affairs Committee is from Florida, Jeff Miller has been just one in a very long line of politicians blaming the VA at the same time making promises to fix it.

How can they fix it when so many of their buddies want to kill the VA and send veterans to private, for profit doctors and hospitals? After all, it aside from being the right thing to do, fixing the VA would actually save money however veterans are not as powerful as wealthy donors to their reelection campaigns.

Don't they know veterans have been suffering for decades while politicians make speeches?


Jacksonville VA canceled nearly 60,000 veterans' health appointments in 14-month span
Jacksonville.com
By Clifford Davis
Apr 3, 2015

Out of 117,117 canceled appointments from Jan 1, 2014, to March 1, 2015, the clinic canceled 59,661 of them, according to data provided by the VA through a Freedom of Information Act request made by the Times-Union.

In February, the assistant director of the North Florida/South Georgia VA Health System pointed to canceled appointments as a contributing factor in the Jacksonville clinic’s wait times, which are the worst for any major VA facility in the country.

What Nick Ross failed to mention was that the clinic — not patients — was responsible for canceling more than half of those appointments.

“We have a fairly high number of folks who either cancel their appointment or no-show, this accounting system really doesn’t take that into effect because it’s cumulative,” Ross said when presented with Jacksonville’s wait times.

Then, as now, roughly a quarter of veterans at the Jacksonville clinic don’t get seen within the VA’s 30-day target, more than seven percent higher any other major facility in the nation. “If you take that into account, technically speaking, we can’t do anything about that.”

The numbers tell another story.
read more here

Long After War The Ink Remains and the Link

The long fight over military tattoos just hit a new phase
Washington Post
By Dan Lamothe
April 3, 2015

"Long after war, the ink remains"

WarInk

For Veterans Day last year, a new project was launched to get those who have served to open up about their military experience. The vehicle for doing so was unusual, but common among veterans: tattoos.

War Ink made a splash, with coverage by Buzzfeed, PBS, USA Today and other news organizations.

It showed veterans discussing tattoos and the circumstances under which they got them, which can range from the celebration of a coveted assignment to the mourning of a fallen friend.

It is for all those reasons that ongoing discussions in both the Army and Marine Corps have grabbed attention among service members and veterans alike. Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno said Wednesday that strict rules on tattoos in his service put in place last year will be rolled back. Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, meanwhile, also said recently that his service is reviewing existing tattoo policies. They were last updated in 2010.
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War Ink is a virtual exhibit that combines video, photography and audio to present the stories of veterans with tattoos. (YouTube: War Ink)