Bees hamper St. Pete firefighters
40,000 Africanized bees, electrified fence hamper St. Pete firefighters
Stephanie Hayes, Times Staff Writer
Posted: Jun 09, 2009 11:23 AM
The fire broke out at Robert Porter's one-story wood frame home at 1661 29th Ave. N around 9:30 a.m. A gas and water heater on Porter's back porch was too close to an empty book case and boxes, said St. Petersburg Fire Rescue Lt. Joel Granata. It erupted in flames, destroying the porch and spreading fire into the house through the back.
The fire burned down a TECO electric line on the back of the house, which fell and electrified a chain link fence in the back yard.
The Africanized bees burst from the hive, 8-feet tall and 30 inches wide nestled in the front of Porter's house. Capt. Bernie Williams told his firefighters with bee allergies to get back. That's when he felt the sting on his right shin.
click link for more
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Army closing some wounded soldier units
Army closing some wounded soldier units
Army closing some wounded soldier units
By KRISTIN M. HALL
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Army is closing three special units for wounded and ill soldiers and downsizing others, including one at Fort Campbell, after tightening the selection process last year.
The warrior transition units were created in 2007 to address reports of substandard care for wounded soldiers. But the number of soldiers in these 36 units has dropped from a high of more than 12,000 last June to about 9,500 currently.
The Army announced last month three units at installations in Kansas and Alabama will close. Units that will be downsized are at posts in Kansas, Georgia, Washington and the Fort Campbell installation on the Tennessee-Kentucky border. Two units in Virginia will merge.
Commanders say the decrease is because the Army last year imposed stricter screening procedures for admitting wounded, ill and injured soldiers into the units.
Previously, the Army automatically sent any ill or injured soldier who needed more than six months of recovery to a warrior transition unit. The soldiers were assigned officers and enlisted leaders to manage their medical care and they were assisted by medical staff who helped them through recovery and rehabilitation.
click link for more
Army closing some wounded soldier units
By KRISTIN M. HALL
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Army is closing three special units for wounded and ill soldiers and downsizing others, including one at Fort Campbell, after tightening the selection process last year.
The warrior transition units were created in 2007 to address reports of substandard care for wounded soldiers. But the number of soldiers in these 36 units has dropped from a high of more than 12,000 last June to about 9,500 currently.
The Army announced last month three units at installations in Kansas and Alabama will close. Units that will be downsized are at posts in Kansas, Georgia, Washington and the Fort Campbell installation on the Tennessee-Kentucky border. Two units in Virginia will merge.
Commanders say the decrease is because the Army last year imposed stricter screening procedures for admitting wounded, ill and injured soldiers into the units.
Previously, the Army automatically sent any ill or injured soldier who needed more than six months of recovery to a warrior transition unit. The soldiers were assigned officers and enlisted leaders to manage their medical care and they were assisted by medical staff who helped them through recovery and rehabilitation.
click link for more
DID VIETNAM VETS GET SICKER IN THE 1990s?
The answer is,,,NO. They did not "get sicker" they just finally found out what was going on inside of them and the reason for it. Before this time, most were like the older veterans of WWI, WWII and Korea, just like the generations before them suffered all the same. Had some of them been helped to heal when PTSD was at mild or low levels, they would not have ended up suffering and most would have been able to work until they retired at a normal age. The problem was there was too much time between the onset of PTSD and the time they were treated because PTSD kept claiming more and more of "them" in the process. Untreated PTSD allowed the entry way for the secondary stressors to strike. This ended up sending mild PTSD into PTSD on steroids.
Thru the late 70's and into the 80's reports were beginning to raise the awareness but it was not until the 90's when PTSD was discussed more in the media and by service organizations. In other words, the message finally began to get thru. Do any of these researchers ever read the publications the people that already researched all of this already did?
UPDATE
This was found in an article on homeless veterans. I think it really adds to what we're seeing today but is also a predictor of what we'll face if we allow the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans to go untreated for PTSD. It doesn't cure itself if they are allowed to just bury it.
Thru the late 70's and into the 80's reports were beginning to raise the awareness but it was not until the 90's when PTSD was discussed more in the media and by service organizations. In other words, the message finally began to get thru. Do any of these researchers ever read the publications the people that already researched all of this already did?
DID VIETNAM VETS GET SICKER IN THE 1990s?
The veterans disability compensation (VDC) program, which provides a monthly stipend to disabled veterans, is the third largest American disability insurance program. Since the late 1990s, VDC growth has been driven primarily by an increase in claims from Vietnam veterans. Researchers at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) attempt to solve the problem of selection bias that's inherent in comparisons of outcomes between veterans and non-veterans by using the draft lottery and 2000 U.S. Decennial Census data.
go here for more
http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=18067
UPDATE
This was found in an article on homeless veterans. I think it really adds to what we're seeing today but is also a predictor of what we'll face if we allow the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans to go untreated for PTSD. It doesn't cure itself if they are allowed to just bury it.
David Boling, a tall, softspoken 62-year-old, served in Vietnam from 1969–74. He worked as a welder and a machinist for many years but retired after injuring his back in 1997. He’s staying at the Glisan
Street Shelter while he waits to move into an apartment in Vancouver.
Boling says he’s had post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues since returning from the war, but they became especially acute after he stopped working.
“I buried it for 30 years,” he says. “It is coming back on me… it just came back in the last two years, all those memories.” Boling is now on medication for bipolar disorder and sees a VA counselor for his PTSD.
Burroughs says many veterans find their situation changing as they age. They may retire, lose a spouse to death or divorce, or watch their children move out. With fewer distractions and a weaker support network, emotional trauma can seep to the surface.
go here for more
Veterans arriving on the streets not who you think
by Mara Grunbaum
Younger soldiers under stress more likely to get help
Younger soldiers under stress more likely to get help
By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, June 9, 2009
MADAIN, Iraq — Spc. Richard Wahl is married with two kids and a baby due in August.
When his wife developed a serious condition a few weeks ago, the young couple weren’t sure what to do. The crisis came down to geography.
"I was here," he said. "And she was there."
Wahl, 20, of the 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment is on his first tour in Iraq.
About half of the battalion has deployed previously, some, multiple times. For the most part, those soldiers are dealing with this tour fairly well, said the battalion chaplain, Capt. Mike Smith.
But the soldiers who more often seek help are younger, privates or corporals, who are experiencing Iraq for the first time, said Lt. Col. Avery Davis, the chief of physical medicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital. He is attached to the battalion for a year as its primary doctor.
These younger soldiers, some still teenagers, are experiencing their first serious relationships, their first serious jobs and their first time away from home — all in a war zone. That mix can turn into anger, lethargy or something more dangerous if left alone, Smith and Davis said.
click link for more
By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, June 9, 2009
MADAIN, Iraq — Spc. Richard Wahl is married with two kids and a baby due in August.
When his wife developed a serious condition a few weeks ago, the young couple weren’t sure what to do. The crisis came down to geography.
"I was here," he said. "And she was there."
Wahl, 20, of the 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment is on his first tour in Iraq.
About half of the battalion has deployed previously, some, multiple times. For the most part, those soldiers are dealing with this tour fairly well, said the battalion chaplain, Capt. Mike Smith.
But the soldiers who more often seek help are younger, privates or corporals, who are experiencing Iraq for the first time, said Lt. Col. Avery Davis, the chief of physical medicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital. He is attached to the battalion for a year as its primary doctor.
These younger soldiers, some still teenagers, are experiencing their first serious relationships, their first serious jobs and their first time away from home — all in a war zone. That mix can turn into anger, lethargy or something more dangerous if left alone, Smith and Davis said.
click link for more
Veterans start service as sheriff's officers
Veterans start service as sheriff's officers
Philadelphia Inquirer - Philadelphia,PA,USA
By Edward Colimore
Inquirer Staff Writer
Lou Tomassone of Atco has vivid memories of his service as a turret gunner in a cavalry unit in Tikrit, hometown of Saddam Hussein. The 24-year-old former Army specialist once escorted an Iraqi police chief through town when a bomb blew up, spraying his turret with shrapnel and miraculously missing him.
Sean Smith of Runnemede recalls coming under fire in Fallujah, guarding prisoners and teaching Iraqis how to police their country. The 22-year-old, who was in the Marines, showed the recruits how to conduct house raids and patrol the streets.
Louise Bazelak of Barrington remembers taking cover as insurgent mortar rounds fell into her camp at Balad. The 33-year-old former Air Force staff sergeant and F-16 aircraft mechanic still kept the planes flying.
After years in the military, Tomassone, Smith, and Bazelak now have changed uniforms and begun service of a different kind - in their own community.
The three were among 14 military veterans sworn in as Camden County sheriff's officers yesterday during a ceremony to mark the opening of the Camden Veterans Administration Outpatient Clinic adjacent to Cooper University Hospital.
The 12 men and two women were immediately marched to Camden City Hall to undergo processing. Another Iraq veteran was in Marine reservist training yesterday and will be sworn in later, officials said.
I couldn't agree more!
Philadelphia Inquirer - Philadelphia,PA,USA
By Edward Colimore
Inquirer Staff Writer
Lou Tomassone of Atco has vivid memories of his service as a turret gunner in a cavalry unit in Tikrit, hometown of Saddam Hussein. The 24-year-old former Army specialist once escorted an Iraqi police chief through town when a bomb blew up, spraying his turret with shrapnel and miraculously missing him.
Sean Smith of Runnemede recalls coming under fire in Fallujah, guarding prisoners and teaching Iraqis how to police their country. The 22-year-old, who was in the Marines, showed the recruits how to conduct house raids and patrol the streets.
Louise Bazelak of Barrington remembers taking cover as insurgent mortar rounds fell into her camp at Balad. The 33-year-old former Air Force staff sergeant and F-16 aircraft mechanic still kept the planes flying.
After years in the military, Tomassone, Smith, and Bazelak now have changed uniforms and begun service of a different kind - in their own community.
The three were among 14 military veterans sworn in as Camden County sheriff's officers yesterday during a ceremony to mark the opening of the Camden Veterans Administration Outpatient Clinic adjacent to Cooper University Hospital.
The 12 men and two women were immediately marched to Camden City Hall to undergo processing. Another Iraq veteran was in Marine reservist training yesterday and will be sworn in later, officials said.
Police departments across the country typically have a high percentage of veterans, he said.
"They have discipline and are used to stress," Billingham said. "In the Middle East, they were also used to confrontation, used to dealing with innocent people in crisis."click link for more
I couldn't agree more!
Navy vets seek Agent Orange compensation
Navy vets seek Agent Orange compensation
Tampabay.com - St. Petersburg,FL,USA
By William R. Levesque, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Tuesday, June 9, 2009
A bill in Congress provides a seemingly straightforward answer to a question that has vexed tens of thousands of Americans who served in the U.S. military.
Who is a Vietnam veteran?
The answer is vitally important to Navy personnel who served in Vietnam's territorial waters. For now, the Department of Veterans Affairs' definition of a Vietnam veteran does not include these men and women.
Legislation introduced in the House would change that, clearing the way for Navy veterans to get disability payments and free health care for ailments linked to the herbicide Agent Orange, from type II diabetes to a variety of cancers.
At stake: $3 billion in benefits.
The VA says the pool of veterans who would become eligible for benefits under the bill is 800,000, a number critics accuse the VA of exaggerating to inflate costs that may scare Congress. click link for more
Woe,,,,wait a second here,,,,did I just read what I think I read? The VA has been accused of trying to scare congress with the numbers of veterans this could add to the system? Did this really happen? Is is possible? If it is then that would explain WHY THE HELL THERE ARE SO MANY PROBLEMS IN THE VA! The VA is not a free ride. It was paid for the day Marines, soldiers, sailors an airmen stopped serving and became veterans. What part of this exactly didn't they understand? They already paid the price and it was not their responsibility to make sure that the congress at the time of funding the services they provided did not include any compensation and medical care that was produced as an outcome of the wars they funded and the means they paid for to fight it.
VIETNAM WAR STATISTICS IN UNIFORM AND IN COUNTRY
Vietnam Vets: 9.7% of their generation.
9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the Vietnam Era (Aug. 5, 1964-May 7, 1975).
8,744,000 GIs were on active duty during the war (Aug 5, 1964 - March 28, 1973).
3,403,100 (Including 514,300 offshore) personnel served in the Southeast Asia Theater (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, flight crews based in Thailand, and sailors in adjacent South China Sea waters).
2,594,000 personnel served within the borders of South Vietnam (Jan. 1, 1965 - March 28, 1973)
Another 50,000 men served in Vietnam between 1960 and 1964.
Of the 2.6 million, between 1 - 1.6 million (40 - 60%) either fought in combat, provided close support or were at least fairly regularly exposed to enemy attack.
7,484 women (6,250 or 83.5% were nurses) served in Vietnam.
Peak troop strength in Vietnam: 543,482 (April 30, 1968)
If they did not plan for the wounded bodies coming back, not plan for the wounded by PTSD or plan for the illnesses they would in turn cause from vaccines and chemicals they deployed with them, then they shouldn't have sent them at all. These are after all the same people able to think about spending money for bullets and bombs and then finding the funding to buy more bullets and bombs to use. They found the way to get draftees and enlistments clothed and fed. They found a way for everything they wanted except for what they just didn't want to face. The wounded and the veterans they would have to take care of and provide for. This, this very obligation they owed to them is now seen as some kind of threat to them?
The congressmen come and go, political parties take control and lose control, but just as they still have a duty to do because they chose to seek the office, this obligation of their's is still their's and the rest of the nation no matter how many years pass. When they dishonor the services of any branch they sent, they dishonor all of them. Congress paid for Agent Orange and congress has to pay for the results Agent Orange caused for all the veterans injured by it.
PTSD:Bridgeport to Baghdad: Citizen Again
Bridgeport to Baghdad: Citizen Again
Jeremy Harrison, a sergeant in the 459th experienced post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after returning from Iraq.
By Chip Hitchcock
June 8, 2009 · One West Virginia veteran of the Iraq War struggled to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder, and now helps other veterans live with their memories of war.
On a rainy afternoon five years ago, the 459th Reserve Engineering Company’s buses pulled into the armory in Bridgeport, West Virginia. They were returning from a year in Iraq.
On one bus, a soldier called out, “Welcome Home, Gentlemen! Can I get a Hoo-Ah?”
The other soldiers responded with the Army yell: “Hoo-ah!”
Minutes later they spilled out onto the parking lot, to be embraced by family and friends.
In the years since, that scene has been repeated for almost every West Virginia National Guard and Reserve unit. Afterwards, the soldiers face the challenges of adjusting to home.
Every combat veteran has a different reaction to the trauma of war. Those reactions may dramatically affect their civilian life.
In 2007, a Department of Defense Task Force found that three to four months after returning home, one-third of regular Army soldiers were experiencing mental health issues.
The figure is even higher -- one-half -- for National Guard and Reservists.
go here for more
http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=9954
Jeremy Harrison, a sergeant in the 459th experienced post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after returning from Iraq.
By Chip Hitchcock
June 8, 2009 · One West Virginia veteran of the Iraq War struggled to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder, and now helps other veterans live with their memories of war.
On a rainy afternoon five years ago, the 459th Reserve Engineering Company’s buses pulled into the armory in Bridgeport, West Virginia. They were returning from a year in Iraq.
On one bus, a soldier called out, “Welcome Home, Gentlemen! Can I get a Hoo-Ah?”
The other soldiers responded with the Army yell: “Hoo-ah!”
Minutes later they spilled out onto the parking lot, to be embraced by family and friends.
In the years since, that scene has been repeated for almost every West Virginia National Guard and Reserve unit. Afterwards, the soldiers face the challenges of adjusting to home.
Every combat veteran has a different reaction to the trauma of war. Those reactions may dramatically affect their civilian life.
In 2007, a Department of Defense Task Force found that three to four months after returning home, one-third of regular Army soldiers were experiencing mental health issues.
The figure is even higher -- one-half -- for National Guard and Reservists.
go here for more
http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=9954
The lament of the warrior
by
Chaplain Kathie
If you listen carefully, you can still hear the sound of ancient drums beating in the night. The lament of the warrior pounded to the ears of Great Spirit seeking relief for all they witnessed that day. Ancient warriors in combat, face to face with the enemies of their people did not rest there as the dead were laying on the earth. As they walked looking for their brothers to reclaim them, laying by their side were the bodies of the enemy forces. Suddenly they were not some target to kill while they were seeking to kill them in return. They were just humans like them. They were fighting for what they believed in just as much as the ancients that fought against them. They had families, passions, laughed and cried and the human price paid was not forgotten. In battle the enemy were evil creatures that had to be slain but in death, they were once again just other humans unlucky that day to have fallen by the sword. They carried away the loss of their friends and the loss of the lives of the enemies that day. They needed to mourn for all and for themselves for what they had seen that day in battle.
Read any account of ancient warfare and see what we now call PTSD. The trauma after combat has not changed in the centuries man has fought against man and will not likely change until man goes to war no more. Different years, different explanations, different words used to describe this human wound after different wars by different means. Stone weapons replaced by swords, replaced by bow and arrow, replaced by rifle, replace by cannon and on and on it went. The end result by any means was the same. The wounded had to be found among the dead and among their dead were the dead of their enemies. Momentary lapses of why they fought allowed them to see the enemy looking the same as their friends. Aside from the clothing, they all looked the same. For seconds their minds acknowledged the loss of all life gone that day.
Today the drum beats of the ancients still pounds in the nights of those who experienced the other side of peace and we call it Post Traumatic Stress. This literally means After Wound. Trauma is Greek for the wound. The ancients acknowledged the loss of other humans and the need to recover from the horrors they lived thru. We however with our vast knowledge and technological achievements refuse to face the human aspect. We see ourselves as smarter, more able to adapt, push on, get over it. We think we are mentally more developed than they were. What we fail to see is that we are just as human as the ancients were. The wounded are just as wounded but we are able to save more than they could. The dead however are just as dead and they lay side by side, enemies in life but the same in death.
If the military were really serious about addressing this wounded spirit they would allow all the lives lost that day to be mourned and acknowledged. They would do as the ancients did and have cleansing ceremonies before they walked away for rest. They would pray for the lives of the enemies they had to take that day and for relief from the pain they felt inside. They would acknowledge the innocents lost because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They would face the human inside of them instead of only the warrior they trained to be.
To this day I mourn the loss of my husband's nephew. His name was Steven. I called him Andy in the book I wrote because his death was too recent to the writing of it. Steven was the same age as my husband when they were both in Vietnam. He came home and fell apart, fell into what he used to cope with in Vietnam, heroin. Steven had seen some horrific things but the one thing standing out in his mind the most was tying his boot.
The VC had a habit of playing around with bombs the US forces had placed the day before. Steven and his men were supposed to go out and check to see if they were moved. Having done that for what he thought was successfully, his unit began to move. Two of his friends were ahead of him when he stooped down to retie his boot. They had gotten just far enough ahead with the trigger was snapped and the bomb blew up. Two of his friends died that day and he blamed himself but more, he regretted he was not right by the side of his friends when it happened and was still alive to live with it. No matter what happened before that day or after that day, no matter what heroics he was performing, that was the day that would claim the rest of his life.
He was not allowed to grieve, there was too much more to do. There were too many more days ahead when other lives were at risk and they were supposed to be tough enough to just get over it and move on from there. He was not allowed to face the fact a part of him remained there on that road right next to the friends he lost.
He came home still using heroin to kill off feeling because all the good feelings had died there on that road. He ended up in jail after a drug deal had gone bad. After he got out, he was able to clean himself up and began to find reason to seek help to heal. He got a job, then another and another. He found a girlfriend after and then another and another, until he found someone that was able to break thru to him and he began to heal. He went to the VA, finally had a claim approved for PTSD and the shrapnel still embedded in him. He was alive again but barely.
No matter what I said, tried to say or how much I listened, he looked at me as if I wasn't there. After all, many years younger than he was and not a "brother" he couldn't understand how I could possibly know anything. I could never manage to find the right way to reach him. Years of trying and I failed, just as I had failed for too many years with my own husband to get him to hear me. It had taken me from 1982 to 1990 to get him to go for help. It didn't matter that I was able to get others to go for help to heal to him. He didn't want to know anything I had to say but over all those years he was listening while pretending not to. In 93 I managed to get him to go to a Veterans center and then finally to the VA. Yet Steven had built such a tough wall around his spirit that I couldn't even crack it and neither could his doctors.
After Steven's claim was approved and he was feeling a bit better about being alive, he sent for his records. He was also feeling pain in his back. The VA was sending him for an MRI to see what was going on, but his girlfriend stopped it knowing the MRI could have moved the shrapnel littering his body and killed him. This he took as an attack against him by the VA. Then came the last straw. The Army responded to his records request by telling him his unit never existed. He wondered how that could be true when they approved his claim, he had the shrapnel in his body and his friends died. A little while later, he left his girlfriend because he had reached for his comforter of the past, heroin, and she couldn't take it anymore. He went to his dealer, bought enough to kill ten men, checked himself into a motel room, locked the door and finally in his mind, caught back up to his friends on the road that day and joined them.
His brother called us early the next morning. Another life claimed by Vietnam that would not appear on The Wall in Washington or be remembered as a price paid. To this very day, I wonder what I could have said that would have broken thru to him even though sometimes there are no words to be found. This all goes into what I do because I know they are all worth whatever I can put into this, whatever I can do or say, whatever information I can share and if there is one life I can save, it's all worth it.
The drums of the warriors lamenting the loss of humans they fought with and fought against are beating still in the night but they are now joined by this new generation of warriors, still all so human, still all so wounded and neglected as humans. They do not know the things they need to know to heal the wound they carry inside of them.
They cannot see the courage they showed when the mission and their friends were all that mattered and their own pain they carried that day was pushed back until it was all over. Steven finished the job he was given even with the pain he carried in his spirit after he tied his boot that day. He carried on no matter how much pain and guilt he felt. He was honorably discharged but the pain he felt was never offered to the Great Spirit to be cleansed from him just as the warriors of today are not allowed to offer their's in the same night as the same day they went into battle with other humans.
Chaplain Kathie
If you listen carefully, you can still hear the sound of ancient drums beating in the night. The lament of the warrior pounded to the ears of Great Spirit seeking relief for all they witnessed that day. Ancient warriors in combat, face to face with the enemies of their people did not rest there as the dead were laying on the earth. As they walked looking for their brothers to reclaim them, laying by their side were the bodies of the enemy forces. Suddenly they were not some target to kill while they were seeking to kill them in return. They were just humans like them. They were fighting for what they believed in just as much as the ancients that fought against them. They had families, passions, laughed and cried and the human price paid was not forgotten. In battle the enemy were evil creatures that had to be slain but in death, they were once again just other humans unlucky that day to have fallen by the sword. They carried away the loss of their friends and the loss of the lives of the enemies that day. They needed to mourn for all and for themselves for what they had seen that day in battle.
Read any account of ancient warfare and see what we now call PTSD. The trauma after combat has not changed in the centuries man has fought against man and will not likely change until man goes to war no more. Different years, different explanations, different words used to describe this human wound after different wars by different means. Stone weapons replaced by swords, replaced by bow and arrow, replaced by rifle, replace by cannon and on and on it went. The end result by any means was the same. The wounded had to be found among the dead and among their dead were the dead of their enemies. Momentary lapses of why they fought allowed them to see the enemy looking the same as their friends. Aside from the clothing, they all looked the same. For seconds their minds acknowledged the loss of all life gone that day.
Today the drum beats of the ancients still pounds in the nights of those who experienced the other side of peace and we call it Post Traumatic Stress. This literally means After Wound. Trauma is Greek for the wound. The ancients acknowledged the loss of other humans and the need to recover from the horrors they lived thru. We however with our vast knowledge and technological achievements refuse to face the human aspect. We see ourselves as smarter, more able to adapt, push on, get over it. We think we are mentally more developed than they were. What we fail to see is that we are just as human as the ancients were. The wounded are just as wounded but we are able to save more than they could. The dead however are just as dead and they lay side by side, enemies in life but the same in death.
If the military were really serious about addressing this wounded spirit they would allow all the lives lost that day to be mourned and acknowledged. They would do as the ancients did and have cleansing ceremonies before they walked away for rest. They would pray for the lives of the enemies they had to take that day and for relief from the pain they felt inside. They would acknowledge the innocents lost because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They would face the human inside of them instead of only the warrior they trained to be.
To this day I mourn the loss of my husband's nephew. His name was Steven. I called him Andy in the book I wrote because his death was too recent to the writing of it. Steven was the same age as my husband when they were both in Vietnam. He came home and fell apart, fell into what he used to cope with in Vietnam, heroin. Steven had seen some horrific things but the one thing standing out in his mind the most was tying his boot.
The VC had a habit of playing around with bombs the US forces had placed the day before. Steven and his men were supposed to go out and check to see if they were moved. Having done that for what he thought was successfully, his unit began to move. Two of his friends were ahead of him when he stooped down to retie his boot. They had gotten just far enough ahead with the trigger was snapped and the bomb blew up. Two of his friends died that day and he blamed himself but more, he regretted he was not right by the side of his friends when it happened and was still alive to live with it. No matter what happened before that day or after that day, no matter what heroics he was performing, that was the day that would claim the rest of his life.
He was not allowed to grieve, there was too much more to do. There were too many more days ahead when other lives were at risk and they were supposed to be tough enough to just get over it and move on from there. He was not allowed to face the fact a part of him remained there on that road right next to the friends he lost.
He came home still using heroin to kill off feeling because all the good feelings had died there on that road. He ended up in jail after a drug deal had gone bad. After he got out, he was able to clean himself up and began to find reason to seek help to heal. He got a job, then another and another. He found a girlfriend after and then another and another, until he found someone that was able to break thru to him and he began to heal. He went to the VA, finally had a claim approved for PTSD and the shrapnel still embedded in him. He was alive again but barely.
No matter what I said, tried to say or how much I listened, he looked at me as if I wasn't there. After all, many years younger than he was and not a "brother" he couldn't understand how I could possibly know anything. I could never manage to find the right way to reach him. Years of trying and I failed, just as I had failed for too many years with my own husband to get him to hear me. It had taken me from 1982 to 1990 to get him to go for help. It didn't matter that I was able to get others to go for help to heal to him. He didn't want to know anything I had to say but over all those years he was listening while pretending not to. In 93 I managed to get him to go to a Veterans center and then finally to the VA. Yet Steven had built such a tough wall around his spirit that I couldn't even crack it and neither could his doctors.
After Steven's claim was approved and he was feeling a bit better about being alive, he sent for his records. He was also feeling pain in his back. The VA was sending him for an MRI to see what was going on, but his girlfriend stopped it knowing the MRI could have moved the shrapnel littering his body and killed him. This he took as an attack against him by the VA. Then came the last straw. The Army responded to his records request by telling him his unit never existed. He wondered how that could be true when they approved his claim, he had the shrapnel in his body and his friends died. A little while later, he left his girlfriend because he had reached for his comforter of the past, heroin, and she couldn't take it anymore. He went to his dealer, bought enough to kill ten men, checked himself into a motel room, locked the door and finally in his mind, caught back up to his friends on the road that day and joined them.
His brother called us early the next morning. Another life claimed by Vietnam that would not appear on The Wall in Washington or be remembered as a price paid. To this very day, I wonder what I could have said that would have broken thru to him even though sometimes there are no words to be found. This all goes into what I do because I know they are all worth whatever I can put into this, whatever I can do or say, whatever information I can share and if there is one life I can save, it's all worth it.
The drums of the warriors lamenting the loss of humans they fought with and fought against are beating still in the night but they are now joined by this new generation of warriors, still all so human, still all so wounded and neglected as humans. They do not know the things they need to know to heal the wound they carry inside of them.
They cannot see the courage they showed when the mission and their friends were all that mattered and their own pain they carried that day was pushed back until it was all over. Steven finished the job he was given even with the pain he carried in his spirit after he tied his boot that day. He carried on no matter how much pain and guilt he felt. He was honorably discharged but the pain he felt was never offered to the Great Spirit to be cleansed from him just as the warriors of today are not allowed to offer their's in the same night as the same day they went into battle with other humans.
Monday, June 8, 2009
The Never Ending Battle of VA Claims
Normally when the American Legion Magazine comes, there isn't much interesting in it for me. Most of what's usually in it, I've read it all before online. This month, probably for the first time, I am really suggesting you get your hands on a copy of this. There is a report on the backlog of claims. While this numbers are not news to me or you because you read this blog, there are some very compelling stories in it. It's "The Never Ending Battle" by Ken Olsen. He did a great job, pulled in the reporting done by Dana Priest and Anne Hull regarding the deploring conditions at Walter Reed and then took off from there. Vietnam veterans, Gulf War veterans, Afghanistan veterans, Iraq veterans and Korean veterans and yes, even WWII veterans all suffering in the backlog of the claims we know the numbers of, but too often, never hear more than the numbers. These are people! They have wounds to be taken care of, promises to be kept to them, bills to pay they could pay if they could work and could also pay if the VA would honorably process their claims and figure out a way of doing it right the first time.
The problem is, these problems go back so far and the veterans have been feeling betrayed by the same country they would still risk their lives for. The article ends like this "The best solution, the Legion's Smithson says, "is to fix the entire VA claims adjudication system. Piecemeal does not work." This is the first of a three part series. There are charts, numbers, but more, stories of the men and women we keep saying we support. Well? Do we really? Or is it a slogan? How can we say we support them if we allow all of this to be done to them?
The problem is, these problems go back so far and the veterans have been feeling betrayed by the same country they would still risk their lives for. The article ends like this "The best solution, the Legion's Smithson says, "is to fix the entire VA claims adjudication system. Piecemeal does not work." This is the first of a three part series. There are charts, numbers, but more, stories of the men and women we keep saying we support. Well? Do we really? Or is it a slogan? How can we say we support them if we allow all of this to be done to them?
TRADITIONAL VETERANS ORGANIZTIONS: "SOFT ON VET ABUSE - CORRUPTION"
Special Report: VETERANS TODAY CALLS TRADITIONAL VETERANS ORGANIZTIONS: "SOFT ON VET ABUSE - CORRUPTION"
65 YEARS OF HISTORY TELLS IT ALL
CORRUPTION, COVERUPS WHILE THE PARADES AND AWARD CEREMONIES GO ON
By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER (Chairman Editorial Board Veterans Today)
We are a motley group here at Veterans Today. Between our board and writers, we include 3 diplomats, about 2000% rated disability, members of Congress, convicted felons, Gold Star moms, one Federal Reserve manager.....former priests, some of the highest security clearances possible and a top medical staff with two nurses having graduate degrees, one a retired Army officer.
Our agenda is presenting the unvarnished truth when others won't, serving our veterans, causing as much trouble as possible, having fun when we can and supporting the security of the United States through honest support of our military and a rational foreign policy, which sometimes advocates peace over war, as though we were rational people.
Between us, we belong to a hundred organizations and every political party, from the American Legion and Special Forces Association to the National Prayer Breakfasts, and every retiree group for officers, enlisted, Navy, Marines, Army, Air Force and Coast Guard.
Where we agree with each other is that, when the health, safety and welfare of veterans and our military is a childish game to our government and "some" organizations, it isn't a joke to us. Though we may ride motorcycles to funerals or march in parades, we separate fellowship from duty. If duty requires taking a stand, we will do that. Those that don't take a stand have forgotten the meaning of duty.
Today's aging veteran population is from Vietnam. For years, we have watched our numbers diminish from PTSD suicide, Agent Orange cancer and "Darwin" episodes. I speak of what I know and what I have seen.
40 years ago, VA hospitals were filthy hellholes where veterans were abused and neglected, dying by the thousands. Service organizations were at every hospital, advising the VA and observing it all. Nary a word was said in support of Vietnam veterans.
40 years later, thousands of sick vets, cancer, PTSD, diabetes, are fighting for medical treatment and fair disability compensation. They are still having their documents shredded, their Comp and Pension physicals mishandled, their claims outright denied for no reason and not a word is said.
go here for more
http://veteranstoday.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7204
Military kids at Fort Hood share hardships
Children of Conflict
Since 9/11, more than a million kids have had a parent deployed. Their childhoods often go with them.
By Jessica Ramirez NEWSWEEK
Published Jun 6, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Jun 15, 2009
The Harding girls have their own name for the local Applebee's—"the bad-news place." The last two times their father was sent to Iraq, he took his young daughters there and broke it to them as gently as he knew how, over a sampler platter and soft drinks. "I just tell them, 'Here's what's going on in the world, and this is what I have to go do'," says Sgt. First Class Sean Harding. Since the Army doesn't say just when a deployment is supposed to end, he offers his best guess with a three-month margin of error: "?'If everything goes right, I'll be back sometime within these 90 days'." He says other things, too. He tells the girls that they have to help their mother take care of the house and each other, that he may not come back, and that if he doesn't, each daughter will get a last letter from him. He won't discuss the contents, but in essence the letters would give his final wishes and try to say how much he loves them. "We all started crying," says Courtney, 14. "Nobody wanted to hear that he might not come back."
Of the troops deployed since 9/11, roughly 890,000 have been parents. Their children know firsthand the sadness and worry that the Harding girls live with every time their father is in Iraq. Repeated 12- to 15-month deployments are an ordeal not only for the troops, but also for their families. In effect, an essential piece of those kids' lives has been sent off to war, although the children themselves haven't volunteered for anything. The personal sacrifices of military kids can go unnoticed amid the grown-ups' struggles, in part because the scars they may sustain aren't necessarily the visible kind. But they are real and long-lasting, and they are not diminished by the fact that levels of violence in Iraq have dropped or that U.S. troops are no longer taking the lead on combat operations there.
go here for more
http://www.newsweek.com/id/200864
Since 9/11, more than a million kids have had a parent deployed. Their childhoods often go with them.
By Jessica Ramirez NEWSWEEK
Published Jun 6, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Jun 15, 2009
The Harding girls have their own name for the local Applebee's—"the bad-news place." The last two times their father was sent to Iraq, he took his young daughters there and broke it to them as gently as he knew how, over a sampler platter and soft drinks. "I just tell them, 'Here's what's going on in the world, and this is what I have to go do'," says Sgt. First Class Sean Harding. Since the Army doesn't say just when a deployment is supposed to end, he offers his best guess with a three-month margin of error: "?'If everything goes right, I'll be back sometime within these 90 days'." He says other things, too. He tells the girls that they have to help their mother take care of the house and each other, that he may not come back, and that if he doesn't, each daughter will get a last letter from him. He won't discuss the contents, but in essence the letters would give his final wishes and try to say how much he loves them. "We all started crying," says Courtney, 14. "Nobody wanted to hear that he might not come back."
Of the troops deployed since 9/11, roughly 890,000 have been parents. Their children know firsthand the sadness and worry that the Harding girls live with every time their father is in Iraq. Repeated 12- to 15-month deployments are an ordeal not only for the troops, but also for their families. In effect, an essential piece of those kids' lives has been sent off to war, although the children themselves haven't volunteered for anything. The personal sacrifices of military kids can go unnoticed amid the grown-ups' struggles, in part because the scars they may sustain aren't necessarily the visible kind. But they are real and long-lasting, and they are not diminished by the fact that levels of violence in Iraq have dropped or that U.S. troops are no longer taking the lead on combat operations there.
go here for more
http://www.newsweek.com/id/200864
City Hall in Anderson surveillance cam catches ghost
Surveillance cam catches ghost
City Hall in Anderson, South Carolina is abuzz about something eerie. Employees at a business center say they've seen a ghost -- and they can prove it.
City Hall in Anderson, South Carolina is abuzz about something eerie. Employees at a business center say they've seen a ghost -- and they can prove it.
Veterans lament low number of Central Florida D-Day events
Veterans lament low number of Central Florida D-Day events
By EloÃsa Ruano González Sentinel Staff Writer
June 7, 2009
Queen Elizabeth wasn't the only person disheartened about the 65th anniversary of the World War II D-Day landings after she initially wasn't invited to join President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy for a commemoration at the Normandy beaches.
Veterans in Central Florida were more disappointed when little was done Saturday to remember the thousands of U.S. troops who died during the massive Allied invasion. With the exception of a two-day celebration at the DeLand airport that kicked off Saturday, special events were absent throughout the region.
While some residents — many who served in other wars — planned to hang American flags to honor the soldiers, other people swarmed shopping centers and malls with little knowledge of the event that happened more than half a century ago.
"Veterans find that very disturbing," Cmdr. Thomas Roberts of the Winter Park American Legion said. "It was the greatest invasion that took place ... thousands died."
go here for more
Veterans lament low number of Central Florida D-Day events
By EloÃsa Ruano González Sentinel Staff Writer
June 7, 2009
Queen Elizabeth wasn't the only person disheartened about the 65th anniversary of the World War II D-Day landings after she initially wasn't invited to join President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy for a commemoration at the Normandy beaches.
Veterans in Central Florida were more disappointed when little was done Saturday to remember the thousands of U.S. troops who died during the massive Allied invasion. With the exception of a two-day celebration at the DeLand airport that kicked off Saturday, special events were absent throughout the region.
While some residents — many who served in other wars — planned to hang American flags to honor the soldiers, other people swarmed shopping centers and malls with little knowledge of the event that happened more than half a century ago.
"Veterans find that very disturbing," Cmdr. Thomas Roberts of the Winter Park American Legion said. "It was the greatest invasion that took place ... thousands died."
go here for more
Veterans lament low number of Central Florida D-Day events
Maj. Gen. Vincent Boles honors WWII Slave Soldiers in Orlando
Slave soldiers honored, called 'national treasures'
Story Highlights
For first time in history, Army recognizes soldiers held as slaves in Nazi Germany
Maj. Gen. Vincent Boles presented six Berga survivors with flags flown over Pentagon
350 soldiers held at Berg an der Elster; "It was a slave labor camp," general says
"These men were abused and put under some of the most horrific conditions"
By Wayne Drash
CNN
ORLANDO, Florida (CNN) -- Hobbled with age, weathered with time, the World War II veterans stood at attention. One by one, a two-star general delivered flags flown over the Pentagon in their honor. He looked them in their eyes and snapped his right hand in salute.
"National treasures," Maj. Gen. Vincent Boles said Saturday evening.
It marked the first time in history the U.S. Army recognized 350 soldiers held as slaves inside Nazi Germany. The men were beaten, starved and forced to work in tunnels at Berga an der Elster where the Nazi government had a hidden V-2 rocket factory. Berga was a subcamp of the notorious concentration camp Buchenwald.
"These men were abused and put under some of the most horrific conditions," the general told a private gathering of Berga survivors. "It wasn't a prison camp. It was a slave labor camp."
No ranking Army official had ever uttered the words "slave labor camp" in reference to the men's captivity at Berga. Boles knew the gravity of his statement -- that he was setting the historical record straight after 64 years.
go here for more
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/06/08/berga.recognition/index.html
Story Highlights
For first time in history, Army recognizes soldiers held as slaves in Nazi Germany
Maj. Gen. Vincent Boles presented six Berga survivors with flags flown over Pentagon
350 soldiers held at Berg an der Elster; "It was a slave labor camp," general says
"These men were abused and put under some of the most horrific conditions"
By Wayne Drash
CNN
ORLANDO, Florida (CNN) -- Hobbled with age, weathered with time, the World War II veterans stood at attention. One by one, a two-star general delivered flags flown over the Pentagon in their honor. He looked them in their eyes and snapped his right hand in salute.
"National treasures," Maj. Gen. Vincent Boles said Saturday evening.
It marked the first time in history the U.S. Army recognized 350 soldiers held as slaves inside Nazi Germany. The men were beaten, starved and forced to work in tunnels at Berga an der Elster where the Nazi government had a hidden V-2 rocket factory. Berga was a subcamp of the notorious concentration camp Buchenwald.
"These men were abused and put under some of the most horrific conditions," the general told a private gathering of Berga survivors. "It wasn't a prison camp. It was a slave labor camp."
No ranking Army official had ever uttered the words "slave labor camp" in reference to the men's captivity at Berga. Boles knew the gravity of his statement -- that he was setting the historical record straight after 64 years.
go here for more
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/06/08/berga.recognition/index.html
2,500 motorcyclists ride for VA center
2,500 motorcyclists ride for VA center
By JENNIFER FITCH
June 7, 2009
waynesboro@herald-mail.com
GREENCASTLE, Pa. — Greencastle residents tailgated and set up folding chairs on the sidewalk for the 19th annual Operation God Bless America motorcycle ride, which attracted 2,500 motorcyclists in support of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Martinsburg, W.Va.
Don Gordon of Mercersburg, Pa., has ridden in the massive line of motorcycles every year since 1991. He said he rides in memory of his late uncle, who was unable to use veterans resources during an illness because his military records were lost.
“It’s a gathering of like-minded people for a worthy cause. The more money raised and people that are aware of these issues, the better chance they have of getting the resources they need,” said Gordon, who rode a Harley-Davidson Softail.
Approximately $62,000 was raised Sunday, according to steering committee member Mary Ann Davenport.
go here for more
http://www.herald-mail.com/?cmd=displaystory&story_id=224549&format=html
By JENNIFER FITCH
June 7, 2009
waynesboro@herald-mail.com
GREENCASTLE, Pa. — Greencastle residents tailgated and set up folding chairs on the sidewalk for the 19th annual Operation God Bless America motorcycle ride, which attracted 2,500 motorcyclists in support of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Martinsburg, W.Va.
Don Gordon of Mercersburg, Pa., has ridden in the massive line of motorcycles every year since 1991. He said he rides in memory of his late uncle, who was unable to use veterans resources during an illness because his military records were lost.
“It’s a gathering of like-minded people for a worthy cause. The more money raised and people that are aware of these issues, the better chance they have of getting the resources they need,” said Gordon, who rode a Harley-Davidson Softail.
Approximately $62,000 was raised Sunday, according to steering committee member Mary Ann Davenport.
go here for more
http://www.herald-mail.com/?cmd=displaystory&story_id=224549&format=html
Gun rule is hurting veterans
First, no, President Obama does not want to take away your rights to have a gun. He was a Constitutional Professor after all and believes in the what the Founding Fathers laid down. This ruling came down before he was President and has done more harm to PTSD veterans than protecting them.
After presentations to veterans I have a question and answer session. This is the most asked question of all. It is preventing them from getting help for PTSD from the VA because they are afraid they will have to give up their guns. Imagine a combat veteran depending on his weapon for his life while deployed into combat, then telling them they are no longer responsible enough to have a fire arm. Some of them also need their guns because they are in law enforcement. Did anyone think of them?
PTSD comes in different levels and when you have a veteran that is no treat to himself or others, add this concern into the mix, no matter how the wording in this bill went, you have a huge problem. Would you rather have a PTSD with a gun getting help or a PTSD veteran with a gun, getting no help? Easy answer on this one.
This issue needs to be fixed and fast. It was not a wise move even though it sounded that way. It's kept veteran from getting help.
Senator Coburn was in a fight over this on the Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Act, which did make changes in the way the VA responded. Here is part of the fight he had.
Now you know what is behind all of this. The words our elected use should always be thought of very carefully to know if what they think they are saying will help or hurt. In this case, it ended up hurting the veterans they wanted to help.
After presentations to veterans I have a question and answer session. This is the most asked question of all. It is preventing them from getting help for PTSD from the VA because they are afraid they will have to give up their guns. Imagine a combat veteran depending on his weapon for his life while deployed into combat, then telling them they are no longer responsible enough to have a fire arm. Some of them also need their guns because they are in law enforcement. Did anyone think of them?
PTSD comes in different levels and when you have a veteran that is no treat to himself or others, add this concern into the mix, no matter how the wording in this bill went, you have a huge problem. Would you rather have a PTSD with a gun getting help or a PTSD veteran with a gun, getting no help? Easy answer on this one.
This issue needs to be fixed and fast. It was not a wise move even though it sounded that way. It's kept veteran from getting help.
Senator Coburn was in a fight over this on the Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Act, which did make changes in the way the VA responded. Here is part of the fight he had.
Coburn Cites Defense of the 2nd Amendment
The junior senator of Oklahoma has taken on a new cause however, quite possibly his most controversial of all. United States Senators are allowed to place a hold on legislation thus blocking it from coming to the floor if they have serious reservations about such legislation. Tom Coburn has had a hold on the Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act of 2006 for nearly six months now. The bill is meant to dramatically increase funding to prevent what has been proven to be the sky rocketing suicide rate among veterans of both those who have served in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Now Coburn objects to the bill because it mandates that veterans receive a mental health screen when they come back from duty. Apparently Coburn is afraid that the gun rights of veterans will be trampled upon if they admit to owning a firearm during the health screening.
Now you know what is behind all of this. The words our elected use should always be thought of very carefully to know if what they think they are saying will help or hurt. In this case, it ended up hurting the veterans they wanted to help.
Gun Rights Lobby Prepares To Weigh In On Sotomayor
By Greg Vadala, CQ Staff
With congressional Democrats divided on gun issues and the Obama administration steering clear of the topic, gun rights advocates have bagged new legislative trophies this year and are taking aim at additional targets.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) and Gun Owners of America have an ambitious to-do list. They are preparing to:
•Weigh in on Obama’s nomination of federal appellate court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.
•Advance a proposal by Sen. Richard M. Burr , R-N.C., to ensure that veterans are not wrongfully denied the right to bear arms.On the legislative front, both groups support Burr’s legislation (S 669) on veterans’ gun rights. Under current law, the Department of Veterans Affairs is required to report to the FBI’s criminal background-check database — the system firearms dealers use to determine who can buy guns — any information on veterans determined to be mentally “defective” and unable to manage their own finances. Burr’s bill, co-sponsored by Jim Webb , D-Va., would prohibit the VA from sending the names of those veterans to the database unless a judicial authority rules them a danger to themselves or others.
The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, on which Burr is ranking member, approved the measure in May. Burr is looking to attach it to another piece of legislation because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., is otherwise unlikely to bring it to the floor.go here for more
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003136873
Hey Milwaukee Vietnam Vet needs "brothers" to step up
This Vietnam vet has been in a fight for his life and his wife has been ready to do whatever she can for him, but they need your help. He has to go for an appeal hearing in Milwaukee from Phoenix. His wife asked for prayers but that's what you're for. Listen to God calling you to answer this plea from a brother in need and the wife who loves him enough to fight for him. They are ready to sleep in their car to make the trip they cannot afford and she is in pain already.
Vietnam Veteran Needs your prayers please
OFF TOPICS -
Posted by Gypsy on June 8, 2009
I bring this humble request to those of you who understand the phlight of our service men and women of so many "conflicts and police actions" - the ones that no one had the guts to call a "War"....
SEVEN long years ago, Jimmy and I started a journey by applying for his service connected combat disability benefits. YES seven long years ago - it has been in one stage of appeal or another since day one it seems.
In the beginning "they" (the powerful little boys and girls who hide in cubicles in the Veterans Admin Regional offices) said - why yes Mr Soldier - you have 20% hearing loss - we'll give that one to you and yes we agree you do have Type II Diabetes, and yes we agree you do have PTSD - however - since you were never STATIONED in Vietnam - you weren't there so your duty there can't possibly count. Your military personnel records say that you weren't there. So no service connection for you - sorry.....
So we spent nearly a year - getting together the records THEY said didn't exist - and proved he was in Vietnam, that he was shot down over Cambodia, that he did receive lots of the stressors that are "necessary" for a Veteran to get his PTSD benefits granted - one such piece of evidence - how about his Vietnam Combat Service Ribbon with TWO bronze stars - denoting each tour there.... oh that one isn't enough is it? Okay so lets add that his unit was the only one during the Easter Offensive to get the Presidential Unit Citation w/ "V" (for Valor) in a combat situation??? Will that one work for you idiots in your cute little cubicles that weren't even born until 1980 something - do you even KNOW where Vietnam is?
So we got another letter back - okay so we have to give them both to you - but we will do so at the absolute lowest ratings possible. Now that "we" have thrown you a few crumbs will you please go away and leave us alone?
Well hell no we aren't going away... and so it all began. Now on Wednesday June 17th at 1030 am we finally have our day in court - before the Board of Appeals for the Veterans Appeal.
My beloved Veteran has been treated for and is still under psychiatric care of an entire team of PTSD specialists - and has been for the past seven years. These past two weeks (since we got notified that the hearing was on June 17th) my hubby has been off the charts with every negative emotion one can imagine. He even thought about calling it quits and saying - "NO let's not do this" and I said - OH NO! Not only NO but HELL NO. 87% of the combat veterans who apply for service connected disability for PTSD either give up or stop fighting after they get a pitence from the VA. Usually it is because they do not have the where-with-all or fortitude any more to continue to fight a government establishment they have long since quit believing in.
I asked him to please - please - put aside all of his reservations (asked him to TRUST me one more time) and take this to the final play in the game. After all - can't win the game if you walk away with the ball in your hand. Like I told him - it's like the lottery - can't win if you don't play. If we don't "play" THEY win. Then you will have gone through all of this for nothing! You will never forgive yourself and you will wonder until the day you die - what if....
So reluctantly he is going with me (if he doesn't show then they toss the case)......we will be leaving on a shoe string and a prayer on Saturday to drive to Milwaukee from Phoenix - because they set the hearing in Milwaukee. click link for the rest
PTSD on Trial:Joseph Brian Odom
Veteran from Cocoa gets 5 years in prison
FLORIDA TODAY • June 8, 2009
MELBOURNE — An Afghanistan War veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder was sentenced today to five years in prison, avoiding a lengthy incarceration that resulted from an armed confrontation with police after officers said he shot at his wife.
Joseph Brian Odom, 31, of Cocoa, faced up to 35 years in prison had he gone to trial and was convicted of the three felony charges against him, aggravated assault with a firearm, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm and shooting into and occupied dwelling.
click link for more
Not so cut and dry is it? After you must have read the post I put up with reports going back three years addressing the fact they were handed medication and then sent on their way without help to heal. Handing them pills is just not good enough. Never has been and never will be. Why are they still doing it? When will they understand what is required to really help them heal? How many more cases of avoidable situations will place the lives of others in danger, including law enforcement, while these veterans suffer instead of being helped?
FLORIDA TODAY • June 8, 2009
MELBOURNE — An Afghanistan War veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder was sentenced today to five years in prison, avoiding a lengthy incarceration that resulted from an armed confrontation with police after officers said he shot at his wife.
Joseph Brian Odom, 31, of Cocoa, faced up to 35 years in prison had he gone to trial and was convicted of the three felony charges against him, aggravated assault with a firearm, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm and shooting into and occupied dwelling.
Family members said “the system failed him,” by not giving him the treatment he needs for the PTSD. They said that at the time he was on anti-depressant medication.
click link for more
Not so cut and dry is it? After you must have read the post I put up with reports going back three years addressing the fact they were handed medication and then sent on their way without help to heal. Handing them pills is just not good enough. Never has been and never will be. Why are they still doing it? When will they understand what is required to really help them heal? How many more cases of avoidable situations will place the lives of others in danger, including law enforcement, while these veterans suffer instead of being helped?
Veterans picnic sets new record
Veterans picnic sets new record
Towanda Daily Review - Towanda,PA,USA
BY JAMES LOEWENSTEIN
Staff Writer
Published: Monday, June 8, 2009 6:02 AM EDT
SHESHEQUIN TOWNSHIP — In South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. James A. Clark of Elmira, N.Y., was approaching a helicopter that had landed in order to retrieve mail, when an enemy mortar round exploded.
Clark was knocked unconscious, and then spent a month being treated for his injuries on a hospital ship. He received a Purple Heart and has been disabled since then.
Clark was one of more than 3,500 people who attended the 21st Annual Bradford County Veterans Appreciation Day picnic Sunday at Hornbrook County Park in Sheshequin Township.
“It’s a great thing that Bradford County does for its veterans,” Clark said of the picnic, which provides a free picnic lunch and free T-shirt or hat for the veterans who attend it.
The picnic brings a message to veterans that “what we did was worth it,” which is not the message that many veterans of the Vietnam and Iraq wars received when they returned to the United States, according to Iraq War veteran Timothy Chapman of Towanda.
Chapman said that when he returned to the United States, a young boy at the airport wanted to shake the hands of Chapman and other returning troops.
But the boy’s mother pulled him away, saying, “You don’t talk to those murderers!” according to Chapman.
Two members of the Bradford County Veterans Appreciation Day Committee said there was a record attendance at the picnic this year. click link for more
There is also a picnic coming up on June 14th in MN
June 14 picnic to honor all local Vietnam veterans
Albert Lea Tribune - Albert Lea,MN,USA Published Monday, June 8, 2009
Vietnam vets and Vietnam-era veterans from around the region are invited to attend Vietnam Veterans Recognition Day on Sunday afternoon, June 14, for a free picnic social. The fifth annual barbecue picnic, sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 790, will be held this year at Swensrud Park in Northwood, Iowa. Located along the riverfront, there is close parking, lots of shade trees. There will be a variety of foods, but mainly the day focuses on the camaraderie among fellow Vietnam veterans. June 14 is also known and celebrated as Flag Day.
click link for more information
PTSD Vietnam vet living in shed waiting for VA Claim
Army veteran, living in a shed, waits for help from the VA
Waco Tribune Herald - Waco,TX,USA
By Regina Dennis Tribune-Herald staff writer
Monday, June 08, 2009
Jerry Pole would like to take a warm bath, lay in a comfortable bed and eat a hot meal cooked on a stove.
His current living quarters do not allow for such conveniences. The 57-year-old Army veteran has been living for the past two years in a rented storage shed on an acre of land his girlfriend owns on the outskirts of Bellmead.
Pole is unable to work and takes 13 medications to treat post-traumatic stress disorder and a nervous condition he said was caused by his Army service, which includes a year in Vietnam.
There’s no room for a kitchen or bathroom in the shed, or even space for a refrigerator. A used love seat serves as his bed and takes most of the space.
Pole bathes in a tub behind the shed, using cold water from a hose hooked up to a utility line on the property. The same hose is used to rinse dishes in a makeshift sink in the front yard. Near the “sink,” Pole dug a pit in the front yard and placed a wire grate over the opening, creating a grill to cook food.
“It’s not the best condition to be in, but I’m still thankful for what I do have,” Pole said. “I know it could be a lot worse. I could be living under a bridge with no shelter at all.”
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Waco Tribune Herald - Waco,TX,USA
By Regina Dennis Tribune-Herald staff writer
Monday, June 08, 2009
Jerry Pole would like to take a warm bath, lay in a comfortable bed and eat a hot meal cooked on a stove.
His current living quarters do not allow for such conveniences. The 57-year-old Army veteran has been living for the past two years in a rented storage shed on an acre of land his girlfriend owns on the outskirts of Bellmead.
Pole is unable to work and takes 13 medications to treat post-traumatic stress disorder and a nervous condition he said was caused by his Army service, which includes a year in Vietnam.
There’s no room for a kitchen or bathroom in the shed, or even space for a refrigerator. A used love seat serves as his bed and takes most of the space.
Pole bathes in a tub behind the shed, using cold water from a hose hooked up to a utility line on the property. The same hose is used to rinse dishes in a makeshift sink in the front yard. Near the “sink,” Pole dug a pit in the front yard and placed a wire grate over the opening, creating a grill to cook food.
“It’s not the best condition to be in, but I’m still thankful for what I do have,” Pole said. “I know it could be a lot worse. I could be living under a bridge with no shelter at all.”
click link for more
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