Saturday program will honor, remember Minnesota's Vietnam-era veterans
Hundreds of Vietnam-era veterans will gather Saturday at the state Capitol for a long-delayed ceremony thanking them for their service.
By Rubén Rosario
Updated: 06/11/2009 11:48:36 AM CDT
Jerry Kyser survived two tours in Vietnam. The helicopter mechanic crew chief/machine gunner came home with undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder. He also returned to a divided nation that essentially treated him and others like crap.
On Saturday, the 64-year-old Roseville resident and thousands of other Vietnam War-era veterans from Minnesota will get the long-delayed thanks they deserve.
Those veterans and their families will be officially honored for their service at an all-day affair at the state Capitol grounds. Event officials expect a crowd of more than 5,000, including at least 1,000 Minnesota Vietnam-era veterans who pre-registered to attend the free event.
"The response to this event has been overwhelmingly positive," said Clark Dyrud, commissioner of Minnesota's Department of Veterans Affairs.
"This is a day for Vietnam-era veterans to reunite with each other and celebrate with the community," added Dyrud, who served a year in Vietnam as a sergeant with the Army's 25th Infantry Division. "This event will recognize those who served during the Vietnam era, and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice."
go here for more
http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_12565317?nclick_check=1
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Veterans honored on Flag Day in Santa Fe
Veterans honored on Flag Day
Two deceased veterans will be honored at Saturday's Flag Day ceremony in Santa Fe.
The family of the late U.S. Army Sergeant Enrique Valdez of Santa Fe will be presented with a special commemorative flag in recognition of his name finally being placed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. Valdez's name was the only name added to the wall at last month's Memorial Day ceremony.
The widow and daughter of former U.S. Marine Corporal Paul H. Clum will be presented with a Purple Heart Award and other medals that he never received from his service in World War II.
The event begins at 10 a.m. at the New Mexico Veterans Services Memorial Monument, located on the northwest corner of the Bataan Memorial Building at the intersection of Galisteo and Montezuma streets.
The Flag Day ceremony is sponsored by the Santa Fe Chapter of the Military Order of World Wars, the New Mexico National Guard and the New Mexico Department of Veteran Services.
Veteran Services Cabinet Secretary John M. Garcia will deliver the keynote address and present the flag and medals to the two families.
The public is invited to attend the free ceremony. Everyone is encouraged to bring an American flag, church flag, Scout or other service flag for a "pep rally" to honor the American flag and all those who've served their country.
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Local-news-in-brief--June-11--2009
Two deceased veterans will be honored at Saturday's Flag Day ceremony in Santa Fe.
The family of the late U.S. Army Sergeant Enrique Valdez of Santa Fe will be presented with a special commemorative flag in recognition of his name finally being placed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. Valdez's name was the only name added to the wall at last month's Memorial Day ceremony.
The widow and daughter of former U.S. Marine Corporal Paul H. Clum will be presented with a Purple Heart Award and other medals that he never received from his service in World War II.
The event begins at 10 a.m. at the New Mexico Veterans Services Memorial Monument, located on the northwest corner of the Bataan Memorial Building at the intersection of Galisteo and Montezuma streets.
The Flag Day ceremony is sponsored by the Santa Fe Chapter of the Military Order of World Wars, the New Mexico National Guard and the New Mexico Department of Veteran Services.
Veteran Services Cabinet Secretary John M. Garcia will deliver the keynote address and present the flag and medals to the two families.
The public is invited to attend the free ceremony. Everyone is encouraged to bring an American flag, church flag, Scout or other service flag for a "pep rally" to honor the American flag and all those who've served their country.
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Local-news-in-brief--June-11--2009
15 months after bloodbath in Iraq, young veteran takes his life
Another needless, senseless death. Another family left to grieve. Another community stunned. I just read some of the comments on this article. A great piece of writing that is for sure. The comments however have me completely baffled. After all these years, I will never understand how anyone can be surprised by any of this.
We all talk a lot about supporting the troops but that is as long as we don't have to really invest any real time in finding out what they are going thru; reading news reports, what little there are of them; or even taking the time to show up at events to honor our veterans. So how is it that so many in this country claim they support the troops yet never really mention doing anything to prove it?
What will it take to get them involved in any of this? How many more tragedies like the death of
Spc. Trevor Hogue will it take?
Ok, there were excuses to not know anything about the Vietnam veterans coming back with PTSD and committing suicide. Back then we knew very little of any of this reported. They came home, suffered in silence just as generations before them had. We had the excuse of no one cared because no one knew. Now we have no legitimate excuses because Vietnam veterans put an end to our ignorance of PTSD. It cost them about 200,000 by the last figure in and it's easy to understand that the real number will never be known. Much like the suicide deaths of today, too many families will not be willing to come out publicly and discuss any of this.
I've read countless comments on other articles and the people claiming to support the troops the most have been truly oblivious to all of this. All they need to become informed was the willingness to look for what I've found online all these years. Yes, it's hard to track it but they don't have to track as much as I do. All they have to do is read their local paper and spend sometime online looking for other reports. They can get Google Alerts the same way I do. There is so much they can do but they just don't think the troops and our veterans are worthy of the effort. This I find more shocking than the deaths of our troops by suicide. It's their lives for Heaven's sake and all that is needed is a little time from the rest of us. We will keep reading more reports like this unless we're all willing to step up.
15 months after bloodbath in Iraq, young veteran takes his life
By Cynthia Hubert
chubert@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Jun. 11, 2009 - 12:00 am Page 1A
On March 7, 2007, Army Spc. Trevor Hogue was inside his barracks in Baghdad, describing his morning on the battlefield.
"I saw things today that I think will mess me up for life," Hogue typed to his mother, Donna, as she sat at her computer thousands of miles away from Iraq, in Granite Bay.
That day the young soldier, whose assignment included driving a Humvee through perhaps the most dangerous ZIP code on the globe, saw his sergeant blown to pieces. He saw the bodies of half of the men in his platoon torn apart. Heads were cut off and limbs severed. It happened 30 yards in front of him, and he had never been so afraid, he told his mom.
"My arms are around you," Donna Hogue wrote. "You'll be alright."
But Hogue never really recovered. Last week, he committed suicide by hanging himself in the backyard of his childhood home. He was 24 years old.
After his 15-month tour in Iraq ended and he came home the following February, Hogue suffered bouts of depression. He slept too much and uncharacteristically lashed out at strangers. Loud noises disturbed him. Responsible and law-abiding in the past, he became somewhat reckless and was charged with a DUI.
Despite symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, he never was formally diagnosed with the condition. His mother said he never filed a disability claim with the government in part because it required too much paperwork. If the disorder had been confirmed, the military would have been responsible for paying medical benefits.
Hogue talked to counselors and took medications for depression and anxiety. But he was skeptical the treatments were helping him, according to his family.
go here for more
http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1937045.html
linked from ICasualties.org
Eagle Mountain soldier's wife praised, rewarded for heroism
Eagle Mountain soldier's wife praised, rewarded for heroism
By Donald W. Meyers
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 06/10/2009 04:28:34 PM MDT
Eagle Mountain » Just winning the city's "Tribute to a Hero" award left Kindra Jones thunderstruck.
"I couldn't sleep last night," Jones said about her recent night at a Park City resort, part the award from the city. "I was overwhelmed at being chosen for this honor."
But getting three days at a resort was just the beginning of the surprises for Jones, who was recognized for her efforts to help the city's military families.
She came home June 3, with her four children in a limo escorted by a city fire truck -- running with red lights and sirens -- with Mayor Heather Jackson riding shotgun. They tooled down flag-lined streets to find more than 100 people, including Utah National Guard Adjutant Maj. Gen. Brian Tarbet, standing in her front yard. There was a newly installed flagpole and a granite paver engraved with her name as a Eagle Mountain hero award recipient.
But there was a still-bigger surprise behind the backyard fence.
Volunteers spent two days installing a wood deck and pergola, a playhouse for her children and landscaping. Inside, people converted an upstairs bedroom into a nursery for the baby she's expecting July 31.
"I feel like I am going to have to work much harder to prove that I am worthy," Jones said after seeing everything that was done for her and her husband, Mike, who will be deployed later this year to Afghanistan. Mike Jones, a National Guard staff sergeant, was in North Dakota for training June 3, and didn't attend the ceremony.
By Donald W. Meyers
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 06/10/2009 04:28:34 PM MDT
Eagle Mountain » Just winning the city's "Tribute to a Hero" award left Kindra Jones thunderstruck.
"I couldn't sleep last night," Jones said about her recent night at a Park City resort, part the award from the city. "I was overwhelmed at being chosen for this honor."
But getting three days at a resort was just the beginning of the surprises for Jones, who was recognized for her efforts to help the city's military families.
She came home June 3, with her four children in a limo escorted by a city fire truck -- running with red lights and sirens -- with Mayor Heather Jackson riding shotgun. They tooled down flag-lined streets to find more than 100 people, including Utah National Guard Adjutant Maj. Gen. Brian Tarbet, standing in her front yard. There was a newly installed flagpole and a granite paver engraved with her name as a Eagle Mountain hero award recipient.
But there was a still-bigger surprise behind the backyard fence.
Volunteers spent two days installing a wood deck and pergola, a playhouse for her children and landscaping. Inside, people converted an upstairs bedroom into a nursery for the baby she's expecting July 31.
"I feel like I am going to have to work much harder to prove that I am worthy," Jones said after seeing everything that was done for her and her husband, Mike, who will be deployed later this year to Afghanistan. Mike Jones, a National Guard staff sergeant, was in North Dakota for training June 3, and didn't attend the ceremony.
Jackson said Jones also organized a support group for soldiers who were coping with post-traumatic-stress disorder.
The group, Soldier's Promise, provides a place for soldiers to talk about their stress issues in an anonymous setting, without fear of any professional repercussions, said Jones. It's a subject about which she has intimate knowledge.
"I know so many soldiers who deal with PTSD," Jones said. She takes early-morning calls from many of them.
go here for more
http://www.sltrib.com/slc/ci_12557174
Warren County NJ ceremony honors war veterans
Warren County ceremony honors war veterans
by Warren Reporter
Tuesday June 09, 2009, 12:08 PM
BELVIDERE-- They served from the beaches of Normandy to the jungles of Vietnam, from the skies over Italy to the waters of the Pacific Ocean, from the hills of Korea to the mountains of Afghanistan and the dusty towns of Iraq.
What they had in common was their bravery and their willingness to serve their country. Now, they also are linked by having received commendation for their service from their home county.
In all, 79 current or former Warren County residents were honored with the Warren County Distinguished Military Service Medal, presented by the Board of Chosen Freeholders May 30 during the county's seventh Veterans Recognition Ceremony.
"As far as I am concerned, Warren County will continue this annual tradition until every veteran of our great county is recognized publicly," Freeholder Director Richard D. Gardner wrote in a statement read during the ceremony. Gardner, who was unable to attend the ceremony, wrote, "Politicians come and go with all their varied ideologies, but members of the United States Military, past and present, stay true to the foundation of our Constitution, and that is that the United States of America must always remain a sovereign and independent democracy for all. I thank all the veterans and their families for their courage, commitment and sacrifice."
go here for more
Warren County ceremony honors war veterans
by Warren Reporter
Tuesday June 09, 2009, 12:08 PM
BELVIDERE-- They served from the beaches of Normandy to the jungles of Vietnam, from the skies over Italy to the waters of the Pacific Ocean, from the hills of Korea to the mountains of Afghanistan and the dusty towns of Iraq.
What they had in common was their bravery and their willingness to serve their country. Now, they also are linked by having received commendation for their service from their home county.
In all, 79 current or former Warren County residents were honored with the Warren County Distinguished Military Service Medal, presented by the Board of Chosen Freeholders May 30 during the county's seventh Veterans Recognition Ceremony.
"As far as I am concerned, Warren County will continue this annual tradition until every veteran of our great county is recognized publicly," Freeholder Director Richard D. Gardner wrote in a statement read during the ceremony. Gardner, who was unable to attend the ceremony, wrote, "Politicians come and go with all their varied ideologies, but members of the United States Military, past and present, stay true to the foundation of our Constitution, and that is that the United States of America must always remain a sovereign and independent democracy for all. I thank all the veterans and their families for their courage, commitment and sacrifice."
go here for more
Warren County ceremony honors war veterans
Honoring All Vietnam Era Veterans Day in Minnesota
Please email her and thank her for such a wonder article.
Viewpoint: Minnesota strives to support veterans, active military
Julie Bunn, Viewpoint Writer, Woodbury Bulletin
Published Tuesday, June 09, 2009
This past Memorial Day, while taking a week vacation with my family, I had the privilege of attending an early morning service at the Vietnam Support Base, Landside at Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum in Charleston, S.C.
For me, it was one of the most moving memorial services I have ever attended.
While the event honored all those that served and had given the ultimate sacrifice for our country, the setting and the speakers were chosen to make a special statement about, and to, those who served in Vietnam.
The service was held in the midst of a recreated Vietnam military base (an on-going exhibit), complete with buildings, jeeps, helicopters and support equipment.
The keynote speaker had led several units in Vietnam, and spoke eloquently and movingly of the young men who served under him, and their and their families’ sacrifices for our country.
Most importantly, in light of our present challenges, and our nation’s future, he spoke of the fact that these soldiers did not always receive the welcome home, after care or respect that they deserved.
We were here this Memorial Day not just to remember and honor them, but to learn from our past mistakes regarding how we responded at home.
Unfortunately, the world is such that we still face challenges and military conflicts around the globe. While as free citizens in a democracy, we may not always agree about the international and military policies and decisions of our elected leaders, and thus will continue to experience spirited debate around these issues.
We have, however, evolved as a country and citizenry in our unified show of support for our active military and veterans, and in our efforts to both be available to their families when they are away and meet their needs on their return home.
Throughout my service in the Minnesota Legislature, there has been universal support for initiatives to support our veterans and men and women in uniform.
During my first term in the Minnesota House of Representatives, we passed significant legislation to show veterans of every war that Minnesota recognizes their commitment and sacrifice.
In 2007, veterans' initiatives included funding for suicide prevention and psychological support for returning combat veterans, increased funding for the State Soldier Assistance Program and for Veterans County Service Officer Assistance grants, and a "GI bill" with extensive education benefits for returning soldiers.
In 2008, veterans' initiatives included tax credits for disabled veterans, exempting National Guard drill pay in-state and active services in Minnesota from taxes, and expanding the Minnesota GI Bill and the War Survivor's Act.
At the start of my second term, I am pleased to report that the Minnesota State Legislature remains committed to preserving programs and services for our veterans and National Guard.
In 2009, we continued to support our veterans and troops despite a record budget shortfall by increasing funding for Veterans Homes by 5.3 percent, for Veterans Services Programs by 6.1 percent, and for Military Affairs by 7.6 percent.
This coming weekend, we have yet another opportunity to reflect on and honor those who have served our country.
I invite you to join the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs and the Minnesota Veterans community on Saturday, June 13 at the State Capitol grounds as Minnesota Honors Vietnam Era Veterans.
On April 3, 2009, Gov. Pawlenty signed legislation declaring June 13 “Honoring All Vietnam Era Veterans Day” in Minnesota.
The day will begin at 8:50 a.m. with a Gold Star Family prayer service and end at 8 p.m. with evening entertainment.
Events will include the Vietnam memorial traveling wall, a parade of colors, a Killed-In-Action roll call, fly-overs and meeting opportunities with units and platoons.
This will be the largest Vietnam veteran event in Minnesota history and is free and open to the public.
For additional information, see the event website at www.mnhonorsvietnamvets.org, or contact Ms. Sarah Graves at (651) 757-1550 or e-mail sara.graves@state.mn.us.
Finally, I invite you to join a new effort in our local communities to make sure that our military families have the on-going support they need.
Under the leadership of committed citizens and public officials, and in conjunction with a larger Yellow Ribbon Network, our communities are now organizing to provide greater avenues for support.
Please contact me (296-4244) to be linked to local efforts.
Bunn (DFL-Lake Elmo) represents District 56A in the Minnesota House of Representatives. She can be reached at (651) 296-4244, by mail at 521 State Office Building, 100 Martin Luther King Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55155 or via e-mail at rep.Julie.bunn@house.mn.
http://www.woodburybulletin.com/articles/index.cfm?id=31799§ion=Opinion
Seattle may give veterans anti-discrimination protection
Seattle may give veterans anti-discrimination protection
By SCOTT GUTIERREZ
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF
The Seattle City Council is considering legislation that would add veterans to a list of protected classes under the city's anti-discrimination law.
State and federal law already prohibits discrimination against veterans in areas such as employment and housing. The proposed ordinance would give veterans an option within local government for filing a complaint, and possibly a more convenient route if they've been denied a job or housing in Seattle due to their military status.
City Councilmember Nick Licata, who is co-sponsoring the legislation, said the war in Iraq has raised the profile of veterans returning from duty and that it is important "to make sure that their needs are met" after serving their country.
A hearing on the legislation is set for Wednesday before the City Council's committee on Culture, Civil Rights, Health and Personnel. Licata, the committee's chairman, said the idea for the legislation came through discussions with veteran advocates.
Any active duty member, reservist or honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. Armed Services would be included under the legislation, which prohibits discrimination in housing, employment, contracting or public accommodation. Other categories protected under the law include race, color, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, political ideology, age, creed, religion, ancestry and disabilities.
go here for more of this great idea
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/407038_veterans10.html
By SCOTT GUTIERREZ
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF
The Seattle City Council is considering legislation that would add veterans to a list of protected classes under the city's anti-discrimination law.
State and federal law already prohibits discrimination against veterans in areas such as employment and housing. The proposed ordinance would give veterans an option within local government for filing a complaint, and possibly a more convenient route if they've been denied a job or housing in Seattle due to their military status.
City Councilmember Nick Licata, who is co-sponsoring the legislation, said the war in Iraq has raised the profile of veterans returning from duty and that it is important "to make sure that their needs are met" after serving their country.
A hearing on the legislation is set for Wednesday before the City Council's committee on Culture, Civil Rights, Health and Personnel. Licata, the committee's chairman, said the idea for the legislation came through discussions with veteran advocates.
Any active duty member, reservist or honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. Armed Services would be included under the legislation, which prohibits discrimination in housing, employment, contracting or public accommodation. Other categories protected under the law include race, color, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, political ideology, age, creed, religion, ancestry and disabilities.
go here for more of this great idea
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/407038_veterans10.html
Awareness key as soldiers return home
Awareness key as soldiers return home
Natchaug Hospital spreading word on mental health hurdles
By Judy Benson Published on 6/11/2009
New London - Of the 1.5 million soldiers deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001, an estimated 5 to 10 percent have mild traumatic brain injury, and up to 60 percent of those also have post-traumatic stress disorder.
Navy psychiatrist Dr. Craig Martin recited those statistics Wednesday to impress on his audience the need for families, communities, mental health professionals and servicemen themselves to understand and recognize these conditions so those affected can get help.
Martin, who treats patients at a seven-month-old clinic at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton for servicemen after deployment from throughout the Northeast, included those figures in a talk on traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder to a roomful of Natchaug Hospital staff, board members and hospital supporters at the mental health hospital's 55th annual meeting Wednesday at the Coast Guard Academy. Located in Mansfield, with satellite outpatient facilities throughout the region, Natchaug provides mental health services to adults and children from throughout Eastern Connecticut.
go here for more
http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=4dd04c29-c622-4c1b-bc92-7d00440a2f4a
There are over 20 videos that I've made on PTSD. There are two I would like you to watch to help you understand this. You can watch them direct from Great Americans or on the sidebar of this blog.
This is one of the first videos I made. The only difference between then and now is the numbers are a lot higher.
Wounded Minds Veterans and PTSD (27:35) The wound of PTSD is not new. It has been documented since the start of recorded history under different names, but the result is the same.
PTSD I Grieve (8:39) National Guards men and women are reporting with PTSD at 50%. Most of them return to the police force or fire departments
If you want to really know about PTSD, try to find a little over half and hour to learn what it took me over 25 years to learn. I made it easy for you.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
WWII Slave Camp Soldiers:The Army had never recognized the men until last weekend
The day I held a sobbing WWII medic in my arms
Story Highlights
Two-star general credits CNN's online reporting in preserving WWII legacy
CNN's Wayne Drash filed series of reports in recent months on slave camp soldiers
350 U.S. soldiers were held at a Nazi slave labor camp in 1945
The Army had never recognized the men until last weekend
By Wayne Drash
CNN
Editor's note: In our Behind the Scenes series, CNN correspondents and producers share their experiences in covering news and analyze the stories behind the events.
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- I'll never forget holding World War II medic Tony Acevedo in my arms. He wept and convulsed for more than 10 minutes, his body constricting and tightening in a way I'd never seen before. "I'm sorry," he said, repeating, "I'm sorry. I want to say more, but I can't."
I held his hand and hugged him until he calmed. I had asked what I thought was a simple question. "When I say the name Erwin Metz, what comes to your mind?"
That's when the demons of 1945 took over.
Metz was one of the Nazi commanders who headed a slave labor camp known as Berga an der Elster, where 350 U.S. soldiers -- 80 of whom had been targeted for being Jewish -- were beaten, starved and forced to work in tunnels at a secret V-2 rocket factory. They worked 10 to 12 hour days with only 400 calories of food, mostly bread made from sawdust. More than 100 soldiers died at the camp or on a forced death march of more than 200 miles.
go here for more
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/06/09/berga.recognition.btsc/index.html
Story Highlights
Two-star general credits CNN's online reporting in preserving WWII legacy
CNN's Wayne Drash filed series of reports in recent months on slave camp soldiers
350 U.S. soldiers were held at a Nazi slave labor camp in 1945
The Army had never recognized the men until last weekend
By Wayne Drash
CNN
Editor's note: In our Behind the Scenes series, CNN correspondents and producers share their experiences in covering news and analyze the stories behind the events.
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- I'll never forget holding World War II medic Tony Acevedo in my arms. He wept and convulsed for more than 10 minutes, his body constricting and tightening in a way I'd never seen before. "I'm sorry," he said, repeating, "I'm sorry. I want to say more, but I can't."
I held his hand and hugged him until he calmed. I had asked what I thought was a simple question. "When I say the name Erwin Metz, what comes to your mind?"
That's when the demons of 1945 took over.
Metz was one of the Nazi commanders who headed a slave labor camp known as Berga an der Elster, where 350 U.S. soldiers -- 80 of whom had been targeted for being Jewish -- were beaten, starved and forced to work in tunnels at a secret V-2 rocket factory. They worked 10 to 12 hour days with only 400 calories of food, mostly bread made from sawdust. More than 100 soldiers died at the camp or on a forced death march of more than 200 miles.
go here for more
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/06/09/berga.recognition.btsc/index.html
PTSD:It's the cuts that bind
by
Chaplain Kathie
When I take my dog for a walk things run through my mind. He's a 13 year old Golden Retriever, great dog but not much of a retriever, he'd rather play keep-away. He's walking slower now which means more time to think.
This time it was thinking about a college student writing a paper on PTSD. When we first began to communicate, she had no idea what PTSD was. Thinking about her, made me smack myself in the head because I doubt I ever posted what I told her. If I did, forgive me but with over 6,000 posts on this blog and over 10,000 on the other one, it tends to get hard to remember what gets posted and what passes around in my brain.
I've written before how I really hate to cook. I do it enough to get by but most of my problem is, I'm a klutz. I usually end up either getting burnt or cut. Funny how that works. Once burnt twice shy, or something like that as the saying goes. It comes from the fact when we are hurt once by something, we tend to be very leery the next time we come in contact with the same situation. Lately animals have been studied a lot more in treating PTSD and even they are reluctant to repeat something that got them hurt before.
My right hand has a bunch of indents in it all from wounds. The scars have healed but the same area was repeatedly wounded. The first time I cut the area, it hurt like hell but the flesh closed up and the pain went away and soon even the scar was gone. The next time I wasn't so lucky. It was deeper and hurt more because it was a "re-wounding" of the same area. It took longer for the pain to subside, longer for the scar to heal and it was still visible long after it had healed. This repeated over and over again and each time it was deeper, lasted longer and the scar was a lot more visible.
PTSD is a lot like cuts in flesh but these are cuts to the emotions we all have.
The more sensitive the person, the harder it hits and the more it hurts. Sometimes it only takes once to be emotionally cut. Most of the time it is a series of cuts striking by what they see, what they hear, what they smell and above all, what they feel. This all gets embedded in memory but also in the place of the brain where emotions are kept. When they have a flashback, it's a replay of all of it. Not like a movie where they are watching from a distance but they are right back to where it happened. Reality TV on steroids.
Now let's take these cuts coming one after another,,,,now do you get it? When they are deployed it's not just one event but one after another before they've had a chance to grieve and heal. This causes a lot of what we're seeing with veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan but it was only the beginning. The worst came when they were deployed over and over and over again. The cuts were deeper and they never had a chance to heal before they were sent back and cut some more. It's the reason why redeployments increase the risk of PTSD by 50% for each time back.
While some may escape the cuts from the first deployment, they were not so lucky the second or the third time and really pretty much screwed after that. Even the most self-centered people you know can reach a limit before they begin to feel the pain of others around them. All that happens becomes parts of their mind that hold memories binded together with the part of the brain where emotions live.
Chaplain Kathie
When I take my dog for a walk things run through my mind. He's a 13 year old Golden Retriever, great dog but not much of a retriever, he'd rather play keep-away. He's walking slower now which means more time to think.
This time it was thinking about a college student writing a paper on PTSD. When we first began to communicate, she had no idea what PTSD was. Thinking about her, made me smack myself in the head because I doubt I ever posted what I told her. If I did, forgive me but with over 6,000 posts on this blog and over 10,000 on the other one, it tends to get hard to remember what gets posted and what passes around in my brain.
I've written before how I really hate to cook. I do it enough to get by but most of my problem is, I'm a klutz. I usually end up either getting burnt or cut. Funny how that works. Once burnt twice shy, or something like that as the saying goes. It comes from the fact when we are hurt once by something, we tend to be very leery the next time we come in contact with the same situation. Lately animals have been studied a lot more in treating PTSD and even they are reluctant to repeat something that got them hurt before.
My right hand has a bunch of indents in it all from wounds. The scars have healed but the same area was repeatedly wounded. The first time I cut the area, it hurt like hell but the flesh closed up and the pain went away and soon even the scar was gone. The next time I wasn't so lucky. It was deeper and hurt more because it was a "re-wounding" of the same area. It took longer for the pain to subside, longer for the scar to heal and it was still visible long after it had healed. This repeated over and over again and each time it was deeper, lasted longer and the scar was a lot more visible.
PTSD is a lot like cuts in flesh but these are cuts to the emotions we all have.
The more sensitive the person, the harder it hits and the more it hurts. Sometimes it only takes once to be emotionally cut. Most of the time it is a series of cuts striking by what they see, what they hear, what they smell and above all, what they feel. This all gets embedded in memory but also in the place of the brain where emotions are kept. When they have a flashback, it's a replay of all of it. Not like a movie where they are watching from a distance but they are right back to where it happened. Reality TV on steroids.
Now let's take these cuts coming one after another,,,,now do you get it? When they are deployed it's not just one event but one after another before they've had a chance to grieve and heal. This causes a lot of what we're seeing with veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan but it was only the beginning. The worst came when they were deployed over and over and over again. The cuts were deeper and they never had a chance to heal before they were sent back and cut some more. It's the reason why redeployments increase the risk of PTSD by 50% for each time back.
While some may escape the cuts from the first deployment, they were not so lucky the second or the third time and really pretty much screwed after that. Even the most self-centered people you know can reach a limit before they begin to feel the pain of others around them. All that happens becomes parts of their mind that hold memories binded together with the part of the brain where emotions live.
Fort Campbell soldier's death in Afghanistan under investigation
Fort Campbell soldier dies in Afghanistan
The Associated Press
Posted: 06/10/2009 05:06:54 PM PDT
Updated: 06/10/2009 05:06:55 PM PDT
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky.—The military says a Fort Campbell soldier from California has died from a non-combat injury in Afghanistan.
The Defense Department said Wednesday that 25-year-old Spc. Eduardo S. Silva of Greenfield, Calif., died Tuesday at Bagram Airfield. The death is under investigation.
Silva was assigned to the 563rd Aviation Support Battalion, 159th Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division.
UPDATE July 6, 2008
Army Spc. Eduardo S. Silva, 25, Greenfield; found dead in his bed in Afghanistan
His father fears foul play. The soldier's death is under investigation, but officials say the findings won't be released for several weeks.
By Maura Dolan and Sam Quinones
July 5, 2009
Army Spc. Eduardo S. Silva, 25, loved making his family and friends laugh.
That he would die mysteriously in Afghanistan was unimaginable to his family in the Monterey County community of Greenfield. Because he was an Army cook, his family believed he would be safe.
The Army said Silva died of noncombat-related injuries June 9 in Bagram, Afghanistan, north of Kabul, where he was on his third tour of duty.
He was assigned to the 563rd Aviation Support Battalion, 159th Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Ft. Campbell, Ky.
His death is under investigation, and a spokeswoman said the findings would not be released for several weeks.
Silva's father, Eduardo, said in an interview that he feared foul play in his son's death.
"He didn't die from combat, but from blows," said his father, speaking in Spanish. "They found him dead in his bed."
go here for more
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-silva5-2009jul05,0,221807.story
Lawmakers to hold news briefing on burn pits
Lawmakers to hold news briefing on burn pits
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jun 10, 2009 17:11:21 EDT
Sponsors of a bill aimed at more tightly regulating the use of open-air burn pits for waste disposal in Iraq and Afghanistan will hold a news conference Thursday to highlight the effects on troops of possible exposure to toxins from burn-pit smoke.
“There is mounting evidence that veterans may be ill — and some may have actually died — as a result of exposure to dangerous toxins produced by the pits,” Rep. Tim Bishop, D-N.Y., said in a statement. Bishop co-sponsored the bill with Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H.
The news conference will feature veterans who say they were sickened by the plumes, as well as an epidemiologist who specializes in the health risks associated with exposure to burn pits, which are used at bases throughout Iraq and Afghanistan.
The legislation, HR 2419, prohibits building burn pits on new bases that military officials know will exist for more than six months, and it calls for tracking all troops exposed to the black plumes that come from the pits.
go here for more and video
Lawmakers to hold news briefing on burn pits
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jun 10, 2009 17:11:21 EDT
Sponsors of a bill aimed at more tightly regulating the use of open-air burn pits for waste disposal in Iraq and Afghanistan will hold a news conference Thursday to highlight the effects on troops of possible exposure to toxins from burn-pit smoke.
“There is mounting evidence that veterans may be ill — and some may have actually died — as a result of exposure to dangerous toxins produced by the pits,” Rep. Tim Bishop, D-N.Y., said in a statement. Bishop co-sponsored the bill with Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H.
The news conference will feature veterans who say they were sickened by the plumes, as well as an epidemiologist who specializes in the health risks associated with exposure to burn pits, which are used at bases throughout Iraq and Afghanistan.
The legislation, HR 2419, prohibits building burn pits on new bases that military officials know will exist for more than six months, and it calls for tracking all troops exposed to the black plumes that come from the pits.
go here for more and video
Lawmakers to hold news briefing on burn pits
Tysons Corner ad shocks Vietnam vets
Insensitive? Ungrateful? Who knows what was in the mind of the creator of such a stunt. The problem is, it just used one of the most emotionally charging images in this nation. Maybe since The Wall has received so much notoriety because of Memorial Day they thought they could cash in on it. The problem is, anyone trying to cash in on what was already paid for with the deaths of these men and women, has the wrath of the living to contend with.
Tysons Corner ad shocks Vietnam vets
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
06/09/09 3:36 PM EDT
Prominent Vietnam veterans and their families are appalled by an advertisement for a major local mall that shows a woman in front of a wall that strongly resembles the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, with the names of the center’s stores appearing instead of the names of the war dead.
Tysons Corner Center reacted quickly to condemnation from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and ordered the immediate removal of 440 of the ads from the Metrorail cars where they have been posted, mall spokeswoman Allison Fischer said Tuesday afternoon.
The Tysons ad features a black granite wall engraved with a list of shops over the slogan, “It’s time to defrost.” The store names are presented in virtually the same font on a highly reflective surface like the Vietnam Memorial. There is an image in the background of a what could be a rose, a flower commonly left at the Wall.
“There’s no question my generation will see this as The Wall,” said Marshall Carter, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange and a veteran of two tours in Vietnam. “There’s no getting around it. It jumps right off the page.”
Jan Scruggs, founder and president of the Vietnam Veteran Memorial Fund, said the ad is an “obvious and blatant misuse of the image of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which has a serious place in America's heart and soul.” More than 58,000 American men and women died in the war.
go here for more
Tysons Corner ad shocks Vietnam vets
Traveling version of Vietnam War exhibit soon available
Traveling version of Vietnam War exhibit soon available
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Anoka, MN -- “I left the war in September of 1967, but the war hasn’t left me. It never will.” Those words, spoken by a Vietnam veteran from Anoka, point out the impact the Vietnam War has had on people in Anoka County.
A traveling version of the very powerful exhibit, “Vietnam: The Veteran’s Experience” will soon be available for appropriate venues throughout the area.
It is expected that this display will be scheduled in high traffic public areas, such as bank lobbies, libraries, and city festivals. It is also appropriate for places frequented by veterans such as VFW’s and American Legions.
Organizations wishing to schedule the exhibit may take it to their venue for display for up to a month. The traveling display is a scaled down version of ”Vietnam: The Veteran’s Experience,” which has won the prestigious National Award of Merit from the National Association for State and Local History.
The exhibit tells the story of the tumultuous 1960s era using the memories of Anoka’s own local soldiers, Sailors and Marines, who served in Vietnam. With courage and candor, Anoka County men and women have shared their stories in ways that illustrate the horror of war, and the courage of ordinary people.
go here for more
Traveling version of Vietnam War exhibit soon available
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Anoka, MN -- “I left the war in September of 1967, but the war hasn’t left me. It never will.” Those words, spoken by a Vietnam veteran from Anoka, point out the impact the Vietnam War has had on people in Anoka County.
A traveling version of the very powerful exhibit, “Vietnam: The Veteran’s Experience” will soon be available for appropriate venues throughout the area.
It is expected that this display will be scheduled in high traffic public areas, such as bank lobbies, libraries, and city festivals. It is also appropriate for places frequented by veterans such as VFW’s and American Legions.
Organizations wishing to schedule the exhibit may take it to their venue for display for up to a month. The traveling display is a scaled down version of ”Vietnam: The Veteran’s Experience,” which has won the prestigious National Award of Merit from the National Association for State and Local History.
The exhibit tells the story of the tumultuous 1960s era using the memories of Anoka’s own local soldiers, Sailors and Marines, who served in Vietnam. With courage and candor, Anoka County men and women have shared their stories in ways that illustrate the horror of war, and the courage of ordinary people.
go here for more
Traveling version of Vietnam War exhibit soon available
Spc. Kenneth Jacobs death a year ago and tragedy goes on
Soldier from Holly Springs dies
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
HOLLY SPRINGS (WTVD) -- The Army is investigating the death of a Schofield Barracks soldier from North Carolina found dead on base earlier this week.
Spc. Kenneth Jacobs, a 22-year-old from Holly Springs, N.C., was found unconscious and not breathing Monday.
Paramedics tried to revive him but were unsuccessful and declared him dead at the scene.
Jacobs was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team. He moved to Hawaii in 2006. He returned in October from a deployment to Iraq.
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=6228338
I receive a lot of emails, heart tugging emails, and once in a while the sender is begging for help. They feel they are out of hope and out of help. This is one of them. I was asked to post this and I'm doing it praying someone out there can help this widow get the justice denied her husband.
Huffing deaths are not suicide. They are doing it to seek relief. Spc. Jacobs was put on Zoloft and we all know there are problems with this. You can't give them medication this strong and simply hope for the best without any kind of therapy. Yet when Spc. Jacobs was found dead in the barracks, that was the end of it. There were no more follow up stories of yet one more non-combat death not counted. Not one more headline grabbing story of a young soldier's death following PTSD and not treated properly. Above all of this no story of the young widow and her children left behind with no income, no death insurance and no help from the military under survivors benefits. Read her story and if you can help her, contact me and I'll give you her contact information. There has to be help for her out there somewhere. My God! Do we really support the troops and honor military families or don't we?
I’m writing to you to tell you about my husband, SPC. Kenneth Robert Jacobs who passed away on June 23rd 2008.
Ken graduated basic training from Ft. Benning GA , in August 2006 and was stationed at Schoffield Barracks in Hawaii. The unit that he was assigned to was already in Iraq and he joined them there in Nov. 2006. Ken’s duties in Iraq included house to house searches, guard duty, tower duty, and gunner on Humvees. During Ken’s 1 year deployment his hummer had been hit by 4 IED’s. He never complained about being there and said he knew they were helping the Iraqi people. Ken was the only one in his unit that received The Leader of The Pack award twice while deployed.
His deployment ended in Nov. 2007 and Ken said they all had to have a physical and debriefing before they could come home. He said they were told how to answer any questions asked, if they wanted to go home right away and not to stay for more evaluation. They were told that nightmares were normal and would go away in time, and not to mention anything they had to do over there to anyone. He was also told “anyone who had been hit with an IED go stand in that line” which he did. Then they were all asked as a group “who wants more testing done?” and no one raised their hands. Ken said he “didn’t want to look like a loser in front of the other guys” so he didn’t raise his hand.
Because Ken had answered all of the questions “correctly” he got to come home on leave for 4 weeks. After his leave him and I flew back to Hawaii and got married. Myself and my 3 year old daughter moved to Hawaii in Feb. 2008.
At this time I noticed that Ken became very angry easily. His drinking was out of control and he would have terrible nightmares, thrashing around in bed. We were getting into terrible fights and one night the MP’s were called. Ken had to see a Psychiatrist and told him about some of the things he had to do and things he saw in Iraq . The doctor told him “No wonder you’re messed up!” This doctor diagnosed him with PTSD and put him on Zoloft. I believe this was in March of 2008. After this he really wasn’t getting any better. In May of 2008 I was out on the porch and heard Ken yelling at my 3 year old to go out the window. He was screaming “Go! Go! Go!” Then fell to the floor and started to have some type of seizure. When it was over, he got up and sat in a chair and started typing on the computer. I asked Kenny “What just happen?” and he didn’t remember any of it. I told him he needed go back to the doctor. He went back to the doctor and told him what happen and he increased his Zoloft.
That’s it! No counseling for him or I to understand what was going on, nothing.
The two of us were still fighting horribly and after another blowout he decided to spend the night at the barracks with his buddies on June 22, 2008. Ken went to his detail the next morning and we made up. We had an OBGYN appointment that morning, because I was 4 months pregnant, and Ken was going to meet me there. He asked his friend if he could take a nap in his room until the appointment and his friend said yes. That was around 9:00am. His friend came back to his room at 1:00pm and found Kenny lying in bed not moving. He rolled him over to find Ken had passed away in his sleep.
Because Ken was found alone in the room there was a criminal investigation. They determined there was no foul play and ruled his death accidental. The initial autopsy report did not show anything so all of Ken’s reports and test were sent to DC to be analyzed to determine cause of death. After waiting for 4 months the doctor who wrote the autopsy report said there were no drugs or alcohol in Ken’s system. They also didn’t find any Zoloft which I knew he took every day. The only thing they could find was a trace of difluoroethane which is a common ingredient in “dust-off” So in his opinion, this was probably Ken’s cause of death.
The investigators did find one can of dust-off in the room behind the T.V. on the opposite side of the room where Ken was found. According to the National Institute on Drug abuse the key danger of inhalant abuse is Sudden Sniffing Death Syndrome. This is when a huffer dies within seconds of taking a hit of the inhalant, usually from heart failure. Since the only can of dust-off was found on the other side of the room on a shelf behind a T.V, wouldn’t this cause of death be unlikely? I may never know how my husband died, and nothing will bring him back. But I do know the Army did not provide him or I with counseling for his diagnosed PTSD. He was given medication and told that would solve all of his problems. Ken was scheduled for deployment again in Nov. 2008
Why isn’t there a program in place for these soldiers to get the help they need when returning home from deployment? Why are these kids given a choice to get counseling, and make it seem like punishment, or an embarrassment? Scheduled counseling should be mandatory when a soldier is put on any anti-depressant or antipsychotic medication. More intense screening should be done to determine brain injury for soldiers who had been hit with IED’s. Sgt. Sipes (kens team leader) told me that “one of the IED’s that they hit was so bad that Kenny was bleeding from his ears. He and Ken were taken to a Med Aide station to be observed for 48 hours but no tests were done.
He said Ken was never the same after that. He was always the comic relief guy, he said. Ken would make light of any situation they were in, and always had a smile on his face. He told me after that day his personality changed. He kept to himself and the sgt. knew that there was something wrong with him. They came home shortly after that. Sgt. Sipes was one of the soldiers who found Ken that terrible day and tried to revive him.
My husband was 21 years old. He left behind a wife, stepdaughter, mother, 2 younger brothers, sister, grandparents, many friends, and a son who he will never get to see.
Please don’t let this happen to another soldier, or family. Better screening of Traumatic Brain Injuries and mandatory counseling for returning solders’ who are prescribed anti depressants or anti psychotic medication should be our governments’ top priority.
Because of the autopsy determination myself and my children have been denied the VA's DIC benefits. My husband had not changed his beneficiary from his mother to me after our marriage of which he was supposed to be counseled on and never was after our marriage. My mother in-law has received the insurance money. She does not help me out. I am on SSI and live with my mother, daughter, son, brother, sister and nephew. Why am I and my family being punished for what the military has "determined" to be my husband’s cause of death? Why didn't my husband receive the help he needed instead of the medications handed out like candy. If my husband had been receiving help for his diagnosed PTSD this would never have happened. Now, I am without my husband. My children without a father. How are families of soldiers that commit suicide awarded the benefits and not mine? Isn’t it time the military supported it's soldiers and their families? Please help me to receive the DIC benefits that my husband's family deserves for his service to our country.
It is time the military stands behind its families of the soldiers that have served our country. Death should not be discriminated and families should not suffer any more then they have. If a soldier gives up and commits suicide the family is taken care of. These families have a right to know that if what the servicemen and women are asked to do and if what they have seen affects them mentally, their service to our country is forgotten and the surviving family’s will also be forgotten.
We have also been in contact with Mrs.XXXXX. Her husband passed away days after Kenny from the same circumstances. She was told before she received the death certificate that the cause of death would need to be changed in order for her to receive her benefits (which read the same on my husband’s certificate). She did so before applying and has received the benefits. We were not told this. Also, her husband did not receive the help he also deserved to prevent his death from happening. We are not alone and unfortunately unless mandatory counseling is given to these soldiers no mater the rank, there will be more of us. Please help us with our fight for our survivor benefits, to reclassify my husband’s death, and to enforce counseling for these soldiers to prevent this from happening. My husband did not die from huffing, an overdose or suicide. My husband’s death was clearly service related and he never came home from Iraq.
How can this be ignored?
Sincerely,
Chriscedia D. Jacobs
Two shot at Holocaust Memorial Museum
Two shot at Holocaust Memorial Museum
Two people have been shot at the entrance of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, emergency officers said. A private security guard and another person were wounded, according to officials of the D.C. police and fire department. full story
UPDATE
Guard killed during shooting at Holocaust museum
Story Highlights
Stephen Tyrone Johns died "heroically in the line of duty," museum says
Suspect is 88-year-old white supremacist, law enforcement officials say
Man with "long gun" entered museum, fired at guard, police spokesman says
Security guard and shooter were wounded in exchange of gunfire, police say
go here
Guard killed during shooting at Holocaust museum
Two people have been shot at the entrance of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, emergency officers said. A private security guard and another person were wounded, according to officials of the D.C. police and fire department. full story
UPDATE
Guard killed during shooting at Holocaust museum
Story Highlights
Stephen Tyrone Johns died "heroically in the line of duty," museum says
Suspect is 88-year-old white supremacist, law enforcement officials say
Man with "long gun" entered museum, fired at guard, police spokesman says
Security guard and shooter were wounded in exchange of gunfire, police say
go here
Guard killed during shooting at Holocaust museum
NAMI Montana executive director Mat Kuntz nominated to All Stars
Sent from member of NAMI
Here is a chance to help raise both NAMI’s profile and public awareness of the mental health needs of veterans-- in PEOPLE magazine.
NAMI Montana executive director Mat Kuntz, who is featured in the latest NAMI Advocate cover story www.nami.org/obama has been nominated to be one of PEOPLE Magazine’s “All-Stars Among Us,” representing Americans who have gone “above and beyond to serve their community.”
Earlier this year, he was selected to ride President’s Obama’s inaugural train as an “ordinary American” who has done “extraordinary things,” through advocacy for veterans.
Nominees for PEOPLE’s “All-Stars Among Us” are grouped under the names of major league baseball teams. The top vote-getter for each team will be honored at the MLB 2009 All-Star Game, July 13-15, in St. Louis. The person with the most votes overall will be featured in PEOPLE Magazine. To cast your ballot:
Visit the PEOPLE All-Star Web site.
Select the Pittsburgh Pirates emblem
Vote for Matt.
It’s that simple. Please spread the word to your networks. Each person can also vote up to 25 times in multiple visits (Yes, it’s allowed). Balloting ends on June 24. Mattt may be a long-shot, but someone has to win!
Note to Pentagon:PTSD? It's only human stupid!
by Chaplain Kathie
Are they out of their minds? The answer to treating PTSD is right in front of them but they can't see it. They are trying to alter the way humans process traumatic events by trying to numb them!
If they spend all this time trying to "short-circuit the brain’s stress response" then the see the answer to treating it. The part of the brain they see changed is where emotions live. ( I happen to think that is where the soul lives but that's beside the point for now.) Stress response is primeval, fight or flight. When it comes to the men and women (remember they are humans) there are different reactions considering who is involved in the life threatening situation. If it is just them, in split milliseconds their own survival is considered. Safer to fight or safer to run? If other people are involved, that's a totally different story because that comes from compassion, empathy, sensitivity, pick the word, it all involves the core of the person.
Do they think that Medal of Honor, Silver Star, Bronze Star veterans acted simply out of wanting to kill the enemy? Hell no! They acted with bravery to save the lives of their comrades. Read the accounts of the Medal of Honor recipients. Most of them were wounded yet somehow managed to still get up and save the lives of others either by manning weapons to obliterate the enemy before they managed to kill more of their "brothers" or despite the enemy, ran to save the lives of others. That not only required the courage to act it required the emotional connection to inspire it.
Read this,
This explains how combat veterans have higher levels of PTSD simply because of the exposures to traumatic events. It also explains how police officers, firefighters and emergency responders become wounded by PTSD. While the rest of us can become wounded by PTSD from one event, think about the countless times they are involved with traumatic events piled on each other. Get a better idea now? Apparently the military can't grasp it.
If PTSD were all about just the person alone, then the criteria for diagnosing PTSD would not include "or to others" and when they are interviewing the GI they would not even consider them if they worked in a motor pool recovering the vehicles the trauma happened in. After all, there was no danger to them and they did not witness the event on anyone else. They simply witnessed the aftermath of it in the vehicle itself. It's a lot different than picking up body parts on the scene but they can manage to understand how dealing with it far away from the danger itself can wound them emotionally.
Numbing them will eliminate the thing that keeps them going in order to save the lives of others. Why do they enter into the military in the first place? Do they ever think of that? Sure some will join in order to be killing machines. They are the type that is disconnected from what makes us human and they are pretty much selfish "bastards" not giving a crap about anyone else. However the vast majority are out to save and willing to kill in order to do that. Why can't they get this part? What is the basis of this wanting to save lives of their countrymen? Obvious, isn't it? Compassion!
If they play around looking for a drug to kill off the same emotions that cause them to serve in the first place what will they have?
Next is the danger of some of the drugs they are already using. Read this part.
Do they go for the obvious? No, they have to complicate all of it by not doing the obvious. Taking into account that the aftermath of traumatic events has been the same since man began to kill other men, (See Cain and Able) there has been a price to pay for it. That price comes from the part of each of us making us humans instead of animals able to eat their own. The drugs they are already using have consequences just as the chemical potions they are trying to come up with to prevent PTSD will have consequences. What they can't seem to see is the answer to how to treat it is staring them right in the face.
Talk therapy works because they are able to tell someone about it and get a response telling them they are not an animal but a human grieving for the loss of friends or the pain of others they had something to do with causing. It lets them come to terms their own live was in danger. What they miss in all of this is turning around what they were told before they faced all of it. They are told that they can train their brains, prepare it to be mentally tough to endure what they were being sent to do. The problem with this is it tells them if they end up being sensitive humans wounded by PTSD after, it's their own damn fault. This has to be undone. They need to see the courage they had in the first place and that it required them to have the compassion in the first place to step up and do it. In other words, without the compassion they wouldn't have had the courage.
They need to understand how human PTSD is. It strikes all mortals from all walks of life. It thrives on the human emotions wounded by abnormal events out of their control, be it from being attacked by another person in commission of a crime or by an enemy trying to kill them. Be it from natural disasters or the obliteration of warfare. Be it from a cop on the street in a shoot out or a soldier in Iraq shooting it out on a street. An emergency responder in Florida or a combat medic in Fallujah.
The Pentagon is great with coming up with weapons but lousy on understanding the men and women using those weapons.
This is what caused me to post all of this.
Wired News - USA
By Katie Drummond June 9, 2009 6:43 pm Categories: Army and Marines, DarpaWatch
As many as 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans may have suffered from PTSD or depression at some point, and the military has already spent millions on treatment for returning troops - everything from “samurai meditation” to at-home computerized counselors. Now the Pentagon’s advanced research arm is hoping that a combination of neuroscience, psychology, and creative pill-popping can stop battlefield stress before it even starts.
Darpa is hosting a one-day information session to solicit proposals for “Enabling Stress Resistance” among troops. They’re hoping to harness advances in molecular biology (the science of cell-to-cell interaction) and neuroscience that would short-circuit the brain’s stress response. Using animals as test subjects, Darpa first wants a precise understanding of how stress targets and damages the brain.
click link for more
This is yet one more problem they did not fix because they have been wasting time trying to get them to stop being human.
When I was a child, at the age of 13, my father took me to the Pentagon. As I walked around seeing the sea of uniforms and medals, I thought they had to have been the smartest, bravest people in this country. Now I am not a child and while I still think they are brave, they certainly are not the smartest people. They stopped thinking like humans.
Are they out of their minds? The answer to treating PTSD is right in front of them but they can't see it. They are trying to alter the way humans process traumatic events by trying to numb them!
If they spend all this time trying to "short-circuit the brain’s stress response" then the see the answer to treating it. The part of the brain they see changed is where emotions live. ( I happen to think that is where the soul lives but that's beside the point for now.) Stress response is primeval, fight or flight. When it comes to the men and women (remember they are humans) there are different reactions considering who is involved in the life threatening situation. If it is just them, in split milliseconds their own survival is considered. Safer to fight or safer to run? If other people are involved, that's a totally different story because that comes from compassion, empathy, sensitivity, pick the word, it all involves the core of the person.
Do they think that Medal of Honor, Silver Star, Bronze Star veterans acted simply out of wanting to kill the enemy? Hell no! They acted with bravery to save the lives of their comrades. Read the accounts of the Medal of Honor recipients. Most of them were wounded yet somehow managed to still get up and save the lives of others either by manning weapons to obliterate the enemy before they managed to kill more of their "brothers" or despite the enemy, ran to save the lives of others. That not only required the courage to act it required the emotional connection to inspire it.
Read this,
Criterion A: stressor
The person has been exposed to a traumatic event in which both of the following have been present:
1. The person has experienced, witnessed, or been confronted with an event or events that involve actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of oneself or others.
2. The person's response involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror. Note: in children, it may be expressed instead by disorganized or agitated behavior.
Criterion B: intrusive recollectionThe traumatic event is persistently re-experienced in at least one of the following ways:
1. Recurrent and intrusive distressing recollections of the event, including images, thoughts, or perceptions. Note: in young children, repetitive play may occur in which themes or aspects of the trauma are expressed.
2. Recurrent distressing dreams of the event. Note: in children, there may be frightening dreams without recognizable content
3. Acting or feeling as if the traumatic event were recurring (includes a sense of reliving the experience, illusions, hallucinations, and dissociative flashback episodes, including those that occur upon awakening or when intoxicated). Note: in children, trauma-specific reenactment may occur.
4. Intense psychological distress at exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event.
5. Physiologic reactivity upon exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event
http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/ncmain/ncdocs/fact_shts/fs_dsm_iv_tr.html%3C/
This explains how combat veterans have higher levels of PTSD simply because of the exposures to traumatic events. It also explains how police officers, firefighters and emergency responders become wounded by PTSD. While the rest of us can become wounded by PTSD from one event, think about the countless times they are involved with traumatic events piled on each other. Get a better idea now? Apparently the military can't grasp it.
If PTSD were all about just the person alone, then the criteria for diagnosing PTSD would not include "or to others" and when they are interviewing the GI they would not even consider them if they worked in a motor pool recovering the vehicles the trauma happened in. After all, there was no danger to them and they did not witness the event on anyone else. They simply witnessed the aftermath of it in the vehicle itself. It's a lot different than picking up body parts on the scene but they can manage to understand how dealing with it far away from the danger itself can wound them emotionally.
Numbing them will eliminate the thing that keeps them going in order to save the lives of others. Why do they enter into the military in the first place? Do they ever think of that? Sure some will join in order to be killing machines. They are the type that is disconnected from what makes us human and they are pretty much selfish "bastards" not giving a crap about anyone else. However the vast majority are out to save and willing to kill in order to do that. Why can't they get this part? What is the basis of this wanting to save lives of their countrymen? Obvious, isn't it? Compassion!
If they play around looking for a drug to kill off the same emotions that cause them to serve in the first place what will they have?
Next is the danger of some of the drugs they are already using. Read this part.
POTENTIAL HARMS
A detailed recounting of a traumatic experience may cause further distress to the patient and is not advisable unless a provider has been trained and is able to support the patient through this experience.
Pharmacological Adverse Effects
Note: See Table 4 of Module 1 – Treatment Interventions for PTSD – for detailed list of drug adverse effects and cautions.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) (fluoxetine, paroxetine, sertraline, fluvoxamine, citalopram): nausea, headache, sexual dysfunction, hyponatremia/syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone (SIADH), serotonin syndrome
Tricyclic antidepressants (imipramine, amitriptyline, desipramine, nortriptyline, protriptyline, clomipramine): anticholinergic effects, orthostatic hypotension, increased heart rate, ventricular arrhythmias
Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (phenelzine, tranylcypromine): hypertensive crisis with drug/tyramine interactions, bradycardia, orthostatic hypotension, insomnia
Sympatholytics: propranolol – hypotension, bronchospasm, bradycardia; prazosin – first dose syncope
Novel antidepressants: trazodone and nefazodone – sedation, rare priapism; venlafaxine – hypertension in patients with preexisting hypertension; nefazodone – hepatoxicity
Anticonvulsants: carbamazepine – leukopenia, SIADH, drowsiness, ataxia; gabapentin – sedation, ataxia; lamotrigine - Stevens-Johnson syndrome, fatigue; topiramate – secondary angle closure glaucoma, sedation, dizziness, ataxia; valproate – nausea/vomiting, sedation, ataxia, thrombocytopenia
Benzodiazepines (clonazepam, lorazepam, alprazolam, diazepam): sedation, memory impairment, ataxia, dependence
Typical antipsychotics (chlorpromazine, haloperidol, thioridazine): sedation, orthostatic hypotension (with chlorpromazine and thorazine), akathisia, dystonia, drug-induced parkinsonism, tardive dyskinesia , neuroleptic malignant syndrome, QTc changes
Atypical antipsychotics (olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone): sedation, weight gain, neuroleptic malignant syndrome, akathisia (at high doses), drug-induced parkinsonism, especially with doses >6 mg/d
Non-benzodiazepine hypnotics (zaleplon, zolpidem): sedation, ataxia, rebound insomnia
Non-benzodiazepine anti-anxiety (buspirone): nausea, headache
http://www.guideline.gov/summary/summary.aspx?ss=15&doc_id=5187#s26
Do they go for the obvious? No, they have to complicate all of it by not doing the obvious. Taking into account that the aftermath of traumatic events has been the same since man began to kill other men, (See Cain and Able) there has been a price to pay for it. That price comes from the part of each of us making us humans instead of animals able to eat their own. The drugs they are already using have consequences just as the chemical potions they are trying to come up with to prevent PTSD will have consequences. What they can't seem to see is the answer to how to treat it is staring them right in the face.
Talk therapy works because they are able to tell someone about it and get a response telling them they are not an animal but a human grieving for the loss of friends or the pain of others they had something to do with causing. It lets them come to terms their own live was in danger. What they miss in all of this is turning around what they were told before they faced all of it. They are told that they can train their brains, prepare it to be mentally tough to endure what they were being sent to do. The problem with this is it tells them if they end up being sensitive humans wounded by PTSD after, it's their own damn fault. This has to be undone. They need to see the courage they had in the first place and that it required them to have the compassion in the first place to step up and do it. In other words, without the compassion they wouldn't have had the courage.
They need to understand how human PTSD is. It strikes all mortals from all walks of life. It thrives on the human emotions wounded by abnormal events out of their control, be it from being attacked by another person in commission of a crime or by an enemy trying to kill them. Be it from natural disasters or the obliteration of warfare. Be it from a cop on the street in a shoot out or a soldier in Iraq shooting it out on a street. An emergency responder in Florida or a combat medic in Fallujah.
The Pentagon is great with coming up with weapons but lousy on understanding the men and women using those weapons.
This is what caused me to post all of this.
Pentagon Investigates Pill-Popping PTSD Prevention
Wired News - USA
By Katie Drummond June 9, 2009 6:43 pm Categories: Army and Marines, DarpaWatch
As many as 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans may have suffered from PTSD or depression at some point, and the military has already spent millions on treatment for returning troops - everything from “samurai meditation” to at-home computerized counselors. Now the Pentagon’s advanced research arm is hoping that a combination of neuroscience, psychology, and creative pill-popping can stop battlefield stress before it even starts.
Darpa is hosting a one-day information session to solicit proposals for “Enabling Stress Resistance” among troops. They’re hoping to harness advances in molecular biology (the science of cell-to-cell interaction) and neuroscience that would short-circuit the brain’s stress response. Using animals as test subjects, Darpa first wants a precise understanding of how stress targets and damages the brain.
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This is yet one more problem they did not fix because they have been wasting time trying to get them to stop being human.
Psychiatr News June 16, 2006
Volume 41, Number 12, page 5
© 2006 American Psychiatric Association
Government News
Military Blamed for Inadequate Referrals for PTSD Assessment
Aaron Levin
The Department of Defense cannot assure that returning troops who need referrals for posttraumatic stress disorder are receiving them.
Only 1 of 5 of troops returning from Iraq or Afghanistan and found at risk for developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was referred for further mental health evaluations, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
In response, Department of Defense (DoD) medical officials said they will make criteria for referral more explicit but said that the report understates the number of soldiers who had access to care.
The report was mandated by Congress as part of the National Defense Reauthorization Act of 2005.
"This is about screening, not treatment," said Cynthia Bascetta, M.A., M.P.H., director of health care for the GAO. "We're not even at the stage of knowing whether they were treated."
The report analyzed information culled from the standard forms filled out by members of the armed services as they returned from the two theaters of war. These Post Deployment Health Assessment (PDHA) forms ask about physical and psychosocial health. They include four questions intended to determine risk for PTSD. Three or four positive responses to these questions indicate a higher risk of developing the disorder. After completing the forms, service members discuss their responses with a health care professional, who may be a physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant.
The GAO examined computerized data on 178,664 troops and found that 9,145 (5 percent) were at risk for PTSD, but only 2,029 (22 percent) had been referred to mental health specialists.
http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/41/12/5
When I was a child, at the age of 13, my father took me to the Pentagon. As I walked around seeing the sea of uniforms and medals, I thought they had to have been the smartest, bravest people in this country. Now I am not a child and while I still think they are brave, they certainly are not the smartest people. They stopped thinking like humans.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Pennsylvania Trooper, kidnapper die in mountain highway shootout
Trooper, kidnapper die in mountain highway shootout
By Associated Press SWIFTWATER, Pa. (AP) - A man who kidnapped his 9-year-old son in northeastern Pennsylvania led police on a 40-mile chase that ended in a crash and an exchange of gunfire that killed him and a state trooper, state police said Monday. Another trooper was wounded, but the boy was not shot.
The chase Sunday night began outside Easton in the Pocono Mountains and ended just east of Tobyhanna when the suspect crashed his car, according to Pocono Mountain Regional Police Chief Harry Lewis. He said the suspect and police then traded gunfire.
The 31-year-old suspect, whose name was not released, died at the scene, state police said.
Trooper Joshua Miller, 34, was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, where he died of his gunshot wounds, police said. His colleague, 35-year-old Robert Lombardo, was listed in satisfactory condition at Community Medical Center in Scranton.
By Associated Press SWIFTWATER, Pa. (AP) - A man who kidnapped his 9-year-old son in northeastern Pennsylvania led police on a 40-mile chase that ended in a crash and an exchange of gunfire that killed him and a state trooper, state police said Monday. Another trooper was wounded, but the boy was not shot.
The chase Sunday night began outside Easton in the Pocono Mountains and ended just east of Tobyhanna when the suspect crashed his car, according to Pocono Mountain Regional Police Chief Harry Lewis. He said the suspect and police then traded gunfire.
The 31-year-old suspect, whose name was not released, died at the scene, state police said.
Trooper Joshua Miller, 34, was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, where he died of his gunshot wounds, police said. His colleague, 35-year-old Robert Lombardo, was listed in satisfactory condition at Community Medical Center in Scranton.
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Holy Ground Homeless Shelter saved because people cared
Of all the posts I put up to share, I take great joy in posting this kind of story to warm your heart, renew your belief if the human spirit and the compassion people can find within their own hearts. These people stepping up to help this wonderful woman are remarkable. They were not rich. Far from it. One donated $5.00 and another sold her things at a yard sale to find the extra money to give. Even in these hard times, people think of others first. Other people will look at the suffering that goes on in this world and ask, "Where is God" because so many suffer. They do not understand that God sends the answer to prayers when we hear His call and fulfill the need. How can anyone look at such acts of compassion and still wonder?
Outpouring of donations saves Holy Ground from eviction
By Camille C. Spencer, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Tuesday, June 9, 2009
HUDSON — An unemployed woman gave $5. Another woman sold her belongings at a yard sale and donated the $200 profit. Churches pitched in, too.
As word spread that Holy Ground Homeless Shelter was facing eviction, scores of people dropped by the county's only all-inclusive homeless shelter to give whatever they could to keep the doors open.
By Monday, their generosity saved the day.
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http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article1008339.ece
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