Fayetteville VA cut more than half of its caregivers

Some VAs Are Dropping Veteran Caregivers From Their Rolls
NPR
Quil Lawrence
April 5, 2017
Heard on Morning Edition

Fayetteville cut more than half of its caregivers, dropping 314 families from the rolls between May 2014 and February 2017. And while data from the VA in Washington showed seven staff at Fayetteville were coordinating caregivers (a ratio of 37/1), the Fayetteville VA shows only two staff are doing that job, meaning that each coordinator is actually overseeing more than 125 veterans.

Alishia Graham had been part of a Veterans Affairs program as a caregiver for her husband, Jim. The couple lives in Jacksonville, N.C. Jim's tattoo commemorates his best friend, who was killed in 2006 by the mortar blast that also left Jim with a brain injury. Quil Lawrence /NPR

By the time they cut her from the program, Alishia Graham was angry, but not surprised. Her postman delivered the news in February.

"The letter was sitting at the top — and my stomach dropped because I knew what it was," she says.

The letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs informed Graham that her husband Jim, who sustained a brain injury on his third deployment to Iraq, no longer qualified for a caregiver to help with his daily life.

"It's not even like ... 'We think he doesn't need as much help.' No — 'We think he's totally fine and he doesn't need any help,' " says Graham. "I'm insulted for him. Because I know what he struggles with."

"The program is not cutting back in any way," says Meg Kabat, director of the VA Caregiver Support Program. "We've been able to expand the number of caregiver support coordinators and really continue to monitor that. We also train our staff on a regular basis."

But the VA is infamous for lacking consistency from station to station. And while the program has added 6,300 caregivers since 2014, according to VA data, NPR discovered that 32 out of 140 VA medical centers were cutting their programs during the same period — some drastically.
read more here

"Friend to all, protector of the weak" lost his life to suicide

‘Hidden wounds’ claim USCB student, warrior — and a friend
Island Packet
BY BRIAN VOSICKY
Special to the Packet/Gazette
April 4, 2016

He was a friend to all and a protector of the weak.

Read more here: http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/community/beaufort-news/bg-military/article142544299.html#storylink=cpy

About a year and a half ago, I wrote a column for this newspaper about my experiences with PTSD and how the University of South Carolina Beaufort Sand Sharks Veterans club helped unite fellow service members who may be struggling to cope with civilian life.

I spoke about how the deepest wounds can be the ones that are unseen, and that many aren’t fully aware of the severity of the problem until it is too late to act.

On March 31, Benjamin “Nick” Becker, 36, a U.S. Army combat veteran, a USCB student, SSV member, and my friend, succumbed to his hidden wounds and took his own life.

Nick was loved tremendously by all who knew him. Known best for his witty sense of humor and Cheshire-cat grin, he was always a bright light in the room. People naturally gravitated toward his magnetic charm. He was incredibly intelligent, compassionate, fearless and had a true warrior spirit.

Nick was one of the first friends I made at USCB.
read more here

Suicide Awareness, I'm Glad They're Gone

Combat PTSD Wounded Times

Kathie Costos
April 5, 2017

This is something I struggled with all day. Every time I put one of these articles up, I lose readers. Frankly, if this article hurts someone's feelings, that makes me feel as if all this anguish was well spent. Considering the folks seeking instant gratification using a slogan and bending the ear of any reporter looking for an easy feel good story are posting selfies all over Facebook, I just don't have time for their pain. I'd rather spend my time on veterans getting out of pain.

Gee, I wonder how many people just read the headline and got offended? After all, it is always about them. Isn't it? It sure as hell isn't about the veterans they talk about while guessing at how many commit suicide everyday.

The most stunning thing of all is when in 2012 when the famous suicide number of "22 a day" was plastered on every website, these aware folks didn't notice the other number of "21" referring to the limited data from just 21 states and not the rest of the country. They didn't read the report or they would have seen the fact that it was 20 a day back in 1999.

But in 2016 when the VA did a larger report with yet again "20 a day" these yahoos didn't read that one either or change the slogan they had grown so fond of using. WTF! Yes, dear reader we know the difference and frankly, I'll be glad to see even more of them go off on their merry way. After all, there are walks to take and pushups to do along with interviews to get their pictures in the paper instead of having to take selfies for Facebook!

Ok, that's out of my system. Well, kind of. The Big Lie is that too many facts keep getting buried, so I made sure this was not covered over and put it all out there.

Today I read three articles that set me off. I know, usually there are many more of them and if you follow on Google+ you're used to it. Don't worry, I promise at the end of this, you'll feel better knowing how you actually can make a difference in helping a veteran stay alive. After all, they already know how to die. It's time to help them figure out how to stay alive after surviving combat.

Secondary PTSD is one thing they probably cannot even pronounce and wouldn't recognize it if it dropped and gave them 20...excuse me...22.


West Hants family struggles with father’s PTSD

Derek Miller left the military in late 2015 after serving as an air and naval flight steward, having begun his career in the army.

While he wasn’t in combat, his unit assisted people in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the 2010 Haitian earthquake, which left at least 100,000 people dead.

He witnessed people and animals starving to death and also had to transport the bodies of dead service members home, which caused his PTSD.

His wife, Sheri, described Derek’s experiences as “a lot of suffering.”

Back home in West Hants, Derek’s PTSD manifests itself with irritability and repeated angry outbursts directed at both Myra and Sheri, but he has never been physically violent.

For years, Myra did not understand why her father was so often angry, and only learned a month ago that he was struggling with PTSD stemming from his military service.

As a result of her father’s outbursts, she too has also developed anxiety and recently attempted suicide by making a noose to hang herself. Luckily, Myra’s friend managed to stop her from killing herself by calling 911. (please click the link and read the rest of this)

If you live with PTSD in your house, you know all this first hand. You know how it destroys someone you love as much as it eats you away in tiny little bites. If you know what it is enough, you know as much as they need help, you do too. That we, families, are also left behind and forgotten about leaves a bitter taste of betrayal to read our pain being turned into a slogan masquerading as care when they didn't even care enough to read the damn report in the first place.

Here is another story about the wife of a Vietnam veteran left behind...

Bernetta Hutchinson woke up in the Forest Springs neighborhood home she shared with her husband Terry. Wandering sleepily out to the living room, she found a note on the table. It began, “Bernetta, I am sorry. Call the VA.”As she finished the short note, she went to their grown daughter’s bedroom, fell to her knees and prayed she was misinterpreting the suicide note; that somehow her husband was still alive.And then, Hutchinson said, God guided her out the door and 50 yards into the redwood forest behind their home where she found her husband of 29 years, 7 months seated against a tree with his head bowed.The 67-year-old Vietnam Veteran had shot and killed himself with a Glock handgun, becoming another casualty of the United States’ ongoing inability to heal its warriors after they return from the battlefield.

The paragraph after this has my name on it and that was because I contacted the reporter on another story he did about firefighters doing 22 pushups. You know, like I always do when I suspect the reporter actually gave a damn but didn't have the facts. He listened and it mattered. A rare thing these days.

Here is another article I read earlier today and yes, another great job of telling a story that actually does matter.

From shell-shock to PTSD, a century of invisible war trauma
KSDK
MaryCatherine McDonald (Old Dominion U), Marisa Brandt and Robyn Bluhm (Michigan State)

April 04, 2017

Electric treatments were prescribed in psychoneurotic cases post-WWI. Otis Historical Archives National Museum of Health and Medicine
(Photo: Custom)

In the wake of World War I, some veterans returned wounded, but not with obvious physical injuries. Instead, their symptoms were similar to those that had previously been associated with hysterical women – most commonly amnesia, or some kind of paralysis or inability to communicate with no clear physical cause. The Conversation

English physician Charles Myers, who wrote the first paper on “shell-shock” in 1915, theorized that these symptoms actually did stem from a physical injury. He posited that repetitive exposure to concussive blasts caused brain trauma that resulted in this strange grouping of symptoms. But once put to the test, his hypothesis didn’t hold up. There were plenty of veterans who had not been exposed to the concussive blasts of trench warfare, for example, who were still experiencing the symptoms of shell-shock. (And certainly not all veterans who had seen this kind of battle returned with symptoms.)

We now know that what these combat veterans were facing was likely what today we call post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. We are now better able to recognize it, and treatments have certainly advanced, but we still don’t have a full understanding of just what PTSD is.

The medical community and society at large are accustomed to looking for the most simple cause and cure for any given ailment. This results in a system where symptoms are discovered and cataloged and then matched with therapies that will alleviate them. Though this method works in many cases, for the past 100 years, PTSD has been resisting.

We are three scholars in the humanities who have individually studied PTSD – the framework through which people conceptualize it, the ways researchers investigate it, the therapies the medical community devises for it. Through our research, each of us has seen how the medical model alone fails to adequately account for the ever-changing nature of PTSD.

What’s been missing is a cohesive explanation of trauma that allows us to explain the various ways its symptoms have manifested over time and can differ in different people.
read more here

Yes, you read that right too. A hundred years ago. But then again, that isn't the end of this story. See, there are too many talking about what is wrong instead of what is right. This article may make you feel better knowing what a difference you can make. After all, I know doing this type of work, quietly, that you never read about, makes my day. Can't think of a better thing to do than help a veteran heal.

Veteran deaths account for 18% of U.S. suicides

Let’s Promote Hope members are trying to bring awareness to the enormity of the problem with suicide to small communities around Kansas. They believe part of the solution lies within the communities and neighborhoods where the veterans are living.“America won’t fix itself, and you can’t fix it from the top down,” he said. “You have to fix the small things first.”Simple acts like a smile to a neighbor, a conversation over the fence, even the old two-finger farmer’s wave can promote an environment of friendliness and caring, which in turn helps people not feel isolated and alone and give them hope. Lynch said he and his group definitely do not have all the answers and a lot is simply his opinion.“But we are trying,” he said. “Let’s make each other laugh, let’s make sure when they do something right they understand what they did right. Let’s get together as communities again, let’s start celebrating what we have.”Neighbor looking after neighbor is the crux of building strong communities. Lynch thinks back to his time in the military where the mantra was “if you want to survive, you have to take care of the person to you left and your right. It is never about you.”While many of the philosophies about suicide carry over from the civilian to the military populations, Lynch said there could be additional factors affecting veterans.“When someone takes their own life, they have lost hope. Ultimately, the pressures of the world have gotten the better of them and they lose hope; that is why we dedicate this to Let’s Promote Hope,” he said. 

Please read the rest of that article too. That is what Point Man International has been doing since 1984! Pretty sure that stuff works since I invested my life in doing it.

This video shows one of the most powerful stunts of all...and it is called giving hope their life doesn't have to suck.

Fatal Motorcycle Crash Claimed Life of Marine From Florida

Marine from Eustis dies in motorcycle crash in North Carolina 
Orlando Sentinel 
Jerry Fallstrom 
Apri 4, 2017

A 22-year-old Marine from Eustis was killed last week in motorcycle accident in North Carolina, according to media reports.

Lance Cpl. Spencer Timothy Draper, who was stationed at Camp Lejeune, ran off the right side of the road March 27 while going around a slight bend near Richlands, The Daily News of Jacksonville, N.C., reported. He struck a mailbox, lost control of the motorcycle, overturned several times and was ejected, the newspaper reported. read more here

Cincinnati Reds Honor Vietnam "Hometown Hero"

Local Veteran Honored As Reds’ Opening Day Hometown Hero
Eagle Country
By Travis Thayer
April 04, 2017

Ron Spurlock was honored as the Cincinnati Reds Opening Day Hometown Hero on Monday, April 3. Photo by P.G. Gentrup.

The Cincinnati Reds came up on the short end of the scoreboard, but Opening Day was still memorable for one southeastern Indiana hero.

Rising Sun resident Ron Spurlock was honored as the Cincinnati Reds Opening Day Hometown Hero on Monday, April 3.

Spurlock was introduced to the largest crowd in Great American Ball Park history at the end of the second inning, and was presented with a Reds cap, certificate and Cincinnati Reds challenge coin.

After graduating from Vevay High School, Corporal Spurlock entered the United States Marines in 1969 and served until 1971 when he was honorable discharged.
read more here

Fort Drum Sergeant Admitted Filing False Tax Returns

Former Fort Drum sergeant sentenced for filing false tax returns for fellow soldiers

By GORDON BLOCK
GBLOCK@WDT.NET

PUBLISHED: TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2017

A former Fort Drum sergeant was sentenced to 12 months in prison after he admitted to filing false tax returns for his fellow soldiers to defraud the government of more than $100,000 and line his own pockets.

Bobby Lemon, 36, of McRae, Ga., admitted to inputting false information on soldiers’ tax paperwork, changing their filing status and adding dependents to generate larger refunds. In many cases, the listed dependents were members of his own family.

read more here

Three Tour PTSD Veteran's Service Dog Not Welcomed at University North Texas?

Disabled veteran’s service dog kicked off UNT campus
CW33 News
BY JAKE YOUNG
APRIL 1, 2017

"I will risk my education, career to make sure this will not happen to another disabled veteran or disabled person." Tawan Throngkumpola

DENTON -- "This is probably the least disabled veteran friendly school in the nation right now," Tawan Throngkumpola told NewsFix.

Throngkumpola thought his toughest battles were behind him: three tours of duty, IED explosions, and even homelessness. Now, he's being told his service dog isn't allowed on campus at the University of North Texas, where he's a student.

"I kept reading, 'We're upholding these actions.' But no reason why," Throngkumpola said.

The letter came Friday at 5:01 p.m., closing the door on an appeal of a ruling from November. The original ban for his service dog, Cali, listed five incidents of her being aggressive but not actually harming other people.

Throngkumpola says it was out of nowhere, "We got blindsided that day."
read more here

Vietnam Veterans PTSD Research Everything Old is "New" Again

OMG....Yet another "new" study on the link between PTSD and the whole veteran!

"The mind and body are intimately linked, which is why there needs to be a change in the way post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is treated, say Australian researchers."

The date this came out was today, April 3, 2017.

A world-first study of 300 Vietnam veterans, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, has shown PTSD – a condition that affects an estimated one million Australians – is not just psychological.

It wrecks havoc on the body too, impacting the gastrointestinal, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, as well as a sufferers’ sleep.

Based on the findings PTSD should be considered a “full systemic disorder” rather than just a mental health problem, says Miriam Dwyer, CEO of the Gallipoli Medical Research Foundation.

Yes, it really did say that. It seems as if it has shown up all over the Internet as if no one bothered to even check to see if it was something new or not.

This was done in 1999 and is just one of many...

Combat Exposure, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms, and Health Behaviors as Predictors of Self-Reported Physical Health in Older Veterans

SCHNURR, PAULA P. Ph.D.1; SPIRO, AVRON III Ph.D.2

Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease: June 1999

We used path analysis to model the effects of combat exposure, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and health behaviors on physical health. Participants were 921 male military veterans from the Normative Aging Study. Their mean age at time of study was 65. Measures of combat exposure, PTSD symptoms, smoking, and alcohol problems were used to predict subsequent self-reported physical health status. Both combat exposure and PTSD were correlated with poorer health. In path analysis, combat exposure had only an indirect effect on health status, through PTSD, whereas PTSD had a direct effect. Smoking had a small effect on health status but did not mediate the effects of PTSD, and alcohol was unrelated to health status. We conclude that PTSD is an important predictor of physical health and encourage further investigation of health behaviors and other possible mediators of this relationship.

This is on the spiritual connection from National Institute of Health 2008 and check the dates referenced.

Little attention has been given to spiritually based approaches for managing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in combat veterans. With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is a growing need for more complementary and holistic therapies to assist combat veterans returning from deployment. Surveyed veterans report that they would use complementary approaches to health care if such programs were available (Bent & Hemphill, 2004; Kroesen, Baldwin, Brooks, & Bell, 2002).We developed a spiritually based group intervention that teaches a series of focusing strategies using mantram repetition, slowing down, and one-pointed attention (Easwaran, 2001, 2005). A mantram is a Sanskrit word meaning “to cross the mind” and is sometimes referred to in the West as “holy name repetition” (Oman & Driskill, 2003) or in the East as “mantra repetition.” Repeating so-called sacred words such as “Om Mani Padme Hum” from Buddhism or holy names such as “Rama Rama,” “Jesus Jesus,” or “Ave Maria,” have been associated with reduced arousal, respirations, enhanced cardiovascular rhythms (Bernardi et al., 2001), and decreased stress and depression (Wolf & Abell, 2003). Unlike other meditative practices, mantram repetition does not require any specific posture, quiet surroundings, eyes closed or any religious/spiritual beliefs. Mantram repetition is easily learned, personal, portable, invisible, and can be readily practiced without changing one’s activities or environment. 

The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility, effect sizes, and patient satisfaction of this spiritually based group intervention on mantram repetition in a sample of combat veterans with PSTD. The specific aims were to evaluate (a) recruitment and retention of veterans in the program, (b) effect sizes for PSTD symptom severity, psychological and quality of life outcomes, and (c) level of patient satisfaction of the program. These preliminary findings will be used to conduct a larger randomized controlled trial.
Go to:Background and Significance
PSTD is highly prevalent in military veterans (Kulka, et al., 1990). With the War in Iraq, an estimated 12% to 13% of service personnel have met PTSD criteria following combat (Hoge, Auchterlonie, & Milliken, 2006; Hoge, et al., 2004). Standard treatments for PTSD include medication, cognitive-behavioral and exposure-based therapies, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), relaxation or combinations of these (Bradley, Greene, Russ, Dutra, & Westen, 2005; Foa, et al., 1999; Marks, Lovell, Noshirvani, Livanou, & Thrasher, 1998; Monson, et al., 2006; Taylor, et al., 2003; Watson, Tuorila, Vickers, Gearhart, & Mendez, 1997). Very little attention, however, has been devoted to the spiritual aspects of managing PTSD or studying complementary therapies to mitigate symptoms. We consider the mantram program as spiritual, not religious, because it does not require an institution, congregation, or some formalized group to be practiced.
The mantram intervention program has been studied in veterans with chronic illness (Bormann, Smith, et al., 2005), health care employees (Bormann, Becker, et al., 2006; Bormann, Oman, et al., 2006), and HIV-infected adults (Bormann, Gifford, et al., 2006). Veterans and employees have reported significant reductions in stress, anxiety, anger and improvements in spiritual well-being and quality of life (Bormann, Becker, et al., 2006; Bormann, Oman, et al., 2006; Bormann, Smith, et al., 2005; Bormann, Smith, Shively, Dellefield, & Gifford, 2007). HIV-infected adults have reported significant reductions in anger and increased spiritual faith/assurance (Bormann, Gifford, et al., 2006). 

There are actually older studies, but you get the point. None of the so called "new" studies on PTSD are new at all!

Conclusions

A spiritual program was found to be feasible for veterans with PTSD. They reported moderate to high satisfaction. Effect sizes show promise for symptom improvement but more research is needed.

Keywords: posttraumatic stress disorder, veterans, spirituality, quality of life, mindfulness, intervention, meditation, mind–body relaxation

Houston Police Grieve After Losing Officer to Suicide

21-year HPD veteran commits suicide at Westside Patrol Station
CW 39 News
BY NEWSFIX STAFF
MARCH 31, 2017

HOUSTON -- The Houston Police Department is mourning the death of one of its own after a sergeant took his own life at an HPD substation Friday morning.

According to HPD Chief Art Acevedo, officers discovered the body of a sergeant -- a 21-year veteran-- at the Westside Patrol Station at 3203 S. Dairy Ashford.

The sergeant arrived at the station at 5:45 a.m. and remained in the parking lot until 6:15 a.m. He then walked into the building.

At 7:40 a.m., personnel noted the sergeant did not appear at roll call and was unusually late. HPD personnel made efforts to locate the sergeant through phone contact and through his family members.

Officers learned the sergeant had left his residence and later located his vehicle inside the patrol station's parking lot. Upon identifying the vehicle, it was determined that they search the station. His body was found around 8:35 a.m.

The sergeant died from a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
read more here

Inspirational Double Amputee Marine Has Dream Wedding Day

Double-Amputee U.S. Marine Veteran Weds in Oceanside
NBC Los Angeles
By Todd Strain and Monica Garske
April 1, 2017

Veteran United States Marine Cpl. Chris Van Etten married Samantha Yovandich Saturday in the wedding of their dreams, thanks to a program called "Vows for Vets"

A United States Marine veteran who lost both of his legs while serving in Afghanistan walked down the aisle Saturday to the love of his life during a beautiful wedding ceremony in Oceanside.

Vibrant spring flowers, lace table cloths and, of course, a gorgeous white gown, filled the Paradise Falls event venue in Oceanside, all for the wedding of veteran U.S. Marine Cpl. Chris Van Etten and his bride, Samantha Yovandich.

Their wedding story is one that involves tragedy, love and generosity.

The ceremony was a gift from Paradise Falls owners Al and Cathie Ransom. Once a year, the couple helps veterans by gifting weddings to wounded warriors through a program called "Vows for Vets."
read more here

Iraq Veteran Paid Tribute to WWI Veterans

Iraq War vet pays tribute to his World War I brothers in arms
The Morning Call
Will Scheihing
April 1, 2017

The brittle, yellowed postcard shows a crowd gathered in their Sunday best for a welcome home parade honoring the husbands, sons and brothers who served in World War I. A banner strung across Pennsylvania Avenue in Pen Argyl proclaims "History will honor you always."

For Bill Casamassima, an Iraq War veteran and former high school history teacher, that sentiment became a mission.

"It was a major war," Casamassima said, postcard in hand. "I didn't want the guys to be forgotten."

That mission led him on dozens of forays into Slate Belt cemeteries to unlock the lives of the men who served in the war America entered 100 years ago this week.

In his Pen Argyl home recently, Casamassima opened a thick ring binder in which he has listed the names, gleaned from gravestones, of local men who served. Casamassima thought he would discover 70 to 80 gravestones, what he found stunned him — 703.
read more here

WWII Veteran Hero Carl Clark Passed Away

East Palo Alto: Veteran whose heroic deeds went unrecognized for six decades dead at 100
Mercury News
Jason Green
April 1, 2017

The captain “could not recognize me in the battle report because we had that vicious bigotry,” Clark said in an interview with this newspaper in 2012. He added that he was thrown in the brig, the ship’s holding cell, on two occasions for “acting like a white man.”

Carl Clark, 95, speaks after being awarded The Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with the Combat Distinguishing Device at Moffett Field in Mountain View on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012. Clark, a World War II veteran, was honored Tuesday for his heroism on May, 3, 1945, when he helped save his destroyer, the USS Aaron Ward, during a kamikaze attack.

(Kirstina Sangsahachart/ Daily News)

EAST PALO ALTO — Friends, family and military personnel gathered Friday to pay tribute to the late Carl E. Clark, a U.S. Navy veteran from Menlo Park who had to wait more than 65 years for formal recognition of his heroism on the front lines of World War II.

Clark died March 16 at the Menlo Park division of the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. He was 100 years old.

Clark, an African-American, received the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal at a ceremony in January 2012, six decades after he shrugged off a broken collarbone to douse fires and drag his fellow sailors to safety amidst a harrowing kamikaze attack on the USS Aaron Ward.

Although the captain personally thanked Clark, his actions were excluded from the official record.
read more here

Man Plead Guilty Burying Wife Under WWII Veteran's Grave

Colorado woman's remains found under grave of WWII veteran
Associated Press
Thomas Peipert
April 1, 2017

"For 7,826 days, 3 hours and 22 minutes, the location of Tina's remains has been a mystery," Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke said in a news release Friday.

DENVER — A Colorado man who pleaded guilty Friday to killing his estranged wife more than two decades ago recently led authorities to her body, which was buried under the grave of a World War II veteran.

John Sandoval, 52, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the 1995 death of Kristina Tournai-Sandoval.

As part of a plea deal, he told investigators March 22 the remains were buried at a Greeley cemetery.
read more here

Disabled Marine Veteran Family Gets New Home After Losing Daughter to Bullies

Marine family to receive keys to new home with a heavy heart
KXAN News
By Lauren Lanmon
Published: March 31, 2017

NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas (KXAN) – A New Braunfels Marine and his family will be handed the keys to a new home on Monday all thanks to the Helping a Hero organization.

Master Sergeant Blaine Scott joined the Marine Corps in 1992. In 2006, during his second deployment to Iraq, Scott was severely injured in an IED blast.

“Forty percent of my body burned. I had a severe left ankle break,” said Scott.

His injures make it difficult to get around his current home, so three years ago he applied for a new one through Helping a Hero.

“We are so excited, my wife and I, we feel very fortunate for this to happen to us,” said Scott.

For years, Scott and his family have opened their home to other wounded veterans. Scott says his new home has an extra room specifically built to house veterans who are going through a tough situation. “You still find those one or two guys that have nothing wrong with them and it’s deep inside and you say ‘hey man, I’ve had these issues too, let’s talk about it,’” he said.

However, the deepest wound for Scott didn’t happen in 2006, it happened just last year. “She was being bullied in school and we didn’t realize how bad it was,” said Scott.

In August, Scott’s daughter committed suicide.
read more here

Gulf War Disabled Army Veteran Helped by army from Caring Community

Community rallies to save property of Army veteran
WY Daily.com
By Andrew Harris
March 31, 2017

“It’s such a weight off,” Winn said through tears after hearing the news Friday. “When my father left me the land, I knew it was important to keep it.”

Thanks to donations from the Williamsburg community, Army veteran Kimberly Winn will be able to keep land that has been in her family for five generations.

Kimberly Winn will be able to keep her land as the result of a community effort to raise her funds. (Andrew Harris/WYDaily)

WYDaily reported Thursday that Winn was delinquent more than $2,400 in fees associated with her two-acre Toano property. The veteran of the first Gulf War had until Friday to pay off her delinquency.

She would see the property head to auction if she failed to pay off her debt to the James City County’s Treasurer’s Office.

In one day, from Thursday morning into Friday, community citizens raised more than the amount needed to pay off Winn’s debt.
read more here

Professor Blames Media for Tweet He Sent About Soldier?

The jerk decided to send a Tweet about how he felt. Not bad enough he actually feels that way, but when he was confronted for his actions, he turned around and blamed the media?

Professor tweets ‘trying not to vomit’ when person gives seat to soldier
FOX 8 News
BY CNNWIRE
MARCH 31, 2017

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — A Drexel University professor tweeted that he was “trying not to vomit or yell about Mosul” after he watched a first-class passenger give up his seat for a uniformed soldier on an airplane.

Many on Twitter responded to the professor’s comments with anger and outrage.

George Ciccariello, associate professor of politics and global studies, posted the tweet Sunday on his private Twitter account. CNN obtained his tweet from a retweet someone else posted publicly on the social media platform.

read more here

Murder-Suicide Claims Life of 7 Year Old and Veteran Dad

Father, son dead in Longview murder-suicide
The boy was a 1st grader at Northlake Elementary School
KOIN 6 News Staff
Published: March 30, 2017

A statement from the Lower Columbia Community Action Program said Pittore-Montiel had overcome many obstacles in his life. Staff said he grew up in foster care and was homeless after being discharged from the military

LONGVIEW, Wash. (KOIN) — A man and his son were found dead in what investigators determined was a murder-suicide in Longview Thursday morning.

David Pittore-Montiel and his son were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide in Longview on March 30, 2017. (LinkedIn photo) David Michael Pittore-Montiel was 34 and his son, Michael, was 7 years old. Neighbors told KOIN Pittore-Montiel was a single father. The boy’s mother lives in California.

Longview police received a call about a suicidal man around 5:30 a.m. Thursday and responded to the apartment in the 900 block of 8th Avenue. Officers heard shots when they got to the door and found the man and child dead inside.
read more here

Was Pot Study for PTSD Designed to Fail?

Hopkins was ready to test pot as a treatment for PTSD. Then it quit the study
Washington Post
By Aaron Gregg
March 31 at 3:43 PM

One of the lead researchers from MAPS recently did just that, in a PBS report that said the government-grown marijuana provided for the study was of poor quality and contaminated with mold. Hopkins quit the study two days later.

Marijuana provided by the federal government to a team of researchers studying whether the drug should be used to treat veterans with PTSD. (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies)

Eighteen months after joining a study on using marijuana to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, Johns Hopkins University has pulled out without enrolling any veterans, the latest setback for the long-awaited research.

A Johns Hopkins spokeswoman said the university’s goals were no longer aligned with those of the administrator of the study, the Santa Cruz, Calif.-based Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). A spokesman for MAPS said the dispute was over federal drug policy and whether to openly challenge federal rules that say medical cannabis research must rely on marijuana grown by the federal National Institute on Drug Abuse.
read more here

Houston VA Puts Focus on Female Veterans PTSD Through Art

Houston VA Hospital Hosts Art Exhibit Showcasing Paintings By Female Veterans
Houston Public Media
AL ORTIZ
POSTED ON MARCH 31, 2017

Lopez is in the process of being discharged due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and says painting has been therapeutic in her journey to cope with the horrors of war.

Texas has the highest population of women veterans in the country and doing artistic work is one of the strategies some of them use to ease the transition to civilian life.

The Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center has hosted an exhibit this month showing some of their paintings.

Natalie Lopez, a San Antonio native, is the author of one of the pieces.

Actually her painting, which is titled “Forever unfit puzzle” and depicts a soldier in distress, was one of 10 that won a nationwide contest organized by the Veteran Artist Program and the VA’s Center for Women Veterans.

“Painting helps me release stress, just like the gym for most people,” Lopez, who was deployed in Afghanistan in 2007 and Iraq in 2008 and is now stationed in Abilene, told Houston Public Media.
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Police Officers Remembered and Honored After Suicide in Australia

Tears and relief as NSW Police moves to remember officers who took their lives
ABC News Australia
Exclusive by the National Reporting Team's Lorna Knowles
Posted about an hour ago

In 2013, Deborah Bryant's husband Ashley made a harrowing call to triple-0.

Key points: Police who've suffered trauma on the job and took their lives will now be remembered on the wall
The shift in NSW Police policy is the result of campaigning from loved ones
Retiring police chief Andrew Scipione used his last months in office to change the criteria for inclusion on the wall

PHOTO: NSW is the first state to include officers who've taken their lives in their memorial. (ABC News: Benjamin Sveen)

The distraught former police officer told the operator: "I'm about to take my life. I suffer post-traumatic stress disorder, I can no longer live with the trauma of it.

"I want this to go to the coroner. There needs to be more things put in place for the partners of those that suffer, 'cause I suffer and so do the partners and there has to be more done with them.

"I have no more to say."

Those were his final words — the end of a long battle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following more than two decades as police officer in the Lismore area, in northern New South Wales.

This week, his widow gathered with others to see her husband officially recognised and honoured for his service and sacrifice.

Ms Bryant is among four women who have successfully campaigned to have the names of police officers who took their lives following trauma on the job included on the NSW Police Wall of Remembrance.
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