If you are a veteran needing help to heal from where this country sent you, there are things you can excuse yourself for, but there are things there is no excuse for.
It is the way you treat people.
If you ask someone for help then treat them like an enemy, it is unacceptable.
A veteran called me asking for help and I tried to do what I could for him explaining that I can help him spiritually. He had a need to find shelter after being kicked out of a relatives house. I told him where to turn to. I guess that isn't where he wanted to go because he called back from another relative's house.
He still didn't want to go where he needed to be any more than he wanted to stop drinking.
He called back saying he was ready to start healing and was willing to work at it.
Low and behold he got kicked out of that house too.
He called me again taking out his anger on me and wanted me to send people I knew to take care of him. I could tell he was drunk and understood why he was getting kicked out of other places. He wanted everyone to help him under his terms.
He is getting 100% disability but 5 days into the month, he was broke so he couldn't get a motel room or even buy gas for his car to get to where he needed to be.
He told me that he had been in several programs for PTSD but none of them worked. He is part of the reason they didn't.
While you may feel frustration trying to get the help you need, don't take it out on people trying to help you as much as they can. One more thing to notice is that while you may feel as if everyone owes you something, the people trying to help do it for free because they want to help but they don't owe you anything. They can't take away all of your problems with a magic wand. They can't do it all for you. You have to work at it.
If a long list of people you know have turned their back on you, take a look at what you did and then maybe, just maybe you'll understand why and then stop treating everyone like crap!
Friday, July 6, 2012
Marine suicides at 24 and 100 attempts so far for 2012
Need any more evidence Resiliency Training does not work? Is anyone listening?
MILITARY: Six Marine suicides recorded in June
By MARK WALKER
Six active-duty Marines took their own lives in June, raising the number of self-inflicted deaths among leathernecks this year to 24.
The number provides fresh evidence that the Marine Corps' efforts, like that of all the service branches, continues to struggle in reducing suicides. The 24 deaths so far this year compare with 32 for all of last year and 37 recorded in 2010.
An additional 14 Marines attempted suicide in June, raising the number of suicide attempts for the year to 100. That compares with 163 attempts recorded last year and 172 in 2010.
The report from the Marine Corps' suicide prevention program comes as the military overall is averaging a suicide a day, the highest seen since the outbreak of war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
read more here
Don’t tell me I don’t understand struggles with PTSD
Op-Ed: Don’t tell me I don’t understand struggles with PTSD
By Samantha A. Torrence
Jul 2, 2012
Caretakers of veterans understand more than they are given credit for by their veterans and the citizens of their countries. The collective voice of many wives tells just how much they do understand.
“You just don’t understand.” Those four words seem to be the most recited mantra for many veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. And, for many caretakers, that mantra is one of the most frustrating to hear. It means that our day is about to become a war zone, filled with suspicion and paper bullets of the brain. Many times in support groups we are told that we will never understand and, though we may be able to sympathize, we will never be able to empathize. I disagree.
I do understand. I understand more than I am given credit for, and I think people need to become aware that caretakers and military spouses are not exempt from the hardships of war. Our cross is just as heavy; it is simply shaped differently.
I may not have enlisted, but I did voluntarily marry a man who went into the military.
He was willing to give up his life for his country, and I have given up my life, my best friend, and my partner for my country. He came home in body, but he is no longer the man I married. I stay to care for a stranger. My life no longer belongs to me; it belongs to my husband, the VA, the State, and the Republic. Just like people say that Veterans do not deserve to be pitied because they volunteered for their hardships, I am also told that I chose to stay in this marriage and deserve no more than bumper-sticker salutes.
I may not have gone into a war zone where I could be shot at or blown up, but my world is a war zone. I wake up every day ready to be a human shield for my husband. I take the brunt of the criticisms and accusations from others so that he will not be triggered. My enemy is just as invisible as the insurgents, for I never know when someone will hate me for simply being married to a military man and therefore deny me the opportunities I need to keep my family afloat. I take "friendly fire" every time my veteran is triggered. I live with a constant awareness that, if I do not keep my veteran calm, I will have to endure a battlefield of anger waged in my heart and soul with the casualties being my emotions and self-worth.
Read more
By Samantha A. Torrence
Jul 2, 2012
Caretakers of veterans understand more than they are given credit for by their veterans and the citizens of their countries. The collective voice of many wives tells just how much they do understand.
“You just don’t understand.” Those four words seem to be the most recited mantra for many veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. And, for many caretakers, that mantra is one of the most frustrating to hear. It means that our day is about to become a war zone, filled with suspicion and paper bullets of the brain. Many times in support groups we are told that we will never understand and, though we may be able to sympathize, we will never be able to empathize. I disagree.
I do understand. I understand more than I am given credit for, and I think people need to become aware that caretakers and military spouses are not exempt from the hardships of war. Our cross is just as heavy; it is simply shaped differently.
I may not have enlisted, but I did voluntarily marry a man who went into the military.
He was willing to give up his life for his country, and I have given up my life, my best friend, and my partner for my country. He came home in body, but he is no longer the man I married. I stay to care for a stranger. My life no longer belongs to me; it belongs to my husband, the VA, the State, and the Republic. Just like people say that Veterans do not deserve to be pitied because they volunteered for their hardships, I am also told that I chose to stay in this marriage and deserve no more than bumper-sticker salutes.
I may not have gone into a war zone where I could be shot at or blown up, but my world is a war zone. I wake up every day ready to be a human shield for my husband. I take the brunt of the criticisms and accusations from others so that he will not be triggered. My enemy is just as invisible as the insurgents, for I never know when someone will hate me for simply being married to a military man and therefore deny me the opportunities I need to keep my family afloat. I take "friendly fire" every time my veteran is triggered. I live with a constant awareness that, if I do not keep my veteran calm, I will have to endure a battlefield of anger waged in my heart and soul with the casualties being my emotions and self-worth.
Read more
The military is a lousy healer, congress is a lousy watchdog
The military is a lousy healer, congress is a lousy watchdog
by Chaplain Kathie
Senator Murray is right but when she said "We need to be much further along." it didn't answer why it is we are not.
It is not that the DOD has any excuses left. After all we're talking about 40 years of government funded research on Combat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder they had the in their hands. So far they haven't even acknowledged the fact that PTSD caused by combat is a different type of it any more than they have been able to tell the servicemen and women why they have it while others don't. They just keep pushing programs that don't work.
Congress has not held a single person accountable after all the "experts" testified during the endless parade heading into Washington to advise congress. The DOD has held no one accountable for failures. As for groups congress turns to, they end up giving awards to people doing the failing.
As in the case of Dr. Ira Katz was given an award from NAMI after Veterans for Common Sense exposed what he had done.
Congress has been hearing the same stories of suffering veterans and their families, the same stories about what the backlog of claims has been doing to them as the suicides went up along with attempted suicides.
Soldiers are waiting for congress to do their jobs and find solutions. They want to see someone held accountable just as much as they want help!
by Chaplain Kathie
Senator Murray is right but when she said "We need to be much further along." it didn't answer why it is we are not.
It is not that the DOD has any excuses left. After all we're talking about 40 years of government funded research on Combat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder they had the in their hands. So far they haven't even acknowledged the fact that PTSD caused by combat is a different type of it any more than they have been able to tell the servicemen and women why they have it while others don't. They just keep pushing programs that don't work.
Congress has not held a single person accountable after all the "experts" testified during the endless parade heading into Washington to advise congress. The DOD has held no one accountable for failures. As for groups congress turns to, they end up giving awards to people doing the failing.
As in the case of Dr. Ira Katz was given an award from NAMI after Veterans for Common Sense exposed what he had done.
Congress has been hearing the same stories of suffering veterans and their families, the same stories about what the backlog of claims has been doing to them as the suicides went up along with attempted suicides.
Soldiers are waiting for congress to do their jobs and find solutions. They want to see someone held accountable just as much as they want help!
Invisible wounds of war: The military is a lousy healer
Seattle Post Intelligencer (blog)
Two service members who went into harm’s way to fight America’s 21st Century wars met a different challenge on Monday, facing a battery of TV cameras to talk of what Sen. Patty Murray called “the invisible wounds of war.”
Sgt. Stephen Davis, having been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, had the diagnosis withdrawn and was accused by a doctor of “exaggerating my symptoms.” Sgt. David Leavitt, another victim of PTSD, told his superiors in Afghanistan, “I’m not O.K. I need help.”
He received very little help there, with no followup back home. Leavitt looked down at his service dog and said: She’s save my life and given me purpose.”
The treatment of those who have served and served well — Sgt. Davis earned a purple heart and bronze star, Sgt. Leavitt has done tours in Iraq and Afghanistan — has raised the ire of Sen. Murray. She has brought activist leadership to what used to be a Senate backwater as chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
“‘Toughen up!’ they hear that all the time,” Murray said. “I believe that in this day and age, we should be much further along in dealing with military mental health issues. We need to be much further along.”
She has captured the ear of Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, but Murray feels Congress should set some parameters. She is introducing legislation called the Mental Health Access Act of 2012, and hopes to make it bipartisan.
read more here
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Missouri National Guard member dies while training in Guatemala
Missouri Guard member dies in Guatemala
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jul 5, 2012
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Missouri National Guard soldier has been killed while participating in a training exercise in Guatemala.
Guard officials say 34-year-old Staff Sgt. Robert J. Traxel of Union died Monday after being struck in the head by a tree limb knocked down by wind generated by helicopter rotor blades.
read more here
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jul 5, 2012
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Missouri National Guard soldier has been killed while participating in a training exercise in Guatemala.
Guard officials say 34-year-old Staff Sgt. Robert J. Traxel of Union died Monday after being struck in the head by a tree limb knocked down by wind generated by helicopter rotor blades.
read more here
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