Young cancer patient soars with help of 101st Airborne
Jul 17, 2012
FORT CAMPBELL, KY (WSMV) - A 9-year-old cancer patient took part in a special mission Tuesday with the help of the soldiers in the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell.
Adam Crider, a Sumner County fourth grader, finished flight school and soared above Fort Campbell and the mountains of Colorado in a Blackhawk helicopter simulator.
read more here
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Combat PTSD – You Are Not Alone
Combat PTSD – You Are Not Alone
by SHELLY on JULY 17, 2012
When military personnel return home after serving a tour overseas, they come back changed. If they’ve witnessed horrors associated with war, such as their comrades dying before their eyes or innocent children caught in the cross fires, they come home with troubled minds and disturbing memories that don’t go away. A large proportion develops PTSD – post traumatic stress disorder. In fact, at least 20% of veterans (around 200,000 veterans) who were deployed in the last six years suffer from PTSD. The actual number is undoubtedly higher since still, in this day of age, there is stigma associated with any mental health issue.
Luckily awareness surrounding PTSD is increasing within the ranks of the U.S. Military and society in general. “Know absolutely that your chain of command and your leadership in the military at our highest levels recognize this issue and want to encourage our soldiers to seek out that mental health assistance,” said Brigadier General Gary S. Patton in the CNN article “Generals share their experience with PTSD” (2009). Patton and General Carter Ham, who both served in Iraq, shared with CNN about their personal struggles with PTSD as well as some of the more harrowing moments they witnessed on the battlefield.
For Patton, it was medevacing one of his unit’s soldiers who had been shot and then watching him die. For Ham, he said December 21, 2004 was the “worst day of [his] life” because he witnessed the mess tent blown up by a suicide bomber resulting in the loss of 22 lives.
Back on American soil, Patton and Ham experienced symptoms, such as disturbing flashbacks, trouble sleeping and avoiding talking about some of the more traumatic events. Other symptoms include emotional numbness, nightmares, anxiety, no longer having interest in past activities, feelings of guilt or shame, irritability, anger, resorting to substances to numb the pain and even suicidal thoughts.
Rather than prolonging the destructive nature of PTSD, it’s important to get help! “We need all our soldiers and leaders to approach mental health like we do physical health,” Patton told CNN. He added that just as you would get help for a broken arm, you should get help for PTSD and other mental health problems.
And remember it is not a sign of weakness. Perhaps Chaplain Kathie says it best in her blog Wounded Times (a blog “dedicated to defeating combat PTSD”):
“Well, you are not now nor have you ever been weak. When you were deployed and lives were on the line, what did you do? Did you call in sick? Did you catch a flight back home? Or did you stay to help the men and women you served with? Did you notice the pain you had inside when someone else was in danger?
You did not allow yourself to feel the pain you carried until everyone was out of danger, until you were back home, until you couldn’t trap in behind the wall any longer. How much tougher can you get than to be able to carry that kind of pain and still do it all?”
Check out the following links to find out more about Combat PTSD and how you or a loved one can seek help:
http://woundedtimes.blogspot.ca http://www.criminaljusticeschoolinfo.com/ptsd.html#resources http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/ http://www.veteranscrisisline.net/
by SHELLY on JULY 17, 2012
When military personnel return home after serving a tour overseas, they come back changed. If they’ve witnessed horrors associated with war, such as their comrades dying before their eyes or innocent children caught in the cross fires, they come home with troubled minds and disturbing memories that don’t go away. A large proportion develops PTSD – post traumatic stress disorder. In fact, at least 20% of veterans (around 200,000 veterans) who were deployed in the last six years suffer from PTSD. The actual number is undoubtedly higher since still, in this day of age, there is stigma associated with any mental health issue.
Luckily awareness surrounding PTSD is increasing within the ranks of the U.S. Military and society in general. “Know absolutely that your chain of command and your leadership in the military at our highest levels recognize this issue and want to encourage our soldiers to seek out that mental health assistance,” said Brigadier General Gary S. Patton in the CNN article “Generals share their experience with PTSD” (2009). Patton and General Carter Ham, who both served in Iraq, shared with CNN about their personal struggles with PTSD as well as some of the more harrowing moments they witnessed on the battlefield.
For Patton, it was medevacing one of his unit’s soldiers who had been shot and then watching him die. For Ham, he said December 21, 2004 was the “worst day of [his] life” because he witnessed the mess tent blown up by a suicide bomber resulting in the loss of 22 lives.
Back on American soil, Patton and Ham experienced symptoms, such as disturbing flashbacks, trouble sleeping and avoiding talking about some of the more traumatic events. Other symptoms include emotional numbness, nightmares, anxiety, no longer having interest in past activities, feelings of guilt or shame, irritability, anger, resorting to substances to numb the pain and even suicidal thoughts.
Rather than prolonging the destructive nature of PTSD, it’s important to get help! “We need all our soldiers and leaders to approach mental health like we do physical health,” Patton told CNN. He added that just as you would get help for a broken arm, you should get help for PTSD and other mental health problems.
And remember it is not a sign of weakness. Perhaps Chaplain Kathie says it best in her blog Wounded Times (a blog “dedicated to defeating combat PTSD”):
“Well, you are not now nor have you ever been weak. When you were deployed and lives were on the line, what did you do? Did you call in sick? Did you catch a flight back home? Or did you stay to help the men and women you served with? Did you notice the pain you had inside when someone else was in danger?
You did not allow yourself to feel the pain you carried until everyone was out of danger, until you were back home, until you couldn’t trap in behind the wall any longer. How much tougher can you get than to be able to carry that kind of pain and still do it all?”
Check out the following links to find out more about Combat PTSD and how you or a loved one can seek help:
http://woundedtimes.blogspot.ca http://www.criminaljusticeschoolinfo.com/ptsd.html#resources http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/ http://www.veteranscrisisline.net/
Fort Hood Dining Hall Cordoned Off Because Of Unknown Contaminant
Fort Hood Dining Hall Cordoned Off Because Of Unknown Contaminant
FORT HOOD
July 17, 2012
A 1,000-foot area was cordoned off Tuesday around a dining facility and adjacent maintenance facility at Headquarters Avenue and Mohawk Drive while post authorities searched for the source of an unknown contaminant.
Fort Hood Emergency Medical Services personnel treated two people for possible ammonia inhalation, a post spokesman said.
read more here
FORT HOOD
July 17, 2012
A 1,000-foot area was cordoned off Tuesday around a dining facility and adjacent maintenance facility at Headquarters Avenue and Mohawk Drive while post authorities searched for the source of an unknown contaminant.
Fort Hood Emergency Medical Services personnel treated two people for possible ammonia inhalation, a post spokesman said.
read more here
Ohio suspect in Michigan slayings was in military
Ohio suspect in Michigan slayings was in military
By JOHN SEEWER
Associated Press
July 17, 2012
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - A man being sought nationwide Tuesday in the shooting deaths of his ex-girlfriend and her pregnant sister in Michigan is a former military police specialist who served nearly a year in Iraq and later was jailed in Ohio for sexual battery.
Authorities say they believe Thomas Fritz, who has been on the run since the killings Friday night, is armed and dangerous.
"We will use extreme caution when we do find Mr. Fritz," Michigan State Police Lt. Sean Furlong said.
Fritz, 38, is charged with killing his 33-year-old ex-girlfriend in a house they shared in Blissfield, a village on the edge of southern Michigan's scenic Irish Hills region. He is also accused of killing the woman's younger sister, who was eight months' pregnant, and shooting and wounding their 52-year-old mother.
By JOHN SEEWER
Associated Press
July 17, 2012
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - A man being sought nationwide Tuesday in the shooting deaths of his ex-girlfriend and her pregnant sister in Michigan is a former military police specialist who served nearly a year in Iraq and later was jailed in Ohio for sexual battery.
Authorities say they believe Thomas Fritz, who has been on the run since the killings Friday night, is armed and dangerous.
"We will use extreme caution when we do find Mr. Fritz," Michigan State Police Lt. Sean Furlong said.
Fritz, 38, is charged with killing his 33-year-old ex-girlfriend in a house they shared in Blissfield, a village on the edge of southern Michigan's scenic Irish Hills region. He is also accused of killing the woman's younger sister, who was eight months' pregnant, and shooting and wounding their 52-year-old mother.
He served in the Ohio National Guard beginning in 1997 and later the Army Reserve. He then spent nearly a year in Iraq with the guard's military police unit from the spring of 2003 through early 2004.
read more here
Springs murder suspect commits suicide in Utah
Springs murder suspect commits suicide in Utah
July 17, 2012
MATT STEINER
THE GAZETTE
Law enforcement officers in Colorado and Utah are trying to figure out how a local man suspected of killing a 39-year-old Colorado Springs woman ended up dead Tuesday in an airplane at the St. George airport in Utah.
Capt. James Van Fleet of the St. George police department confirmed that Brian Joseph Hedglin was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in an empty SkyWest plane. Hedglin was a pilot with the airline but was on leave, SkyWest officials confirmed Tuesday.
The aircraft was not in service and no one else was aboard when Hedglin gained unauthorized access to it, officials said.
Hedglin was being sought by Colorado Springs police in connection with the death of Cristina Cornejo, whose body was found Friday in the 1000 block of Cheyenne Villas Point in southwest Colorado Springs.
read more here
July 17, 2012
MATT STEINER
THE GAZETTE
Law enforcement officers in Colorado and Utah are trying to figure out how a local man suspected of killing a 39-year-old Colorado Springs woman ended up dead Tuesday in an airplane at the St. George airport in Utah.
Capt. James Van Fleet of the St. George police department confirmed that Brian Joseph Hedglin was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in an empty SkyWest plane. Hedglin was a pilot with the airline but was on leave, SkyWest officials confirmed Tuesday.
The aircraft was not in service and no one else was aboard when Hedglin gained unauthorized access to it, officials said.
Hedglin was being sought by Colorado Springs police in connection with the death of Cristina Cornejo, whose body was found Friday in the 1000 block of Cheyenne Villas Point in southwest Colorado Springs.
read more here
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)