First opera about Iraq War reaches out to veterans suffering from PTSD
By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper
NBC News
Can the stirring sounds of opera reach out to a young generation of veterans dealing with the pain of post-traumatic stress disorder? That's what Marine and Iraq War vet Christian Ellis and Iraqi American playwright Heather Raffo are hoping.
Along with composer Tobin Stokes, Ellis and Raffo worked to set Ellis' wartime experiences to music, creating "Fallujah," the first-ever opera written about the Iraq War.
But it wasn't easy for Raffo and Ellis to come together to work on the project. Ellis said that while it's hard for him to admit he held prejudice against those of Iraqi descent, those feelings were there.
read more here
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Veterans Courts help veterans succeed
Vets helping vets succeed
NEW TREATMENT COURT WILL SPECIFICALLY TARGET CONVICTED VETERANS WHO ALSO HAVE UNDERLYING, RELATED ISSUES
KRISTEN ZAMBO
The Journal Times
Veterans and crime
RACINE COUNTY — In about three months, what is believed to be the nation’s 92nd specialty treatment court for military veterans will open in southeastern Wisconsin and, at least initially, will operate from a Racine County courtroom.
This post-conviction Veteran’s Treatment Court is designed to combine substance abuse and mental health treatment, federal benefits and services already available to veterans, and punishment for the crimes they committed, advocates said Tuesday during an unveiling of the specialty court.
Proponents say they want to treat the underlying problems — such as alcohol abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or drug addiction — which led to these veterans breaking the law.
“It stops the revolving door through the criminal justice system,” Racine County Circuit Judge Eugene Gasiorkiewicz said Tuesday. “If we get these people early, their chance of success is greater than later on. This is less money that the county has to spend (later).”
read more here
NEW TREATMENT COURT WILL SPECIFICALLY TARGET CONVICTED VETERANS WHO ALSO HAVE UNDERLYING, RELATED ISSUES
KRISTEN ZAMBO
The Journal Times
Veterans and crime
According to Wisconsin Department of Corrections statistics:
• Racine County had 12,432 veterans
• Kenosha County had 10,439 veterans
• Walworth County had 6,763 veterans
• The three-county judicial district had a combined total of 29,634 veterans
• In the three-county judicial district, a total of 330 veterans were incarcerated
— Figures as of Sept. 30, 2011
If discharged, it must have been an honorable discharge or general discharge with honorable conditions, according to program requirements. Combat experience is not required
RACINE COUNTY — In about three months, what is believed to be the nation’s 92nd specialty treatment court for military veterans will open in southeastern Wisconsin and, at least initially, will operate from a Racine County courtroom.
This post-conviction Veteran’s Treatment Court is designed to combine substance abuse and mental health treatment, federal benefits and services already available to veterans, and punishment for the crimes they committed, advocates said Tuesday during an unveiling of the specialty court.
Proponents say they want to treat the underlying problems — such as alcohol abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or drug addiction — which led to these veterans breaking the law.
“It stops the revolving door through the criminal justice system,” Racine County Circuit Judge Eugene Gasiorkiewicz said Tuesday. “If we get these people early, their chance of success is greater than later on. This is less money that the county has to spend (later).”
read more here
Army Dumps Special PTSD Screenings
Army Dumps Special PTSD Screenings
Austin Jenkins
OPB News
July 31, 2012
The U.S. Army is revising the way it diagnoses soldiers with post traumatic stress disorder. In the Northwest, it means the Army will no longer use a special psychiatric unit at Madigan Army Medical Center near Tacoma.
Some soldiers at Madigan complained the psychiatric team downgraded or reversed their PTSD diagnoses. That limited what benefits they are eligible for.
read more here
also
Army reinstates medical center head in PTSD investigation
Austin Jenkins
OPB News
July 31, 2012
The U.S. Army is revising the way it diagnoses soldiers with post traumatic stress disorder. In the Northwest, it means the Army will no longer use a special psychiatric unit at Madigan Army Medical Center near Tacoma.
Some soldiers at Madigan complained the psychiatric team downgraded or reversed their PTSD diagnoses. That limited what benefits they are eligible for.
read more here
also
Army reinstates medical center head in PTSD investigation
Sergeant gets 30 days for Pvt. Chen
Army sergeant sentenced to 30 days for private's suicide death
By David Zucchino
July 31, 2012
WILMINGTON, N.C. -- Army Sgt. Adam Holcomb was sentenced to 30 days in prison Tuesday and was reduced in rank for assaulting and maltreating Pvt. Danny Chen, 19, a Chinese American who endured abuse and ethnic slurs before committing suicide in Afghanistanon Oct. 3.
A court-martial panel of 10 service members could have sentenced Holcomb, 30, to a maximum of two years in prison with a dishonorable discharge. He was convicted at Ft. Bragg, N.C., on Monday of assault and maltreatment for dragging Chen across a rocky pathway, bloodying his back, and for calling him "dragon lady’’ and other slurs.
read more here
By David Zucchino
July 31, 2012
WILMINGTON, N.C. -- Army Sgt. Adam Holcomb was sentenced to 30 days in prison Tuesday and was reduced in rank for assaulting and maltreating Pvt. Danny Chen, 19, a Chinese American who endured abuse and ethnic slurs before committing suicide in Afghanistanon Oct. 3.
A court-martial panel of 10 service members could have sentenced Holcomb, 30, to a maximum of two years in prison with a dishonorable discharge. He was convicted at Ft. Bragg, N.C., on Monday of assault and maltreatment for dragging Chen across a rocky pathway, bloodying his back, and for calling him "dragon lady’’ and other slurs.
read more here
Marine Gunnery Sgt. Jonathan Gifford 2nd KIA in a week from Palm Bay
Marine killed in Afghanistan was due home in a month
Gifford is 2nd service member from Palm Bay to die in a week
Written by
R. Norman Moody
FLORIDA TODAY
12:48 AM, Aug 1, 2012
Marine Gunnery Sgt. Jonathan Gifford of Palm Bay was one month from completing his deployment to Afghanistan when he and another Marine were killed while on patrol.
Gifford — a 1996 graduate of Melbourne Catholic High, where he played soccer and baseball — had been in the Marine Corps for about 15 years.
He is the second service member from Palm Bay killed within a week in the war in Afghanistan, and the third in the past year.
Army Spc. Justin Louis Horsley, 21, a 2009 graduate of Bayside High, died July 22 while on patrol in Pul-E Alam, Afghanistan. Jeremiah T. Sancho, 23, died Oct. 13, 2011 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. Both their units were attacked with improvised explosive devices.
read more here
Gifford is 2nd service member from Palm Bay to die in a week
Written by
R. Norman Moody
FLORIDA TODAY
12:48 AM, Aug 1, 2012
Marine Gunnery Sgt. Jonathan Gifford of Palm Bay was one month from completing his deployment to Afghanistan when he and another Marine were killed while on patrol.
Gifford — a 1996 graduate of Melbourne Catholic High, where he played soccer and baseball — had been in the Marine Corps for about 15 years.
He is the second service member from Palm Bay killed within a week in the war in Afghanistan, and the third in the past year.
Army Spc. Justin Louis Horsley, 21, a 2009 graduate of Bayside High, died July 22 while on patrol in Pul-E Alam, Afghanistan. Jeremiah T. Sancho, 23, died Oct. 13, 2011 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. Both their units were attacked with improvised explosive devices.
read more here
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)