Friends, family say former Marine who died after Tasing battled PTSD
By Thomasi McDonald
The News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Published: April 22, 2013
RALEIGH — Thomas “Tommy” Sadler emerged in the public spotlight on April 10 as a naked man yelling obscenities in a church parking lot just before he died after a Raleigh police officer used a Taser stun gun to try to subdue him.
Stan Williams, Sadler’s morning coffee drinking buddy, recognizes that part of his friend.
“He had anger issues,” Williams said of Sadler. “It was like a temper tantrum lived under his skin, ready to explode at any moment, like Tourette’s syndrome. It just comes.”
But Williams also remembers a guy who loved his parents and daydreamed of owning a silver, 1969 Plymouth GTX with a burgundy interior. Williams said casual conversations at their favorite coffee shop on Hillsborough Street would often turn serious when Sadler asked him how to better communicate with his live-in girlfriend or how to tell his son he loved him.
“He was just a big, fat country boy who loved his Mommy and Daddy,” said Williams, 50, of Raleigh. “He was like a little kid in a 45 year old’s body.”
read more here
Monday, April 22, 2013
Sgt. John Russell pleaded guilty
Iraq vet pleads guilty to killing fellow soldiers
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Monday, April 22, 2013
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. (AP) — An Army sergeant pleaded guilty Monday to killing four other soldiers and a Navy officer in 2009 at mental health clinic in Baghdad during the Iraq War.
The plea at a military court at Joint Base Lewis-McChord means Sgt. John Russell will avoid the death sentence. His maximum sentence would be a life term.
Russell — who is from Sherman, Texas — went on a shooting spree at the Camp Liberty Combat Stress Center near Baghdad in May 2009. It was one of the worst instances of soldier-on-soldier violence in the Iraq war.
Russell was nearing the end of his third tour when his behavior changed, members of his unit testified in 2009.
They said he became more distant in the days before the May 11, 2009, attack and that he seemed paranoid that his unit was trying to end his career.
read more here
Sgt. John Russell example of what went wrong
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Monday, April 22, 2013
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. (AP) — An Army sergeant pleaded guilty Monday to killing four other soldiers and a Navy officer in 2009 at mental health clinic in Baghdad during the Iraq War.
The plea at a military court at Joint Base Lewis-McChord means Sgt. John Russell will avoid the death sentence. His maximum sentence would be a life term.
Russell — who is from Sherman, Texas — went on a shooting spree at the Camp Liberty Combat Stress Center near Baghdad in May 2009. It was one of the worst instances of soldier-on-soldier violence in the Iraq war.
Russell was nearing the end of his third tour when his behavior changed, members of his unit testified in 2009.
They said he became more distant in the days before the May 11, 2009, attack and that he seemed paranoid that his unit was trying to end his career.
read more here
Sgt. John Russell example of what went wrong
Civilian soldiers suffer PTSD in Sydney too
Dark reality for troops caught up in conflict
Sydney Morning Herald
Frank Walker
April 23, 2013
Every serviceman knows the moment they go to a defence force psychologist their military career is over, says Afghanistan veteran Geoff Evans.
"It shouldn't be that way, and Defence has worked hard to turn this attitude around, but it's the reality," said Mr Evans, who was medically discharged after being wounded during his second tour in 2011.
Mr Evans has post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a mental illness brought on by exposure to trauma and stress. It came from seeing two of his mates killed in front of him. Lieutenant Michael Fussell stepped on a mine and Private Greg Sher was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade just a few metres from him.
He has physical wounds from being blown into the air when his Bushmaster-armoured vehicle ran over a road mine. His brain suffered a severe traumatic injury from his head being violently shaken. It led him to be medically discharged - the day after he was promoted to lieutenant.
Mr Evans now realises he went on his second tour to Afghanistan already suffering PTSD. As a civilian, he was a fireman but when his reservist unit, the First Commando Regiment, was sent for a second tour in 2011 he went without hesitation. He even gave up his spot in officer school to go as a corporal and stay with his mates.
"I didn't admit it to anyone but when I returned from that first tour of Afghanistan I was a mess," he said in his eastern Sydney home - his wife Lisa and children Emily, 9, and Monash, 6, in another room.
read more here
Sydney Morning Herald
Frank Walker
April 23, 2013
Every serviceman knows the moment they go to a defence force psychologist their military career is over, says Afghanistan veteran Geoff Evans.
"It shouldn't be that way, and Defence has worked hard to turn this attitude around, but it's the reality," said Mr Evans, who was medically discharged after being wounded during his second tour in 2011.
Mr Evans has post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a mental illness brought on by exposure to trauma and stress. It came from seeing two of his mates killed in front of him. Lieutenant Michael Fussell stepped on a mine and Private Greg Sher was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade just a few metres from him.
He has physical wounds from being blown into the air when his Bushmaster-armoured vehicle ran over a road mine. His brain suffered a severe traumatic injury from his head being violently shaken. It led him to be medically discharged - the day after he was promoted to lieutenant.
Mr Evans now realises he went on his second tour to Afghanistan already suffering PTSD. As a civilian, he was a fireman but when his reservist unit, the First Commando Regiment, was sent for a second tour in 2011 he went without hesitation. He even gave up his spot in officer school to go as a corporal and stay with his mates.
"I didn't admit it to anyone but when I returned from that first tour of Afghanistan I was a mess," he said in his eastern Sydney home - his wife Lisa and children Emily, 9, and Monash, 6, in another room.
read more here
What’s Up at the VA?
Glad to see someone else giving a history lesson instead of taking the easy way out on just jumping on what others are doing.
What’s Up at the VA?
TIME
By Kayla Williams
April 22, 2013
Part 1 of 3: How we got here.
You may have heard: there’s a big disability claims backlog at the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), the part of the Department of Veterans Affairs that handles vets’ disability payments.
Nearly 600,000 of the 850,000 pending claims have been sitting around for more than 125 days.
Obviously, this is a huge problem. Unfortunately, much of the media coverage has been hyperbolic, misleading, or inaccurate.
There has been plenty of finger-pointing, and even calls for resignations, including in the pages of Time and on its Battleland blog. But there hasn’t been, frankly, enough time spent digging into the details.
My biggest fear is that the relentlessly negative coverage will drive veterans away from VA, preventing them from getting the medical care they need, or the compensation they deserve.
So I’d like to provide more history and nuance to the discussion.
Today, I’ll detail how the backlog came to be.
What’s the backstory?
Like many Americans, I started doing my banking and booking my travel online ages ago. I currently also manage my retirement savings online, handle virtually all communications electronically, and engage in dozens of other routine business matters without ever touching a piece of paper.
read more here
Do you think you are evil because of PTSD?
Do you think you are evil because of PTSD?
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
April 22, 2013
I hear it all the time. Veterans thinking PTSD is some kind of punishment from God. They start to believe they are evil because of the flashbacks and nightmares centered around what happened during combat. The things they see stay with them. That is why I wrote the title of THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR. With the bombings in Boston, many said they saw things no one should ever have to see. Most of them were veterans. Seeing what man can do to others hits hard. It was not just seeing the evil that happened, but what came afterwards that was loving, kind and compassionate as total strangers rush to help the wounded.
Two people decided to do evil but hundreds decided to do good.
When men and women are involved in combat they tend to focus on only the bad around them but even during war, there are acts of kindness and compassion surrounding them and when people are able to hang onto what is good surrounded by what they view as evil, there is evidence of God. It is hard to see Him when they see so much horror but He is always there.
Many believe because they are being haunted, it is punishment and then they do things based on that belief. They push people away, afraid to let them get too close or judge themselves to no longer be worthy of being loved. They cannot see the goodness that still remains within them.
PTSD Is Not God's Judgment but is it your's
There are questions that have to be asked of them usually centered around things they have forgotten. Ask them why they wanted to join the military and usually it is about someone else. They wanted to serve the country. They wanted to help the others serving. They wanted to give back. Is there anything evil or selfish in any of those answers? No. They forget that part. Ask them what they want to do once they heal and usually the answer is they want to help others heal too. Anything evil in that? No. Ask them if they grieve. Usually the answer is centered around other people they grieve for and not for themselves. Anything evil in that? No.
How do they go from being so unselfish to believing they are evil? They are judging themselves with focusing only on what was wrong, what they did wrong and the wrong done to others. No one showed them what they were unable to see. Once they see they grieve because they still have goodness within them, they begin to heal. They heal faster when they can forgive their enemies and even faster when they can forgive themselves.
Learning to Forgive Yourself, by Jean Lawrence on WebMD explored forgiving.
There is no trick to healing them. It is not magic. It is not anything I can do for them. It is what is already inside of them to heal. They just have to find the connections again and that has to start with helping them to see the goodness that still lived through everything they faced.
It is not up to us to dismiss what they feel they need forgiveness for but it is up to us to help them find it. It is not up to us to judge what they have done but to help them find peace. This is not about one group or denomination among Christians. It is not about one faith over another. I am a Christian, so that is what my work is based on but no matter what faith they have or lack, they are addressed as other humans based on what they already believe. My job is to help them rediscover everything they were born with and help them get past the pain by reminding them that evil people do not grieve for others or regret anything they did.
That is the mission of Point Man International Ministries. It isn't expensive. Taking time and talking to veterans doesn't cost more than some books and coffee usually. Done in small groups, over the phone or thru emails, veterans have been healing since 1984 but this "moral injury" has been reported going back the the days when King David wrote about it in Psalms. You won't see huge fundraisers since most of us operate out of our pockets and don't have a clue how to raise money. Most of us are supported by generous churches valuing the work we do. It takes time, patience, compassion and love. We wouldn't do this work for "evil" people simply because it wouldn't work on the selfish. Selfish people do not care what God thinks of them. Loving people do.
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
April 22, 2013
I hear it all the time. Veterans thinking PTSD is some kind of punishment from God. They start to believe they are evil because of the flashbacks and nightmares centered around what happened during combat. The things they see stay with them. That is why I wrote the title of THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR. With the bombings in Boston, many said they saw things no one should ever have to see. Most of them were veterans. Seeing what man can do to others hits hard. It was not just seeing the evil that happened, but what came afterwards that was loving, kind and compassionate as total strangers rush to help the wounded.
Two people decided to do evil but hundreds decided to do good.
When men and women are involved in combat they tend to focus on only the bad around them but even during war, there are acts of kindness and compassion surrounding them and when people are able to hang onto what is good surrounded by what they view as evil, there is evidence of God. It is hard to see Him when they see so much horror but He is always there.
Many believe because they are being haunted, it is punishment and then they do things based on that belief. They push people away, afraid to let them get too close or judge themselves to no longer be worthy of being loved. They cannot see the goodness that still remains within them.
PTSD Is Not God's Judgment but is it your's
There are questions that have to be asked of them usually centered around things they have forgotten. Ask them why they wanted to join the military and usually it is about someone else. They wanted to serve the country. They wanted to help the others serving. They wanted to give back. Is there anything evil or selfish in any of those answers? No. They forget that part. Ask them what they want to do once they heal and usually the answer is they want to help others heal too. Anything evil in that? No. Ask them if they grieve. Usually the answer is centered around other people they grieve for and not for themselves. Anything evil in that? No.
How do they go from being so unselfish to believing they are evil? They are judging themselves with focusing only on what was wrong, what they did wrong and the wrong done to others. No one showed them what they were unable to see. Once they see they grieve because they still have goodness within them, they begin to heal. They heal faster when they can forgive their enemies and even faster when they can forgive themselves.
Learning to Forgive Yourself, by Jean Lawrence on WebMD explored forgiving.
"I think people often try to forgive themselves for the wrong things," says Joretta L. Marshall, PhD, a United Methodist minister and professor of pastoral care at the Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis. "We think we ought to forgive ourselves for being human and making human mistakes. People don't have to forgive themselves for being who they are -- gay or lesbian, or having some kind of handicap. Forgiveness means being specific about what we did that needs forgiving."
Forgiving yourself isn't a slogging, long-term, "good day/bad day" type of thing, Marshall says. "At some point," she says, "you reach a turning point. Something shifts. You feel less burdened, you have more energy. You live longer, you have better health."
"We all screw up sometime," Hartman says. "Forgiving ourselves is as close as we come to a system reset button."
There is no trick to healing them. It is not magic. It is not anything I can do for them. It is what is already inside of them to heal. They just have to find the connections again and that has to start with helping them to see the goodness that still lived through everything they faced.
It is not up to us to dismiss what they feel they need forgiveness for but it is up to us to help them find it. It is not up to us to judge what they have done but to help them find peace. This is not about one group or denomination among Christians. It is not about one faith over another. I am a Christian, so that is what my work is based on but no matter what faith they have or lack, they are addressed as other humans based on what they already believe. My job is to help them rediscover everything they were born with and help them get past the pain by reminding them that evil people do not grieve for others or regret anything they did.
That is the mission of Point Man International Ministries. It isn't expensive. Taking time and talking to veterans doesn't cost more than some books and coffee usually. Done in small groups, over the phone or thru emails, veterans have been healing since 1984 but this "moral injury" has been reported going back the the days when King David wrote about it in Psalms. You won't see huge fundraisers since most of us operate out of our pockets and don't have a clue how to raise money. Most of us are supported by generous churches valuing the work we do. It takes time, patience, compassion and love. We wouldn't do this work for "evil" people simply because it wouldn't work on the selfish. Selfish people do not care what God thinks of them. Loving people do.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)