Five killings at Camp Liberty in Iraq: Calculation or despair?
By Kim Murphy
May 11, 2013
Los Angeles Times
JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, WASH. — The court-martial of Army Sgt. John Russell concluded Saturday with a military judge asked to decide whether the 14-year Army veteran was deluded by depression and despair as he shot five fellow service members in Iraq, or was executing a calculated plan of revenge against psychiatrists who had blocked his hopes for an early exit from the Army.
In closing arguments after a week of testimony, Judge David L. Conn was presented two starkly different views of what drove Russell, 48, to seize his escort’s M-16 rifle and gun down five people at the Camp Liberty combat stress center at the Baghdad airport on May 11, 2009.
While the defense says Russell was suffering from organic brain damage, major depression and post-combat stress that was aggravated by hostile mental health workers, Army prosecutors argued Saturday that Russell had been trying to paint himself as mentally ill even before the murders in an attempt to win early retirement and had then struck back “in the language of revenge” when a psychiatrist refused such a diagnosis.
Russell has already pleaded guilty to five specifications of murder, but the judge will determine whether the acts were premeditated, a key factor in whether he must serve life in prison or is eligible for parole.
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Sunday, May 12, 2013
Military moms celebrate Mother's Day rebuilding family ties
Military moms celebrate Mother's Day rebuilding family ties
By Colleen O'Connor
The Denver Post
POSTED: 05/12/2013
Soon after Miriam Beg gave birth to her son, she was deployed to Iraq with the U.S. Army, so she left baby Michael with her mother-in-law.
"I was really worried to leave my child so young," said Beg, 29, "just 4 months (old)." In the combat zone, she received photos and e-mails documenting his milestones.
"I missed his first step, his first word, his first everything," she said. "By the time I came back, he was over a year old."
First as a military mother and now as a veteran, she's run the gantlet of divorce, post-traumatic stress disorder and homelessness in her battle to be a good mom. Last year, on the verge of eviction, she put on a brave face for Michael, but fear lurked below the surface.
"I did not want to be walking the streets with bags on our shoulders," she said. "I did not want child protective services saying, 'Hey, you're homeless, we're taking your kid.' I worked so hard to have him back with me."
But this Mother's Day, there's cause to celebrate.
Beg recently moved into a new home run by the Volunteers of America, part of a transitional program for homeless female veterans suffering from domestic abuse, PTSD or military sexual trauma. She just got a job, and she's built a close relationship with Michael, now a kindergartner at Colfax Elementary School.
"I'm doing really good," she said.
More than 200,000 women were deployed to combat zones during the Iraq and Afghanistan military campaigns — the largest wartime deployment of women in U.S. history.
Just like men, women defend their country with courage and dedication. But military women face challenges that differ from those of male colleagues, and report higher levels of stress over the impact of their deployment on family, according to a 2011 report from the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor.
More than 40 percent of servicewomen have children, and more than 30,000 single mothers have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, the report said.
read more here
By Colleen O'Connor
The Denver Post
POSTED: 05/12/2013
Soon after Miriam Beg gave birth to her son, she was deployed to Iraq with the U.S. Army, so she left baby Michael with her mother-in-law.
"I was really worried to leave my child so young," said Beg, 29, "just 4 months (old)." In the combat zone, she received photos and e-mails documenting his milestones.
"I missed his first step, his first word, his first everything," she said. "By the time I came back, he was over a year old."
First as a military mother and now as a veteran, she's run the gantlet of divorce, post-traumatic stress disorder and homelessness in her battle to be a good mom. Last year, on the verge of eviction, she put on a brave face for Michael, but fear lurked below the surface.
"I did not want to be walking the streets with bags on our shoulders," she said. "I did not want child protective services saying, 'Hey, you're homeless, we're taking your kid.' I worked so hard to have him back with me."
But this Mother's Day, there's cause to celebrate.
Beg recently moved into a new home run by the Volunteers of America, part of a transitional program for homeless female veterans suffering from domestic abuse, PTSD or military sexual trauma. She just got a job, and she's built a close relationship with Michael, now a kindergartner at Colfax Elementary School.
"I'm doing really good," she said.
More than 200,000 women were deployed to combat zones during the Iraq and Afghanistan military campaigns — the largest wartime deployment of women in U.S. history.
Just like men, women defend their country with courage and dedication. But military women face challenges that differ from those of male colleagues, and report higher levels of stress over the impact of their deployment on family, according to a 2011 report from the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor.
More than 40 percent of servicewomen have children, and more than 30,000 single mothers have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, the report said.
read more here
Soldier takes on the devil within
Soldier takes on the devil within
JOSEPH CATANZARO
The West Australian
May 12, 2013
When John Rankin was five years old, he watched his mother try to take her own life.
Then, placed in the care of relatives for years after that traumatic incident, he was sexually abused.
Later, while serving with the secretive and elite SAS Regiment, he experienced incidents and witnessed horrors he is still reluctant to talk about.
On home soil in Australia, he survived a plot to murder him and walked into the middle of the grisly climax to one of the nation's worst gun massacres.
Death, and the worst that life can throw at a man, are familiar adversaries for the 58-year-old retired soldier.
But the war Mr Rankin almost lost was not against enemy fighters or those who wished him harm.
It was a war against what he calls "the devil inside".
He fought it when he went on to help train the Sydney Swans and the Fremantle Dockers.
He fought it at home. He is still fighting it today.
Mr Rankin's story is not about winning or losing. It is about finding moments of joy and love while the battle still rages.
The details of his extraordinarily hard life, and how he has managed to survive and find reasons to smile, are topics he will share next month at the annual Men in Black Ball to support men's mental health. He hopes his story of survival will help others keep fighting.
read more here
JOSEPH CATANZARO
The West Australian
May 12, 2013
When John Rankin was five years old, he watched his mother try to take her own life.
Then, placed in the care of relatives for years after that traumatic incident, he was sexually abused.
Later, while serving with the secretive and elite SAS Regiment, he experienced incidents and witnessed horrors he is still reluctant to talk about.
On home soil in Australia, he survived a plot to murder him and walked into the middle of the grisly climax to one of the nation's worst gun massacres.
Death, and the worst that life can throw at a man, are familiar adversaries for the 58-year-old retired soldier.
But the war Mr Rankin almost lost was not against enemy fighters or those who wished him harm.
It was a war against what he calls "the devil inside".
He fought it when he went on to help train the Sydney Swans and the Fremantle Dockers.
He fought it at home. He is still fighting it today.
Mr Rankin's story is not about winning or losing. It is about finding moments of joy and love while the battle still rages.
The details of his extraordinarily hard life, and how he has managed to survive and find reasons to smile, are topics he will share next month at the annual Men in Black Ball to support men's mental health. He hopes his story of survival will help others keep fighting.
read more here
Psychiatrists under fire in mental health battle
Psychiatrists under fire in mental health battle
British Psychological Society to launch attack on rival profession, casting doubt on biomedical model of mental illness
Jamie Doward
The Observer
Saturday 11 May 2013
There is no scientific evidence that psychiatric diagnoses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are valid or useful, according to the leading body representing Britain's clinical psychologists.
In a groundbreaking move that has already prompted a fierce backlash from psychiatrists, the British Psychological Society's division of clinical psychology (DCP) will on Monday issue a statement declaring that, given the lack of evidence, it is time for a "paradigm shift" in how the issues of mental health are understood. The statement effectively casts doubt on psychiatry's predominantly biomedical model of mental distress – the idea that people are suffering from illnesses that are treatable by doctors using drugs. The DCP said its decision to speak out "reflects fundamental concerns about the development, personal impact and core assumptions of the (diagnosis) systems", used by psychiatry.
Dr Lucy Johnstone, a consultant clinical psychologist who helped draw up the DCP's statement, said it was unhelpful to see mental health issues as illnesses with biological causes.
"On the contrary, there is now overwhelming evidence that people break down as a result of a complex mix of social and psychological circumstances – bereavement and loss, poverty and discrimination, trauma and abuse," Johnstone said. The provocative statement by the DCP has been timed to come out shortly before the release of DSM-5, the fifth edition of the American Psychiatry Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
read more here
British Psychological Society to launch attack on rival profession, casting doubt on biomedical model of mental illness
Jamie Doward
The Observer
Saturday 11 May 2013
There is no scientific evidence that psychiatric diagnoses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are valid or useful, according to the leading body representing Britain's clinical psychologists.
In a groundbreaking move that has already prompted a fierce backlash from psychiatrists, the British Psychological Society's division of clinical psychology (DCP) will on Monday issue a statement declaring that, given the lack of evidence, it is time for a "paradigm shift" in how the issues of mental health are understood. The statement effectively casts doubt on psychiatry's predominantly biomedical model of mental distress – the idea that people are suffering from illnesses that are treatable by doctors using drugs. The DCP said its decision to speak out "reflects fundamental concerns about the development, personal impact and core assumptions of the (diagnosis) systems", used by psychiatry.
Dr Lucy Johnstone, a consultant clinical psychologist who helped draw up the DCP's statement, said it was unhelpful to see mental health issues as illnesses with biological causes.
"On the contrary, there is now overwhelming evidence that people break down as a result of a complex mix of social and psychological circumstances – bereavement and loss, poverty and discrimination, trauma and abuse," Johnstone said. The provocative statement by the DCP has been timed to come out shortly before the release of DSM-5, the fifth edition of the American Psychiatry Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
read more here
A Mother's Love
A Mother's Loveby Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
May 12, 2013
When Jesus was born, Mary knew that her son would not outlive her. His life was planned the second His soul left Heaven and entered into the body of her blood.
Isaiah 7 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. 15 He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, 16 for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.It was not a secret to Mary that Her son would sacrifice His life for the sake of others.
When Jesus was forty days old, Mary and Joseph took Him to the Temple in Jerusalem. They were not wealthy, so they took two turtle doves with them to offer as a sacrifice at the Temple. As they arrived at the Temple, Mary and Joseph were met by a very old man named Simeon. He was a holy man and was noted as a very intelligent scholar. Simeon spent much time studying about the prophets of Israel. It was during his studies that he learned of the coming of the Messiah. The Jewish people were waiting for the Messiah to come and deliver Israel from their conquerors. From that time on, Simeon spent his time praying for the Messiah to come. He spent many years in prayer. Finally, while Simeon was praying he heard the voice of God. God promised Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah.There are some born always knowing exactly what they were born to do. Many Moms have heard the words from their children "I never wanted to do anything else." yet while it may break the hearts of their Moms, they understand even though they know it may cause their hearts to break.
Simeon took Jesus in his arms and praised God.
When Simeon saw Jesus, he took the baby in his arms and blessed the Lord and said: "Lord, now let Your servant go in peace according to Your promise, because my eyes have seen Your salvation which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory to your people Israel."
Mary knew how her Son would die and the dash between the date He was born and the date He would die would changed the world.
It is that line between birth and death that matters so much more than the number of days we are all here. It is doing what was were intended to do that matters and if we follow that heart-tugging where it leads us, we find our bliss. Everything we need to do it is within us and if others listen to the still voice within them, they will help us do what we have been born to do.
Christ said "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) And He went on to say,
14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
When we raise our children to become who they were intended to be, it comes with a mix of pride and heartache. Sometimes it means they must move away from us to do it. Sometimes it means they will put their lives in danger.
When their heart is tugged to serve others in the military, Moms know the risk will be great but it is important they do what few others have done.
American veterans are only 7% of the population and less than 1% serve in the military today. Many military women are in fact Moms leaving their children while they are deployed risking their lives for the thing they were born to do. Many more Moms have sent their children off for deployments and pray while they are gone. Some had to bury their children because of them following their hearts to serve. Some will spend Mother's Day at the grave of their child grieving because they blame themselves for the suicide death. Others face trying to help their children heal from wounds of their bodies and of their minds.
The men and women in the military and veterans of past wars had Moms making up a huge part of the dashes in their lives but more, they had a huge part in the dashes between the date this nation began and every year that comes after this. A Mother's love reaches so many more than just the child she gave birth to if they follow where their hearts lead them. It can also change many other lives because of what they do for other families.
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