Australian Veteran's Life Saved After 5th Suicide Attempt by Daughter

'They train you to go to war, not come home'
Daily Mail
By Anneta Konstantinides For Daily Mail Australia
PUBLISHED:18 March 2017

Doctors missed mother-of-four army veteran's post traumatic stress for a decade despite FIVE suicide attempts... and how her daughter saved her life

Andrea Josephs, 43, enlisted in 1991 and served during East Timorese Crisis
Was medically discharged in 2004 following a sexual assault and court hearing
Took doctors 10 years to diagnose PTSD; mistook for postnatal depression
Andrea's final suicide attempt came in 2015 as she struggled with symptoms
Her daughter then made a tribute video to show she was proud of mum's service
Inspired idea behind Matilda Poppy, which will raise awareness for veterans

Andrea (pictured centre with her four daughters) said some of her PTSD symptoms were derived from the fear that she could not protect her girls

It was after her fifth suicide attempt that Andrea Josephs decided to choose life.

The Australian Army veteran had been battling PTSD, a diagnosis doctors failed to make for 10 years, when a film made by her daughter proved to be a turning point.

It was a tribute video that honoured not only the mother-of-four, but the soldiers, sailors and airmen and women who had put their life on the line for Australia.

The gesture was pivotal for Andrea, who had felt like she lost her identity ever since she was medically discharged from service in 2004.
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Vietnam Veteran Faces End of Lifeline With Meals on Wheels Cut

Veteran Fears for Future of 'Meals on Wheels' Program
NBC 4 News
By Angie Crouch and Kate Guarino
March 16, 2017

For now, Nakashima said he’ll enjoy what he can. On the menu for his latest meal: pork, peas, sweet potato and good conversation with Clark, a fellow veteran.

Bruce Nakashima looks forward to visits from Chris Clark. Clark brings a hot meal and the paper. The gentlemen chat about sports.

"That’s my only contact with people outside of TV or newspaper or seeing the landlord," Nakashima said.

The 73-year-old Vietnam veteran and Purple Heart recipient lives alone with his cat in Santa Monica and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. He is one of 400 West Los Angeles residents who rely on Meals on Wheels as their main source of food. But the future of the program is uncertain.

President Donald Trump's proposed budget, released Wednesday, eliminates all federal funds — about three billion dollars — for the Community Development Block Grant Program. Government officials say the program has not demonstrated results. The elimination of the program is part of a 13 percent decrease in funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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Homeless Veteran Rescued Swimmer in Arizona

Homeless veteran rescues distressed swimmer from Phoenix canal
The Republic
April Morganroth
March 17, 2017

A man who identified himself as a homeless veteran jumped into a canal to rescue a swimmer in distress Friday morning in Phoenix.

(Photo: April Morganroth/The Republic)

"I don't think any of us really thought about the dangers of helping him," said Richard McNeil, 41. "Where I came from, you just helped people — doesn't make a difference if I'm homeless or not, I still help people when I can."

McNeil said as he waited for a bus on 16th Street near Indian School Road at about 8 a.m. he heard splashing and a man crying for help.
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Marine vet barred from restaurant because of neck tattoo?

Marine vet barred from restaurant because of neck tattoo
East Valley Tribune
By Jim Walsh, Tribune Staff Writer
21 hrs ago

Andrus served two tours of duty, a total of 14 months, in Iraq during 2004 and 2005. He said he has a 30 percent disability from the Veteran’s Administration for post-traumatic stress syndrome.

A U.S. Marine Corps veteran of two tours of duty in Iraq said he was humiliated Wednesday night when he was denied admittance into Gilbert’s new Dierks Bentley Whiskey Row restaurant because of his neck tattoo.

Brandon Andrus, the Iraq veteran, said he was not allowed to have a drink with family members because he has the number “22” tattooed on his neck as a suicide awareness statement. Military organizations say an average of 22 veterans commit suicide each day across the nation.

“I have been to a lot of different places and never once had an issue with anyone,” Andrus said. “They wouldn’t speak man to man. It was, ‘Sorry, sir, it’s a policy.’ They just thought I was going to cause trouble.”
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Vietnam Blue Water Veterans Fight for Justice

Target 8: Navy Vietnam veterans in Port Richey fight for benefits taken away
WFLA 8 News
Steve Andrews
March 17, 2017

“These veterans were promised that they would be cared for.” Susie Belanger

PORT RICHEY, Fla. (WFLA) – More than 231 members of Congress are backing efforts to reinstate benefits that the V.A. stripped from sailors who served in the waters off Vietnam.

With the stroke of a V.A. pen, Agent Orange presumptive disease benefits that Congress and President George W. Bush granted to those veterans vanished.

Susie Belanger, Special Projects Director for the Blue Water Navy Association, isn’t having that.

“Why are you discriminating against this whole class of veterans?” she asks.

From a motor coach in Port Richey, she is working Congress.

Those 231 members of the House of Representatives are now co-sponsoring a bill, HR-299, to restore the benefits.

According to Belanger, Vietnam veterans are running out of time. They’re not in their 20s and 30s anymore. She thinks it’s time America honors its commitment to them.
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