Trauma planned the trip but I bought the ticket

Which Train Are You On?
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
August 27, 2017

One of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves is doing the work to get to the point where our lives are lived as well as possible. Actually, make that as "good" as possible.

After something happens, we hop aboard the grief train. How long it takes you to get to healing, depends on which train you managed to get on.

Sometimes it is a slow ride, making lots of stops along the way. You are stuck until the train gets moving again. The only mistake you can make on this trip, is getting off without getting back on. 

History The Trains That Changed The World

For me, the train was like the Acela, "fastest trip with fewer stops."

"Superior Comfort, Upscale Amenities, Polished Professional Service, at Speeds up to 150 mph."

Reminder: I am not a veteran but faced life altering events far too many times to be able to reasonably explain inner happiness afterwards without pointing out how human all of us are. I do not have PTSD because of how it was dealt with. Even if you have PTSD, you can live a life where you get to decide your own trip.

Trauma planned the trip but I bought the ticket. I had to pay for what the event did to me as a victim but in the next second I went into survivorship. It didn't get me first time and I did whatever I had to do to make sure it didn't control the rest of my life. It didn't get to plan what I did with my life. It just hitched a ride popping up every now and then to remind me it was there.

Generations of veterans have been dealing with the same struggle as other simple humans but their fellow riders have scattered onto different trains. It can be a very lonely, long trip, if you are surrounded by people who have no clue what caused you to get onboard.

Civilianize yourself again to a point where you can get them to understand it as a human. Unless you surround yourself with other veterans, few will understand what you went through but everyone who survived trauma can understand what it did to you.

Maybe you can learn from this Mom who lost her son because someone else did something wrong. I copied the part that you really need to read first. Please go to the link and read the rest.

'Meeting the man who caused my son's death helped me learn to live and smile again'

Mirror UK

Rachel Toal

August 27, 2017

"Meanwhile, I was left to deal with my bereavement. The sadness I was never able to physically express due to my chest bruising had stayed inside me. Slowly, it was coming out. Counselling and EMDR (eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing) therapy helped to retrain my brain and replace traumatic images with positive memories."

"I discovered a life-changing programme called the Grief Recovery Method, which transformed my relationship with Flynn. Instead of being stuck with painful memories, I was able to remember him with happiness." read more here

Angry Army Wives Stage Protest of Their Own

Angry army wives protest in Paris over military working conditions

BBC

August 26, 2017

Several hundred women married to French soldiers are holding a demonstration in Paris to denounce the "deplorable working conditions" in the army.

The protest was organised by the group Angry Soldiers' Wives, which has nearly 5,200 members.

AFP/GETTY IMAGES Members and supporters of the Angry Soldiers' Wives group pictured at the protest

Mercedes Crépin, who helped set it up, said some troops on anti-terror duty were being housed in damp hangars infested with cockroaches and lice.

Around 500 people were expected to join the protest, Le Figaro reported.

After the Islamist attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January 2015, the French government deployed more than 7,000 soldiers to guard prominent public places and events.

French news sites reported on Saturday that one soldier linked to the operation had shot himself dead on Friday night.

The military wives have several concerns - among them, the lack of support for the families of soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

"We feel completely helpless, we do not know how to cope with the condition, how to support our men," said Ms Crépin, whose husband has PTSD after serving in Afghanistan.

read more here

Wonder how many would turn out here if we actually fought for our families in this way?

Repeating Facebook Non-Facts Makes You Look Stupid

Mark Twain wrote, "There are lies, damned lies and statistics." I wonder what he'd say about Facebook?

Brainy Quote

There are facts we talk about all the time and they are backed up to other sources. We know the truth but then find ourselves in a altered world where non-facts get all the attention. Then they keep wondering why nothing changes. 

We wonder when they'll get a clue so maybe they'll help find the best thing to do to actually make a difference in this world.

I gave up on them hearing us since we're "old" but there is much to be said about what comes with age. We have the wisdom to know the difference between what is truth and what is not.

Here's a start on what they are getting wrong and it spreads wide all the way up to POTUS who has been saying that we've been at war for 17 years in Afghanistan. 

FACT
NUMBER OF YEARS IN AFGHANISTAN
It has been almost 16 years of war in Afghanistan and not 17.

On September 11, 2001, we were attacked. In October of 2001, troops were sent to Afghanistan in response to it as War on Terror was declared by President Bush.

FACT
Rate of PTSD in Veterans

• Vietnam War: About 15 out of every 100 Vietnam Veterans (or 15%) were currently diagnosed with PTSD at the time of the most recent study in the late 1980s, the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (NVVRS). It is estimated that about 30 out of every 100 (or 30%) of Vietnam Veterans have had PTSD in their lifetime.
• Gulf War (Desert Storm): About 12 out of every 100 Gulf War Veterans (or 12%) have PTSD in a given year.
• Operations Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Enduring Freedom (OEF): About 11-20 out of every 100 Veterans (or between 11-20%) who served in OIF or OEF have PTSD in a given year.

FACT
DEADLIEST YEAR 

Deadliest Year in Vietnam Claimed the lives of more troops than all years of Afghanistan and Iraq combined. 

1968

Bloodiest year of the war ends

The bloodiest year of the war comes to an end. At year’s end, 536,040 American servicemen were stationed in Vietnam, an increase of over 50,000 from 1967.
Estimates from Headquarters U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam indicated that 181,150 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese were killed during the year. However, Allied losses were also up: 27,915 South Vietnamese, 14,584 Americans (a 56 percent increase over 1967), and 979 South Koreans, Australians, New Zealanders, and Thais were reported killed during 1968. Since January 1961, more than 31,000 U.S. servicemen had been killed in Vietnam and over 200,000 U.S. personnel had been wounded.

According to ICasualties.org 2,403 US servicemembers lost their lives in Afghanistan, 4,523 lost their lives in Iraq since 2001.



FACT
LONGEST WAR
Afghanistan is not the longest war in US history. That would be Vietnam, however it depends on who is doing the counting. Reporters using chosen dates, or families using family members who lost their lives.

Vietnam War

1945 First American soldier killed in VietnamLt. Col. Peter Dewey, a U.S. Army officer with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in Vietnam, is shot and killed in Saigon. Dewey was the head of a seven-man team sent to Vietnam to search for missing American pilots and to gather information on the situation in the country after the surrender of the Japanese.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall has,  The first American soldier killed in the Vietnam War was Air Force T-Sgt. Richard B. Fitzgibbon Jr. He is listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having a casualty date of June 8, 1956.  

And Last,  The last American soldier killed in the Vietnam War was Kelton Rena Turner, an 18-year old Marine. He was killed in action on May 15, 1975, two weeks after the evacuation of Saigon, in what became known as the Mayaguez incident.Others list Gary L. Hall, Joseph N. Hargrove and Danny G. Marshall as the last to die in Vietnam. These three US Marines Corps veterans were mistakenly left behind on Koh Tang Island during the Mayaguez incident. They were last seen together but unfortunately to date, their fate is unknown. They are located on panel 1W, lines 130 - 131.

FACT
VA Suicide Report
It is not now, nor has it been "22 a day" or "20 a day" as the definitive number of veterans across the country committing suicide.

First study of Veterans committing suicide in 2012,  reported with the number of "22 a day" was from just 21 states using limited data taken from death certificates that indicated military service.

The follow up study released in 2016 used more data from more states as well as from the CDC. The fact is, not all states have military service on their death certificates. States like California and Illinois would not have been able to supply accurate data.

FACT
Suicide
Military suicide numbers are not in the numbers of veterans committing suicide. They are separated.

For charities out there refusing to help any veteran other than OEF and OIF, majority of veterans committing suicide are over the age of 50. (see above report link)

There is continued evidence of a high burden of suicide among middle-aged and older Veterans. In 2014, about 65 percent of all Veterans who died by suicide were age 50 or older. 

If you are among the Facebook users thinking you are doing some good sharing what you think are facts, please remember to check to see if you are sharing a "non fact" because people like me are all over the country sharing the real facts.

 

Soldier Missing Five Rescued After Black Hawk Crash in Yemen

U.S. Black Hawk Helicopter Crashes off Yemen Coast, One Crew Member Missing

Associated Press

August 26, 2017

A U.S. military Black Hawk helicopter crashed off the southern coast of Yemen while training its crew, leaving one service member missing, officials said.

Five others aboard the aircraft were rescued, officials said in a statement issued by U.S. Central Command.

The crash took place Friday evening. Officials said the accident was under investigation.

Asked if the crash involved another special forces raid, Central Command told The Associated Press that "this was a routine training event specifically for U.S. military personnel."

read more here

PTSD on Trial: Man Went For Help First, Before Shooting

Man on trial in deputy shooting says he intended to only harm himself

Oregon Live

Everton Bailey Jr.

August 25, 2017

Everton Bailey Jr. | The Oregonian/OregonLive Steven Wilson testifies in his own defense during his trial in Clackamas County Circuit Court on August 25, 2017. Wilson, 40, is accused of grabbing a county deputy's gun and shooting them both in November 2016. Wilson said he meant to grab the gun, kill himself and didn't intend to injure the deputy. (Everton Bailey Jr./The Oregonian)

Steven Wilson felt suicidal last fall and had gone to Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center for help, but was released hours later. He returned to his Portland apartment, later grabbed his psychiatric medication and went to a nearby MAX stop. Then he threw the pills on the ground.

A voice inside his head told him: If you're serious about killing yourself, you don't need your medicine, Wilson told the jury Friday during his attempted murder trial. The voice also said he needed to die to keep his mother alive.

From there, Wilson testified, he remembers only snippets. He's accused of shooting a Clackamas County deputy with the deputy's own gun in a Nov. 15, 2016 encounter that left them both injured.

Wilson, 40, said he somehow got to a home in Clackamas where his mother no longer lived and took a blanket off a neighbor's porch.

He doesn't remember later walking into traffic along Southeast Sunnyside Road during the early morning traffic commute, he said. Nor being hit by at least one car or the two women who stopped to try to help him afterward.

He said he doesn't remember the deputy who responded to the scene, but said he did recall at some point seeing a gun in front of him and a voice in his head repeatedly telling him, "Grab the gun and kill yourself."

read more here