After Suicide Family and Friends Face Their Own Demons

Suicide Survivors: Death of a soldier forces parents to face their demons

Independent Record

Matt Neuman

September 4, 2017

For some people, moving on means finding a balance between forgetting and remembering.

 Ten years after the loss of her son, Lisa Kuntz of Helena still feels the pain, it’s just a little less jagged.

“I’ll see someone walking down the street that looks like him, and I’ll still break down,” she said. “But life is good for me now. Of course, it’s no bed of roses. But death is part of life, just like paying bills or being in debt.”

(Note: Read about the parents struggle and then read about his buddy's battle)

Now, 10 years later, Josh still struggles with the anxiety of losing his friend and his comrade.

“If he could see that over 10 years on, so many of us are still hurting, maybe he wouldn’t have done it,” he said. “But, hell, I’ve had suicidal ideations because of it, so maybe not. I still haven’t dealt with his death. I just keep shoving it down deeper.”

Survivors are three times more susceptible to suicide and self-harm, according to Karl Rosston, suicide prevention coordinator with Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. He says the No. 1 thing survivors can do is talk about it, not internalize their feelings.

Josh went to the V.A. for help, and ended up on anti-anxiety medication. He had hoped for a quick fix, an easy out from the pain. But it wasn’t enough. Eventually he met a therapist he liked at the V.A., who he said helped to make him more self-aware of his P.T.S.D.

“She told me it wasn’t my fault, that I didn’t do anything wrong, but I guess I’ve never accepted that part of it. It’s unshakeable. In the Guard we spent so much time learning to protect and take care of each other, but we screwed up. I still live with that every day.”

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Fort Campbell Command Sgt. Maj. Noel Foster died at home

Fort Campbell garrison command sergeant major has died

Army Times

September 3, 2017

The senior enlisted soldier for U.S. Army Garrison Fort Campbell has died, officials announced Sunday. Command Sgt. Maj. Noel Foster died at home Friday, officials said. 

Command Sgt. Maj. Noel Foster, the garrison command sergeant major for Fort Campbell, Ky., died Sept. 1, 2017, at home.

Foster had been the garrison command sergeant major for the Kentucky post since February 2016. In that role, he served as the senior enlisted adviser to the Fort Campbell garrison commander for all matters involving enlisted personnel. Officials did not release any additional information about the cause or manner of Foster’s death.
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VA Declared Veterans Dead, Social Security Kept Paying Them?

Social Security pays millions to people VA says are dead

The Washington Times
By Stephen Dinan
September 3, 2017

It was based on a sample of 100 veterans the VA said were dead but whose names never were shared with Social Security. Of those, the audit was able to determine the status of only 30 people: 19 of them were deemed dead while 11 others were still alive, despite the VA’s records.

The Department of Veterans Affairs knew they were dead, but the Social Security Administration kept paying benefits to hundreds of people anyway, according to a new agency audit released Friday that says at least $37 million in bogus payments were made.

Photo by: George Walker IV The Department of Veterans Affairs hospital stands Wednesday, June 11, 2014, in Nashville, Tenn. The director of the Tennessee Valley Healthcare System said Wednesday that it will soon receive as much as $15 million to address an audit showing long wait times for veterans. Juan Morales told reporters that the money will help pay for additional physician-support staff and fees that may be incurred if a veteran has to be sent to an outside provider. (AP Photo/The Tennessean, George Walker IV)

Investigators compared the VA’s record to Social Security rolls and found nearly 4,000 people who were listed as dead by the VA, but were still getting checks. Some of those people listed as dead were in fact still alive, but others were deceased — and their checks never should have been paid, the Social Security inspector general said.

Among the dead veterans was one who died in August 2008 but continued to get checks until March of this year, when the inspector general got a report from the State Department showing he had died abroad, in Thailand. Social Security paid out $160,000 in bogus payments in that case.
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Disabled Veteran Marine Killed While Protecting Wife From Armed Robbers

Disabled Marine veteran ambushed, killed by masked men in his Georgia garage

FOX News
September 3, 2017

A disabled Marine veteran was shot and killed in his garage by would-be home invaders, police said. (Fox 5)

A disabled Marine veteran was shot and killed during a confrontation in his garage with would-be home invaders on Friday, police said.

Authorities said that Phillip Lamar Davis, 47, was getting ready to take his wife to work early Friday morning when he opened the garage door and three masked men ambushed them.

Police believe the men intended to rob the victims after entering their home.

When they confronted the couple, Davis tried to protect his wife and push them away, sparking a struggle, during which Davis was shot, police said. His wife took off and ran to a neighbor’s house to call for help.
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PTSD in Mind, Body, Spirit and Blood?

Alterations in blood-based miRNA in veterans affected with combat-related PTSD

Eurekalert.org

September 3, 2017

Individuals affected with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) demonstrate changes in microRNA (miRNA) molecules associated with gene regulation. A controlled study, involving military personnel on deployment to a combat zone in Afghanistan, provided evidence for the role of blood-based miRNAs as candidate biomarkers for symptoms of PTSD. This may offer an approach towards screening for symptoms of PTSD, and holds promise for understanding other trauma-related psychiatric disorders. Limitations of the study are that this was a small pilot study, and the findings need to be validated, extended and confirmed. First results will be presented at the ECNP conference in Paris.

PTSD is a psychiatric disorder which can manifest following exposure to a traumatic event, such as combat, assault or natural disaster. Among individuals exposed to traumatic events, only a minority of individuals will develop PTSD, while others will show resiliency. Little is known of the mechanisms behind these different responses. The last few years have seen much attention given to whether the modification and expression of genes - epigenetic modifications - might be involved. But there are several practical and ethical challenges in designing a research study on humans undergoing such experiences, meaning that designing relevant study approaches is difficult.

The research group from the Netherlands, worked with just over 1,000 Dutch soldiers and the Dutch Ministry of Defense to study changes in biology in relation to changes in presentations of symptoms of PTSD in soldiers who were deployed to combat zone in Afghanistan. In a longitudinal study they collected blood samples before deployment, as well as 6 months after deployment. Most of the soldiers had been exposed to trauma, and some of the soldiers had developed symptoms of PTSD.

For this pilot study, from the initial group, subgroups were selected of in total of 24 subjects; 8 of the soldiers had developed symptoms of PTSD; 8 had endorsed traumatic experiences but had not developed symptoms of PTSD; and another 8 had not been in serious traumatic circumstances and served as a control group. Using modern sequencing techniques, several types of miRNAs of which the blood levels differed between the groups were identified.

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