Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Orlando Firefighter Fights For Job and Help Because of It

Fired Orlando firefighter fights to get job back
WFTV 9 ABC News
by: Shannon Butler
Nov 29, 2017

Granada told his supervisors and the union president in an email that he recorded audio for his protection because he saw “a scene deteriorating and a patient becoming belligerent toward the crew."  

ORLANDO, Fla. - An Orlando firefighter fired after he recorded audio of Orlando City Commissioner Regina Hill during a medical call is fighting to get his job back.

Josh Granada was fired last week for violating the department’s policy of recording a patient.

Granada said during a news conference Wednesday that he has post-traumatic stress disorder after responding to the Pulse mass shooting. Granada said he has been asking the fire department for help in coping after the June 12, 2016 shooting, and that his firing is in retaliation.

Granada said his recording of Hill was because of his mental state involving PTSD. He admitted what he did was wrong but said it didn’t make him deserve to be fired.
read more here

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Fort Campbell Soldier's Widow Faces Life After Suicide

Soldier's Widow Speaks Out About Depression After Her Husband's Suicide

News Channel 5
Alexandra Koehn
November 27, 2017

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - It's a tragedy that has become sadly commonplace, soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines surviving combat, only to take their own lives. A local widow hoped to raise awareness about depression after her husband, a soldier, became the latest unfortunate statistic.

Conner said, "It's so hard because he just wanted to do everything he could for this country, and it's just like he felt like he couldn't do it anymore. He felt like he would fail his family."
Two weeks after returning from Baghdad, Kaitlin said Justin took his life on November 18...

A grieving widow, now left to fend alone for her 3 small children. 
Conner said, "I honestly believe if my husband thought he could get help and not lose his job, he'd probably still be here right now." 
Now she wants other military wives to not be afraid to speak up, and possibly save their loved one's life. 
Conner said, "Screw the money, screw taking care of your family cause you won't have a family if your husband or wife... if they don't get help..."

Vietnam Veterans Left Out of Awareness

Vietnam Veterans the Forgotten Warriors
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 28, 2017

Vietnam Veterans were so dedicated to making sure no other generation went through what they did, they ended up forgetting about their own. They are the majority of veterans committing suicide and the most ignored!

That's how twisted this has turned out for them.

They do all kinds of things to make it better for the newer generation. They hold events for them, raise money to build them houses, all while after they were the ones to start all the research into PTSD and what was killing them.

The worst outcome is, they left themselves behind, alone, isolated and forgotten. Instead of them taking care of each other, they paid attention to the newer generation.

The VA Suicide Report of 2012 set inquiring minds spinning when it was finally released. While you may think that folks were eager to "do something" about such a tragic situation our veterans were faced with, it was more about running to the press, starting foundations and pretending that no one was doing anything about any of this.

The worst part was, even worse than not reading the report itself, was the fact all these new groups dismissed the majority of the veterans committing suicide.


In 2016, they followed that report with a larger one up to 2014 suicide data.

Group after group started running around the country screaming about "22 a day" and then these same groups turned around and said they were only interested in veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq.

More and more charities popped up going to extremes to make these veterans' lives better, while older veterans, with the same wounds, watched as they waited for someone to notice that no one was talking about them. No one was helping them.

If you're gathering I am pissed off right now, you are correct. For all the BS they have been spouting off about how much they care, the truth is, our veterans didn't mean enough to them to even bother to pretend to be doing anything more than yelling about "raising awareness" and stupid shits pulled out their cell phones, donated and then had the balls to beg their friends to donate too. 

After all, it made them feel good enough about "doing something" so they could go back to their self-absorbed selfies and posts about their perfect little lives until they ended up "offended" by something someone said.

Did any of these new groups even get asked why they do not do anything for the majority of our veterans committing suicide? Did any of them ever have to explain what the fuck they were doing with the money people gave them or from the stuff they sold to "support" the "effort" they never even had to talk about?

Enough of the twits tweeting, walking, pushing up, and all the other stunts they have gotten away with. 

If you donated to them, maybe you have an excuse because you didn't have time to actually think about what they were doing. Just maybe, but then again, if you were helping them instead of exposing them, may God have mercy on you!

Take a look at a report going back to 2013 and then maybe you can get some of these frickenbarkers to account for what they didn't want you to know.



This is a frickenbarker. Murray pays more attention to commercials than the programs we're watching. You know, the annoying interruption we have to put up with so that someone gets paid.


I-Team Reports: Suicides From a Long Ago WarNBC WashingtonBy Tisha Thompson and Rick YarboroughJune 28, 2013


In a city dedicated to honoring those who served, there's a long black wall. It displays the names of fallen men and women who fought with Tom Mahany in the Vietnam War.


As Mahany traced the names craved into the stone, he said, "It's like a shadow that follows you around." For this former soldier, there are thousands of names missing: Those of men who committed suicide long after their military careers ended. Men like his brother-in-law.
"He put the rifle in his mouth,” Mahany explained. “That's how my sister found him. That’s twenty years after he got back."
Mahany said even though they were both veterans from the same war, they never talked about Vietnam. Never spoke about suicide or "shellshock," what we now call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD.


"There was no diagnosis then,” Mahany said. “There wasn't any such thing as PTSD in Vietnam. There was no treatment from the V.A."
Janet Kemp is the Director of Suicide Prevention at the Department of Veterans Affairs. “The group we are very concerned about are our Vietnam-era veterans," she told the News 4 I-Team. 
She said even though more attention is being focused on the mental health of the men and women returning from conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, Vietnam vets are actually at a higher risk for taking their own lives. "They're approaching that part of their life where losses are more prevalent, they are maybe retiring or losing their jobs and may be losing their spouses and friends. It's a tough time.” 
Kemp said when you look at suicide numbers overall, men over 59 are already the most at risk.
read more here

Where were all these groups back then? Where was all this concern for them in 1976 when the Forgotten Warrior Project came out, and oh, by the way, was calling it Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?


So, no, not much has changed because none of the newer veterans are fighting for the ones that need it the most and waited longer! But then again, members of Congress don't seem to care very much either. After all, they get away with giving them pins for their service to the country in Vietnam!

Monday, November 27, 2017

Operation Tohidu® Focuses on Female Veterans With PTSD

Healing Invisible Wounds: Nonprofit Melwood offers free program to help female veterans cope with service-related trauma

WTOP News

Federal programs are failing to meet the needs of the more than two million women veterans in the U. S., many of whom are suffering from the invisible wounds of service-related trauma and stress.

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), a study on traumatic stress in female veterans released this past March reported that one out of five who served in Iraq and Afghanistan has been diagnosed with post traumatic dress disorder (PTSD). 
Additionally, one out of four female veterans who use the VA health care system report they’ve experienced military sexual trauma. Yet, as a 10 percent minority of the overall veteran population, female-specific health issues are consistently underserved. A 2016 study of the challenges women face when they leave the military documents the gaps in federal programs and services for female veterans.

Operation Tohidu® for Women is a weeklong experiential rehabilitation program focusing on healing the invisible wounds of female military service members. The program offers confidence building, outdoor activities, and group discussion to help women warriors overcome obstacles to their recovery.  

Operation Tohidu® helps female veterans and active-duty military cope with sexual trauma, (PTSD), and traumatic brain injury. All participants’ expenses to attend the retreat, including travel, meals and housing, are completely covered by donations to Melwood Veterans Services.
read more here

Fort Bliss Soldier's Death in Iraq Under Investigation

Defense Dept. identifies American casualty in Iraq
The Washington Times
By Carlo Muñoz
November 27, 2017

The Defense Department on Monday identified Cpl. Todd McGurn as the latest American service member to die in Iraq this month.

Cpl. McGurn, a California native, died while conducting support operations for the U.S. coalition, according to a Pentagon statement. His death was tied to a “non-combat related incident” that took place in Baghdad.

Assigned to assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment in the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team,1st Armored Division out of Fort Bliss, Texas, Cpl. McGurn’s death is currently under investigation by command officials, the statement says.
read more here