The system failed Marine Michael Veillette

Suicidal Veteran Shot By Waterbury Police The Waterbury Observer
Story By John Murray
Thu, 03/22/2018

Released From Protective Custody Day Before Shooting

On three consecutive days a former United States Marine, Michael Veillette, went up to Holy Land USA to commit suicide, and each time his plan was foiled. 

The first attempt was thwarted by the compassion and love of a Marine Corps buddy, the second time he was arrested for carrying a pistol with an expired permit, and the third time he was shot in the hip by a Waterbury police officer and arrested again on a slew of charges. Inbetween the arrests Veillette was committed and evaluated at St. Mary’s Hospital, and released.

Tormented by PTSD from two tours of duty in Iraq, and depression, Veillette wanted out. He had intended to climb atop the hill at Holy Land USA and shoot himself at the base of the massive cross that overlooks Waterbury. This morning Veillette is in stable condition and will be arraigned at St. Mary's Hospital when the legal system delivers a judge, prosecutor, court reporter and public defender to conduct legal proceedings in his hospital room.

It didn't have to come to this. Veillette was in police and hospital custody on Tuesday night charged only with an expired pistol permit. Releasing a depressed suicidal veteran after three hours raises serious questions.

"The system failed Michael Veillette," said Brian Warren, a former U.S. Marine who served with Veillette in Iraq, and the man who talked his friend out of committing suicide Monday night. "Michael served his country with honor and needed help. He had tried to kill himself two days in a row. Why did the hospital release him with a serious mental health issue? He could have killed a cop. This was an epic mistake."read more here

This is pretty much how the rest of the press reported it.

State police: Waterbury police shoot armed man
FOX 61 News
BY BOBBY MARTINEZ AND JIM MCKEEVER
MARCH 21, 2018

WATERBURY — Connecticut State Police said they were called to the scene of an officer-involved shooting this afternoon.

State Police Troop A said they were alerted after Waterbury police shot an armed man around 4 p.m.

Waterbury Deputy Chief of Police Fred Spagnolo, said police came across a distraught individual carrying a shotgun at 60 Slocum Street near Holy Land in Waterbury. Spagnolo added that the man, Michael Veillette, 32, of Waterbury, was actively attempting to commit “suicide by cop.”
read more here

Wounded warriors find healing the ancient way

It seems as if everyone has heard the term "Wounded Warrior."  

I've been using it since the early 80's because Native Americans have been using it long before I discovered the term while research PTSD. One of the reasons why I used Wounded Minds in the first PTSD video I did in 2006.

I didn't copyright it but they should have!

Veterans With PTSD Find Relief in Native American Rituals
Voice of America
Cecily Hilleary
March 22, 2018

Since ancient times, Native American and Alaskan Natives have held warriors in high esteem and have developed a wide variety of prayers, ceremonies and rituals to honor returning soldiers and ease them back into community life.

Sweat lodge constructed by veterans during a Veterans Community Response retreat, Flying B Ranch, Kamiah, Idaho. Courtesy: Michael Carroll.

WASHINGTON
“I wasn’t the kind of guy you’d want to meet in a dark alley.”

That’s how U.S. Army veteran Michael Carroll, 39, from Spokane, Wash., described himself after coming home in 2004 after serving 18 months in Iraq.

He was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and given an honorable discharge.

“The transition from military to civilian life was definitely unpleasant,” he said. “I was extremely temperamental and hostile, and I lashed out a lot. Anything could trigger me — sounds to smells to seeing trash on the side of the road,” a reminder of explosive devices used against coalition forces in the Iraq war.

Over the next few years, he underwent the standard treatment for PTSD — psychotherapy and medication — which he said did him more harm than good.
read more here

Driver dead: crashed Travis Air Force Base Gate

Driver dead after breaching gate at Travis Air Force Base
Air Force Times
By: Stephen Losey
March 22, 2018

Three C-17 Globemaster IIIs sit on the tarmac at Travis Air Force Base, Calif. A driver who breached the main gate at Travis and then crashed was pronounced dead at the scene Wednesday evening.

(Louis Briscese/Air Force)

A driver who breached the main gate at Travis Air Force Base in California and then crashed was pronounced dead at the scene Wednesday evening.

Travis officials said in a release posted online that there were no additional fatalities or injuries, and there are no current threats to the base or the community. The investigation is ongoing.

The base said that its first responders, including security forces, and emergency officials from nearby Fairfield responded after the driver “gained unauthorized access” to the main gate shortly before 7 p.m. The car crashed shortly afterward, Travis said.
read more here

The Vietnam Helicopter Pilot and Crewmember Monument

Dedication ceremony set for monument honoring Vietnam helicopter pilots, crews
Military Times
By: Charlsy Panzino
March 21, 2018

The war was known as the “helicopter war” because the United States relied heavily on the aircraft to transport troops and provide close-air support.

Retired Lt. Col. Forrest “Frosty” Price, a Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association member, stands with the Vietnam Helicopter Pilot and Crewmember Monument. (Courtesy photo)

Those who wish to honor the helicopter pilots and crew members killed in Vietnam can do so on April 18 at Arlington National Cemetery.

After four years, these service members will have their own monument at the Virginia cemetery.

The Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association spearheaded the effort, working with Arlington National Cemetery and Congress to get the monument approved.

At first, the cemetery was hesitant because of the ever-shrinking space for grave sites, but supporters of the monument wrote to Congress and gained attention. Eventually, a compromise was made, and the cemetery approved the monument.

The Vietnam Helicopter Pilot and Crewmember Monument will be placed in Section 35 along Memorial Drive, not far from the Tomb of the Unknowns. It honors the nearly 5,000 helicopter pilots and crew members who were killed during the Vietnam War.
read more here

Veteran Suicides: Making money or making a difference?

Who are you really helping?
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
March 21, 2018

There is a huge disconnect between the military/veteran communities and the communities where they call home.

The good news is civilians want to help. The bad news is they still don't know what is really helpful, instead of what is popular. In this case, the proof of what civilians don't know, is worse than nothing.

$125,000 rip off

The scheme involved collecting donations for two fraudulent organizations, the “Wounded Warrior Fund” and the “Wounded Warrior Foundation” – both plays on the legitimate Florida-based Wounded Warrior Project, according to the indictment, unsealed Friday.

The article on Stars and Stripes had this other detail,

The four are also accused of getting free hotel rooms, gift cards and restaurant meals, ostensibly for veterans’ families. They are charged with defrauding more than 1,000 victims over six years, the indictment said.“Everything they did was for personal use,” Richard Ferretti, special agent in charge of the Louisville field office of the Secret Service, told Stars and Stripes. “No veteran’s family that we found as of yet has benefited from the money solicited.” 

And there was this guy, reported by ABC 10 News 

MIAMI - A U.S. Marine who worked under former Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado was arrested Wednesday after he and a friend were accused of stealing $300,000 of donated items meant to help military veterans in need.

And this one reported by Daytona Beach News Journal

An Ormond Beach man has been accused of running a sham veterans charity after investigators said he scammed several local businesses that had provided services for a benefit golf tournament headlined by a former NFL player. Christopher Blake, 46, faces a felony charge of organized scheme to defraud after he received donations and services under the guise of a charity called “Second Chance Veterans Foundation,” Volusia County sheriff’s detectives said.Blake held a late October golf tournament at DeBary Golf and Country Club where he brought in a friend, retired NFL football player Gerald Riggs, to be the star. But the golf course, a sign maker, a hotel and even Riggs were left empty-handed after Blake paid them with bad checks for their services or tried to skirt payment entirely, according to a charging affidavit. 

And then there are things like this reported by POLITICO

Veterans Charity Raises Millions to Help Those Who’ve Served. But Telemarketers Are Pocketing Most of It. Levite says he protested, but Hampton ignored him. He hired another telemarketer, Outreach Calling, to assist a related veterans nonprofit he runs out of the same office. This telemarketer — which the New York attorney general’s office says is run by a man they banned for life from fundraising in New York and remains under investigation — kept $9 out of every $10 raised.

This could go on and on, but you get the idea. Americans love our veterans but maybe we should love them a little less and stop long enough to check to see where the money is going before we donate. Are they really helping veterans or themselves?

After all, for all the money that went to people claiming to be helping veterans, had gone to groups actually making a difference, IT WOULD HAVE HELPED THE VETERANS NEEDING IT!