VA fired worker trying to help a veteran...in Australia

Ya can't make this stuff up! This is out of Australia. The VA fired someone for trying to help a veteran?

Veterans Affairs worker fired for helping disabled soldier
The New Daily
John Power
June 1, 2018

A Department of Veterans Affairs contractor abruptly fired after trying to reinstate a disabled veteran’s payments has accused the department of sacrificing its mission to bureaucracy and ego.

Andrea Gynn was attempting to help a veteran in difficult financial circumstances. Photos: Supplied / Getty

Andrea Gynn was let go earlier in May after asking a supervisor if she could restore and backpay benefits to a veteran in dire financial straits who had demonstrated eligibility since February.

To her amazement, Ms Gynn says she was told she had breached the “chain of command” by not speaking with her team leader, despite the team leader telling her to contact the higher-ranking supervisor.

“I got the call that afternoon from the labour hire place saying you’re being let go based on this reason: failure to integrate and failure to follow the chain of command,” Ms Gynn, who was dismissed from her temporary position at the DVA office in Brisbane on May 16, told The New Daily.

“I accepted the fact that I’d be dealing with government bureaucracy, but there’s a big difference between dealing with government bureaucracy and dealing with people who allow a system to perpetuate an individual’s claim for longer than what is a reasonable period of time.”

It is understood that the veteran, who has severe mental health and mobility issues and is living on a boat in Cairns, was cut off from payments in July after failing to attend medical appointments. It is understood he has been meeting DVA requirements since February.
read more here

Why did reporters ignore such a massive failure?

The Ugly Truth About Memorial Day

Combat PTSD Wounded Times

Kathie Costos

May 31, 2018

Why did reporters ignore such a massive failure?

It seems as if the American public is only paying attention to what they are told by members of the media pretending that suicides tied to military service is important. We missed the ugly truth about how many should have survived what our government did and what reporters ignored. 

The truth is, none of them have paid attention. We read about the "number" of veterans they want us to believe are committing suicide every day, but they do not want us to look at the facts.

We hear about members of the military committing suicide, in our local papers or among social media sites. What we do not get, is a true idea of exactly how many are being ignored...unless you actually know where to look.

This is six years of the Department of Defense Suicide Report that shows after all of the "training" in prevention, publicity on "efforts" by members of Congress to "prevent" suicides within the military and in the veterans community, all the money spent, all of the "awareness" raised, this is the result of all of it.

Department of Defense Quarterly Suicide Report

Now compare that to how many were killed in Afghanistan 

and in Iraq

This is the one topic that should cross over political lines but we failed to see this massive failure was happening and no one did anything about it!

Too many are gone and we cannot bring them back. All we can do is hold all of our politicians accountable so that next Memorial Day we will not have more graves filled because of service than combat itself!

When your member of Congress talks about the Bills they wrote to "address" suicides, remember the deadly results after they "did" something without ever figuring out what the hell they needed to do!

By the way, I tried to do something about making people aware of what was going on back in 2007!

Kevin Williams adapted from citizen to solider, but not the other way around

Basildon army veteran sent to Iraq on 18th birthday killed himself after battling with PTSD
Essex Live
James Gregory
31 MAY 2018

He struggled to adapt to civilian life and was homeless for a period
A former soldier deployed to Iraq on his 18th birthday killed himself after a long battle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an inquest heard.

Kevin Williams, 29, was found hanging by police in his home at Waterville Drive, Basildon, on March 18.

He was the youngest rifleman to ever to serve in Iraq and was deployed on his 18th birthday in November 2006 as part of the now defunct Royal Green Jackets, going on to fight in Basra as part of the 2nd Battalion, The Rifles.

But after leaving the army, he found it difficult to adapt to civilian life and took his own life.
read more here

Newborn daughter embraced by love from "brothers"

Newborn daughter of soldier killed in Afghanistan photographed with fellow soldiers
KENS 5 News
Author: Meilin Tompkins
May 31, 2018

"No matter where the army takes them all, I will be able to show Christian how they all came together for her."

FAYETTEVILLE, NC -- A photo of a newborn baby photographed with soldiers in North Carolina is quickly going viral on Facebook.

Britt Harris was ecstatic when she learned she was pregnant back in October. Her husband, SPC Christopher Harris, was just deployed to Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, Harris would never get to meet his daughter. He was killed in a suicide bombing just a week after he learned of the pregnancy.
read more here

If these pictures do not bring a tear to your eye....

Time to put suicide awareness groups out of business

Help veterans stay alive awareness 
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 30, 2018

I read an article early this morning that stuck with me especially when I saw this adorable face!

Deana Martorella Orellana, joined the Marines.

"Then, in 2010, she deployed to a particularly combat-torn part of Helmand Province in Afghanistan." 

She survived the deployment and hardships, risking her life for the sake of those she served with, but part of it came back with her according to Battling Depression And Suicide Among Female Veterans on NPR May 29, 2018

"After she returned to North Carolina in 2013, her rental home burned down, and a man she knew was charged with arson. She wasn't home, but the incident shook her."

A few months after being discharged, came this "transition" after being trained to serve, tested by Afghanistan, and above all, trained to be "resilient" according to the Department of Defense.

"But just hours after the VA appointment, Deana asked a friend to drop her at the house where she had lived with her boyfriend, who wasn't home. She went in the bedroom and retrieved a .45-caliber handgun." 

Since 2009, every member of the military had received "resilience" training to make them "mentally tough."

With all the groups out there raising awareness about veterans taking their own lives, why have they not changed the outcome? They use only the number that will get them the most attention from a report they failed to read, or even take seriously enough to want to make a difference.

Actually, it seems as if they have done more harm than good.

"The suicide rate for female veterans has soared 85 percent in recent years, leading the military, VA and advocacy groups to try new ways to improve women's mental health care during and after service."

The military trained them, then refused to change when the result was higher suicides while the number of enlisted went down.

And no one was put out of business for failing to come up with something that would actually help them survive surviving.

No one was put out of business raising awareness for something they do not understand, lying about "making a difference" and not even bothering to address the highest percentage of veterans committing suicide, at least the ones they know about, and that is veterans over the age of 50!

No news source has been put out of business for covering these people, spreading the lie of how many veterans decided to die or even attempt to ask questions. Questions like why these groups need the money, what they are doing with the money or even why they deserve any of it considering they have not proven anything to anyone.

The really puzzling thing is, if they are making their living off talking about veterans killing themselves, then if they lived, these groups would be out of business and their income would vanish.

Isn't it time we actually paid attention to these facts?

If veterans live, heal and help each other, I may actually get to retire after 36 years and have time to watch TV after working for a paycheck on my day job!

You can start by actually reading the reports they didn't bother with.

VA SUICIDE REPORT 2012 Limited data from just 21 states
VA SUICIDE REPORT 2016 Limited data because states like California and Illinois did not track military service on the death certificates until they passed legislation in 2017 to add it. 

Also all limited data because, anything less than honorable discharges, did not get counted. Veterans living in other countries were not counted.

In some states, if they were not deployed into combat, they were not counted.

In some states if they were in the National Guards and Reserves, deployed for humanitarian missions, they were not counted.

The factors go on and on, but as long as people are selling suicides, we're never, ever going to make enough of a difference to help veterans survive surviving service.

Now, if all that did not bother you enough, consider one more thing.

How is it that life mattered so much to every one of them, they were willing to die to save others, but their own life was not worth living?