#TakeBackYourLife from trauma. I did!

Crossposted from PTSD Patrol
Special post for PTSD Awareness Day I cannot think of a better day to explain why I do what I do. I am a survivor! Not once, twice or even five times, but this will give you an idea of why I work as hard as I do, devoted so much research and get so pissed off!

It is the reason for this site, Combat PTSD Wounded Times, all the books, videos and articles, training, research and yes, my marriage that has lasted over 3 decades!

If you have PTSD, no matter what caused it, you need to hear this. If nothing else, this is the one message you need to get today of all days, because all the bullshit out there has been blocking what could change your next day.

Yep! #TakeBackYourLife from trauma. I did!

This may shock some of my friends but, if you read the book, FOR THE LOVE OF JACK, HIS WAR MY BATTLE, then you already know all of this. (PS original book was in 2003 before this became a billion dollar industry for people making a lot of money off our suffering.)

Veterans committing suicide,..they'll drink to that?

If you do not like it when I use bad language, do not read this! I have had to contain myself all day since I read this at work.

What the fuck gave anyone the idea that since veterans are killing themselves having fun was the solution? First it was the groups using a number as if it was fact. Yes, the number "22" which the VA stated clearly was not to be considered all there was. They also pointed out that they had only limited data from 21 states. Guess that was not as important as grabbing the headline and then raising a lot of cash.

Oh, then we all remember the smiling faces lining up to do their pushups that veterans also experienced while in the service as punishment for doing something wrong!!! Yep, they also did use the "22" a day.

Anyway, then we had Congress spending billions, charities raising billions AS MORE AND MORE VETERANS NOT ONLY LOST HOPE ENOUGH TO STAY ALIVE, THEY ALSO FIGURED OUT THEY DID NOT EVEN MATTER TO THE GROUPS TALKING ABOUT THEM COMMITTING SUICIDE AND HAVING FUN WHILE THEY WERE SUFFERING!

OH, NO! NONE OF THAT WAS BAD ENOUGH!
Now there is a fun-raiser that includes drinking---to help fight suicides!~~~ WTF!

Help fight veteran suicide during Red, White and Brew Bar Crawl in downtown Allentown
Ryan Kneller
Of The Morning Call
June 25, 2018

Tickets, $5, include a commemorative cup and giveaways. Proceeds benefit The One Fight Foundation, whose mission is to combat veteran suicide through a peer-to-peer support network while providing fellowship and camaraderie to empower all veterans.

Kick off your Fourth of July celebrations while supporting a patriotic cause during a Red, White and Brew Bar Crawl, 8 p.m. to midnight Saturday in downtown Allentown.

Participants are encouraged to wear red, white and blue apparel as they enjoy drink specials ($3 beers and $4 cocktails) at the following bars: Fegley’s Allentown Brew Works, Bell Hall, Grain, The Hamilton Kitchen and Queen City BBQ.

no joke read more here

It wasn't bad enough the VA had to change the statement they made on the latest suicide report, that basically made it useless.

VA backs off suicide study that indicated thousands of unreported military deaths

VA officials blamed the confusion on the troops’ suicide information on inconsistent definitions used in various agencies. Individuals who served in the guard or reserves and are considered “veterans” in census reports may not have been counted in the Defense Department statistics because of different mobilization authorities and state rules.

It was not bad enough that we found far too many missing sources in their research, or the fact that as the veteran population dropped, the number of "known" suicides remained "stable" since 1999~ but oh, no, none of that was bad enough.

When the hell will people wake up that all they are doing is proving to veterans that while they are the topic of a way to make money, they survived combat a hell of a lot easier than being surrounded by people who really did not even give enough of a shit to READ THE DAMN REPORT IN THE FIRST PLACE OR HAVE A CLUE WHAT TO DO TO MAKE LIVING VETERANS WANT TO KEEP ON LIVING!!!

Just to point out one more thing, as every report the VA has released is the other fact that while these groups never mention older veterans, veterans over the age of 50 are the majority of the veterans deciding to give up! Like today when a 58 year old Air Force Veteran set himself on fire in Georgia!

58 year old veteran set himself on fire at Georgia Capitol

UPDATE July 3, 2018 from Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) — State investigators say a man who identified himself as an Air Force veteran has died after he lit himself on fire in front of the Georgia Capitol last week to protest the Veterans Affairs system.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation tweeted Tuesday that 58-year-old John Michael Watts died Monday. Authorities say Watts strapped fireworks to his chest, doused himself with a flammable liquid and set himself on fire June 26. A state trooper who saw what was happening quickly put out the flames. 

UPDATE from Atlanta Journal

About 10:45 a.m., the 58-year-old Air Force veteran from Mableton parked a Nissan Sentra on Washington Street, stepped out of the car and walked toward the Capitol, GSP Capt. Mark Perry told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Veteran sets himself on fire in protest outside Georgia Capitol
Military Times
By: J.D. Simkins
3 hours ago

A veteran who was fed up with treatment by the Department of Veterans Affairs set himself on fire in protest outside of the Georgia state Capitol building in downtown Atlanta on Tuesday.

A veteran protesting treatment from the Department of Veterans affairs set himself on fire outside of the Georgia Capitol building on Tuesday. (Stephen Morton/Getty Images)

The 58-year-old from Mableton, Georgia, who has not yet been identified, parked his car alongside the Capitol before walking toward the building, where he commenced self-immolation, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

“He was strapped with some homemade incendiary devices (and) firecrackers, and doused himself with some kind of flammable liquid,” Georgia State Patrol Capt. Mark Perry told the AJC.
read more here

Army 1st Lt. Garlin Murl Conner MOH

Grandson of WWI's 'Sgt. York' Will Attend Medal of Honor Ceremony
Military.com
By Richard Sisk
25 Jun 2018

On Tuesday, Pauline Conner will accept the posthumous award of the Medal of Honor for her husband, who died in 1998 at age 79

They were Appalachian farm boys and crack shots who were distantly related by marriage, and now they are both Medal of Honor recipients for their "above and beyond" actions in separate wars.

Sgt. Alvin C York (US Army)

Army Sgt. Alvin C. York, believed to be the most highly decorated American soldier of World War I and made famous in a 1941 blockbuster movie, and Army 1st Lt. Garlin Murl Conner, one of the most highly decorated soldiers of World War II, first met when York came to the parade for Conner's homecoming in May 1945 and spoke at the Clinton County Courthouse in Kentucky.

That was where Pauline Conner, or Miss Pauline as she is known in the county, first saw the man who was to become her husband. He was all of about 5-foot-6 and maybe 130 pounds -- "probably," she said with a laugh at a Pentagon briefing Monday.

Pauline, who was Pauline Wells at the time, said her future husband didn't make a good first impression. She recalled with a smile turning to her mother, Tressie, and saying "my God, Mama, that little wharf rat couldn't have done all of what they said he'd done."
read more here

VIETNAM VET ARRESTS MAN WHO STOLE DOG TAGS FROM MEMORIAL

HUDSON VALLEY VIETNAM VET ARRESTS MAN WHO STOLE MILITARY TAGS 
101.5 WPDH 
BOBBY WELBER 
June 25, 2018 

A Hudson Valley man was arrested by a Vietnam veteran for allegedly stealing from a war memorial.

On Wednesday, 73-year-old Dennis McGuire, a part-time security officer for the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office, was alerted by a witness that a man stole a set of commemorative military dog tags from the war memorial located in front of the Ulster County Office Building on Fair Street in Kingston. McGuire and another officer found 29-year-old Jeris B. Lincoln wearing the stolen dog tags on Fair Street, police say. He was charged with petit larceny.
read more here