Contemplating suicide, this Marine turned to yoga to save his life
CNN
By Mayra Cuevas
June 29, 2018
"If we had firefights or anything went on that was a high-stress day, I was teaching yoga," he says. "We were in the dirt just doing the practice, and the students were coming. Even these big Special Forces dudes were coming and like, 'Hey, what are you doing over there?' 'I'm doing yoga and meditation.' "
(CNN) Marine Justin Blazejewski rolls out his yoga mat over a dock floating along the banks of the Potomac River. It's a sunny weekday morning inside the DC beltway, where he lives and works as a military contractor.
"I stumbled upon yoga to save my life, basically, and I knew that I found something special," he said. "And it's taking me on a totally different path than I originally planned."
After a quick warmup, Blazejewski folds over himself, the top of his head resting on the creaky boards beneath him. The soles of his feet rise into a bright blue, cloudless sky. He lifts both arms, vertical against his torso, until he's in a full unsupported headstand or niralamba sirsasana, as the pose is called in yoga-speak.
read more here
Former officer to surrender license, plead guilty in assault at Indianapolis VA hospital
The Indy Channel
Jordan Fischer
Jun 29, 2018
In a plea agreement filed in federal court Wednesday, Kaim acknowledges that the victim was already walking out the door of the hospital after being told to leave when Kaim shoved him out of the door and pushed him against an exterior wall of the building. Kaim then caused the victim to fall face-first on the sidewalk, before striking him in the head six-to-seven times.
INDIANAPOLIS -- A former officer with the Veterans Affairs Medical Center Police Department has agreed to surrender his law enforcement license as part of a plea agreement over an assault at the Indianapolis VA hospital in April 2017.
Officer Michael Kaim was indicted in January on a civil rights violation and obstruction of justice for allegedly writing a false report about an arrest at the Richard L. Roudebush Veterans Affairs Memorial Center.
read more here
Fake Marine gave serial killer suspect a home. Now he's accused of bilking man of RV park
Mississippi Clarion Ledger
Jerry Mitchell
Published June 29, 2018
CANYON LAKE, Texas — A fake Marine who gave Mississippi native and convicted killer Felix Vail a home is now accused of using a Christian charity to bilk a man of an RV park.
David Thomason was so close with convicted murderer Felix Vail that he gave him property in Canyon Lake, Texas. And there is one thing he has in common with Vail: each had a wife reported to have drowned in an accident.
(Photo: File photo)
David Thomason portrays himself as a heroic Marine and a generous pastor who aids veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder with his Tree of Light Ministries.
In reality, he is a mail-order minister with no record of serving in the Marines.
A local man here, Bryan Todd Sympson, is now suing Thomason and his wife, saying they tricked him over the past three years into giving their Tree of Light Ministries at least $336,590 in donations, plus an RV park.
It gets stranger...read more here
A community comes together to help Pennsylvania trucker, Army veteran find dog lost at Lake Station truck stop
NWI Times
Dylan Wallace
Jun 29, 2018 Updated 4 hrs ago
It wasn't until a few days ago when they questioned workers at the truck stop that one revealed they saw another truck driver scoop up a dog and take it with him. The employee's description of the dog matched Jade's, so Morris and DiBenedetto are certain it was her.
Gilson is from Pennsylvania and is a U.S. Army veteran who is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The distance between his home and Lake Station hasn't stopped him from trying to find his dog. Co-workers give him routes that allow him to pass through Indiana, so he can stop by.
Truck driver Doug Gilson stopped by the TA truck stop in Lake Station on Thursday morning and stared at the empty seat next to him.
"It's tough looking over at that seat, and she's not there," Gilson said.
Just three weeks prior, on June 8, Gilson was driving to Iowa when he made a pit stop at that same truck stop around 1 a.m.
Accompanying him was his service dog, Jade — a female Australian shepherd and companion of Gilson's for 12 years.
read more here
If this surprises you, you have not been paying attention.
Here are some things to consider from All Things Considered KUNC by Michael De Yoanna that came out today.
Each day about 20 veterans and active-duty service members take their own lives. It's a stubborn number that hasn't changed much since 2005. If the trend continues, 100,000 veterans and troops will have been lost to suicide by the end of this year.
(Actually the VA had to retract that part with the current military in the number)
They should have added the word "known" to that because we have tracked the ones who apparently, did not count.
The 20-a-day rate has been relatively consistent since 2008. By that estimate, more than 58,000 veterans and troops have taken their own lives since 2008.
Add roughly 20,000 more suicides for the three years prior to that, when the daily suicide rate was 19 a day (in 2007) and about 18 (in 2005 and 2006). Numbers for 2016, 2017 and 2018 are yet to be tallied. If they hold to 20 a day, by the end of this year the total number of suicides among veterans and troops will be more than 100,000 since 2005.
In one snapshot of the of the issue, Congress’ investigative arm, the Government Accountability Office, found that 57,000 Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines troops discharged between 2011 and 2015 for misconduct had post-traumatic stress disorder, brain injuries and other conditions, like adjustment, anxiety and depressive disorders. Of these troops, more than 20 percent, or about 13,000 of them, received “other than honorable” discharges, which made them potentially ineligible for veterans benefits, including access to health care for their conditions.
Actually that total is a lot higher too. Plus add in about 200,000 Vietnam veterans and you get the idea.
Only 22 states with the inclusion of California in 2017 track veteran suicides but when the first suicide report came out, the limited data came from just 21 states. No clue what the other states are doing with their veterans.
So what about all the others who did not count? The veterans who moved out of the country? Veterans who faced off with law enforcement and lost their lives. That happened on a weekly basis last year.
And now for what the headline was,
Some 78,000 Veterans And Troops Lost To Suicide Since 2005
Keep in mind that while the DOD puts out quarterly reports, about 90 days after the end of the quarter, the average is 500 a year, and has not gotten better either. That screams of the need to stop what does not work all the way through. But then again, as there seems to be more and more folks screaming about numbers, the number of living veterans continues to drop.
All that plus the calls into suicide prevention keep going up!
Still no answer from the DOD on what will be the one too many to change. No answer on how many veterans committing suicide is acceptable to them either!
