UK Veterans support group shut down by Facebook?

Veterans warn suicidal soldiers' lives are being put at risk as Facebook blocks 'cry for help' site for British troops battling combat stress
Daily Mail UK
By MARK NICOL FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY
30 June 2018

Facebook deleted Fill Your Boots UK after saying content violated guidelines Page was set up to help soldiers and veterans with Post traumatic stress disorder But social media platform still hosted a jihadi propaganda page free to view

Facebook has shut down a page used by desperate soldiers seeking support for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – leading to fears it is putting lives at risk.

Soldiers suffering from combat induced traumas after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan would post ‘cries for help’ on the page on an almost daily basis according to its founder, ex-paratrooper Alfie Usher. Stock image

The social media giant closed Fill Your Boots UK (FYB UK) after claiming its content, which included discussions with mentally ill soldiers who were considering ending their lives, breached ‘community’ guidelines.

Soldiers suffering from combat induced traumas after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan would post ‘cries for help’ on the page on an almost daily basis according to its founder, ex-paratrooper Alfie Usher.

FYB UK would then issue SOS messages, asking other veterans to rush to their aid.

But last week the page was dramatically shut down without warning after an exchange of messages between Mr Usher and a former soldier who threatened to kill himself in reaction to the deaths of two of his soldiers who were blown up by Taliban bombs in Afghanistan.
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Tribute to Desert Storm Marines Painted Over!

Property Owner Paints Over Deep Ellum Mural Depicting U.S. Marines
NBC DWF 5 News
By Cory Smith
Jun 29, 2018

The mural depicted a group of U.S. Marines in Desert Storm. The group is standing in a circle with a large American flag in the background watching a soldier break dance.

In Deep Ellum, murals are more than works of art, they're part of the community's story.

"This is our way of communicating, our way of expressing ourselves," said local artist Preston Pannek.

On Friday Pannek felt like a piece of that story was erased when the mural he worked tirelessly to paint on a wall outside the Green Room was covered up with black paint.

Neighborhood residents and artists are outraged.

The building is owned by Westdale. Pannek called Friday to find out why it was covered and said he spoke with a the property manager.

"Right off the bat he was extremely rude and said 'It's gone. There is nothing I can do about it,'" said Pannek.

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PTSD Patrol filling up with hopefulness

PTSD Patrol hope on a tank full
PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos

July 1, 2018

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13 New International Version (NIV)

Yesterday out at the Orlando Nam Knights, Tony "NK Jeans" Johnson wanted to know why I was so against the "awareness" raisers. The answer is a simply one. It does not give hope to those searching for it.

 When people say "it is just a number" they show they did not take enough interest to know, the known number represents people and were not just a number that is easy to remember.

We need to change the conversation into what will stop them from being stuck with an empty tank of hopelessness and fill them up with hopefulness!

I explained the difference between what is actually known and what is just assumed. The point of this effort is to change from awareness that people are committing suicide into what will help them want to live! That begins with knowledge of what PTSD is, what being a survivor is, and the power behind the simple fact that they can heal if they work at it!
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112 year old WWII veteran robbed!

112-year-old Austin resident, our oldest living veteran, robbed of savings, identity
Dallas Morning News
Brendan Meyer
June 30, 2018

Thankfully, the bank account was not connected to Overton's GoFundMe page, which finances his 24/7 in-home care. Since its inception in December 2016, the page has raised more than $320,000, though a large portion of that money has already been spent.

Someone is impersonating the oldest man in America.

Family members of Richard Overton, the 112-year-old World War II veteran who lives in Austin, learned that his personal bank account had been drained on Friday.

"Someone set up a bogus account, got his Social Security number and accessed his personal checking account," said Volma Overton, who is Overton's third cousin.
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After posting on Instagram he killed a stranger

Carlton: A father killed, two boys hurt. Is Florida’s stingy mental health spending partly to blame?
Tampa Bay Times
Sue Carlton
June 28, 2018

On a Sunday morning, a father and his two young sons went for a bike ride in the New Tampa suburbs. The boys, 3 and 8, wore bike helmets to keep them safe.

The man driving the Dodge was just five days out of a mental health facility. This time he had been involuntarily committed after he walked into a police station, said some bizarre things and warned a cop he might hurt someone. Sometime that Sunday, he posted wild-eyed, ominous ravings on Instagram. His parents would later say they tried for years to get him the right help.

What happened next is the definition of madness.

Twelve days before he was accused of killing a man and injuring two children, Mikese Morse visited a Tampa police substation and predicted he would hurt someone if he wasn't detained, records show. He was taken into protective custody under Florida's Baker Act. But he was set free a week later. [Tampa Police Department, Times file]

Police say 30-year-old Mikese Morse — once a college athlete and an Olympic hopeful — made a U-turn, crossed a lane of oncoming traffic, drove over the grass onto the bike path, stepped on the gas and hit the family. Pedro Aguerreberry, 42, died and his sons were injured. They will recover, but without their father.

Tampa police Chief Brian Dugan told reporters Morse did this deliberately, purposely, intentionally. The chief also said there was no evidence Morse knew the people he hit — no simmering conflict, no hint of the usual motives of money, anger, jealousy, hate, revenge. "Random," was the word the chief used. "For no apparent reason whatsoever," he said.

A question, then: Did a man die at least in part because of a lack of adequate mental health care for someone who clearly needed it, not only for himself but also to keep the world safe from him?

Did our state — ranked in recent years next to last in spending on mental health — play a part?
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What does Gov. Rick Scott have to say about all this? What do members of our state legislature have to say?