Combat PTSD Wounded Times Kathie Costos August 31, 2018 Tomorrow starts Suicide Prevention Month, but in this video, I used "awareness" instead for a reason. We are about to be seeing even more groups on TV and in the news papers, plus online for weeks! The awareness that needs to be raised is that the one thing that is needed is to be given back some hope and know they matter. Read down to the bottom and see what you can do to change the conversation too! Yesterday my friend Dave Matthews and I went to the Vietnam Memorial park across from Lake Baldwin VA to do a video. Well, actually 2 of them. One was for PTSD Patrol and the other was for his radio show. Yep, multitasking again!
Anyway, sure enough we got into another argument on the need to stop raising awareness on the "22 a day" stunts. This has been going on between us for a long time. During the video, Dave dropped down and did 22 push-ups. I called him an idiot! We had just talked about the fact that no one knows how many veterans are committing suicide and that the gossip was doing more harm than good. It is not helpful at all. What it does is rip the last glimmer of hope from a veteran on the verge of losing their last battle to survive. It turned out that he challenged me to come up with something else to do after I could not get that number out of his head.
Well now you know how hard it is to get that number out of heads! While some things are in the video, here are more thoughts this video spawned. Take 22 friends and go to a homeless veterans shelter to help them for a day. Take 22 friends and go to a VA hospital or clinic and thank the people working there as well as the veterans walking in. Take 22 friends and write positive things about veterans. Take 22 friends and visit veterans in nursing homes. Take 22 friends and write cards to veterans in your area. Take 22 friends and make gifts for veterans. Take 22 friends and make phone calls to your local elected officials to correct a lot of the stuff they got wrong. Take 22 friends and volunteer at one of the veterans organizations that take care of all generations of veterans. The only way veterans will #CombatPTSD and hear they can #TakeBackYourLife is if you show up and show you care.
Iraq veteran finds out VA has declared her dead WLOS News by Raphael Pires August 29th 2018
What she also didn’t expect is having to prove she was alive when she came back.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — A Candler veteran who was trying to get medical treatment through Veterans Affairs found out the agency has declared her dead.
"I said, 'I look pretty well preserved for being dead for 26 years,'" Judith Herren, an Iraq War veteran, said.
Herren said the problem started back in November when she decided to consider getting treatment at Charles George Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Asheville.
"They couldn't process anything because I was listed as ‘deceased’ in September of 1991," Herren said.
Herren served in the military for eight years -- four in the Army and four in the National Guard, where she found herself in Iraq.
"We were the first units in Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and we really didn’t know what to expect," Herren said. read more here
Judge Guy Williams opens up about PTSD treatment KRISTV 6 News Greg Chandler August 29, 2018 CORPUS CHRISTI – A very different Judge Guy Williams was back in his chambers at the 148th District Court on Wednesday.
Williams recently finished six weeks of treatment for post traumatic stress disorder at Warrior’s Heart in Bandera, a facility specifically for veterans.
The judge, who won a Purple Heart during the Vietnam War, says he’s battled PTSD since his discharge from the Marine Corps in 1970.
“As soon as I got out the hyper-vigilance was there, the exaggerated startle response, the depression, the anxiety,” Williams said. “Nightmares, lack of sleep.”
PTSD continued plaguing Williams during his career with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. He said he hid the problem from co-workers by working 80 hours a week.
“I never got treatment, because I knew once I got treatment somebody would get the medical records and my career would be gone,” said Williams. read more here
Suicide has been a persistent problem in Montana — and it’s getting worse. Now, some who have lost loved ones are mobilizing to stop the deaths.
“It’s one of those things, especially if you’re a male, not to ask for help,” Ranalli, 39, said. “People I served with, they don’t want to reach out and say ‘Hey, I’m having some problems, and I need to talk to somebody.’”
Ranalli spends an evening with his family. He plans to be open with his six children about his mental health so they feel comfortable discussing any struggles with him. Annie Flanagan / for NBC News
For Ranalli, the problems started in 2005 after several Army buddies in his unit were killed in Iraq, some by a bomb, others in a firefight. The same year, on his second deployment there, Ranalli was hit by a roadside bomb, ending his dream of a long Army career. He returned home with a traumatic brain injury, stuck in a cycle of nightmares, flashbacks, anger, depression and anxiety. The following year, two more friends died while fighting in Iraq. By 2012, Ranalli was overwhelmed by survivor’s guilt and frustration over his inability to rejoin the Army. One night, his wife found him in their garage, blackout drunk and attempting suicide.
But he fought back!
“I felt like a burden,” he said. “I’ve seen what [suicide] does to families, but at the time, you just don’t think about it.”
Ranalli’s wife convinced him to get help, but it eventually became clear that the treatment he needed wasn’t available in Helena. There was a traveling VA clinic that came through once a month, but nothing permanent, so he underwent months of treatment out of state, in San Diego.
After his health improved and he returned home, Ranalli decided to channel his frustration with Montana’s mental health care shortfalls into action. He worked on a letter-writing campaign for a permanent veterans mental health clinic in his hometown, and this spring, the Helena Vet Center held its grand opening. So far, it’s provided over 1,055 mental health visits to nearly 150 veterans and family members. Ranalli is one of them; he receives treatment there for post-traumatic stress disorder. click link to read more
St. Louis woman admits drowning, abusing puppy in California St. Louis Post-Dispatch By Robert Patrick Aug 28, 2018 ST. LOUIS • A woman from St. Louis pleaded guilty to a felony animal cruelty charge in federal court Tuesday and admitted abusing and drowning a puppy on a U.S. Marine Corps base in California.
Brittney Shanae Dyson admitted dunking Bella in a bucket of water, bleach and Pine-Sol cleaner on June 16, 2016, in a house on Camp Pendleton in Oceanside.
The Dachshund-terrier mix was about 6 months old and weighed less than 20 pounds, Dyson’s plea says, and struggled frantically, clawing at the sides of the bucket.
A necropsy the next day found evidence that Bella’s leg had been fractured by blunt force within three weeks of her death, and Dyson admitted “on occasion” striking the dog “with great force.” read more here
