Will reporters ever get a clue on 22? Combat PTSD Wounded Times Kathie Costos September 3, 2018 Yet again, the ear worm of "22" has penetrated another community. This time in Indiana. It was reported on WTHI 10 News. 22 PUSH UP CHALLENGE LOOKS TO BRING AWARENESS TO AN IMPORTANT ISSUE
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - 22 people...over 22 days are pushing out a message. A message of suicide awareness among veterans. It's the third year of the 22 Push Up Challenge.The Hamilton Center brings together groups of 22 people to do 22 push-ups.The challenge is a message for veterans and active military members to be aware of their resources...and it's more than just pushups."Sometimes it's about being silly but sometimes it's about bringing a message. and if one person hears that message and we stop one person from taking that step into hopelessness or suicide then we're doing what we're supposed to do," William Little, from the Hamilton Center said.
The "third year" of the challenge? Yep! How many times does the truth have to be told before this BS stops? It is happening all over the country with good intentions have replaced good information. I ran up against it with one of my buddy's when we were doing videos for PTSD Patrol.
My friend Dave Matthews, otherwise known as Sgt. Dave, sat down at the Lake Baldwin Vietnam Memorial and did a couple of videos. In this one, we talked about the facts and how "22" number is not helping anyone.Then Dave became unable to control himself, dropped down and did, you guessed it, 22 push-ups. I called him an idiot!
Then he challenged me to come up with something else for the "22 a day" groups to do that would be positive and helpful. This is the start of the list and go to Combat PTSD Wounded Times for more you can do.
Dave is one of my good buddies and is totally dedicated to other veterans. I've known him for a very long time. He is far from stupid. Trust me on that one. So how is it that even after we talked about how no one knows the number of veterans who lost their battle, did he still stay trapped in the "easy to remember" number of 22? He said that is the number everyone knows. What he could not explain is how that number, how raising awareness on a false number is helping anyone. It isn't. The only number families know is the one who is no longer here.
The veterans I have worked with over the last three decades have been pissed off that they reached the point where they almost took their lives because no one told them the things I said before. You know, like getting them to understand what PTSD is and why they have it, but beyond that, what they can do to live a better quality of life. If you go to PTSD Patrol, I have put up some of my older videos on PTSD going back to 2006. If you really want to do something to prevent suicides, then stop talking about something that is not true, just because "everyone knows" it. Much like when folks thought the world was flat...turns out it was not. Now I know how the informed people felt back then when they were called liars too! The second thing they all wanted to do was to help other veterans heal too! This site has far too many reports on veterans taking their own lives who did not find what they needed to heal because of all the people putting the ear worm of suicide into their brains.
U.S. veterans use archaeology to dig through trauma in Israel NBC News by Paul Goldman and Francis Whittaker Sep.02.2018
"Because of their separation from the military culture, a lot of them are really isolated."
The site in Beit She'arim, Israel, run by American Veterans Archaeological Recovery program.Paul Goldman / NBC News
BEIT SHE'ARIM, Israel — Like many veterans, Nichol Fuentes has struggled with some aspects of life since leaving the Marines in 2013.
Fuentes, 38, a retired sergeant, suffered recurring ankle injuries while in Iraq and while stationed in Japan. She has also been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
But the New Jersey mother of three and wife of an active-duty Marine has been invigorated by an unexpected field: archaeology.
“It’s almost like therapy,” she told NBC News amid the dust and stones of an excavation site at Beit She’arim, a World Heritage site and national park in northern Israel. “It’s helped me a lot. It’s given me something to focus on and a purpose."
Fuentes said that a dig she recently took part in helped her recapture the sense of “camaraderie” she had lost since leaving the military. read more here
More than 10,000 visit 'The Wall That Heals' in Crivitz WBAY 2 News By Cearron Bagenda Sep 01, 2018 CRIVITZ, Wis. (WBAY) - More than 10,000 visitors have come to 'The Wall That Heals' in Crivitz since Thursday. Visitors are getting closure and paying their respects to those who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Vietnam War.
'The Wall That Heals' display at the Crivitz Community Veterans Park
'The Wall That Heals' is a three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. The wall displays more than 58,000 names of those who gave their lives during the Vietnam War, and 1,500 names of unaccounted service members.
"I mean we've had people from all over the United States, it's a moment of healing, just to be able to touch that name of a friend or a relative. My classmate is on that wall and I’m able to walk up and say goodbye," said John Deschane, Crivitz Village President. read more here
Amputee soldier takes re-enlistment oath at bottom of dive tank AL.com By Lee Roop August 31, 2018
If you were looking for Huntsville soldier Michael Brown on Friday, you needed to search 30 feet under water in the U.S. Space and Rocket Center's dive tank.
Two thumbs up from a re-committed soldier Staff Sgt. Michael Brown gives two thumbs up when he surfaces after taking a re-enlistment oath at the bottom of a dive tank. Brown wanted to celebrate the passion he developed for diving since it became part of his rehabilitation from losing a lower leg in combat in Iraq.
Staff Sgt. Brown, a combat veteran and wounded warrior based at Redstone Arsenal, went to the bottom of the tank to take his oath of re-enlistment from fellow diver and Lt. Col Gary Blount.
Brown chose the center's Underwater Astronaut Trainer "as a fitting location to marry his two passions, the Army and scuba diving," the Army said in a press release. It's where Brown loves to be, and that's something of a surprise to him and everyone else.
"In 2007, two years after joining the army, my left leg was blown off below the knee," Brown explained after surfacing. It happened in Mosul, Iraq, 33 days after he deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom. An RKG-3 anti-tank grenade hit Brown, and he was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Hospital where military doctors have learned how to perform surgical miracles.
Brown got specially designed prosthetic leg and also something to think about. "I was taught to scuba dive as part of adaptive rehabilitation - to think outside the box about what my 'new normal' could be," Brown said Friday. read more here
Military writer, 53, hanged herself beside love letter to her husband as memory loss and ME began to stop her ability to pen articles Daily Mail By TERRI-ANN WILLIAMS FOR MAILONLINE 31 August 2018
Kate Perrett-Clarke's symptoms meant she was overwhelmed by fatigue
Mother of three compared getting around her home to 'running a marathon'
Writer was described as a 'joy and a whirlwind' by family and friends
A talented writer and mother of three hanged herself after she began losing her ability to pen magazine articles due to bouts of illness.
Kate Perrett-Clarke, 53, had forged a successful career in writing academic pieces for military publications but her medical conditions, which included memory loss and the chronic fatigue syndrome ME left her barely able to draw a clock face.
This inability to continue to pursue her passion led her to take her own life.
She was found by her husband Malcolm last March, next to her was a love letter she had previously penned to him before he had travelled to Scotland for six weeks. read more here
