USMC veteran lived in New Zealand as homeless veteran and died there

Homeless man found dead in Auckland was 'humble' US Army veteran

Stuff.com New Zealand
Harrison Christian
Nov 24 2018

"Miller was a humble man, a US veteran with an honorable discharge from the US Marine Corps," she said.

Miller Patane, 58, was a US army veteran who once appeared on the front page of the NZ Herald receiving a slice of wedding cake from generous newlyweds.

Workers at an Auckland local board arrived at their office last Wednesday morning to find a rough sleeper bundled up in a blanket on the front steps of their office.

The bundle didn't move, and it was soon apparent the man inside was dead.

Morning commuters streamed past the dismal scene on Dominion Rd as police arrived and the body was taken away in an ambulance. Staff and elected members of the Albert-Eden local board were offered counselling.

The man was 58 year old Miller Patane, a US Army veteran who grew up in Ōtara and had been homeless for decades.

His large Mormon family, many of whom live in the US, came to New Zealand this week to farewell him. His younger sister, Moana Patane Gasu, received word of his death from the NZ police at her home in Utah.
read more here

Yes you saw that right. The article was not corrected even though his sister said he was in the Marine Corps. 

Why any of them would want to serve at all?

Military cannot meet recruitment goals, or keep promises

Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 24, 2018

"Army struggles with soldier shortage as recruiters miss goals" is the headline on the Gazette by Tom Roeder that came out late last night.

The problem is, the rest of the story was not mentioned. So, let's take a look at what was not printed.

"Combined with other bonus programs, a new recruit could pocket more than $40,000 in addition to their pay with recruiting deals."

Considering the "deal" of additional money was promised, so were a lot of other things promised. 

For starters, the GI Bill, which left thousands with unpaid tuition, housing and funds to live off of putting many into the homeless veterans world of pain. 

"The Army had a goal for 2018 to add 76,500 soldiers to its ranks, and came up with just 69,972."

Well, sure it is easy to blame the economy for the shortage of those willing to serve, but when there were almost 70,000 willing to put their lives on the line, in a "hot economy" that proves to be false reasoning.

Troops are still being deployed into two nations over a decade after they were started. They are deployed into different parts of the world, taking them away from their families and friends. 

As for families, many are on food stamps, lack safe housing and face no accountability or even concern, so they are forced to sue the government. What makes it worse is when the same government pays landlords to provide housing with mold and mice. The reports came out about the Marines, Air Force and other military families, but when you look back, you see it happened in every branch.

"The Defense Department said this month that the National Guard saw a recruiting shortfall of more than 9,700 troops and the Army Reserve fell short of its recruiting goals by more than 4,200 troops."

See all of the above for them, but add in how they are taken away from their homes and jobs to be sent to the boarder without a clear mission or timeline.

Add in how many have had to come up with funds to pay the government back because the government messed up and over paid them.

These men and women are great at keeping their promises, but they are not kept from the government.

The question is, not why they cannot meet recruitment goals, but why any of them would want to serve at all?

Seniors share Thanksgiving with Marines who saved them from fire

Seniors share Thanksgiving meal with Marines who saved them from fire

CBS News
Nikole Killion
November 22, 2018

Two months after running into a burning building to save elderly residents at the Arthur Capper Senior Public Housing complex in Washington, D.C., U.S. Marine Corps Captain Trey Gregory is coming to their aid again – with a Thanksgiving meal.

"These people have been through a traumatic event," said Capt. Gregory. "It is so sad right before the holidays but I'm just honored that we get to serve them again and give them food and put a smile on their face." There were plenty of smiles and hugs to go around as Gregory and several other Marines from the Washington Barracks dished out turkey, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, green beans and other traditional fare for dozens of residents and their families. 

"It is an honor and a blessing to see them serving us this way, you know, because we know they care," said D'Artois Davis who has been stuck at a hotel since the fire. "It's the holiday and you're used to your family coming around but there's no place for them to come and we've lost so much." read more here

First-responder from Collingwood died by suicide earlier this week

Sometimes it's not enough: how one PTSD survivor tries to save others

Barrie Today
Erika Engel
November 23, 2018

“Support for families is what we found was lacking,” said Angie Stevens, Bryan’s wife. While Bryan was first dealing with symptoms of PTSD and occupational stress, Angie didn’t know where to turn. “You go into this silent position because you don’t want to tarnish their image,” said Angie. “So you try to help them on your own.”

Bryan Stevens is the founder of Frontline Forward. Erika Engel/CollingwoodToday

A former air ambulance advanced care paramedic may no longer be treating wounds mid-air, but he is still caring for the wounded and broken.

Bryan Stevens is the founder of Frontline Forward, an organization and facility designed to support and educate front-line workers affected by occupational stress and dealing with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

He experienced PTSD first-hand and made the decision to retire early as a result. Through a support system, professional counselling, physical therapy, meditation and more, Stevens has learned to cope with PTSD and work through the symptoms.

“Thank God I battled through it, but it’s still a challenge,” said Stevens. “You can have all the right people around you and things to support you and still sometimes that may not be enough”

A first-responder from Collingwood died by suicide earlier this week. Mike Scott was a firefighter at Central York Fire Services in the Newmarket and Aurora area. Before that, he was a firefighter on The Blue Mountains Fire Department. Scott’s family asked for donations to Frontline Forward in lieu of flowers.

Stevens said Scott was a good friend, and the two talked often about working as a first responder and dealing with PTSD. Scott’s funeral is today, and Stevens came to Collingwood with his wife, Angie, to attend the service.

“It’s a heavy burden to carry all this hurt,” said Stevens, quoting a song by country singer Kevin Davidson, a former first-responder. “We have to come to understand we don’t need to carry all that burden.”

Understanding was the first hurdle for Stevens, a 30-year veteran paramedic with 12 years in Peel Region (Mississauga) and 18 years as an advanced care paramedic for Ornge based in London.
read more here

Suicide awareness groups failed us!

To families left behind after suicide

Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 23, 2018

Eighteen years ago, losing a member of the family to suicide caused a flood of questions to begin. To this day, I am still waiting for the answers to come.

It was not just a matter of not knowing how to get my husband's nephew to listen that caused guilt to boil up. It was the fact that I had been fully invested in PTSD work for many years. I could get strangers to listen and find hope. I could not fuel that hope in our nephew.

I understand the need to do something to prevent other suicides. It is almost as if the death would have no meaning if we do nothing. The problem is, doing something can be worse than nothing to others.

I had first hand knowledge of what trauma did because I survived many times as a civilian. I knew what TBI was, because I had it. So please, take what this "expert" has to share after 36 years of work.

That chart shows the size of the military members being reduced.

This chart also shows the size of military being reduced by suicide. It has been an average of 500 per year since 2012.

Those men and women should still be here, but they are not. They valued life so much, they were willing to die to save someone else. They did not value their own enough to ask for help. This is after over a decade of "resilience" training they received to "prevent" suicides with over 900 programs being offered and paid for by the Department of Defense.

DOD programs added to the stigma of PTSD and they were taught to be "resilient" before the effort was proven to provide what it was supposed to do. But that did not really matter considering there were Generals telling the service members it was their fault because they were not mentally strong enough to take it.

That sums up what has been going on within the military. It also shows what has been happening in the veterans' community.

This is a chart from the VA released in the latest suicide report.

Notice as the number of known suicides did not change much, the number of living veterans dropped by over 4 million, which increased the percentage of suicide deaths.

The vast majority of known suicides occurred many years after they left the military, with over half being committed by veterans over the age of 50.

We tend to want to do something to prevent other families from going through what we did. We do all kinds of things to "raise awareness" that it is happening, but few do any real research to know the number most people talk about, is not even close to the truth. Plus, the one that was part of our family, is the number each of us focus on.

We share our loss once we get the fact there is nothing for us to be ashamed of. We did the best we could with what we knew at the time. However, that does not qualify us to start campaigns or raise funds for what we want to do with that pain. We will only end up sharing misery while doing nothing to actually change the outcome. 

Before we can actually prevent suicides, we have to invest the time in learning how to do it. Otherwise our only experience is in what already failed.

Suicide awareness campaigns are failures. The numbers prove that.

It is our job to fight against people taking the easy way to make money off our pain. If there is a "suicide awareness" event in your area, contact the media and let them know you need accountability from them. Make reporters actually do their jobs.

You need to know where the money is going and what qualified them to be worthy of the funds. Have a list of questions you want answered and then ask the fundraisers. 

Research the facts and stop supporting what already failed too many other families like yours. Then remember, they failed your family before you lost someone you love.

Contact your elected official and make them to their jobs since Congress has had jurisdiction over the military and the VA all these years. 

Do not be sold on anyone telling you that privatizing the VA is a good thing, especially when veterans should never be treated like civilians. Civilian therapists do not understand military culture.

As important as it is for us to want to break the silence of PTSD and suicides, it is more important for us to actually learn how to prevent other families from having to suffer our fate.