WWII veteran with PTSD says "We were taught to be quiet"

If you have watched Ken Burns documentary The War you understand that when veterans came home before Vietnam, this is what they were all told. "We were taught to be quiet." and that is exactly what they did.

Vietnam veterans decided to do something about Combat PTSD. It is because of them we now have psychologists, mental health clinics, crisis responders along with over 40 years of research in trauma. It is not that they were the first to experience the residual effects of war, but they were the first to take a stand and have it acknowledged as a price they paid.

Here's a story about a WWII veteran and what he has lived with all these years in silence.

War leaves PTSD scars on Native American vets
By David Freed
CHCF Center for Health Reporting
May 30, 2012

Ruben Ramirez earned a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts as a World War II infantryman fighting Nazi troops in North Africa and Italy. The physical wounds he sustained in combat eventually healed. Not so his emotional injuries.

To this day, Ramirez, 86, a retired diesel mechanic and American Indian who traces his roots to the Apache nation, is tormented by recurrent nightmares of having witnessed his buddies being blown apart. He gets out of bed every few hours to patrol the perimeter of his house in Fresno.

However, it was not until 2008, after a broken marriage, a spotty employment record and more than 60 years of suffering, that Ramirez, one of an estimated 2,000 American Indian military veterans living in the Central Valley, finally sought treatment. Ultimately, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and received disability from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

"We were taught to be quiet," Ramirez said when asked to explain why it took him so long to seek counseling, which he continues to undergo weekly.
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Iraq War veteran, Fitchburg native filmed at Devens powwow

Iraq War veteran, Fitchburg native filmed at Devens powwow
By Mary E. Arata
Posted:05/21/2012

Iraqi War veteran Tim Durrin of Great Barrington, center, shakes a tail feather at the inter-tribal powwow on Devens over the weekend. (Nashoba Publishing/Mary Arata)

DEVENS - "Oh Lord, Creator of Mother Earth and the Universe, I have opened my eyes to another day," said Johnny "Paleface" Sarmiento of Granby, age 95 who served in World War II, the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Sarmiento's prayer opened the 2-day, inter-tribal powwow on Devens last weekend.

"Please help me by taking away all that is negative," said Sarmiento. "Take away my impatience, intolerance, resentment, denials, anxiety and any other things that are negative within me."

Such spiritual cleansing has become a life journey for Tim Durrin of Great Barrington. Durrin is a Fitchburg native who also has many relatives in Lunenburg. Durrin and his family participated in the gathering to honor his ancestor's Micmac tribal roots.

A 2003 graduate of Montachusett Technical High School, Durrin enlisted in the Army and served in the 101st Airborne Division, 372nd Transportation Company. From 2004 to 2005, Durrin served in Iraq.

Among other atrocities, Durrin lost two fellow soldiers to suicide, and a third unit member who was killed by a roadside bomb. "Every day we were being attacked," said Durrin.

"Don't make me cry," said Durrin's aunt, Chere "Morningsun" Piermarini of Fitchburg. "He's been through a lot in his young life. But we all dream and live."

Durrin returned stateside and began self-medicating to try, in vain, of dealing with his post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Following a stint in rehabilitation, Durrin turned both to meditation and back to his Native American roots.
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Alaska Native American Indian veterans can stay near home for care

Department of Veteran Affairs, 15 Tribal Health Programs Sign Agreement
By SEARHC

15 Alaska Native tribal health programs sign an agreement with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that will allow Alaska veterans living in rural communities to seek health care closer to home.

The Alaska VA Healthcare System has very few clinics in Alaska (Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and Kenai).

Even though many Alaska Native/American Indian veterans living in rural Alaska had access to a tribal health facility in their community, they frequently had to travel to one of the Alaska VA clinics or even Seattle, sometimes at their own expense, in order to receive care from the Veterans Health Administration.

This agreement will allow eligible veterans (those who have registered for VA benefits) to receive care in their home community. It also allows Alaska Native tribal health programs to be eligible to be reimbursed by the VA for providing that care. Under the agreement, non-Native veterans also will be able to receive care at the participating tribal health facilities.

“The agreement is the result of years of work by both the Alaska Tribal Health System and the Alaska VA Healthcare System, with support from Sen. Mark Begich,” SEARHC President/CEO Charles Clement said. “The goal of the agreement is to enable tribal health organizations to provide care for veterans either in their home community or closer to home.
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An Iwo Jima Story You May Not Have Heard

An Iwo Jima Story You May Not Have Heard
By Jack McNeel November 7, 2011

The name is widely recognized. There are books, movies and even songs, including Johnny Cash’s hit, “The Ballad of Ira Hayes.” His image, as one of six U.S. Marines photographed raising the U.S. flag over Iwo Jima’s Mount Suribachi near the end of World War II has been reproduced millions of times. He was hailed as a hero.

Ira Hamilton Hayes was born in Sacaton, Arizona on January 12, 1923 on the Gila River Indian Reservation. Ira was a Pima, the son of Nancy and Jobe Hayes.

Nine months after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Ira enlisted in the Marine Corps. He was 19. Before he left, his community held a traditional Pima ceremony for him. His parents wanted him to remain home, but he wanted to go, wanted to help defend the U.S. and protect his family.

He was proud to be a Marine and retained that pride throughout his life.

After completing boot camp he was accepted into parachute training, something reserved for only the best young Marines. He was proud to be the first Pima to receive Marine Paratrooper wings. His fellow Marines nicknamed him Chief Falling Cloud.

His first combat action was on Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. He was sharing a foxhole with another Marine. During the night a Japanese soldier crept to the foxhole and jumped in, hoping to kill them, but Hayes killed the attacker with his bayonet.
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North Dakota Tribal leaders explain VA needs

Tribal leaders explain VA needs

By SARA KINCAID Bismarck Tribune
Posted: Tuesday, July 5, 2011

North Dakota tribal leaders want more Veterans Affairs services on the reservations.

They told Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki Tuesday that there is a need for housing, health care and access to other VA services on the reservations.

“We all have friends and relatives who have served,” said David Gipp, president of United Tribes Technical College.

Shinseki was at United Tribes Technical College Tuesday morning for a listening session with tribal leaders and American Indian veterans. He also visited the VA Outreach Clinic at Gateway Mall in Bismarck, and spoke with members of the tribes about what services are available.

The crowd in the Healing Room of the United Tribes Wellness Center provided examples of what Veterans Affairs has done right and where they could improve serving the population of veterans.

In some cases it was offering help for job training or creating culturally-relevant services, such as a sweat lodge. Former state senator, Richard Marcellais, recalled an outreach program by the Fargo-based VA office in Turtle Mountain.


Read more: Tribal leaders explain VA needs

Fitchburg MA VFW has 20 year old female commander!

National Guard Military Police, plus female, plus young, add in Iraq topped off with Blackfoot and you have a whole different VFW than your father went to. It is one reaching out for the younger veterans while avoiding a very common complaint many female veterans have, the feeling they are not welcome. This VFW is not only telling young veterans they are welcomed there but females are just as important as males.

Twenty-Year-Old Veteran Takes Command of Her Local VFW
By Donna Laurent Caruso
July 4, 2011

Courtesy Tasha DeBlois
Tasha DeBlois, a 20-year-old military veteran was recently named commander of the Fitchburg, Massachusetts Veterans of Foreign Wars Branch. She was recently in Monson, Massachusetts on active duty as a National Guard Military Police following the tornadoes that swept through the area.

At 20 years old, Tasha DeBlois to some would appear to be just starting her adult life. That is until they get to know the United States military veteran, a National Guard Military Police officer, pow wow vendor and participant, college student and recently named commander of her local Veterans of Foreign Wars Branch.

“I don’t look like what a lot of people expect a veteran to look like,” she said from her home in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The Blackfoot citizen, who’s Indian name means Beautiful Woman—tattooed across her abdomen—has her family tree tattooed on her back and served in Iraq (Ubaydi, Military Police, 2009 and 2010) where she sustained a permanent injury from a non-combat situation.

She remains in the Army National Guard Military Police, however, and was recently sent to the nearby towns of Monson and Springfield, Massachusetts to help in the recovery from the tornadoes that caused 300 injuries, four deaths, and millions in property damage.

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Twenty-Year-Old Veteran Takes Command of Her Local VFW

Wounded soldier left stranded finds people do still care

January 16, 2011
Wounded Army soldier finds help in McAlester
By James Beaty
Senior Editor

McALESTER — It’s a need McAlester couldn’t let go by unanswered — a man identified as a wounded veteran of the war in Iraq, stranded in the city, broke and hundreds of miles from home.

On Thursday, Kristophier Barta wound up on foot in McAlester. He said his bus ticket between Veterans Administration hospitals had been extended several times and would no longer get him home to Lexington, Ken.

Barta, who said he had been wounded as a member of the U.S. Army in Iraq, still had a port tube in his chest to help drain the wound.

In McAlester, Barta didn’t know what to do. A helpful employee at the service station where he had been stranded noticed his plight.

She offered him some coffee —and something that proved to be much more.

Barta, who said he’s of Cherokee Indian ancestry, said he’d been hoping to visit a foster sister who lived in Tahlequah.

He said he asked how far it was to the Cherokee reservation, actually meaning the Cherokee Capitol grounds in Tahlequah.
read more of this great story here
Wounded Army soldier finds help in McAlester

Korean War veteran receives medal of valor

Korean War veteran receives medal of valor

Lisa Irish/The Daily Courier


A Korean War veteran in hospice at the Bob Stump Veterans Affairs Medical Center received the Warriors Medal of Valor on Thursday afternoon as his wife Joy, daughter and others looked on in the community living center's dining room.

As flute music played, Ed Albert, a member of the Cherokee of the Bear Clan, gently touched Jim Bork, 78, of Camp Verde, with an eagle feather and blessed him with a smoldering bundle of sweet sage.

"It is an honor and a pleasure to award you the Warriors Medal of Valor for your service to this country and your people. This is just a small token of our appreciation," said U.S. Marine Corps (retired) Sgt. Alfonso Santillan Jr., commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Chapter 608. "We thank you for a job well done."

Then Larry Kimmel of the Military Order of the Purple Heart and a member of the Miami Tribe of Indians of Indiana presented Bork with his medal.

The Warriors Medal of Honor was designed by Marshall Tall Eagle Serna, who wanted to honor veterans with a medallion to show appreciation for their sacrifices, Santillan said.
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Korean War veteran receives medal of valor

Indian veterans memorial dedicated in Pablo

Images of service, strength: Indian veterans memorial dedicated in Pablo

By VINCE DEVLIN of the Missoulian

PABLO - The vision of the coyotes came to artist Corky Clairmont 20 years ago.

He just didn't know what it was for at the time.

On a warm Wednesday, hundreds of people saw part of Clairmont's vision etched in granite as the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes dedicated the Clairmont-designed Warrior/Veterans Wall of Remembrance at Eagle Circle in front of tribal headquarters.

Tepee poles 65 feet tall rise over the memorial, and serve to welcome Indian veterans both alive and dead back home to their reservation.

Inside the monument, the head of an eagle occupies the tallest piece of granite, and other pieces form the wings that circle around to protect those inside.

On those inside walls, the names of more than 1,200 Indians from the Flathead Reservation who have served their nation are carved into the stone.

There's Louis Charlo, the young man from Evaro who help raise the first American flag on Iwo Jima in 1945, and was killed in action there a week later.
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Indian veterans memorial dedicated in Pablo

Veterans proud of service but left to feel ashamed after they survived it

It gets to me every time I hear it. They are proud they served but when you think about what happens to too many of them when they survive it because of claims denied or delayed, it's hard to understand why they feel that way. Think of how you'd feel after risking your life for this country and then left with nothing after because your body or your mind paid the price. These veterans have bills to pay. They have families to support. They have all the same needs and demands on them the rest of us face but unlike the rest of us, they put their bodies and their minds and their dedication on the line for the sake of the rest of us. Unlike the rest of us loving this nation enough to lay down their lives for it, cost them their future. We need to get this right once and for all of them.

Native American veterans claim racial discrimination by VA in South Dakota

By Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji)
© 2010 Native Sun News

March 29 2010

There is a credo lamented daily in the waiting rooms of the Veterans Administration Hospitals scattered across America. It goes, "First you apply, then they deny and hope you will die." This has a special meaning to Native American veterans.

For too many Indian veterans it strikes close to the bone. They are so entangled in bureaucratic red tape they are all but suffocating. Many have been reduced to living lives well below the poverty level set by the very government they fought for and nearly died defending.

Several months ago I wrote about one such veteran named Andres Torres, an Oglala Lakota, living in Rapid City. What has happened to this veteran since then?

"I was told to open a new claim called Unemployability which means I have not been able to work since the second operation they performed on me at Fort Meade VA Hospital in 1989. I filed the claim in February and I have not heard from the VA since. As far as I know it is still sitting on somebody's desk in Sioux Falls or Washington, D. C.," Torres said.

Torres said that since I wrote about his plight in 2009 he got a call from Governor Mike Rounds (R-SD) and was told that his office was interested in helping him and other veterans in similar situations.
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Native American veterans claim racial discrimination by VA

Army honors service of Maine Indian tribe

Army honors service of Maine Indian tribe

The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Dec 11, 2009 8:55:26 EST

INDIAN ISLAND, Maine — The Army has recognized the military service and sacrifice of Maine’s Penobscot Indian nation.

In a ceremony Thursday in Indian Island, a Department of the Army official presented a Penobscot Nation flag to the sister of Donald Chavaree, who was killed in the Philippines in February 1945 during World War II.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/ap_army_maine_tribe_121109/

Powwow honors all veterans

Powwow honors all veterans

BY BECCY TANNER
The Wichita Eagle
For the past 21 years, Charlie Harjo has participated in every powwow hosted by the Wichita Kansas Intertribal Warrior Society.

Harjo, who is of Choctaw and Creek heritage, was a soldier in Vietnam.

On Sunday he was one of the veterans participating in the gourd dancing at the Veterans Day Powwow.

When Harjo was young, his father used to tell him that he hoped his son would never see what his eyes had seen.

"I never knew what he was talking about," said Harjo, 61, "until I saw it in Vietnam."

In Vietnam, Harjo said, he watched fellow soldiers die, including one named Sgt. Flowers.

"He was wounded and lying there and looked over at me and said, 'Don't forget me, Chief.' Back then, they called every Indian 'Chief.' "

When Harjo came back to the United States in 1969, he said, he tried to forget Sgt. Flowers.
read more here
http://www.kansas.com/news/local/story/1057281.html

King: Life is bare bones on the Lakota reservation for Vietnam Vet and others

King: Life is bare bones on the Lakota reservation
Story Highlights
In nation's poorest county, about 56 percent of residents live below poverty line

Herbert Hale, who is a member of the Lakota tribe, is unemployed

Hale gets about $17 a week from a tribal welfare fund; tries to find odd jobs

Lawmakers don't get "the plight on the reservation," tribal council member says



By John King
CNN Chief National Correspondent


Editor's note: On CNN's "State of the Union," host and Chief National Correspondent John King goes outside the Beltway to report on the issues affecting communities across the country.


Herbert Hale lives on a check of a little less than $17 a week and whatever he can pick up from odd jobs.

CHERRY CREEK, South Dakota (CNN) -- The tiny one-room house rests on a hill; no electricity and no running water. A creaky metal cot and a rusting wood-burning stove is all the comfort Herbert Hale says he needs.

"All it is is logs, glue -- dirt and water put together -- then cement and the chicken string," Hale says of his home. "Long as the windows don't break, it's nice and warm in here."

The roof leaks a bit, and the floorboards are rotted in one corner, but Hale isn't one to complain.

"It's home," he says, almost under his breath, as he invites a visitor to have a look.

Firewood is stacked in one corner inside, and more outside as Hale uses the summer months to stockpile for prairie winters, where 20 below zero is not all that uncommon.

He also pulls bunches of long weeds in the prairie grass, to dry for use as a firestarter.

"I have to be careful," Hale says matter-of-factly as he pulls a few fistfuls. "Sometimes there are some snakes. Rattlesnakes. Nothing to mess around with."

He is 54 years old, a veteran of two Army combat tours in Vietnam, a member of the Lakota tribe and part of two stunning statistics, even as communities across America deal with the pain and challenges of recession:
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Life is bare bones on the Lakota reservation

Eli Painted Crow, female warrior fights for female warriors

Mike Tharp: Local vets stand up for Stand Down
Jim, a Vietnam veteran, sits in Eli PaintedCrow's living room. Balding, brown-bearded with calloused hands, he talks with Ismael Hernandez, vice commander of Merced's Disabled American Veterans chapter.

Eli (pronounced 'Ellie'), 48, a Yaqui Indian, shuffles through copies of online material she's just printed out from her ever-humming laptop. As she talks in her kitchen about her efforts to help female veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Jim's words slide in from the other room: "Rockets...mortars...PTSD."

Eli moved to Merced in 1989, early in her 22-year career in the U.S. Army. She got out as an E-7, a mid-level noncommissioned officer. NCOs form the backbone of any military unit. They know more than privates and corporals and colonels and generals about how the Army and Marines work. Eli's MOS (military occupational specialty) was 88M, truck driver.
go here for more
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/115/story/760851.html

Thundering Spirit Pow Wow Honoring 'All Warriors'

2009

Thundering Spirit Pow Wow

Honoring 'All Warriors'


February 27, 28, March 1, 2009
Renninger's Twin Markets
20651 New Highway 441 Mount Dora, Florida 32757
Just East of Mount Dora ~ Just 30 miles North of Orlando
East of Mount Dora, Leesburg, Inverness ~ Just 30 miles of Orlando ~ West of Deltona, DeBary, Sanford ~ of Gainsville, Ocala, Umatilla
Map Page
Friday February 27th 2009, Grand Entry at 7:00pm
Saturday February 28th 2009, Grand Entry at 1:00pm & 7:00pm
Sunday March 1st 2009 Grand Entry at 1:00pm
Gates Open at 10:00am Daily

Friday February 27th is Children's Day from 9:00am - 2:00pm with special Demonstrations, Games, etc.
Please join us for Traditional Native American Culture Including: Drumming, Dancing, Crafts, and Food.
Bring the whole Family and spend the day, Don't forget to bring Chairs and/or Blankets to sit on
Admission ~ Required Donation: Adults $3.00 Children Under 12 FREE
Active, Retired or Service Persons Admitted FREE
MC: Ric Bird
Head Veteran: Blue Deer
Head Man Dancer: Bobby DuBose
Head Woman Dancer: Sandra DuBose
Host Drum: Family Drum Singers
Co-Host Drum: Bird Chopper Bird Family Drum
Firekeeper: Ken Cloudwalker
Color Guard: American Legion ~ Austin-Giles Post #21
http://thundering-spirit.tripod.com./

Nebraska panel on Indian affairs honors vets

Nebraska panel on Indian affairs honors vets

The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Nov 6, 2008 7:13:01 EST

LINCOLN, Neb. — American Indian veterans and military members from Nebraska will be honored at the state Capitol.

The Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs is preparing a ceremony for 10:30 Thursday morning on the 14th floor of the Capitol.

The commission says the ceremony will be the first to honor veterans from the four recognized tribes in Nebraska. They are the Omaha, Santee Sioux, Ponca and Winnebago.

The ceremony’s keynote speaker will be Col. Tom Brewer, a member of Oglala Sioux Tribe.

Brewer is operations officer for the National Airborne Operations Center. He served in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm and recently served in Afghanistan.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/ap_indianhonors_110608/